A/N: I'm aware some of you are about to kill me for delaying the update for ages. xp I'm really sorry though, I'm supposed to graduate high school next week, after which I'll try to enroll in uni. Let's just say things have been busy as hell.

Hope you can forgive me. Every reviewer gets a free digital bagel of happiness!

Chapter 7: The love and the lost opportunities.

Lee couldn't believe his relief as the next place he was send to felt a lot more inviting then the last two. Granted, being dead would never sit as comfortably as life, he didn't feel like everyone was out for his skin anymore.
As if they even could.

He now found himself to be at some sort of TV set. And not the kind where they film action movies or romantic-comedies. Lee recognized this to be a news set. Not one he ever watched though.

There was the typical, large, half-circle shaped bureau. 2 stools set behind it, big and comfy looking. The back wall was made in dark blue and red colors and stated the WABE Atlanta News logo.
Sports were hung high to accommodate the perfect lighting as the news anchors gave their little speech.

All of this seemed to pass Lee by however. He was far more preoccupied with the sole person in the room.
Carley sat on the edge of the table, just some feet in front of him and god she looked….

The dirty jeans and pink sweater she had been wearing when Lee last saw her, were replaced with a black skirt that reached just above her knees and a white buttoned up blouse. Much like the outfit she had been wearing at the pharmacy, but without the obvious zombie aftermath look.
Carley was tracing her hand idly over the desk, looking over her shoulders at the seats behind it.

"You know, I always promised myself I would make it there someday." She said, sounding almost bored, indicating the chairs.
"…And here I am."

She looked up at him with the faintest trace of a smile on her lips. He closed the distance between them and stood before her, her bent knees touching his upper legs.

"I was always jealous of them sitting here, while I was out in the rain doing some report on a sheep festival…" She went on, ignoring the sudden close proximity.

Lee bent down, tracing one hand over Carley's arm, smelling the vague scent he had begun to accustom with her, even in the dire, unhygienic circumstances the motel had been in.

"I also promised myself I would someday tell my coworker John what an asshole he could be at times, but somehow I never got to that either." Her tone sounded too light for the situation. It made something inside Lee's stomach ache with regret and sadness.

Carley raised her head then, meeting dark brown eyes with her olive ones. They seemed to shine with the same emotions Lee felt tumbling in his guts, but also something more. Happiness?

"Just 2 days before everything happened, some guy I had a crush on, got himself a girlfriend." She stated, as if this was the perfect time to be discussing her love life.
"I never got around to telling him how I felt, and I promised myself that if I ever met a guy I liked again, I would just grow some balls and tell him. Then people started eating each other and everything was one big mess and…."
Finally she raised her left hand and lay it against Lee's cheek. It felt oddly warm. Out of place.
"And then it happened again. Twice even. I never told him… and I never told you."

Anything Lee was planning on saying in response was drawn out as Carley straightened her back and brought her lips up to meet his. It felt unreal.
Lee marvelled at the softness and leaned in, deepening the kiss slightly. If he was truly dead then he must have finally found heaven.

It was not a passionate kiss of desire or lust. Not a kiss that expected more to happen or clothes to be taken of. It was sweet and simple and warm and exactly like Carley herself.
And it was what Lee had wondered about doing after some 2 months at the motor inn.

Why hadn't he done it? Nervousness, stress, too busy with surviving. But all excuses were wasted now anyway. This couldn't last... and maybe neither of them minded anymore, but they certainly both regretted.

After what seemed like forever but had in reality had only been some precious seconds, they both drew back and Lee could see that beautiful face again. And he said the only thing he could think of.

"I'm sorry." He murmured. It seemed so useless, an empty argument after the discussion was already over. A blow after the fight was long lost. But he felt it was enough.

Carley smiled again, god had he missed that. Her death had always been some kind of marker in Lee's life. The moment everything had gone to hell, again.

"I know you are." She said. "But you blame yourself too much. You think everything in this world is your responsibility, but that's not true. You made mistakes, Lee, But I still stand by my word. I don't think you're a bad man."

A sense of irony made itself known to Lee. Had it not been for this blasted apocalypse, he and Carley would have never met.
Had it not been for this blasted apocalypse, they wouldn't have been torn apart either.
He mused that in any other live, they may have been together. But not here… not now.

As if sensing his thoughts, Carley moved her hand back and laughed. "You should do something about your stubble you know… a three-day beard is cute, but this is just getting out of hand."

Lee raised an amused eyebrow at her and crossed his arms.
"It's not like I really had time to shave lately."

Carley laughed again and raised to kiss him once more. It was even softer this time. A kiss of goodbye, a kiss that said she would miss him, a kiss that said they will meet again.