A/N: I literally cried while writing this chapter. I get so emotional writing these kinds of chapters...

Sometimes, the road just ends

It changes everything you've been

And all that's left to be

Is empty, broken, lonely, hoping

I'm supposed to be strong

I'm supposed to find a way

To carry on

I don't wanna feel better

I don't wanna not remember

I will always see your face

In the shadows of this haunted place

I will laugh, I will cry

Shake my fists at the sky

But I will not say goodbye

Danny Gokey — I Will Not Say Goodbye

Isabella ran the trace samples through GCMS, glancing at the door every now and again. Aria was two hours late for work, which was extremely unlike her. She saw Logan walking through the hall and she bounded out to catch up with him. It was a sunny Friday morning. The weather was cooling down and a breeze strolled through open windows.

"Hey, Lobo, can you go check up on Aria? She hasn't called in sick and she's way late. This isn't like her. I'd do it, but I'm really busy", she said. Logan nodded, his brown eyes concerned. With that, he left. Isabella couldn't fight the uneasiness in her belly as she worked.

"You look uneasy", Mac commented. She gave him a half-smile before nodding.

"Aria's late", she explained. She looked up at the elevator doors, in time to see them open. She bounded out of the lab to give Aria a good tongue-lashing, but it wasn't her best friend coming out of the elevator. It was Don. She stopped and felt a sour look form on her face.

"Fine, I'm not happy to see you either", he joked. She let out an uneasy chuckle before running a hand through her hair.

"Aria's MIA, so Logan's gone to check on her", she said. She stood on her toes to see if her friend was coming through the elevator.

"Maybe she's sick?" he offered. She shook her head.

"She'd call if she was going to be even a smidgen late", she replied, shooting down the idea. Luckily, Nevaeh was with Logan last night. Aria didn't live that far from the lab, though. Maybe a good five minutes walking distance, but not enough to ever cause her to be late.

"You haven't heard from her either?" he asked, frowning. Over the past week, they had gotten nowhere on the case, but friendships were forming. It was easy to like Aria; she was a likable woman. Isabella shook her head no.

"And she always calls", she replied. She walked into her shared office with Aria and sat down, crossing her legs. She remembered why Don had come up.

"Sorry, did you get something on your end?" she asked him apologetically. He shook his head.

"Me and your guys have been scouting the area, cross-referencing any consistency in any of the victims' lives and so far, it's like they're strangers on the street", he replied. She frowned, drumming her nails on her desk.

"Nothing on our end either. I've been over the evidence eighty times over the past two days. I've dug so deep into it, I think I've found China", she complained. He chuckled and surveyed her expression.

"Aria's tough. She can take care of herself", he told her, kissing the top of her head. When friendships had formed, so had a bond between Don and Isabella. She was going to miss the New Yorkers terribly, Don especially. She hugged him. She saw Daniel running out of his office, Kingston Braves, his second-in-command following closely behind. Something was wrong. Logan came through the elevator and Isabella shot out of her office.

"Any news on Aria?" she asked. Tears were in his eyes as he shook his head. Not a good sign.

"She's gone, Izzy. Aria's dead", he whispered. The news struck her hard.

"Ha ha, Lobo. Very funny", she said, desperately hoping it was a joke. The haunted look in his eyes told her it wasn't. The ground jerked from under her and she felt a hand on her arm to keep her from falling.

"Was it the Cop-Killer?" she asked, tears filling her eyes. He nodded grimly. She yanked her arm from whoever was holding her and ran into her office. She slammed the door and leaned her back against the glass wall, sliding down.

"NO!" she screamed, burying her face in her knees and letting the sobs wrack her body. Aria couldn't be dead, she couldn't. She had a little girl to raise, a case to see through. A best friend who so desperately needed her right this very second. She wailed the indignant injustice to the silence of her office, not caring people could hear. Tears rolled down her face freely as she cried out her eyes, heart, mind, soul, and everything in between. She had no idea how long she had been crying until she heard the knock on her office door. She wiped her eyes and looked up. It was Daniel. She shook her head angrily, her curls flying in every direction. She crawled under her desk and curled up into a ball. Muted voices were outside the door as people conversed outside of it. Finally, there was another knock. It was Logan and Don. She gave a brief nod and they took it as an invitation to come in.

"Hey, pretty girl", Logan said softly. He had been crying himself. The mother of his child was dead as well. Today, the Wilmington Police Department had lost a phenomenal detective. A child had lost her mother. A mother had lost her child. Two best friends were forever separated. Yet the sun shone happily, as though it were completely unaffected by the tragic loss everyone had endured. Isabella sniffled and looked up at him.

"C'mere", he said, holding out his arms. She crawled out from under her desk and hugged him tightly. He hugged her back fiercely.

"She fought like hell, Izzy. The apartment was ransacked", he murmured into her ear. She released him from her tight hug and frowned up at him. It was still so sudden. Don held out his arms and she hugged him fiercely. He pressed his cheek to the top of her head as his grip tightened on her.

"I'm so sorry, Rocky", he whispered. She nodded against his chest. His words comforted her somewhat. She knew he meant it. They weren't empty, rehearsed words he'd uttered to every homicide victim's family.

"Thanks", she replied. She knew she looked like hell. Her hair and makeup were a mess, she could feel the mascara and eyeliner caked to her tear-stained face. She wiped a tear from under her eye and she let the two men lead her out of her office. She and Logan received hugs from the lab techs. When Danny had heard what happened, he'd held out his arms for a hug. Rolling her eyes, Isabella hugged him.

"I'm sorry to hear about her. I know you two were close", he said once they'd broken the hug. She nodded.

"Best friends for twenty-two years", she replied. Hawkes stood, arms open. She hugged him, emitting a small exhale of a chuckle. She then hugged Mac.

"You're gonna be okay, Isabella", Mac said. Her eyes widened as she took in his words. She knew somehow, she'd get through it. But getting over it was something she knew she would never do.

"Thanks, Mac", she whispered. Daniel walked in.

"I want you to stay out of autopsy, Killer. You don't need to remember Aria like that", he said. She nodded. She looked around.

"I want to tell the De Lucas, though. They should hear it from me", she requested. Daniel nodded.

"Take all the time you need", he told her. Isabella looked at Logan.

"They hate me, it'll be worse coming from me", he said regretfully. He couldn't face Aria's mother and father. She rubbed her eyes.

"Gimme five minutes and I'll leave", she said. She walked numbly into the bathroom and examined her face in the mirror. Her face was pale with eyeliner and mascara caked onto her face. Her eyes were bloodshot and red-rimmed with her lips swollen from crying so hard. She sniffed and wiped the makeup from her face with a wet paper towel. She rubbed her eyes again and raked her fingers through her hair to work out the tangles and swiped it back into a ponytail. She looked a little better, slightly better than hell. She smoothed her top and walked out of the bathroom. She pulled her sunglasses out of her purse in her office and grabbed her keys, badge, and ID. Time to break the news no mother needed to hear. She was glad for her sunglasses' over-sized frames as she walked to the elevator. She heard someone walk behind her. She glanced over her shoulder and saw Mac. He gave her a sympathetic look and she gave him a nod.

The drive to the De Lucas' home in Castle Hayne was a drive Isabella was not looking forward to. She weaved expertly in and out of traffic in the department-issued Toyota Tundra, laying on the horn as people attempted to cut her off. She pulled up to the gate of the home of her best friend's family and drove through the opened doors. The small one-story house looked happy and cheerful with its carefully manicured lawns and a lovely garden. Isabella pulled up to the garage next to Alonzo De Luca's prized GTO and behind Sofia's humble Camry. She and Mac got out and walked along the sidewalk to the porch steps. The normally long walk seemed shorter as she walked up the steps to the door. She rang the doorbell and took off her sunglasses, perching them onto her head. Dogs barked on the other side and soon, the door opened. Standing before her, was Alonzo De Luca, Aria's father.

"Isabella! What a lovely surprise!" he said in his warm Italian accent. She gave him a soft smile. His dark eyes searched her face and realization dawned on his face.

"What happened to Aria?" he asked in a whisper. Isabella looked away, biting her lip. Alonzo's hand flew to his face in horror as he took in what her expression meant.

"I'm so sorry, Papi Alonzo", she murmured. Tears rolled down the man's face silently. She felt her throat thicken again as she looked at him.

"They found her this morning", she said, her voice cracking a bit.

"Mr. De Luca, I'm Detective Mac Taylor with the New York Crime Lab. I'm on your daughter's case, and I am truly, truly sorry for your loss", Mac spoke up. Not one for spitefulness or cruelty, Alonzo shook Mac's hand, tears still rolling down his face.

"Come in, please", he urged them. Isabella slid off her boots and set them by the door, wordlessly encouraging Mac to do the same. The elderly Shetland Sheepdog-mix barked wheezily as they stepped into the house. The De Luca home was decorated in a very cottage-like feel. The colors of the home was a warm brown, with white accents.

"Per favore, siediti. Fate come se foste a casa mentre vado a prendere mia moglie", Alonzo said in Italian.

[Please, sit. Make yourselves at home while I fetch my wife]

Isabella sat down on the white sofa, nodding for Mac to do the same.

"He's getting Aria's mother", she said softly. She folded her hands onto her lap and looked straight ahead. On a wall, was a picture of Isabella and Aria with their arms around each other, sticking their tongues out at the camera, two horses behind them. The horses lived at Isabella's property. The girls were aged seventeen at the time. She remembered the day well. They had ridden the horses from the stay-home to the horse-approved beaches. The sunset lit happily behind them. A small, stout woman came into the room warily.

"Isabella, my husband says you have news for me?" she asked. Isabella sighed. She really, really, really hated this part. She stood up and grasped the older woman's hands.

"Mama Sofia", she started. Aria's mother's eyes gazed up at her expectantly.

"Aria was murdered last night", she said softly. Sofia's hand flew to her throat.

"What happened?" she gasped. Tears rolled down her face as she let out a wail. No mother should ever outlive their child. Isabella glanced at Mac, trying desperately to get him to fill in the blanks.

"Ma'am, I'm Detective Mac Taylor with the New York Crime Lab. I'm on your daughter's case and we're currently trying to evaluate on who murdered Aria, but I promise you both that the finest detectives are on this case and we're doing our best to catch whoever it was that did this to her", he said. After the tears and the agony, they had all sat down.

"When was the last time you had seen Aria?" Isabella asked. It was hard to control the tears in her eyes.

"I had just spoken to her last night, about six pm. She had said that Logan had Nevaeh, grazie a Dio, and that she was working on some case that she was very close to cracking wide open. She had a suspicion on who a killer was, but she had no proof", Alonzo replied. She leaned forward, her attention piqued.

"Did your daughter elaborate on who the killer was?" Mac asked. That statement had his attention as well.

"Aria said that the killer was a cop", Alonzo replied.

"Well, our killer kills cops. Did you get it confused somehow?" Isabella asked. Alonzo shook his head no.

"She said she thought the killer was a cop", he repeated. She exchanged a glance with Mac in shock.

A/N2: CLIFFHANGER! I hope this gets you going! R&R and let me know what you think: Did I suck or did I do good?