A/N: Thank you for your reviews! Rosepetal was the only winner in our guess the episode challenge and therefore gets full brownie points and glory :)

There may be a slight delay in posting the next chapter as I am trying to keep 2 chapters ahead but I am taking the kids away for a few days mid-week so won't be writing. Hope you all enjoy this chapter.
Let me know please!

Charli x

Sara was suddenly back in that place full of nothing, just a bright white light enveloping her and surrounding her in it's embrace. For a while she could feel nothing, see nothing and hear nothing but soon she became aware of something beside her. She tried to shift her body slightly and all of a sudden the air was filled with a ear-splitting shriek. Sara instinctively covered her ears with her hands and pressed her eyes closed.

It was almost as though the sound was drilling right through her head, filling her skull with its ferocity. As the sound continued to wail, Sara felt her body buckling under the pressure. She bent at the waist, her hands firmly pressed against her head trying to block out the noise. The sound invaded her space untill she was sure she couldn't take anymore. Something occurred to her as she tried desperately to fight off the pressure filling her ears; this was a familiar noise. One she had heard before in the darkest moment of her life.

Almost as soon as she reached this conclusion the sound was killed and was replaced by a steady beep. One little beep that may have seemed inconsequential to anyone else but Sara knew just how much that rhythmic little beep could mean to loved ones; it meant everything.

As Sara gained the courage to open her eyes she found that her surroundings had changed too. She was in a room, a sub-standard, run of mill hospital room with pale, faded green walls and flowery yellow curtains. She recognised this room, albeit from many years ago and drew breath at the realisation of who's room she was in.

"Hi Sara" Came a voice.

It was a voice she had never heard before and yet it was a voice she immediately knew. Her eyes were drawn to the figure in the bed. It lay perfectly still, breathing providing the only movement under the thin blue sheet and still she spoke. She spoke like they were old friends which Sara supposed they kind of were. Pamela Adler has been a huge part of her life, which was a little ironic considering she had never properly met her. She couldn't say why that case had gotten under her skin so much but Pam had awoken something in her when she had laid eyes on her. Something about this woman gave Sara the strength to keep on fighting. Pam had been one of the main driving forces behind her chosen career path, she had also been one of the reasons she almost left it behind.

"I've been waiting to meet you" Pam said.

It was a strange statement and although Sara saw her body remaining still and lifeless she could feel her smiling through those words. The warmth that travelled through them was incredibly calming and soothing.

"It's Okay" She hushed, obviously sensing Sara's alarm.

Sara was immediately incensed by her suggestion. It was far from Okay, this seemed like one of the worst situations to possibly tell someone it was okay.

"It's not okay..." Sara muttered, as though to herself "You're still like this, even here?"

She referred, of course, to the vegetative state Pam had been left in some 14 years earlier. In her wildest visions of heaven she had always imagined it to be a free place, where the burdens of your life were thrown off; the blind could see, the deaf could hear, the paralysed could walk. In no version of heaven did she forsee this for Pamela Adler.

"No Sara, I'm only like this for you" She explained, her hand curling around Sara's as it rested on the bed and squeezing slightly "This is how you see me"

Sara almost felt guilty for that. She realised that she had never been able to picture Pam as she must have been once. She was probably a vibrant woman, the life and soul of a room. She even managed to garner people's attention while lying still on a hospital bed.

"I don't want to see you like this anymore..." Sara felt tears forming behind her eyes "I want to see you smiling...I want to see the light in your eyes"

Just like that Pamela Adler was sitting on the other side of the bed, smiling at her and watching her with such endearment on her face Sara felt fit to let those tears fall free. She was still holding someone's hand, there was still someone in the bed, but it wasn't Pam and Sara was thankful for that.

"Would you like a Halo and Harp too?" Pam grinned.

The sarcasm caught her off guard and yet it somehow seemed very apt and familiar to her. This was a strange situation to be in, meeting someone for the first time when you've known them for 8 years was never going to be easy. Meeting someone like Pam and under these circumstances was even stranger.

"I just figured you'd be free by now" Sara explained.

It had been a long time since Pam's death, although she had held on to a slim whisper of life for 8 years in this very room. Sara had taken some comfort from the fact that she had been set free from the burdens of an earthly body, she figured that her passing was a blessing of sorts because it let her finally let go and find her peace.

"I am free" Pam smiled, standing and walking around the bed "You saved me Sara"

Those words made Sara's heart turn in her chest. She'd never heard them before, in all her years of chasing the bad guy she never got to hear from someone who had survived, who she had saved. The words seemed like a lie coming from Pam, Sara immediately began shaking her head.

"I didn't save you. I let you down, I made you promises I couldn't keep"

Sara had always held the belief that she had failed to get justice for Pam. The man they convicted had been out of prison in under two years and although he was responsible for her death, it was her husband who had eventually gone down for it. It had always torn Sara apart, seeing Tom standing up in court for giving his wife the peace she deserved.

"You got the guy. That's all you promised me" Pam soothed "Now I get to fulfill my promise to you"

Sara took a slow breath, she had always wondered how aware Pam had been of her surroundings. The question still begged an answer. Did she know because of all the times Sara had sat by her side and told her or did she know through some kind of celestial wisdom gifted to her on the other side?

"How could you make a promise to me?" Sara wondered out loud.

"I promised that one day I would thank you" Pam explained.

Before Sara could protest, Pam had taken her hand and guided her away from the sterile little room. They stepped through the bright white nothing and she became aware of voices filling the space.

"How many people do you think you saved just be putting that one man away?" Pam asked her.

The sound of the voices became louder and clearer as Sara shrugged her shoulders. She soon realised that these were voices expressing their thanks and gratitude. She didn't recognise them but felt like she knew them all all the same. These were the voices of victims.

"You're a guardian angel Sara. You helped all these people find peace and justice. Every one of them"

The volume continued to increase until it felt like she was standing in a stadium full of people. All people she had come across in her working life, all people she had fought for and spoke for when they couldn't.

"You've just been waiting here for me this entire time..." Sara muttered.

It was a realisation she wasn't sure she wanted to vocalise. It had been bad enough knowing Pam had spent 8 years of her life in a hospital bed, she wasn't sure how she felt about her spending the rest of her time waiting for her.

"It's my turn to be your angel, to guide your way... and its not as bad here as you think. I've laid all my ghosts to rest now. I can leave this place now but I wish I didn't have to...this is what I chose. This is my happy place"

Pam gestured a gentle hand towards the bright white and it melted away to reveal a different scene altogether.

Sara could feel the sun beating down on her skin, a gentle breeze moved strands of her hair and laughter filled the air. She was standing in a garden, a small one storey home stood before her casting a long shadow on the grass. People stood in small groups chatting amoungst themselves with glasses of wine and bottles of bee in their hands. They were all well dressed, it didn't take Sara long to figure out they had been at a wedding.

As if on cue, Pamela and Tom rounded the house to rapturous applause and a storm of confetti filled the air and twirled around in the blue of the sky.

Beside her, Pam beamed with joy and Sara could feel the happiness in every one of the guests. It filled her heart with love and pleasure as she watched the scene unfolding before her. She could never have pegged herself as a romantic, she had never really had a good example of a romantic relationship to strive to but the scene before her, the scene she was becoming a part of painted a smile on her lips and gave her a sense of happiness and joy.

"I don't know what comes next" Pam confessed, answering an unspoken question "maybe nothing...but I'm ready for it. You're the last piece of my puzzle"

The party began to fade, the sound died away slowly leaving them standing in the white again, face to face.

"I was so afraid of you..." Sara confessed. She had never told anyone how much fear it had struck in her soul to process a living victim. She was afraid that Pam would wake up, she was afraid that she wouldn't, she was afraid of hurting her, of causing her more pain, she was afraid of everything Pam represented. Everything she saw in herself.

Pam didn't seem to be confused or offended by this confession, almost as though she had always known it to be true.

"Are you afraid of me now?" She whispered.

Sara shook her head. She had put her fear to rest now she'd been given the clarity of meeting her. The tormented shadow in her soul reserved for Pam had been released.

"That's good" Pam nodded "Never be afraid. Fear is a wasted emotion, Love will see you through. Love will be your final step"

Pam's voice was becoming faint and her presence in the space Sara occupied was becoming fluid as she faded away. Sara was struck by a wave of panic, there was so much she still had to ask. So many things she still wanted to know.

"I don't want you to go!" She cried, tears stinging at her eyes as she valiantly fought them off

Pam wrapped a protective arm around her shoulder "I have to. It's ok Sara, you saved me"

"What about Tom? What happened to him?"

"He gets his own journey, like we all do" She explained.

"How will I know when its over?" Sara almost begged her, she prided herself on her knowledge. Knowledge was power, in this situation her lack of power terrified her.

"You'll be happy..." Pam smiled as she walked away slowly, disappearing into the bright light.

"I don't know what that feels like" Sara confessed sadly, the tears now breaking free and warming her face.

"You will" Pam assured her before becoming nothing more than a memory.

Sara felt all her energy disappear with her. Her body felt just about ready to give up on her and she buckled at the waist impacting with a hard plastic chair. She almost welcomed the steady beeping that filled her ears and the clarity of her surroundings returning. She was back in a hospital room, back to sitting beside the bed, back to the waiting game. Her tired eyes slowly raised to the bed before her, expecting to see the shape of Pam in the bed and the figure of Tom opposite her.

What she actually saw caught the breath in her chest. Greg was at the other side of the bed, his hand clutching onto something she couldn't see, he looked devastated. His eyes were red rimmed from crying, his hands trembling, his lip shaking as he tried to bite down on it to keep in control. Sara shifted in her chair, attempting to see who was in the bed making Greg act this way but as soon as her eyes caught sight of it she wished she hadn't.

She was the one in the bed, it was her.