Author's Note: The characters belong to Maureen Jennings.

Thank you, thank you and thank you for keeping up with my story and for supporting my writing. I'm beyond grateful for each of you and hope you've truly enjoyed reading it. Normally I don't like having odd numbered chapters, but I think I'm ok with ending on 19. What a wild ride this has been and I've certainly learned a lot by doing this. Looking forward to more in 2021.

Can't wait to see Season 14 when it hits the US!

Please read, review, excuse any grammar/spelling issues and enjoy!

Pistachio the Murdog: An Unlikely Love Story – Chapter 19: Salvation

"Mrs. Burke…" was all Julia could muster, her tongue feeling fifteen times too large for her mouth.

"What are you doing here?" The older woman stumbled slightly, ripping herself free from her husband's hold on her.

Julia swallowed, her heart beginning to palpitate severely. "Mrs. Burke, I'm only here to-"

"My wife and I are paying our respects to your daughter for what she did for us," William said stepping in front of his wife slightly.

"It's because of you that my daughter is dead!" Julia paled, crumbling slightly but George was there to hold her up his face a mask of anger and offense. Luckily the organ was playing or the entire congregation would have heard the woman's shriek.

Anger bubbled over in William's gut, the Inspector moving around the pew they all sat in to intercept what was to be a very bad situation in a church no less. "Mrs. Burke, your grief while understandable, is not an excuse for you to verbally abuse my wife. Because of where we are and the reverence I have for my faith I will not engage you but know that even in this most sacred of spaces I will not permit you to say anything further to my wife nor will I permit you to blame her for a death which she had nothing to do with." Julia held onto her husband's hand, squeezing it in thanks.

Katherine Burke stepped toward the Murdoch's, almost face to face with the detective. "How dare you! Someone must be held accountable and your wife is at the center of it all!"

Adrienne's father Matthew, seeing the pastors before him turn to see what the issue was firmly held onto his wife's arm, pulling her back from William. "Katherine, this is not the time or the place for this. Let's go. NOW. Your behavior is abhorrent. Please excuse my wife, sir." Nodding his head as he basically pushed his wife ahead of him, Murdoch returned the gesture an understanding between the men.

Julia roughly sat down in the pew, shaking with indignation and embarrassment. "Are you alright, Julia? Do you need to go?" Her husband's eyes were filled with such concern for her. How she loved him so.

"I-I-I'm sorry, William…I-"

"Not at all, come, let's go." Tipping his hat towards the group and the Inspector looking on with worry, the Murdochs left the church, Julia quietly sobbing as the exited the lobby.

Finally outside and away from the stifling energy of the memorial, Julia took in a deep breath, doing her best to regulate her emotions while William hailed a cab for them.

Once home, William left the suite momentarily to take Pistachio out for a restroom break while Julia dressed in something more comfortable. Returning, Pistachio bounded into the suite looking around for her Mamma. Seeing her seated at her vanity, her head in her hands, Pistachio barked startling Julia. "Oh! Hello dearest one, you scared me!" Crying, Julia took Pistachio into her arms, the pup wagging her tail and nuzzling deeper into Julia's embrace. Approaching his girls, Murdoch sat on the bed, rubbing his wife's back.

"Julia…You must know that Katherine Burke needs someone to be angry with since Miss Burke is not here for her to blame." Kissing Pash on the head, his wife turned to him.

"Yes, I know. I just…I just wish she'd let me apologize to her."

Pistachio wiggled her nose under Julia's arm, wanting that hug again. Sensing this, her Mamma again enveloped her in an embrace. "I think you've gone above and beyond to show the Burkes how you feel and how thankful you are for Miss Burke. Enough is enough."

Releasing Pash who then moved over to her Papa, sitting quietly next to him, Julia nodded to him through her mirror. "Yes. Perhaps you're right, William."

"Am I now?" He said rising and placing his hands on his wife's shoulders.

She smiled at him, dabbing her eyes with a nearby hand towel. "Mmhmm. I think I can say that this time."

Smoothing his hands over her arms and curling them around her, William kissed her neck tenderly. Audibly his wife responded to the touch, missing the feeling of those hands intently. The good doctor knew that her husband wasn't anywhere near being well enough for strenuous activity, but perhaps if they took it slow? Guiding his hands, she brought them to her breasts, his breath hitching in response. "Are you okay with this, doctor? Do I have your professional permission to engage in an activity such as this?"

Julia let his hands roam her body, finally turning to him and kissing him deeply. "I think if we take it slow, we should be just fine, detective."

"Excellent," he said as he scooted up the bed, hands reaching out to her as she climbed onto the bed and crawled towards him. Pistachio made to get onto the bed with her parents, but mid-kiss William said, "Go lay down, Pash." Miffed but obedient as always, the canine did so doing her signature three turns and plopping down in her comfortable bed. Soon enough though, she had fallen asleep, the sounds of her parents lovemaking doing little to interrupt her slumber.

A month had passed and Murdoch was almost back to normal. There were still some issues with light and blurred vision at night, but overall he felt more like himself than he had in a very long time. Soon enough, a simple but pleasant routine overcame the Ogden-Murdoch household. A permanent fixture in Station House 4, Pistachio was now able to accompany William, George and the Inspector on investigations. While she wouldn't be recognized formally by the constabulary, the men of the station house pooled their resources together to buy her a bed with tiny 4s embroidered on it, a new collar with a mini-police badge dangling from it and her own water bowl by the cooler in the middle of the station. Experimenting with her on the weekends, both Julia and William began to train her as a cadaver dog and she was finding that she was quite good at that. Having found inspiration from one of their cases in which Pistachio ran after a suspect, taking him down with a ferocious tenacity, the Inspector decided to paint her, unveiling the painting for her parents, Uncle George and all of the lads to much aplomb.

After returning from a morning of cadaver training at the park, both Murdochs and Murdog entered the lobby of the Windsor, laughing and smiling. "Why good afternoon, detective, doctor and pup!" The older man at the main lobby desk said, their smiles infectious.

Julia approached the desk, waving. "Hello, Mr. Mitchell! Good afternoon. We'd like to order some lunch to be sent to our suite, may I see the menu." William crouched down to Pistachio, straightening her collar.

"Of course, Dr. Ogden. Here is your mail and you have a visitor waiting for you in the lobby."

The detective rose, looking at the desk clerk and then his wife. "A visitor? Who is it?"

"A Mrs. Katherine Burke, sir."

Julia's stomach fell to the floor. Pistachio eyed her Mamma, sensing the change in her. Murdoch held onto his canine's leash tightly. "What in the world does she want?"

"I haven't the slightest clue, but I think it's time we found out. We'll call you with our order, Mr. Mitchell. Thank you."

"Julia, are you sure?"

"I'm sure, William. I'll see what she wants, you go on upstairs with Pash."

"I don't know if I like the idea of leaving you alone with her, Julia."

Placing her hand on her husband's cheek, she looked into his eyes. "I'll be fine, William. Like you said, enough is enough." He nodded, taking another look at Katherine Burke who sat with her back to them.

"Come on, girl. Let's go."

Julia took in a deep breath and walked over to Katherine Burke as confidently as she could, hoping she didn't reveal her true feelings. "Mrs. Burke? What brings you here?"

Turning towards Julia, a very gaunt looking Katherine Burke lightly smiled. "Hello, Dr. Ogden. I'm here to…apologize to you."

"Would you like to come up to our suite? Perhaps you would be more comfortable?"

The woman held up her hand in protest. "No, I'm fine here thank you. What I said and did at my daughter's memorial was inexcusable and now that I've had time to really sit with myself, I want to apologize for what transpired between us. I've come to realize that instead of mourning Adrienne's death and fretting over how she died, I should try to live my life as she would have: with love in her heart. I also know that she wouldn't have liked what she saw had she been here to see it and for that, I'm sorry to her and to you. I don't know what I would do in that circumstance and I know that Adrienne thought she was doing the best thing for everyone involved because that's the kind of girl she was. Would you be able to forgive me for my misplaced anger, hurt and grief?"

Julia's eyes filled with tears. "I-I-I of course, I forgive you Mrs. Burke."

"Please, call me Katherine."

"Julia," she said, holding out her hand to shake the woman's hand. Instead, Katherine embraced her, crying fully now.

"Nice to officially meet you, Julia. I have this for you." Taking out a long, gold box, the middle aged woman placed it gently in the other woman's hand. "Please open it."

Following instructions, Julia opened the box and gasped when she saw what the box entailed. Inside was a locket on a beautiful gold chain, delicately carved orchids all over it. "My God, this is beautiful, Katherine. I cannot accept this."

"Open the locket."

Julia did so and covered her mouth with one of her hands to stifle a sob. Inside was the most recent photo of Adrienne Burke, an inscription on the opposite side that read in cursive: My Guardian Angel, Adrienne Lilly Burke. "Thank you!" There the two women stood, in each other's arm, healing truly beginning and mending what was broken.

William had just begun to worry when Julia entered red faced but smiling with Katherine Burke entering directly behind her. More apologies abounded and Julia insisted that Mrs. Burke stay with them for lunch. Murdoch admired the locket, thanking Katherine on his wife's behalf. Pistachio, forever the darling, charmed Katherine Burke, a self-professed cat person. Soon enough, lunch was served and the foursome laughed and chatted the day away.

Finally alone, William assisted his wife with putting on her necklace and slid his thumb over the engraved surface of the locket. "Beautiful. Just like our little family."

"Indeed. Our little family with the big heart." The two sat on the couch together, hands intertwined. Not wanting to be left out, Pistachio leaped onto the couch with them and crawled on top of them both, settling one side of her body on Julia's lap and the other side on William's.

"Looks like we won't be moving for a while tonight." Murdoch said, trying to adjust himself somewhat but having trouble.

"You know, William...I wouldn't have it any other way."

.

.

.

.

"The changes we dread most may contain our salvation." - Barbara Kingsolver

Fin.