Night had fallen as Lisa stared out of her apartment window, her arms wrapped around the warm flannel nightgown she had taken to wearing during the winter months in Miami. It was three a.m and she had woken purely out of instinct from her slumber yet did not have her familiar craving for eggs. Instead, she crawled out from under the covers and found comfort watching the quiet street beneath her as the melodic sound of crickets and other nocturnal creatures emerged from the safety of their habitats to frolic in the night air.

Three months had passed since that fateful night when the destinies of hers and Jackson Rippner's collided together. She had seen two realities play out in the course of one night and had lived both of them fully with all of their inevitable torment with only the assurance that she had finally made the right choice.

Jackson was alive and probably filled with loathing towards her at what he may have considered a betrayal. She had tried to reason with him in the small in flight bathroom only to have her pleas fall on deaf ears until he caught a glimpse of her scar and for that moment, she had seen his face change much like it had before. The small part of his humanity which he had carefully hidden from view on that plane was clearly discernible. His rage at her attacker was merely misdirected as his fingers wrapped around her throat in anguish. Jackson had probably hoped that by choking her, indirectly, her rapist would also suffer.

She had seen the pen on the way back to her chair and in her mind, she remembered how Jackson drove his knife into the throat of her would be assailant in the alternate vision. She snatched it quickly dreading what she would have to do, knowing that it wouldn't ultimately kill him but leave him seething in anger, eager for revenge.

And now, she had received her wish that she had made upon watching Jackson die in those moments of her premonition. They were both alive and the fact that Jackson would never know what might have been was probably for his benefit. He had disappeared a few days after being admitted to the hospital and a week later, the news reported a badly decomposed corpse had turned up at one of the nearby beaches. Identity was still pending but the cause of death had been a stab wound to the throat. Lisa smiled briefly and shook her head knowing full well that Mark had suffered the consequences for his ill fated plan. You were right, Jackson. You never lie.

As she looked down the other side of the street, she caught sight of a black BMW parked a block away and immediately she knew whose car that belonged to.

Jackson...

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Jackson Rippner glanced up at Lisa's darkened windows and fingered the k-bar in his belt considering his plan of action. He had gone through several range of emotions when it came to his prior encounter with Lisa Reisert; betrayal, anger, hate, perplexity and finally a lingering sadness. He had convinced himself that he wanted revenge and that killing Lisa would rid himself of the constant confusion that muddled his otherwise clear thinking.

It won't. A voice inside his mind seemed to echo. He shook his head, befuddled as he looked down at the knife. After watching Lisa for eight weeks, he finally realized how much he meant those words on the plane. When this is over, I may have to steal you. He considered that option briefly thinking how easy it would be to slink up quietly to her apartment, incapacitate her and carry her with him where ever his life might take him next.

Again, he knew that wasn't the answer either. If she wasn't free to make her own choices then he would never be free as well. Usually, Jackson's timing of meticulously planned missions and other ventures were all made to perfection. With Lisa, he knew in his heart that his timing with her would always be off and anything with her would never go according to plan.

In fact, that was one of the things he ultimately had grown entranced with.

Sighing, he put the knife down on the passenger seat knowing that her death would not vanquish the conflicting emotions raging inside him. It would only give way to a certain emptiness and he couldn't live like that anymore.

"She was right." He muttered. "I am pathetic."

Right now, he wanted nothing more then for her to be alive, living the life she was meant to have and knowing that one day, he might feel the vitality of being alive once again because he could look back with surety that having known her, his very existence would be changed for the better.

Giving the apartment where Lisa resided, one last brief wave, he turned on the ignition of his car and slowly made his way from Blossom Palms Lane. Good-bye Leese.

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Lisa smiled briefly despite the fleeting sensation of apprehension as she gazed out the window. Jackson did not see her but as she stepped forwards, she could see his figure in the car, sitting in the driver's seat in contemplation.

She prayed silently that he wouldn't emerge from the car with knife in hand forcing her to call the police. Just let it go Jackson. Go forward and live your life.

Breathing a sigh of relief upon clearly seeing Jackson abandoning an object he had been considering, she saw him turn once more to face her window. If only he could see me. She thought as she put her hand up in a wave only to see him do the exact same gesture from the confines of his vehicle.

Seeing him make this lasting gesture of peace that matched hers caused one solitary tear to trail down her cheek and she finally dropped her hand to her side as she watched him pull out into the street, driving until the tail lights of his car finally disappeared into the night.

Somethings are just not meant to be.

I know it's not the ending that some of you wished for but it's the best I could do. I tried to express this but the love Lisa had for Jackson was of a connection they shared which is a bit different in my POV then a love of a romantic nature although there is that fine line between the two. So will they come to a resolution in the future or will they never see each other again? Somethings are best left up to the imagination. Anyway, thanks again to Royalty09 who has been incredibly patient and always filled with ideas on my various chapters. You have her to thank for the cliffhanger where Lisa is about get shot up in the bedroom. Thanks again to all the reviewers who took time to review and anyone who just simply took time to read. Also, I like to take a chance to thank Not Human for her writing simply because it gave me inspiration for a lot of my stories to explore the darker facets of various characters as well as my own personality and how it interplays within the plots of my stories.