Title: Probably Wouldn't Be This Way
Date Written: 11/14/05
Rating: T
Word Count: 573
Characters/Pairings: Diana/Berkley (I know, teh evil het), Dee/Ryo
Warnings: Angst. God, the angst.
Spoilers: Through Book Seven
Disclaimer: Not mine
Notes: Inspired by LeAnn Rime's song by the same name. Slight AU after the 7th book--I'm taking creative license and throwing Like Like Love out the window.
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Diana Spacey put her hands in her pockets as she stared at the tombstone before her. Falls in New York were so cold compared to her home in LA. It wasn't often that she was on the East Coast, now that the Bennet/Grant case was closed. The cartel had collapsed in on itself after Leo Grant had died, the remaining drug lords killing each other off as they desperately fought to get a piece of the property.

But there had been casualties on both sides of the law. Which is why she was in the graveyard today.

"Hey Berks"
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Diana had always loved Berkley Rose, since the moment she saw him.

Well, it probably wasn't love at first sight, per se. Maybe more that she liked him from the moment she met him. He was arrogant and haughty and so damn perfect it could be infuriating. And she would be the first to admit that there certainly was the chemistry between them.

Friends with benefits, the term was.

Eventually, she began to want... more. Not more in bed, certainly, but only him in her bed.

But Berkley couldn't be pinned down by just one woman. Even if that woman was Diana Spacey. Even though the sex was great, and it kept him coming back.

She did tell him, once, that she loved him. Right after sex, as the two of them enjoyed the post-coital bliss of orgasm.

He had laughed, kissed her and said, "You don't love me, Dee Dee."

The hurt and anger of the statement had faded, but the feelings behind it didn't. In fact, they had strengthened over time.

Before she could tell him again, though, a bullet had brought her life to a complete stand still.
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His funeral had been packed, standing room only. He was, after all, a police commissioner.

And the first three rows of pews were stuffed full of sobbing women... and men... mourning the loss of a lover.

Afterward, Ryo had talked Dee into taking the FBI agent back to his apartment so she could stay with someone for the night. The dark-haired detective had been so kind to her, and reminded her so strongly of Berkley that while she was drowning in her sorrow, she climbed up into his lap and tried to make out with him.

Dee had to grab her arms and pull her away from him to make her stop. "Diana, I am not Berkley!"

That statement made her stop, staring wide-eyed at the detective before she threw her arms around his neck and sobbed into his shoulder. The dark-haired man had held her until she fell asleep, and taken care of her until she was able to pick herself up and continue with her life, even if a major person was no longer in it.
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Ryo and Dee found Diana leaning against Rose's tombstone, tears streaming down her cheeks. Her eyes were closed as she cried softly, and Dee wrapped an arm around Ryo's waist, pulling him close. "She looks so lost."

"It's only been a year," Ryo replied, leaning his head against Dee's shoulder as he wrapped his own arms around the taller detective's waist. "I'd be locked in a room still if I lost you."

Dee pressed a kiss into Ryo's blonde locks. "God willing, you never will."

And because Berkley couldn't, the two detectives kept a watchful eye on the FBI agent.
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