Garret went back to work the following morning as if nothing had happened. He reviewed the reports relating to Rodger's accident as if it was just another case. Both doors to his office stayed shut all day as a hint for everyone in the morgue to keep away. By lunchtime he was more the ready to go home but didn't feel up to spending the rest of the afternoon in an empty apartment. Instead he wandered into Jordan's office and was grateful to find that she was actually there. Without an invitation he sat himself down on her sofa and leaned his head against its back. Jordan barely looked up from her work. Garret had expected as much. An outsider might have thought she was angry with him, but Garret knew better. He had come to talk and she would wait as long as she had to for him to open up.

"I called her this morning," Garret said finally. Jordan moved to sit beside him now, but Garret kept his gaze fixed on the ceiling. "Her sister said she's doing better, but doesn't want to talk to me." Jordan nodded in understanding and squeezed his hand in her own. "I just want to know what's going on," he explained, desperation rising in his voice. Jordan offered what she knew. It wasn't much but it was more than Garret had been able to get out of Casey.

"Woody said that there won't be a service for Rodger here in Boston," she explained quietly. "Rumors at the precinct say that Audrey might take him home for burial." Garret nodded his thanks and finally looked his friend in the eye.

"I just want to make sure she's okay," he said softly, "I just need to talk to her."

"Why don't you just give her some space?" Jordan suggested. For the first time Garret heard the judgment and disapproval in his friend's voice. He was suddenly anxious for her to understand his relationship with Audrey.

"We weren't looking for this, you know" he said tentatively, as he tried to organize the rest of his thoughts. "For months I tried not to feel…tried not to be drawn to her…But I couldn't, Jordan. I just couldn't do it."

"But she was married, Garret," Jordan sighed. Garret pulled his hand out of Jordan's now and was suddenly furious with her for bringing up a subject he had tortured himself with for months.

"You don't think I know that?" he asked in one long breath. "You don't think that every time I saw her I knew I was ruining a marriage?"

"Then why'd you even get involved?" Jordan asked, the tone of her voice asking him why he would enter a relationship he knew would only end in heartache.

"Because I love her," Garret said finally, "because I've never known a woman who makes me feel the way she does. And when you find someone who makes it hard for you to breathe because you're so overcome by how much you love them, it's impossible to turn away…even if she is married." Garret barley choked out his last few words. He cleared his throat and tried to disguise the tears that were dangerously close to the surface. When he'd finished his speech, Jordan gave him a sad smile that told Garret that she finally understood. Unbeknownst to Jordan, that was the first time Garret had confessed his feelings about Audrey. He wished now that he had told her he loved her, and hoped that somehow she knew.

x x x x x

After a long and trying day Garret went home, poured himself three fingers of scotch and flopped into his arm chair. He let the burning comfort of his drink take his mind off Audrey for just a moment. He had tried to call her that afternoon but Casey had told him again that she didn't want to talk to him. When he'd gotten home today he called her on her cell phone but it was switched off. He took another sip from his glass and looked around his apartment. It seemed emptier today and he thought how funny it was that his apartment would mimic his own feeling.

Not being able to talk to Audrey was difficult. He ached for her and wished he could hold her and make everything better. Return everything to the way it was. With another sip of scotch Garret concluded that nothing could go back to the way it was. Audrey crumbled when she lost her husband and somewhere in the back of his mind Garret knew that his relationship with her had been irreversibly shattered as well. He hoped, however, that there might be something left to hold onto once the storm of Rodger's death had passed. Even though he'd only known Audrey a short time, he struggled to remember how he used to live without her.

With that in mind he crossed the living room to his telephone, hoping that this time his call wouldn't be intercepted by Casey. The phone rang once in his ear before a knock at the door forced him to hang up before anyone answered. The knock came again when he reached for the doorknob, but it was impatient this time. He swung the door wide and his heart jumped in his chest when he saw who was on his doorstep.

"Hey," Garret said with a surprised smile. He stepped to the side and invited Audrey through the door. She took a few tentative steps inside and scanned the room as if it was the first time she had been there. Garret wanted to reach out to her, to hug her, to kiss her and tell her how much he loved her, but her rigid and shy stance told him his touch was not welcome.

"I-I-I just wanted to see you before I left," she stammered nervously. Garret moved in front of her and without a word asked her to venture further into the apartment where they might have a proper talk. "My flight is in an hour or so," Audrey said quietly, not moving from where she stood. They only stared at each other for a long moment, their hearts screaming all the words their mouths would never utter. Finally Audrey looked away from him and reached into the pocket of her jeans. She opened her hand in the space between them. "Here," she said. In her palm, shining new like the day he had given it to her, was the key Garret's apartment. Garret stood motionless, his eyes fixed on her hand. The key had been offered, but that's not what he saw. On her index finger he saw the scar he had created when he had sutured her cut all those months ago. The night Audrey had told the story of her daisy tattoo Garret had been reminded of the scar on her finger. He had wondered silently if, in the future, she would see line and think of him, the way she thought of her sister when she saw the daisy. But now as Garret noticed the scar for the first time in weeks, he knew she wouldn't. What was once so violently purple had faded to a softer, almost pretty, pink. In time, the scar would fade completely, leaving no trace of him or their relationship.

As his eyes shifted a few fingers over, Audrey's wedding rings taunted him. She had taken them from the chain where she had always worn them and put them where they rightfully belonged. Garret's heart lurched in his chest as the rings reminded him of who he was. Although Rodger was gone, Garret was still 'the other man'. Finally acknowledging the key in Audrey's upturned palm, Garret gently pushed her hand back towards her.

"You'll need it when you get back," he said, immediately feeling like a fool. Audrey tilted her head sideways with a sad smile.

"I'm not coming back," she said, her voice cracking with emotion. Garret took a slow step away from her, his eyes finding purchase on his shoes. "I'm going to take Rodger home to New York and then stay with my mom for a while," Audrey explained, wiping a stray tear from her eye.

"And then what?" Garret asked, afraid of the answer.

"I don't know."

Audrey closed the gap between them then and took his hand from his side. She pressed the key into his palm and closed his fingers around it. Slowly she brought his fist to her mouth and kissed his knuckles. Garret watched her every move as emotion swelled within him. His mind was reeling and his heart ached with the knowledge that this was the last time he would see her.

"Audrey," he said almost inaudibly. Still holding his hand she met his gaze as a few silent tears coursed down her face. "Audrey, I don't want you to go." Audrey shook her head sadly.

"I can't stay here anymore," she choked, "not after all this." Garret steeled himself and prepared to say the only thing he could think of to make her stay.

"I lov-"

"Don't," she interrupted, quickly slapping her hand against his lips to silence him. "Don't" she whispered again. Her tears were flowing feely now, but Garret paid them no heed. Instead he clasped his hand over hers on his mouth, remembering the first time she had placed it there, all those moths ago. Their first kiss seemed like a lifetime ago. He didn't feel like the same person anymore and somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew his relationship with Audrey had changed him forever. He reached around her with his free hand and pulled her close to him. She carefully lifted her face to his and as Garret captured her lips with his, he finally let out the tears that had been threatening to spill over since she had arrived. He kissed her long and hard, letting his tears mingle with hers at the corners of his mouth.

When finally they parted for a breath, they clung to each other tightly. Garret buried his face in the crook of her neck, placing a soft kiss there and trying to commit her scent to his memory. Audrey cried into his shoulder and Garret held her until her sobs subsided. She let out a shuddering sigh and pressed a kiss next to his ear.

"Good-bye, Garret," she whispered before pulling away. She backed away from him slowly and Garret followed her to the door in a sad silence. As he watched her walk down the hall he willed her to turn around, to tell her she was joking, that she wasn't leaving after all, but she never looked back. When she disappeared around the corner, Garret pressed the door closed and smiled to himself. On the floor in the space where Audrey had stood only moments before, was the key she had returned to him. It had dropped, unnoticed by either of them, as they kissed. Garret picked it up carefully and took it with him to his chair in the living room.

x x x x x

It would take days for the reality of Audrey's leaving to sink in and it would be weeks before Garret could go anywhere without her key in his pocket. Until the day she left, he hadn't realized he had nothing of hers to hold on to. He didn't have a tattoo or a scar, or even a picture. All he had was her key to his home. Although it was an unconventional memento, Garret was glad he had it. A month later when he hired Audrey's replacement, he finally took the key from his pocket and stashed it away in his bedside table. As he shut the drawer he wished for a moment, as he often did, that things had turned out differently. He wanted Audrey back so badly that at times it was all he could think about. But as he wandered back through his empty apartment, he decided that perhaps the greatest loves weren't meant to last.

x x x THE END x x x

Author's Note: Thank you to all of you who read and reviewed. You have no idea how much it means to me when people take a minute to review. I had so much fun writing this and I hope you enjoyed it just as much. xo xo