A/N: Thanks for the continuing support of my story. Starting with this chapter, the story stays in the present with no long summaries about the past.

He really wanted to be mad at Roy Montgomery for putting him in this mess. However, the man was dead after sacrificing himself and Rick had demanded the knowledge that now weighed him down as the price for helping him save Kate. It had been a bluff of course, he couldn't conceive of not saving Kate but Roy had at least pretended to believe him. Roy had told him a lot but omitted the most important part, who was 'the dragon'? That was a secret that Roy insisted he had to take to the grave for Kate's sake.

He not only had to face that but he had to trust this unidentified friend of Roy's to keep a new deal in place. Roy thought his friend would contact him but he'd heard nothing yet. In the meantime Rick planned to keep a vigil to protect Kate and thanks to them being a couple, 24/7 protection was possible. That was how he found himself standing near Kate as she gave her speech and he had all of his senses on full alert. That sniper had no chance of remaining undetected.

It was agony for him, but he waited until the man was squeezing the trigger before he moved. He needed that shot to be fired but he couldn't allow it anywhere near Kate. He pulled her as gently out of harm's way as he could while still doing it quickly enough. He certainly didn't want to hurt her while saving her. As soon as he knew she was fine he was after the man. He couldn't do anything about his anger about this situation he was in but he could do something to protect Kate and find out who this 'dragon' was. It was unacceptable to him that someone could mean harm to Kate and remain undetected. Whoever this 'dragon' was, he would do his best to make him regret ever hearing of Kate Beckett. This 'dragon' had no idea what Rick could do.

The sniper paid no attention to him, he was wiping the gun and preparing to ditch it when he suddenly became aware of the danger he was in. The man barely had time to begin to try to block Rick's punch but even if he'd reacted quicker, he had no chance of blocking the punch. He had to restrain himself from making it a fatal blow. He wanted this man alive. He knew he had to take advantage of his head start and put his hands on the man's head and tried to glean what he could. It always seemed somewhat hit or miss as to what he could get from someone's mind. He ignored most of the flashes of memory as useless but he did get some names. One was his employer Arantus Solutions and two were names that applied to him: Cedric Marks and Cole Maddox. He thinks the latter name is just an alias but he isn't sure but at least he has something to go on. He stood up as he heard someone running towards them and he was able to discern that it was Esposito without turning around. He pretended to watch the barely conscious man as he waited.

After Esposito cuffed him and carefully recovered the weapon. Rick jerked the sniper upright and wasn't gentle about herding him back towards what is left of the funeral. It isn't until he sees Kate when they arrived that he realized just how much worse this might get. It looked like his day of reckoning had come and he had no idea what is going to happen. Unlike Kyra, he felt that Kate might be the one but how could he reveal what he had learned about himself without sounding like a complete lunatic? Their relationship may be about to end and that would be hard for him to face.

The chief of detectives himself took charge of the prisoner and promised answers. Losing a captain and almost losing a detective was unacceptable to him. Rick silently wished him luck as he'd had a glimpse of a well-organized military mind. That man would be hard to break but Rick was hoping he'd already gotten enough from the man for his purposes. People began filtering away after they hurriedly closed out the funeral and wished the grieving family well. Kate waited near Rick and since Lanie, Esposito and Ryan knew about their relationship, they left them alone soon after. Martha gave him a kiss on the cheek and a whispered "Good luck" before she left too. Rick remained alert throughout that time but he was most aware of Kate's determined presence.

He decided there was no use in delaying, he led the way to his Mercedes with Kate hot on his heels but still silent. She got in the passenger seat and waited until he was on the way back to the city before speaking. "You have some explaining to do."

"About what Montgomery told me?"

"That too."

Great. He tried to keep his voice level as he tried to be certain of what her concern was. "Then what is your main concern?"

"How fast you are. How you put divots into hard turf. How easily you take down trained killers. Do I really need to go on?"

"No." He remained silent the rest of the way and she respected that. When they were back in Manhattan, he asked, "Your place or mine?"

"Yours." No respite then. He really hoped his mother wasn't home. She wasn't around nearly as much now that she had her own place again and he was with Kate but one never knew with his mother. He opened the door to a dark and silent loft and she continued unabated to his office. She looked back at him with a 'you better not keep me waiting' sort of look before she disappeared inside. He closed the door and by the time he got to the office, the lights in the office were on and she was waiting with a serious look on her face in the loveseat he had moved in there once they became a couple. It had always been a more private or intimate place for them to talk than his living room.

The look she gave him assured him her patience was thin so he launched into telling her everything he had found out from Montgomery before what happened in the hangar including Roy's mysterious friend. She had asked a question occasionally when he told her the story but when he was done she remained silent and focused on a random spot on the floor as she considered what he had told her.

When she looked up at him again she took his hand and he began to hope he was off the hook. "Thank you for telling me all of that Rick. Don't worry about me going down the rabbit hole. I doubt I'll get to work on this case officially and I have something to live for so I'm not going to do anything risky. I promise it will be both of us in this, neither of us will work alone, right?"

He had hoped me might be able to do some private investigating but if he expected her to keep him involved, he had to do the same. "Deal."

He wanted to be sure she knew no more about what he felt might be their best lead from Montgomery. "Do you know anything about the tape your mother was supposed to have?"

"No, there were no tapes in her things. I would know." She sighed and then continued, "Now, about you….."

Damn. She wasn't going to let this go and he really did want to confide in her as she was important to him and fully committing to this relationship could only happen after they both knew everything they needed to about the other. As much as he might like to preserve the status quo, he knew this had to happen sooner or later. Maybe she would settle for some basics for now, it was worth a shot. He couldn't look at her while he told her though so he looked off to the side.

"I've been different ever since I can remember. I have always been smarter, faster and stronger than other kids. I eventually discovered my sight and hearing are much better than other peoples' too. Only my mother has seen me do things that might freak people out. I learned the hard way to be real careful and to blend in. School was hard for me; kids don't like it when other kids are different. Now, I just try to blend in to not freak people out. I don't totally hold back, I just try to seem normal."

His hopes went up when she squeezed his hand and murmured, "I know how it is to be different. It's not easy to be a female cop; a lot of the NYPD still see it as a man's job. I just ignore them and concentrate on being better than them."

He turned to look at their joined hands with a relieved smile. That faded when she asked, "So what can you do that I don't know about?"

He sighed, it was time. He just hoped they were still a couple when he was done. "Sometimes, that saying about 'seeing is believing' makes sense." He got up and went over to his desk and pulled out a board from behind it and a large knife from a drawer. It was evident that the knife had been stabbed into the board in the past. He put the board on the desk, sat down and when he spread his left hand on the board he could see her face looking concerned. Before she could say anything he was stabbing the knife down towards his hand.