Disclaimer & Spoilers: See Chapter 1

Rating: T, for language.

A/N: Firstly, my apologies for taking so long to get this final chapter written! I'm using Christmas and other RL things as an excuse but I'm so pleased to finally be ready to post it – I really hope you enjoy this final installment; you have all kept me going with this fic with all of your positive energy and comments, I am indebted to each of you for your support. None more so than to shadowsamurai83 for the invaluable help with the beta – this chapter is for you, hun. Thanks for everything x

Boyd closed the door gently as they stepped into his office, his eyes never leaving Grace as she took a seat on his couch, her hands balled tightly in her lap, her back rigid with tension. He took a deep breath, his concentration focussed on the air flowing through his body before moving to sit beside her, careful to maintain an appropriate distance between them, unsure of the boundaries.

"How are you?" he asked softly, breaking the silence after several moments had passed, regretting it instantly as the banal question tumbled from his mouth. He squeezed his eyes closed briefly, feeling a headache beginning to form in a knot behind them, and he sighed heavily. "Shit, I'm sorry, Grace. What a stupid question."

A ghost of a smile passed across her gaunt features and she swallowed before replying. "It's alright."

"No, it's not."

She sighed, turning slightly to face him. "You don't have to walk on eggshells around me, you know. I'm...I'm okay, I'm getting lots of support."

Just not from me....not that you'd want it....Jesus Christ, how could I have let this happen? "Well...that's good."

Grace took a deep breath, searching the anguished pools of his eyes before speaking again. "You know why I'm here."

He nodded slowly, dread filling his chest and pulling at his stomach. "You're going to tender your resignation."

She blinked, sighing as she broke her gaze away from him. "I haven't reached a firm decision yet…."

"But it's a strong possibility."

She sighed again, the air tumbling from her body in a heavy rush. "I don't know, Boyd. It's just something I'm considering, alright? I thought you should know."

He raised his palms. "Christ knows I don't want you to go, Grace, but I'd…I'd completely understand."

"I just don't know if I can be in this environment any more…." Her voice was soft, barely a whisper.

"You don't have to explain. Especially not to me."

She half turned to face him. "Boyd…."

"Just let me know when you've decided. Take as much time as you need."

They lapsed into another silence then, Boyd turning over the thoughts in his mind, weighing them individually against his skull as he tried to decide how to phrase them. God, I hope I'm doing the right thing.... Momentarily he closed his eyes, running a hand across his forehead as the words began to form on his lips. "Grace...I don't know if I should tell you...."

"Tell me what?" Her eyebrows were knitted together in a frown, her features pinched into a question as dread flickered subtly in her eyes.

He looked at her, wrestling with his decision as he absorbed the fragility in her posture, the dull sheen across her ordinarily vivid blue eyes. He took a deep breath and savoured the slight calming sensation before saying, "Robert Britten...hanged himself in his cell this morning."

Grace felt her mouth fall open, her stomach twisting as she absorbed his words[,] and she swallowed hard, desperately trying to regain a semblance of composure despite the sudden pounding of her heart. "I see."

Boyd frowned, trying to gauge her reaction. "I was livid when the prison called to tell me."

She attempted a smile, though it reached nowhere near her eyes. "You think he got off lightly?"

"Compared to you?" He exhaled noisily. "Yeah, I'd say he got off lightly, Grace. Too fucking lightly."

"He...wrote to me, Boyd. Several times, long letters."

Boyd felt his stomach fall through his body to the floor. "Jesus Christ. Did you read them?"

"Eventually."

"And?"

She sighed softly before continuing. "He was beside himself with guilt, with remorse. He confessed everything, all the women that had gone before, the extent of his own involvement...."

"Do you believe it?"

"I want to believe it. As part of the healing process, I think it's important." She paused briefly, passing her eyes across his face. "Would they be admissible?"

Boyd blew out his breath. "Do they mention the brother?"

"Only briefly. I think Robert was more concerned with absolving himself of his guilt than blaming his brother."

"Then they might not be worth anything in terms of the trial."

"I take it David hasn't changed his plea?"

The DSI shook his head. "I don't know how he expects to get away with it. A jury would find him guilty in about five seconds."

"I don't know about that. Remember that he wasn't the one physically responsible...."

"Grace, my testimony alone should be enough. I saw everything he did."

Their eyes locked for an intense moment and Grace felt her pulse quicken. "And my testimony?" she asked quietly, her voice straining slightly against the tendons of her throat.

"It might not have to come to that. I don't want you facing him in court if you're not...."

"Boyd," she cut him off abruptly. "We both know my evidence is the most compelling."

"I just...."

"I know you're trying to protect me," she said firmly, "But I'll be fine. I want to do everything I can to make sure he goes to prison for the rest of his life."

He sighed, closing his eyes fleetingly. "Grace, the cross examination.... They'll try to say your evidence isn't reliable, that you were too traumatised to remember things correctly."

"I know." She smiled slightly, determination flickering across the depths of her eyes. "I can handle arsey barristers, Boyd. I've been doing it for thirty years."

"I've got no doubts about that. But...seeing David Britten again, having him stare at you whilst you're in the box...." Instinctively he leant towards her, reaching out a hand to caress her arm. "Grace, even for the most experienced witness, that's...."

"A psychological minefield. I know."

"Are you prepared for that?"

She sighed softly and turned towards him, undeniably comforted by the gentle movements of his fingers through the layers of her clothes. "I need to do it, Boyd, alright? Something to do with being able to move on."

He squeezed her arm before withdrawing his hand. "As long as you're sure."

"As I can be."

A smile flickered briefly across his rugged features before they lapsed into silence once more, the quiet conversation from the bullpen trickling into the office in a barely audible flow. Momentarily, Grace made to stand, her palms pressed firmly against her thighs.

"Well...," she said quietly. "I should let you get on...."

"Yeah." He frowned as he watched her rise, frustrated by his inability to voice the questions he was so desperately seeking the answers to, the emotions that were surging uncontrollably in his chest, and he sighed as he stood, walking with her towards the door.

Grace suppressed a gasp as she turned towards him and registered his proximity, her fingers reaching for the door handle as he touched his palm lightly against her shoulder, and she felt her body shiver.

"Grace...." His voice was rough in his throat, her name a husky whisper as he felt his heart constrict.

Grace closed her eyes against the anguish in his tone, her features contracting into a pained frown, and she took a deep, shuddering breath. "What?"

"I...I need to know something...."

Oh, God...."Boyd...."

"The night before it all happened...."

She let out a strangled sob and tried to turn away, desperate to put some distance between them, to escape the memory to which he was referring, agony twisting her heart and causing her chest to throb. "I don't want to talk about it, Boyd. I can't."

He sighed heavily, tightening his grip on her shoulder and placing his other hand in the curve of her waist, turning her gently back towards him, unnerved by her lack of eye contact, her gaze fixed firmly on the floor. "Grace, whatever it is, whatever I did.... It distracted me so much that I...." He broke off, swallowing the tight ball of emotion pressing relentlessly against his larynx. "...That I failed to spot the danger you were in until it was too late."

"It wasn't your fault...."

"So I need to know, Grace. I have to know what happened."

Grace twisted from his arms, propelling herself across the room, her tense body coiling tightly, her eyes closing firmly as she tried desperately to re-establish control of her mind, the rapid contractions of her heart. "Don't you think," she whispered hoarsely, turning her head to address him over her shoulder, "that I might have enough to deal with just at the moment without you...bringing that up as well?"

Boyd stepped slowly towards her, stopping mere inches from her back, resisting a powerful urge to run his fingers across her shoulders. "God knows I don't want to make things worse, Grace...."

"Then stop asking me."

He groaned in frustration. "Why won't you just tell me?"

"I don't...."

"Did we sleep together?"

Grace half turned to face him, her skin paling with shock as she absorbed his words. "Peter...."

"Well, did we?" He exhaled loudly at her lack of response. "Jesus Christ, Grace, we're adults! If we had sex it's hardly the end of the world, is it?"

Her cobalt eyes hardened suddenly, icy tendrils snaking across the expressive orbs. "The fact that you can't remember, Boyd, is half the bloody problem!"

He blinked, the naked pain flashing through her features dissolving his irritation instantly, and he took another small step towards her, dread consuming every pore of his body. "Oh, God, Grace....did I...did I force you...?"

She let out an anguished cry and shook her head emphatically, her breath leaving her body in strangled gasps. "No....No, of course not."

Relief flooded his senses and he ran a shaking hand across his eyes before looking back down at the petite woman before him, her eyes bright with unshed tears. "I can only remember parts....like I was dreaming but I was...."

"You said her name."

Her voice was so quiet, so soft, the words tumbling in a rush from her lips, that for a second Boyd was sure he had misheard her. "What?"

Grace dropped her gaze from the intensity of his eyes, her heart thumping excruciatingly hard in her chest, her stomach churning sickeningly. She felt her breath catch as his fingers traced the line of her jaw, tipping her chin up to face him, the pad of his thumb mere millimetres from her mouth.

"Grace?" he prompted gently, his voice barely above a whisper.

She swallowed hard, her mind screaming violently at her to say nothing further, to retreat into her protective shell, but she forced the sensation away, the sincere concern in his dark eyes outweighing the remainder of her doubts. "When we were...in bed....you said her name."

His eyes fell closed as the breath left his body, memories flooding his senses, recollections of the sensual velvet of her skin, the intoxicating taste of her lips, the glorious sensation of her arousal against his fingers. Oh, Jesus, I remember....

"God....Grace....I was dreaming...."

"I know. Of Sarah."

"No." He let out a small laugh of relief, realisation hitting him squarely in the chest, his hands coming to rest lightly against her delicate shoulders, her attractive features drawn in a confused frown at his obvious levity. "Of you."

Her frown deepened with puzzlement, her cheeks flushing beneath his scrutiny. "But...you...."

"I was dreaming about you, Grace, about how much I wanted to...touch you...." His voice was gruff and he broke off, sighing. "Somehow...Sarah got caught up in it, I don't...."

Oh, my God.... Grace felt her heart leap in her chest at his words but she attempted a nonchalant shrug. "Naturally. Given that she's your...."

He squeezed her shoulders firmly, shaking his head. "She's not my anything, Grace. Not anymore."

Her eyes flew to his, desperately searching for sincerity. "What?"

"She hasn't been for months."

Grace was silent for a few moments then, her mind struggling to accept the information he was bombarding her with, her blood pulsing rapidly through her veins, the breath escaping her lungs in short bursts. "Boyd...."

"I don't know why I didn't tell you."

She took a deep breath, laying a hand against his chest. "Boyd...."

"I just.... After that night, Grace, nothing seemed to matter....I knew I'd done something to hurt you and I knew it was the reason for my distraction but I couldn't remember what the hell it was."

"And now that you do remember?"

He searched the depths of her eyes, the doubts pervading her expression and he had to will away a sudden, intense urge to kiss her. "Grace, I...I don't want to pressure you."

She sighed shakily, conflicting elements battling for supremacy in her soul. "I don't know if I can do this, Boyd."

He slid his hands gently across the slim lines of her shoulders, across the tender skin of her neck before cupping her face lightly in his palms, his thumbs stroking the softness of her cheeks. He felt his breath catch in his throat as he watched a myriad of emotions ripple across her face, her eyes closing as her tears spilled over onto his hands.

"We can take it at whatever pace you're comfortable with," he said softly, the deep baritone pervading the air between them in a gentle rumble.

"I'm not sure I can give you what you need," she whispered hoarsely, her chest heaving as she struggled to control the torrent of feeling swirling uncontrollably through her body.

"Grace," he murmured, moving towards her and leaning his forehead delicately against hers, unable to prevent tears from welling in his own eyes and tracking the length of his cheeks, "you've always been what I need."

A loud sob escaped her lips at his words, her chest filling with an overwhelming sensation of relief, of joy, interwoven with the perpetually present ache, the sorrow that lapped at her heart. An instant later, she felt his mouth brush tenderly against hers, the taste of their combined tears filling her senses, her body beginning to shake violently, uncontrollably, as his tongue caressed her own, passing gently across her lower lip as he moved to deepen the kiss, a low groan reverberating through his chest.

Gasping, she pulled sharply away, mortification cascading through every fibre of her being, and she squeezed her eyes closed, an apology forming automatically on her lips. "I'm sorry, Peter...."

"Don't you dare," he said softly yet forcefully, his dark eyes burning with intensity as he brought his fingers to her mouth to silence her. "You've got absolutely nothing to apologise for, alright? Absolutely nothing."

"I see their faces....I can still feel their hands on me...."

"Grace...."

"A physical relationship, Boyd....I just don't think I'm ready."

He leant forward to pull her into his embrace, his arms encircling her, his hands tracing soothing circles across her back, his head resting atop hers. "It doesn't matter, Grace...."

"I can't give you a timescale either."

He laughed softly, pulling her closer, feeling her relax fractionally in his arms as she lay her cheek against his chest. "We'll just go at whatever speed suits you, then."

She raised her head to look at him, doubt infusing the intoxicating depths of her eyes. "Are you sure, Peter? Are you absolutely sure about this?"

He kissed her forehead gently before squeezing her back into his arms. "Of nothing else in my life, Grace, but of this…without question."

He felt her smile against him, the tension draining rapidly from her body as he held her in the silence, feeling a cloud of calm, of peace descend in a tranquil wave and settle about their shoulders, a sensation of utter completion, of total fulfilment fluttering warmly through his soul. However challenging the future, he knew in the very depth of his being, the very core of his humanity, that they would ride and conquer the tempest together.

FIN