He estimated it had been at least six hours since he had left the apartment. Six hours of confusion, loose thoughts and endless stumbling along sidewalks. The sun had begun to disappear already. And eventually, the sidewalks had disappeared as well as he wondered out of the city. The sound of cars and trucks racing past him had lessened while walking further down some bumpy, unmetalled road, but he didn't even notice.

Tears where streaming down Eric's face. He didn't feel them. He wasn't even looking ahead, his eyes pointed just an inch away from his dragging feet, not seeing the little dust curls whirl around with every step he took. The tears blinded him from seeing anything, and with more tears came less feeling, until he felt completely numb.

Only his lips where burning, desperately trying to hold onto the memory of that one kiss they shared.

But there is nothing but silence now

Around the one I loved

Is this our farewell?

Life without Jack was no life at all.

"Hi," a soft voice came from behind his back. He turned around fast, recognizing it immediately, just a little surprised.

"Rachel… Hi. You're here, and… alone. How are you?" Jack smiled faintly, getting up from the wooden bench he'd been sitting on.

Rachel took two steps towards him, then hesitated. Her hand hung mid-air between herself and Jack's shoulder. A soft breeze lifted some strands of her hair. "I- I wanted to talk to you… alone. You know? No Cory and Topanga doing all the talking. You know how they can get sometimes when they're together." She rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, I know. It's good that you came alone. There have been so things on my mind for a day or two now, too. We really need to talk about…"

"…us," Rachel ended with a smile. Her hand continued it's movement and rested on Jack's shoulder. She took one step closer, so that her chest was almost touching his. Her hand moved up just enough to brush his cheek ever so lightly.

"Yes, we do." Jack brought his hand up to touch Rachel's skin as well, but now he was the one who stopped mid-air. This was just an old habit. Her touch no longer made his cheeks blush, or butterflies dancing around in his stomach. It didn't even make him long back to the way things were once upon a time. He dropped his hand, as he realized something.

"It's over, Rach," he whispered as she brought her lips to his. Rachel pulled back her head with one swift movement. Her smile vanished like snow in the sun.

"Wh-what?" she stuttered. Her eyes examined his unsteadily, with disbelief and a hint of panic. He just kept staring into them, until his words had really sunken in. After a moment, she seemed to regain herself and that big bright smile he once loved about her flashed back onto her face.

"What do you mean? I know that it was over…" she exaggerated the last word. "But since you're almost ready to leave this place… I thought… that maybe we could make a fresh start?" Her hand cupped his chin and pulled him close again.

"I don't think you heard me, Rachel. It is over. It was over, it's still over and it's never gonna stop being over. We're done." He gently removed her hand and pushed it back towards her chest. "We… we simply don't work together, anymore. That's what I have been thinking about lately, Rach. How the past is so different from the future."

"But- Jack… We were-" Rachel spoke softly, desperately. A tear started to roll down her cheek. Jack interrupted her.

"That's right. We were. We were great together. We were going to live together. We were in love." He emphasized every 'were', never breaking eye contact or letting go of her hand. "I know this sounds way too corny for you - and I know you never liked corny," he added with a smile. Rachel rolled her eyes again and chuckled in spite of herself.

"You are a beautiful woman, Rach. Maybe we could have been, but that's different from being. You deserve someone that really loves you, that will go for you 200 percent. Someone who you can call in the any time of the day, when you can't find your hair curlers, or when you can't find the book you were reading, or simply when you need to talk to someone… You need someone that will return everything that you will give him. And I know I can't anymore."

Nothing moved for a few seconds. Only the sun was slowly moving closer to the horizon. Finally, Rachel let out a deep sigh, sniffed and wiped away her tears with one hand. Then she raised it once again to Jack's face, cupped his chin and tenderly kissed him on his cheek.

"Remember how that night when we broke up, I accused you of being in love with someone else?" Her lips were now mere inches away from his ear. Jack nodded reluctantly.

"Well," Rachel continued softly. "Later on, I thought that I must had been wrong. Because who could it be? Right?"

Jack's eyes wondered to the ground. He didn't want to hear this.

I can hear you say my name

I can almost see your smile

Feel the warmth of your embrace

"But now… Hearing you say all these words… I think I know." The last words were barely a whisper. Rachel stepped back, letting her hand rest on his shoulder for the last time. She smiled at him, a genuine smile.

"Thank you for being so honest with me, Jack. And I'll get over it. Don't worry about that." She paused for a minute, seemingly pondering a thought. "But maybe you ought to worry about something else. Or someone else. Hmmm?"

Finally, she broke all physical contact and started to walk out of the small garden, leaving Jack with the hardest decision to make in his life.

But in the end, as the last rays of sun had vanished from the garden, it was easy.