They had recovered the surveillance videos Branch had some how recorded. Given the complexities of the case, with possible Native American involvement, value of the transaction and the fact it crossed state lines, the FBI had become involved. Everything had taken a lot longer but the data had been analysed and verified so that a judge had deemed the recorded confession sufficient evidence (it was not obtained under duress) and so finally Barlow Connolly had been convicted of both Martha Longmire's murder and that of his son Branch.

Vic took some comfort in the fact that he would probably die in jail before any chance of release would happen based on the premeditated extent of the crimes. It had finally been enough to bring Walt out of his drunken wallowing and after a medical and an obviously tense closed door meeting with the Absaroka County Mayor and Sheriff Campbell, he had been cleared to return to work, pending further investigation.

The headaches had gotten worse so Vic had taken the last week off, mostly to sleep, and to pack for her return to Philadelphia, she had handed in her temporary notice to Ruby, along with a personal letter to Walt, as they had not seen each other in the intervening weeks. She had worked hard to ensure that was the case, it wasn't running away, her health was suffering and by fucking god she needed a holiday, and well deserved one by now, no one would dispute that.

Packing sucked when you didn't know how long you were going away for and what you might need, she was completely over the whole thing. Half her clothes were strewn through the house, testament to her confusion and indecision. Of course the ever present pounding head ache did not help the situation, it was too hard to concentrate when her right eyeball felt like it was going to explode in its socket.

Vic looked at the clock on the stereo, only 3 hours till her plane left, and her suitcase had only underwear and socks in it so she swore viciously, gathered up her jeans and favourite tshirts and sweaters and bundled them in untidily, swearing a constant stream of irritation under her breath. After making certain the suitcase would reluctantly close, she gathered up armfuls of the clothes scattered about the house, dumping them all the bed, they could wait til she got back and felt better to be put away. Or packed up and sent elsewhere, who could say at this point?

She was idly singing along with the stereo when a heavy knock at the door interrupted her, and she blew the wispy strands of blond hair that had come loose from her pony tail away from her face as she opened the door. Walt was standing there, holding his hat in his hands, nervously circling it around, and his expression was flat and unhappy, so much so, she stepped back instinctively. He must have taken it for invitation and walked in, smoky blue eyes taking in the suitcase, the shoes scattered on the couch that she hadn't tidied up yet.

Closing the door, wondering what the hell was happening, Vic walked past Walt, unzipped her suitcase and began tidily folding up the clothes and stacking in neat piles. It was a barrier between them, an obvious message and hopefully he wouldn't notice how much her hands were trembling. Neither had spoken a word as yet and the silence built heavily, as she quietly folded and stacked, her eyes on what her hands were doing.

"Vic…"

She jumped just a little, she had forgotten just how deep and gravelly his voice was when he was being serious, and apparently it was a serious conversation. She carried on folding and stacking, but slowed down as she was running out of clothes, and right now didn't want to be waving her lace bra or panties in front of this man so instead she sighed, putting both hands on the table, head down in resistance

"What Walt, what could you possibly want to talk about now?"

She could see him out of the corner of one eye and his weight shifted forward a bit as if he was about to move towards her, and then stopped so she stood upright, and faced him, arms crossed and hip slung out in the obvious indications of temper to those who knew her well. But what he said next surprised her

"I came to apologise and thankyou. Before you left."

She didn't have a response to this, being so surprised so nodded jerkily

"You were right with what you did, with me….. and you handled the case really well, and the department and everything. Sheriff Campbell says you have a job with him anytime you want one, apparently."

Well at least she had one option, but the whole point of this exercise was to get AWAY from Wyoming and all the bad memories she had built up in such a short period of time, so she nodded again, still not speaking. Walt was clearly beginning to feel the strain, and kept talking, hesitantly

"I'm sorry Vic, I let you down, I let everyone down right when I should have held it together" his voice shook and he looked away and continued quietly "I need help Vic, that has been made very clear to me and this time I am going to get it" he looked up at her and his eyes were the colour of thunderclouds "Thanks to you, now my ghosts are laid to rest, I might be able to move on."

Her anger boiled hot and fast, as it did so often these days, and she nearly spat her words at him

"Well I'm SO FUCKING PLEASED that you can move on with your life Sheriff Longmire! Now would you mind doing it elsewhere as I have a plane to catch soon and a neurosurgeon to see tomorrow." She was gratified to see a flinch as her barb cut deep into his composure

"It was nice of you to man up and thank me for cleaning up your mess, though it would have been nicer if you could have manned up and done your job instead of hiding away in a bottle feeling fucking sorry for yourself and leaving me to do it! Fuck off Longmire and leave me the hell alone!"

He was shocked at her words, she could see it, and felt a small warmth of satisfaction at finally letting loose and saying the words she had been hoarding in anger and frustration for so long but he stepped forward, with one hand out

"Vic"

"No!" she stepped sideways, away from him and into the open space of the lounge, instinctively giving herself room to manoeuvre

"No, you apologised, and I hope it made you feel better. Didn't make me feel anything at all actually except annoyed you are still in my house when I don't want you here. Why don't you just leave!"

"I heard you were leaving town, and Ruby said you had taken extended sick leave but you didn't give a date when you were coming back. I wanted to make sure you were coming back Vic. I….. we need you here in Durant, Vic."

She was shaking with the need to scream her frustration and despair and hurt and pain at him, to blame him for everything that was wrong in her life because right now it seemed like one way or another he was and she damn near yelled her next words at him

"Why the fuck would I come back to this shit hole Walt, its caused me nothing but trouble, broken up my marriage, got me shot, stabbed and beaten up and best of all given me a ringside seat to watch you throw all your honour and integrity out the door when you found out who killed Martha. It was the great love story, the melodrama and mystery and now its all come to an end. What will you do now, now that the great burning love of your life is finally revenged, what is the passion that will drive you now Walt, that will get you out of bed everyday and stop you from drowning your sorrows in beer every night?"

There was a shocked silence as the import of what she had just said echoed and they stared at each other for a long moment until Walt stepped forward until they were close enough to touch, and stared down into her suddenly wide open eyes and he murmured

"I was hoping Vic, that it might be you" and he kissed her, one rough hand cradling the back of her head while he stepped forward til their bodies touched.

For one glorious moment she kissed him back, hungrily, angrily, it didn't matter so long as she was kissing him.

Then a hard impact in his gut stole his breath, and he realised Vic had punched him, they were too close for it to hurt but he stepped out of reach of a second punch while he battled to suck air into his lungs.

She was so angry now she could literally feel the blood pulsing through the veins in her temples, pounding out her heartbeat or headache, she couldn't tell the difference anymore, and she hissed at him

"You fucking bastard, you pull the strong silent type, being distant and emotionally unavailable and then turn up bringing the charm and the seduction. Your marriage must have been delightful for Martha, you were probably working so much you were never home, and probably not even really there when you were home. It wouldn't surprise me if she found some comfort elsewhere, is Cady even yours? She looks a lot like her mother, but not much like you"

Oh that was an old old pain but from this woman it still had the power to hurt. Of course hearing the truth even from someone you care about still hurts too and she wasn't wrong about some things though she was about Cady. Apparently he might have been wrong about Vic and their relationship tho, this was not quite the reception he had expected and was severely off balance.

He retrieved his hat, clamping it down tight as if preparing for a storm, and stepped to the doorway before saying

"Vic I *am* sorry, for everything. Take as long as you need in Philly, and please let Ruby know how you are doing, you know how she worries. I will hold your job open for you if you want to come back, and I hope you do."

As he walked through the door her last bitter words followed him out to the truck

"Fuck off Longmire, before I shoot you myself and put us all out of our misery"

No one would ever see or hear how she sank onto the sofa, buried her face in the plush cushions and howled out her tears, despair and frustrations. Frustrated at how it had all gone wrong, and how suddenly when it was too late, it had gone right.

Walt had parked the truck on the other side of the airport, behind a copse of trees, and stood watching from a distance as the short line of people boarded the plane for Philadelphia. He waited while the baggage was loaded, and the engines were started up and it taxied slowly past him before making the final turn and wait, and then the engines screamed as the plane powered down the runway and into the air. He kept waiting til he could no longer see or hear anything, until she was truly gone and then where no one could see or hear him, he broke down and cried, hard angry tears at himself for making all the same old mistake again.

At the end of the day, tired and heartworn, he had taken refuge in his usual seat at the Red Pony, but limiting himself to only the one Rainier he explained to Henry how his visit to Vic had gone, although he may have left out some key moments that were too raw to be shared.

Henry's dark eyes were deep and knowing, and Walt suspected he guessed there was more to the story than spoken. When Henry finally spoke he asked a question Walt wasn't expecting

"And you let her go?"

Walt's reply was resigned

"I had no choice, she had to go. To see the specialist Doc organised, to spend time with her family, to take a break." His voice was quiet as he continued "She has had a rough time."

Henry's voice was also quiet, as he repeated his sentence but this time it was a statement, not a question and he nodded as he spoke

"And you let her go."

Delicious Readers! Patient Readers! Its been a long and rough journey but we are now at the end of that timeframe of story - its not QUITE finished but now you know how we got to the beginning (kinda)

Thankyou for your patience, your encouragement, your checking in to make sure I was still alive when RL got a little intrusive - I hope you have enjoyed my different take on this relationship, one or maybe two more chapters will wind it up and then of course we have the delightful S4 to inspire us all over again!