Vincent thought about saving all those people. He really did, but then Tori started to stir and he felt that familiar torn feeling again.
"Vincent?" Tori sounded groggy and decision made, he sped from the basement of the police station and back to the boathouse so he could look after Tori and keep the necklace safe. He didn't know what its purpose was but he knew he had to keep it close.
After checking her over, Tori seemed no worse for the wear and so he laid her out on the bed and paced.
Catherine was in danger but yet he felt a pull to stay close to the sleeping and perfectly safe Tori. Not to save Catherine. He knew Catherine and he used to have something strong but ever since Tori came around, he just didn't feel it anymore. Something about that wasn't right. He shouldn't NOT feel something for Catherine. He knew he loved her. So why were his instincts telling him otherwise.
Tori was beautiful but he hadn't brought himself to take it beyond the occasional kiss. He felt dirty and like he was betraying someone. Knowing Catherine was seeing those society pages with pictures of him and Tori plastered all over them, he knew she must be hurting. He swore he could almost see her heart breaking each time he saw her.
He was only using Tori as bait though. He wasn't dating her, which is what Tori seemed to believe. Catherine and him had never been able to be seen together. He was never able to take her on a proper date. Now she has to see him hitting up every posh party in town with the other woman. Worst part was that he didn't seem to care about Catherine's feelings. Until after that is. After the parties, he was never able to sleep. Knowing tomorrow she would hate him just a little more.
Time must have got away from him because the knock on the door surprised him. He listened and scented and realized that J.T. and Gabe were the ones knocking. A glance at the clock showed it was a good 4 hours since he had left the station.
He opened the door and allowed them in, he took note of Gabe's tight face and J.T's anxious one and knew something was wrong.
"What's going on? What happened after I left?" He looked to Gabe since he was in command of the hostage situation.
"This isn't easy Vincent, so I need you to not interrupt and let me get this out."
At his uneasy nod, Gabe continued.
"We had ears in the whole station so I heard everything." He glared at Vincent but caught himself and continued.
"When you left with the necklace and Tori, Catherine went back upstairs to try and free the hostages. They had realized at this point that Tori and her were gone so they were ready and grabbed her again. For her heroics, they tied her to a chair, gagged her and made her watch as they shot each and every hostage, including Tess. Before they shot the first one they asked where the necklace was, she told them with you but they did the everyone else as punishment."
Vincent had to sit down, he couldn't believe it. They were all dead. And she had to watch each one.
"How is she? Where is she?" Vincent rushed to get out, suddenly wanting to hug and comfort her.
Gabe shook his head, "I wasn't finished."
He looked to J.T. to see his friend in tears. "No. Tell me at least Cat got out?!"
"I am sorry J.T., I can't do that." Gabe turned from J.T. to look at him, and Tori over his shoulder. He heard her walk in and could smell her happiness.
"Catherine is dead?!" The glee in her voice was palpable.
"Yes." Gabe confirmed with a waver in his voice. "As a warning to you, Vincent, they carved her heart from her chest. While she was still alive. I heard her die. I was just too slow to get to her in time. If only I still had my beast side, maybe I could have been there in time." He hung his head, but Vincent knew whose fault it was. And it wasn't the ADA's.
"Well, that's dramatic. But at least the bitch is dead."
He didn't know what happened. He went from hearing the most devastating news, to holding Tori up by her throat.
"Vincent! Let her go!" J.T. was trying to calm him down but the only person who could ever calm him down is dead. Gone. Never to come back, and it was his fault.
He wasn't beasting out, he had full control over that side of him at the moment. This was pure hatred for a callous woman who was taking joy in another's death.
"How many times has Catherine saved your life Tori?" He still refused to release her. She needed to learn her place, and that will always be below Catherine.
"No answer? Me either, because I have lost count. And you gloat over her death! A death she did nothing to deserve!"
He released Tori and fought every urge to check on her.
"Something is wrong." He turned to J.T.
"Every cell in my body is telling me to comfort Tori and apologize for hurting her. I wasn't in the wrong though! My brain knows that! What is happening J.T.? Help me!"
"This is the connection Catherine was talking about taking you over Vincent. You let it, you let Tori, control you and now it's too late. You lost her, man. Catherine is gone. " J.T. was crying and shaking his head in disgust.
Vincent fell to his knees when faced with the truth. The love of his life was gone.
Like a freight train, he was hit with the full force of his memories. Every single last one. Catherine smiling, laughing, kissing on the roof top. Every last memory. They were back.
He came to and looked into the worried faces of Gabe, J.T. and Tori.
"Get. Out."
He all but growled it at her but she didn't budge.
"I said, Get. Out! It's you! It's been you all along! Now that I remember, I know! You were there at the facility they held me at. Where they took all my memories! You knew all along that the more I gave into our connection, the more I would forget Catherine."
He watched as Tori's face went sheet white with realization.
"Let me explain."
"No. Get out before I remove each of your limbs from your body. I never want to see or hear from you again."
With a blur Tori was gone.
"You remember?" Gabe looked to be on the edge of losing it.
"Yeah, Catherine was right. Tori had some kind of chemical hold on me." Then he remembered the most important thing. "She's dead. Catherine. It's because of me. I chose, or the beast chose I guess, to protect Tori from a danger she was never in. I left her there to face her death. Alone."
J.T. nor Gabe argued with him. He knew then, that it truly was his fault. He could have gone in there and saved every single last one of them. He didn't though. He simply didn't.
"Listen, that was all I needed to do. They are waiting for me back at the station. 13 dead, all of them FBI or NYPD. And all of them were under my command. I have to get back. I will inform you both of funeral arrangements. They each only had each other, so it won't be anything big."
J.T. nodded and rose to follow. Before he left he turned and looked at Vincent in a way that he had never seen before from him best friend.
"I feel my debt to you is paid. I loved Tess and Catherine. You could have prevented this if you would have just listened. We all tried to tell you and show you. It was always all about Tori though. Have a nice life Vincent."
With that, he was alone. Truly alone. For what he now realizes is the first time ever. Even at his worst Catherine was there. She never gave up on him. She stayed true to him. And what did he give her in return?
Sorrow and death.
Tess and Catherine were laid to rest right next to each other, a few days later. J.T. was the only non-NYPD/FBI attendee. Vincent Keller had not been heard from or seen since Catherine's death.
Tori, was briefly seen at a society even wearing the necklace but has since dropped off the map. Those in the know, assumed Catherine and Tess' killers got a hold of her and the necklace. Not one soul cared enough to check on her.
Vincent was around though. He watched from a distance as she was lowered into the ground. He shed silent tears as guns fired in honor of their fallen comrades.
The day was cold and dreary. It matched his soul.
He didn't know where he was going or what he was going to do. He just knew that he would spend the rest of his days on Earth, trying to be the man Catherine saw. The man she fell in love with. Even if she wasn't around to love him anymore.