Crossing the line

Pairing: Boyd/Grace

Rating: T - for swearing

Summary: Set directly after the season eight episode, Endgame.

Author's notes: Special thanks to shadowsamurai83 for the beta

Disclaimer: Waking the Dead belongs to the BBC. I've taken them out for a bit and promise to put them back when I'm done.

"Whatever you do, don't drop her!" Spence yelled, pleading for Boyd not to let Linda fall, as he yanked Boyd's arm back. Boyd's back was in the way so he couldn't really see what was happening, but he wasn't sure that his old boss was really trying. Boyd was strong and with his help, they could drag Linda to safety.

"I'm never going to stop. Never!" Linda said calmly, looking up at Boyd as he strained with all his might to hold on, pleased that she was hurting him as she deliberately twisted in the air making it hard as for him as possible.

"Don't drop her!" Spence felt Boyd's body shift further over the edge of the rail, and so he tightened his grip on Boyd's left arm and his jacket attempting to stop him going over. It took all Jordan's strength to keep Boyd from going over the edge too.

"Go on!" Linda urged. "Be a killer!"

Boyd felt something rip in his right shoulder and then immediately excruciating white hot pain tore through his shoulder. "Arghhhh!!" He squeezed his eyes shut, but couldn't stop himself screaming in agony.

Feeling Boyd's vice like grip suddenly weaken, Linda made no attempt to help as his fingers clutched at hers in one final desperate effort before they finally slipped passed each other for good. "Checkmate." Linda smiled up at Boyd, knowing she'd won, justly satisfied that she had him forever as gravity finally took full hold of her. "See you in hell, Peter."

Without Linda's weight and because of Spence pulling him backwards, Boyd tumbled back into the DI and they both ended up on the ground, in a tangled mess of arms and legs.

Groaning, Boyd rolled away from Spence and slowly got to his feet, unable to stop the tears of pain welling up in eyes from his injured shoulder. Sucking in a deep breath, he stumbled to the door, hurrying back to where they'd left Grace.

"Boyd!" Spence yelled after him, shocked at what just happened, but Boyd ignored him and didn't turn around. Linda's words urging Boyd to let her go and that he could still be a killer were fresh in his mind. Had Boyd really just dropped her? Linda had taken Grace from hospital and done God knows what to her, but that didn't justify Boyd not trying his best. They could've saved her. Christ! What the hell was he going to say to the PSU? He wouldn't lie to protect Boyd, he just couldn't. It would probably mean the end of Boyd's career as the vultures had been circling, just looking for a final excuse, for a long time. Grace had said to him that Boyd needed him, but now all he needed now is a fucking good lawyer.

Leaning over the edge of the rail, Spence looked down at the broken body of Linda Cummings, blood oozed from her mangled body as he took out his phone and called CCHQ. "It's Spence, Eve."

"What's happened?" Full of worry, Eve was still on the edge of her seat, waiting for news.

"Grace is fine, I think, but call an ambulance anyway. Linda's dead. You and Kat get down here as quick as you can. Jackie better stay there."

"Right. See you soon." Eve knew not ask anymore from the DI's monotone replies. They'd soon find out, she thought.

After calling the local SCU and station, Spence walked down the stairs, making a mental checklist of everything that he had to do to secure the scene.

wtd wtd wtd

"Grace, are you all right?" Boyd knelt beside Grace. He tried to use his right arm, but had to stop immediately, biting hard on his tongue to stop himself yelling out, and so he fumbled with the knots that bound her arms and legs as best he could using only his left hand. His right arm throbbed painfully as it dangled useless by his side, but it was nothing to the pain that he'd caused Grace. He was responsible for her being here, having not discovered Linda's plan in time, and so he'd thought he'd been accountable for another death in his team, this time of Grace, because he'd been too weak to take part in the final piece of Linda's sick and evil game. He'd gladly offered to kill himself in place of Grace, but Linda had wanted him to kill Penny because the nurse had killed Luke, but he just couldn't do it and he'd slid down the wall defeated and broken, thinking that he'd just caused Grace's death.

"I'm okay." Grace had heard everything and how much it must have cost him. She'd never been more proud of Boyd, despite finding out that Penny had killed Luke and everything that Linda had done to him, he was still able to do the right thing.

When Boyd finally freed her, Grace wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly, holding onto one another until Grace heard Boyd groan, and then she pulled away. "Are you okay?"

"No. I think I've broken something in my shoulder." Boyd told her what happened on the roof.

"Sorry, Peter. For that." Grace took her hand away from his right side so as not to cause him any further pain. "And for Jackie." Shaking her head, embarrassed at herself, for trusting her.

"Don't worry about it. Really." Boyd's focus was entirely right in front of him. "It's me who should be saying sorry."

"Why?"

"I tried but," Swallowing hard, Boyd then continued, "I just couldn't do it."

"Peter, I know." Grace consoled him, "I saw everything. It's all right."

"I'm sorry. I should've listened to you and walked away." Boyd shifted position, but regretted it immediately as he flinched. It was if the figurative dagger in his shoulder was being twisted maniacally by the ghost of Linda.

"Linda would still have found a way." Grace had no doubts about Linda Cumming's abilities. "It was a terrible no win situation that Linda put you through, but I knew in my heart that you wouldn't be able to kill Penny despite everything that she and Linda did." Grace stopped then before she was going to say that he'd have killed himself first, she just couldn't contemplate losing him.

"Really? I held the needle to her neck and I nearly pressed the plunger." In his mind, Luke had yelled at him, pleading with him to stop and it was that image that had made him realize he couldn't kill Penny not matter what she'd done.

"But you didn't. You couldn't. Ever. You're not a killer." Grace squeezed his hand, reassuringly. "I'm just glad you're all right."

"Am I?" Boyd looked at Grace, her smile and those eyes, staring deep into him, almost reading him like a book. How could he not believe it when she said it with such conviction?

"You will be."

"Thanks, Grace." Boyd vowed to himself to be there for her throughout her treatment, before pointing a finger at the IV set up behind her. "I know you're going to be all right too."

wtd wtd wtd

Stopping in his tracks when he saw Grace hugging Boyd, Spence wondered if Grace would stand by Boyd if she knew the truth about what had just happened on the roof. He waited until they separated before walking toward them.

"Hi Spence." Grace looked up when she heard his footsteps.

Boyd stood up gingerly, his right arm in spasms, and then slowly turned around to see Spence walk up to them.

"Are you okay, Grace?" Spence flashed a look of disgust at Boyd before turning his attention to Grace.

"I'll be all right." Grace had seen that look of revulsion on the DI. What was that all about?

Spence couldn't even look at Boyd, and so he gently rubbed Grace's arm, comforting her. "An ambulance should be here soon, Grace."

"Spencer." Boyd paused, he'd seen the look too, but ignored it for now.

"Yes, sir?" He stood stiffly almost at attention, his focus was not on the man before him, but on a spot in the distance just above his head.

"Penny Cain is just down the hall on the left. Arrest her and get her out of here." Boyd certainly couldn't have anything to do with the case any more. He wanted to make sure that Penny Cain would never be released from prison.

"Sir. Kat and Eve are on their way."

"Thank you." Spence hadn't parted company with him on good terms, but Boyd had thought that they'd patched up their differences, so he was worried now, having no idea what had changed.

Spence spun on his heels and left without adding another word, not wanting to say anything that he'd regret later.

wtd wtd wtd

Kat and Eve arrived in time to watch an ambulance turn on to the main road, heading for the hospital, presumably with Grace on board.

Spence was waiting beside his car. The local plods had already taken Penny Cain back to their nick to be processed.

"Is Grace okay?" Eve asked. They hadn't heard anything more and were naturally worried.

"Cummings didn't hurt her. Boyd's gone with her to hospital." Jordan replied.

Eve and Kat looked at each and shrugged, it wasn't like Boyd to leave a crime scene, but the day hadn't been a normal one.

"Eve, Linda's around that corner. Kat and I will stay here. The SOCOs and the local SCU will be here soon."

Eve walked around the corner of the building to where Linda Cummings lay.

Linda lay spreadeagled, her left arm and right leg, broken and bent unnaturally and her dark slate grey eyes staring up at the clear blue sky. Blood and brain matter intermingled with her brown hair turning it reddish colour, and along with the now permanent sneer on her face, she looked even more malevolent than in life. It was as if she was glad with how her game plan had finished.

Eve ignored Linda, her attention was focussed on a small rectangle of glossy paper that lay near the body, recognizing it immediately that it was a Polaroid picture. Christ! Eve thought, this must be another one of Penny's victims. Taking out a an evidence bag, she carefully picked it up and then sealed the bag. Turning it over, she gasped, the family resemblance was unmistakeable. "Oh God, Boyd!" Eve muttered. How much more could the man take? She had no idea what happened here, but her mind went into overdrive thinking of all the ways that Linda and Penny could have used this picture to torture Boyd, and perhaps that had been their plan all along as the photo and the building were connected to Boyd and Luke. In the photo, Luke looked peaceful despite the ravages that the drugs had caused. She didn't put the photo in her case, but in her coat pocket, intending to make a copy for Boyd if he wanted one, before the original would be held in the evidence storage indefinitely and he would never see it again.

wtd wtd wtd

Where the fuck was Boyd? Punching the steering wheel, Spence swore to himself, angry that the DSI hadn't answered any of his phone calls. The SCU and PSU had grilled him for two hours and then wanted to interview Boyd, but Spence had no idea where he was after he'd gone to the hospital with Grace and it made him look like an idiot.

Jordan walked up to the Hospital's help desk, flashed his warrant card, asking for Grace's room, and then stomped off toward it. All the way to her room, he fumed that Boyd had once again put him into a difficult position, of having to answer very awkward questions about the DSI, Penny Cain and Linda Cummings and CCU's handling of the case, some of which he could answer and others he had no idea of. It was one of the reasons he'd joined NCS. To Grace, he'd said he wasn't happy in the CCU and he'd outgrown it, but it had more to do with having had enough of Boyd's methods and he didn't want his association with Boyd to stain his career anymore.

Spencer stopped by Grace's door, breathed in deeply and exhaled slowly several times, trying to rid himself of the rage that filled him. Grace didn't deserve it.

He knocked on the door and stuck his head around the door, to see if Grace was up to visitors and found Grace talking seriously with Eve, but he wondered what Eve had quickly hid from him when she'd heard the door open, but decided to let it go for now. "Hi, Grace."

"Hi Spence." Grace smiled weakly. She knew that she'd have to answer some questions from the SCU and from Spence sooner than later.

To Spence, Grace looked tired but otherwise all right even though she had a drip in her arm and hooked up to a heart and breathing monitor. "Is everything all right?"

"I'm all right. No harm done."

"Right." Jordan ran his hands through his short cropped hair, pleased that she was going to be okay, but when he thought of how he was going to bring up the topic of Boyd, straight away he felt the resentment rise. How was he going to explain to Grace what he'd done? He just had no idea.

Grace recognized the livid look on Spence's face. It was the same one she'd seen at the abandoned warehouse. "Spence, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," he lied unsuccessfully, but continued, "Do you know where Boyd is? He's not answering his phones. PSU and SCU want to question him about what happened in the warehouse and on the roof." And I want answers to some questions too, Spence thought.

Spence's clenched fists, flaring nostrils and the mention of Boyd's name were a dead give away as to the reason of the dark cloud that had followed him around since the warehouse. Something had happened on the roof. She decided to confront Spence with what he'd thought happened, but first she told Spence of everything that had happened in the warehouse, of how Penny had killed Luke like she'd done to the other street kids, and of how Linda had wanted Boyd to kill Penny, but Boyd couldn't do it.

To Spence, all that Grace had said had only reinforced his view that Boyd had wanted Linda to die and so he let go. There was no other explanation.

Grace could see that Spence was putting two and two together and coming up with the wrong answer. "Now why don't you tell us what you think happened on the roof?"

After he'd finished his detailed blow by blow account, Spence concluded, "Boyd deliberately dropped Linda."

"How can you say that?" Eve shook her head, gobsmacked. Boyd was many things, but he'd never do that.

"Look, Penny killed his son. I don't blame him, but we could've pulled her up." Knowing he had it right, he crossed his arms, daring someone to challenge him.

Shaking her head, Grace was just disappointed in Spence. The only time she'd seen Spence act like this had been the Eddie Vine case several years ago. Back then the DI had thought Boyd had been drunk and had been involved in a hit and run, and then Boyd had lied about having no memory of the accident to avoid responsibility. Spencer had gotten the wrong end of the stick then just like he had now. And just like last time, this happened after just after someone from the team dying. It was obvious then that Spence blamed Boyd for Mel's death and now he was doing the same after Stella's. It was text book again.

"Now where's Boyd, Grace?" Spence frustration grew.

"You've got it so very wrong, Spence. Like I told you with the Eddie Vine case, Boyd would never do that."

"Why?" What the fuck had this got to do with the Vine case? he thought angrily, but not listening at all to what Grace was saying.

Hopefully Peter wouldn't find about what Spence thought, Grace thought. He'd been hurt when Spence left and this would only add to it. "Boyd is in surgery."

"What?" Spence looked shocked. As far as he could remember, Boyd had looked all right when they'd spoken briefly in the warehouse, and he certainly hadn't seen any blood.

"He tore most of his shoulder ligaments and couldn't have held on to Linda even if he'd wanted to. It was physically impossible for him to hold onto anything."

Spence looked at Eve.

Eve confirmed what Grace had said with a nod.

"Shit!" Spence felt sick. How did he get it all wrong? And then he remembered the Eddie Vine case and how he'd jumped to conclusions and got that wrong too, all because he was angry with Boyd and blamed him for everything. Perhaps he wasn't as good as he thought he was. He spun on his heels and fled, too embarrassed to stay.

"Eve, go after him. Tell him to come see me tomorrow."

"Okay." Eve raced out the door.

wtd wtd wtd

Ten weeks later.

Sitting at the table, Boyd watched Grace swallow the last of her morning tablets.

He'd hated seeing how the chemotherapy drugs had ravaged her body, leaving her seemingly just skin and bones and pale and gaunt, and just leaving a few tufts here and there of her once beautiful hair. He'd been there to comfort her as the pain wracked her body and he'd held the bowl steady while she'd vomited over and over again and he'd cleaned her up afterwards. But the alternative had been to allow the insidious enemy of cancer to win, surrendering without a fight. Neither had wanted that.

Although Boyd hadn't gotten used to the acidic smell of vomit, he'd stayed by Grace's side all through her treatment, wishing he could've exchanged places with her, to stop her being in pain. Unable to work and unwilling to sit at his place doing nothing as he'd recovered from his shoulder injury, Boyd had moved in to help look after Grace. And with the help of Grace's kids, Eve and Spence, they provided twenty four hours a day support for Grace.

Two weeks had passed after the completion of the last cycle of the three cycles of chemotherapy and Grace still looked thin, but everyday her colour had improved as she'd been able to eat more and keep it down. He knew she was a fighter and she'd proved it everyday, and although her bright intelligent eyes were slightly dimmed, the fire was still there.

With no energy to do all that much, they'd talked like they'd done after Luke had died, with Grace had helping him get through everything that had happened with Linda and Penny. As Grace's energy levels improved, the banter and gentle teasing returned as they discussed, or more correctly, argued about all sorts of topics, work and non-work related.

Boyd glanced at the calendar on the wall; in two weeks time, Grace would have PET and MRI scans to see if the drugs had worked, and it coincided with him being able to use right arm again. A large blue cross on every day that had passed signified a stepping stone to both Grace's and Boyd's recovery. But it also meant that it was a step closer to things returning to back to whatever resembled normality, with him returning to work. Although Spence had been filling in for him in his absence, he would be off to NCS as soon as Boyd came back, but the team, or what was left of it, just wouldn't be the same until Grace returned, that's if she wanted to. It hadn't been the first time some deranged person had tried to kill her in the line of duty, but it had been the most personal, for both of them. He wouldn't blame her if she wanted to retire, put her feet up and write more books. Having lots of time on his hands, he'd read all of her forensic psychology books, they were very good. If she did decide to leave, he'd miss her use of very long words and annoyingly vague but always in the end helpful psychological insights. If he was honest, he'd just miss her full stop.

"What?" Grace wiped around her mouth. "Have I got something in my teeth?" She'd been watching him watch her.

"No." Boyd half-smiled back, realizing he'd been caught out. She must be reading his mind. Poor Grace.

"Good." She sipped her tea and then ploughed on, time was too short to beat around the bush. As her counsellor daughter had told her, having cancer had a way of sharpening the mind and bringing the important things into focus. If it had something to do with her treatment or even with his, he'd have just said, so it had to be something else. "What's wrong, Peter?"

Although it didn't need it, Boyd adjusted his sling to avoid her probing gaze. The only thing he accomplished was to move his repaired shoulder, causing him to moan as a dull ache rippled through the joint. He should've known that delay wouldn't stop Grace going for his jugular. Damn it, this is Grace you're talking to you, just come out and say it, he admonished himself.

"Well?" She smiled, enjoying his discomfort somewhat, his nervousness when things got personal was always so different to his more public persona, of a confident alpha male.

"I haven't been much help to you because of my arm, but .... "

Grace shook her head. "Rubbish." With her kids, Spence and Eve working full time, Boyd had been the one to be there constantly everyday, even on weekends. "I may have sworn and thrown things at you a few times when I was at my lowest, but ...."

"A few?" Boyd sniggered, remembering ducking under a barb and a flying bottle of pills on several occasions as he'd tried to get her to eat or drink something.

Grace ignored him and continued, "But you were always here. For me." She meant that with all her heart. There was no way she could've coped with him. He was her rock. She stroked his hand gently. "And I'll keep on saying it until you finally believe it. I really appreciate it all. Everything."

"I know, it's not that." Time seemed to slow. How do you express to your best friend, and only now he knew that she was so much more, that their time together was all coming to an end? He had no idea, other than it made him terribly sad.

Grace rolled her eyes as she waited; sometimes it was like getting blood out of a stone. "Well, what then?"

"I'm going to miss this." After a deep breath, he whispered, tenderly squeezing her hand, "And you."

Her stomach fluttered and it wasn't caused by nausea for once. It was caused by the figurative elephant in the room that had been growing and growing and which they couldn't ignore anymore. They'd grown even closer than she'd thought possible, but without crossing that line. She could see it his eyes and she knew it too, but they were just too scared to come out and say it. And so she still continued to avoid it, and answered lightly, "Where am I going?"

"Not you, me."

"Okay, where are you going?"

"In a fortnight, back home."

"Why?"

"Because you'll be better by then and not need my help and I'll be back at work."

Boyd, you couldn't be more wrong, Grace thought. Why do you think I've knocked back really good jobs in America and other places? I'll always want and need you, more than you could ever know. "Then stay." Grace looked him directly in the eyes, leaving him in no doubt that she meant it.

"Stay?"

"Yes. Here or we'll go to yours. I don't care as long as you're there."

"Grace." Peter's tone softened, his hand caressing her face.

fin