Chapter One- Cowardly.

"I'm going to kill one of you," said the murderer, "Who will it be? Choose now or I choose for you."

"Mal please, let me die. I could never live without you, knowing I let you choose to die. Please, let it be me," Natara begged him.

"No Natara!" he growled, "You think it'd be any easier for me?"

Then all of a sudden a bullet was flying into Natara's chest and she collapsed with a faint, "Ow!"

Mal lunged at the killer and scooped him up in his arms. "How dare you kill mommy!"

Little Sammy laughed and said, "I told you to choose and you didn't!"

Mal grabbed his Nerf gun and tossed it on the ground, where Natara came back to life and grabbed it instantly.

"Hey no fair!" squealed Sammy. "Mommy, you're dead!"

Mal sat the little two-year-old down and chucked, "Not if she catches you first!"

But the next bullet went into Mal's chest and he gasped his last words, "You'd dare kill your own husband?" Natara smiled, "Well honey, you did beg and say you couldn't live without me."

Mal ran to her and tackled her to the ground and Sammy climbed on top of the pile of bodies.

"Daddy, tell me how you and Mommy fell in love," he pleaded.

"Sammy you've heard that story a thousand times!" Natara sighed.

"I know, but it's so fun to hear! It's the best story of all time!"

"It's my favorite too," said Mal, leaning down to kiss his wife. "Okay Sammy, well it all started one day at the San Francisco Police Department precinct. You're mommy was looking as gorgeous as ever…"

"Shut up and tell the story, Mal."

"Well you were. Anyway, I was looking handsome as usual…"

"MAL!"

"Okay, okay…"

As told by Mal Fallon to his son Sammy about Natara Williams-Fallon

I'd known I'd fallen for her from the moment we solved our first case together. The Maskmaker Case. By that point, we were best friends, at least in my book. I trusted her more than any partner I'd ever had, even Uncle Ken. She was the prettiest woman I'd ever met; I knew every girl would've been jealous of her. She was smart, beautiful, funny, and caring. But that's not when I fell in love, oh no. I just knew I liked her.

Love has its ways of sneaking up on you. Unexpectedly. You'll never see it coming, and it'll only come when you least expect it. That's how it happened with Natara.

Sure, I knew she was beautiful. I knew I was falling for her more and more each day we were together. And we were partners; we were together every day, all day. And being best friends, sometimes we were together late at night as well, finishing work, getting food to eat, talking, relaxing. We were together nearly 24/7 and all I knew was I wanted it to stay that way forever.

I wanted to know she was mine. No one could ever take her from me.

And yet, I still denied it. I knew I liked her but nothing more. I wouldn't ever let myself fall in love with her. I refused. Love..well let's just say it's never worked out for anyone I've known in the past. Heartbreak? That was something I knew well.

On top of that, what would people think? We were partners; we worked together. It wasn't right.

And yet, I continued to fall harder and harder for her each day. I noticed and mentally memorized everything about her. From her smile, to her laugh, to the way she looked when she was frustrated, I knew it all.

"So when did you fall in love with her daddy?" Sammy whines. "Tell that part!"

"I'm getting there Sammy."

So one day when I realized it was getting out of hand, I tried to stop myself. I found other girls. Tried to occupy myself. Told myself it was for the best, letting her go. She could never love me back; our line of work, it was just too stressful.

"But I did, and that's what your daddy didn't know," whispers Natara, staring at Mal. "He didn't know I was wondering the same things, memorizing everything about him, telling myself it was ridiculous. He didn't know."

"Why didn't you just ask daddy? You could've been together right then!" Sammy cried.

"Oh Sammy, would you just go up to a girl and ask if she was in love with you?"

Anyway, one day I realized it was hopeless. I couldn't ever stop thinking about the beautiful girl with the perfect brown hair and gorgeous smile. I couldn't get her laugh out of my head. I found myself telling jokes just so I could hear it over and over. I couldn't stop myself.

So I ran away.

Cowardly, I know. But at the time, I was desperate. So I left her. I resigned at the precinct and I left.

"Where'd you go daddy?"

I flew to Centerscore. I went and ran away to live with my sister.