"You will lose someone you can't live without,and your heart will be badly broken, and the bad news is that you never completely get over the loss of your beloved. But this is also the good news. They live forever in your broken heart that doesn't seal back up. And you come through. It's like having a broken leg that never heals perfectly—that still hurts when the weather gets cold, but you learn to dance with the limp." ―Anne Lamott
"You lost a friend. Surely you wish it was different." Mikaela said to the woman in front of her.
Kuro laughed a little, "Damn right. Sometimes I find myself wishing it was me, and not Nefertiti. I mean, she didn't get the fatal shot. I did. Kyoya did. Why wasn't it either of us that died?"
Mikaela raised an eyebrow, "Hm... You're feeling guilty."
Kuro nodded, "Yeah. But for what, I'm not sure."
"We've definetly had more victims," Kuro said to Gingka, "But they're missing the heart rupture and sexual assult."
"We both know why that reason is." Gingka muttered.
"But why are there still victims? I mean, if Spencer's gone, shouldn't the body count have stopped?"
"Remember, Alyssa was ordering the Monroes for the killings. Without Spencer or Eliot, for all we know, she's doing them. And she was a field agent for the CIA, not a sniper. That explains the lack of assult and the rupture."
"I guess so."
"Gotta say, I didn't think I'd be having to evaluate my own boss." Mikaela chuckled.
Gingka raised an eyebrow at her, "Stranger things have happened."
Mikaela nodded, "True." She became serious, "How are you taking Nefertiti's death?"
Gingka shrugged, "She was a good woman. Smart, witty. And you know something?"
"What?" Mikaela asked.
"She wasn't crazy. She saw a lot when she was in the hospital. So much blood and death. More than we as agents do in our line of work. She never let it affect her." Gingka shook his head, "Even if she's gone, it still feels like she's here."
"So what do we do now?" Lucas asked, "The new vics and the old vics are all related, but then again, not related."
"But we don't have any proof, do we?" Kuro sighed, "Just our gut instincts. And all three of us know that the two cases are related, just... we can't prove it."
Gingka and Lucas nodded, grimly.
"So... what do we do?" Gingka wondered.
"We don't have any choice." Kuro sighed, "We put the Monroe case in the cold files. And we move on. You guys go back to New York and Virginia with your teams, and move on with some more cases. And if more victims of the Monroe's MO pops up... Well, we all swoop in on it."
Gingka and Lucas looked at each other, and realizing Kuro was right, reluctantly agreed.
"Chris." Mikaela said to the blonde, "I'm surprised. You're looking better than I thought you would be right now."
Chris shrugged, "Gotta move on sooner or later."
"But it helps one to grieve, you know." Mikaela said, softly.
"Oh, I am grieving." Chris said sharply, head snapping up to look at the ravenette in front of him, "Every night, for the last week, I've cried myself to sleep. Because I lost the one person, the only person, that knew what I had to go through every day. What nightmares I go through with my work. What demons that haunt me every waking, and unconsious, moment." Chris shook his head, "It's like I've said. Nefertiti put other people's well being before hers. And she did that all the time with me."
Mikaela listened to Chris' outburst, hearing the pain in his voice.
"You wish that it had been you to be hit and not her." Mikaela said, knowingly.
Chris nodded, and looked up, violet eyes reflecting that of a broken soul, "You know what she said to me? While she was bleeding out on that restuarant floor?"
Mikaela raised a questioning eyebrow.
"She told me she was scared. That she didn't want to die... again."
Mikaela jolted at that. It wasn't often for her to be shocked, yet right here and now...
"And I told her, I promised her, that everything would be fine. That'd she'd be okay. That nothing would happen to her." Chris choked, obviously trying not to break down, "I lied. She died, Mikaela. She died."
"I can't believe that we're having to put this case in the cold ones." Bao muttered, "We were so close to solving it."
"Happens sometimes, Bao." Aguma said to his friend, carrying the box as he and the redhead walked down to the basement, "You think you're so close, and then it hits a wall and you have to put it on hold." Aguma paused, "How's Crissie doing?"
Bao chuckled, "Better, actually. She's not as paranoid with Jigoku back in jail, where he belongs, and she's remembering things too. Things that involve me."
"Well that's good." Aguma raised an eyebrow.
"It is. Mikaela says it'll be a slow process though." Bao sighed, "You know, it's hard to believe that this case went cold just because of a death of one of our own."
"I know. It's very hard to believe."
"So it's officially a cold case?" Kuro and Gingka looked at each other over Kuro's desk. Kuro sighed and addressed her office phone.
"It is. You can work without anyone figuring out your location now." Kuro said.
"Kuro and I both agreed it'd be better if the case was cold." Gingka agreed.
"Thank you." The voice on the other end of the line said, "And... Gingka. How is...?"
"We're all fine. A little shook up, the ones that don't know about you, but we're fine. Some of us more than others." Gingka said.
There was a pause.
"Thank you." The voice said again, "And... keep an eye on them, will you? The both of you?"
"We will." Kuro promised.
"Don't worry." Gingka said.
"In that case... good bye." The line went dead, and both Kuro and Gingka looked at each other.
"I don't like doing this to my team, Gingka." Kuro said, "Keeping a secret from them."
"I know. Niether do I. Especially-" Gingka cut off.
"How do you think they'll react if Monroe comes back to the States?" Kuro asked.
"Mixed. Betrayed, definetly. Shocked. Angry." Gingka shrugged.
"That's what I thought." Kuro sighed.
Next chapter will have a time skip. Also, I may be able to put it up tonight. First though, I got to get a little rest. I only a few hours of sleep last night... Oh well! Review my friends!