Chapter 7: Judas Kiss (3.13) 1/23/94

Chris found Rita at the end of the dock, enshrouded in darkness, her silhouette facing the water. It had been a grueling few hours. Brent was a dirty cop, something they figured out almost too late. Not only did they have to deal with that betrayal, but Brent almost murdered Rita tonight. And no matter how full of rage he was at Brent over that fact, the vision of his suicide would haunt his dreams for weeks to come. He couldn't begin to imagine how Rita felt. Brent's romantic intentions were all a ploy; all a part of his plan to get inside info and use it against them. The entire thing made him sick. Brent was a friend; they had some good Vice days together. It was both sad and infuriating to see how far he had fallen.

Right now, Rita was his only concern. He noticed her slink away as he was finishing up some preliminaries with Forensics and the DEA. She had already given her statements and walked away as the coroner came to take Brent's body to the morgue. He carefully made his way over to her, unsure of the Rita he was going to find. She was stoically gazing at the waves and seemed unaware of his presence until she spoke as if he'd been standing there the entire time.

"I love you. You know that, right?" She turned to face him, and he could now see the tears streaming down her face. Her eyes blazed with a look he had never seen before; a look he didn't like at all. It was sadness mixed with pain. A blend of grief and fury.

His heart broke at the sight of her. As much as it warmed his soul when Rita spoke these words of friendship aloud, he knew tonight they were coming from a place of broken vulnerability. "Of course I do. I love you too. Come here." He pulled her into a gentle embrace, and she sobbed quietly into his chest. He felt his tears brim to the surface and blinked them away, determined to be strong for his partner. "I'm so sorry, Sammy."

Rita sniffed and pulled away to look up at him. "Me too." She reached her hand up to wipe a stray tear falling down his cheek. "I should have never agreed to come with him tonight. I feel so stupid- I walked right into his trap."

"You didn't know, Sam. I didn't either until Cap got ahold of the locked files we were looking for and the DEA matched the ballistics. We knew Brent was holding out on us, but I never thought he was a dirty cop."

She nodded her head in silent recognition. "Another close call, and this time from someone we called a friend. My trust in this job is diminishing by the second."

"I know."

"But," Rita paused, taking his hands in hers, "my trust in you is forever, Sam. And that's all that matters."

Chris gave Rita a small smile and kissed her forehead, his emotions once again bubbling to the surface. It was just two months ago that he thought this beautiful soul was dead and gone from his life. He thought he was fine, but moments like this brought it all back again. My God, what would he do without her? He tucked a stray hair behind her ear. "C'mon, Cap gave us the okay to get out of here. We can finish up the reports in the morning."

"Your place, or mine?"

He loved it when she read his mind. He wasn't ready to let go of her for the night, either. "I have a bottle of wine chilling in the fridge with your name on it."

"Sounds good, partner."