Wisconsin [think rapids sweetened with cranberries]

They lose the case as the jury finds the defendant guilty once again and three months of incredibly hard work go to waste. She can feel him collapse inwardly next to her on the wooden bench of the courtroom, but he doesn't look at her.

The good thing is that the lawsuit put them back on D.C.'s investigative landscape and they are offered more cases than ever before, also thanks to a lot of media coverage and Cal's witty interviews, that often made her smile from behind the cameras. Still, in the end they would have rather wanted to win.

He holds her hand for a moment while they leave the hustle and bustle of the courtroom a bit later.

Montana [think Triple Divide Peak]

The outcome of the jury decision was not in his hands. Beyond his reach, so to speak. All he could do was put his best work to it and he truly believes that he did. They both did.

Now it is time to accept the defeat. He calls Emily and tells her about it, and the warm, accentuated way in which she puts things into perspective, makes him feel better immediately.

When he's sitting in the barely-lit kitchen a little while later, he thinks about how other things in life are not beyond his reach. How he can shape them with his own hands, words and behavior. How the water could still flow in different directions and end up in entirely different parts of the world, but at least he could make a good guess based on experiences.

Why not put his best work to them, too?

New Mexico [think Truth or Consequences]

She feels like the end of the strenuous case can also be the beginning of something new. A new-found honesty about what she feels and needs, and making it more clear to the people around her. She has committed to that much in therapy and now it's time to put it into practice.

They're talking about which cases to take—being in the luxurious position of being able to choose—and she just blurts it out without thinking too much for once.

"I was thinking about leaving the company in those weeks after Claire's death."

He nods. "Yeah, I was guessing something like that was going on."

"Basing everything on lies, truths, and those complicated worlds in-between; it gets to me, you know. We've seen a lot of bad things and learned a lot about the ugly sides of humankind."

He thinks about it for a while, not saying anything and looking out towards the skyline of Washington instead. Then he gets up and walks over to her on the other side of the desk, taking the second chair next to her and slouching in it in his typical way.

"I like to think we also helped a lot of people. But yeah, I get what you're saying."

Minnesota [think clear blue water or clouded blue water depending on pronunciation]

Now that she's told him one of her truths, he can feel that she wants him to do the same. She's not pushing it blatantly, but in a way she is, and it's never a good idea to corner him with just about anything. He realizes that much about himself.

They are standing in the doorway of her office and he can feel it again. His instinctive reaction is to figuratively push her away and re-establish an arm's length of distance between her and his feelings. At the same time, he is so close, the term personal space almost loses its meaning.

"Is there anything you want to tell me?" she asks.

He just shakes his head with a serious expression, trying to decide whether her eyes are a clear blue or clouded blue (or maybe not really blue at all). "No."

Then he puts a kiss right on her lips and leaves her with the faint sound of a sorry.

Rhode Island [think historic Crescent Park Carousel]

On the outside, he is no different. Contrary to her expectations, he does not evade her. He even asks her to help him with the assessment of a tricky video tape, and while they are working together in the confined space of his office, he does not once let on about the fact that something had happened.

She doesn't know what to make of it all.

They go round and round in the way they've known for years. The way that feels comfortable. Chasing each other.

Michigan [think center of the automotive industry]

She seems truly bewildered by his behavior, so he feels it's time to up his game in the most honest way. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Gotta live with both results.

He is standing in front of the door to her house, waiting for her to reply to his knock. When she opens the door, she looks alarmed. "Anything happened?"

"Nah," he makes clear and takes a step towards her. "I was thinking. When we went to Virginia, the weather was really dreadful and I wanted it to be nicer, you know."

She still looks at him as if he spoke in a foreign language she doesn't know a single word of. "You remember going to the coast, right?" he checks just to make sure.

"Yeah, I remember that. I'm just trying to figure out where you're going with that."

"Well, I was thinking, we should go on a road trip. Find a nicer place." He leaves it at that, because every word would just make it more complicated without adding to what he really wants to say (that finding a nicer place really is just a metaphor for them). There is a reason she is the language expert.

He waits for her to say something and tries to establish anything on her face. When he fails, he tries to minimize the desperation on his own face instead. It's a long while before she speaks.

"Are you serious? What about the Group? The new cases?" Three questions instead of a yes or no. Interesting.

"I'm trying to let go a bit. In fact, I think it was you who told me to."

She keeps looking at him, but she also seems no closer to any answer. Before confidence deserts him completely, he takes the step back again, giving her space and time.

"Well, think of some place you want to go to, love."

Kentucky [think shooting range and hitting the target]

A few days later, she still doesn't know whether he is serious. Well, not until he rolls a pin board with a big map of the United States right into her office—the one she recognizes from Loker's lab.

He puts a dart into her hand and looks at her expectantly. "You still haven't told me, where you wanna go, love. Thought I should speed things up a little and make your choice easier."

He steps behind her, grabs her shoulders and positions her so that she stands in front of the map, but still a few feet away. Then he covers her eyes with her hands. "You just shoot."

Her world is dark, but he has her back. She laughs, trying to shake her head, and aims towards the uncertain, letting the dart go from the grasp of her fingers a few seconds later.

He takes his hands away and they both look at the result.

"I don't even know which state that is," he says.

Iowa [think Interstate 80 rolling through farmland of rich green, yellow and orange]

The picnic table where they're enjoying their packaged supermarket dinner in the warm, fading light of the sunset is nicely tucked away from the interstate, so it's quiet and feels almost remote. A family of five is sitting a few tables away with an array of dinner plates that they are starting to envy.

It's been already more than a thousand miles until here. Sixteen hours on the road, two nights spent between here and D.C., and four detours to visit sights along the way. One of which they never found. (He still blames it on her map reading skills. She says, it's his inability to listen, though.)

He has felt more open than ever with her, as soon as they left the borders of Washington. As if a weight he didn't know he carried, got somehow lifted from his shoulders. More open, but also more vulnerable.

The sunlight is painting her face with a magical glow. He can't help but stare and for once she doesn't seem to mind.

"I have a hard time dealing with all that and I don't know why. She was a wonderful girl. And you're my best friend. My best everything." Just a couple of loosely connected sentences that fall out of his mouth with too much over-analyzing.

She nods and smiles warmly against the golden light. "I like it when you're being honest." Just that.

"I'm afraid of being an open book to someone. Which is idiotic in your case, 'cause you already know more about me than anyone else."

She comes over, so they sit at the same side of the picnic table, and kisses him without saying sorry.

The dam, the water, the emotions. It is all beautiful instead of something to fear.

Nebraska [think Highway Patrolman and Reason to Believe]

As soon as they cross the border into Nebraska and a sign along the interstate announces it, he puts on Bruce Springsteen.

"You've been waiting for this all along, didn't you?"

"Yep," he confirms and grins.

She puts up her feet on the dashboard, enjoying the sun warming her face.

Idaho [think Gem State, because nearly every known type of gemstone has been found there]

They drive into the town with the name of Mackay and get out of the car on the wide main street. On their way here, Wikipedia told them that the place had a population of 517 at the last census. And even that is hard to believe with the quietness around them.

The sparse buildings are flat and grey, some mountains looming in the background, but nothing too spectacular.

"That is—," he waits a bit, "somehow anticlimactic."

She laughs and puts her sunglasses on. "It is. What are we even doing here?"

He shrugs his shoulders and inspects a few old signs nailed to a decayed wooden pole, one of them pointing in the direction of a motel. "I don't know. You chose this place."

"With a dart. While you were covering my eyes," she clarifies.

"Well yeah, as I said: You chose it," he teases her again and walks over to her side of the car until their hands are almost touching.

She looks around once more, feeling a bit lost, but having to suppress a fit of uncontrollable laughter at the same time. "There's nothing here."

He smirks at her with the kind of charm that is simply irresistible. "Well, we are. Good enough, eh?"

Yeah, it probably is. Because eventually it comes down to two things. Them.

THE END

A/N: I really had no idea where this story would lead me. They took me on their journey as well. Thanks for reading and coming along! —Steph