Gage and Trivette were stopped at a red light when they felt the car shake.

"Did you feel that?" Trivette asked.

"Yeah, that was weird. Earthquake, maybe?" Gage replied.

A few moments later, a call came over the radio: All units respond, multiple explosions reported, West Elm area, Dallas Fire en route. Any units available for traffic control please assist.

"Gage, doesn't Syd live on West Elm?"

Gage made a quick left, hit the lights and siren, and gunned the engine. "Let's find out what's going on over there," he said, confident that whatever was going on surely didn't involve his fiancée.

Trivette keyed the radio mic. "Rangers Trivette and Gage responding, we are about 5 minutes away, we're going to check things out."

When Gage and Trivette arrived on the scene, what parts of the street hadn't been cordoned off were blocked by fire trucks and police cars. Thick, black smoke filled the air. Gage and Trivette jumped out of the car and ran toward the smoke. A fireman stopped them, "Sorry, men, you can't go down there."

Gage pointed to the badge pinned to his shirt. "Texas Rangers."

The fireman huffed disgustedly. "Alright, but stay out of the way. We have a mess here."

"What exactly happened?" Trivette asked.

"Not sure what caused it, but a house exploded. Just blew the hell up," the fireman answered. "The whole block is a mess."

Gage ran down the street toward Sydney's house, stopping to try to make out house numbers. Too many people were blocking his view of the neighboring houses, those that weren't damaged by the fire, so he started counting houses from the end of the block. No. Couldn't be. He counted again. Same result. He counted once more. Sydney's house – the cheery little bungalow with the uneven floors, the red and white kitchen, and the pink tile bathroom; the house where he had spent so many evenings with her curled up together on her couch watching movies; where they had first made love and then spent the rest of that bliss-fueled weekend in her bed; where he had proposed to her on her front porch at three in the morning; where they were going to start a life together after they were married on Saturday- that house was gone. Firemen were spraying water on the charred and smoldering remains. Only part of a brick pillar to the front porch and the brick chimney remained standing, though not by much. Everything else was gone. Gage closed his eyes and struggled to breathe, not from the smoke, but from the sheer effect of the disaster in front of him.

Trivette caught up to him. "Was that Syd's house?"

Gage could only nod in response.

"Oh, man. Where was she, Gage? Where was she going when you talked to her?"

"I think she was on her way home."

The remains of the car in front of what was Sydney's house were definitely too small to be her Jeep. Trivette ran down the street and rounded the corner, looking for Syd's yellow Wrangler. He started down the alley and went as far as he could before more firemen blocked his way. Even though he was a good distance away, he could see the burned frame of the Jeep turned on its side.

"Oh God, no," he whispered.

Trivette pulled out his cell phone and punched up Walker on his speed dial. At Ranger Headquarters, Walker answered at his desk.

"Walker, oh, God, Walker, it's bad."

"Trivette, what's wrong?"

"Sydney's house blew up. It's gone. Totally gone."

"Where's Syd?"

"We don't know, man. Her Jeep is here, but it looks like it blew up, too."

"Okay, I'm on my way. Where's Gage?"

"He's here with me."

"How is he?"

"I don't know, he seems to be keeping it together at the moment, however long that'll last."

"Okay. See if you can find Syd and find out what happened, and keep Gage calm. I'm on my way."

Trivette found Gage and told him he had found Sydney's Jeep in the alley.

"Maybe she's here, "Gage said, looking around hopefully. He started to ask onlookers if they'd seen anyone fitting her description. Nobody had. The more people he asked, and the more people who said they hadn't seen her, the more worried he got.

He walked up and down the street calling Sydney's name. As he came back down the street closer to her house again, something white in a neighbor's rosebush caught his eye. It was a piece of satin fabric, the edges charred. He turned it over in his hand and a ragged gasp escaped him. The fabric on the other side was covered in lace and tiny pearls and sequins. It had been part of Sydney's wedding gown.

By then, Walker had arrived and caught up with Gage and Trivette. As he spoke to them, assessing what they knew of the situation, one of the firemen walked up to them.

"Rangers? I'm Captain Lambert, fire inspector with the Dallas Third Ward Fire Department. I just wanted to let you know, we're handing this case over to the ATF and they'll have somebody here in the morning to continue the investigation."

"The ATF?" Walker questioned. "That's serious."

"Yes. We thought it was just an explosion caused by a gas leak, but we have reason to believe that there was also an accelerant involved."

"Captain, the woman that lived in the house, we think she was home at the time of the explosion," Walker spoke gently, "Has anyone found her?"

"I'm sorry, we didn't find anyone, and the fire," the captain stopped and took a deep breath before continuing. "The fire was so hot that nobody would have survived and finding any remains would probably be unlikely. I'm so sorry."

Reality and grief hit the tall, blond ranger like a tidal wave. Gage dropped to his knees, sobbing like a baby. "Oh, Syd! Syd! No!" he cried, clutching the charred piece of Sydney's wedding gown to his chest.

After several minutes, Walker helped the junior ranger back to his feet. "Come on, Gage. Come back to the ranch with me. You can stay with Alex and me as long as you need."

"No. I can't go. Let me stay here just a bit longer. I need to stay here just a little bit longer," Gage choked the words out.

"It's okay," Trivette told Walker, "I'll stay with him and take him back to our place. Erika and I will take care of him."

Gage and Trivette sat in silence on the curb across from what once was Sydney's house for what felt like an eternity. Finally, Trivette stood up. "Come on, Gage, let's go. Erika's waiting for us. You should probably call Julie, too."

Gage sighed heavily. He and Syd were supposed to meet Julie at seven. He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and punched up her number, but when she answered and he started to talk, he broke down again.

"Here," Trivette said, taking the phone, "I'll talk to her." He told Julie what had happened, and Gage could hear her screaming through the phone. Julie loved Syd and was so thrilled that she was marrying her brother. She was going to take this hard, too. Trivette gave her directions to his house and said they'd be there in about twenty minutes.

Trivette helped Gage to his feet and back to the car. Trivette navigated through the side streets of Dallas neighborhoods thinking how strange and wrong it was that people were going on, living their lives, cooking dinner, playing with their children, arguing with their husbands or wives; yet their lives had completely changed with the loss of one very special woman and the love of his friend's life. The feeling gnawed at him and he hated it. He especially hated it for his friend, who was hurting beyond anything Trivette could comprehend.

Gage was silent for the ride home. It was only when they pulled into the driveway of the house Trivette shared with his wife that he spoke. "She's gone, Jimmy. She was my whole world and she's gone."