Nick had to work hard to keep up with PJ's car, plumes of dust streaming behind the out of control detective as he drove to the one place he could always find her, the one place he had left where he could let himself go and emotionally collapse with the sheer pressure of missing the other half of his heart.

The rocky outcrop glowed in the warm evening sun as they arrived, the view ingrained on his heart. They'd left her here, scattered the ashes, and this was the one place that PJ still felt connected. Maybe she was still here, maybe she wasn't, but it was the last place that they had been together. The last place he had told her he loved her – and the last place she had loved him. It tied them together, and it was the only place he could go when he was losing his mind.

PJ was out of the car almost before it screeched to a halt, his gun in his hand, his world once again screeching to a halt. It was too much really. Living was too hard, and he just wanted to be with her. Just wanted to be with Maggie again. In their own little world, their own version of perfection. He wanted to see her smile, to hold her, to make love to her. He wanted to catch her eye, to see her face light up with happiness. He wanted to tease her, to push her, provoke her into an argument, to see the fire in her eyes and to then work their way through it and make up with her. He wanted her. He just – he wanted her.

And he would never have her. Not now. Not ever.

He pressed his hands to his temple as the memories returned once again. The memories that were never really that far from his conscious mind. The darkness that visited him every single night, and every single morning as he awoke the next day without her beside him. Darkness, shadows invading, scalding his heart once again. Her breath ragged as she lay in his arms, the crimson shadow on her chest widening as his heart broke. Her breath frantic as she stared up at him, his tears falling on her face as he tried to speak. His voice dry and pleading as he begged her to hold on, the connection that they found as she died, the love that they held between them surrounding her, keeping her safe as she left.

"PJ?" Nick whispered behind him, gruffly swiping at his tears as he once again saw his friend break in front of him. "Mate?"

PJ's arms fell to his side, his finger still tight on the trigger of his gun. "I can't do this Nick."

"PJ, I – "

"I don't want to do this. I don't want to do this anymore. I miss her Nick" PJ turned, looking over his shoulder at Nick. "I love her and I miss her so much. I need her Nick, and I just – I want to be with her"

"But would she want you with her?" Nick said, flinching at the anger that flashed in PJ's eyes.

"You bastard. She loved me Nick, you know she loved me. We were getting married!! MARRIED! We – she – " PJ turned back to face the evening sun. "We were trying to get pregnant, Nick. We were going to have a baby. She – Nick, that morning, she – she'd been sick that morning, and she, her – I'd got the test, Nick, and - Nick, I just need to be with her. It's all too much, and I don't want to be without her anymore." He stared down at the gun in his hand, moving over to sit on the top of the sloping cliff, not really reacting as Nick came to sit beside him.

Nick breathed in slowly, taking the time to compose the frantic cacophony of words that were screaming through his mind. PJ was way past breaking point, and very close to never coming back. Nick knew the connection that PJ and Maggie had built had been close, hell, it was almost as if it had been an inevitable magnetism. A meeting of hearts, of minds and of souls, of two lives that were meant to become one. They knew it, the Boss knew it and every single member in the station had seen it.

Sure they had tried to deny it, to hide it, but it had been inevitable. The second he saw her, at the beginning of each day, he had simultaneously relaxed and become fired up. Relaxed because he had connected with her again after a night alone, and fired up once more ready to face the day ahead with her by his side. And Maggie had been the same. Her eyes lit up when she saw him, her smile letting everyone know she was ready to face the day because he was there. When they realised, when they finally figured out that their lives were destined to be entwined, that their hearts and souls belonged together, that was the day the rest of the world began living as it was meant to. It was as if the truth had awoken, and they could get on with their lives as they were meant to be.

And then she was gone. Taken. Stolen from them by a web of treachery that had eventually been untangled and laid to rest. The web deciphered and destroyed, but there was still one victim, one soul still flailing against the darkness, and at this moment it seemed that the darkness was winning.