A/N: So here's the final chapter! I hope you enjoy! My special thanks yet again to PeggsterLover ;)

Disclaimer: I don't own them!

Chapter 11

Travis came to work early that morning. He sat in his office, thinking how to start the talk. The Inspector and the Chief Inspector were both informed. He had found out that Watt and Gollings had acted under the orders of Inspector Benzie. The reports they had got from the late Montgomery were enough to shake the guy, and now that they had solved that puzzle, they could confront him.

Travis' main concern was that they had no information about Nicholas and "his" gang's whereabouts. If there was his blood in that car, then he was hurt, and probably needed help. But they had no idea where to send said help.

The car with the dead officers was found outside the city. They were probably taking Nicholas to some place in the suburb. But where could his "gang-mates" have taken him, was beyond the sergeant.

Later he, along with the Inspector and the Chief Inspector, was in Benzie's office. The Chief did all the talking. Rank thing. Travis barely listened and just glared at the office's owner with disgust. How could he care only about his own benefits when there were lives at stake…? Actual human lives…

A startled reaction from the Chief snapped him out of his thoughts. Travis joined him as the older man started pacing.

"They are in Gloucestershire," the Chief was mumbling. "They sent a bunch of armed thugs dressed as police officers to kill them all".

Travis was catching up on it.

"When?" he asked.

"Long ago," the Chief was shaking with worry. "We can't reach it in time".

The Chief went out to contact the local police, but it was a really small village, that wouldn't be enough.

It was then that Travis' phone rang. Without thinking, he picked up purely automatically.

"Travis," it was Danny Butterman's voice, the Met Sergeant registered absent-mindedly.

"Danny, I'm sorry, we're just in the middle of something…"

"I know Nicholas isn't dead," the other sergeant interrupted. "I saw him".

Travis stopped pacing.

"Saw him?" he repeated. There was a slim chance that Nicholas wasn't with the gang now, meaning he wouldn't be killed along with them by a miniature army. "Where? When?"

Danny quickly recalled his meeting with Nicholas a few days ago. Travis sighed. But then he had an idea. The gang was hiding close to Sandford…

"Danny, we need your help," Travis blurted out without any hesitation left.

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Nicholas finally regained consciousness and kind of regretted it at once. He was in some cold and darkened place. Everything hurt, to the point when even every breath he took sent electric impulses through his body. He looked around. Nobody was paying attention to him at the moment. He was happy about it. The mere seconds he had been conscious were exhausting him. He felt dizzy and his vision was blurry.

And suddenly everything exploded with noise and panic. It sounded like someone had been watching a war movie next door, but very, very loudly. Gunshots, screams… Nicholas could no longer keep track of it all and just chose to stare at the ceiling above him till he either died or passed out or something else happened.

The senior was on the verge of a breakdown now. Clearly their Partner had sent a bunch of goons to kill them, because they weren't needed anymore. So Shaun was right. But it was too late now. They needed to try and run away. He sent everyone he could outside to keep the defense. It was weird — it looked like there were some actual coppers there, too, and they were shooting at the thugs. No longer able to deal with all this madness, he pulled his gun out.

"So that's what you've been talking about, Shaun?" he asked having noticed that the man was now awake.

Nicholas moved his gaze lazily, until it focused on the senior. He looked at him with absolutely no emotion, too weak to say anything. Dark spots were appearing in front of his eyes again as he watched the other man's gun point right at his face. Angel closed his eyes. So the pain will end now. And so will this whole madness. And so will everything else.

The sound of the gunshot was so loud that it deafened the Inspector. And something was clearly wrong with his head. And he wasn't dead.

He opened his eyes, and almost everything was black now. The only thing he could see was a worried face looking down at him.

"Danny…" saying that word took the last strength Nicholas had had left, and he let his eyes close, drifting away, where it was calm, quiet and peaceful.

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Danny had arrived at the place as fast as he could. Convincing other officers hadn't been difficult. The massive shootout that took place afterwards would be fun if Nicholas wasn't somewhere out of sight, possibly injured or even worse… but Danny didn't want to think about the "worse" thing. Not any more.

After a huge battle Danny finally managed to break inside the hideout, just in time to see a hoodie pointing a gun at a man lying in the corner. The light was very poor, but the Sergeant knew who they were. Without any second thoughts he shot the hoodie right in the head and rushed to the victim.

"Nicholas!" he shouted, recognizing his friend for sure. "Oh my God…"

Angel looked worse than anyone the Sergeant had ever seen. It easily beat Danny's memory of the explosion. He was a mess, dried blood was covering his face, and there were bruises everywhere. His weak "Danny" didn't sound good at all, either. Then Nicholas went numb and irresponsive, and Danny had to shake himself from the bad flashbacks. He quickly checked his friend's pulse and sighed in relief when he found one.

"Don't worry, Nicholas," he whispered, as more people were surrounding them and sirens were heard from the outside. "Everything is going to be fine now".

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The light was unusually bright as the Inspector opened his eyes. He let them adjust while trying to recall what had happened. Maybe it was all just a dream after the explosion. Someone was holding his hand, and the grip tightened as soon as Nicholas showed signs of consciousness.

"Hey," Danny's eyes were red. Maybe it was because of the lack of sleep, or maybe he had been crying. Or both.

Nicholas managed a smile. Maybe his try wasn't very successful, but it sure made Danny happy.

The doctor came to check on him and give him a full list of his injuries. Nicholas decided not to listen to it that much because it was all just too scary. Soon the doctor left, and the Inspector and the Sergeant were alone again.

Nicholas remembered the last thing he saw in that place.

"Why did you come there?" he suddenly asked, barely forcing tongue to move. "I told you to stay away…"

"Yeah, and I had told you to stay away from Sandford, but you didn't listen back then, either," Danny chuckled. For a while there was another silence.

"Danny," Nicholas said quietly, and the seriousness of both his tone and his face made the Sergeant nervous. "I am sorry".

Danny's eyes widened.

"What for?"

"About that lie, that I was… you know… I didn't want to upset you, it's just…"

"I know what happened," Danny cut him off. "They had planned it before we both woke up. It's not your fault," he smiled. "Just…" his eyes became wet again. "Just never do that again".

Nicholas felt his own face crumple.

"Never," he squeezed Danny's hand once again. Minutes later they were both asleep — Nicholas in his bed and Danny in his chair beside it.