Rachel Dawes was frightened, but she didn't know what of. All she knew was that there was a… coldness in the pit of her stomach, which she couldn't shake. But it made no sense. The man she loved, who'd risked his life for what he felt was right, was safe and sound… the monster who had been terrorising the city for the past week was behind bars. So what was left to be frightened of?

When Ramirez phone up to her apartment to say that she had arrived, and was waiting for her downstairs, she actually felt relieved that she would have another person to keep her company. Her apartment was on the fifth floor, and the elevators were out. She hated having to walk down the stairs, and with her mind so on edge… she kept thinking that some thug was about to jump out at her from behind every corner.

By the time she reached the bottom of the stairs, she was dripping with a cold sweat. She must have looked bad, because Ramirez's eyes widened when she saw her.

"You okay, ma'am?" she asked, concern filling her voice. "You look sick".

Rachel forced herself to smile. "I'll be fine", she said, and mentally added When I'm with Harvey… She was impatient to get in the car and set off, but she felt like she had to ask… "How is everyone? I hear Jim's back from the dead".

Ramirez's response wasn't quite what Rachel had expected. Instead of relief, there was… guilt? She was hiding something, and Rachel could see it. Suddenly she was having second thoughts about getting in a car with her.

"Um…" she said, looking around at Ramirez's car. It was a run down compact, which looked like it was on its last legs. "Maybe we should go in my car?" Of course, Rachel wanted to use her car because she knew it wouldn't break down half way there, but there was an ulterior motive. Her own car was fitted with a transmitter, which would let the cops know it location. All DA's and Assistant DA's had them fitted recently, after Rachel's old boss had been murdered.

Ramirez shuffled her feet, and hesitated. "Well…" she mumbled eventually. "I'd prefer to use mine, if it's all the same. The neighbourhood Harvey's holed up in isn't exactly upmarket. I don't want us to stand out…"

Hmmmm… Rachel thought. That makes sense. But she'd definitely nervous about something… Still, Gordon vouched for this woman. "Alright" she said with a smile. Ramirez nodded, climbed into her car and unlocked the passenger side door. Rachel climbed in quickly, and the car lurched out into the road.

Rachel and Ramirez sat in uncomfortable silence for several minutes before either of them could think of anything to say. Finally, Rachel spoke. "So…" she said. "What made you join the MCU?"

Ramirez glanced to the side at her and smiled. "I dunno", she sighed. "I guess I felt I could make a bigger difference at Major Crimes. I worked homicide for a while… which was horrific. I tell you, Miss Dawes, this city has one hell of an ugly side…"

Rachel smiled bitterly. "Yeah", she said softly. "I've seen my share of it. And call me Rachel".

Ramirez nodded slowly. "Anyway…" she continued. "I got sick of seeing dead bodies and not finding their killers, so I started looking at any opportunity to get out. I even thought about going back to being a beat cop, walking the streets… but I couldn't afford the wage drop".

Rachel laughed quietly. "I guess your pay check's a little bigger at MCU".

Ramirez smiled and nodded. "Could always be bigger though" she said absently, and they both laughed. "Course", she added. "I wanted to be a cop for the same reason as everyone else, I suppose".

"You get to legally fire your gun at people?" Rachel joked.

Ramirez's face broke into a wide grin, the first that Rachel had seen that looked genuine. "Yeah, well, that too", she sighed. "No… I wanted to help people. My family was poor growing up, and the scumbags in our neighbourhood made life a whole hell of a lot worse. I wanted to be able to stop that from happening to other people, y'know?" There was a brief pause then, before Ramirez looked at Rachel. "Why'd you want to be a DA?"

Rachel gazed out of the window… it was a question she'd asked herself plenty of times. "I guess…" she started. "I guess I just got sick and tired of seeing this city sink further and further into its hole. Sick of seeing the worst people get the most out of life. I wanted to clean this place up. Some job we're doing, huh?"

Ramirez didn't answer, and they spent the next minute or so in more silence. The car approached a turning, and stopped. Rachel looked out of the window… there were no cars coming, so why were they just waiting there? She looked at Ramirez. There was a… distant look on her face, as though she was trying to decide something important.

"What is it?" Rachel asked, shaking Ramirez out of her daze. "You OK?"

Ramirez smiled weakly. "Yeah", she sighed. "We're here". She put her foot down on the accelerator and the car turned gently into an old, dilapidated car park. Rachel stared up out of the window at the building… it didn't look like anyone had used it for years. Decades, even. Why would they bring Harvey all the way out here?

The car pulled up next to the entrance and they both exited the car. Ramirez led her inside, along a corridor that smelled as though people had been using it as a bathroom. Ramirez stopped in front of an old, rotten door. "Harvey's just through here", she said weakly. "After you".

Rachel hesitated. She couldn't shake the feeling that something was seriously wrong with all of this. Why were there no other people in sight? Why hadn't Harvey called her? She slowly walked over to the door, and pushed it open.

The room beyond was… horrible. There was a single window along one of the walls, and the walls were peeling. There was a single metal chair at its centre, bolted into the ground. But what Rachel noticed first of all was the blood… the floor was covered with it. It had soaked into the ground. Rachel guessed that it was maybe a week old.

"What…?" she started to say while turning around. Before she saw it, she heard the click of the gun that Ramirez had drawn. Ramirez had turned pale, and she was shaking, but she held her gun to Rachel's head.

"I'm sorry about this, Rachel", she said, her voice trembling.

Rachel sighed. "That's 'Miss Dawes' to you", she said. Ramirez swung her weapon around and struck Rachel square in the centre of the forehead.

Then everything went dark.