DISCLAIMER: All characters (Gina Brogno, Ani Martin blah blah etc.) and situations belong to Open Book Productions, Crystal Chappell and Kim Turrisi, etc. I'm not them.
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
SPOILERS: Season 1, Episode 7
Captured
By Jaina
Ani: I get you. Always have. Blessing. Curse. But I, I really needed to see you today for me. Because, uh, I'm gonna do something that I should have been doing for the past year. I'm gonna get a life.
Gina: Well, can I at least call you?
Ani: I wish you wouldn't.
It's over, Gina realizes. Just that simply, it's all done. It hurts worse than all the loud, angry words and long, tension filled silences that have come before it because this time she knows Ani really means it.
This time she's finally screwed it up too badly - pushed Ani too far.
Ani kisses her and all it screams is, I loved you once. Good bye, good bye, good bye.
It's all Gina can do not to cry. Then Ani slips the camera from around her neck and touches Gina's chin, bringing their heads together. They couldn't be farther apart. Ani takes the picture.
Click.
Something like hope makes Gina's breath catch. She knows Ani. Photography is not just a job, her camera not just the tool of her trade. It's her life. It's the way she sees the world and holds on to little fragments of it - the pieces that are most important to her.
The moment Ani captures them together one last time, Gina knows Ani's not ready to let them go, no matter what she says. Now she just has to hold on until Ani realizes it too.
The End