What you need to know : Flowers for your grave never happened, however Beckett kept working her mother's case on her own and with an occasional help of the boys. This is basically an AU from after Knockout and she got shot, that hasn't changed. This happens while she is at her father's cabin. Odds are, she is not the only one.

Ray of hope
Early Night Encounter.

The sun was only now beginning to set, slightly hidden by some stubborn angry clouds giving the sky a darkened, and felted shade of pink and paled orange. The woods would have been plunged into darkness if it weren't for the dreamy and cozy light from the sky, just as he liked it. He loved to wander around in the woods best just before night fell, and early in the morning just as the first sunbeams began to break through the thick trees and groves. He didn't know how to explain it, but there was something about the tingling fresh air that made his hair prickle along his neck, the silence so loud, it overwhelmed him. He was alone, and yet he felt anything but lonely, everything around him was alive; a constant breeze keeping the heavy vegetation moving, as if graciously dancing and teasing each other and if he really paid attention he could hear some low rumbles and swarming from the crawling and omnipresent organisms. That's what he loved so much in being here; he was not alone. He didn't feel alone. It was always so vibrant with energy, making his own buzz.

He had decided to walk farther down tonight, and he shouldn't, really, it was so easy to get lost in here. But he had been here for weeks already, and he was tired of walking around the same spot where everything was the same, he knew there was a lake somewhere at the south of the woods. Hopefully he would encounter some other habitations in case he really did get lost – something he wasn't sure of as he had never seen anyone near or around his own cabin.

A couple of minutes later, he finally faced a dark stretch of water, partially flat, only perturbed by the increasing wind scraping at the surface in gentle waves and the occasional flop of fishes, drawing rings here or there. It truly was a beautiful and breathtaking sight. He let his eyes sweep around at how the lake was circled by insanely high and now dark trees, and he thought he could see a pontoon where water met earth. As he kept observing, he noticed a shadow he swore he had seen move, it was now getting dark really fast, and he couldn't say what it was from where he was, it only looked like a mass just at the edge of the left side of the wooden pontoon.

Ah, what the hell. At worst, it would be a bear and he could jump into the water, right?

Do bears swim?

He shrugged as he slowly approached the shadow, and as his feet made contact with the moist wood cracking under him, he saw the dark mass materialize before him and he was now able to say that it was not a wild and angry long-legged bear but someone - a woman – just sitting there, knees pressed and raised against her torso, arms wrapped around them. He was just standing here, surprised she hadn't heard him and so, he cleared his throat rather loudly and he saw her slender figure violently flinch, her legs falling before her and hanging above the water, the tip of her – what seemed to be – running shoes barely grazing the water, and before he had time to say anything she got up in a flash reminding him of a wild and scared animal. She kept walking backward while he stood still and oh-

"Wait, stop!" He shouted almost unconsciously as she got dangerously closer to the edge.

The woman froze abruptly, her body wobbling slightly, and for a long minute, no movement, no sound was heard except for the noisy nocturnal wildlife and the delicate splashing of the water against the wood.

"Are you alright?" He asked tentatively as he took a step forward until she stopped him.

"Stay- Stay right where you are. Please, just- just go, okay?"

His eyebrows shot up incredulously as he tried to make sense of what she'd said. Well, no. What she'd said wasn't the problem. Her voice was. He could still hear it in his head, the strong quivering and cracking that had seemed to make it hard for her to keep talking as if she was losing it, pleading.

He was more often than not accused of putting his nose where he shouldn't but he really didn't have the heart to let her be after hearing her speak.

"Hey, look. I'm not going to hurt you. I just happen to have a cabin a couple of miles from here and I- Well, ended up... here." He did his best to sound random and make her at ease but she kept flinching and something wasn't right with her.

"You should go," He heard her respond harshly but not snapping at him as she wrapped her arms around herself tightly, building defenses.

Nice to meet you too, neighbor.

"I probably should. So should you. It's ridiculously dark and cold here and you're shaking, I can tell." I just don't know if the cold is the reason why you're shaking.

"Why do you care? Can't you just go and leave me alone?" She now snapped at him for real, not without a hint of desperation, her low and stern voice making it hard for him to swallow.

Who are you?

"If I go, will you?" He heard her snort, her face angling to face their surroundings and couldn't help but smile softly at the sound. Oh, she was annoyed, alright. Better than scared and angry though, right?

"Seriously, now?" She threw at him sharply as she appeared to walk toward him, but stood her ground still quite far from him. However, she was now close enough for him to see how tense she looked. "I don't know who you think you are and who you think I am but I'm not a child and I don't need your help, I don't even know you, so you might want to go now. You don't want to stay out in the woods too late."

He gaped at her, opening and closing his mouth several times, trying to come up with something, but she had made him speechless. It would have been seriously hot if she hadn't sounded so weak, her words -even though clear and firm- dragged out with some kind of weariness. Whatever her problem was, she did need help. He couldn't see her, not really, just the shape of her tall and thin body but he could see her shaking from time to time or her, ever so slightly retreating again when he made a move. That was certainly not being okay. But pushing was clearly not the solution, he would go.

He would just come back tomorrow.

She woke up the moment her room got warmer as the strong sunlight broke easily through her curtains, giving the room a bright yellowish tint. She rolled in the bed, the mattress softly bouncing under her weight, to hide her face into her pillow and why did her father refuse to change the curtains for shutters?

She hadn't be able to fall asleep before the early hours, her mind racing after her earlier encounter with- Who even had that been? She didn't remember her father informing her about a new "neighbor" recently, or ever and that had freaked the shit out of her. She had come here because she needed to be alone, needed an escape from the loudness of the city, needed to forget all those pitying looks all of her friends at the 12th had given her. She wasn't dead. She didn't need pity, and she didn't want it. She didn't like to know someone could be wandering around. It made her mind see things that weren't there, hear noises she was used to and yet made her heart race and her eyes scan the room.

Recovering. She was just recovering and her brain only tried to protect her, right? She perhaps was uselessly and too easily overstimulated but that wasn't all bad if something actually happened. She didn't need help. She just needed time and space to heal and she would be fine.

She would be just great. As much as the circumstances would let her.

He was dressed in casual grey jeans and a dark blue v-neck t-shirt when he ventured once again in the blooming woods trying to trace back his last steps to the south and toward the lake. It was a little after eleven and the heat mingled with humidity was already overpowering, making him regret not trying to come back later in the afternoon but that hadn't ended well the day before, had it? He was grateful the trees still offered a great coating above his head, enough to only allow shiny and vivid rays of light to come through here and there, connecting sky to earth and adding a sense of mystery to the place. It was strangely silent at this time of the day, compared to how full of life it seemed to be at night, all he could hear was the perky and tuneful sound of birds high above, still nice enough.

And as he nonchalantly kept walking, a large cabin slightly similar to his own came into his view and he sped up towards it but froze when he faced a window. The curtains prevented him from seeing inside very well but nonetheless he was able to picture a figure - her figure he had no doubt - sitting at the edge of the bed. She had her back to him, bent forward and her shoulders were slumped over with her head tilted down and her hands forcefully gripping the sheets.

He hadn't been wrong. She looked as worn down as she had the night before and it made his heart ache for her. He didn't know why he reacted so strongly, but he knew one thing, he couldn't just wipe off this image from his mind and turn back to his cabin.

There was something about her, he couldn't put a finger on it but it pulled at him and the very same words kept flashing before his eyes.

Help her.