AN: Yayyy. I finished this. And you guys are going to hate me.

EDIT: Like right after I posted this, I heard Adele's new song "Someone Like You" and I realized it could totally go long with this chapter/epilogue sort of thing. I personally think you should listen to it while you read this, but that's just me.

Anyway, I have to get off cause my mom's yelling at me to get ready for Hurricane Irene :P Thank you for sticking with this... monster to the end of the story!

Mal watched silently as Natara hugged Malia one last time. She murmured something in her ear that made Malia laugh, and then she picked up her purse and started walking towards the station doors. Jared made his way over to Malia, no doubt to tease her about something, and Mal smiled. The two of them still bickered from time to time, but they were also fiercely protective of each other, which made them a great team. They looked so aike, he realized, and he wondered how he hadn't seen it before.

Mal heard the station doors open and close, and he sighed as his heart suddenly felt ten times heavier. Recognizing this one last chance, he quickly turned and followed Natara as she slipped out of the station.

"Natara! Wait!" Mal called, jogging down the steps. She turned, one hand on the door of the taxi waiting for her.

"Mal? What is it?" Mal took her free hand and held it between both of his.

"Stay here, in San Francisco. Please," he begged. "Malia's here, now... and so am I."

Natara opened and closed her mouth, struggling to find words. "Mal, I can't."

"Sure you can. I can help you find a place to stay, and maybe you could even help with some of the investigations. We could get to know each other again and catch up, and-"

"No, Mal, I really can't," she interrupted. There was something cold and broken in his gaze as she looked up at him. "I'm married, Mal. I'm married to a man I love, and who loves me. I moved on with my life, and my guess is so have you. You want to hold on to the past because you want to change what happened. But the hard truth is that you can't. Neither can I, no matter how much I wish I could. We were in love, once upon a time; nothing will ever change that. And maybe if things had worked out differently I would be jumping at this chance to move back and fall for you all over again. But thirty years is a long time, and we both have changed so much." Mal lowered his gaze.

"I was in love with you, you know," he told her. "Back then. I'm still in love with you, now." Natara shook her head.

"No, you're not," she said gently. "You're in love with your memory of me. That Natara, from thirty years ago... she's gone, Mal. She's not here anymore. She vanished the moment Malia was born. And I can tell that the Mal I remember... he's gone too."

Mal smiled a smile that came nowhere near reaching his eyes and laughed bitterly. "And I suppose you're telling me this as a profiler?" Natara's watery smile didn't quite reach her eyes either. She slowly leaned forward and pressed her lips to Mal's cheek. Mal's eyes slie closed as they began to water and his heart constricted painfully. Natara pulled back and stroked his cheek with her thumb before pulling him close in a hug.

"Good-bye, Mal." She pulled the taxi door open and got inside. Sniffling and wiping her eyes, she told the driver to bring her to the airport. She looked up at Mal as the taxi pulled away from the curb, then forced herself to face forward and not to look back. Because in life we can't go back. We can only go forward and face the future.

Mal watched silently as the taxi disappeared around the corner, taking Natara out of his life for the second time.

Fin.

Just so you know, I had that ending planned the entire time. In fact, I planned this entire story around that scene.

Please don't kill me.