iThis is an AU story that has been rolling around in my head for some time. Inspiration struck this morning and what follows is the result. Y'all know I'm not always quick with new chapters but I will do my best.

"Fuck!"

The exclamation bounced off the linoleum floor and echoed against the metal desks in the room. It was out of her mouth before she realized it. She quickly glanced around, glad almost everyone was already gone for the day. Mendoza was sitting at his desk in the corner but didn't even look over to acknowledge her slip up. The Chief had been getting onto her about her language. The last time he had threatened to start writing her up if she didn't get a handle on it. She had gotten back to the station late today, her field work delayed by a particularly difficult interaction at lunch with her now ex-boyfriend who she desperately hoped was done getting his shit out of her apartment. She had told him to leave the key on the counter when he was finished but she didn't imagine he'd bother sending her a courtesy text that he was done and gone, leaving it safe for her to go home. Didn't really matter anyway. She had more than enough things to do at the station to keep her busy. Besides, she could catch a few hours of sleep later in the locker room if she had to, just in case Shaun was trying to delay his efforts so he'd still be there when she arrived home.

It might take her awhile to get everything done anyway as she was having a hard time concentrating on her paperwork. She still couldn't believe Shaun. They'd met 2 years ago at a bar and while sparks hadn't flown immediately he and the whiskey had eventually worn her down and she went home with him that night. He was nothing like anyone she had dated before. He had the kind of job where you showered before work instead of afterwards, not like the grease monkeys and blue collar guys who typically went for women like her. She had an edge to her that scared a lot of men off. She was attractive, smart, quick tongued and some would say brash, but she was happy with who she was. It was how she had survived as one of five children born to her parents and the only girl.

She'd grown up with four brothers she adored and an overprotective father. Her relationship with her mother was...conflicted to say the least. If Lena Moretti had been hoping for a quiet and sweet daughter who she could clothe in pink dresses and bows to raise alongside her four rambunctious boys, Vic had to have been a huge disappointment. Still they'd come to an understanding over the years and even though Lena did not always agree with Vic and her actions, she supported her in whatever way she could. However, she could never really get behind Vic's choices in men. From the time she and boys first discovered each other existed in the 5th grade, Vic had been picking the "wrong" ones in her mother's eyes.

Shaun was a change from that, the first person Vic had ever dated that her mother actually liked. That should have been a sign that he wasn't a good match for her. Even so, their relationship went well for quite a while. It hadn't started to go downhill until Shaun began talking about their future together. He hadn't proposed or anything but he would say it like it was a forgone conclusion: they would get married, have babies and live happily ever after. The problem is, he never asked Vic what she wanted. Vic went along with it for the most part. After all, they had a good time together and the sex was great but she never really took the future talk seriously until the night he asked her if she would quit her job before she got pregnant or after. That's when the fights began and Vic quickly realized Shaun wasn't going to budge on this particular topic. His mother had stayed home to raise him and the mother of his children would do the same. Vic had finally had enough and today she met him for lunch and told him it was over, she was done. Needless to say, Shaun wasn't willing to just accept it. She stayed calm for a long time listening to his feelings and answering his questions. No, there wasn't someone else. Yes, she was sure. No, there was nothing he could do to change her mind. When he started to raise his voice and the interaction began to get ugly, she simply got up from the table and walked out of the restaurant. She'd texted him from the car to get his things from her place and leave the key and that was it.

Vic had been working homicide for the Philadelphia Police Department for over 5 years. She'd put in her time on the street, worked hard and earned her way to a position as one of the senior detectives. She was good at her job and she liked it. She sure as hell wasn't going to walk away from it to play house. If Shaun really knew her, really cared about her and paid attention, he would have known that. If he really loved her, he would have never asked her to leave it behind.

So, she cut him loose and tried her hardest to focus on work for the rest of the day, but now she had something else to be pissed off about and her boss didn't even have the decency to tell her in person. He sent it in an email. What a coward.

This was the icing on the cake. Icing made of lube because she was getting fucked and not in a good way. And the cake was made of horse shit because that's what this was. Ferguson, her partner, was being sent out to Wyoming for two months as part of a new initiative the department had started. In exchange, Wyoming was sending a deputy sheriff out to Philadelphia to take his place for the same amount of time. She picked up the hockey puck she kept on her desk and slammed it back down.

She heard Mendoza clear his throat, "I know I may regret asking, but what's wrong?"

"You know that IACP Conference Chief Simms went to last October? Well, he drank a couple of beers with some Sheriff from Wyoming one night and the two of them hatched a plan to do an officer exchange."

"Officer exchange?"

"Yeah, some departments have been doing it for years, but it's usually international. An officer from another country comes to the U.S to see how we do things here and vice versa."

"Like a foreign exchange student?"

"Same idea anyway. So Simms and this sheriff start talking about how it could benefit both of their departments to do something similar. Give everyone a different perspective on things and new experiences, see how another department operates. It's been so long since he mentioned it, I thought he had forgotten about it. Damned if today he didn't send me an email that he's sending Ferguson out to Wyoming for two months starting next week.

"Better him than you, right?"

"Yes, but who do think gets to partner with the Wyoming Deputy they're sending here in his place? Me, that's who. I don't have time for that shit!"

It could be worse. At least she was only on the receiving end of this little experiment. She thought maybe she should get a sympathy card for her partner to express her condolences that he'd won the golden ticket to the wild west. But then again, she wondered if he had volunteered for the assignment just to get a break from her. He had taken a personal day today, said he was spending the day with his grandmother for her 85th birthday, but now she wondered if he just didn't want to be around when she heard the news. Vic knew she hadn't been easy to work with the last few months. When Shaun started acting like a shit head she'd taken it out on Ferg and anyone else who happened to be standing close by. She knew it wasn't right but she did it anyway. Still she didn't deserve this, did she? If she couldn't hold her tongue with people she knew and with whom there was some mutual respect, how did they expect her to be able to do it with someone with whom she had no relationship at all? And she certainly didn't want to have to babysit some dumb ass cowboy.

"Where the fuck is Absaroka County, Wyoming anyway and what the hell kind of person would ever choose to live there?"

Mendoza sighed, "Sounds like you're about to find out."

I have been quietly processing S4. Though I haven't needed therapy over it as badly as some others, it has been an adjustment for me. I like the Doc but it's just wrong that our two favorite law enforcement officers are not together. Even so, I have kept my thoughts mostly to myself about the whole thing. My apologies to the great stories that have been posted that I have either not yet read or have read but not reviewed. Thanks for reading!