(A not so happy story, i was feeling a bit moody, and this is what came from the moodiness. enjoy! read and review please.)

NOT MINE NOT MAKING ANY MONEY! IT'S JUST FOR FUN!

One Last Request

This was not the walk he wanted to do. It was the walk that every spouse had to dread for. To see a lone person walk down the walkway of your house and to knock on the door to give bad news, Carlos Manoso thought that he would never have to do this. His partner, he was stronger than that, why did he have to be the one to die?

Carlos looked up at the somewhat modest white house that had a cute picket fence and lovely small garden. He couldn't see his partner living here, and enjoying life like he did, but he never expected the man to settle down and get married.

It had been a fatal mission, the moment they walked into the place, they had known something was up. It only took an explosion for them to see how bad it was. Carlos had only had minor injuries, but his partner, he had only lived long enough to ask Carlos to take care of what was precious to him and died in Carlos's arms. Some higher up in charge of the mission had fucked up and it cost them all his partner's life. The higher up had been discharged and It had fallen into Carlo's arms to tell his partner's wife that he would never be home again.

Carlos opened the white gate and walked up to the black front door of the house. He pressed the doorbell and heard the muffle ringing of the doorbell, and soft footsteps. He waited only for a moment, before the door opened to reveal a woman before him. He had seen her several times. She was stunning, how his friend got her, he'd never know. She was ranks over them, working in the most secret parts of the organization they belonged to. She was tall, 6'1 and slim, with milk chocolate skin that had a glow to it. large amber eyes looked into his soft ones, and the full lips that were on the pretty face moved and a soft musical voice said, "Carlos, what are you doing here? I thought you and Diesel were on a mission?"

The woman looked down to his hands and her face paled. Her hands flew up to her mouth and she shook her head, whimpering, "No, no, no, no, no, no."

"I'm sorry, Heidi, but Diesel died during the mission," Carlos said softly, watching the woman before him, fall apart, sliding down the doorway to land in a heap, "I managed to get him to the pickup point, his body is waiting down at the building."

Carlos watched as Heidi began to cry, clutching her stomach. In his hands were Diesel's wedding ring and his flannel shirt, his favorite one. Heidi reached out for them and Carlos gave it to her, watching as the poor woman rubbed his face with it and sobbed, "You were supposed to come home, Diesel! You promised! You promised!"

Carlos knew that Heidi shouldn't be alone, so he helped her up, and led her into the house, closing the door. Carlos led the woman to the couch in the large living room, and let her cry in his shirt, crying herself to sleep. He held the sleeping woman for a bit, before he laid her on the couch, and got up to find a wet cold cloth to put on her heated face. Carlos looked around the hallway, getting glimpses of his partner's life outside of the organization. There were pictures of him and Heidi everywhere. Diesel use to tell him that he and Heidi would travel the world twice before their 5th anniversary. Diesel had said they had a trip planned to go Antarctica after this mission, a week before their anniversary. it would never happen now.

Carlos stepped into the high tech kitchen and smiled softy; Diesel had always wanted to be a five star chef, taking their MREs and trying to create lobster soufflés with chocolate pudding and chicken packets. Carlos found a folded up dish towel, and wet it in the sink. He walked out the kitchen, and into the hallway, pausing at the little side table that was in the hallway. There, on the table was a picture, an ultrasound picture. In the corner of it was Diesel's neat handwriting; ' Baby Vashmen, 3 months along.'

Fuck, Diesel was going to become a father, or, he had been. Why did it have to be Diesel to die? He had everything going for him, and now it was all gone. Carlos should have been the one to go in first, not Diesel. Now there was a woman in the living room a widow and possibly three months pregnant with a child that would never see their father. Carlos walked into the living room, and placed the cool cloth on Heidi's face, watching the woman flinch and then relax in her sleep. Carlos leaned back in the couch, and thought about what had occurred during their botched mission.

"Come on Ranger," Diesel said with a goofy smile, "This should be an easy one, in and out, then I can go home to my wife!"

Carlos shook his head and said, "You're whipped, I can't believe Heidi, one of the best agents, had you whipped."

Diesel shrugged his shoulders as they made it up to the building they were supposed to find the target in, "Heidi is very sweet, and loving, I've never had someone so attentive to me, once you get past that hot shot façade she plays, you find out that she's a very kind woman who loves with all her heart."

Carlos nodded his head, his thoughts going to a curly brown hair and blue eyed woman. He had gone off on a mission and came back to Trenton to find out that she had married Joe Morelli and had cut herself off from the people she used to be friends with. Carlos hadn't really known how to react, but Diesel had swooped in, took him to his place, fed him and had let Heidi coddle him and tell him it would be alright.

"Hey man," Diesel said, turning to Ranger seeing the turmoil in his eyes, "Maybe she'll come to her senses and see you for what you truly are, a fine catch."

"Sure, Diesel, whatever you say," Carlos said, shaking his head and pausing, "Something doesn't feel right, this was too easy, Diesel."

Diesel shrugged his shoulders and said, "Maybe that's because the loser knows how badass we are and is just going to come with us easy," walking up to the door of the compound, "See look, man, I'll go in first, and show you, alright."

Diesel opened the door to the compound, and that was Carlos knew something was wrong. He began to run over to Diesel saying, "Diesel! Don't go in-"

The Explosion had him flying back ten feet in the air, landing with a thud. Carlos got up shaking his head free of the fuzziness, and stumbled over to where Diesel lay in a heap. Shit, Diesel had gotten the brunt of the explosion. What had happened? Carlos fell to his knees beside his partner and pulled him into his arms. Diesel focused his good eye on Carlos, almost all his body brunt from the explosion. He licked his lips and croaked, "I think I fucked up, Carlos, shit, Heidi is going to kill me."

Carlos shook his head and said, "No, she won't, Diesel, she'll be happy to see you home."

Diesel shook his head and said, "I'm not going home alive, and we both know that. Just-just take care of her okay? She's precious to me, the only one to see past Diesel, to see the real me."

Carlos nodded his head and said, "I will, Diesel, it's alright now, you can go to sleep, it's okay to close your eyes."

"Take good care of her…"Diesel whispered, before he closed his eyes, his body limp, dead to the world. Carlos knew that he couldn't fall apart now. He sent out a distress call, hoisted Diesel's form on his shoulders and went to the pickup point. It was only right that Heidi got to bury her husband. It was only right if she had the chance.

Carlos turned to look down at Heidi who whimpered in her sleep. He would take care of Heidi, he would keep the promise that he gave to Diesel. Before he went to Heidi's house, he went to his attorney to look over everything Diesel owned. It would all go to Heidi, the money he had tucked away in banks and the estates he had. Diesel was quite a wealthy man, for such a person to live modestly. Heidi would live comfortably. The Organization had told him they may not let Heidi do field work anymore, due to Diesel's death. Carlos knew that now they would permanently have her doing desk work, now that she had a child on the way.

Carlos got up from the couch, and pulled out his phone, he needed to call someone who he knew was close to Heidi. The person had quit the Organization two years back to get married. He punched in the phone number he knew by heart and had to only wait a moment, before his cousin, Lester Santos picked the phone up.

"Hey, Ranger, what's up? How's Miami, bet it's nice down there-"Lester started but Carlos stopped him saying, "Is Jeanne there, I need to speak to her."

Lester was silent and then said, "Yeah, she's here, she's putting William down for a nap, I'll get her."

Carlos could hardly believe that Lester married Jeanne Ellen Borrows. The Ice Cold Queen. He managed to get one date from her, and the rest was history. They got married a month later and had been going strong ever since.

The sound of screams filled the air, and then Lester said, "William, time for a nap, Mommy needs to talk to Uncle Ranger!"

A second later, a woman's voice filled the air and Jeanne said in an irritated voice, "What Manoso, I'm trying to-"

"Diesel's dead, he died during a mission, I'm with Heidi right now, but I know she needs her ex-partner's support too." Carlos said to Jeanne, who gasped and made a sound

"Holy shit," Jeanne whispered, before she said, "Lester! Diesel died during a mission, we have to go to England to see Heidi."

"No, don't come to England, we'll come to Trenton, I think it would be best for Heidi to change environments," Carlos said to Jeanne who said, "Okay…"

"Just hurry up and bring my girl back," Jeanne said softly, her voice full of emotions, "I need to see her and make sure she's okay."

"We'll be on a plane in a few hours, I'll go pack her some clothes." Carlos said softly, turning to look at Heidi, who shifted in her sleep.

Carlos went upstairs and packed enough clothes for Heidi to last a week or so. He had to turn away from Diesel's side of the master bedroom. One of his flannel shirts lay on the bed, as though he had to pick which one to wear. He grabbed the pillow that was on the on the bed and carried the suitcase and pillow down to the first floor.

"What are you doing Carlos?" Heidi had asked the man, standing in the archway that led to the living room, "Why are you packing clothes."

"We need to go somewhere, I think it would be best if you stayed close by to some friends, Jeanne said that she'd be happy to have you."

Heidi walked over to pick up the pillow in Carlos's arms. She inhaled the scent on it and whispered, "Diesel's favorite pillow, why did you have to die, Diesel."

Heidi walked over to the side table, and picked up a small frame that had a picture of her and Diesel, smiling and hugging each other. She picked it up and placed it in an oversized tote bag, tears filling her big amber eyes.

"He's really dead, isn't he?" Heidi whimpered, as Carlos led her outside to the car he drove to get from London to the countryside, "He was supposed to come home, he was going to be a daddy, we had been trying for so long…after the 6th miscarriage, we stopped, he was so happy, now….he's gone."

Carlos kept an eye out on Heidi, watching her lean against the window of the car, staring outside at the rolling hills. She had a death grip on the pillow, and on the flannel shirt he had given her. Diesel's wedding ring was on her thumb. He made a note that he would get her a chain to put the large ring on, so she wouldn't lose it. Carlos couldn't fall apart too; he and Diesel had been best friends for nearly 20 years. He wanted to express his feelings, but now he had two people to look after, Diesel's wife and unborn child.

He promised his friend he would.