Disclaimer: Dark Angel was only ever mine in my dreams.

A/N: I actually had this idea long before I could figure out "D". So, as soon as I spit D out…E just flowed real easy. Thank God, right? Or maybe, just maybe, I'm not in the mood to study for finals and Income Tax Law. Gah.

ENOUGH

Alec wanted to say No. Absolutely not. No way in all of hell.

But of course, he couldn't.

He could only stand here in front of her and wish that things weren't the way they were.

He reached over and cupped her chin between thumb and forefinger. He forced her face up to his, forced her to look into his eyes. He wanted her to see the anguish in his eyes, the sadness etched in every line of his face. Her dark brown eyes were heavy with shadows. Tears shimmered in their depths spilling over and down the perfect curve of her cheek. His anguish was mirrored in her. His sadness traced identical lines over her own features.

If only he hadn't been too late in realizing. If only he had told her sooner.

I love you. Seemed so simple now.

He gently held her face with both his hands, his thumbs slowly wiping the trail of tears away from her face.

She was shaking. Fine tremors ran through her body. He felt each one, she was standing so close to him.

"Please, Alec," she whispered, her voice tinged with desperation and a soul-hurt sadness that pierced straight through him. How could he say no? How could he be the one to hold her back?

"Please let me go," she begged again. How could he not?

Because he couldn't. That's why.

He leaned his forehead against hers. "I can't, Max," he gasped. He never expected it to hurt this much. He never suspected he loved her this much.

Her hands crept up his chest, crumpling his shirt in her fist. He reached over and pulled her hand and splayed it over his heart. It was beating erratically, thundering…breaking.

"I already said yes," she said in an aching whisper. "I already said yes." And with those words, she reached up and pulled his lips to hers.

Her lips were soft, his heart was exploding. He pulled her flush against him, feeling her heat, shaping her into him. He would have to remember this moment. He would have to remember the way she fit into his arms. It would have to last him forever.

And so he kissed her with every fiber of his being. Pouring his soul into it, wishing he could take her with him. He bit her lower lip and she moaned softly, a sound of desire and regret. He groaned and devoured her lips again, crushing them against his with near-desperation.

He wanted to say, stay. He wanted to pull her into his arms and whisk her away. He wanted to her to be his. He just wanted a chance.

Finally, she pulled away. She was still crying as she laid her fingertips in a feather-light caress over his lips. "Enough," she murmured. "This has to be enough."

And with those words, she spun around and disappeared into the darkness.

Alec stood there, missing her warmth, his lips still burning from her kiss, his body thrumming with ache. He was afraid that if he tried to move, if he tried to run after her, he would just break.

He never would have guessed that anything could hurt this much. Nothing in PsyOps had ever prepared him for this kind of agony. The pain was inside, but he could feel it in his fingertips still throbbing from having her in his arms and then losing her. Just like that.

Enough? How could it ever be enough?

But he knew the answer. She had whispered it to him. It has to be enough.

He took a haggard breath. He fought the sob that tried to break through him. He focused on the red of his pain, his body shaking with a mix of rage and hurt. He roared out and punched the wall beside him. His hand broke through the wood and plaster easily. The physical pain was welcome. It dulled the ache inside of him for a moment. It made him feel alive if only to feel this pain. He slowly pulled his fist out and lifted it up to his face, looking at the scratches. Blood trickled down his arm.

Enough. He knew it had to be enough.

He took a deep breath and willed his broken heart into ice. He straightened his spine and imagined that he could gather all the hurt from every inch of his body and force it into a tiny box inside his heart. He gritted his teeth. Then he forced one foot in front of the other. He walked through the door she had disappeared through. He walked through the throngs of silent, solemn Transgenics. He walked to stand in the frontlines.

Someone, probably Mole, tried to hand him a weapon, but he shook his head simply.

It would not be necessary. Tonight, they wouldn't need it. After tonight, he hoped that they would never have to.

He watched with cold detachment as Max was handed over towards Clemente. She had said yes. Of course she had gone and done the stupidest, craziest, bravest thing she could. Of course.

She had sold her freedom and her life to Clemente and the Joint Nations—an organization of 25 of the most powerful countries in the world, allied against the Familiars and their plan to bring about humanity's extinction.

All in exchange for the protection of all Transgenics against White and his Familiars. Against the New Manticore. Against anything and everything that would hurt her people.

She was the Key after all. The answer was hidden in her DNA. There was no doubt that they would study her, cut her up, use her until they found a way to stop the Familiars. He had no doubt that he would never see her again. He had no doubt that she knew this was probably how she was going to die.

She walked with her head tilted at a cocky angle, her chin up, a disdainful smirk on her face. Her hands were cuffed behind her back, and one of Clemente's men tried to push her forward. She stopped in her tracks and turned to glare at him until he backed away, her face blazing with feral beauty.

That's my girl. He thought sadly to himself.

At that exact moment she lifted her eyes to look at him, and the mask of courage slipped slightly and he saw just how terrified she was, just how big the sacrifice was. And he saw just how much she loved him, too.

She ducked inside into an armored vehicle, the door shut and the three discreet cars drove away.

She was gone. Just like that.

Alec closed his eyes letting himself wallow in the memory of her in his arms, the taste of her lips on his. He let the pain wash over him for that moment. Then he opened his eyes and they were ice cold again. She was right: it has to be enough.

"All right, people, we have work to do!"

Enough.

THE END.