Harry watched the curtains billowing before the opened window, unwilling to believe what had just happened. Her mind simply refused to take in the last events. She felt drained emotionally, she couldn't take anything more. She tightened her arms around her children; she wouldn't let go of them. The boy and the girl standing on each side of her were the only things existing in the world, everything else was too complicated, too distressing.

"Harry?"

The voice made her jump. "Chas?" she articulated, surprised. In all the commotion she hadn't heard the police arrive to Winfield Hall.

"Are you alright?" he asked and she nodded. "Watson's injured; we found the Thorn brothers on our way in, but no trace of Coltrane. Where is Dempsey?"

Suddenly Harry's mind was working furiously again and she knew what she had to do. "Stay with them, will you." She demanded and rushed after her husband in the gardens.

She looked around her but the two men were nowhere to be seen. Making up her mind she ran as fast as she could on the slippery grass, heading towards the tree line. Coltrane was bound to have try and reach shelter amongst the trees.

As she was skirting trunks in her race, she caught the first glimpse of them a bit to her right. They had run out of the copse and were now in open ground. Coltrane was clearly limping; it wouldn't be long before James caught up with him.

When she reached them, Dempsey had cornered Coltrane near the lake. The injured man was crawling on the lake's edge, unarmed and unable to escape. Dempsey's gun was steady in his hand, pointing at Coltrane's head. He was ready to shoot but Harry called out "James!"

Staggered, Dempsey turned round. He watched his wife but turned away from her almost immediately, taking his aim at Coltrane again.

"You can't shoot him or he wins." Harry said desperately. "You know you can't James. Come on."

"He deserves to die." He said with so much contempt that Harry knew that he wasn't seeing only Maggie's killer in him, but also Joe's as the resemblance with his father was so striking not only in his actions but also in his appearance. She felt like she had so long ago, when Dempsey had been on the verge to kill Derek's father; she knew she had to say something, anything to stop him.

"You didn't kill Maggie, he did. Just like his father killed Joe. Justice will take care of him now."

No reaction.

"James, we need you." She almost pleaded.

Slowly, very slowly, Dempsey lowered his gun. Harry was right, this bastard wasn't worth destroying his life. He turned round, Harry was smiling weakly. He started to walk in her direction.

Suddenly, Coltrane jumped on his feet holding a penknife he had taken out of his jacket pocket. "Watch out!" Harry barely had time to warn her husband who turned round, caught hold of the man's arm and stopped the blade only a few inches from his torso.

Harry was rooted to the spot, watching apprehensively the two men battling. Coltrane wouldn't let go of his knife and with a jerk, he freed himself from James' grasp. Taking a step backwards, Coltrane held his knife before him, threatening to plunge the blade into James' flesh. As he moved his arm forward, Dempsey caught hold of his wrist again and squeezed it. At last, the knife fell in the tall grass.

Harry sighed half relieved. Now the men were fighting with their fists, walking in circle, punching each other whenever they had the opportunity to do so. Harry spotted James' gun on the ground and was about to go and pick it up when Coltrane bend to give a right to Dempsey, slipped and lost his balance, colliding with James who didn't react quickly enough. They both fell in the lake in a thunderous splatter.

Harry watched anxiously as James got his head out of the water and shook himself. Coltrane emerged a few seconds after, looking bewildered. Dempsey caught hold of Coltrane by the hem of his shirt and got him standing. He pressed his thumb on the wounded shoulder with sadistic pleasure and gave him one last punch; Derek Coltrane fell back in the water, motionless.

"Life is hard then you die." He said contemptuously.

Without a backward glance, Dempsey got out of the water. Police officers were arriving at the lake now. "He's all yours." He announced, bending to pick up his gun. He put it in his trousers and went straight to his wife.

She pushed away the hair on his face, smiling.

"I'm wet and I'm cold."

"You look it." She confirmed.

"I could do with a bit of warming." he hinted.

"Mmmm, I bet you could." She feigned not to understand his innuendo.

"If you still got that apartment, we could finish what we started." He suggested, coming closer and slipping his arm around her waist.

"We didn't start anything remember" she teased.

"Didn't we?" he grinned.

Then slowly, as if it was their first kiss he gently brushed her lips with his, once, twice, before kissing her fully. The kiss didn't last long but he had filled it with all the love, the tenderness and the passion he felt for her. When their lips parted, their eyes found each other and delivered the same message. They smiled, they were so happy together.