Outside cabin in the hills
Vivian walked over to her car. Behind her the rescue team were bringing Anthony Bates body up the hill from the ravine below. He'd been killed by a single gunshot wound to the head. Death had been instantaneous and occurred at least twelve hours before they'd been brought on the case. Yet Vivian still felt that they'd failed. This of all cases should have ended right, as selfish as it was she'd wanted, no needed it to. The failure left a bitter taste in her mouth. She'd never wanted to go home more than she did now.
CTT Headquarters
An agent marched Colin Masters out of his office in handcuffs as Danny looked on. They'd confronted him with the finding of Anthony's body. There had been no reaction. His only words were that he wanted his lawyer. How anybody could be that cold and unfeeling, that callous, he didn't know. Anthony had supposedly been his best friend and yet he'd shown not one shred of remorse over his death. Money had done that. Money corrupted people. It was the number one reason why people went missing and was responsible for most crime - whatever form it took. He wasn't a socialist and he liked money as well as anybody, he just hated what it did to people. Greed was a terrible thing, nearly as bad as addiction, in fact in a way it was an addiction. That thought gave him plenty to ponder over as he drove Colin Masters back to the FBI for booking.
FBI Headquarters
Jack walked out of his office intent on going for some coffee. He knew it was late and that he should go home but he didn't want to. He hadn't been sleeping very well anyway and this would be the first night back in his apartment. It would be very quiet and devoid of personal items. Maria had taken everything on the premise that they could work it out later. In a way that was a blessing because there wouldn't be reminders everywhere or what had once been. However, it was a double-edged sword, nothing there symbolised the fact that he'd lost it all. That he'd failed.
Jack paused outside the bullpen. Martin and Sam were still there clearly packing up for the night. Martin walked over to Sam's desk once he'd finished and lingered there talking to her. They could have just been talking about the case but Jack knew they weren't. He knew because he'd once done exactly the same thing Martin was and received exactly the same looks. 'After all this' Jack thought 'It's really over' He didn't feel angry, he didn't feel anything. 'Perhaps if you truly love somebody you can only show that by letting them go'
"You deserve to be happy, Sam," Jack whispered to himself, needing to say it even if she couldn't hear him. "I hope Martin can give you what you want. I'm just sorry that I couldn't." With that Jack walked over to the elevator, he needed to leave, he needed to get out of here, he needed to think.
'You made your choice Jack. Now you've got to live with the consequences.'
A/N: This one's all done. There's going to be one more in this series and that's going to be Fools Game. I had written here that it would be Harder to Breathe but I changed my mind. Hope you all enjoyed this story and I promise it's not as bleak as it looks. Thanks to cynically optimistic for being an amazing beta.
ETA: This did have music lyrics in, like it does on the show, but I removed them because it asked all writers to remove lyrics they hadn't written to avoid account closure. I want to keep me account
