Disclaimer: see chapter 1
A/N: Thanks for your patience. And, here we go...

She couldn't take his silence. He was staring over her head at the wall. She kept trying to make eye contact with him but he kept avoiding her gaze. She moved closer to him, resting her hand on his leg.

"Zach, please…"

He finally looked at her. "Kendall, you got hurt, I got hurt – we hurt each other. Maybe… maybe it's just not right, like there's no way this is meant to be."

"You know this will never work."

"Not a chance in the world."

She refused to give up, to let him give up this easily – not after all they had been through. "That's a crock of shit and you know it, Zach. I know you do! You… you came into my life out of nowhere like… like it was fate, destined, meant to be!"

He scoffed at her. "Kendall, me coming into your life was purely out of revenge, not some God given miracle!"

"Still, this -- this is some kind of miracle."

"It was an accident."

"No, it was fate. It was fate. You -- you went to that roof, because you knew I was there, and you knew -- you knew that I needed you."

"I need you in my life, Zach. Does it matter how we got here?"

"It should."

"It doesn't. Not to me, anyway."

He just sighed and looked over her shoulder again, back at the wall.

"You think I ended this marriage, because I don't love you? I do love you. I told you that in your apartment. I told you that on the island. And from where I'm standing right now, it looks like I'm going to love you until the day I die."

"You love me."

"I do."

"Why are -- why are you doing this again? We already did this. This is settled. It's done, Zach. We're divorced."

"Well, that shouldn't have happened."

"We agreed. Our marriage was business."

"Business, yes. But somewhere between finding the licenses for the casino and counting our profits, I saw you. I saw the woman that you really are. And I fell in love with you. I tried to keep that to myself, you know, I had every intention of keeping that to myself, but, of course, I didn't. And -- I don't know. Maybe it was bad timing, maybe it was bad circumstances. Doesn't really matter what, but you didn't believe me. So I walked away, because I thought that's what you wanted, and I made a mistake."

She swallowed the lump that was starting to form in her throat. "Zach, you once… you once told me that you saw me, saw the woman that I am. You said that you loved me and would always love me."

"I should have kept that to myself" he whispered.

"Why? Why should I have known, why shouldn't I know now what you feel about me?"

"I don't… I don't think I can do this again, Kendall."

"I -- I can't. Zach, I can't do this."

He just shook his head, looking at her with a lost fog in his eyes, like he was unsure of the next step – whether it should be toward her or away from her. She needed to do something and she needed to it now!

"You don't trust me. And that's ok. I see that. I've lied to you. I've lied to a lot of people about a lot of things. But I'm not lying now. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want to go to sleep with you and wake up with you and face whatever the new day has to bring with you. And I want to laugh and cry, and I want to make love to you. I do, and I don't -- I don't want to change who you are. I love who you are. And I love who you've been. And I love who you're going to be. But, you know, whatever you've decided, it doesn't matter, because I'm going to honor you. And if you don't want me in your life, I -- I will walk away from you, I promise."

She reached up and grabbed his face with both hands, forcing him to look at her.

"I know you don't trust yourself or me or us right now, I get that. We've hurt each other – it seems to be our track record. But, it's right now, Zach, me and you in the here and now. I want this… I want…" she took a deep breath to keep the tears from falling "…I want to go to sleep with you and wake with you and face whatever the new day has to bring with you. I love who you were, Alexander, and I love who you are, Zach, and I always will. But, if you don't want this, if you don't want me, I'll do my best to let you go, I promise."

She could see the recognition in his eyes – he knew where her words were coming from and she could see how touched he was.

"Zach, Zach please say something, anything or…"

She couldn't finish her sentence because he crushed his lips to hers, drawing her up his body and planting her on his lap, ravaging her mouth with his tongue.

TBC…