Sorry to have kept you guys waiting so long! I wanted to write and post this sooner, but all kinds of things came up... :s
Anyway, here's the final chapter - hope you like it! Thanks to everyone who has written a review, added the story to their favorites or followed it, I always love such things!
I'd also like to thank Cirinde Palantir for the suggestion that it was Sam who shot Damian... ;)

9. Protect

For a moment it seemed the shot had frozen everything. Even the Las Vegas city noises seemed to have faded. Then Damian's gun fell out of his hands and he reached with them to his side, where a red blood stain started to appear. Morgan, who was still on the ground, looked up to see who had shot him. She expected it to be Nick or Finn, but both of them still had their guns safely put away. Next to them, Greg slowly lowered his arm. Nick stared at him in amazement. "You… You shot him! You hate using your gun!"

"He hurt Morgan."

Those were the only three words Greg said, but they explained everything. He'd do anything for her, even the things he hated and maybe even feared. No one could hurt her and if someone would try, he'd always be there to protect her.

On the ground, Morgan felt her heart breaking into a thousand pieces caused by all the love she felt for him right now. How was it possible that he'd do such a thing only for her? She just couldn't explain how much she loved him right there and then. Yet instead of getting up to hug him, she quickly crawled over to Melody and Dylan, while Finn used her cellphone to call an ambulance. Nick told Sam to guard Damian, taking out his own gun just in case Damian would try to escape. The wounded man made no such effort, though: he just stayed on the ground and groaned in pain. Everyone ignored him and kept their eyes on Melody and Dylan.

"Come on, Melody, stay with us!" Morgan encouraged her best friend, who was obviously in serious pain. She shook her head. "I can't…"

"You have to, Mummy!" Dylan called out, worries and panic visible on his face. Melody shook her head again. "I can't… That's why I took you here… I know you wanted to see… the Tower… I wanted to take you… before…"

"Don't say it!" Morgan warned her. "You're gonna be fine again, you hear me? You are not giving up! I'm not letting you!"

"I can't…"

"Come on, Melody, the ambulance will be here soon!" Greg said, kneeling down next to Morgan. "Just a few moments, okay? Try to keep fighting! If not for you, then do it for Dylan. He needs you!"

The little boy had started to cry during his mother's story about taking him to see the Stratosphere Tower. Now, he looked at his Mum while tears dropped down on her shoulder. "Mummy, please!"

"I hear the ambulance!" Finn called out.

Only seconds later, two paramedics were working on stabilizing Melody to take her to the hospital. The looks on their faces told Greg and Morgan she wasn't going to be alright easily. They almost immediately loaded her onto a stretcher and then drove the ambulance back to the hospital with flashing lights and their siren on. Damian was taken in the other ambulance, without a siren or flashing lights. Nick went with him as Brass had gone straight to the hospital to arrest him there. Finn promised to take Sam back to CSI, while Greg and Morgan took Dylan with them to the hospital. During the short car trip, no one said anything, all lost in their own thoughts.

At the hospital, Brass met them. He held up his hand cuffs and looked at Morgan. "Would you like to do the honors?"

"Yes, please." She took the hand cuffs from him and followed his directions to Damian's rooms. There, she almost happily hand cuffed one of his arms to the bed. "Damian Marks, you're under arrest for the kidnapping of Melody Flores, stalking her and her son for years, giving false statements to the police about that stabbing years ago and anything else we can charge you with."

Behind her, Brass gave her a short nod. "I couldn't have said it better myself."

Morgan turned around and left the room before she asked the police captain what would happen to Damian now.

"Well, he first needs medical attention as he really is seriously hurt," Brass told her, "but then we'll bring him to a judge, who will undoubtedly say he won't see sunlight for a very long time! From what I hear about Melody's injuries, we could possibly charge him with attempted murder and that means he's going to jail for quite a few years!"

"I hope so," Morgan honestly said, expressing how much she hated the guy who had made her best friend's life a living nightmare for so many years.

"Captain, what's going to happen to Melody?" she then asked Brass. He shrugged his shoulders. "I have no idea yet. She first needs to survive her injuries and then we need to discuss what she has done in the past. That stabbing was a clear self-defense, but there's other things that we can't get her out that easily. Maybe your father can tell you more."

He nodded with his head, which made Morgan turn around. A few feet away, she saw her Dad standing in the hallway.

"I'll see you later," Brass decided and he walked away. Morgan slowly made her way over to her father. He shook his head. "What a mess, M… I don't hope you expect miracles from me…"

"I didn't say that," she replied, sounding a lot angrier than she actually wanted.

"Look, I'll see what I can do, but I can't guarantee anything," Ecklie said.

"I never asked you to!" Morgan suddenly shouted out. She turned around and ran away, straight into Greg's arms. There, she started crying, all of a sudden feeling how tired she was after everything that had happened and how scared she had been. Greg held her tightly, gently rocking her from side to side. She looked up at him with tears in her eyes. "You shot him for me! You shot him to protect me…"

"Ssh… It's okay, I'd do anything for you!" Greg looked up and saw Ecklie was watching them. He continued to hold Morgan and rock her from side to side.

"And if Melody dies, it all won't matter!" Morgan sobbed. "And if she does survive, she'll have to go to jail, just because of everything that Damian has done! It's not fair!"

"We'll make it fair," Greg promised her. "Damian will get his punishment and we'll make things as easy as possible for Melody. But right now, there's a little boy who needs to keep believing his mother is going to be fine and he can't do that while you're breaking down like this."

Slowly, Morgan nodded and started to wipe away her tears. She reached out to Dylan. "Come here, it'll be okay!"

She took him over to the waiting area, gently pushed him down on a seat and hugged him. Greg sat down on the other side and put his arms around the little boy as well. While holding the boy, he looked up at Ecklie.

"I'll see what I can do," the sheriff softly repeated before walking away without saying a word about what he had seen.

After waiting nearly two hours, Melody's doctor finally walked into the waiting area.

"She survived," he immediately reassured them. "But… she's going to need a lot of time to recover! She has been shot twice: the first bullet hardly did any damage, but the second one caused a lot of blood loss… plus the fact that part of the bullet remained behind in her body. We managed to remove it, but again she lost a lot of blood. Like I already said, she's going to be fine again, but it will take a lot of time."

"Can I see her?" Dylan asked, jumping up from his seat. The doctor shook his head. "Not yet, she needs to rest now. And from what I heard, you could do with a little rest as well after having been in a car accident recently! You too, Miss. Why don't you take the boy and come back in the morning? You can see Melody then and hopefully she'll be awake when you're here."

"That's a good idea," Greg agreed with the doctor. "I'll take you back to my house."

Dylan hesitantly looked up at him and Morgan. "I don't wanna leave Mummy behind…"

"We'll take good care of him," the doctor promised him. "And if there's anything you need to know, we'll call you right away! Here, this is your Mummy's clipboard, why don't you right down the phone numbers of your two CSI friends so I can call them when necessary."

"I don't know their numbers…"

"I'll write them down," Greg reassured him. He took a pen from the doctor and wrote down his and Morgan's number.

"She'll be okay tonight, but if there's any news, I'll call you," the doctor promised again. "Now, goodnight, Dylan, make sure you get some sleep!"

That was of course easier said than done. Only when Morgan suggested he'd sleep with her and Greg in the big bed again, he finally closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep. Greg looked at Morgan over his head. "What are you thinking about?"

"Everything… Too much," she softly confessed. "Do you think my Dad can keep Melody out of jail?"

"I… don't know," Greg honestly whispered back. "I mean, the false IDs, crossing state borders without a valid passport, I read things about robbing a gas station for money and picking pockets… If your Dad can keep her out of jail with all those things, he's the most amazing guy I've ever met!"

Morgan immediately agreed with him, but she added: "If he is, you're a very close second. What you did tonight… was amazing! I love you, Greg!"

"I love you too, Morgan!"

The next morning they took Dylan back to the hospital to see Melody. She was still asleep, but the doctor gave Dylan permission to wake her up. The little boy's mother smiled weakly. "Hey…"

Morgan smiled back. "Told you you were going to be fine?"

"You always knew best… or pretended you did," Melody dryly said. Dylan grinned happily, glad to hear his Mum talking like this again.

"You don't have to worry anymore, we got him," Morgan then said. "As soon as he has recovered from his gunshot wound, they're going to take him to court. I don't think you'll ever have to worry about him again!"

Melody sighed before looking up at her best friend. "I wasn't worrying about him…"

Morgan nodded. "I know… But you first need to get better."

Melody managed to grin a little. "I'm working on it!"

"I'll help you!" Dylan immediately called out, but Melody shook her head. "No, sweetheart, I need you to stay with Morgan. She'll take you to visit me of course, but you can't stay with me every night and day, okay?"

"We'll look after him for you," Greg promised Melody. She smiled at him. "I know you will. Right, Dylan?"

The little boy nodded. "Yes, they will! But I rather have you looking after me…"

"Me too," Melody reassured him. "But since I can't do that in a hospital bed…"

Dylan turned to Morgan and Greg. "Does looking after me mean that I have to go to work with you? Can I see Henry again then?"

"Sure," Morgan smiled.

"Who's Henry?" Melody curiously asked. Dylan gave her a big grin. "Oh, you're gonna like him, trust me! He's really nice!"

Melody raised her eyebrows. "I'm not even up on my feet yet and you're already playing matchmaker? Wait till I'm out of bed at least!"

"Well, hurry up then!" Dylan called out, which made everyone laugh.

In spite of Dylan's impatience, it still took Melody two full weeks before she was able to get out of bed herself for the first time. Since her injuries healed very slowly, the doctor didn't release her from the hospital until two more weeks had passed.

During those four weeks that Melody was in the hospital, Dylan spent his time with Greg and Morgan. He came to work every night, where he either fell asleep on the couch in the breakroom or helped Henry out in the DNA lab the same way Catherine's daughter Lindsey had helped Greg out when he was still working in DNA. All of Greg and Morgan's colleagues had started to love the little boy and they didn't mind seeing him at work every night. Neither did they mind that Greg and Morgan were dating and working together – most of them had assumed they were doing that for months already anyway. Russell didn't see any problems either, his only comment on their relationship was: "Why haven't you two gotten together months ago?"

While Melody slowly recovered and Dylan spent time with the CSI's, Damian had already been released from the hospital and he had been brought to a judge. His time in court was short: he was charged with attempted murder and taken to jail, where he'd spent at least 21 years.

When Melody was released from the hospital, she too was brought in front of a judge. Since her case was much more complicated, she had to spend a lot more time in court, which worried everyone who cared about her. Finally the judge reached a decision along with a jury… that Melody only had to pay a fine. Since she had no money, she would have to do community service until the amount of her fine had been reached.

After the judge had made the decision final, everyone tried to hug Melody at the same time in relief. Morgan was the first to let go, but only because she went to hug her father.

"I don't know what you did, but I'm glad you did it!" she said. "I love you, Dad!"

"I love you too, M," Ecklie said with a little smile. "And in the end I didn't even have to do that much. A single Mum on the run from a guy while fearing for her life gets away with a lot of things!"

"Still, thanks," Morgan said. "You've made a little boy very happy… and me too."

"Everything we do is to protect the ones we loved, right?" Ecklie replied. Morgan looked back at Greg. With a smile on her face she nodded. "Right."