- and that was it... -

Every gaze darted towards them, as they entered the room. They were perfect together. Her arm linked with his as they walked in, both smiling at each other whilst talking. They looked like a pair stepping out from a movie. A dashing handsome man, with a breathtaking beauty by his side. People observed them with all kinds of feelings, but mostly it was jealousy.

She was stunningly beautiful. In a simple, strapless, figure-hugging little black dress, ending just below her knees and matching black stilettos. Her accessories were just as simple; a pair of diamond stud earrings sparkling in her ears, a long and very thin silver necklace running down her chest, which swang lightly around her stomach with the rhythm of their steps; and her wedding ring.

He was wearing a smart black suit with a white shirt, a black tie and matching black shoes. His look was simple. Elegant and charming. As accessories he only wore his watch, the cuff links he got from her, and of course, his wedding ring.

They enjoyed their night – having dinner, dancing, laughing, talking. Just being together. It was pure bliss without anything to worry about. Or at least it seemed like that. Deep in their minds they were both a little insecure of the timing – didn't they get together too quickly? –, and scared of those things that were about to come. Their future.

Are they ready for all this? Will they get along well? Will they be able to live together?

Thousands of questions were racing in their heads, along with the one, that haunted their minds the most: Are we still in love?

oOo

He outreached his hand towards her, to help her getting out of the cab. She didn't let go of his hand, glancing at him lovingly she waited for a sign if that was okay. He gave her a reassuring smile and intertwined his fingers with hers, squeezing her hand lightly. It was strange – his wife wasn't sure if she could hold his hand… He took a deep intake of breath at the thought. On some level he could understand her of course… After those long months of separation she didn't want to rush him and this made him feel thankful.

They walked up the few stairs to the entrance of their apartment, hand in hand and without a single word; getting the mixed feeling of excitement and worry. The only sound breaking the silence between them was that of her stiletto heels hitting the concrete. She let go of his hand as they reached the top of the stairs to look for the key in her purse and jumped with surprise, when she felt the light pressure of his palm on her back. They entered the apartment, leaving the sounds of the night and the city behind as he closed the door.

He helped to ease her coat off, and hung it on the coat rack along with his, then turned to face her, finding her looking at him already. Still in silence they observed each other. Neither of them moved. Now that she had stepped out of her high-heels and lost a few inches of her height, she looked so fragile and somewhat more vulnerable. The black of her dress emphasized her pale complexion even more; the cut highlighted her womanly figure. She was a vision. A loving smile came to his face and made her lips curl up also, as her eyes met his. He wasn't the only one to look her up and down; she was doing exactly the same with him. He stood in front of her without his jacket on and now, only in a shirt he seemed closer somehow – she could see more of his actual contours. He was very attractive, with his mischievous glare and his insinuating smile, that she loved so much. They stood there smiling, their gazes locked.

She took an unsteady step towards him, waiting for his reaction. He immediately moved, holding out his hand and as she took it, he pulled her into a gentle embrace.

"Don't worry, everything will be alright... We can sort this out together, relax." He whispered into her ear, trying to calm her down, feeling her obvious uneasiness. But his words were just as much an attempt, to make his own worries fade away.

She tightened her hold on him, pressing her cheek to his as he leant down to her level.

"I know Sam… I know..." She replied softly, as his hands caressed her back. "I just…" She continued, now running her hands down on his sides and slowly pulling away a bit; just enough to look deep into his eyes. "I have missed you so much…" She whispered, barely audible.

He raised a hand to stroke her face; the other one rested on her waist.

"I've missed you too honey." He said with a warm smile, staring at her lips. She pressed her palms against his chest, stroking him lightly.

"Sam…?" She began with such angst in her voice. He was afraid to hear her question, but was more curious about what was going on in her head.

"Yes darling?" He wanted her to continue, to find out her fears. He didn't stop stroking her face for a second. Raising her head to meet his gaze she quietly asked him.

"Do you really think we can do this? I mean… to leave it… behind. I don't want to push you–"

"You are not pushing me. I want to make things work… I want to change… I… I want us…" He interrupted her, not letting her finish the thought.

Proving his words he tilted her head up and leant down to slowly brush her lips with his. He felt her lips curling up into a smile against his, as she renewed their kiss, sliding her tongue into his mouth this time. He responded and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her closer. She ran her palms up along his chest, caressing the side of his neck, her fingers finally disappearing in his hair.

They moaned into their kiss, enjoying the familiar sensation they both had missed for the last few months. Their kisses became deeper and more sensual as they let the worries slip away. Lost in the moment, their hands roaming all over each other. She loosened his tie and pulled it down from around his neck, a seductive smile playing on her lips. Her fingers began to slowly unbutton his shirt and she felt his hands running up along her spine, stroking her back. She pulled away a little, looking up at him only to find excitement and lust in his eyes.

"Come…" She whispered biting her lower lip, as she took his hand and led him into their bedroom.

He stepped inside after her and could hardly recognize the room. She had changed the whole interior. From the colour of the walls, to all the tiniest details. After all; she had told him on that day, she could no longer be there as it was. And he didn't blame her. He was surprised though, how fast she managed to do all that. It was probably working as a therapy as well – she always loved to do such things to keep herself occupied and she was quite good at it. Everything was different… Including them.

It only took a brief second for him to steal a quick glance at the room, before she turned and faced him. The desire in her eyes now mixed with growing tension and worry. He could feel her fear. The fear, her complete transformation of the bedroom they shared once, could shock him. All the little unfamiliar details were standing there, like some kind of evidences of the pain he had caused her. After all, that was the reason behind her urgent need for this comprehensive way of getting rid of everything they'd picked up together – their bed had to go too, of course. Actually that was the first item that had left the house. But ironically enough, all the changes and differences reminded her of what she wanted to forget about the most…

"I hope you don't mind…" She said concerned, her voice filled with anxiety. She didn't intend to make him feel guilty because of the past. Both of them wanted to move on, and start over.

"No… no… I understand… You've done a very good job… I really… I really like it." He replied, as a slight smile lightened up his features, noticing one, but only one object in the room that he recognized.

She kept that. The picture. Their favorite picture… How they both loved that photo… It was black and white and taken by him, at the very beginning of their relationship. He had always loved to take pictures of her in spite of her constant objections. She preferred to frame and hang photographs of them together on the walls, but this one… this one was special.

On the picture she was lying on her stomach in the bed, leaning on her elbows, with her arms crossed in front of her sheet-covered breasts. Her head tilted to the right, resting on her bare shoulder, her ruffled hair loosely framing her face. The most beautiful part of the picture. Her gaze filled with pure love and joy as she smiled at him on the other side of the camera; her lips open – he captured the exact moment her mouth formed the "a" of his name. She said aloving "Saaaaam…" for the sake of makinghim stop taking pictures of her. They were so in love…

She wasn't able to put this photo away. That would be too painful. Too irrevocable.

She had noticed his eyes were set on the photo hanging on the wall, making him recall those times, when it has been taken. His smile put her mind on ease and made her smile too. Letting go of his hand, she ran hers up along his arms, snaking them around his neck. In response, she felt his arms wrapping around her waist and she pulled him down to level her face. She still wasn't entirely sure they could make things work. She wasn't sure he would be able to leave it behind. She wasn't sure she wouldbe able to leave it behind. Her thoughts were in a whirl and there came the most distressing questions of all, once again. The ones she was most afraid the answers of. The ones that had chased her since this whole nightmare began: Does either one of us really want this? Or are we just afraid of starting things all over? She didn't know. She could only hope they had made the right decision with giving themselves another try.

He sensed her vagueness and slid his hands up to her back from her waist. His soft caresses brought her mind back into the present and she looked into his eyes, trying to figure out what to do. And she was lost again. In that exact moment she felt like she knew what she wanted. Yes. She wanted this. She wanted them to be together. He leaned down and gently brushed her lips with his, both closing their eyes at the sweet feeling. Seeing her inner battle reflecting in her eyes, he wanted to reassure her, that they have to at least try and move on from the past. His actions showed that he too had made his mind up. Yes. It was worth it. Even if it would be hard – he knew it was going to be hard from the very beginning and he was thankful she said yes at his attempt to fix the damage he had caused. He knew he had hurt her. He wanted to prove so badly that he loved her.

He deepened their kiss and pulled her even closer to him. Stroking the side of her neck, he slid his hands up to take out one by one the few bobby pins that held her hair up. Still with their eyes closed, he brought back one hand from her now loosened hair and put it on the side of her face, feeling the movements of her jaw as their kisses became more sensual. He broke their connection, and moving his hands onto her shoulders he kissed his way down her throat, her collarbone and to her chest, enjoying the sensation of her skin against his lips. Her fingers were now lost in his hair and her quiet moans let him know, that she loved his smooth touches just as much, encouraging him to carry on. He returned to her neck, tasting the sweet, sensitive skin again. He felt her shiver in delight when his tongue now circled just below her earlobe, stroking her back as doing so, his fingers searching for the zipper on her dress. Finding it, he pulled it down, and with the same movement he smoothed the upper half of the gown down to her waist, to reveal her strapless black bra.

Her hands left his hair and passed the sides of his neck, faintly brushing his skin. Her palms then ran along his chest as she reached for the next button on his shirt, continuing her work she had began in the hall before. He slid his hands up on her sides, and cupped her face.

Raising her head he looked into her eyes. "You are so beautiful."

In most situations these four words would sound as a cliché. Because of its simplicity, because of its generality. But this short little sentence could never sound false, or ridiculous from someone who said it honestly. And he really meant it. She was beautiful. And she felt that he truly thought so. She closed her eyes and smiled as she leant nearer to him. She ran her tongue across his lips, before covering them with hers and snaked her arms around his waist, pulling his shirt out of his pants. His eyes closed and he moaned into her mouth, at the feeling of her sudden action. He deepened their kiss, pulling her even closer to him.

As his hands were on their way on her bare skin to unclasp her bra, he murmured against her lips. "I love you so much Donna…"

And that was it. She immediately froze, as did he, in the exact second the words left his mouth. Their eyes fluttered open as their gazes locked yet again, like several times this evening but now it was different. So different.

"I…I…" he began, but couldn't find the right words. Yes. Because there weren't any.

"No… please…" The tiny brunette whispered, whilst pushing him away from her. Her eyes reflecting how deeply he had crushed her. Again.

"Lorraine… I…–"

"I said no Sam… Don't… just… don't…" Said the brown-haired woman, with a soft but distinct tone, as she took another step back. Her voice filled with pain, disappointment and resignation.

"But I…–" He tried to speak, but she interrupted him again.

"Stop. Please. You don't have to say anything about that. Okay? Just… just…There's no need to explain what… what just happened… what you just said… so don't." She said, shaking her head. "I just…" She continued, struggling not to laugh. "I can't believe I actually thought that there was even a slight chance for us to make this marriage work. I don't even know why we got married Sam –"

Now it was him who cut in. "Because we loved each other, and –"

"That's true. We loved each other, but we were not in love Sam! When we got together we were in love, yes. But that was before her." she said with a sad smile, her bare shoulders rising and falling as she took a deep intake of breath before she spoke again.

"We should have never got married in the first place…They should've never told you…" she trailed off, crossing her right arm in front of her bra-covered chest, grabbing her left shoulder.

"Don't do that Lorraine… Why are you saying that?" he asked her softly.

"Because I… I think that it was a mistake. What do you think, why haven't I told you that I was pregnant? Because I have known that if you found out, you'd feel that you have to propose… And I didn't want us to regret it… I don't think I should explain my thoughts about that to you of all people…"

"So that means that you have regretted it? Everything? Our whole life together?" Now, he was the one who was heartbroken.

"No. Of course not. Can't you see how much I love you?" She asked him disbelievingly. "What do you think, why are we here now?" She never raised her voice, her tone was sad, but filled with love. "It wasn't easy at all, you know? Saying yes to giving us another chance, after what happened that night…"

"I know… And I am so sorry –"

"…alone, just finding that picture of the two of you, taken somewhere in Greece, would have been hard enough to swallow. I realized on that day, that you still love her, you know?" She said, with so much sadness, he wanted to hug her and tell her that she's not right. That he's in love with her. But that would have been a lie, and both of them knew that.

"I mean… I thought…you must love someone if you kept an almost 20 years-old photo of her. And I didn't have to wait long to get an actual proof…"

Yes. It happened the day after she had found the old photo of her husband and his previous lover in the top drawer of his desk, looking for some papers he asked for whilst they were talking on the phone. He left an invoice at home again, in the morning rush and was lucky enough to catch her at home before she would head out to work. He didn't have an idea that it was everything but luck. She hasn't told him she had found the picture though; she didn't want to make a big deal out of it. It was surprising of course, but she wasn't the mistrustful type. They trusted each other and never had any jealousy issues. It could easily spoil their day to day life, because of their looks. Both of them were very attractive and they were used to people trying to make a pass at them. They always shared these stories with each other and laughed together all the way back home after social events. They have never cheated on the other. But what happened the next night was worse than adultery…

He whispered another woman's name into her ear as they were making love, crushing her into million tiny pieces. It was the actual name that hurt her the most, because with that, her deepest worry she had buried into the back of her mind years ago had been proven true. After all those long years he still wasn't over her. She asked him to leave immediately and he did so, after packing up a few things of his. There wasn't a big scene. She wasn't screaming hysterically, demanding an explanation, or smashing plates. No. She was intelligent enough to put the pieces together. Of course it was awful. There are no words to describe what she had felt back then. She literally felt the pain, as if she had been physically crushed by something. But her tears only began to flow when he had left the apartment.

He was devastated too. He couldn't believe he had actually called his wife Donna… He would never be able to forget Lorraine's face and that intense look of hers when the word left his lips. It was more than disappointment sparkling in her eyes. It was the ice-cold, unexpected feeling of betrayal. They spent four months separated after that. In the first two, he didn't even try to contact her, he wanted to give her time to think things through and calm down a little. The first time he had called her, he expected her voice mail to answer, but he was surprised and happy to hear her picking up the phone. He loved that about her. She never acted as you would expect. The first call was short, but it meant a lot to both of them. After that, they called each other every few days, discussing their everyday things, never analyzing what had happened. Only sometimes, a few brief words were spoken about their last night together, but that was all.

He really had missed her. Her smart quips, her loud laughs, her beautiful eyes still sleepy in the mornings, right after she woke up… He thought a lot about them lately; and of course about Donna too… Why am I doing this? She hadn't even waited two weeks for me back then, let alone almost twenty years… But how? How could she be over us so quickly? She must still hate me after how I left her… Maybe it was only me, who fell that hard for her… And I almost completely destroyed the woman who loves me – well at least loved me, until I fucked it up. If only I could be sure of what I want… If only there would be some sort of sign…

And there came the sign he wished so much for – the only problem was, it came a little late. He had already made up his mind: he wanted Lorraine and their relationship back and asked her to come with him to an event his company hosted, celebrating the 20th anniversary of the foundation. She knew how much his work meant to him and didn't want to let him down. Sensing the determination in his voice, as he said he wanted to make things work, she agreed to escort him. He was beyond glad she had given him a second chance. As he hung up the phone, his secretary came in placing the already selected mail he had received that day on his desk. Leaving only the important ones in – invitations, contracts, and those things that needed his signature, or personal confirmation. He thumbed the envelopes, looking eagerly for one he was waiting for since last Thursday, when he had glimpsed something. Something that made his heart skip a beat. He froze as he took the envelope out from the others, to read the sender's name again. He couldn't believe his eyes. It wasn't his imagination playing some nasty game with his mind. The letter came from her. Donna Sheridan. His thoughts were in a whirl now. Sheridan – that means she's still single. Well…at least not married… But why would she send me a letter? Why now? What does she want? But… why would I care about it anyway? I have Lorraine and I have to concentrate on us now… God Donna, why do you have still this spell on me?

He opened the envelope and soon realized, it was an invitation for a wedding. He put it aside; he just didn't want to deal with that now. The date was August and it was only early March anyway… He finally found the contract he was searching for and occupied himself with studying it through.

But now, five days later in their apartment, he had to face the fact that he wasn't as good at putting things aside and focus on other things as he thought. And this time, he knew there will be no more chances. It was over. He swallowed hard whilst listening to her. How could she handle this so calmly? Why? Why are you acting like this Lorraine? Couldn't you just once get mad at me and scream and yell? You're making this even harder than it already is…

"I think you should go Sam." She brought him back to the present.

"Well, I completely understand, that you couldn't look at me anymore, but please let me–"

"I mean you should go to Greece, and talk to her." She stated with a faint, heartbroken smile. "You owe yourself that Sam… and in a way, you owe me that too. I couldn't bare the thought, you're unhappy, not knowing what her answer would have been. I like to think, that we were happy together and I don't want you to live without the person you love. Because I know it's simply unbearable. I love you and I want you to be happy and if that means you'll live with someone else, then so be it, but please don't let your happiness slip away." She finished, now with silent tears running down her cheeks. She quickly wiped them away with the back of her hand – she didn't like to cry in front of others. Even him. Especially now.

"How…?" He could only let out a whisper.

"Your secretary called me about the gala. Then congratulated us getting back together and told me how great it was that we can celebrate, when we're going to Greece in a few months." She answered his unfinished question. "I really think you should go there Sam…" She added.

He couldn't just stand there any longer, so he stepped closer to her and took her into a tight embrace. She responded by wrapping her arms around him, as he whispered how sorry he was, how he didn't deserve her and how much he love her again and again.

"I know… I know… I love you too, I always will. But we're not in love anymore darling. It's that simple." She replied in a now shaky voice. He pulled her even tighter to him, as she carried on. "I'll prepare the papers first thing tomorrow, to settle our divorce. You can see the kids whenever you want. I'd only like to keep the apartment." Being the always rational lawyer she was, she thought there's no need for a fuss concerning a divorce.

'I love you' was his only reply. She raised her head to give him a faint smile and pecked his lips delicately for the last time before breaking from his embrace. And with that, their marriage was over.

oOo

The warm rays of the August sun woke him up as he slowly opened his eyes, facing her back. He straightened his arm towards her and wrapped it lightly around her stomach, as he pulled her to him. He stroked her hair away and kissed her cheek softly, waking her up. She loosened their cuddle and turned to face him.

"Morning darling" Said Donna in a sleepy voice, smiling at him, her eyes filled with love.

"Good morning to you too" He softly replied, placing a sweet kiss on her lips and stroking the smooth skin on her bare back.

Both of them wondered often before, what was that certain something that was missing from their life. Now they had finally found a possible answer for that question. Each other… and that was it.

*The End*