"Hardly!" Diana exclaimed. "I should be thinking about the vacation I so desperately need after this week! And speaking of traveling, I guess I need to be going. I still have to collect my things from the hotel and get to the airport."

She had probably known all along that this was how it would be. How it had to be... All the romantic notions she had kept inside would remain hidden and she would once again leave the man she loved. In telling Steve the truth about how she felt, she would feel compelled to be honest about others things, too. Things, she wasn't sure she was ready to share or that Steve was ready to hear. The right time and circumstance would never come for the two of them, it seemed.

Disappointed Steve asked, "Do you have to leave so soon? This isn't quite the way I pictured our reunion!" They both laughed.

"Yes, I'm afraid so. Dale needs me back in LA and I did leave my life dangling back there somewhere."

Stephen looked at his watch and piped in, "Yeah, I really need to get going too. I have a class in about forty minutes. I'll check back after my classes are over, if that's okay?"

"Oh, I'll be here!" Steve joked.

"Come on, I'll walk you out." Diana put her arm around the young man's shoulders and walked out with him.

As they were walking down the hall, Diana could hear ‘Bette Davis Eyes' playing softly from the nurse's station.

She turned to him and said genuinely: "I just want to say thanks again for all your help. Take care of yourself, okay?"

They said their goodbyes and Diana returned to Steve's room. Steve had fallen into a very solemn mood in her absence.

"Diana, you don't know how much it means to me that you came...and for all you did. I owe you my life. You're a true friend."

Diana felt a stinging in her eyes as she leaned down and kissed him gently on the cheek. And I'll always be a friend, she thought bitterly.

The taxicab pulled up in front of 409 South Vine at about nine thirty that night. Diana was exhausted and was looking forward to a good night's sleep. It wasn't the flight, or the events of the past week that made her so weary, but the emotional stress she had endured.

When she crawled into bed and turned out the lamp on the bedside table, she was consoled by one thought, at least. She wouldn't have to worry any longer with those terrible dreams she'd been having. It seemed that although there were still bits and pieces of it she still didn't understand, for the most part, the puzzle had been solved. Steve was now safe and so was she...

But the dream did come.

It wasn't exactly the same as before though. There were no grave markers with ominous inscriptions and the figure that emerged from the shadows was no longer cloaked in darkness so that his identity was concealed. He walked toward her into the light so that his face was clear for her to see... It was Steve! He extended his hand and she gratefully accepted, falling into his warm embrace.

And Diana didn't wake up frightened, but remained asleep, a slight smile parting her lips.

This was a dream from which she never wished to be awakened...