The explosion rocked the house.

She could faintly hear shouting – she couldn't tell. Her hearing was a little shot. Spike's concussive grenade had worked like a charm, as it were.

Put your hands up! Michael Brown put your hands up.

The door quaked as though somebody was throwing their body against it. Mel heaved with all her might against it, praying the lock held.

There was a shot. And then another and another and another.

"Let me in Mel!" She thought she heard him scream. "Let me in."

She sobbed. A bullet ripped through the door two inches to her right, sending splinters flying. She glanced over, but Emma had been sheltered by the high brim of the bathtub.

Then there was another shot. And the door gave one final thump as Michael's body fell against the door and she knew he was dead.

"Come on, Emma. It's okay. You can get up now." She helped Emma clamber to her feet. "It's all over now." She opened the door slowly. Michael's body fell at her feet.

"Don't look Emma. Don't look." She shielding Emma's eyes with her hands, pressing the girls face against her body. It was too late for her though. She saw the pool of blood, the spatters across the hall. She saw what was left of Michael.

A group of police moved towards them.

"Go on. They'll take you to your mom." She motioned, patting Emma on the shoulder as she stepped over Michael's body.

Emma raced towards them. "Mommmmmeeeeeee" She screamed. Tears were streaming down her face. She was openly sobbing now as she bolted away from the ugly scene.

Wordy, clearly the most experienced with young children, moved forward to intercept her. "Hey sweetie. Your name's Emma, right? My name's Kevin. I'm glad you're okay. You've been a really brave girl. Your mom is really worried about you, but she's just outside. Do you want to come with me and see your mom?" He held out a hand. Emma considered him for a second. It didn't take her long to decide. She placed her hand in his.

Oh the resilience of youth, Melinda though brokenly. She could never trust that openly. Look where it had gotten her.

The officer disappeared with Emma and she felt a huge burden lift. She looked down absently. Michael's gun lay at her feet.

The blonde officer moved forwards. "Hey Melinda? You did a good job today."

She nodded woodenly.

She crumpled against the wall beside her. It would be over soon.

Greg saw it. Before she even reached for the gun he knew she was going to do it. "No! Melinda - don't do it." But it was too late. She'd already snatched up the gun and was pointing it at her own head.

"I can't do this." She sobbed. "How can I live with myself? After what I did?"

"You didn't do anything wrong, Melinda." Greg tried to reassure her. Sam and Ed re-aimed their weapons at her. Just in case she decided to take somebody with her. "Because of what you did that little girl is going home to her mother. That girl is still alive because of you."

"But he would have killed her!" Melinda sobbed, hand shaking. "He never would have seen her if it hadn't been for me! He would have killed her! How many others has he killed? How many others didn't I know about? How could I not know? I deserve to die for this. How can I go on living when I know what he did? What I helped him do?"

Jules eased forward. "Sarge, I can do this. Let me talk to her." Greg weighed the options.

"Okay. You take over. But I'm here for you." He stepped back.

"Melinda I know what you're going through." Jules moved towards her.

"You don't." She sobbed.

"Yes I do. I know what it's like to make a big mistake. A huge mistake. A mistake that hurt somebody else. And to think that the rest of your life is going to be determined by that one mistake."

Melinda lowered the gun an inch. "Yeah?"

"Yeah. I do. I know how you're feeling. Not so long ago, I made a big mistake and somebody almost got killed. And I thought I ruined somebody's life. And today I found out that that woman – the woman I hurt – she has a daughter. She has a beautiful daughter that she loves more than anything."

Melinda's tears were coming faster now.

"I know it seems like this is the only thing in your life right now. It's overwhelming and scary." Jules eased forward another step. "I know you're looking for some way to atone for supporting Michael, for believing in him. But the best way to do that is to keep living and go on with your life."

The gun lowered another inch. "What did you do? Afterwards, what did you do to forget?"

"I joined the police. So that I could so some good in this world. So that I could save people. At the end of the day I wanted to say that in my life that I'd done more good than bad. Melinda, I'm going to tell you the truth. You never forget, but you learn to deal with it. You can't let this define you Melinda." Jules continued to step forward.

Sam, on her flank, shifted forward with her. He couldn't risk losing the line of fire. Even though she seemed to be de-escalating, he couldn't take the chance that she'd try to go suicide-by-cop and shoot Jules. He'd already been down that road before. It wasn't pretty.

"Laura tells me you volunteer at the hospital. That you like to hold the babies. Sometimes they ask you to hold the sick ones. You're making a difference to those babies, Melinda. That's your good. Emma's going to be fine, and that's because of you. You got her away from him, you kept her safe. And she's going to be going home tonight because of you. And that's yours too."

"I know you feel responsible for Michael's actions but you're not. You are not responsible. He was. Come on, Melinda. Put down the gun. Lets walk out of here together."

Melinda gave a last sob before dropping the gun to the floor with a clatter.