A/N: So, this is the last 'proper' chapter of the story, with just an epilogue to follow... probably at the weekend. I know I shocked you all with Parker getting shot, but there is method to my madness, I swear. Once again, if you want to read the alternate storyline, please look for this story at AO3 (Archive of Our Own) or on my LJ (link on my Profile Page). Thanks, as ever, for all the feedback! :)

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 10A - All That's Left Behind

William Eliot Spencer, Texas Ranger. He had wanted the title after his name for so long and had been so proud to wear the star at his belt. He looked into the glass, saw his father staring back at him, and prayed to God his Daddy was proud. That was all of six months ago, and now here he was again, before that same mirror, dressed up in black and set to face the worst day of his life.

Death was a part of life, Will learnt that so many years ago when he lost his father. Eliot was a fine man that only wanted to do what was best for his town and his family. He loved his wife, his son, his friends and brothers in arms. He was a good man with principles and such. Sure, he was no saint, but he wasn't supposed to be. All men were sinners, but Eliot had repented, Will knew. It was years until his Momma told him everything, and even then he weren't so sure he got the whole story. All Will knew was that Eliot did a bad thing when he rode out of town as the newest member of Damien Moreau's posse, but he came home in the end, he did what was right, and land sakes if he didn't pay the price for the stupid error in judgement of his younger self.

There had been no body to bury when Eliot Spencer died. Nobody ever did find him, and it was thought some beast on the plains or such must've dragged him far away. It didn't matter. Will believed, much like his mother did, that Eliot's spirit had long since ascended. He was in a better place now, where those that repent get to eventually. Now he was no longer alone up there, he had his wife at his side.

Will scrubbed one lone tear off his cheek and cleared his throat. His Momma was too young to die, and she shouldn't ever have even been in the crossfire. She weren't no Ranger, she was a wife and a mother, but Will could never dismiss her as just a woman. Parker Spencer was a tower of strength. She had gotten the two of them through the hardest times, held it all together, and been there in the last to see to it her son didn't meet the same fate as his father, at the hands of the same old devil of a man.

Will closed his eyes and the scene replayed again, just as it always did every night when he slept. The shower of gunfire, Uncle Jonah's voice yelling in panic, the trail of red from the wall to the floor, and his mother's broken body.

"We did it," she said with a ridiculously large smile.

She had to be in agony, Will was sure of it, a pain he seemed to feel himself as tears streaked down his face unchecked. Quinn was calling for more help, a doctor and a stretcher, tearing strips from his shirt to bind the wound at Parker's chest. She winced then as he put pressure near her heart, as if finally realising she was supposed to hurt at all.

"Momma, please" Will cried, reaching to grip her hands, his knees in the dust and the rest of the world completely cast aside. "Why'd you do this? Why'd you come out here?" he asked desperately, unable to understand at all.

"I… I never had parents," she choked out, crying in pain as Quinn did his best to help her. "Always promised, I'd be… the best mother," she breathed shakily, every moment bringing another wave of agony that she could hardly bear.

Still, her smile never wavered. It was what Will remembered more clearly than anything. Through the agony of her injury, until the moment she lost her fight with the dark, she smiled. Even after the doctor did his best, but could not save her, she seemed content in rest.

Will had cried so much at first. For two days he couldn't think how he was supposed to go on, how he could live with knowing his mother died to save him. He worried about her soul ascending. She was such a good person, she deserved the heavenly choir and a free pass through the pearly gates, but her last act was to kill a man and that twisted in Will's gut so much. If not for Father Nate, it might have driven him insane.

It was a surprise when they showed up in town, but a welcome one. Aunt Sophie explained that they heard of Moreau's latest antics in the East. Contacts of theirs who they had been keeping eyes and ears open had sent messages of warning, and immediately Nate and Sophie had travelled to the Spencer house. It broke Sophie's heart to know they were all but too late. Parker was so close to gone, all that could be done had been tried. Will was at her side, gripping her hand, waiting for the end, when Sophie and Nate came to see her one last time. It was the only time Will ever saw Sophie unable to speak. All she did was cry and cling to his side in desperate pain.

Father Nate stood over the girl he saw as a daughter, picked up her other hand in his and asked if she had any confession to make. She swallowed painfully hard and spoke through tears that took too much energy to fully shed.

"I killed him," she said so softly. "Moreau, he… I had to… for Will," she choked out, writhing in pain the very next moment.

"I know, I know," said Nate, fighting tears himself as he put a hand to her forehead that was covered in sweat. "You ask God's forgiveness with all your heart…"

"I do," she whispered. "I only wanted… I couldn't save Eliot," she cried, and Nate completely understood, as Sophie and Will did too.

Parker didn't get a chance to save her husband, she'd be damned if she would see her son suffer the same fate. Her final shot took Moreau out of this world, and in a cruel twist of fate, his last took her with him. It was comfort to hear Father Nate say her soul could be saved. Moreau would burn in hell for what he'd done, but Parker's spirit would rise again in a better place, where she and Eliot would be reunited. It was little comfort to those left behind but it was all they had, that and the last words she spoke of love to each of them before she was gone.

Will had found Alec outside on the porch step, still praying for a miracle. The two men had put their arms around each other, cried together for the loss of yet another they had loved and lost too soon.

"This is my fault," Will cried into his uncle's shoulder. "If I hadn't been so hell bent on being a hero…"

"Then you couldn't be your Daddy's son, nor your Momma's either," said Alec sternly, holding the young man by the shoulders and making him meet his eyes. "Now you listen here and you listen good. When Eliot passed, I blamed myself, and I could do it again now, but that don't do no good. You gotta live for what's left, Will, you gotta fight just like your folks did," he told him definitely. "If we don't go on fightin' and bein' the best people we can be, then what did they die for? For nothin', that's what"

"It shouldn't be this way," Will shook his head. "She didn't deserve it."

"I know that," he agreed, fighting his own further pain and tears. "But she did what she wanted to do, what she knew was right, for you. Now she and Eliot, they raised you up to be a good man, somebody they could be proud of, and you gotta live up to that now," he explained. "You don't think I hurt every day, missing your Daddy? That man helped raise me too. He was my brother, and your Momma became my sister. You all I got left now, Will, and we gotta be strong for each other, you hear me?"

"Yes, sir," replied Will, much like he had as a little boy when Uncle Alec gave similar speeches.

He felt like that kid now, alone and scared like a lost little boy. It was vastly different to the great man he thought he was just a day or two before. A Texas Ranger, the man of the house, the hero. Now he felt so very small. That feeling didn't go anywhere, and now here he was a few days later staring into the glass at himself in his black suit and tie. He looked like his father, but he still felt so small and insignificant. Will wondered if that would ever go away.

Parker didn't know what to make of any of this. When the bullet hit her, it felt like being run down by a train. Her legs buckled, the world swam out of focus, and yet she found a smile. She had seen Moreau fall and not get up. Somehow she knew, without any conformation, that this time he really was dead. She got that son of a bitch for what he did to Eliot, to her, to Will. Justice had been done, and if she had to be taken out of this world to see it happen, so be it. The only regret Parker had was that she had to go this far, that she was now going to have to leave Will alone in the world. Still, she trusted the others that she loved to be all that he needed now. William was a grown man, he could handle things from here, she was sure. Just in case, he had his Uncle Alec and Uncle Jonah to guide him.

It was only later that she realised there was more family than she realised to support her son. Sophie and Nate where there, holding her hands, telling her they loved her. Parker realised she would miss them too when the time came, but she believed she would always be able to watch over them.

The light was getting dimmer, like twilight falling and yet they were inside with all the lamps lit. The pain in her chest grew more intense all the time, as Parker confessed her sins, asked forgiveness, imparted words of love to all those that came to say goodbye. This was definitely goodbye, she knew that much. The agony of her wound ebbed away slowly, and the light that had been rapidly dimming slowly returned to the room. There were voices in her head, figures moving beyond her reach at first and then closer, all the time a little closer.

When she opened her eyes it was to a sea of bright white light. Will, Sophie, Nate, they were all gone, but Parker was not alone. She would never be alone now.

"Hello, darlin'," he greeted her in that Southern boy drawl she had fallen in love with so many years ago.

He looked like he had back then, and the day before he died, and as he ought to look now if he'd lived. He managed this all at the same time, and Parker couldn't figure out how, but she didn't care either. She ran to him, feeling no ground beneath her feet nor air in her lungs, just freedom as she sailed towards him and came to rest in his strong arms.

Eliot caught her easily, pulled her tight to him and breathed her in. His beautiful wife, his precious Parker. It had seemed like a lifetime and a second all rolled into one since he held her, but now it didn't matter either way. She was here, and he could be mad about how it happened and what she'd done, but he already knew it was never meant to be suicide. She had done just what Eliot had done before her, protected their family, their son, their town. Parker was a hero, just as they said Eliot had been.

"I missed you so much," she said, words muffled against his neck as she held on like she never wanted to let go - she really didn't.

"Missed you too, Parker," he promised, moving until his face aligned with hers, leaning in to kiss her long and deep. "I love you so much."

"I love you," she replied back in kind. "I did what you asked, I stayed strong. I fought for everything, for Will..."

"I know, I saw it all, and I was so proud, Parker. I am," he promised her, still holding her tight. "I know what happened hurt you a lot, but when we promised forever, I did mean it. Now we have forever together, and nothing can take either of us away again."

Parker beamed, loving the sound of that. She hadn't meant to get here quite this soon, and she would miss those left behind, but finally, she was with Eliot again, and exactly where she belonged - forever.

Epilogue to follow...