"Please, Ned."

She was so beautiful Ned's heart ached. Soft brown hair hitched up loosely in a ponytail, sitting delicately on her shoulder like a guardian angel out of children's fairy tales. Her skin smooth and tanned from the summer sun, and her lips pursed up wards in a sad smile.

She held a hand out.

"Do it, for me."

Ned saw the pain in her eyes, the sheer agony of never being able to touch the person she truly loved. Years of kissing through saran wrap, dancing in bee suits, holding hands through woollen gloves, the lack of true love transferred in one touch had all culminated to this moment of desperation, this moment of indescribable emotion.

The tears fell then, hers first, making their way down her rosy cheeks. Ned took a slow step forward and his hand hovered millimetres from her face, trembling. He jerked his arm back, almost reluctantly, staring fixedly at the trails of tears that fell on his hand. Clenching his fist, he shook his head.

"You won't ever be able to break this, Ned. We'll live like this forever. Our hands will never touch; my lips and yours will never brush."

The girl that the pie-maker called Chuck remembered her first, and last, kiss with Ned. It had been a warm summer day, and the sun kept shining though on the inside, the sun that had been her father had gone out in a moment of sudden realisation.

Though Ned's kiss could not reignite the flames in that special place in her heart, he lit another fire somewhere and curled up to stay. A rush of ecstasy, followed by a stream of gratitude and affection.

She wanted to feel that again, even if it would be the last thing she would ever feel.

The pie-maker loved the girl he called Chuck.

Something within him crumbled at the thought of a life without her smiles in the morning and kisses before bed, no more banter at the table and imagining her hand clasped in his, her arms around him in a tight embrace.

Eyes shining from bitter tears of despair and uplifting comfort, he whispered four words to span a lifetime.

"I love you, Chuck."

Emotional barriers collapsed from the sheer power of that simple sentence, and they broke down, sinking to the linoleum floor of the Pie Hole. Chuck grasped Ned's hand without truly feeling the smoothness of his skin, Ned caressed Chuck's face, ran his fingers through her hair, without touching a strand. They drew closer to each other, leaning in for a kiss, sans the limiting coldness of saran wrap. They felt their bodies touch, curving to accommodate each other, in an embrace that they never wanted to end.

They saw, they felt, but they never could.

They were so close to a happy ending, yet so far from the stuff of fairytale make belief.

"Ned? I never stopped loving you, and –"She paused to take a deep breath. "I never will. Not in this lifetime." He could feel her warm breath on his face. She smelled like strawberries and vanilla, she reminded him of the innocence of childhood. "Not in another one." He could see the tears hanging off her eyelashes, shining in the light. "Never." The last word was barely audible as she whispered in his ear.

"Chuck. I can't." He was selfish, he knew it, and he would rather stay selfish his whole life than to watch the one person he would die for slip away in a matter of moments, going out like a rudely extinguished flame.

"You can." She gently tugged his wrist with a gloved hand and lifted it up near her face. "Let me know how it feels."

He resisted slightly, shaking with emotion. "I don't want to kill you."

But she had been dead, and he brought her back, and gave her a new lease of life - a chance to love again, to laugh again, and to experience so many years of friendship, love and elation. They both knew that.

"You won't be killing me. I want this. I need this." He could see the yearning in her eyes, recognised the single wish he had every power to fulfil but didn't want to despite everything.

He had to.

She removed the glove in slow, deliberate movements and walked out into the warm summer sunshine, gazing contentedly at the clear azure skies.

Remember

The pie maker followed her out of the Pie Hole.

How

He reached out, feeling the warmth of her skin emanating into his cold hand.

Much

She smiled, and nodded, a gentle dipping and raising of her head. He hoped to remember this moment forever, and hold onto her consent that would scrub out his guilt.

I

Ned held out his hand and she held out hers.

Love

They mouthed the same words in a tribute to years of unspoken adoration. It rang in their ears like a chanted mantra for good fortune, and would never stop.

You

They linked fingers and his fingertips touched her cheek in a quiet farewell. She fell. The world seemed to stop moving at its normal pace, and the pie maker caught the girl he called Chuck in his arms.

She was still warm.

The last thing lonely tourist Charlotte Charles, better known as Chuck to her one true love, felt was a burst of warmth, a comforting embrace.

Peace greeted her on the other side, and she could still remember Ned's smile.

fin.