Zoe's Office - Saturday, July 1 - Late Morning

[bigdamnprincipal]

Zoe sat in her office, with the door closed and locked. She'd spent quite a bit of time reading the e-mail from Veronica, and trying to prepare herself to get rid of Wash. Somehow, she didn't think this was going to be very easy.

After a few minutes of silence, she faced the door, yelling, "I know you're here, I can feel it. Just come out already!"

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[bigdamnprincipal]

Within a few moments, Wash appeared, his expression a cross between smug and disappointed. "I thought you didn't want to see me," he said. "Now you're asking me to come back. You really are a difficult woman to understand sometimes."

[bigdamnprincipal]

"I know why you're here," Zoe replied, ignoring the insult. "You're not really Wash. You're some thing that's trying to hurt me and my students."

[bigdamnprincipal]

"Your students?" Wash laughed. "Oh honey, that's so sweet. Hopefully you'll do a better job keeping them safe than you did with me. Do they know about you and the security man?"

[bigdamnprincipal]

Zoe nodded. "Yes, they do. The students have been very nice about the whole thing except for Xander, poor boy."

[bigdamnprincipal]

"And they don't care that you're just moving on from me...oh, wait," Wash said. "That's because they don't know about me, isn't it?"

[bigdamnprincipal]

"The students do not need to know about you," Zoe replied sharply. "But Ben knows. I know you seem to think that I've moved on too quickly. Maybe that's because I think that too. But I haven't." She turned on Wash, looking at him seriously. "Just because I've made room in my life for someone else, it doesn't mean that you're not still a part of my life too."

[bigdamnprincipal]

Wash gave Zoe a skeptical look. "That's not how these things work."

[bigdamnprincipal]

"Yes, they do." Zoe reached up to touch her necklace, her voice dropping with nostalgia. "I still remember our wedding, when we ended up using this as my ring." She glanced back at Wash. "I haven't taken it off, ever. And I won't, ever. I could fall in and out of love with a dozen different men, and it won't change the fact that I will always love you, and miss you. If you were really Wash, you'd want me to be happy. You'd want the same thing as the Captain wanted when he sent me here - you'd want me to move on. And that's what I'm doing."

[bigdamnprincipal]

Wash's face finally broke into a full frown as Zoe closed her eyes and turned away from him. This time, when he faded away, he completely disappeared.

[bigdamnprincipal]

Zoe let out a breath she barely even knew she was holding as she felt Wash leave completely. She turned back towards the door with a faint smile, and reached up to hold onto her necklace again.