"I love you, Jade,"Taylor said softly."I think I have for a long time. You should know by now that I don't think of you as just a friend."

Of course she had known, but she hadn't expected him to tell her that he loved her. She wasn't even sure that she loved him back. All she knew was that she seemed to spend every moment of every day thinking about him and wasn't sad anymore when he was there. He was the only person that could make her happy when she was having a down day. If that was love, than she was more in love with him than he could know.

He leaned in and kissed her. She smiled as his lips pressed against hers, finally completely happy.

"I'll never leave you,"he whispered softly."Never."

****

Suddenly, Jade awoke in a cold sweat."No,"she whispered."No, Taylor. No, please come back. You said you wouldn't leave me. Taylor, please!"she begged, scrunching her eyes closed and pulling the covers over her head, trying desperately to fall back asleep."Come back,"she whispered one more time as she finally drifted off.

****

Nick hated this. The last thing in the world that he wanted to do right now was leave Jade. But, his boss was insisting. He had go to Boston on business. The only people that he trusted with Jade were the Hansons, and he hated to impose. They had done so much for his family, or lack of. He just didn't have a choice. Jade may have been almost twenty, but there was no way that he could leave her alone.

"Of course,"Diane told him when he called. Like he had thought that she'd say no. Diane was the most giving and considerate person he had ever known. She'd give everything she had and never stop until she had given away everything she had in the world, both materially and emotionally.

"It's only two weeks,"he said reassuringly, more for his benefit than hers."Then I'll be back."

****

Jade looked down at the gun. She had no doubts that this was exactly what she wanted to do. She'd been planning this for months. She just couldn't handle losing another person that she loved.

This was it. No more pain, no more tears. Finally, things would be right in her life.

But then, just as suddenly as it had happened so many years before, Taylor appeared in the room.

"What the hell is going on?!?"he shouted.

She just stared at him. More than anything, she wanted to just grab the pistol and shoot, but now that he was here, suddenly there was a reason to stay.

One thing in this scene had changed.

"If you're going to kill yourself, just do it,"Taylor callously told her.

"What?"That wasn't how it was supposed to happen. He was supposed to tell her that he loved her and that there was no way in this world that he could live without her.

Instead he nodded toward the gun and said,"Well?"

So now there was nothing in her way. She picked up the gun, held it to her temple and...