Flynn was brooding in his apartment. He'd just had a complete meltdown in front Judson and Charlene. He was sick of The Library ruling his life. He felt overworked and underappreciated. Hadn't he given enough for the The Library? Didn't he deserve to have some of the things he wanted? Nicole had said a similar thing to him once. At the time he'd thought nothing was more important than The Library, but she had seen past it, and he'd lost her because he couldn't. Now he'd reached that place she'd been, unfortunately he was a couple of years too late...

xxx

It was over, they'd retrieved the artifact and made it out alive. Back in their motel room they could finally relax, or so Flynn had hoped.

"I'm done with The Library," Nicole declared, as she shoved her belongings into her bag, clearly she was upset. Her agitation was understandable after what they'd just been through, it was a closer call than usual.

"You're just upset," Flynn assured her, she didn't really mean she was done with The Library, once she'd calmed down she'd be alright.

"No, it's different this time. I won't do it anymore," she said as she continued to 'pack' her bag. But then she stopped, halfway through shoving a shirt in the badly arranged duffle and turned to face him. "I really thought you were going to die." Her voice was softer now, and she looked as vulnerable as he'd ever seen her.

"But I didn't, we made it out," Flynn said with a grin, hoping to lighten her frightening mood. Her face didn't change, she was past messing around. He went to her, wrapping his arms around her and she felt different. Usually she was the tough one, but in this moment she clung to him as though he was the one who did the protecting. It gave him a bad feeling, it wasn't that he didn't want to comfort her, he did, it was the fact that she allowed it which worried him. He pressed his lips to her forehead but it wasn't enough. He leaned down and kissed her mouth, needing to reassure himself as much as wanting to reassure her. He wanted to feel the powerful demanding way she kissed him, he wanted to feel that it was still the same. But it was different and Flynn pulled away to search her face.

"I want you to resign as Librarian," Nicole told him, "I want us to have our own life now." Resign as Librarian? It was unthinkable, being The Librarian had given him everything he'd ever wanted.

"Nicole, I can't do that."

"Of course you can, just walk away Flynn. We could have a real life if you did." Wasn't that what they had now?

"I love our lives, we kickass together, we have fun. How many artifacts have we saved for The Library?" Couldn't she see the good they did? Not to mention how awesome all this was?

"We do...we did, but aren't you sick of risking your life? Maybe we could be good at other things too. How will we know if we don't try?"

"What kinda things are we talking about here?"

"I don't know exactly. Things that don't involve being shot at or stabbed or cursed. Maybe we could go to the movies, or eat in a restaurant without looking over our shoulders. We could travel without a deadline or racing the bad guys, actually have more than five seconds to enjoy the sights. And maybe one day we could even get a house, a big one..." It all sounded so good and Flynn was tempted but he knew he couldn't do it. But God, when she looked at him like that, spoke the way she had, she was damn near irresistible. He pressed his mouth to hers and she responded eagerly to his kiss, and he knew he'd given her the wrong impression.

"I can't..." Flynn managed to say between kisses, hoping she would understand.

"I know," was Nicole's reply. They didn't need words after that. It was slow and tender and different to anything they'd ever shared. It was goodbye.

When Flynn woke, all that was left of Nicole was a note:

"I told you once before there's only one thing I'm not supposed to do on this job, and I've done it. I know you remember, you remember everything...and so will I."

Flynn thought for a moment, what had Nicole told him? I did the one thing I'm not supposed to do on this job. I fell in love with him...

No woman, besides his mother, had ever loved him before, and now Nicole was gone. Flynn packed up his belongings to head back to New York. The next quest Judson had for him better be a good one...

xxx

And it was a good one, and so was the one after that. But now he'd reached a point where his best friend was a sword, and that can't be healthy for anyone. Maybe Charlene was right, maybe he should take a holiday. A nice peaceful one that had nothing to do with girls or legendary artifacts or The Library...