Laurel had absolutely no idea what to say. She couldn't break her stare either, her eyes were locked on his because everything he was saying - whether it was wrong or right - it was what she had wanted to hear for so long. Because for Laurel, it was always Oliver. She loved Tommy so much. She did. She couldn't deny that, but deep in her bones, in every fiber of being, it was always Oliver. And she thought he knew that. Looking at him right now, saying the words that she had wanted him to say, she couldn't help but think of everything that tore them apart. She could blame his infidelities, but it wasn't just that he had a wandering eye. There was so much more to it, but she wasn't in the business to make excuses for him. She wanted to believe the past didn't matter, but everything that happened in the past brought them to where they were now.
"Ollie - don't," she said then, looking up at him. Don't say it if you don't mean it. That was what she was thinking. This was crazy, all of this, it was crazy. "Oliver, we both know it's true, I'm just a dead girl walking. I don't want to do that to you." But God, did she want to hear the words. She couldn't help that. She loved Oliver. It was always him.
And even here, her feelings were developing all over again for the man. Since that night at the police department. The way he stayed with her, took care of her, she couldn't help but relive some childhood fantasy that never came to the surface. She waited, days, even weeks and it was just Oliver being Oliver. Kind, warm - gentle. There were so many sides to him and Laurel was lucky to have seen most. There was a time, a part of him that she didn't know. The part where he was away for five years, without her. She thought he was dead and maybe she wasn't supposed to, but every other side of him, she knew perfectly.
"I don't want to be the reason you hurt." And that was the truth. She didn't want to be the reason and she didn't want to turn into a regret, even if the thought was quick in his mind, that maybe he would he never got involved with her again once she was gone because it brought him nothing but pain.
"I never stopped loving you," she told him, not able to look at him, because she was trying to get her thoughts in order. "It was always you and I used to think we would have a lifetime of happiness." But she didn't get that. She would never have that. Even if the man of her dreams was standing in front of her, telling her how in love with her he was, it was nothing but borrowed time.