It was the evening now. The sun had already set and fog began rolling in by the time they arrived at the pier. They came in two vehicles this time, The Riv and the GTO, just in case someone needed to get away. Cassie was first out of the car, she was eager and scared to death of what they might find. Vecchio got out quickly and raced ahead of her before Fraser and Kowalski caught up.

"Alright I think we should split up." Vecchio passed out flashlights. "Figured we might need flashlights in this fog."

"I'm with Cassie." Kowalski said quickly. No one was really surprised.

Fraser tested his flashlight several times and started looking around the area. "I think Ray and I will check out the perimeter and you and Cassie should check the pier." He was worried he and Vecchio would run into Jeff and he would be furious that Cassie hadn't come alone. Sending Cassie to the pier was what he asked for and he knew Kowalski would protect her.

"Right." Cassie took the lead and began shining her flashlight around the pier. The two called out Hazel's name as they made their way to the end of the pier. "Ray, stop!" She whispered and Ray bumped into her back, almost knocking her over. "I said stop?"

"Sorry." He breathed down her neck.

"I thought I heard something." The two remained completely silent for several seconds. All that could be heard was the lake moving gently beneath them. Then there was a muffled cry. Cassie ran to the end of the pier and looked over the edge. "Ray she's here!" They shone their flashlights down on the life raft tied to a poll floating beneath the pier.

"Fraser!" Ray called and aimed his flashlight in the direction he and Vecchio were last at. By the time he looked back Cassie had laid her flashlight down and begun trying to climb over the edge of the pier. "What are ya doin'?" Ray grabbed her arms and tried to pull her back up.

"I have to go down there." She tried to free herself from his grasp but he managed to pull her back onto the pier.

"You can't see what's down there, Cass. It's too dark. Fraser and Vecchio will be here in a minute."

He was right of course. She could hardly make out Hazel's body in all the fog. "OK, you're right." She nodded and let him pull her into a hug. Fraser and Vecchio ran onto the pier and arrived quickly. Ray's heart sank when he saw Kowalski holding Cassie. He thought that must mean they'd found Hazel dead.

Cassie pulled away from Ray and turned her flashlight back on. "She's down there, I think she's OK." She pointed her flashlight over the pier and Ray peered over the edge. He could see her body, she was moving around a little thankfully. He took a huge sigh of a relief.

"Don't worry baby, we're coming to get you." He looked around for some way to crawl down there.

Fraser fetched a spool of rope lying on the side of the pier and tied it around him. "Ray, hold the end. I'm going to bring her up." He handed the end of the rope to Vecchio and began steadying himself over the side. Suddenly there was a loud crashing sound coming from the shore.

"You two go check that out, we'll catch up." Vecchio grunted, trying to hold the rope steady. Fraser was heavier than he remembered.

Ray and Cassie took off up the pier and back to the GTO and Riv. "I don't see anybody?" Ray said, inspecting the area. Then there was another crash but much further down the road than they anticipated. Ray and Cassie exchanged a look and ran down the road, passing mostly empty factories. The street was very dark. For some reason there were no street lights to guide them. Only their dimming flashlights lighting the way and cutting through the thick fog. There was another sound. This time they recognized it as glass breaking. They turned down a long alley and stopped.

"Hey look." Cassie walked over to the side of a building and pointed to a broken window. It wasn't a big opening but probably large enough for him to climb through. Ray pushed her aside and peered in.

"Jesus!" He jumped away from the window as a cat jumped out and landed on the ground in front of them. It hissed before running away.

Cassie laughed at the situation a little and the two composed themselves."OK, we need to calm down, it was just a cat!"

"Right." He straightened his jacket. Not that it was messed up but he always did that when he embarrassed himself I front of her. They began walking towards the entrance of the alley again but stopped quickly as the ear piercing sound of screeching tires startled them. A car made a sharp, violent turn into the alley and began charging at the two. Ray grabbed Cassie's arm and quickly pulled her back into the alley. The car stopped and turned it's headlights on. Ray squinted at the blinding headlights and stepped in front of Cassie.

"There you are, I've been looking everywhere for you." Cassie recognized Jeff's voice immediately and squeezed Ray's hand in fear.

"Why can't you just go away?" She shouted and almost started crying.

Ray drew his gun and cocked it, fully prepared to shoot him. It didn't matter if he was armed or not he wanted him dead. "Jeff Muniz yer under arrest for er, harassing a cop and breaking and entering and a buncha other things." Jeff smiled, he was pleased with his crimes. "Freeze or I'll shoot ya!" He ignored the Detective's warning and leaned into his car and pulled out a long sword.

"Why don't you back off Detective and I won't kill you." He inspected his weapon and pointed it at the two.

That was enough for Ray, he already warned him once and now he had a reason to shoot. He squeezed the trigger of his gun but nothing came out. "Crap." He said under his breath and realized he was out of bullets. He foraged through his pockets and came up empty. "I know I put a case in this jacket last night."

"Did you think I wasn't in your apartment already Detective?" He waved a case of bullets in front of him and tossed it in the car.

Ray felt stupid, why hadn't he thought of that? Cassie knew this was it, she admitted to herself that they were as good as dead now. "Jeff, please, we can help you." She said in a very calm voice.

"I don't need your help. I need you to come with me." He reached out his hand for her and she curled up her nose.

"She's not goin' with ya."

"You're making a terrible mistake." He closed the door of his car and locked it, leaving the headlights on to light his path through the fog around their feet. "Cassie, I thought you cared what happened to the good detective?" He started waving his sword in Ray's direction. Ray moved them further back into the alley while Jeff continue swishing the sword at them.

"Ray, we're almost cornered." Cassie whispered and laid her hands on Ray's shoulders. He looked behind them quickly and realized they were only a few feet away from a building. Of course it was a dead end, wasn't it always?

"Go...hide." He whispered in her ear.

"Forget that, I'm not leaving you." She looked around them, desperate to find some escape out of this alley. There was no way she was going to let him kill Ray, even if she had to surrender and go with him. Then she looked up and saw a balcony not very far above them. It probably belonged to an apartment building. "I got it." She slowly sneaked into the back of the alley. Ray had no idea what she was doing but he had to trust her. He was more worried about how close that sword was to his chest at the moment. Cassie crawled on top of a dumpster and looked up at the balcony. It was dark this far into the alley so Jeff couldn't see her. There was a metal ladder attached to the balcony but it was folded up. She took one giant leap and managed to grab onto the bottom bar with her hands. She pulled herself up it until she could wrap her legs around it too but now she had to figure out how to get it to drop down. The hinge that made it swing downward appeared to be rusted. Then she got distracted by the sight of Jeff lunging his sword at Ray.

Ray jumped to the side and grabbed the lid off a trash can for a shield. "Ya really wanna add killing a cop to the list?" He lunged at him again but Ray blocked it with the lid.

"You can't outsmart me detective. I won't be fooled by your small talk. I know what I want." He swished his sword at him twice, clanging it against the aluminum lid each time.

"What do ya want from her anyway? Ya can't just take a person, ya moron. And ya can't hurt yer wife either."

"She made a mistake leaving me the first time, she was confused and I forgive her." He grunted through the last part of his sentence and continued his pattern at lunging at Ray but he managed to block it each time. "She's coming back to our old place in California to be my wife again."

"She ain't gonna be yer wife."

"Why's that?"

"Because I love her." And with that Ray decided to attack him this time. He beat him with the lid until Jeff finally lost his balance and fell over a little.

He rebalanced himself and gripped the handle of the sword."Which is exactly why I have to get rid of you." The sword pierced through the lid and he pulled it from Ray's hands and tossed it aside. He swung the sword into the side of Ray's arm and he fell over. Jeff stood over him and remained silent. In that moment Ray was actually scared. He couldn't believe his life was in this jerk's hands. That's when he realized he had no idea where Cassie had gone.

Then there was a loud sound of screeching metal as the hinge on the ladder finally budged and it swung down to just a couple feet above Ray. Cassie was clinging to the ladder, completely startled by it's timing to give way. "Ray, grab my hand." She looked down at him and reached for his hand. He quickly stood up and grabbed it. Jeff was paralyzed in his tracks and confused as to how that happened. By the time he snapped back to reality the two were already on the balcony and pulling the ladder back up.

"This isn't over!" Jeff shouted and began racing to the front of the building.

"We're not going to make it out of here in time?" Cassie panicked. They were so close to losing him but there was no way they could break into this apartment and to the exit in the front of the building before he did.

"Come on, we'll go to the roof." Ray said and began climbing the ladder on the side of the building that led to the roof. Cassie followed him. They had no idea how that was going to help but there wasn't much else to do. He helped her off the ladder and the two paced around the roof looking for an escape down.

"All that's here is the staircase leading into the building."

"And he'll be comin' up that any minute."

"It's over Ray. He won." She sighed. "You can still save yourself you know, he only wants me." She faced him and forced a smile.

"That's stupid Cass. We're in this together, OK?" He grabbed her hands and she eventually nodded. "I promised you I wasn't gonna let 'im win and it ain't over yet. It's two ta one."

"I don't see how we can beat him? He's got a sword!" Then she noticed the deep cut on Ray's arm. "Oh he got you? I'm so sorry." She ripped a long strip off the sleeve of her sweater and tied it around his arm. The door to the staircase opened before he got a chance to thank her and Jeff came up with his sword.

"Sorry did I interrupt something?" He gestured with his sword.

"I'll go with you if you let him go." She looked at Jeff with tearful eyes and released Ray's hands.

"Cassie..." Ray started.

"It's OK, Ray. I've made up my mind." She walked away from him and over to Jeff. This was ridiculous, he was face to face with the man they've spent all week hunting down and he couldn't do anything to save her. I can't just stand here and watch him take her. I gotta do somethin'. This wasn't about life and death anymore, he didn't care what happened to him. Ray's brain switched from justice to revenge for everything he did to her. There was no way he was going to let him do this to her again...or any woman for that matter. Ray hurtled into the man and grabbed his throat. They fell to the ground and Jeff managed to push Ray off him. The two wrestled around on the roof exchanging punches for what seemed like ages to Cassie who couldn't do anything but helplessly watch them go at it. Ray grabbed a plank of wood next to him and hit Jeff in the head with it. He fell back lifelessly and Ray stood up.

"Er, now it's over." Ray smiled in satisfaction. Cassie was completely speechless. Just as he was about to walk over to Cassie, Jeff managed to muster enough strength to raise his leg and trip Ray. He stood up and hung over the detective. Then he picked up his sword and waved it around drunkenly. He was very dizzy and shaking and barely conscious.

"Jeff, stop!" Cassie ran over to intervene. "I already told you that you can have me. You don't want him." She tried to pull the sword from his hand but he elbowed her in the chest and she fell back behind him. He raised the sword and stabbed it partly into Ray's chest. He barely had enough strength to penetrate through Ray's jacket and struggled to push it further in him. Cassie screamed and jumped on Jeff's back, pulling him away and pulling the sword out of Ray's chest. He dropped the sword and directed his attention to her. She looked at Ray who lay conscious but limp on the roof and realized she had to protect herself now. He grabbed her neck and tried to pull her out the door with all the energy he had left. The position he had her wrapped up in kept her from seeing anything but the ground. Jeff had her slightly lifted off the ground with his arms. He kept squeezing her neck until she couldn't breath but she kept trying to escape his grasp. Then she felt cold hands on her neck, they weren't Jeff's. She could feel Jeff's hands being pulled off her neck and shortly after she fell out of his arms and onto the safety of the ground. She looked up to acknowledge her hero and saw Fraser looking her straight in the eye. She'd never seen that look in the Mountie's eyes before. His eyes usually gleamed with innocence but instead she saw fire and rage. Then he punched Jeff and he backed away from them both. She'd never seen Fraser punch anyone before either.

"Are you alright?" He grabbed Cassie's arm and brought her to her feet.

"I...I think."

He smiled at her and redirected his attention to Jeff. "Jeffrey Muniz, Cassie is a respected member of the Chicago police department and I advise you to surrender yourself to her or else I will make a citizen's arrest and bring you in myself."

"I'm not afraid of you, Mountie."

"I also suggest you refrain from taking another step back."

"Oh yeah?" He took a step back and then a second one and tripped over the plank Ray hit him with earlier. He fell backwards and lost his footing and tripped over the side of the building. Cassie raised a hand to her mouth as she and Fraser watched him fall off the building and to the ground. But she didn't feel bad at all. If anything she felt a strange sense of freedom.

Then a wave of emotion hit Cassie and she started to cry. "Ray..." The two turned around simultaneously and she ran to his side. He didn't look hurt at all, you'd never have known he was stabbed. She could see the rip in his jacket and put her hand over it to apply pressure. "I'm so sorry, Ray."

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine." Ray said. He'd been conscious and watching the entire time. "Thanks buddy, good timing." He looked up at Fraser hanging over him.

"I wish I had come sooner." Fraser felt awful that he'd let his partner get hurt and of course Cassie would have been too if he had shown up a minute later. "Hm, Cassie move your hand."

"What?" She couldn't understand, she was capable of applying pressure to a wound.

He lifted her hand off his chest and they both looked at her palm.

"I...I don't understand? Purple blood?"

"My blood's purple?" Ray leaned forward and became concerned. Cassie pushed him back down with her clean hand.

Fraser wiped a finger across her hand and tasted the purple contents. "Jelly."

"Oh..." Ray laughed at himself and reached into his pocket, pulling out the remains of a jelly donut. "Yeah that explains the lack of pain I was feeling."

"You're OK then?" Cassie didn't really care about the donut, she was still scared to death. He tried to stand up with Fraser and Cassie's help and straightened himself out.

"Er, yeah I'm good. Fraser yer wolf's freaky appetite saved my life."

Fraser smiled and Cassie broke down in Ray's arms. It was part thankfulness and part exhaustion but either way, she knew this was the last time she'd cry over this.

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