A/N: We're getting toward the end here. I've got two long chapters to bring this to a close. I didn't want to write too many standalone chapters because I didn't want it to feel anti-climactic.

It's been a great ride, hasn't it?

I really hope you all like where I bring this to a close.

Get out your tissues for this one. It gets a little emotional.

;-)

The rain did not affect the warm day.

But it did eradicate all color from the world.

Tori felt a heaviness in her chest the whole day. But it wasn't until the door to the hearse opened and uniformed policemen carried the casket down that her legs gave up. Jade and Jordan quickly grabbed her arms, keeping her from falling to the wet ground.

She hadn't seen her father since that day. His injuries were far too great for an open viewing nor could Tori bring herself to make the identification for legal purposes. Jordan begrudgingly saddled herself with the task for Tori's sake.

The Latina hung from her support, crying her eyes out. Jade was disgusted by the fact that her mother didn't even show. She was divorced but he was still her husband for twenty years and the father of her children. Not enough humanity in her to show some sympathy for one day. At least, again, for Tori's sake.

No matter how hard she tried, Tori could not bring herself to swallow that sadness in her throat. It continued to flow like the rainstorm.

The pallbearers positioned the casket over the hole and set it down. Everyone then stood and looked solemnly at the fallen cop.

"It's okay Tori," Jordan said softly. "You don't have to do this."

"No," Tori shook her head.

"Really, babe" Jade stroked her hair. "It's okay; they'll understand..."

"NO!" she protested. "I want...to."

Tori trudged to the podium where the priest nodded and gave her the floor.

"Everyone," her voice broke. She cleared her throat to make it sound more normal. "Everyone."

The crowd directed their attention to Tori.

"I want to thank all of you for coming here today. My father, Captain David Vega, only wanted to help people from his family and friends to complete strangers. It was in his blood and I like to think he passed this selflessness onto every one of us from just knowing him. He really wouldn't know what to say seeing all of you here..."

Tori began to get a little choked up, taking measured breaths. Jade looked on, like she wanted to rush over and just take her away from this situation. But she had to be strong and let Tori do this.

"I remember," Tori continued. "When I was about seven or eight. I went to a new school and on the first day, I had a run-in with a very mean girl."

Jade winced. She hasn't had the best luck with first impressions.

"Anyway, when she pushed me down the stairs I told my dad what had happened. He picked me up and helped me with me bruise. While I was still crying in his arms, he talked to me about bullies. They were cowards whose only self-loathing could be satisfied with being the antithesis of anything good. He told me that she went after me because I was happy and genuine about it. There are a lot of people out there who aren't happy with themselves or the hand that life dealt them."

Tori glanced over at her peers, dressed in their finery with Jordan at the forefront.

"My job, he said, is to protect those who want to be better and defend myself against those who don't. And sometimes..." Tori sniffed. "It gets really bad. So he told me that none of us should tolerate a bully. Majority of the time, they just need one person to stand up to them and they back down. Even though this girl was twice my size, the next time she tried to pick on me, I refused to let her hurt me." Tori shook her head. "But she didn't back down."

Jade raised an eyebrow.

"Instead, she came at me. Next thing I knew, I was laying on the ground with her on top, wailing on me. But after a few seconds of just pain, it stopped. At first, I thought a teacher broke us up. When I got up and my vision was less dizzy; I saw about six of my classmates, a couple I never met before, held her down and another kid helped me up and took me to the nurse. That girl stayed with me the whole time until my dad came."

Jordan smiled at that part.

"It was not their fight. Some of them didn't even know me but those kids rallied together and decided enough was enough. Apparently, I wasn't the only one who didn't like a bully. When I told my dad about that, he smiled. He told that there was hope for the world yet when a bunch of random people see an injustice and intervene."

Tori wiped her eyes. Jade wiped away a tear herself.

"Captain David Vega, my dad, stood up to a bully and paid for it with his life. I would not do that monster the service of mentioning his name here. This is not his day," she shook her head. "This day belongs to a hero, someone who inspired me and continues to inspire all of us. The right thing is never easy to do. But living with the feeling of I could have done something is a worse fate."

Tori walked over to the casket and bent over to hug it.

"I love you dad. Always." Tears began to flow much more freely now. "I miss you so much."

The bereaved lined up behind the distraught woman to pay their respects. Jade helped Tori away from the gravesite to let the others approach her father's body. She turned and sobbed into her shoulder as they walked away from the crowd toward the parked cars.

In Tori's apartment, Jade had been staying for a couple of weeks. She had barely seen her roommate with all the preparations for both the funeral and the trial.

Jade relished every moment she took the stand. Unlike many of the witnesses gathered, she unabashedly looked him right in the eye when she connected him to the men who both kidnapped her and tried to kill Tori.

Harry Fincher was found guilty of all counts including first degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, terrorism, grand larceny, kidnapping...the hard felonies just keep going on and on.

With the Supreme Court abolishing the death penalty for the state of California recently, Fincher escaped the lethal injection. However, his long list of crimes and misdemeanors guarantee a prison sentence of at least 200 years. So, basically life without the possibility of parole.

Good thing, Jade thought. Makes it easier for the families of the victims that they don't have to meet with this bastard every few years.

Jade sprawled out on the couch, falling in and out of sleep watching some dumb judge show when Tori came in.

"Hey hey," Tori said softly. When she got no answer, she eased toward the sofa. "Jade?"

The black-haired woman turned away from the TV, saying something unintelligible. Tori knelt down to her level.

"Jadey," she cooed. "You gonna get up?"

"No," she responded.

"I know I haven't been here with everything'd that going on." Tori stroked her hair. "You want to come to bed?"

Jade tilted her head upward. "Carry me," she said in her slumber.

"Well alright," Tori smiled. She proceeded to get her hands underneath Jade, lift her up and carry her bridal style down the hall to the bedroom. Tori laid Jade down onto the bed where she immediately grabbed the pillows and snuggled with them.

Tori walked to the other side of the bed and cuddled against Jade from behind.

"Jade," she whispered into her ear.

"Yeah, babe" Jade responded.

"Promise you'll never leave me, okay?"

Jade grabbed Tori's hands and wrapped them like a belt around her torso. "You either."

Tori rubbed her face into Jade's hairs, loving every second of it.

"It's a deal."