The trip into Durant and the Sheriffs Office had not gone well. Vic was rude and abrasive, until even she was affected by the heavy uncomfortable silence that filled the room. Ruby was nearly in tears as they left, clutching at Walt's arm, her eyes begging to know what was wrong with Vic.

Vic was sullen and withdrawn on the way home, Walt was uncertain if this was her default state now, or if she realised how badly her behaviour had been, and was retreating like a teenager.

He called Lena and suggested that whatever reason behind this visit, it was unlikely to achieve anything positive, the weather forecast was clear for the next couple of days before the next storm was due, and perhaps it was time for Vic to return home.

Vic appeared resigned whether she stayed or went, but her continuing sullen silence meant she wasn't complaining, which was a blessing, and she boarded the plane with only the barest of thanks for his time in dropping her off, and stalked off, radiating her dissatisfaction to the world with every movement.

He waited til the plane was safely on its way and sighed, before heading back up to the big house. There were horses waiting to be exercised and fed. For the second time he let Vic go out of his life, and this time, surely, there was no coming back.

VIC

The flight had been bouncy with turbulence so they had not served the drinks trolley, yet another annoyance in her day. Eventually the affect of the meds made her sleepy and she dozed through most of the flight home, rousing at the bump and screech of the wheels as the plane braked heavily on landing.

Navigating the afternoon crowds did nothing for her temper, and Vic was feeling quite put upon when she finally hauled herself into the back of a taxi, and directed him to her mothers address. She really would have to do something about finding her own place, and get her life back on track again.

The familiar philly twang cut into her musings

"Thats a fancy snow parka you got on there lady, you been skiing or something?"

Shit, she had put on the parka when leaving the lodge, and completely forgotten about it. While the weather was clear, it was still freezing and Walt had handed it to her in the foyer before they left the building. It was a lot wetter but still damn cold in Philly but she hadn't registered it due to the jackets quality of protection. She shrugged, wasn't like Omar couldn't afford it.

The eyes of the driver reflected in the RV mirror, clearly he was a chatty one, and expected a response

"I've been in Wyoming...visiting...friends. Forgot to take this off at the airport"

The driver slapped a hand against the steering wheel

"You shitting me girl! People actually GO to Wyoming?"

Taken aback, she laughed and replied

"Yeah I know, I actually worked there for a while, god the stories I could tell you about the crazies! And the winters..."

She shuddered, wrapping the parka around her dramatically

"Girl, can't be worse than this, surely" he said, waving a hand at the dirty snow piled up in heaps beside the highway, and falling sluggishly on the windscreen

Vic smiled, suddenly she had an audience for all the vitriol she could pour out on the subject of Wyoming, and she let loose with a vengeance and soon her stories of chasing down chickens and moving stock off the roads had the driver hooting with laughter.

It felt good to finally let loose and not be judged for her thoughts or opinions.

She started to say "And the weather! God its FUCKING AWFUL..." when something odd happened. Between one word and the next it was like something in her brain switched on and all the memories she was missing came flooding back.

All the things she had forgotten, all the people she cared about all suddenly appeared in full bright colour in her brain, and the feeling was so startling she was silent for several minutes, not even registering where she was until the driver said

"Miss, are you OK?"

Confused as to what was happening to her she stuttered "Umm sure, sorry I had an accident a while ago, and I'm not quite right yet, sorry do you mind if I just sit here quietly, I have a bit of a headache?"

He studied her a moment longer before saying "Sure" and turned the music down and they travelled on to their destination.

Vic closed her eyes and tried to absorb what her brain had done, and put the pieces of memories back into order. As she was doing that she began to see how her personality over the last few months had been very different, how it had not been the *real* her. How badly she had behaved and treated her family, her mother who had cared so diligently for her.

By now they had arrived, Vic paid the driver and hauled her bag out onto the sidewalk, waiting for the taxi to pull away before she sank down on the steps, almost hyperventilating as she recalled her behaviour.

After a few minutes she heard the door open behind her, and her mother's voice

"Vic honey, are you OK? Why are you sitting on the steps outside?"

Vic was paralysed, tears streaming down her face, hugging the snow parka to herself in comfort, shaking her head and murmuring wordlessly.

Concerned, her mother rushed down the steps to hug her daughter, stroking her hair, whispering soothing words. Eventually she managed to get Vic up and inside, still inconsolable and put her to bed with some sleeping tablets.

The next day she wasn't much better so the specialist and therapist were 'requested' to make non standard house calls to the Police Commissioner's daughter. Neither could find anything obviously wrong but the specialist commented before leaving

"Sometimes we see a return of memories with head trauma victims. We call it a 'cascade' when everything dumps on them at once and it can be rather disturbing when this happens and trigger an emotional response"

She shrugged "Either way, this is the first time I have seen Vic cry since the trauma event, I'm hoping this is a positive step forward one way or another. Just give her some time"

A couple of days went by with not a lot of improvement. Lena decided that she had had enough and went into Vic's room after she heard the shower running. Giving her daughter enough time to get dressed, she knocked on the door

"Vic honey, I'm coming in." Hearing nothing she cautiously opened the door to find her daughter slumped on the bed, wet hair tangled damply across the pillow. The curtains and windows were shut and the room smelt stale, so she opened those first, bundling up the wet towel and discarded clothes into the washing basket, resisting the urge to tut to her grown up daughter about her messy habits.

Instead she sat on the bed, laid a cool hand on Vics outstretched on nearby and said quietly

"Whatever it is, you can tell me. You can't keep whatever is upsetting you bottled up like this. Did something happen in Wyoming?"

She was surprised that startled a reluctant laugh out of the emotional wreck lying on the bed, and even moreso when Vic pushed herself up to a sitting position against the pillows clustered in the far corner of the bed, hugging one in front of her for comfort or protection, Lena wasn't sure.

Vic's voice was hesitant "Mom, I'm not sure how to explain this, but you know how I've been a right bitch the last few months?" Without realising it Lena nodded

"Well something happened on the taxi ride from the airport..." Vic hesitantly explained as best she could what had happened, crying apologetically for the hell she now realised she had put everyone through.

Lena hugged her daughter, and breathed a prayer of thanks, somehow whatever had been broken was fixed and the Vic she knew appeared to be mostly back. The Vic she had been showed not even the slightest understanding of what remorse was.

The specialist was called again, an appointment was made for the following week, to allow things to settle and calm down. The confession and apology seemed to have helped somewhat and the specialist was smiling at the end of the assessment. There was still an period of adjustment and healing to complete, but it seemed likely a full recovery could be made. Possibly even a chance she might resume desk work on the force, the damage to her vision meant it was unlikely she would pass the physicals to patrol again. Her ability to shoot would be forever impaired.

Vic seemed to come to terms with her physical limitations, unlike her previous behaviour she took to physical therapy readily, working hard, pushing herself to improve. However as the months went by, something still seemed to be not quite right but any attempt to discuss it was completely shut down.

Lena hadn't spoken to Walt since he called to organise Vic's return trip, the breakdown and resulting events had totally consumed her thoughts, and she was embarrassed not to have contacted him. When she realised he hadn't contacted her either she began to wonder what had happened in Wyoming.

"Walt, its Lena, is now a good time? Because I need to talk to you about Vic, there has been a big change in her situation and I thought you would want to know"

Dearest readers, thankyou for sticking with me for so long, thankyou to all the readers who politely sent me PM asking if I was ever going to finish this story. Unfortunately I put my muse aside when I had to study for my exam, and well, she got in a huff and abandoned me. Then a surgery that I had long been wanting to get sorted finally got some action and I had the operation a couple of weeks ago. Now Im stuck at home for several weeks recovering (its all good, corrective and nothing to worry about).

I wanted to write more about Vic's time in Durant but really this was the ending that I always had in my head - to give you some explanation, I had a horse riding accident when I was 11 and had brain surgery, and was in hospital for several weeks. During that time I was apparently a real bitch, so much so my sister refused to come visit me.

The weird thing was in the middle of a conversation with an orderly, my brain just switched on - I had no idea who he was or what we were talking about and no memory of the previous weeks at all. It was an extremely odd situation, especially as a child and I still remember it clearly some 30 years later. So I used that experience to base the behaviour of Vic in this story on.

Thankyou for all the likes and comments and feedback, and your patience while I struggled with this story. My muse is currently still playing hard to get but she left me with the seed for maybe one more story, I will see if there is anything in it.

Bring on Season 5!