A/N: They just shared the news - Poor Diesel (Rex) passed away. :'( He had cancer. His nephews will be taking his place on the show.

Chapter 38

Charlie and Rex walked into the house to find only Sarah on the couch and no sign of her parents. Both were a little confused, but also tired and Rex went over to Sarah and cuddled with her on the sofa, while Charlie went for the fridge and grabbed a beer.

"You, ok?" Sarah asked as she petted Rex. Charlie realized that he hadn't said a word to his better half upon walking in the door.

"It's been a hell of a day. A lot of those lately," he admitted plopping down next to Rex's rear-end.

"I can imagine. So, what happened?" Sarah wanted to know.

"Where are your folks?" Charlie wondered, changing the subject for only a moment or two.

"They went back to the hotel. I told them that you were coming home and that they should take a break. I can do quite a bit on my own and now that my boys are home, I have help," she told him. Charlie set his beer down on the coffee table and then leaned over Rex.

"I will never get tired of you saying, 'my boys'," he told her. Rex prevented them from getting closer, but the German Shepard had no intentions of moving. Sarah reached over and cupped his cheek.

"I'm glad that I can still say it," she said.

"You have no idea how happy I am that you can too, which makes what I'm about to ask, very hard," he admitted before pulling away.

"The charges against Danny, right?" Sarah asked. He nodded and swigged some of his beer from the bottle.

"The constables do not want him charged. They're not permanently off duty and once I explained the situation, they agreed that he'd been through enough. Sending him to prison isn't going to help him. Now, I can't guarantee that the Crown Attorney's office will agree, but if we can make the argument that he should be in the hospital, then maybe, just maybe, he can salvage his life," Charlie paused and turned toward his girlfriend before continuing, "No one would blame you for wanting him charged. You almost died. My first gut reaction was to take him out back of the precinct and kick his butt all over the island before doing something I would regret, but he was clearly set up. His buttons were pressed and he was not in his right mind when he pulled the trigger."

"You think so, even though he made a point of hitting Constable Gadhavi and Constable Stevens in the vest?" Sarah wanted to know.

"I spoke to Doctor Kley about that. He said that more than likely Danny viewed everyone there as a civilian or basically, non-military personnel. He was engaged in, what he viewed as a mission that wasn't supposed to get anyone hurt – provided they did not get in his way of his objective," he explained.

"So, he took out the two officers with shots that would get them out of his way but not kill them. He just wasn't anticipating a room full of forensics personnel," Sarah figured.

"Basically. Doctor Kley said that by the time the doctors saw Danny, he was in a full and complete breakdown. It's why it took so long to be able to talk to him. The medicine had to try and kick in, but they also had to sedate him. Danny is far from being "cured" – I'm not even sure that that's the right word for it. Doctor Kley says that the depth of his issues could take the rest of his life to address but that he's confident that Danny could eventually rejoin society," Charlie let her know. Sarah nodded but said nothing.

"You do not have to make any decisions any time soon. Until Danny is cleared by the doctors at the hospital to assist in his own defense, the Crown Attorneys can't do anything to him. Take your time, think about it. There is no pressure either way. I'm behind you no matter what you decide," Charlie took her hand in his and changed the subject,

"How have you been sleeping?"

"Joe said that I have to attend some sessions with the department psychiatrist before I can come back to work. Truth is… I keep having these dreams…" her words cause Rex to perk up and he licked her face.

"I love you too buddy. I wish kisses were enough," she said.

"Are the dreams waking you up?" Charlie was surprised as he did not remember her thrashing around in bed.

"The medication that the doctor gave me to help me sleep doesn't really let me, but it also seems to be distorting things. I can tell it's a dream because things don't match the scene. I want to get off the medication, but I'm worried that I might thrash around too much and mess up what the doctor has done. I have to be careful about physically moving around for a little while longer yet," she told him.

"Maybe we should see about getting different sleep aides and about getting you an appointment with a therapist who is not attached to the department," Charlie figured.

"I put in a call to the hospital, who reached out to my family doctor. They said that my new prescription would be ready by tomorrow. They also gave me an appointment with a therapist but that isn't until next week," Sarah admitted.

"Good. This whole thing should be wrapped up by then," he said.

"Oh?" Sarah gave him a look.

"Today we spent the day laying the case out to Richard. His lawyer suggested that he take a deal, but Richard was resistant. He somehow thinks he's getting out of this. The bad news came just before I headed home though," Charlie shook his head and swigged some more beer.

"Bad news?" His girlfriend asked.

"The lab was able to confirm the DNA of the skeleton – it's Debra Moffat. I passed the news onto the Crown Attorney's office. Tomorrow, we gather all the evidence and paperwork, and we hand it off to them. Lynn can't testify but I think we can prove that she was manipulated into doing tasks that Richard wanted her to do. William and Robert Blanchard are going to testify about what they know about the relationship and of course the whole mailing debacle. Danny is going to have to make an official statement, and the Crown Attorneys will have to see if they can use it. I don't see why not, as Danny is now medicated and getting help. We found the murder weapons and Debra's body at the Moffat cabin. It should all be enough. It has to be because there isn't anything left," Charlie heaved a sigh. Sarah reached to him and patted his shoulder.

"You've done all you can do. Now you have to leave it to the prosecutors," Sarah said.

"I told Joe that Rex and I are using some of my accrued vacation time once the paperwork is filed. Anna is going to be seconded here while the case against former Inspector Fischel plays out and maybe long enough to see if the prosecutors need her for this case," he told her.

"Planning a fun vacation, are you?" Sarah asked.

"Oh, the best vacation. Time with the woman I love and my partner," he gave her a smile.

"She's a very lucky lady," she smiled back.

"I'm the lucky one. She's the most amazing person and she somehow thinks that I'm worthy of her love," Charlie continued to smile.

"I don't know Rex, who could he be talking about?" Sarah teased and Rex gave a bark. That's when Charlie's stomach grumbled.

"I think dinner is in order," he said as he stood from his seat. He kissed Sarah and headed into the kitchen. Rex hopped off the sofa and followed him.

"I see how it is. The second food gets mentioned," Sarah teased.

"The way to Rex's heart is food. He can't help himself," Charlie chuckled.

To Be Continued…