Disclaimer in part 1.

BPart 2: Harm's POVIAnd if a heart's breaking a part of me's aching to show them how much that I care. But if no one lets me or turns and forgets me Then how, how can I share?/I

The kitchen lights are on, but I'm sitting on the couch, facing the opposite wall. The backlighting suits my mood perfectly. I'm not sad or upset, but thought ful. What's happened this week has challenged so much of what I've taken as truth for the past eight months.

She's been hurting for months, I can see that now. For a while, all i knew was how much I was hurting--how much hearing her say we'd never work killed me. It gave me a kind of tunnel vision, and decided she couldn't be as lost as I was because she'd been the one to make the pronouncement.

I didn't realize how wrong I was until she started ranting about how I abandon everyone. She might have meant "Never" when she said it, but the distance she's placed between us since then has been a test--some sort of bizarre way to see if I cared enough to push past her walls.

I have to shake my head at that. "How can you expect me to know what you need when you don't tell me, Mac?" I ask, but the empty room holds no answers.

Now though I know what she expects. We explained to eatch other in court, and we understand the miscommunications we've had. All that's left is to bridge the gulf that's widened between us, and that can only be done one way.

Grabbing my coat I head for the door, determined to fix this tonight. Then a thought occurs to me and myt hand stills on the knob. What if she doesn't need me anymore? She's got Webb now, maybe he's giving her the comfort she longs for.

A sudden image of him holding her, whispering words of comfort in her ear slices through me. I flinch, turning away from the door. The wounds on my heart have just healed, if she rejected me outright again I wouldn't recover.

My mother stops me though. Just as I 'm taking my coat off, I remember the way she once defined love. "Loving a person is hating what hurts them Harmon," she'd said. "It's doing everything in your power to protect them from pain."

I know what I have to do. I may not come out of this with a whole heart, but if I can help her stop hurting, I will.