The bus ride had been long and uneventful. Jethro had used the trip to organise his thoughts. He would have written down some more of the rules but the roads had had more bumpy patches than his last marriage had had. As he walked slowly across the sandy beach, dotted with grey rocks, his eyes landed on the rock he was heading for. There were so many memories on this beach and from this rock he could see where each and every one of them had taken place.

He sat down on the rock and looked over to his left. The Mountains could be seen on the other side of the water. It was there that he had first met Shannon. She had been out for a picnic with her friends and he had been training. With a full pack on his back and wearing his boots and fatigues he had been running on the path past where she was eating and laughing. Her laugh had been the first thing to catch his attention; he couldn't help but turn his head to look in the direction of the sound. He had caught her eyes and was unable to tear his eyes from her to look where he was going. For that reason he hadn't noticed the small boulder until he was flying through the air. His pack winded him but it had been worth it because she had laughed again.

With his mind filled with the sound of Shannon's laughter that day, Jethro took the notepad and pen out of his pocket. He re-read the rules he had already written and smiled at number 20. It always made him smile but it was still the truth. Time to start writing again he told himself.

21. Sleep on the Plane - you never know when you're going to get another chance.

22. If you haven't got the evidence - bluff

23. Never mess with a marine's coffee if you want to live.

24. Apologising is a sign of weakness - never apologise.

25. If all else fails - shoot it.

Another set of important rules. Number 25 had always served him well. He smiled as he remembered shooting a ranger in the butt. The guy had asked for it, Jethro hadn't needed to shoot him in the butt but it had given him a certain sense of satisfaction.

He looked up from his notepad at the beach to his right. About 500 yards from where he sat, Kelly had caught her first fish. She had been 7 at the time and eager to learn to fish. Shannon and he had taken her to this beach and she had caught a massive fish. She had been so happy to see that hers was bigger than her dad's. Her eyes had been sparkling with happiness that day; her eyes had always sparkled. To Jethro it had been one of the greatest things about his daughter - the way she saw the good in everything; the way everything was so fresh and new to her. God he missed her.

Swallowing the lump that was forming in his throat, he turned back to his notebook. He wrote slowly, his hand shaking as he tried to suppress the sadness that was building inside him.

26. Politicians are idiots - treat them accordingly.

27. If you have to negotiate with a terrorist, make sure you kill them afterwards.

28. Always go through the chain of command.

29. NEVER let a case go cold.

30. Attempting to bribe your boss is a sign of brain damage… or stupidity.

The sadness continued to grow. It tightened his chest and crushed his heart. He had to take bigger breaths in an attempt to get the oxygen to his lungs and not just his throat. He remembered the last time he had sat on this rock. It was the first time he had considered killing himself.

His heart had been heavy and his future bleak. All that he had loved was gone and now that he had had his revenge he had no purpose left on Earth. He had held his pistol in his hand, feeling its weight and knowing that all he had to do to end the pain was pull the trigger. He had sat for hours looking down the barrel of his pistol. As his hand had begun to squeeze the trigger a small voice had stopped him.

"Whatcha doing mister?" He had looked up and seen a young girl, who was about the age that Kelly had been when she died. Her open and honest expression had Jethro looking at the weapon in his hand and lowering it in embarrassment.

"I'm thinking kiddo." She had walked over and sat beside him.

"Whatcha thinking about?"

"My daughter, my wife," he had replied sadly.

"Where are they?" Jethro closed his eyes in an attempt to stop the tears that were threatening to flow. The girl's questions sounded so simple, so innocent, but they tore at Jethro's soul and broke his heart.

"They're gone." He told her. She looked at him, questioning him, with her honest eyes.

"Where'd they go?"

"Heaven," he whispered, mostly to himself.

"Why?" That one word broke Jethro's control and he had broke down in tears. The young girl had taken the gun from his hands and unloaded it before placing it on the sand. As Jethro sat there, his shoulders shaking and tears streaming down his face, the girl wrapped her arms around him, holding him tightly. As the tears subsided, Jethro sniffed.

"I don't know." He had murmured softly. "I don't know."

"What would they have said if they had found you on this beach?"

Jethro had just shook his head continuing with his mantra of "I don't know." The young girl held him closer and whispered in his ear.

"I do." She told him. "They would have told you that they love you. They would have told you not to make yourself into their murderer's last victim. They would have told you not to give up and that there is so much you have left to do in this world. Then they would have told you once more that they love you and that they will never leave you." Jethro had wiped his eyes and looked at the little girl, this time he really looked at her. She looked so young and yet there was a knowledge and wisdom in her kind eyes that had surpassed her age.

"Who are you?" He had asked her. She had just smiled and squeezed his shoulder before standing up and walking away.

"I'm a friend of Kelly's. She asked me to come and help her daddy. She told me to tell you that she loves you." Then the girl had turned and walked off, fading into the horizon, as if she had been a dream. He had sighed and looked down at his pistol, lying in the sand. The sadness was still there but the crushing pain was a little more bearable and for the first time since killing the bastard who had taken his heart from him, Jethro felt that perhaps he could fumble through this world, protecting others from knowing the pain that he had felt.