Gary sat forward and buried his face in his hands, elbows braced on his knees. This was getting to be one really weird evening. His arm was starting to throb something fierce and he hoped the painkiller would kick in soon. His thinking was getting fuzzy from a combination of the medication and exhaustion. He dropped his hands and glanced at the clock, surprised to see that it was only about nine p.m. With all the confessions and revelations of the evening, it felt like few days, not a few hours, had passed since he had laid eyes on Toni downstairs in the bar. He thought that maybe they should deal with this problem another day, but one look at her changed his mind.

Toni's arms were crossed tightly and her mouth was set in a grim line. Gary went to her and tried to give her a reassuring smile, but she averted her gaze. He could see the doubt still lingering in her eyes and raised her chin with his hand, encouraging her to look at him. "Listen, Toni, your dad, he made a mistake, but that doesn't mean that you're gonna make the same mistake he did." Her eyes welled up, and Gary felt like someone had stabbed him in the chest. "What you did is what the best cops do…you trusted your instincts, ya understand?"

"I don't know what I trusted. I just know that I should have called for back-up…or something." A tear escaped and started to spill down her cheek, and she swiped at it with the back of her hand, her eyes narrowed in anger. She turned her back to Gary.

"You're not a bad cop, Toni. You're as straight as they come." Unwilling to continue talking to her back, Gary circled around in front of her again. "Look at me."

She shook her head. "Just leave me alone, okay?"

"No! I'm not gonna leave you alone! Not if that means letting you think you did something wrong!" He put his hands on her shoulders and gave a little shake, causing Toni to look up at him. "'Because if you think you did, then what should you have done? Tell me, Brigatti! Should you have shot me dead right there in the middle of your kitchen?"

Toni flinched.

"Why didn't you shoot me, Toni?"

Without looking at him, she shrugged off his hands and strode to the windows.

Gary followed her but didn't try to touch her again. Her face was in shadow, but he could still make out the glint of tears in her eyes. Not wanting to embarrass her, he averted his eyes and looked out the window. He picked up the blinking lights of an airliner coming from the east on a path to O'Hare. He could just faintly see another one in line behind it and he knew that there would be another one after that in a never–ending stream.

Arms crossed once again, Toni gazed outside and slowly shook her head. "I've gone over it in my head about a thousand times in the last few days, you know. The whole Chicago P.D. was going wild trying to find the escaped murderer and there you were standing right next to my kitchen table as though you'd been invited to dinner." She smiled ruefully but continued to find the nightscape fascinating. "You were wanted, and I knew it, but it was like I was powerless." Toni took a deep breath. "I wish I could say that I knew you were innocent. God knows, I told myself a million times that there was no way that the Hobson I knew could kill somebody in cold blood. But, after awhile, I didn't know if what I felt was real, or if I'd just convinced myself of your innocence. It was so confusing." She bit her lip and rubbed her hands up her arms if she were cold.

Gary had to suppress the urge to gather her in his arms. Instead, he just took a step closer and put his hand on her shoulder.

Toni jumped a little at the contact, but didn't look at Gary. "I had a dream last night. In it, I replayed that scene, but this time, I finished making my 911 call. Back-up arrived instantly. You kept telling them that you just wanted to sleep. So, Savalas…he…he smiled and said 'Good night, Hobson!' And then he shot you."

Gary started, his eyes shooting to Toni's. She was looking at him, her face wet with tears, then a sob escaped and she brought her hand up to cover her mouth, her other hand supporting her elbow. No power on Earth could have stopped him at that moment. He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her. "It was just a dream, Toni."

She stood stiff for a moment then finally melted against him, her body shaking.

He tucked Toni's head beneath his chin and stroked his hand over her hair and down her back. "Shhhh…it's okay." Repeatedly, he ran his hand up and down her back, feeling his gut clench at every stifled sob he felt shudder through her.

The paper had done this to her. If the cat had shown up at that moment, Gary wasn't certain he could trust himself not to kick the beast across the loft. He'd gotten somewhat used to the paper screwing up his life, but he still couldn't handle it when it messed with the people he cared about. "I'm so sorry, Toni."

Sniffling and then a muffled, "What for?"

"Because if it wasn't for me and this damn paper, none of this would have happened." Gary clenched his jaw, feeling so tense he wouldn't be surprised if he cracked a molar.

He felt Toni stir and pull away a little bit. Her eyes were red-rimmed, but the tears had stopped, leaving only a faint dampness.

"What do you mean?"

"This whole thing started because Scanlon was going to do a story on me."

Gary stepped back, but hung on to Toni's hand. Seeing her swipe at her nose, he tugged her gently towards the bed and a carton of tissues on his bedside table. He handed her a couple.

She gave him a weak smile, sank onto the edge of the bed, and dabbed at her nose and eyes.

"I knew about the article but I didn't know what it was going to be about."

Gary sighed and sat next to her, his hands clasped loosely in front of him. "Scanlon, well, he'd gotten ahold of a file about me. You probably know that he came to me the day he was murdered." He slanted a glance at Toni.

She nodded, her eyes meeting his and questioning.

"He wanted me to answer some questions; basically, he wanted me to tell him how I always happened to turn up in the nick of time." Gary rubbed the back of his neck. "Of course, I couldn't tell him about the paper, so I just told him to have a nice day and escorted him to the door."

Toni turned, pulling one leg up on the bed, her knee bent.

"Later, the paper changed and a story about Scanlon's murder was on the front page. First, I urged Armstrong to put Scanlon under police protection. Then, I called Scanlon to warn him, but I only got his answering machine."

"So, that explains that." Toni shook her head. "You know, it made you look guilty as hell."

Gary shrugged. "Yeah, but at the time, I didn't think of that. Then the story in the paper didn't change, so I knew he hadn't listened to my message. I had to go to the train yard to try and stop it."

Toni sighed and shook her head. "That was a pretty dangerous thing to do."

"I know. Marissa tried talking me out of going but what else could I do? Let him be killed?"

"So, what happened? I mean, Scanlon was murdered anyway."

"The paper, it… it had the wrong time." Gary still felt a sense of betrayal about that. It just wasn't right.

"Would that be because the M.E., Arberthnot, falsified the time of death?"

"Yeah, I guess so." He hadn't known that detail, but now that he did, it made sense. More sense than a cosmic typo anyway.

Gary absently picked at the bandage on his forearm. The painkiller had kicked in, but even so, the events of the last five days suddenly seemed to be catching up with him. "When I got to the train yard, Scanlon was already dead. And that's when the cops came." Gary glanced briefly at Toni, noting that her eyes were dry and she seemed more relaxed. He shrugged and rubbed his hands together, leaning forward. "Well…you know the rest."

"Yes, I do. I want to apologize for the hell we put you through, Gary." Her sincerity resonated in the tone of her voice.

Gary took a deep breath, feeling a catch in his throat and not trusting his voice, spent several long moments studying the floor between his feet. He swallowed hard, then shook his head, remaining silent. He felt Toni's arm settle around his neck and then she tugged his head down to her shoulder. Her other arm wrapped around him, pulling him close. He closed his eyes, giving in to the emotion, feeling his eyes sting. He turned into her neck and took a long, shuddering breath.

Gary became aware of Toni's hands; one was rhythmically rubbing his shoulder, the other was gently skimming through his hair. The skin on her neck was silky and smelled faintly of a spicy vanilla. Her hair tickled against his cheek and her chin rested right above his ear; her breath tickling his neck

He brought his hand up, cupping the back of her head, her dark hair flowing like satin through his hands. Looking up, Gary's eyes locked onto Toni's. Her eyes were large and black and Gary wanted to dive into their depths. He sat up, pulling her closer with his other arm. He lowered his mouth to hers, seeing her eyelids flutter closed before his did the same.

He was lost in sensation. The tangy citrus taste from the orange juice lingered in her mouth and he had never tasted anything sweeter in his life. She had a hand on each side of his jaw, pulling him even closer and he responded, one hand slipping under her blouse to feel the smooth skin of her back. Her soft groan in response sent his heart racing and he leaned against her, sensing her easing back onto the bed. He traced kisses down her neck, stopping to taste her skin with quick flicks of his tongue.

Dragging his mouth away, he smoothed the hair away from her face. He had to make sure that she wanted this too. "Toni?"

Toni's eyes opened, her lids heavy, her breath coming in fast little pants. "What?"

"I want to make sure this is right for you." He lightly skimmed his hand over her jaw, unable to stop touching her. He searched her eyes, looking for any uncertainty or doubt.

Toni gave a half-smile and shook her head. Her voice husky, she pulled him down. "You better not stop now or--"

Gary grinned. "Or what?"