at the end of the episode in berlin, marsden is fantastic at portraying
a man who is about to cry, a man experiencing profound sadness. but my
feeling is that neil is crying not because HE lost laura, but because
SHE caused her own destruction and by doing so has hurt the sandbaggers.
his loss is not a personal one, but a loss to the sandbaggers, and he
mourns for the sandbaggers and himself, not for her. i will never
believe that neil loved laura. the ties were just not that strong as
portrayed in those few episodes where laura appears; they were cute,
romantic, almost childlike. but the ties between neil and willie are
ALWAYS there. when willie yells at neil that "i'm not going to let you
kill me" neil reassures him that his loyalty to willie is greater than
that which he displayed to laura.
so i agree that laura, had she survived berlin, would ultimately have
been "disappeared" some other time.