Coming in the door to the bullpen, Alex saw Rossi heading out of her office with a case file. She purposely attempted to avoid eye contact with her boss, and Alex made a mental note to talk to her later. Right now, her main concern was the fact that she could hear Potter and Desmond arguing through the closed door of the latter's office.

"Do you two need a time-out?" she asked the ADAs as she stood in the doorway. They both shut up mid-shout. "What's the problem, in five seconds or less?"

"This is the second time it's been 'suggested' that I make a deal on a case I know I can win," Potter replied. "We are still trying to get convictions, aren't we?"

Billy rolled his eyes. "It's nothing you need to worry about," he told Alex. "I can handle it."

She smiled. "I like his answer," she told Potter. "Make the deal."

"But – "

"Make. The. Deal." She didn't need to look back at Desmond to know that he had a little grin on his face as she walked away.

Alex had a stack of papers waiting on her desk, but didn't get a chance to even look at the first one before Steele appeared in her doorway. "What was that about?" he asked.

"What?"

"I thought you were in this for the numbers?"

She sighed. "Not every case is the same. We're supposed to be in this for justice's sake, aren't we?"

"So they tell us. What's the 8th floor going to say?"

"Don't know. But at the moment, I don't really care."

Jim nodded. "What happened to your ring?"

Alex looked down at her hand. "I gave it back…Jumping into the engagement was a mistake."

He scoffed slightly. "You've been making a few of those lately." He then realized that was a comment worthy of getting his head bitten off. "Sorry, that was out of line – "

"It's okay," Alex said with a slight shrug. "I guess I have. But I'm figuring things out." Steele wasn't sure what he had been expecting her to say, but that wasn't it. Unsure what the correct reply was supposed to be, he simply gave a single nod and left.

Alex sat back in her chair, picking up the first report she had to go over. Maybe there was no going back – her life as she knew it really had ended on a sidewalk in the fall of 2003 with the crack of a gunshot. But maybe going forward wouldn't be so bad.

FIN.

A/N: It was suggested that I do a sequel (on the E/O side of things). Any thoughts? (and keep in mind that I've gotta survive finals first.)