A/N: Hang on because this chapter is a really sad one.

We get some answers about you-know-who...

Today was Sunday, her only day off and Tori didn't know what to do with herself.

It was difficult to get into something way to unwind with the case and what happened the other night.

The night she met the illustrious Dr. Jade West. Tori couldn't help but replay that interaction over and over again.

Her ears didn't fail her. Tori did hear what Jade muttered under her breath. But in situations like that where people try to not be heard but fail, Tori attempted diplomacy and give them an opportunity to say something less "stream-of-conscious," more civil.

Not that what Jade said louder and clearer was any better.

The Latina covered her eyes.

"She's right!" Tori sighed. "I am useless!"

Tori cursed herself for not catching up to the perp.

(Even if you did, genius...what would you had done? That's a moving car, and you're on foot!)

She shook her head. What would she had done? Jumped on the hood of the car? Hold on so he didn't throw her off? Maybe obscure his vision so he stopped or crashed?

It wasn't like Tori hadn't pursued a suspect through chase before, but she severely overestimated her abilities there. Granted, she kept up with it better than most because of her rigorous exercise...but what good did it do?

Frustrated with losing that driver yesterday, agonizing over this license number, and that terrible first meeting with Jade; Tori didn't want to sit at the motel. She decided to go out and clear her head.

Tori did like the layout of the small town. Back in L.A. you would have to go somewhere special like a park to go for a walk or a hike. Here, she could see herself getting her steps in just going from the motel to the police station. That would take about an hour at a leisurely pace.

It was really beautiful out here. Tori could only imagine this place in the summer, swarming with tourists. You had some out-of-towners but as the months grew colder, the majority here were locals. She wouldn't mind picking Luther's brain for more Langley history. That man was a walking library, ironically operating out a building down the street from the actual library.

Through her travels, Tori was beginning to commit the town to memory. She had been relying on GPS in the beginning but given time might be able to follow her nose without any help. It wasn't nearly as complicated back home. However, pursuing the runaway car single-mindedly led her not only in the dirt, but a bit lost. Had Beck not found her, she would be delayed finding her way back to the precinct.

The Latina stopped in front of the big brick building and sighed.

(Am I really one of those people who are so sad they can only hang out at work on their day off?)

(Honestly, Vega - you'd think you recited wedding vows to this job!)

She craned her neck and saw past the station and marched over to the public library. Tori traversed her way up the access ramp as it was closest to her and went inside.

The brunette looked around, relishing the only domain quieter than the street she was on.

Tori loved the library as a kid, always begging her parents to take her as it was way too far to walk or ride a bike.

She read the usual storybooks and as she got a little bit older started to absorb chapter books. It was a back and forth with her teachers, not that she wasn't applying herself, but she didn't find what the curriculum told her to read very compelling.

Once she reached the double digits, Tori found herself drawn to the non-fiction section. The eager beaver dove into books about ancient Egypt, the planets, what defined an amphibian from other reptiles, and more! It was a rainy Sunday when she was eleven and her father caught her reading a kid's almanac, which was densely packed with all sorts of facts and figures that she couldn't help but absorb. Her dad shook her head at what his kid found fascinating.

A cool thing about her library was that they had a whole shelf filled with jigsaw puzzles that you could borrow and there were no due dates. Just return them when you're finished. For every six puzzles, one would be missing a piece or two and that sucked. Her parents offered to buy her puzzles new at the store, but the little nugget refused. She wasn't the kind of puzzler who would frame their finished work for all to see. Once she was done and took a couple pictures, it was back in the box it went!

She just didn't see the sense of owning something she was only going to build once, maybe twice.

But Tori loved doing puzzles. She got that from her mother. The pair would spend the better part of an afternoon on a 1,000 piece one.

Trina would jump in on the really hard ones, mostly toward the end, so she could say "Hey, we did it!" Tori and her mom would just eye one another. Holly was so proud of Tori when she did a 550 piece puzzle of the African savanna without any help. Tori was proud of herself, too.

Sadly, this library didn't have any puzzles to check out.

Tori crossed her arms, as she walked through the desks for peaceful study and reading.

(Maybe when all is said and done, and this case is behind me, I might just find a puzzle to do. It's been a long time.)

She looked up at the ceiling.

(What do you think, mom? Will you help me with this one?)

Tori left the library when someone came up behind her.

"Excuse me?"

The younger male voice caught her by surprise and she turned around.

"Yes?"

He had to be in his twenties. Clean shaved with thick dark hair wrapped in a red hoodie that hung off of him.

"You're a cop, right?"

A dark brow raised.

"How did you know that?" Tori asked.

The boy pointed down to her hip which brandished the shiny shield.

(Son of a bitch! Did I really put on my badge without thinking!?)

(Christ, I am married to the job!)

"Okay...um..." she started, holding out her hand.

"Adam," the boy nodded.

"Adam...do you need help?"

He looked behind him.

"I was looking for the coroner's office. I just went to the police station for directions but...I'm a little turned around."

Tori recalled Andre mentioning that the forensics lab occupied the same building as the morgue.

"Come on," the tan woman gestured. "I'll show you the way."

Tori entered the morgue with Adam in tow, following the signs down the corridor where they were met with Jade halfway to the exam room.

"Look, Vega...I understand you're the constable..."

Tori was sure she was purposefully pronouncing the first part of the word as "cunt"

"...but you can't just waltz in here with..." she eyed the boy. "The fuck is this?"

"This is Adam Marcus," Tori explained. "He came in to identify your Jane Doe?"

Jade's eyes widened and she grabbed the hapless youth by the shoulder and led him away from the detective.

"Please go inside..." the blonde said, ushering him through the door. "I'll be right there."

The medical examiner stuck her foot in the door and looked back impatiently at Tori.

"I'll take it from here, Vega. You can go now!"

"Wait, hold on!" Tori insisted.

"What?" Jade gnashed her teeth.

The Latina cleared her throat.

"I think we got off on the wrong foot," she sighed. "Why don't we start fresh?"

Tori extended her hand with a professional grin.

Jade just looked down at the hand and took a step back.

"I don't think so," the blonde told her.

She noticed the white gloves Jade was wearing and nodded.

"Oh, I get it! It wouldn't be sanitary."

"Sure, why not?" Jade shrugged before turning to leave.

Before Tori could protest, the door had already shut.

She stood there stunned.

(Is this lady for real? I've seen some REAL pieces of work, but never have I met someone so rude, and I didn't do ANYTHING to her!)

The detective stormed off. The combination of all that walking and being blown off like that made Tori very aware how hungry she was. She needed something greasy covered in cheese pronto!

"I came in..." Adam began, looking around at the sterile room lit with harsh fluorescent. "For...Donna Blakely?"

Jade wandered over to the cold drawer they had her in and touched the door with her hand. She hesitated before opening it. When he unfurled his hood, it was without question: that was the boy in the picture.

"Why don't you tell me how you know her?"

He swallowed and turned around, noticing a little plastic white chair and sat down. Jade heard the chair scoot and turned, leaning against the wall of drawers. It was as if she was protecting Donna from this guy before he laid his intentions bare. She took off her nitrile gloves and discarded them before the story could unfold.

"We met in college...the University of Chicago. I was going in for computer science and Donna..." he coughed. "Donna wanted to be a teacher."

"So, what happened?" Jade asked. "How did you both end up 2,000 miles away from there?"

Adam rubbed the back of his neck, sighing with a heaviness that Jade couldn't ignore.

"I know she's gone...but I still feel like I'm talking out of turn...because it's her business, not mine but..."

Jade leaned in, withholding the instinct to be aggressive.

"Donna came out to me while we were eating dinner one time. She never told anyone else...guess she felt safe telling me?"

It was like an ice pick through her heart. Donna was gay, or maybe bisexual, or something else. Either way, she realized something about herself, and Jade knew from experience how huge that was. And how scary.

"Anyway, she was worried about telling her parents, but I told her that she needs to get this off her chest. It sucks keeping a secret and that's a big one!"

Marcus started to sob, hugging himself. Jade had dealt with bereaved friends and relatives before. It still was hard to watch no matter how many times it happened. Their loved one was on the slab, and they weren't going to sit up and go home.

"I really fucked things up!" he admitted.

Jade blinked.

"Why do you say that?"

"Donna did come out to her family and her mother was furious. She kicked her out, saying they weren't going to have a freak of nature in this household."

The medical examiner licked her lips, her soul aching for how callous Donna was treated there. Little did she know it would get worse.

"A week later, Donna showed me a text from her mom that said she hoped she was able to pay for her education because she wasn't going to. She told her that...I'm sorry...she told her that she wasn't going to fumble around with some...dyke on...her dime."

Words like that hurt even after all these years. Jade normally would have socked someone in the breadbasket for such talk. But this boy appeared to be broken up by his friend's untimely death (apparently after having such a hard time back home) and that his eyes gave him away that saying that word was like having poison in his mouth.

"Sorry again," he looked up with doe eyes. "I... really hate that word."

"Yeah. Me, too."

Adam shook his head.

"It kills me that someone would look at their child as an abomination, you know?"

"So, then what happened?" Jade cautiously asked, steering the conversation.

He cleared his throat before going on.

"Donna had no choice but to drop out after the year was over. She couldn't come anywhere close to the tuition. She had a job on the side, but it barely covered meals and supplies. Bunch of us chipped in to get her some shirts and shoes because she couldn't afford new clothes."

Blue eyes stung with the saltiness of fresh tears. Jade wiped them away, trying to remain stoic.

"Shortly after this all happened, my uncle got sick and needed someone to look after him. I was struggling with tuition myself," he added, feeling slightly embarrassed. "My GPA slipped below a 4.0 and the state rescinded my financial aid because of it. So, I packed my stuff and moved to Everett. I'd get room and board for free, and I could finish getting my degree online."

"Do you...um...want some water?"

Marcus locked eyes with the stranger in surprise.

"Oh, yeah if you have any."

Jade nodded and retrieved a bottled water from the small cooler by her side. She handed it to him and resumed her position across from the youth.

"I told Donna..." he paused to unscrew the cap and take a drink. "I told her that the university would work with her, and she could go online too. She had about as many credits as I did so why not? But Donna was worried about where she would live because she lost her student housing. That's when I offered for her to live with us."

"Really?" Jade queried.

"I talked with my uncle. He's super chill about that stuff, you know? If either of us didn't want to finish school, he would expect us to find jobs."

"Seems reasonable," she smirked. "If you don't mind my asking, how is your uncle doing?"

Adam rubbed the bottle between his palms.

"Can't stop Parkinson's but...he's keeping his spirits up."

Between the poor girl in the morgue and this boy's generous uncle being afflicted with such a debilitating condition, Jade was reminded just how unfair life can be.

"She got her things and bought the first of several Greyhound buses to take her here. Between the fare and buying a prepaid phone at the gas station..."

Jade's brow creased.

(Donna must have been on her family's plan. Bastards turned her phone off.)

"...she didn't have much money left, so..." Adam sipped some more water. "So, we waited, and we waited. Last time I heard from Donna, she called as she was just leaving Oregon. Then, nothing. After two days, I feared the worst and started looking in town for her. I thought maybe she couldn't find the house," he shrugged. "The roads can be a little confusing, we get that with Amazon all the time."

"Did you try filing a missing person's report?"

He sighed, looking away from Jade.

"Believe me, I tried!" Adam nearly shouted. "But they said only relatives or caregivers can do that."

The tears started again.

"I didn't know her mom's number. Not that she would've cared but...I kept watching the news to see if maybe someone found her or...then there were those murders and the disappearing girls."

Jade bit her lip. That had to be a horrendous time for your best friend to go missing. To think that this guy was keeping his eyes peeled for months in the hopes that something would surface, and he knew what became of Donna.

He took out his phone and handed it to Jade. Looking at the screen, Jade saw a picture of her and him laughing. She couldn't recall if she had seen this image on his Facebook or not.

"This is her, ma'am..." he shakily told her. "Donna was a really nice person! Can I see her, please?"

The blonde closed her eyes and sighed.

"Okay, give me a second."

Jade's hand wrapped around the black handle, and she pulled out the long flat drawer where the human form laid covered in plastic. Adam approached with caution while Jade put a fresh pair of gloves on. Even when it was just the covering, she maintained the practice of having gloves when handling a body in any capacity.

"Donna..."

"Are you ready?" she asked, her own voice breaking.

"Not really," he huffed, looking down.

She touched his arm.

"It's alright," Jade nodded. "Nobody ever is. You're doing a good thing by coming down here."

"That's what the officer said."

Jade quietly removed the plastic to show the face of Donna Blakely.

Adam's face tightened and his eyes looked like the retreated into his head. Seeing a loved one dead would upset anyone. At least a funeral made them up to look nice. Here, she was only slightly less problematic than when they found her.

He noticed the discoloration.

"What happened to her?" he pressed.

"These aren't bruises," Jade explained. "This was the blood rushing to her...she was found face down. I'm sorry."

"Just...tell me she didn't suffer," Adam pleaded.

She swallowed, unsure how to be truthful without sacrificing propriety.

"All I can say is she died of exposure...they believe she must have gotten lost in the woods...if it's any consolation, it is one of the more peaceful..."

Marcus was now full-on sobbing. He wasn't just distressed in a general way being in close proximity to a corpse. This was Donna. Jade could see it in his face. He hid his face in his hands, muffling something.

"What?" Jade asked, not getting it.

"It's my fault," he sniffed. "This whole thing..."

Jade shook her head, seeing where he was going with this.

"No, don't say that! You don't want to go down that road."

"BUT IT IS MY FAULT!" he admitted, louder this time. "I started this by telling her she should be out. I'm such an idiot!"

"Listen to me, Adam..." she said sternly. "Her mother created this problem; you were just trying to be there for her..."

"Why did I have her make the trip herself?" Marcus cut her off. "I should have came and got her, or met her somewhere, SOMETHING!"

His words became increasingly incomprehensible and honestly appeared like he was going to collapse. The medical examiner covered up the face in time for her to receive a grief-stricken Adam, who hugged her. He continued to wail, apologizing to Donna over and over again. Jade stayed there for him to lean on.

Adam needed to get this out. He needed to forgive himself and that journey begins with this moment.

A/N: It's unfortunately a more common story that people would want to believe. Donna being cast out by her family and being forced to make tough decisions...nobody should have to endure that. Every Donna out there deserves an Adam, somebody who loves them as their true self.