Disclaimer, Pairing, Rating & Spoilers: See chapter 1.

A/N: Welcome to the final chapter! A few warnings I feel are necessary here – firstly, it is pretty long and I apologise for that. I'm sure I probably could have made it into two chapters but to be honest I just wanted to get it finished so I can move on to other things! Secondly, although there are no specific spoilers, there is a deliberate feeling of foreshadowing for the events of S9 from the episode 'Solidarity' onwards. Other than that, the only thing left to say is thank you for sticking with this fic – your lovely comments have been absolutely priceless to me and I'm very grateful for all the support :)

Boyd strode purposefully into the bullpen, his eyes glancing briefly towards Grace's office and catching her warning stare before continuing on his journey, the storm cloud swirling ominously atop his shoulders darkening as he caught sight of the focus for his irritation. Sarah was sitting quietly at her computer, her fingers moving rapidly across the keyboard as her eyes flickered between her paperwork and the screen, studiously ignoring him until he barked her name.

"Sarah, my office. Now."

He stalked into his office, expecting her to instantly obey, anger threatening to explode through his chest as he watched her rise deliberately slowly from her desk and saunter to the threshold, Spencer Jordan releasing an incredulous breath in her wake.

"Problem?" she queried casually.

Boyd fought a powerful urge to snarl at her audaciousness. "Just get in here and close the door, will you?"

The Superintendent raised an eyebrow. "Do you not use 'please' and 'thank you' in this team?"

"I'm not going to ask you again."

"You're not asking me now."

"Sarah," Spence's deep voice called from across the bullpen before Boyd could reply. "Do yourself a favour and go in there. You're only…."

"Who the hell asked for your input?" she snapped, whirling around to face him, her pale eyes darkening irascibly.

The Inspector folded his arms and frowned deeply. "What's your problem?"

"Okay, okay," Grace intoned softly, having moved from behind her desk to the juncture of her office with the bullpen, one palm raised in a gesture of placation. "Let's all just try to calm down a bit, shall we?"

Sarah's expression was glacial as she turned towards the profiler. "I don't need you telling me what to do."

"Sarah!" From inside his office, Boyd's voice had suddenly risen in volume, the warning interwoven with her name clear.

"Oh, right," the blonde woman sneered, her gaze flickering between them. "I talk back to your girlfriend and suddenly it's…."

"Don't be so fucking childish," the older DSI snapped.

"I'm just stating a fact."

Grace sighed softly, wearily. "Just go into the office, Sarah. Whatever you might think, the rest of us really don't want to hear it."

"Is that right?" Sarah barked a humourless laugh, her voice saturated with sarcasm. "You sure you won't join us, Grace? I'd love to hear about the merits of a loving and committed relationship within the context of a police Unit…and somehow I don't think I'll get that from Boyd."

The profiler took a small, serene step towards the younger woman. "Sarah, take a moment and think about what you're doing to yourself. What on earth could you possibly stand to gain from carrying on like this?"

"It's about right and wrong."

"It's got fuck all to do with right and wrong," Boyd barked angrily, striding back towards the door and using his height advantage to stare down at the younger DSI.

Sarah looked up at him fearlessly. "You're going to tell me it's to do with a clear separation between work and home, a line between personal and professional. You well and truly crossed that line when you started shagging Gr…."

"Get in the office, Sarah." Boyd's voice was low, dangerous.

"What are you going to do, Boyd? I've got every right to…."

"Now!" he growled ferociously, the exponential increase in volume blistering through the bullpen and resonating from the walls, his hand moving to grip her upper arm and forcibly progressing her movement into his lair before releasing her to slam the door violently in their wake.

Sarah crossed her arms as he began to pace in front of his desk, his agitation abundantly clear, and she allowed the silent tension to elongate for several moments before speaking again. "I don't appreciate being manhandled," she opened tersely.

"And I don't appreciate being disobeyed. I shouldn't have to ask you more than once to come to my office."

"I'm not your bloody subordinate. In case you'd forgotten, Boyd, we hold the same rank."

"I'm the head of this Unit. My authority isn't up for discussion."

She narrowed her pale eyes. "I don't know what you're so pissed off about. You know damn well that Maureen Smith threw me out with a flea in my ear."

"Right. So your belligerence is even less understandable, given the circumstances."

"You've won, Boyd; isn't that enough for you?"

He sighed heavily and stopped pacing to look at her, aghast. "This isn't about winning and losing, Sarah."

"I see." Realisation flickered across her expression. "It's about humiliation. Reasserting your assumed authority. Behaving like the fucking alpha male you think you are."

Boyd threw up his hands in exasperation. "You are unbelievable!"

"Tell me I'm wrong, then. Tell me this isn't all about power for you."

"Of course it isn't!"

"It is, Boyd. Power over me, power over this team. You're a control freak who can't stand it when someone steps out of line, when they dare to express doubt about your ability to do your job."

"The problem, Sarah, is that your doubt is completely unjustified! You're so fucking fixated on my private life that you're missing the bigger picture!"

"Which is what?"

"That I could run this Unit successfully with one hand tied behind my back!"

Sarah rolled her eyes. "That's what you think at the moment. But how long until you come up against a situation that compromises you? Or compromises Grace? Then what happens?"

He exhaled a dismissive breath. "I'm not going round this loop again with you."

"So you've dragged me in here for what, then? An apology?"

Boyd grinned mercilessly, leaning slowly back against the edge of his desk and watching the tension in her body coil tighter with every passing second. "Yes."

She made a small sound of incredulous derision and shook her head. "You've got to be fucking kidding."

"I'm absolutely serious."

"There is no way in hell I'm apologising, Boyd. I haven't done anything wrong."

His gaze darkened. "Then you're delusional."

"What would it achieve, anyway? It's not going to change what I think about you. About Grace."

"This has got nothing to do with Grace."

"It's got everything to do with…."

"This is about you and me, Sarah. About you recognising that you made a serious error of judgement. About you realising that to be a member of this team is to…."

"Is to be subservient to you? Is to blindly follow your orders and damn the consequences?"

He shook his head in disbelief. "Is that really what you think?"

"You literally forced me in here, Boyd, in full view of the rest of the team. If that's not a demonstration of your oversized ego I don't know what is."

"This isn't a bloody dictatorship…."

"You could have fooled me."

Boyd blew out his breath. "Let me tell you the way things actually are, Sarah."

"From your own warped perspective, you mean?"

He ignored her, his tone gruff. "In this team we give our hearts and lungs to our work. We dedicate ourselves wholly to the pursuit of justice and we do it by working as a fluid unit, drawing on the strengths of each individual and relying on each other to do our utmost to get it right…."

"Corporate bullshit, Boyd," Sarah exhaled dismissively. "I expected more than that from you."

He continued doggedly, despite the palpable increase in his blood pressure. "We certainly do not do it by prying into each other's personal lives and using insinuation to call into question the ability of our colleagues to do their jobs competently. I shouldn't have to tell you how unacceptable that kind of behaviour is."

"The difference is I'm not just doing it out of some sort of twisted desire to 'out' you."

He gave a humourless snort. "You're telling me your agenda is entirely altruistic, then?"

"I know you don't believe it…."

"You're damn right I don't."

"…but all I'm concerned with is the long-term effects."

"Even if Maureen Smith apparently isn't?"

"Maureen Smith isn't the one who'll be directly affected when the inevitable happens."

Boyd raised his chin triumphantly. "So this is all about you and your career?"

"I don't want to be part of a team that's compromised. I've made no secret of that."

"Well, it's lucky for you that you're not, then."

"That's a matter of opinion."

"Not according to the DCC."

"Don't think you're off the hook with her, Boyd…."

He grinned maniacally. "Oh, I don't. She hates my fucking guts, which just goes to show how strongly she feels about all this crap."

Sarah crossed her arms in defiance. "My concerns are legitimate. Whatever you and she might think to the contrary."

"And you don't think your behaviour warrants challenging? For God's sake, Sarah; you've as good as accused me of abandoning my professional responsibilities for…."

"I'm saying it's a consideration I can't ignore. I can't, Boyd."

He regarded her silently for several seconds, a sense of dread twisting uncomfortably in his gut as he noted the recalcitrant flush to her cheeks, the glitter of determination hardening unerringly in her eyes. "You're not going to let this go, are you?" he said eventually, his voice low, resonant through the bones of his chest.

"How can I?" she replied in exasperation. "My views on how a team should function are fundamental to me, Boyd. And unlike the rest of your minions I refuse to be complicit in your inappropriate conduct by closing my eyes and ears to it."

"Where does that leave us, then? If you won't even consider apologising…."

"Which I won't. I already said that."

"…and you won't take on board what a senior member of the brass has told you..." He broke off and released a frustrated breath. "If the circumstances were different I wouldn't hesitate in having you immediately removed from this Unit. I hope you realise that."

The blonde DSI grinned mirthlessly. "But as it is, you're stuck with me."

"For now."

"Maureen Smith assigned me to you herself. She obviously thinks I have something to offer here."

"Don't think that makes you expendable. I can make your time here an absolute fucking nightmare."

"You don't intimidate me, Boyd."

He took a threatening step towards her. "Is that right?"

Sarah deliberately matched his stance, unconsciously drawing herself up to her maximum height as she reached him. "You may be able to shout or shag the other members of this Unit into submission…"

"For Christ's sake, Sarah…."

"You're heading for disaster, Boyd. And the worst thing is you can't even see it. You're willing to risk the careers of every member of this team for your own pathetic ends…and they're too far beneath your spell to even be aware of it."

"Are you even aware of how successful this Unit is? Or is your head so far up your own arse that you don't…."

"Maybe historically. But I still maintain it's on course for meltdown unless…."

"Unless I change, is that it?"

"Something has to, Boyd. I'm completely serious about that."

He looked at her intently for a long moment before exhaling forcefully. "Looks like we're at stalemate, then…because I have absolutely no intention of changing one iota to feed your paranoid, twisted bullshit."

"I'm anything but paranoid. You've never actually denied that you and Grace are…."

"Let's make one thing very clear, Sarah. However screwed up the reasons, you are in my Unit now and as such I expect you to respect the chain of command and to get on with the tasks I assign you without stirring up a hornet's nest every time I open my mouth."

"I would have no problem with that if I wasn't acutely aware of…."

"Whatever you know or think you know is completely irrelevant." He levelled her a menacing glare. "Now can I rely on you to get on with your job or can't I?"

Sarah narrowed her eyes. "My professionalism isn't the one in question here."

"You just keep telling yourself that. Answer the damn question, Sarah."

She sighed, frustration arcing through her chest as she became increasingly aware of his upper hand position in their exchange. "Of course I'll do my bloody job," she breathed irritably. "What the hell do you take me for?"

"And do it within the constructs of this team without venting your spleen about personal agendas every time it enters your head?"

"Don't push me, Boyd…."

"Because if you don't I'll come down on you so hard you won't know what hit you." He gestured dismissively as she drew a breath to respond. "And that's not a threat before you start accusing me of Christ knows what. It's just a calmly delivered statement of fact."

Sarah gave a snort of derision and rolled her eyes. "Grace rubbing off on you, is she?"

"Oh, change the bloody record and piss off, will you?"

The younger DSI barely flinched beneath the abrasive bark, a rebellious smirk playing across her features as she turned on her heel and approached his office door, twisting to address him a final time as she neared the threshold.

"Don't think this is over, Boyd. I won't hesitate to go back to the DCC if I even suspect you're in any way compromising this team…and next time I won't settle for being fobbed off quite so easily."

He laughed darkly, the ominous sound rumbling from his throat. "You do your worst, Sarah. You do your fucking worst."

He watched two spots of colour flare angrily on her cheeks, the contrast to her pale skin striking as she whipped her head back around and fled tempestuously from the room, his palm connecting sharply with the door and slamming it viciously in her wake, the glass pane rattling in resonance with the force of the impact. Within moments he had deflated inside the suddenly deafening silence, leaning back against his desk and releasing his breath slowly, his fingers moving to caress the taut skin of his forehead. He smiled grimly as his desk phone began to trill, the predictability of the timing comforting him slightly and he reached across to lift the receiver.

"Yes, Grace?" he answered wearily, his free hand moving to knead the knotted muscles at the back of his neck, his eyes drifting closed.

"You've managed to chase her out again," the profiler replied neutrally. "She snapped something to Spence and then stormed away."

"Yeah, well….Good bloody riddance."

Grace sighed. "You've got to get a handle on this, Boyd. We're going to have huge problems working with her down the line if…."

"Don't you think I know that?"

"You shouldn't have dragged her in there so forcefully."

"Oh, what do you want me to do, Grace? Run after her and apologise?"

"I want you to take the higher ground."

"I was trying! I was bloody trying!" He blew out his breath, annoyance rippling through his veins despite his concerted efforts to suppress it. "Can we talk about this later?"

"When you're calmer?"

"I need to go out for a while. Clear my head."

"Alright. I'm not going anywhere."

"Grace…."

"On any count."

"Good."

He hung up then, her quiet reassurance warming his chest despite the residual rage churning in his gut and he reached for his coat, ignoring the concerned stares of the remaining members of his team as he strode towards the door of the bullpen and stepped through.

Grace looked up from her paperwork as the door to the bullpen swung gently closed and she watched as Boyd's hunched form stepped across the threshold and towards his office. He had been gone for several hours, the figurative shadows beginning to lengthen across the room and worry beginning to seep unbidden into her bones until he had now finally reappeared, and she had to forcibly stop herself from instantly calling out to him. Deliberately slowly she counted a minute beneath her breath before carefully replacing her pen top and rising from her desk.

"You were a long time," she opened softly, leaning her weight against his door frame and appraising him as he sighed heavily and stretched back in his seated position to stare at the ceiling. "Everything alright?"

"Oh, yeah. Everything's bloody perfect."

She stifled a sigh at his tone and moved to take a seat beside him on the couch, resisting a powerful urge to touch him. "I take it you didn't find her."

"I wasn't really looking."

"Yes, you were."

"Oh, Christ, Grace," he groaned, his eyes flickering sideways towards her. "If the next word out of your mouth is 'subconsciously', I'm changing the bloody locks."

She patted his thigh briefly. "Credit me with a little sense, Boyd."

"Not on something like this."

She paused, the silence between them magnifying before she spoke again. "You feeling better?"

"Not really." He exhaled gloomily and ran a dejected hand across his eyes before angling his head to look at her. "I don't know where we go from here, Grace. I really don't know how we're going to work with her."

"It's not going to be easy," she conceded gently. "But it's what I was saying before…about taking the upper hand."

He raised an eyebrow at her unspoken sentiment. "And not letting her get under my skin?"

"Yes."

"It's impossible," he dismissed curtly. "She can't expect me to cut her any slack after the way she's behaved."

"I'm not necessarily talking about cutting her any slack. Just about staying professional in your handling of her and not giving her any more ammunition," Grace sighed, a soft exhalation of air into the stillness of the room. "We're on very thin ice, Boyd…."

"Oh, bollocks to that," he replied disdainfully. "The DCC as good as told her to stop wasting her time."

"Yes, but all that means is that Sarah will be looking for any reason to go running back to her. You can't give her cause."

He blinked, a gradual frown deepening across his forehead as he raised his head fully from the back of the sofa to look at her intently. "What are you saying, Grace?"

"I'm saying…," she intoned slowly, averting her gaze beneath the intensity of his. "That we must be absolutely faultless in our conduct…."

"I don't want to be walking on eggshells around you…."

"We can't give her any further cause to suspect that our relationship is somehow counterproductive to our…."

"Oh, for fuck's sake. I don't want to be worrying what's going through her twisted brain every time I legitimately call you into my office."

"That's not quite what I meant, Boyd."

"Well, say what you mean, then. Come on…."

She sighed at the characteristic exasperation in his tone. "I mean…that you can't risk her accusing you of being coerced or of your judgement being affected by my presence on this team."

He glared at her darkly. "That's not any clearer, Grace."

"Okay…." She broke off briefly and looked at him, at once trying to quell the wave of anxiety rolling across her stomach. "If a situation arises…at some point in the future…where to advance a particular case you need to ignore my expertise…."

"It wouldn't be an issue. It's not like I haven't done it before…."

"…or circumvent my personal safety…."

"Forget it."

"…then what I'm saying is," she continued forcefully, his continued interruptions beginning to grate against her nerves. "You shouldn't hesitate."

He shook his head incredulously. "Don't be absurd, Grace."

Grace leant forwards intently. "Listen to me, Peter. Sarah is absolutely obsessed by the concept of you compromising this team because of your relationship with me…and she'll be looking for any hint of you hesitating over a decision on a case because of what she presumes is your personal agenda."

"I'm not doing anything to put you at risk. I don't give a shit what she does."

"I'm not talking about someone having a knife to my throat…but if something came up where me stepping into the figurative firing line could help to move a case forwards…." She broke off and shrugged, an attempt to lighten the atmosphere despite the sense of foreboding settling inexplicably across her chest. "I don't know, Boyd. It might be enough to convince her that we can function together at work without any threat of damage to the Unit."

He narrowed his eyes. "I'd only even start to consider it if there was no other choice…and even then the circumstances would have to be pretty bloody extenuating."

"It's just a consideration. One I want you to keep in the back of your head should you need it."

"Alright," he sighed reluctantly and allowed his head to fall back once more. "Christ, what a fucking mess."

"Hm." She paused briefly and raised a sardonic eyebrow. "What's that old adage about not mixing business with pleasure?"

He grunted and gave her a sideways glance. "That sounds suspiciously like regret, Grace."

"Not at all. Just…that perhaps we should have seen this coming."

"Don't start with all that retrospective crap. It's not like Eve or Spence would ever have made an issue out of it, even if they knew anything for certain."

"No, I know."

"Sarah's just got a malicious agenda…and seemingly she doesn't give a shit who knows it."

"Which is all the more reason why we shouldn't give her any further cause to…."

"Stop it, Grace. I don't want to hash over this again."

"Okay," she conceded gently, holding up a mollifying palm, her eyes flickering across his depressive form. "What's your grand plan for the rest of the evening, then?"

"I don't know about 'grand'…but it vaguely involves sitting in the dark and losing myself in a bottle of whiskey."

Grace rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "Sounds romantic."

"Alright, then." He grinned wolfishly. "How does stress-relieving sex in my hallway sound?"

She pulled a face, her features creasing in consternation though her sapphire eyes were sparkling. "Does it have to be the hallway?"

"No," he replied easily. "You name the locale, Grace, and we'll go and get in the car right now."

She instantly caught the mischief edging into his tone. "Not the car, Boyd. Don't even think about it."

"Did I say I was?" His smile broadened crookedly. "Although now that you come to mention it…."

"Can we not just be dull and stick to your warm, comfortable bed?"

His expression softened as he reached for her hand, grazing his lips tenderly against the velvet smoothness of her pulse point. "Whatever works for you," he murmured throatily, smiling into the warmth of her skin at her breathy sigh.

She pulled away from him regretfully mere moments later and rose to her feet, reaching out her hand to him, her palm coming to rest gently against his chest as he moved to step towards her. "This business with Sarah…," she began anew, grimacing slightly as he groaned predictably in reaction.

"I thought we were done talking about…."

"It will be okay. You do know that, don't you?"

He grunted scornfully. "I hope your crystal ball came with a receipt, Grace."

"What I mean is…I trust you to make the right decisions and not to compound the situation further. Okay?"

He sighed. "Is this you gently applying the pressure in that manner you've got so expert in over the years?"

She smiled mildly. "Yes."

"Oh, God. I've got no chance then, have I?"

"None whatsoever."

He laughed loudly, deeply, the sense of dark foreshadowing that had settled about his consciousness beginning to gradually dissipate as he touched her gently on the back to encourage her passage through the door. With a supreme effort he forced all further rage-ridden thoughts of Sarah Cavendish to the most remote caverns of his mind and allowed himself instead to concentrate on his companion, on the intoxicating promise of her slender curves beneath her clothes, on the often unspoken yet intense devotion emanating through the space between them. I won't let Sarah ruin this, he thought with determination as he reached into his pocket for his car keys, guiltily aware that the notion was equally as applicable to his work as to his personal life. I can't. Because if she does my life's as good as over….Forcing away the siren lull of melancholia he stepped again towards his car and towards the only person he had ever known who could pull him unerringly away from the precipice.

FIN