A/N: Ok, last chapter folks. Yes it's a short story, but it's also only the second story that's managed to keep my attention long enough for me to finish it. Maybe I should stick to short stories from now on.....Anyway enjoy!

I came to surrounded by the smell of Rosto. I sighed in relief. It must all have been a dream, he was right beside me, I could smell him. I reached over to touch him next to me and felt only the bed covers. I opened my eyes. I was lying in Rosto's bed, and I was alone. They must have laid me here when I passed out.

Goodwin sat in a chair next to the bed, her head back and her eyes closed, though I could tell by her breathing she was not asleep.

"Tell me it's not true," I said quietly. Goodwin lifted her head up and looked at me with sympathy.

"They've laid his body out in the next room Cooper…I'm sorry."

"I want to see him," I said refusing still to believe it was true. I wouldn't believe it. This was part of his plan. It had to be. Rosto would never be so careless as to get poisoned. Goodwin nodded and I stood up and followed her to the room next door. There he lay on the bed, completely still, his face at peace looking devastatingly beautiful despite its many scars.

"I'd like to be alone with him," I said. Again Goodwin nodded and shut the door as she left. Slowly I walked over to the bed. I reached out to touch his cheek and quickly pulled my hand away. He was cold, and his skin felt like rubber. His cheeks had a blue tint to them and his lips were black as Aniki had said.

"Rosto," I said my voice trembling. "Rosto you can stop the act now…It's time to leave with me." When I got no response I climbed up onto the bed next to him.

"Rosto please! You're not really dead, this is just an act remember? You can't really be dead!" Tears started leaking from my eyes though I barely noticed. "You're not allowed to be dead!" I started speaking louder, he needed to hear me. "You promised to take care of me! You promised we'd go away from here! You promised our child wouldn't grow up without a father!" I was sobbing now and shouting, not caring who may hear me.

A fluttering at the window caught my attention then. A lone pigeon sat on the sill and before the ghost on its back spoke I knew.

"I'm sorry Beka," Rosto's voice said faintly. "I love you." And then he was gone, His soul passed on just like that.

"No!" I screamed startling the pigeon from the window. "No! No! No!" I threw myself across Rosto's body and sobbed into his chest.

I never heard the door open, but suddenly Goodwin was there, pulling me off Rosto and into her arms. I struggled still sobbing but she held on to me tightly. I finally relaxed and just sobbed in her arms. As my sobs slowed she spoke.

"Why didn't you tell me you were going to have a babe?" She asked.

"I couldn't tell anyone…we were going to run away, go buy some land be farmers…I made up a story and Rosto was supposed to fake his death and meet me. Only last night he never came….I thought he had betrayed me…I was so angry and now…No one could know Goodwin. We couldn't trust that the wrong people wouldn't find out somehow. We were going to be so happy." I continued to cry on Goodwin's shoulder.

Time moved by at odd rates at that time. I was in a daze, not knowing what was going on around me. Eventually we had to bury Rosto's body. It was a small gathering of just his closest friends. I decided against leaving Corus. I knew I couldn't raise the babe alone. I needed my friends to help me. I took a desk job because pregnant Dogs were not allowed out on patrol. I let my work completely consume me and became a mindless zombie. It hurt too much to face reality.

My son was born eight months to the day of Rosto's death. He had my grey eyes, and a head of thick white hair. His nose and his cheeks were his father's through and through. His birth was what finally snapped me out of the cocoon I had wrapped myself in after Rosto's death. He was a little life that needed me, and I needed him right back.

I haven't loved anyone since Rosto. I haven't even considered it. My only lover was my Dogging and my life was my son. I told him all about his father, and told him to be proud because even though his father was a Rogue, he was one of the best and noblest of men ever to walk the streets of Corus. He changed the Court of the Rogue forever and though he reigned for only a short time he was a legend. And my son was proud. He took after his father in nearly every way. He has the same sense of humor, the same mischievous manner…he takes after me in his love of justice though. And there's not a better Dog out there than my boy.

You know child, I haven't talked about this with anyone but my son. Goodwin never spoke of it again, and though people had their suspicions I never said who the father was, despite all the pestering. Oh I've gotten old now though and I suppose it doesn't really matter now. My dogging days are over anyway.

So to get back to your original question dear, love is complicated. It's messy, and it's hard and you may find that the person you love isn't who you imagined it would be. But it's all worth it. Loving Rosto for those short months is worth the deep ache I feel when I'm alone. It's worth going to an empty bed every night knowing what I have had and lost. It's worth the nightmares where I watch him die in a variety of ways unable to save him, and it's worth the bitterness I feel after I wake from a good dream of him and remember that he really is gone. It is all worth it. I wouldn't take away a single moment of time with Rosto even if it meant all my pain would be erased. My life is better because I loved him. Love changes everything, it makes you grow. It is a sad life indeed for someone who does not know love, and I pray to the Goddess that you too will one day experience what love is really like.

A/N: I'm so so so sorry I killed Rosto. I didn't mean for it to happen. Really. I had it all planned out that Rosto and Beka were going to get into a big fight and break up and somehow they'd remain friends but living separate lives....and it just got away from me and suddenly he was dead and...oh it is a sad day. There may be some confusion about Beka's son...originally I had said she had a daughter, but I thought when I killed Rosto that it would be more meaningful if she had a son. Someone to carry on the Cooper family name...and he was like a mini Rosto. I don't know if this is the direction that Pierce is planning on going, but she makes it pretty clear in her books who her heroine is going to hook up with. I don't think she's just toying with us I think somehow Beka and Rosto are going to have a child because George Cooper is way too much like Rosto for it to be a coincidence.

Anyway hopefully this fed your Pierce fix just a bit. Thank you so much for getting through the story and I hope you did enjoy it! Now review!