"You okay?" he ventured. Talking with Stabler could prove deadly, especially at this point, but he chanced it anyway. For some reason, he needed to know if Stabler's heart was as broken as it should be.
Instead of John's prediction of hostility, Stabler answered quietly, tiredly, "Yeah."
"Sure?"
Stabler nodded. "It was a good run. It wasn't gonna last anyway."
"Destiny tell you that? Or fate?"
Stabler snorted. "Neither. A beautiful woman with a gun and a badge told me." The small smile faded from his lips. "I was crazy to think it would last anyway. I just wanted something to hold onto, anything, and she was my anything."
"She just wasn't your everything, right?"
"You could say that."
John nodded. "You know, she does love you."
"I know."
"That's why she couldn't do it anymore. She wanted to have a partner like you and a boyfriend like you, but not in the same man. She loved you too much in too many ways."
Stabler stared at his desk, the scattered papers. "Thanks, John."