AUTHORS NOTE: This is great, you guys are great. I love that you are reading my words, it is such a thrill, really it is.

"Oh shit," Flynn said, turning his head sharply to look at Brenda and ignoring her potent glare. "Chief," he went on, grabbing her by the elbow and dragging her back towards her car, "come here."

"What are you doing?" Brenda demanded, whipping her arm away from him.

And then Brenda saw what Flynn had seen, a tall man stumbling towards her. The man was sobbing, great shuddering breaths leaving his lungs as tears rolled down his cheeks.

Daniels raised her eyebrows behind her sunglasses, "I think that's the husband," she said.

There was blood on Mr. Richards shirt and pants. He looked at Brenda like she was an angel, "Savanah?" he muttered brokenly. And then he was running towards her, ignoring the uniformed police who tried to restrain him, "Savanah!" he screamed, "Savanah!"

Brenda stood, hesitating with her choices, but then it was too late, he grabbed her, pulled her clear off the ground as he clutched her to himself.

And then it was absolute chaos. Uniformed men came and tried to pull him off of her while her squad tried to grab her and extract her without harming her, and through it all Mr. Richards held her in a death grip. He began to scream, proclaiming at the top of his lungs that the police had lied to him, had told him his wife was dead when she wasn't, how they were trying to drive him insane. And he was still sobbing, and the blood on his clothes smelled of copper and was filling her nostrils and she hated the smell of copper.

She started to struggle and was able to loosen Mr. Richards hold enough for Flynn to wrap his arms around her waist. Flynn pulled at her and she had the uncomfortable image of herself being the rope in a game of tug of war. And then there was the sound of a gun cocking and one of the uniforms called out for the man to release her. Brenda could hear Provenza yelling, "Don't shoot, you idiot!" he said, "You might hit one of ours!"

This was insanity, Brenda decided.

"Stop! All y'all stop it this instant!" she called, her voice high and clear and recognizable by accent alone.

Her squad stopped moving, and when they stopped moving the uniformed men stopped moving, and when the uniformed men had stopped tugging on him Mr. Richards also stopped moving. Flynn kept his hold around her waist and she could hear him panting in her ear as she took shaky breaths. Mr. Richards was muttering into her hair and placing small kisses to her forhead, and Brenda wondered if he had any history of mental illness.

"Mr. Richards," Brenda said, her voice stern.

"Savanah," he said, his eyes closed tightly, "Oh Savanah, god."

"Mr. Richards," she repeated, "My name is Chief Brenda Johnson of-"

"Shhh," he said, shaking his head violently, "don't lie to me. Come on, don't lie, it's okay. Savanah, it's okay."

"Open your eyes," Brenda said quietly. "Mr. Richards, open your eyes right now!"

He opened his teary eyes, but looked towards the sky. "Shhh, Savanah, it's okay," he whispered.

"Look at me," when he did not she repeated herself: "Look at me when I am talking to you!"

He moved his eyes down slowly, and then he was looking at her and his face crumpled and he started shaking so badly that Brenda could feel her teeth clatter. "No, don't do that," he said, his voice angry as he practically snarled at her, "Come on, Savanah. Don't do that."

Flynn's arms around her waist tightened.

"Mr. Richards," Brenda said calmly, "My name is Brenda Leigh Johnson, look at me. I am not your wife. Please, let me down."

His gaze swept over her face and in that instant his hold on her diminished enough for Flynn to tear her away. Mr. Richards screamed in what looked like agony and was held back by three men as Flynn and Brenda overbalanced and fell to the pavement, Flynn moving to take most of the impact with a thud. "Savanah! Stop it, stop, don't do this to me! Savanah!"

Flynn sat up with Brenda held on his lap as paramedics ran forwards, shouting out things like 'hysteria' and 'shock' as they surrounded Mr. Richards. Gabriel came and kneeled beside Flynn and Brenda, placing a hand on her shoulder, concern etched deeply into his young face. "Chief?" he asked, sounding close to hysteria himself.

"I'm fine," she said, climbing off of Flynn's lap with a frown.

Provenza helped Flynn to his feet and then they both looked at her in concern. Brenda looked out and her whole squad was looking at her in concern. And she just couldn't take it, that second, that very moment, she couldn't take it. She threaded her fingers through her hair, a snarl on her face as she hissed, "I'm fine."

Gabriel looked hurt, which made Brenda angry, how dare he be hurt. Daniels looked confused, which made Brenda angry, how could one of her detectives be so thick? And goddamned Provenza and Flynn, who looked at her like they understood, who held pity in their eyes. Pity. Brenda Leigh didn't need anyones pity. She was fine. Everything was fine, and everyone was acting like it wasn't. Like she was going to collapse into tears. She thought she had proven her strength, she thought she was done proving herself to these people. "I am fine," she repeated, "So all y'all stop looking at me like that!" she screeched.

And she realized she was shaking, and she tried to stop but couldn't. Her breaths were leaving her in tiny shaky amounts, and she felt light headed. Which made her so angry. Everything was her making so fucking angry.

She felt an arm wrap itself around her shoulders and looked up to see Tao standing beside her, "What?" she snapped. He turned them away from the group, walking them a short distance before he stopped. He placed her in front of him, and with a flourish he produced a candy bar from his pocket.

Brenda looked at it and then back to Tao. He was smiling at her. She glared at him. How dare he think she could be appeased by candy! Even if it was very...nice looking candy. All wrapped up in a silver wrapper that said imported and apparently had three different fillings and multilayered chocolate. Brenda looked back at Tao and then back at the candy. With a sigh she reached out and snatched the candy bar from Tao, her glare softening as he chuckled.

She tore that fancy wrapper off and devoured half the bar in one gluttonous bite. And as soon as that sweet, sweet chocolate touched her tongue her senses returned to her and she was mortified. She turned towards her squad, "I ahm so sowry," she said through a mouth full of chocolate. She swallowed and walked back towards them, "I'm sorry everyone."

Gabriel took a tiny step towards her, "Chief, are you okay?" he asked.

Brenda smiled, "Yes, yes, I am."

Flynn reached out towards her right side and ran his hand down from her shoulder to her elbow, "Your sweater got ripped," he said, his fingers playing with the ripped material.

She looked down in surprise, wondering when exactly that had happened, she sucked in a breath, "That's," she shook her head, "That's okay." She smiled up at them, "Come on, let's see what we have." And with that she led them into the crime scene.

DISCLAIMER: The Closer, I think, should be mine. Along with a long list of other television shows. But, alas, it is not meant to be.