Fortunately for him, Susan had used a vegetable dye, and so one long shower later, his hair had returned to its normal colour.

"I am so glad I'm not going to have pink hair for the photos." Casey laughed, coming into the room as he fastened his tie.

"So you forgive me then?" Susan asked, handing him a glass of champagne to steady his nerves.

"I guess I kind of deserved that." He replied, taking a sip. "I guess it was a good joke."

"I'm glad you see it that way." Jarrod laughed as he showed him his cell phone. "You looked good in pink."

Casey laughed as he saw the picture Jarrod had taken of him. "Not every guy could pull off that colour."

Lily came back into the room, having finally stopped laughing at the mental image of Casey with his hair pink. She settled down onto the couch.

"Are you looking forward to the ceremony?" She asked him.

"I've been waiting for this for ages." He responded truthfully. "I can't wait. I really want us to be a proper family."

"To think, it won't be much longer until the baby comes." She reminded him. "You might even have the baby in time for Christmas."

"All going well we will." Casey responded. "Anyway, where's RJ?"

"He's gone to collect Camille and the others." She reminded him. "You know it's kind of customary for the bride to attend the wedding."

"Well I guess it's time I got ready." Susan remarked, getting up and heading into her assigned bedroom. Jarrod watched her go, thinking about what RJ had said the night before. In some ways he felt like he and Susan had a lot in common. He shook his head, bringing his thoughts back to the present. What was he thinking? She was Casey's sister. Casey would freak if he thought Jarrod had designs on her.

"So have you got a speech ready?" Casey asked him. Jarrod shook his head.

"I guess I should probably give that some thought." He replied. "I'll be back in a while."

With that, he left the room.

In the nearby psychiatric hospital, Karl was brought into an examination room for his latest session with the counsellor. He had been sent to the psychiatric ward instead of prison when it was decided that he wasn't responsible for his actions. His wound was healing, and so he had been transferred from the hospital trauma ward.

"How are you feeling today Karl?" The therapist asked him. Karl sat down, stroking his chest.

"I'm not so good." He complained. "My chest really hurts."

"That isn't exactly what I meant." The therapist replied. "I was meaning..."

"No, I really don't feel good." He said, his complexion becoming distinctly grey. He began rubbing his left arm thoughtfully. "I..."

His words tailed off and he collapsed to the floor, clutching his chest. The therapist hit the button on the wall, sounding the alarm. He was joined in the room by several other doctors.

"What's going on?" The therapist called out. "He just collapsed."

"I think he's having a heart attack." One of the other doctors responded. "We need to get him to casualty now!"

Back at the registry office, Susan arrived, finding Jarrod already waiting outside. She had gone to check on the rest of the bridal party before heading to the registry office.

She caught her breath as she saw him there. Jarrod really scrubbed up well. He had rented a tux for the occasion. It was not lost on Susan that he looked good in it. She arrived beside him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"You look pretty good." She greeted him, gesturing to his tux. Jarrod turned to face her, taking in her appearance. Even despite the hideous dress, she looked amazing. He would never have thought anyone would look good in that monstrosity, but then Susan looked good in pretty much anything.

"You look pretty good yourself." He responded. Susan blushed a little at the compliment.

"Please, I look like something from the nutcracker suite." She replied. Jarrod put an arm around her.

"You shouldn't put yourself down like that." He told her. "So is the blushing bride ready?"

"She's coming soon." She replied. "How's Casey?"

"He's starting to get nervous." He replied. "It looks like this is them."

RJ pulled up to the curb, stepping out of the car. He opened the back door, allowing Fran and Camille to get out.

"I really hope they have a chair for me like I asked." Camille stated. "My back's killing me and Junior's starting to get a little excited."

"I'm sure you'll be fine." Jarrod assured her. "Anyway, I think we're meant to be inside."

He offered an arm to Susan, smiling at her. "Would you like to join me?"

Susan smiled in response, accepting his arm as Jarrod led her inside.

"I think they look pretty good together." Fran remarked. "I really hope they don't let this pass them by."

"Well, there isn't much we can do about it." RJ interjected with a shrug. "If they don't make the move themselves, then nothing's going to happen."

"Well maybe we could just give them a gentle nudge in the right direction." Fran suggested. "Weddings do seem to have that effect on people. Maybe with a little encouragement..."

"We can worry about that later." RJ replied, taking Camille's arm. "Right now, let's get this lady up the aisle."

With that, they went inside to begin the ceremony.

At the police station, the chief had just received word from the hospital about Karl's heart attack. He now had the uncomfortable duty of informing his father that he had died.

Mr. Mason sat wordlessly in his office, stunned by the news. He had only seen his son the day before. He still couldn't believe that this was happening.

"A blood clot from his injury moved into one of his arteries causing a massive heart attack." The chief informed him. "The medical staff tried to resuscitate him, but there was nothing they could do."

"He died because of that gunshot." Mr. Mason breathed, swaying slightly on his chair. Despite the early hour, he was already noticeably drunk. "Who is responsible for this?"

"A police officer was left with no choice but to open fire." The chief stated. "He was armed..."

"He was a kid!" Mr Mason snarled. "He didn't know what he was doing..."

"Any of my officers would have done the same thing." The chief assured him. "He was a danger to others..."

"It wasn't one of your officers?" He asked, noting what he had said.

"The officer that shot him is not from OBPD. She was off duty." He informed Mr. Mason. "She's from San Francisco."

"She wasn't on duty?" Mr. Mason asked. "But..."

"I want to file a complaint." Mr. Mason stated. "I demand justice."

The chief sighed as he realised that he couldn't reason with him. He knew that Susan had acted entirely within her rights, but Mr. Mason wouldn't hear of it. All that mattered to him was that his son was dead, and Susan was to blame.

The party arrived back at JKP, where they continued to celebrate. Camille was busy showing off her wedding ring to the other girls when a knock came at the door. Jarrod answered it, finding a cop outside.

"I'm looking for Sergeant Rhodes." He began, taking off his cap. Jarrod could tell that it was a ranking officer from the style of his uniform. He showed him inside.

"Susan, there's a police officer here to see you." Jarrod informed her. She looked up a little curious as to why they were there. She stood up, making her way over.

"Sergeant Rhodes, I'm sorry to interrupt your vacation." He began. "We tried to contact you but we couldn't reach you on your cell phone."

"It's been off for most of the day." She informed them. "I was attending my brother's wedding..."

"I'm afraid that there's been a complaint made against you." He informed her. "We're investigating a D.I.C."

All the colour drained from Susan's face as she heard this. Everyone could see she was upset about something.

"What's a D.I.C.?" Casey asked her.

"Death in Custody." She informed him, a couple of tears beginning to form.

"Karl Mason suffered a massive heart attack as a result of his injury." The chief carried on. "He died earlier this morning."

Susan was completely lost for words. She'd seen her fair share of action in her career, but this was the first time anyone had died as a result of her actions. She was visibly shaken at the thought that she had killed him.

"I'm sorry to do this, but I'll need to take your badge and your gun." He stated. "As of this point, you're suspended from duty pending an investigation."

Susan went over to her jacket, retrieving her badge and gun, presenting them to the chief. He took them off her. He didn't want to do this, he knew she had only protected herself, but the fact was that now a kid was dead, and a complaint had been made.

"We'll keep you informed." He assured her. "Until this is resolved, I'd recommend you don't leave town."

Susan just nodded wordlessly as he left. Casey, Michelle and her mother came to her side to support her.

"Don't worry honey; I'm sure things will be fine." Her mother assured her. "You're a good cop, I know you didn't do anything wrong."

"If it wasn't for you, Dom and Gabby might have been killed." Casey assured her. "What are you meant to do? Wait until he starts shooting to decide he's dangerous?"

"I know this upsets you sis, but Casey and mom are right." Michelle interjected. "Karl was dangerous, he needed to be stopped."

"I can't believe he's dead." Susan muttered, taking a seat on the couch. "I killed him."

"You heard them; he died of a heart attack." Casey reminded her. "You did your job. You can't blame yourself..."

Susan got up and wiped her eyes with her wrist.

"It's fine." She rushed out, picking up a glass of champagne. "Like you said, I only acted in self-defence. Things will be fine."

"Susan, we understand if you're worried." Casey said, holding her closely. "We all know you're upset about this..."

"Casey, you've just gotten married." She reminded him with a weak smile, sipping some champagne. "Don't worry about this, you should be celebrating."

"Only if you're sure you'll be alright." He said soothingly. He wasn't convinced by Susan's assertion at all. He could see that Karl's death had affected her.

"I'm serious Casey, I'm fine." She assured him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Now, let's get back to celebrating. Don't let this ruin your day."

The rest of the night went by quickly. No one was really in much of a mood to celebrate since they'd found out about Karl. Despite what he had done, none of them would ever have wanted him dead. Jarrod made his way outside, finding Susan on the steps outside. It was as he sat down next to her, he realised that she was crying.

"I've never killed anyone before." She whispered to him as she realised he was there. "I can't believe he's dead."

"You didn't have a choice." He reminded her, putting an arm around her. "I'm sure the investigation..."

"I wasn't on duty and I was out of uniform." She reminded him. "If they claim he didn't know I was a cop..."

"You identified yourself." He interrupted her. "You did everything you could."

"Did I?" She asked him, looking at him thoughtfully. Her bottom lip quivered a little as she tried to second-guess herself. "What if there was another way? What if...?"

"You have a gun for a reason." He reminded her. "You had a second to act and you did what you thought was right. It's terrible that things have worked out like this, but if you hadn't shot him, then someone could have been killed."

"He was a kid Jarrod!" She sobbed, her tears coming more readily. "He was a stupid, messed up, and frightened kid. He had his whole life ahead of him."

"You can't blame yourself for this." Jarrod told her. "He stopped being a kid the moment he pulled a gun. You had to stop him."

"I'm really scared." She admitted. "I've always been the strong one, mom and sis always expect it of me, but this thing has me really scared. If they decide I didn't act correctly I could lose my job."

"I'm sure it won't come to that." He said reassuringly, stroking her back.

"It wouldn't be the first time a good cop's been sacked for something like this." She sighed. "This is more than a job to me; it's all I've ever wanted to do."

She stared at the stars, wiping away some tears. "Casey told you about what happened to dad right?"

"He said he died in the line of duty." Jarrod explained. "He was pulling a kid out of a hotel fire."

"The fire was started by an arsonist." She explained. "Ever since then all I ever wanted was to be a cop. I wanted to stop something like that happening again. If the cops had caught that guy earlier..."

"Your dad would still be alive." Jarrod concluded. Susan nodded in response. Jarrod held her in his arms as she stared into the night. She hated feeling so vulnerable, but something about Jarrod made her feel at ease. She rested her head on his shoulder; taking comfort in the arms of the man she'd only met a couple of days previously. He was there for her at a time when she needed someone. She didn't want to burden her family with this, she wanted them to believe she was alright, but right now nothing could be further from the truth. Jarrod cradled her head with his arm and gently stroked her hair. He wanted to do more to help her, but right now this was all he could do.