"So this is it?"
The question hung in the air between them. Neither wanted to look the other in the eye.
"I like you, McGee," she said after a long bout of silence. "I really like you and really care about you. But I can't give you what you want in a relationship. I can't be that girl and I'm not going to pretend like I can be."
He nodded somberly. It wasn't that he didn't understand. Obviously they were both looking for different things in a partner and as right as they may have been for each other and has much as they both wanted it to work, it couldn't and wouldn't. But damn it if he still wasn't trying to hold out hope. Abby had been the first girl in a while to make him feel this way. Not love exactly, but a nice feeling nonetheless.
"Guess I was stupid to think it'd go somewhere."
She almost wanted to cry seeing him like this. Instead, she engulfed him in one of her world-famous hugs. "No, you weren't stupid. It just wasn't meant to be. But we'll still be friends…right?"
Tim wasn't certain. He wanted to stay friends, but now wasn't the best time to think about it. "I will still care about you." It was the best and most honest answer he could give her at the moment.
"McGee…"
"I should go," he interrupted, not wanting her to finish her sentence, not wanting to hear anymore of what she has to say. He wasn't angry at her, but he needed to be somewhere else, somewhere away to think. "But I hope I see you around," he promised. And he meant it.
