AUTHORS NOTES: I wrote this after seeing Committed, and trying to understand where my ship had gone. (And still hoping it'll come back...)

BURNING

SCOTTY.

She's easy.

Let me rephrase that. Given her reputation, that could be taken the wrong way.

She's simple. Easy to understand. Easy to figure out.

Oh, she's had her complications and her difficulties. She's got a secret past. Haven't we all? But whatever Josie's thinking shows up on Josie's face. It never shuts down. There's never any walls.

And hey, I can relate. Difficult past. Complicated present. Sometimes you just need a little – simplicity - in your life.

And Josie doesn't have that fragile look about her. She doesn't look as if she'd shatter into a thousand tiny pieces. And if she did, she'd accept help. She'd reach out, she'd crumble into someone's arms. She'd cry. She'd let me wipe away the tears. Josie's walls are small and broken, and easily scaled.

If I hurt her, I'd regret it. But it wouldn't burn me. It wouldn't cost me sleepless nights. It wouldn't eat away at me.

She'd never look at me with wounded glass-blue eyes before turning away. Broken glass-blue eyes that leave shards in my soul.

If she were hurt, or lost, I'd find her. But I'd never panic for her. I'd never murder for her. The image of the last time I saw her would never linger in my mind, until all I wanted to do was scream her name out, tear my eyes so I wouldn't keep imagining her blood, the next time I saw her.

There'd be no George, with Josie.

Just lust, and laughter, and a few secrets shared and some good times. Just like it was with Christina.

Josie wouldn't be Lily. Josie would let me love her, as best as I could.

And I want to, for a second, in the records room. Just for a moment, I see a path away from difficult, complicated, fragile Lily.

Yes, I want Josie.

But my soul still has the aching need for Lily.

I stand in the records room, long after Josie has left, wanting to love her. But all I can think about is Lily. Lily, who won't let me – anyone- near her. Lily, who sleeps with the dead. Lily, all alone, and wanting it that way.

Loving Lily burns me. But I can't escape the flames