AN: I skipped forward like this, because I wanted to get the charaters to a certain point to move the storyline along. Don't worry, though. That gap will likely turn into a spin-off series of one-shots later on.

One year later...

Jamie was shocked, but glad, when he and Eddie got an extended lunch break. They were debating on where to go to enjoy that, eventually deciding on Gilgo Beach in Long Island. He loved the beach culture. The closer you got to the ocean, the friendlier and more laid-back the people seemed to get. As he parked the car, he glanced down at the I.d. bracelet on his right wrist. He smiled, remembering who'd given it to him. He and Holly had been together now almost a year-and-a-half, and they couldn't be happier. They'd had a lot of fun moments together, like when he helped put up two new items in her theater. The first one, a picture, had been taken during Dominic Scaglione and Peter Gregus's visit. All the kids had been gathered on some risers, which Peter and Dominic stood on either side of. Holly and her friends Cassie, Michael, and Tucker were sitting on the front riser. Unfortunately, John Lloyd Young hadn't been able to make it. But he did send one of his art pieces, which was the other item Jamie hung up, and he also sent a message for the kids. He was smiling in the video, as he told them to stay in school, and to never give up on their dreams.

Some moments were a little more tense, like when he waited with her at her parents house for the home-health aid to show up. It'd taken a couple of months to convince her father, that he needed some extra help. And still, other moments were tender, like when he recently held an ice pack on her ankle, soothing the inflammation from a tatoo she'd gotten. Just thinking about her, he couldn't stop grinning like a stereotypical crazy person. That quality had never changed, from their first night together. He still often went back to that conversation with his father and brother, how Danny had reacted when Frank used the word "forever". But ultimately, he was glad to have taken the slower, more cautious route. He'd been impulsive with a girl before, his ex-fiance Sydney, and it didn't work out. He'd never make that mistake again. He was yanked back to Earth, when Eddie smacked him on his arm.

"Geez! What did I ever do to you?"

"Want me to list", she shot back with a playful grin.

He rolled his eyes.

She said, "You went all space-case on me. Daydreaming about your girl again?"

He didn't answer, but the faint flush in his cheeks told her enough.

She giggled and told him, "You need to just put a ring on that, and get it over with. You know you've been itching to, practically since the moment you met her."

And there it was again, after so long. Not for the first time, he briefly wondered if his partner had acquired psychic abilities. Then, he spotted a familiar face in the crowd.

This face smiled when it saw him, calling out, "Reagan!"

"Sarge!"

The men exchanged high-fives.

Jamie said, "I guess great minds think alike."

"Define 'great'."

All three of them were laughing, as they ordered lunch from a nearby food cart, before taking their seats at a picnic table.

"So, the day's been pretty quiet, huh?"

Eddie said, "Somebody keeps going off into la-la land."

"Quit bustin' my chops. It's not that bad."

Swallowing a bite of his sandwhich, Jamie's former partner asked, "Okay, when do I get to meet this girl? You guys have been goin' together for, what, a year?"

"A year-and-a-half."

"Right. And not once, in all that time, have I gotten more than a glimpse of that picture in your wallet."

"Jenko's met her."

"Yeah. Holly's pretty cool. She's all fire and spunk."

Renzulli was momentarily distracted, when, ironically enough, he spotted two red-haired girls on the beach from the corner of his vision. Narrowing his eyes, he realized that one of them looked very familiar.

Reaching over and tapping the younger man's arm, he asked, "Hey, Reagan...that her?"

Looking in the direction indicated, Jamie smiled when he realized that it was, indeed, Holly. She was walking with her sister, Tricia, and best friend, Cassie, laughing like she hadn't a care in the world. All three of them carried surfboards under their right arms. He remembered that she'd decided to take up the skill last July, inspired by people they'd seen on this very beach during his birthday party. Once Holly wanted to do something, it didn't take long before she got others to join her. He certainly wasn't going to complain. It made her already-gorgeous body even more toned, and she always came home in a particularly good mood on surfing days. And a good mood often meant...something else. Focus, man!

Clearing his throat, he said, "Yeah. That's her."

"You lucky son-of-a-gun."

"I know. I tell myself that every morning."

Not waiting for a response, Jamie extended his whistle from his belt. Its shrill noise pierced the calm around them, getting the girls' attention.

Just to make sure she knew it was him, he called out, "Babe!"

Holly smiled, waving to him. When Tricia and Cassie realized who it was, they waved, too.

She yelled, "I'll see you tonight, love! Be careful!"

"Always am!"

He watched them head back towards the ocean, laying flat on their boards and letting the waves carry them out. As he turned around, he saw that Eddie was trying to conceal a giggle.

He shrugged, asking only, "What?"

"Love? Where are you from, dude?"

"Shut up", he replied with a laugh.

She didn't stop teasing him, during the whole return drive. A few days later, having lost a bet, Jamie was carrying three boxes full of cannolis into a different precinct. He tried to be a decent sport, as he reached Danny's desk.

"Good afternoon."

"Yeah. Yeah. Just take it."

The detective gave a naughty smile, as he sat back in his chair and chomped his first cannoli.

"I was on the phone with Colton, while I waited for the order to be finished."

Danny asked, "How's he doin'?"

"He's...he's handling it. He tries to make everybody laugh, so they don't notice how badly he's hurting."

"No wonder, he gets along with Pops and Dad so well. How's Holly takin' it?"

Jamie shook his head in amazement, replying, "She surprises me every day."

He pulled up a chair next to his brother, taking a canoli for himself. There was actually another reason for his sticking around, and also for the phone call in the bakery. He'd spoken to both Colton and Traci, and just thinking about why made him anxious.

He snapped back to Earth, when Danny asked, "You're shakin', little bro. You okay?"

"Oh, uh...yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. It's just...I've been thinking about something."

"Never a good sign."

"Maybe not for you."

A lighthearted shove was followed by, "Seriously, what's wrong?"

Jamie sighed and told him, "Eddie said something to me last week that really stuck, something that...I finally think I'm ready for. And hopefully, so is she."

"She?"

"Holly."

Danny's face remained scrunched up in confusion, until he saw Jamie reach into the pocket of his uniform shirt and take out a small black box. His eyes widened slightly with realization.

"For real?"

"Yeah."

"Well, it's about damn time."

He used a high-five to pull Jamie in for a congratulatory hug. Now, he understood the reason for the phone call to her parents.

As they pulled away, Jamie said, "You can't tell anybody about this. I don't want to risk her, finding out."

He waved him off, saying, "I got it, okay? Now, show me the rock."

The ring was a platinum band, with three round-cut diamonds. The center diamond was clear, while the other two were purple.

"So, you just waltzed into some random store and bought this? If the idea was only put in your head last week, how the hell did you save the money it must've taken?"

"Actually, they were clearing out some old inventory. I got a pretty good discount."

"Don't let your girl know that."

He chuckled and said, "The badge probably helped some, too."

"Of course, it did."

The week that followed felt more like a hundred years. Jamie kept the ring with him at all times, both as a means of keeping the secret, and also because looking at it helped him come up with ideas for the proposal. He didn't want to go the cliche route, like planning reservations and having the ring be hidden in the food. But he didn't want to go the potentially-embarrassing route, either, like having it broadcast on the jumbotron at a sports game. It was driving him crazy, and thus driving his partner crazy, too. She kept bugging him for information, not fully knowing what was going on, but he never broke. In the end, he didn't need to. One day, while he was retrieving a file for a case they were working on, a bored Eddie started fiddling around with some of the things in his locker. She was smiling naughtily, thinking how dumb he was to leave it open even the tiniest bit. She pushed aside his messenger bag to reach for a book. But when the bag fell and hit the floor, a small black box tumbled out. Curious, she picked it up and opened it, her jaw falling open ever-so-slightly. At that precise moment, Jamie came back into the locker room, freezing in his tracks when he saw what she was holding.

She turned around and met his eyes, standing up and saying, "Let me guess...'It's not mine. Just holding it for a friend'?"

"Eddie, look..."

His awkward pause was both adorable and funny.

She smiled, giggling as she replied, "Relax. Why didn't you tell me you were going to pop the question?"

"Well, I know you guys hang out sometimes, and I just didn't-"

"I got it. My lips are sealed. And for what it's worth-", and she hugged him, before finishing, "-I'm really happy for you. If any girl deserves to become a Reagan, it's her."

"Thanks, partner. Let's hope she feels the same way."

Soon after leaving, Jamie got a text from Holly, saying that she'd left work early due to a migraine. He felt bad, especially knowing she'd been suffering from them for the last seventeen years. It was bad enough for an adult to go through, far worse for a girl in fifth grade. Luckily, he was done with his tour for the day, so it was okay for him to immediately drive over there. Even if he hadn't been finished, he couldn't let her suffer alone like that. He put his spare key in her front door's lock, and he immediately picked up the faint smell of ginger in the air. Glancing to his right, he spotted an empty mug in her sink, with a teabag still inside. That explained it. Ginger tea was a known homeopathic treatment for migraines, particularly for the nausea they often caused. The t. v. was on a low volume, playing the show "The Dead Files". A light groan got Jamie's attention, drawing his eyes to the sock-covered feet that stuck out over the side of the couch.

Softly, he closed the door behind him and said, "It's me, babe."

"I figured that", came the sleepy-sounding reply.

He walked around the side of the couch, to get a better look at her. Holly's hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and she was wearing a red Mickey Mouse t-shirt and light grey shorts. She had her sunglasses on, likely to reduce the sensitivity the migraine produced, and a small ice pack was resting against her forehead. Jamie carefully moved her legs aside, placing them across his own, when he sat down. The corner of her mouth twitched up in a tiny smile.

He asked, "Is it any better?"

She told him, "Somewhat. There's still a bit of mild pressure over my left eye socket, but it's nowhere near as bad as it was a half-hour ago. Even though my vision isn't blurry anymore, I decided to keep my sunglasses on, until the pain is fully gone."

"I don't blamee you. Better to be safe, than sorry."

He gently began messaging her legs, unable to think of anything else that could help. At one point, when his right hand stopped just above her knee, she reached down and grabbed it. Interlacing their fingers, they rubbed their fingertips over each other's knuckles.

He then made a comment about the male ghost hunter, who once worked for the NYPD's homicide division: "I think Danny knew him, back in the day. He'd just made detective, right around the same this guy was about to retire."

"Do they still talk?"

"Not really. A card on occasion, but nothing big."

That was the end of the conversation for a while, until Holly finally took her sunglasses off. As she rubbed the gluey feeling from her eyes, Jamie removed the ice pack from her forehead.

He said, "After I put this away...how about a hot bath?"

He knew it would take away any remaining tension she felt, and he could embrace her the way he'd been wanting to.

Nodding, she told him, "That actually sounds pretty good."

Holly leaned back against Jamie's chest and breathing in deep the smell of the orange and peppermint oils he'd put in the water. The c.d. of instrumental Japanese music he'd recently given her played in the background. There was a sloshing sound, as he put his right arm across her upper chest and rubbed her left shoulder. Her own hands drifted up to that same arm, clinging to it like an anchor. She sighed, when he nuzzled her neck and kissed a spot just below her left ear.

"Does that mean you're feeling better?"

"Close enough."

Her head lolled to the right, and she nuzzled his arm. Something about her tone unnerved him. There was clearly more she wanted to say, but she was afraid to say it.

He asked her, "What's bothering you?"

In a reluctant-sounding voice, she told him, "Right before I left the theater, one of the older kids was gushing about her father. She said he'd surprised the family last night, bringing home Thai food for dinner. I don't know why, maybe it was the budding migraine that made me so emotional, but...it got me thinking about you."

"Why?"

"We've been to four cop funerals, Jamie. Only one of them was from natural causes. What Linda said has never left me. I don't like to wonder if one morning will be the last hug, the last kiss, or the last shared laugh. I envy the certainty that girl has in her life."

"Nothing's certain, babe You said so yourself."

"Yeah, but", and she sniffled, before saying, "I dread the day, when you don't come home. I...I d-don't know what I'd do."

"Hey, hey, shhh..."

He squeezed her tightly. She might've convinced herself that this swirl of emotions was from her migraine, but he knew better. This fear must've been simmering within her for a while. Her sickness was like a key, unlocking the door of her true emotions. She was such a strong person, always wanting to protect other people from feeling the same stress or sadness. This instinct, this tender heart for the world at-large, was one of the many reasons why he loved her so much. It would've been a perfect moment to present her with that ring, if only his pants hadn't been hanging far on the other side of the bathroom.

Softly, he told her, "I promised you this a long time ago. I'm not going anywhere."

"I know, but-"

"Hey. I...am not...going...anywhere."

Holly wanted to believe him. The longer they were together, the more she treasured those precious moments, even the little ones, and the more terrified she became about losing them. She didn't know where this ominious feeling had come from, and that fact bothered her more than anything else. She whispered that she loved him, and he whispered the same back. After a couple of kisses, they decided some fresh air was needed.

Jamie told her, "There's a library, that has a small nature preserve on its property. It's supposed to be open really late tonight. We could go for a walk in there, if you want."

"That actually sounds pretty good."

"Well, alright then."

The night was unusually cool for spring. It was warm, of course, but the breeze did a good job in balancing that out. Holly felt a little odd in her casual blouse and jeans, largely because her boyfriend was back in his uniform. Apparently, it was a good thing that he'd been leaving some clean boxer shorts and undershirts at her apartment. But still, she was happier than she'd been all day, her fingers entwined with his as they walked along the shaded path. Fireflies would appear in pairs. And every so often, a bird would dart from the trees, or a rabbit would hop across the path they were on. It was beyond peaceful, and they were enjoying every second of it.

Rubbing her thumb over his knuckles, she told him, "Thanks for this, love."

"It's no trouble."

Without warning, he gave a slight tug, and he twirled her under his arm as if they were dancing. He was laughing softly along with her, as she spun back into his embrace seconds later. They wrapped their arms around each other, and they shared several tender kisses. He couldn't stop smiling. This moment couldn't get any better. Then, as Holly tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, he noticed that she'd used her left hand. His heart leapt into his throat, scary in a good way. Was this the sign he'd been waiting for? He put his arm around her shoulders, as they resumed their walk. When they reached the wildflower garden near the street, Jamie noticed something strange. A familiar-looking vehicle was sitting at the nearby corner, still running but not moving. He couldn't be certain, because of the darkness, but it looked a bit like the driver was staring at them.

Tapping Holly's shoulder and pointing in that direction, he asked, "See that?"

"What? The car by the stop sign?"

"Yeah. I think I saw it, as we were driving here earlier. I think it's been following us."

A chuff of laughter was followed by, "Right. Like it's the only dark blue Toyota in all of New York City."

Gently grabbing his chin, she directed his face back towards hers. She gave a couple of barely-there pecks to his lips, before lightly pulling on his bottom one with her teeth. The noise he made was a cross between a groan and a laugh, and hearing it made her smile. She cast that same smile over her shoulder, as she tugged him further along the curb. Jamie felt on top of the world. It was then, that he decided to make his move.

He said, "Seems like everyone I know has come so far in this last little while...including you."

"I can't have changed that much."

"I meant that in a positive way. I can't explain it, and I don't have any words for it. But I can definitely see it."

"And what exactly do you think you're seeing?"

He could hear a noise behind them, a kind of rumbling crunch, but he chose to ignore it. Instead, he put his arm around Holly again, kissing her temple.

Then, he told her, "I see...I see potential."

He removed his arm, which she didn't pay much attention to. Nor did she notice how he'd dropped back behind her.

She said, "That's kind of heavy, don't you think, love?"

He replied, "You tell me."

As she turned around, her eyes widened at seeing the small black box in Jamie's hand. A tremor came into her breathing, which he picked up on. A hopeful smile bloomed on his face, as he took a couple tentative steps forward.

He said, "I've changed a lot, too, from when I first graduated the academy. I've chased down robbers, rapists, and drug-dealers. I've infiltrated an organized crime family. But this is by far the scariest thing I've ever done."

He dropped to his knee, opening the box as he did so. Her heart fluttered, when she saw the ring. His tongue darted out, moistening his suddenly-dry lips.

Meeting her eyes again, he said, "I love you so much, Holly, and I want you to be mine. Marry me."

All her life, she thought that when this moment came, if it ever came, there'd be a lot of stereotypes involved. There'd be some over-the-top squealing and jumping, nd enough nodding to induce a severe neck cramp. But Holly Mullins was rarely one for stereotypes. Her nervousness faded, as she, too, knelt on the ground. She placed her hands on either side of his neck, her thumbs rubbing along his jaw.

Finally finding her voice, she told him, "First of all, I don't want you in the dirt like this."

Clearing his throat, he asked "Then, why are you here?"

"Because I love you, too...and I would be more than happy to be the next Mrs. Reagan."

Both were misty-eyed and smiling, as he slid the ring onto her finger. They shared an overjoyed kiss. But as they went to stand up, the slow rumble that'd been annoying them in the background suddenly sped up. The couple turned as a pair of headlights barreled towards them. They grabbed on tight, screaming as they tried to push each other out of the way. Time froze for a second, as the car made impact. They rolled off the side of the road and into some nearby bushes. Holly refused to give in to the blackness teasing the edges of her vision. She tried to shake Jamie, but he didn't answer. She didn't know what to do. Acting on the first idea that popped into her mind, she reached for the gun in his holster. Not taking any time to appreciate its heaviness in her hand, she fired off four shots. All of the bullets hit the car, two of them in the tires, but they didn't seem to do enough damage to stop the vehicle from leaving the scene. She screamed in a mix of pain, fear, and frustration, as the taillights disappeared over a hill. Then, while she was placing the gun back into the holster, she realized that her fiance still hadn't moved.

"Jamie? Jamie-love?"

She shook him again, but he didn't so much as groan. Panic instantly flooded through her veins.

"No. No, no, no..."

She carefully rolled him over, frightened to death at how limp he felt. There was dirt in his hair and on his face, along with several scratches. His palms were reddened, like from a combination of holding onto her and bracing himself against the car's impact. His eyes were shut, and his mouth was set in the wobbly line she used to consider peaceful. As gently as she possibly could, Holly cradled the back of his head with her left hand, while cupping his shoulder with her right one. She tried shaking him again, but it still didn't work. The more seconds passed, the more terrified she became.

"Jamie", and she began kissing him all over his face, "Please, wake up! Please, love! Please!"

She tried to check his pulse, but her hands were trembling too badly to really feel it. By now, she was nearly sobbing. She wanted to give him CPR, too. But she didn't know if he had internal injuries, which that could aggravate. Then, she heard a garbled, fuzzy sound...his walkie-talkie! Thank goodness, it hadn't sustained any serious damage. She pulled it from his belt, turning its knobs to a frequency she'd seen him use multiple times.

Her voice was thick with emotion, as she yelled the words every cop's loved one dreaded most: "Officer down! Officer down! We got an officer down here!"

She also said the name of the street they were on, along with the name of the library. In the meantime, she was still trying to get her fiance back to consciousness.

She didn't know it, but before she shut the device off, the walkie-talkie also broadcast her agonized scream to every single on-duty police officer in the surrounding area: "Jamie! My Jamie..."

AN: I know. I know. Another cliffhanger. The next chapter will be a test for Holly's maturity in the relationship, as she finally comes to understand what having the love of a cop really means.