Logan sat on the log Eames and Goren had vacated, watching the body by the fire with his gun drawn. Barek just looked at him. "What the hell do you think she's going to do?"

"I'm not takin' any chances. She jumped into the damn river after spilling half her blood all over the place, and she came back—after they said 'no way.' She jumped into the ocean and swam out to sea, and she came back. You and I shot her yesterday, and look—she came back. See a pattern here? No. I'm not takin' any chances. She gets up and I'm ready."

"First of all, if she does get up, what the hell good is that gun going to do you since we've already shot her? Secondly, do you really think she's going to get up?"

"Anything is possible with her...unless you got silver bullets in your gun."

"Give me a friggin' break, Logan. She's not a demon, or a werewolf, or a vampire, or a figment of Goren's imagination that he decided to share with us. She's real flesh and blood, just like you and me. She was devious and calculating and twisted…and evil. But that doesn't mean that she's impervious to bullets."

"So how the hell did she survive last night?"

"Bullet proof vest."

"What?"

"Over in the tent. I looked. It's got four impact sites, and I'll bet her torso has the bruises to support that. She was ready last night. She never expected us tonight. Bobby was right to seek her out. She expected him to wait for her to come to him, like he always did. Eames thinks he underestimated her, and maybe he did, but he was also two steps ahead of her and he beat her at her own game, just like he usually does on a case."

"He made a lot of mistakes, now and five months ago."

"And don't you think he's paid for every one of them, several times over? Alex said he was different when Nicole was involved. I think that she was, too. She was really hard on him, and she called him on every single mistake he made. She's not usually like that, not with Bobby."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Especially since Seaside."

"I can't blame her there. That was a huge mistake and he nearly died for it."

"It made her gunshy, I suppose."

She studied her partner. "I think I'd have responded the same way if I were her and you were being an idiot."

Logan frowned. "What makes you say he was being an idiot?"

She smiled. "I'm talking about you, Logan. You don't react to things like he does. When you get uncomfortable or overwhelmed, you're an idiot, like sitting here in the dark, watching over a dead body with a loaded gun drawn, so she won't get up and run off on you."

"Yeah, well, better safe than sorry. I kinda like having Goren around, and she was intent on killing him. She's dead and I'm gonna make damn sure she stays that way."

She laughed and kissed his forehead. "You are an idiot."

----------------------------------------------------------

Deakins pulled up to the cabin and got out of the car. Looking around, he marveled at how peaceful it was. He was more than a little annoyed that his four detectives had not called him when Wallace showed up. No, they waited until it was all over. He headed up the steps onto the porch and into the cabin. "Hello?" he called out.

No answer.

"Anybody here?"

He heard a door open and close. Eames came down the stairs. "Hi, Captain."

He looked at her for a moment. "What the hell were you four thinking? I gave you that phone so you could call me and let me know what the hell was going on, like if Wallace turned up."

"I'm sorry about that, but we decided it was time to end this once and for all, and if we had a hundred cops crawling all over the area, she would be nowhere to be found for who knows how long. We wanted to draw her out, not drive her underground. So we decided it was time to go after her instead of waiting for her to come to us."

"We? Don't you mean Goren?"

"It was his suggestion, but we all agreed with him."

"Where is he?"

"Upstairs, asleep."

"Is he ok?"

"Yes. He just needs to recuperate. We had our first run-in with her last night, and she tried to kill me. He…got in the way."

"Got in the way? Of what?"

"She had a gun. No one got shot, but Bobby hit his head, and so did I. I think I cracked a rib or two as well. They still hurt like hell."

"Where are Logan and Barek?"

"Out on the island with the body, waiting for Rodgers and her team."

"There's no doubt she's dead?"

"No doubt."

Deakins let out his breath slowly. "Ok, Alex. I'll deal with the four of you together. Get your partner and let's go on out to the island."

She nodded and headed back up the stairs. Deakins heard a door open and close again. He sighed, dropped down on a couch and ran a hand over his face.

Eames sat down on the bed beside her partner, reaching out and lightly brushing his curls back from his forehead. "Hey, Bobby."

He grunted, slowly opening his eyes. "Something wrong?"

"Kind of." She fingered the soft hair on his chest, and he groaned softly. "Deakins is here," she said quietly. "And he's not happy."

"I didn't think he would be." He sighed heavily. "Ok. I'm up."

She stood up and stepped away from the bed so he could get up. He started toward the door, stopping to give her a soft kiss. "Thanks, Eames," he said.

"For what?"

"For standing by me and not losing your faith. I…I need you, and I don't think I could take it if you…if you lost your trust in me. Anybody else, even Deakins, maybe, but not you."

She slid her arms around him, resting her head on his chest, and she squeezed firmly. He kissed the top of her head. Stepping from his embrace she headed to the door, opening it. He grabbed a shirt and waited for her to pass through the doorway before following her and closing the door behind him.

Deakins looked up, watching the two detectives come down the stairs. He stood up and just looked at them. He could tell that Goren had indeed been sleeping, and he looked…exhausted. "Sorry to disturb you, Bobby. But you have some decisions to defend."

Goren nodded as he pulled on his shirt. "Yeah, I know."

"Let's go out to the island. Rodgers and her team will be here within the hour, and I want to talk to the four of you together."

"Talk to us, or yell at us?" Goren asked.

Deakins suppressed a grin. "Both."

-----------------------------------------------------

Logan heard voices in the woods and stood up, nudging Barek. She frowned, listening intently. "Deakins," she said. "Probably with Alex and Bobby. Put that thing away, Logan."

Reluctantly, he slid his gun into its holster as the three cops came into the clearing. Eames pointed over toward the fire. "The body's over there, Captain."

Logan studied Goren. "You look like shit."

"Thanks."

"What? No more of that gut-rocking adrenaline to keep you going?"

"I guess not."

Deakins squatted beside the body, reaching out to feel for a carotid pulse. "Who fired the shots?" he asked.

"Eames and I did," Barek replied. "But not until she drew on Goren."

He looked at the gun in Wallace's hand, then he looked at Goren. "What did you do when she drew?"

"I found myself in the lake."

"What?"

"That would have been my doing," Logan answered. "He never saw the gun. I tackled him while Eames and Barek took care of Wallace."

Deakins studied Goren. "You never saw her draw?"

Goren shook his head. Eames spoke up in his defense. "He was involved in a sparring match with her. It was up to us to watch her, so he could deal with trying to get her into custody. He, well, we didn't realize she had no intention of coming with us. She planned to take out the four of us and walk away. We had a different plan."

Goren studied his partner intently but he said nothing. He just walked over to the log Logan was sitting on and sat beside him. Logan leaned closer to him. "You really do look bad. You feel ok?"

"No," he answered.

Deakins looked from one detective to the next. Finally he said, "When she first confronted you out here, you should have called me."

Goren shook his head. "You would have had the locals out here looking for her. They'd have driven her away and then who knows when she would have surfaced again. None of us would have been safe then, including you and your family, Captain. We couldn't take that risk. So we dealt with it and we took care of her."

"And that was your idea, wasn't it, Goren?"

"Uh, yes."

"But we agreed with him," Barek put in.

"All of you?" He looked at Logan, knowing without a doubt Eames would have gone along with her partner; she always did.

Logan caught his look. "Yeah," he answered. "I agreed with him. You know, Captain, I didn't have the kind of history with Wallace that he did, but I was fed up with her shit. It's our job to deal with psychos like her who threaten the well-being of others, and that's exactly what we did."

"He's right," Goren muttered. "We did our job."

Deakins replied, "But you risked…"

Goren looked at him. "Our lives? Isn't that also our job?"

Before he could answer, his phone rang. He pulled it out. "Deakins."

He walked away from them, giving directions. "Thanks, Mike," he said quietly. Then he looked at Eames.

She raised her eyebrows. "What?"

"You…" He just sighed, not finishing his thought.

But she understood. She always understood. And she said simply, "Yes."

She would always defend him, stand up for him and support him, even if she didn't entirely agree with him. It's what partners did.