Jack stumbled out of his room still half asleep and squinting in the bright early morning light. He paused and a slight grin appeared on his face when he reached the living room and the couch came into focus.

His two best friends were on the couch wrapped up in each others arms. Kristine was stretched out beside Michael with her head nestled on his chest right beneath his chin and Michael had his arms wrapped snuggly around her. Their bodies seemed to mold together like two puzzle pieces. They must have had their talk. He thought as his smile widened. And it looks like it went well. I hope he told her.

Jack had known about Michael's feelings towards Kristine for a long time. He sometimes thought that he might have realized it before even Michael had. For as long as he'd known them, which was about eight years, they had had an unusual relationship. For the first couple years of high school, all they seemed to do was fight. They would argue over the silliest things, and they would tease each other mercilessly, but no matter what, when the other needed someone or something, they always turned to each other. Their relationship was always filled with this intense passion. Whether they were hating each other with passion, or the best of friends, the emotions between them were incredibly strong. Even when Eric was still in the picture. Kristine and Eric had dated off and on all they way through high school. Everyone except Michael had thought that the two would end up married. Even though Michael and Eric were friends, good friends even, Michael had never quite approved of the relationship. He didn't like the way that Eric was always trying to control Kristine's every decision, or the way he seemed to think that she belonged to him. Michael had been right of course, but it had taken years for everyone else to realize it.

Jack shook these thoughts from his head and smiled to himself as he watched his friends sleep. Contentment written clearly on both of their faces.

His smile faltered however and a wave of sadness washed over him when his thoughts turned towards Kristine's impending move.

We'll I guess this is it. He thought to himself sadly. The end of an era, the end of this chapter in our lives. We knew it would happen, it was inevitable. It'll be for the better, it's time to move on. After all, all good things must come to an end. He was trying to convince himself that he was okay, but it wasn't working. He wasn't ready for it to end, none of them were. How do you accept the end of the best part of your life? He wondered sadly. And if I'm feeling this bad, I can't even imagine what it must be like for Mike.

He sighed as he pondered this for a few minutes. A smile crossing his face again as a memory crossed his mind, a memory from their Jr. Summer, the best summer of their lives. Back when it had been just the three of them. Well four actually if you count Eric. He thought to himself. But none of them ever did. Though Michael and Kristine had known him for almost as long as had known each other, he had never really been a part of their little group; he'd always just been "the other friend" or "the guy Kristine's dating". The boys hadn't liked to include him in their little road trips, but Kristine had loved him for some reason that they had never been able to comprehend, and so they had accepted him and made him a kind of "part-time" member of the group. Though it was usually after some protesting on their parts and a lot of prodding from Kristine.

Most of that summer had been spent crammed into Michael's jeep just driving around. They rarely had a destination in mind when they would set out in the morning. They'd just drive around until they came upon somewhere they wanted to stop, or until they were too tired to drive anymore. Kristine's place was always in the front passenger seat next to Michael, with Jack, and Eric when they invited him, stuck in the back. On these road trips they would spend hours talking, arguing, and playing games that had no purpose. Sometimes they were just silent watching the scenery and enjoying each others company. On the quiet days it was just the three of them, and sometimes, when Jack was working, it was just Michael and Kristine.

Jack laughed quietly to himself as he let his mind wander back to one of those hot summer days spent in the jeep...

---

"Fuzzy," Jack declared, proud of himself for coming up with such a great starter.

It was a typical Friday afternoon. They were, as per usual, crammed into Michael's jeep headed in the general direction of the beach. All four of the windows were rolled down because the air conditioner in the old worn down jeep didn't work anymore, but no one complained, they were used to it by now. This is how it was every Friday.

The other three sat for a minute or two in deep concentration, each one contemplating their answer to Jack's opener.

This was one of their silly games. It had no name, no purpose; the only goal was to win so that you would be the one who got to start and judge the next round.

"Pony?" Eric said hesitantly, already knowing that he wouldn't win, he rarely did. He hadn't been blessed with the wit that the other three had.

Michael and Jack groaned in unison at the lame answer. Then the silence returned as Michael and Kristine continued to think.

"Aha!" Michael suddenly shouted. The others laughed as he had to pause to straighten out the jeep which had swerved. This game and others like it had come close to causing them many accidents when Michael got too into them. "Eyeball," he announced cockily once the jeep was under control again. He turned and gave Kristine a "beat that" look. "Nice!" Jack grinned at him from the back seat and leaned forward to give him a high five, sure that Michael had just won.

"Krissy?" Jack asked as they all turned to look at her.

Michael's breath caught as he watched her. She had her head turned towards the open window but he could see that her nose was scrunched up in concentration and she was chewing on her bottom lip. God she's beautiful. He watched as her long, chocolate brown hair, which was down around her shoulders, blew loosely in the wind. He ached to run his fingers through it. She had seemed to not be hearing what was going on in the jeep, but at the sound of her name she turned her wide brown eyes to face them. There was a twinkle in her eyes as they locked onto Michael's piercing green ones.

"Uh oh," Michael said suddenly not feeling so cocky. She had "that look" in her eyes, that look that meant that she knew she'd won before she'd even announced her answer. Her lips curled up into her trademark half smile, the one that made Michael's heart stop, as she stared him down for a minute before calmly giving her answer with a smirk.

"Fuzzy nipple."

Jack and Eric burst out laughing. "Ooo, good one!" Jack managed to get out through his laughter. "Sorry Mike, you lose."

"You suck," Michael said to her with a frown. Kristine just rolled her eyes at him. He turned back to the road pouting as the other three continued to laugh and celebrate Kristine's win.

The rest of their afternoon had passed in much the same way, playing their games, arguing for hours over pointless topics, and discussing their plans for their rapidly approaching senior year, before finally stopping at the beach just an hour before sun set.

---

That had been their last afternoon together that summer. Their last carefree afternoon anyways. Their summer had come to an abrupt and earth shattering end the next day, two weeks before their senior year had started. I had been halted by a tragedy, one that none of them liked to think about, let alone talk about. They'd had to work hard to put it behind them. Another wave of sadness flooded him as he thought about what had happened on that Saturday afternoon so long ago. A lot had changed after that day. No, no, no. He shook his head vehemently. There's enough sadness around here with Krissy leaving. I don't need to be thinking back to that.

He was pulled abruptly from his thoughts at that moment by a stirring on the couch. He focused his attention back on his friends just in time to see Michael who had woken, look down sadly at the woman beside him and place a tender kiss onto the top of her head.

"Morning," Jack whispered to Michael so that he wouldn't wake Kristine. It was still early and she was most definitely not a morning person.

"Hey," Michael whispered back just as softly.

"I'll go start some coffee," Jack told him, a little louder this time. "Maybe if it's right in front of her when she opens her eyes we can avoid another episode of Miss Grouch like we got yesterday."

Michael chuckled quietly, and Jack grinned as he turned to go but they both froze when Kristine raised her head from Michael's chest to glare at Jack.

"I heard that!" She tried to yell at him, but her voice was still gravely from sleep and it came out sounding more like a croak.

Not worried about being quiet anymore, both guys erupted in laughter at her attempt to scold Jack and at the disoriented look on her face.

"Morning princess." Michael smiled at her as she rubbed her face with both hands trying to wake up. "Bite me Michael." She snapped at him as she slowly climbed off of him and headed for the bathroom. "Don't tempt me," He called after her, "I just might." He added with a teasing tone in his voice.

She just ignored him and continued to the bathroom. She paused only long enough to turn and glare at Jack once more. "That coffee had better be done by the time I get out," she demanded. And with that she stormed into the bathroom slamming the door behind her. "Well good morning to you too," Jack said to the closed door still laughing. He and Michael then headed into the kitchen to begin breakfast and their day.

---

Michael didn't hear Jack as he walked carefully across the ice to stand directly behind him; all of his attention was focused on the net in front of him. He was standing on the center line, stick in hand, pucks spread over the ice in front of him. He was going to make this shot if it killed him. He'd been here practicing this shot all morning.

He'd left right after the three of them had breakfast. He'd told them that he had to work, which was true; he just hadn't mentioned that his shift didn't start for another six hours. He'd just had to get out of that apartment. Being that close to her was driving him crazy, and it was only made worse by the fact that she'd slept in his arms all night long the previous night.

Jack had know exactly where to find him when he'd called Civilization and been told that Michael wasn't due in until three that day. Hockey was one of Michael's passions, second only to being a chef, and of course Kristine. Whenever Michael was upset about something or in need of some quiet time, this was where he came. He'd put on his skates, grab a stick and some pucks and start hitting them at the net with all his strength. He didn't bother working on his technique when he was upset; he just hit the damn pucks in the general direction of the net and hoped some would go in.

"Hey Carter," Jack's quiet voice startled Michael out of his concentration and he turned to face his friend.

"Hey man," he answered just as quietly.

"Wanna talk about it?" Jack asked as Michael went back to hitting the pucks with an intensity that Jack knew well.

Michael looked up at him feigning ignorance, "Talk about what?"

"Come on man, don't give me that." Jack was getting impatient. "You know exactly what I'm talking about." Michael continued to look at him as if he had no idea. "What the hell happened last night?!" Jack raised his voice slightly getting frustrated.

Michael sighed, "Nothing Jack, absolutely nothing."

"Nothing?" Jack repeated, confusion etched on his face. "You didn't talk about anything?"

"Nope."

"But I found you two wrapped up together on the couch."

"Yeah, we fell asleep while we were..." he trailed off sadly.

"While you were what?" Jack continued to press his friend.

Michael took a deep calming breath before looking Jack in the eyes and answering. "We were discussing the plans for the "farewell" party that we're throwing for her before she moves to New York with Supercop." With that said he turned and slapped yet another puck at the net as hard as he could.

"Oh." Jack groaned at the thought of how hard that discussion must have been for his friend. "I'm sorry man."

"Yeah, me too." Michael said softly, the pain he felt clearly heard in his voice.

Jack waited a moment and watched his friend in silence before asking his next question. "So, I'm assuming you didn't tell her then?" It was more a statement than an actual question because he already knew the answer.

"Nope."

"Why not?" Jack asked not at all understanding why Michael didn't just get his feelings out in the open. It wasn't like no one knew. Everyone knew. Except for the one person that mattered the most. Jack suspected that even Keith knew to some degree.

"Jack," Michael once again turned his sad eyes to his friend. "I've already lost her. Not that I ever had her to begin with. But whatever chance I might have had, I lost it the day..." He trailed off the anguish he felt making it impossible to continue.

Jack's heart went out to his friend. He stepped closer to him and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Mike," he began slowly, not sure if he should continue, but he did, this needed to be said. "She's forgiven you for that. She did a long time ago. In fact she never even blamed you in the first place. It wasn't your fault. She knows that." He tried to reassure him. "You didn't see it coming."

"I know all that." He sighed deeply. "But I- I should have...I should have seen it. I wasn't paying attention." He finished his voice barely above a whisper. A tear made its way down his face.

"Even if you had, what could you have done about it? It all happened too fast." Jack was talking quickly, doing his best to get through to his friend. "We've all worked so hard to put that day behind us the best we could. Kristine has put it behind her. Why are you insisting on dwelling on it?"

"I don't know." He answered truthfully. "I guess I'm just searching for a reason why she doesn't love me the way that I love her, and that's all I can come up with."

Jack's jaw dropped in surprise. "A reason why she doesn't love you?" He asked incredulously. "Are you serious? I swear you two are the most boneheaded people I've ever met!" He was yelling now. "How could you possibly think that she doesn't love you Mike?"

"I don't doubt that she loves me Jack." Michael said quickly trying to calm his friend. "She does love me...like a brother."

Jack snorted. "And how many girls do you know who kiss their brothers in the middle of the dance floor at their senior prom?"

Michael smiled at the memory, but then shook his head as his attention returned to Jack. "That was a mistake, at least on her part. She just got caught up in the emotion of it all, ya know, prom, the end of high school and the beginning of the rest of our lives. She was afraid we were going to drift apart..."

"You really still believe all that bullshit?" Jack asked staring at his friend, his eyes wide.

"Yes, but even if it did mean something to her, that was like six years ago so it doesn't even matter anymore. Now can we please stop talking about this?" Michael pleaded with his friend. "I feel like I've been on this non-stop emotional roller coaster ever since breakfast yesterday and I need a break from it. If you're going to insist on staying and bugging me, then at least go grab some skates and come join me."

"Fine," Jack grumbled. "But we aren't done talking about this." He warned.

"Yes we are Jackie. Now go put on your skates so that I can beat your girly-man ass in a game of one-on-one."

"We'll just see about that Carter." Jack called over his shoulder as he went to do as he was told.