Hey, I'm Fanfic-Reader-88, and this is my first story in this fandom. So, between what happened to Chris in "Matthew 5:9", a lot of the show's fanbase still pushing hard for "PerSalle", and my own personal crush on Shalita Grant, I was inspired to write this. I have to warn you, this story is crazy long, real heavy on the flashbacks, and may even be a little sad. And one more thing: all of Tammy's dialogue is underlined. So if that hasn't driven you away yet, I now present to you "Tears Of A Mouse". Enjoy.

CBS owns NCIS: New Orleans.

Inspired by "Matthew 5:9", and also contains references to "The Terminator Conundrum", "Overlooked", "Spies & Lies", "More Now", "You'll Do", "How Much Pain Can You Take?", "My City", "Shadow Unit", "Second Chances", "Second Line", "Sleeping With The Enemy" (also "Help Wanted" and "The Third Man"), "Aftershocks", "Suspicious Minds", "One Good Man", "Outlaws", "Music To My Ears", "Overdrive", "Return Of The King", "End Of The Line", "The Last Stand", "Krewe", "Knockout", "Down The Rabbit Hole", "Poetic Justice", "Rogue Nation", "#1 Fan", "The Asset", "Viral", "Dead Man Calling", "Acceptable Loss", "Monster", "Ties That Bind", "A New Dawn", "The Last Mile", "Treasure Hunt", "Welcome To The Jungle", "High Stakes", "Sic Semper Tyrannis", "Insane In The Membrane", "Father's Day", "Blue Christmas", "Convicted" and "Requital".

(Sometime in November 2019, Washington D.C.)

It was the middle of the afternoon, and after a stretch of time away from home, the normally quiet even when occupied apartment of the young woman who lived there was now gradually growing louder with the sound of crying, and while it wasn't full-fledged bawling or sobbing just yet, if the walls could talk, or if another person was in the room with her, they could tell someone that what made her cry was troubling, heartbreaking and simply saddening. Even with her using the unbuttoned parts of the red shirt she had on, it was soon clear that said shirt wouldn't be nearly enough to dry up the stream of heartache that was flowing from her eyes.

(Moments earlier)

Said woman was 31-year-old Sonja Percy, a highly skilled FBI agent that once lived in New Orleans and worked for the ATF and NCIS, and shortly before her breakdown, she had just returned from an extensive assignment that kept her away from her still somewhat new residence, and just as she had began to take in the feeling of relief that came from returning home, it quickly went away as soon as she heard the sound of her personal cell phone ringing. Having gained a new number after making it to the nation's capital, she had familiarized herself with the numbers of her new colleagues, but she sensed that whoever was calling, and whatever it was about, had to be important, because the 504 number that was awaiting a response had called at least twice in recent days, but she was unaware that the voice on the other end would be responsible for a pendulum swing in her emotions.

"Sonja Percy speaking, who's calling?"

"You have no idea how good it is to hear your voice right now," the woman on the other end replied, her deep but still feminine voice immediately sounding familiar.

"Tammy, is that you?" Sonja answered with a smile as she heard her friend and former colleague Tammy Gregorio on the other end.

"Yeah, it's me, Percy. I've been trying to reach you for the past week. Did you forget how to answer a phone?"

"No, it's not like that, Gregorio. I've been on assignment lately. I literally just got home a few minutes ago. So, what's up, is everything okay? Are you okay?"

"Well... I'm trying to be, I really am, but... it's been really hard lately." Tammy began to tear up before she could answer Sonja because she knew how upset she would be from what she was about to hear, and she was still trying to deal with how much it had hurt herself. "Sonja, it's about Christopher. He... he was killed on the 5th."

"Wait, Chris is dead?!"

Almost as fast as the words came out of her mouth and echoed through the apartment, tears formed in the agent's eyes and ran down her face. Saying that she was stunned by the news would be selling it well short.

"Yeah, he was shot that night when he was following a lead on a case. He had surgery to fix his wounds, and he eventually woke up, but... his vitals crashed almost immediately after that. The doctors tried to bring him back, but he was gone."

"Oh my God. What about Cade and Rose and his sister? How are they doing?"

"Cade, he died not too long before Chris did. He was killed too, and Chris had spent the last few weeks trying to get answers to solve his murder. He had been back and forth between here in New Orleans and going home to Alabama looking for clues when he wasn't on a case here."

Crying still, but trying to keep her tears from completely overcoming her voice, Sonja knew that no real peace could be found seeing as how Chris was deceased, yet she wanted to be sure that there was at least some semblance of justice because his killer had either been arrested or died themselves.

"So, what about his killer, or killers? Have they been caught yet?"

"Well, his killer, a man named Eddie Barrett, he was arrested, along with a woman named Sue Ann Hughes. Lasalle was trying to keep Sue Ann from being killed, and before she got shot again, Chris and Barrett got into a scuffle, which is when Lasalle was shot. Now, none of us knew it at the time, but Eddie and Sue Ann are connected somehow, although not in the way they had claimed."

"And how was that exactly?"

"Well, the next morning when Pride had started questioning Sue Ann in her hospital room, Barrett said she was his daughter, but after doing some digging before we found them and arrested them, we found out it wasn't true. Eventually, we found them at some diner, and there was a bit of a standoff, but we were able to take them in."

She didn't have any hint of a clue about what had been going on with Chris, Tammy or the rest of the team shortly before he had died until the still-in-progress call came, but all of her years as an agent and a simple case of woman's intuition gave Sonja the feeling that there was more to the story, even if Tammy and the rest of the team were still trying to put it all together.

"I can't help but think that even with you busting them, there's still something missing in all of this."

"Well, Chris had been thinking that while Cade was still alive, he had gotten caught up with drugs somehow because of his new girlfriend and her son, and not too long after Cade died, there was this bust at this warehouse that had fentanyl and other drugs. The guy in charge of the warehouse, Stan Jenkins, was a lead that Pride got, and he thought Jenkins either killed Cade or knew who did, but he was killed during the raid. Then Sue Ann's boyfriend, Pat Dolan, he actually tried to confess to killing Cade, but there wasn't enough evidence to back that up, and Chris and Pride knew he was more or less being used as the fall guy. So either there's another person we haven't found out about yet, or we have to keep pressing Sue Ann and Barrett for answers."

Sonja had soaked up the new information as best as she could, but even if Tammy couldn't hear them on the other end of the phone, the tears continued falling down her face, not only from simply hearing the news that Lasalle was dead, but now, she also felt a sense of regret for not staying in closer contact with him, Tammy and the rest of the team, no matter how busy her assignments and cases had kept her, or how long and how often they had her away from home. But even more so, she was starting to wonder what would have happened had she stayed in New Orleans, especially in the matter of how it would have went if she did decide to go beyond being just friends with Chris. While the last part may not have been entirely up to her, and even though she wasn't the only one who said no to a relationship, she started questioning if leaving NCIS and New Orleans ultimately drove her away from what possibly was her first true sign of real love.

Meanwhile, Tammy had noticed the extended silence that happened once she finished talking.

"Hey, are you okay, Sonja?"

"Yeah, I'm okay," she answered quickly, regretting her answer as soon as she gave it. "Why the hell did I say that? No. No, I'm not okay. Chris is gone, and the last time I saw him, you or anybody else from the team is the day I turned in my badge. And the occasional call or text, that was nowhere near enough. And now I'm wondering what would have happened to Chris if I stayed, or if - "

"No, no, no, no, listen to me. Percy, listen to me," Tammy began. "Lasalle's death, that is not on you. And yeah, it would be better if we heard from you a little more often, but don't you dare doubt yourself for one second. If the FBI is what you really wanted, then you made the right decision, and nobody should have the power to make you doubt that. Not me, not Chris, Pride, Patton, Sebastian or Loretta. Nobody. I hope that is perfectly clear to you."

After another bout of silence, along with another chance to cry to herself, Sonja spoke up.

"Yeah, Tammy, I got it. I got it. So... what about the funeral? Is there a date? Has it even been planned yet?"

Tammy took a deep breath and even wiped away her own tears as she knew that what she was about to tell Sonja would make their conversation even more saddening.

"Baby... I'm so, so sorry. His funeral was just yesterday. I really wanted to let you know, but we hadn't talked until today."

At that moment, Sonja dropped the phone and pressed her hands onto her face, more tears began to fall and she gasped, not only in an attempt to keep her crying from worsening, but also in a general sense of shock from what she had just heard. Chris had died and she missed his funeral? It couldn't be. There was no way.

"Sonja? You still there?"

Only after she heard Tammy call her name did Sonja snap out of her daze.

"Yeah, I'm here," she replied as she picked her phone up. "His funeral was yesterday?"

"Yeah, it was. Pride did his eulogy. A lot... a lot of people showed up for him. Chris was really loved."

"Yeah, he was."

Sonja quickly reflected on Tammy's remark along with her own memories with Chris, and she thought to herself that even though she never admitted it out loud to him, herself or anybody else, she did love him, and if she dared to admit it, she had been in love with him, and now she felt more regret coming on as she saw that it was now too late to tell him, and she wished that she had expressed her feelings before this moment.

"Well, tell me something, when are you gonna have time off again?"

"I don't know. You know in our line of work, we really don't have enough of that."

"You don't have to remind me. But when you find out, or even if you take a leave of absence at some point, you should come back to town for a visit. I'll make sure that we go to visit Chris' grave, even make it the first stop if need be. I swear that you won't leave town without being able to say goodbye."

"Good. That, that sounds like a great plan, Tammy. I'll hold you to that."

"I don't expect anything different. I'm really sorry that you had to find out like this."

"Well, that's on me. I've been busy, but I should have done a better job of staying in touch."

"True, but just like this job takes away chances for time off, it isn't much better in letting us stay in touch with friends and loved ones. Sometimes, it's on us, but still. Hang on a second."

There turned out to be another call coming into Tammy's line, and it was Hannah passing on word from Pride that there was a case revolving around a shooting that involved a former Marine.

"Hey, I just got a call about a case, so I gotta run, but I will call you back as soon as I get a chance."

"I may have to call you first for a change. But yeah, go ahead and work the case. Learn things."

Tammy quietly laughed at Sonja's use of Pride's catchphrase, feeling a small sense of relief that she still had a sense of humor in light of the current situation. But it quickly faded partly because of the case that was awaiting her and the team, but even more so because she knew how much Lasalle's death had already hurt her, and the amount of pain that was soon to come. Tammy was still a mess herself about what happened to Chris even if it didn't show outwardly, and she had been dealing with it since it happened. So she had a sense of just how bad it was gonna hit Sonja.

"I'm gonna do just that. And listen, just in case I don't get a chance to tell you later, I love you, 'City Mouse'."

"I love you too, 'New York'. I'll talk to you later."

"Bye bye."

Both women hung up their phones, and as she put hers down, Sonja let out a quick sigh, and for a moment, she appeared to be fine, but in a matter of seconds, tears began to form in her eyes again, and as hard as she fought to wipe them away, there was no stopping them, and as time went on, more of them would fall, and they would be even harder to contain.

Now hours had passed with day now having turned into night, and sure enough, Sonja had spent most if not all of that time crying. Slow and soft tears ultimately turned into full-fledged sobbing and bawling, and wiping her tears on her shirt eventually gave way to tissue, toilet paper and a washcloth. She had mustered up enough energy to take a shower and change clothes, and not long after, she actually had enough of an appetite to eat dinner, albeit the amount of food seemed like less of an actual meal and more of a heavy snack.

After all of that, Sonja now found herself on her couch remembering all the moments she had with her friend and former partner.

"You think I ran from you boys for my health?"

Her first run-in with Chris (and Pride) wasn't the friendliest encounter, as they all had a common goal in trying to catch Paul Jenks, who Pride referred to as "Baitfish", while Sonja still worked with the ATF. She had plans to break up his drug ring - which led them all to the Fourth Street Clinic where they crossed paths in the first place, and Pride was trying to solve and avenge multiple murders committed by Jenks over the years, and Chris - while concerned with his methods, had Pride's back in the long run. And while she was reluctant to work together with them at first, she ultimately came around, gaining Pride's trust and even having Chris as backup for a undercover weapons buy.

Before they parted ways for the time being, Chris offered Sonja a ride back into town after she handed over files that she gathered during her time on the case, but she refused even after he told her he was willing to play along some more as if he was really arresting her, making reference to a woman named Billie Boutros, who was apparently a friend of hers that once dated him. According to Billie, Chris was "nothing but a smile and a stream of empty promises", and that a woman had to "wear Kevlar on her heart around him". But Sonja also pointed out that Billie said in regard to the law, Chris was the best cop she ever knew, that he was the first man through the door, and the last one to leave, and that he was "the only man you need if a job goes sideways". Chris complimented "Little BB" as he called her by saying that her word was "as good as gold".

Their time together also gave her a chance to give Chris slight moral support when Cade was framed for murder, and she had even teased Chris about his newly revived relationship with his high school girlfriend Savannah, going so far as to call her "the Little Mermaid". And after her death, she had offered her condolences and eventually tried to get him to open up about his emotions over it, a significant task since she didn't like to do the same about her own life.

Backed up by Meredith Brody, Chris stuck around when Jenks shot Sonja, and being able to keep her alive allowed her to reveal his plans, which led to him being arrested before ultimately being killed, as well as the arrest of his partner in crime, Sasha Broussard. A short time after that and after solving another case, Sonja became an official member of NCIS.

Lasalle later found himself in the position of supportive partner when he, Pride and Brody backed up Sonja during a joint undercover case with the DEA that involved an old friend of hers. She noted how she turned her back on said friend, Marion Watkins, when she came to her for help in trying to shake her drug addiction which ultimately led her to working for the same kingpin who killed her brother and nearly ended her life as well. Lasalle explained that Marion made the decisions that led up to that point, and that Sonja shouldn't carry the weight of trying to save her, even alluding to his relationship with Cade, going so far as to say that if he had a dollar for every time he felt the need to help Cade, he would be rich. Still, Sonja wasn't quite able to shake her guilt at that moment, but not long after their conversation, thanks to her quick thinking, the team along with the DEA took out the kingpin, Payton Kirk, and Marion and her daughter Brianne were able to move away and start a new life.

"Are you okay?"

"Why does everyone keep asking me that?"

"Because everyone cares about you, caveman!"

A short time after Sonja's undercover case, she, Chris and the rest of the team worked on the presumed murder of a Navy Lieutenant during a funeral, which later led to the discovery of a heist at a cemetery. While checking the Lieutenant's home, Chris had a run-in with who was eventually revealed to be a cemetery worker who was in on the heist. Along with nearly shooting him, he fought with Chris and got the better of him, which resulted in Lasalle having bruised ribs. While Loretta checked his injuries, Sonja had fun at his expense by viewing his abs with a nearby camera. But later...

"He just said he tried to shoot you!"

"It doesn't matter!"

"Like hell it doesn't matter! Are you kidding me?!"

(****)

"How could you not tell me you almost got shot? What, you forgot to mention that little detail?"

"Look, it's not a big deal. And why are you so concerned about it?"

"Why aren't *you*?! What if his gun did fire? You could have been killed!"

"You're being dramatic."

"Christopher!"

When Alexander Hanson, the man who tried to shoot at Chris and was part of the heist, was being questioned, he admitted to doing so, and while he brushed it off, Sonja's mood was much different, as she was upset with not only Hanson's admission, but Lasalle's nonchalant attitude regarding the situation. Later in the day during another conversation, Chris did admit that he was scared, but he was never taught how to deal with death, rather, he was always taught how to avoid it, to which Sonja said that by running from death, he was "running from life". Later after discovering Navy Reservist James Boyd wasn't dead and ultimately arresting him, Sonja admitted herself that Chris "helped her with her stuff", and that not facing her past did keep her from growing and connecting with other people. When Lasalle caught up with Percy and the rest of the team during the "second line" at Lieutenant Murray's funeral, everything was right between them again, and they enjoyed the festive environment at hand, with Chris stating that he was "always up for a good party".

"Well, you almost died yesterday."

"Yeah, and you almost died a few weeks ago. But we lived. I go now."

"Did I offend you somehow?"

"No! But you need to stop worrying about me."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"It means don't treat me different from everyone else. It especially means don't try to stop me from taking dangerous jobs. Don't get soft on me!"

"I'm not soft! I care about you, you idiot!"

"Well, stop! 'Cause I can't take it on."

That conversation was the end result of finally thwarting a potential terrorist attack in the city that would have involved an attack on the Coast Guard with HMX explosives. Brody had been crossed by John Russo, a man working with Homeland Security who turned out to be a mole working with the terrorist cell that would have been responsible for the attack. Brody ultimately killed Russo, and Sonja disarmed the explosives, and afterwards, the team learned that they were on administrative leave, resulting in a two week vacation. But Chris wasn't content with simply picking up his things and leaving, assuming that Sonja would have wanted to talk, which led to their current state.

Before Sonja could walk away, Chris grabbed her and pulled her into a hug, and as reluctant as she was to stay, she accepted the embrace, and oddly enough, after they began to separate and made eye contact again, they seemingly were about to kiss. But instead...

"I'm glad you didn't die today."

"You're an ass."

"I know."

Another near kiss had came along, but Sonja had backed away and walked out.

"Alright, cool, I'll see you later."

"I'll see you soon."

It appeared that Chris was disappointed and felt rejected, but as it turned out, that was the least of their problems, because the FBI was investigating the team and Brody decided to resign from NCIS. In the midst of everything, Sonja's frustration opened the door for Chris to address the elephant that wasn't quite out of the room.

"Are we ever gonna talk about it, Percy, or are we just gonna pretend like nothing ever happened?"

"There's nothing to talk about. It was just a stupid hug."

"A stupid hug, huh?"

Ironically, said investigation along with a manhunt for a sniper who killed multiple people at different events around town is what brought Tammy into the fold, with her first encounter with them being less than friendly, as she had been found in the same space as the sniper after one of his kills. The team also discovered that the sniper had been connected to the attempted terrorist attack that led back to Agent Russo. After taking down the sniper later, however, Tammy at least temporarily earned her way into their good graces, although her part in the investigation still left room for doubt.

Later, when the team ended up working a case that had Pride's friend and former Navy Intelligence Specialist Elvis Bertrand as a murder suspect, with Tammy and the FBI wanting to arrest Elvis on sight, but Pride wanting to buy time to find out who was really responsible for said murder, Sonja and Chris took a moment to tail Tammy while also looking for another suspect, and in that time, a brush with each other's hands while reaching for water led to the following conversation.

"Alright, enough. We gotta talk. No denial, no deflection. You've been acting weird toward me ever since we hugged after the Russo case. We had a moment."

"Okay, I'm just gonna stop you right there, 'cause we agreed we're not talking about this, 'cause we're cool, 'cause that's bygones."

"We're anything but cool. We're supposed to be a team that can trust each other, and I can't even reach for my water without you jumping out of your skin."

"I didn't jump. I was just... startled."

"We're a man down, and we're under attack, alright? We need to close ranks so that we have each other's back."

"I've got your back, Lasalle!"

"And I got yours."

Everything seemed resolved on the personal level, although they found themselves in a somewhat tight spot when Tammy and some of her FBI colleagues discovered that Sonja and Chris had followed her. But after that was fixed, the team and Tammy worked together and found the real culprit, who turned out to be the girlfriend of the Navy officer who was one of the victims. But later after the case was closed, there was one more check for understanding.

"Hey Percy. Are we good?"

"Yes Lasalle, we're good. Okay, but no more weird stuff."

"No more weird stuff."

An "exploding fist bump" was the sign that everything was alright again. But things were quietly hectic in the weeks that followed, when Chris seemingly had a sudden shift from carefree bachelor to new father after Melody, a former fling, came looking for him and introduced him to her son Tucker and claimed that it was his son as well. Tammy warned him that he needed to talk to her even before she crossed his path, and once he found out himself, Pride let him know that he needed to be responsible in his new role.

The simple fact that Chris was, or at least appeared to be a new dad may not have been a problem, but what was a problem was that Sonja was the last to find out. It also may have struck a nerve that when Chris thought he was Tucker's father, he had also appeared to start a relationship with Melody, and when she saw them kissing when she came by to pick him up en route to a case, it appeared to drive the figurative stake into Sonja's heart, even if she wouldn't admit it. But any progress that had been made abruptly ended when Melody walked into headquarters with a man named Darrell, who in turn punched Lasalle and told him to "stay away from his kid". Sonja and Roy - the NOPD officer who served as security - restrained Darrell, and he found himself at risk of being charged with assaulting a federal agent, but Chris decided to let it go, although he nearly changed his mind when Darrell continued running his mouth.

It wasn't the end of their run-in, however, as Chris confronted him at a local hotel later on after he found out from Melody that Darrell had been abusive towards her, and he had tried to punch him again, but Lasalle was able to block it and twisted his arm behind his back. Chris almost caught a charge himself when Darrell attempted to file a report, but a witness gave a statement that put Chris in the clear. Then finally, as Chris was helping Melody to gather her and Tucker's things, Darrell appeared yet again and tried to attack Chris one last time and possibly leave with her and their son, but the police officers who were on scene to help with the move had been able to arrest Darrell, along with more who showed up on the scene, and once he was detained, and after one last conversation, Chris said his last goodbye to Melody and Tucker.

"Yeah, I probably should have."

"Oh boy. What'd you get?"

"Just an e-mail from you to Pride saying that you don't think I should be added to the team."

"Your undercover identity was just exposed, and you're pissed about an e-mail taken completely out of context?"

"Oh, by all means, give me the context."

That argument was spawned by a hack of multiple citywide systems caused by a man named Ethan Beck, and it affected not only the NCIS office, but many city officials, including now-Mayor Douglas Hamilton. While Sonja and Chris weren't the only ones compromised because of the hack, out of everyone on the team, it had driven the biggest wedge between them at the moment, as Sonja had discovered an email from Chris to Pride questioning if she was a good fit for the team.

"Well, I didn't know you yet, and couldn't tell how you would mix with the team dynamic."

"I took a bullet for the team. How's that for dynamic?"

"And you've proven yourself a hundred times since to me, and me to you, right?"

"We should probably stop reading these before someone else gets hurt."

As much tension as that may have caused, they would soon find out that the situation was far from over, and oddly enough, it would unite them in guiding their frustration towards someone else.

"Look, you've seen what you've seen, you can't take it back."

"That's your response?!"

"You told Isler we were a pair of cartel embeds!"

"Yeah! -"

"I said it was possible!"

Now Tammy found herself on the wrong end of Sonja and Chris' vexation, as they had discovered what she had told her then boss at the FBI, EAD of National Security Raymond Isler, while the team was being investigated after the Russo case. The team was cleared from suspicion of working with Russo to attack the city, but Isler still suspected that the Cuidad Natal cartel had a stronghold in New Orleans, and that NCIS may have had a hand in it.

"And that we were sleeping together?! Eww!"

"Look, you got a vibe, that's all I'm saying. Honestly, it's kind of obvious. Have you watched yourselves?!"

"No. But you have! Been surveilling us for weeks, taking photos."

"That's why FBI brought me here, to investigate you. You know that!"

"Yeah, but that's our personal lives!"

"Do you know what surveillance entails?! And I cleared you both anyway, so..."

"Oh, I feel so much better."

"Good! 'Cause now, we can talk about what I got."

"What about what we - "

"Enough!"

Right then, Pride took it upon himself to end the situation, reminding Sonja, Chris and Tammy that their current chaos was exactly what Ethan Beck was going for. With help from Elvis, after discovering that Beck had been killed, they ultimately were led to a man named Damon Yang, the member of a Triad gang whose father was the leader of said gang until he and many of its members were either killed or caught by the feds. After Yang was eventually killed, the team later met at Pride's bar, the TruTone, and in that time, they all received new messages filled with praise from one of their colleagues. This happened because before leaving the NCIS office, Elvis used the same algorithm that Beck used to send out the disruptive e-mails that initially threw the team into hysteria.

Even after that case, though, Tammy still seemed convinced that there was something between Percy and Lasalle, or at least there was the potential for it, and she expressed that in a conversation with Patton and Sebastian after the team solved a murder case connected to another from 20 years before that Loretta once provided testimony in during the trial, and a man named Jack Gordon was wrongly convicted as a result.

"Not being cocky here, but I think I've pretty much identified his perfect type. Not quite sure how to break it to him though."

"Why's that?"

"Tough, loyal, whip smart, sassy, can hang with the boys, and can give as good as she gets."

"Percy?! (Percy?!)"

"Like I said, not quite sure how to break it to him."

Now whether she was his type or not, Sonja and Chris had far bigger problems later down the line during a case at a military academy.

When Rita Devereaux, a Reserve JAG lawyer, Assistant District Attorney and friend and at the moment ex-girlfriend to Pride asked him for help finding another JAG lawyer who was missing, he and the team had found him in the swamps nearly eaten by alligators after being killed from two gunshot wounds, and it had led back to the aforementioned academy. One of the cadets had been believed to be responsible for the JAG lawyer's death, a theory that seemed even more likely when tests had shown that bullets fired from the cadet's assigned rifle matched those found on the lawyer.

Cadet Lieutenant Commander Max Cabral, the suspected killer, along with the other cadets had held Chris and Sonja hostage when the team matched the ballistics and Cabral was still thought to be the killer, but it turned out that they were under orders from Captain Will Dorsey. He almost goaded Max into shooting him while berating him for actions that led to him killing the JAG attorney, and after Tammy shot Max's rifle out of his hands, Dorsey picked it up and nearly pulled the trigger, but Sonja and Chris, now armed with rifles from two of the other cadets, stopped Dorsey in his tracks.

Alive, well and still in one piece, the team later met up at Pride's bar and the mood was mostly good after having solved the case, at least until Tammy had won a bet involving Pride and Rita. Chris seemingly didn't mind it too much, even joking that it was too bad that she "didn't take credit" as he handed over his 20 dollars. But Sonja on the other hand wasn't as receptive.

"Do you want me to go pick up Percy?"

"No, I'm already here at the coffee shop. We'll meet you at the crime... scene."

"Lasalle? Lasalle, you still there?"

"Yeah, I'm still here. And we'll see you in a bit."

A simple phone conversation gone slightly awkward between Chris and Tammy was the end result of what he saw when he went to pick up Sonja at the aforementioned coffee shop. While Tammy discussed a case with him, and he was waiting outside at his truck, Chris saw Sonja walk out with another man, and just before she walked away, he went in for a kiss, and she didn't refuse. It caused the pause in his response to Tammy, and the stunned facial expression that went with it stayed until he hung up his cell, and right then, Sonja, who was surprised to see him, had walked over to Chris.

"Hey! Country Mouse! If I knew you were my ride, I would have picked you up a croissant. Everything alright?"

"Yeah, sure. Let's roll."

Sonja noticed the shift in Lasalle's mood, and it actually confused her and changed her previously happy demeanor, as if to wonder what happened to him, or even if she had done something to upset him. But rather than question it, at least at that moment, she simply followed him to his truck. Then at the crime scene...

"Hey, are you sure nothing's bothering you?"

"Me? No, why?"

"I don't know. Maybe because you only said like two words to me on the way over. Come on, it's me. What?"

"Gregorio. What do we got?"

"Hello to you too, Christopher."

"Oh girl, he is in a mood."

The team's latest case had them investigating a train heist that may have involved a large stash of weapons. Later on that evening, while Sonja and Chris were in his truck again, it opened up an opportunity to discuss that morning's happenings.

"If you're gonna keep giving me the silent treatment and being mean to me..."

"I'm not being mean to you."

"Okay, so what's your problem? I don't understand."

"I was just surprised this morning seeing you with that guy at the coffee shop."

"Wait, Tom?"

"I didn't know you were dating anybody."

"I'm not dating anybody. It was just coffee. Besides, I barely know that guy."

"Well, you knew him well enough to kiss him."

"I didn't kiss - he kissed me! Are you jealous?"

"Jealous?"

"You're jealous."

"You tripping, girl. Come on, let's gear up."

Jealousy was and should have been the least of their concerns, as the weapons belonged to the Bancroft company, which Sonja had learned about when she was still an ATF agent. On top of the heist at the train yard and the deaths of Emma Miller and ex-Marine Josephine Bellacroix, there was the apparent involvement of members of Boko Haram, a link between Justus Bancroft and Mayor Hamilton, and the discovery that Bancroft's daughter Nadine had been involved with the weapons being stolen. Her motive for taking the weapons was to arm African villagers to fight back against Boko Haram, having witnessed firsthand some of their actions while she had been on the continent, which Loretta was also familiar with in her own right.

While she went to a hangar to bring in the guns, the team was planning to bring Nadine in, but she wound up being ambushed by the terrorists, but she survived untouched thanks to the team responding with their own gunfire. Nadine took cover behind Sonja, and ultimately got away from the team's reach, which didn't sit well with Pride.

Later, after they returned to the office, and after she had explained herself to Pride, Sonja was alone with Chris again, and they discussed the coffee shop happenings one more time, although that would soon be the least of their issues.

"Hey."

"Hey. You waited for me?"

"Well, I was a little worried. Everything alright?"

"I don't know. Pride is pretty pissed, can't say I blame him. And I just - I don't know what he's gonna do yet."

"Well, what does that mean? Do what?"

"I don't know if he's gonna report me to HQ."

"Aww, King's not gonna do that. He knows you'd be done for."

"Yeah, like I said, he's pretty pissed."

"Well, did you tell him what really happened?"

"What, you're trying to find out too?"

"Don't you trust me?"

"Were you jealous? The guy at the coffee shop - "

"What does that have to do with - "

"Uh-uh, can't expect me to trust you if you don't trust me. Right?"

"Well, honestly, I don't know what I felt. I... maybe I could have been a little jealous."

"And maybe I could have let Nadine go. Hey look, I don't need a lecture from you, Christopher, and I don't want this to bite you in the ass later, so please don't ask me any more questions, okay?"

"Okay. Come on. Let's get out of here."

Aside from Sonja's run-in with Pride, things didn't seem too bad for the moment, but that went away quickly when Pride called her just as she and Chris were about to leave and told her that Judge Dorsey wanted to see her. The end result in that meeting was Sonja being charged with perjury and held in contempt, which sent her to do time at the Orleans Parish Prison.

To further add to the team's problems, Pride's longstanding issues with Hamilton were at a boiling point, and while investigating the death of a Navy chaplain at a boxing event with Chris, he found new details in the mayor's plans involving Clearwater, a section of the city that had lost much needed city services. Then just as he, Chris and Tammy were about to arrest a suspect, at least two gunmen had arrived in a black SUV and opened fire, and nobody had been hit, but the shooting allowed the suspect to get in as they drove away.

Meanwhile, Sonja's time behind bars had gotten worse, as she had been moved into general population, putting her at risk of suffering the wrath of someone she arrested, or anyone who simply wanted to gain credibility by taking out a federal agent. But oddly enough, after a phone call to Chris, she ended up in solitary confinement after fighting one of the guards.

Back at the office, the team had more of a mess on its hands, with Patton being served a warrant and being warned not to stay in contact with them or use the Internet. Then a short time later when Pride and Chris were at the church where the Navy chaplain preached, they, along with Petty Officer Jonathan Rudd, were under fire from the same gunmen Pride, Chris and Tammy encountered earlier that day. With help from Rudd and the church's lights, which took out the shooters' night vision goggles, Pride and Chris shot them. Once they returned to the office, they saw footage saved on an SD card that the chaplain took, and it revealed "Mr. Stone", Hamilton's right hand man who also had acted as his head of security.

After the chaplain's funeral, Pride tailed Stone, and it ended in a shootout that left a civilian dead. With Patton's help, a list of politicians and military officials was revealed, along with information about a big meeting that was soon to take place. But after seeing a news story with Hamilton throwing the team, especially Pride, under the bus after the shooting, Pride then had to deal with Deputy Director Dan Sanchez, who ordered him to stand down.

In the midst of everything, Sonja was released from custody and then brought to the office. Later that evening, while listening to Hamilton's meeting with the dignitaries, the team learned of his plan to build a Navy shipyard in Clearwater, and while most of the leaders were on board with his vision, Congresswoman Michelle Angelou shared her objections, with her main concern being what might happen to the area's residents. The team knew that it would make her a target for a hit, so the team, especially Pride, tried saving her the next day, first by warning her just as she was leaving her hotel, then by driving through the outdoor restaurant where she was eating.

That night, Pride was sent a text appearing to come from Hamilton about needing to talk, but when he went to his bar, he instead encountered Stone and another henchman, who attempted to kill him while Stone walked out, and he ignited explosives just as he left. But Pride fought back, however, the bar ended up exploding, and the next morning, when the team arrived at the bar, they assumed Pride was killed after not only seeing a body, but Pride's gun and badge in the rubble.

Just as the Congresswoman was about to board a flight leaving New Orleans to return home, Hamilton tried one last time to convince her to change her vote, insisting that he would get the shipyard no matter what. She took a sip from the drink she ordered, not knowing it had been poisoned until it was too late, and she died where she was sitting.

Meanwhile, the team waited for Loretta to confirm if the dead body was Pride, and fortunately, she revealed that it wasn't. Not only had he survived, but he had driven off in Stone's car, with him in the trunk, tied up and badly beaten. Pride apparently planned to convince others, especially Hamilton, that he was dead, but Pride was ready to end things for Hamilton once and for all.

Day turned into night, and after a standoff with Pride, which had even included stabbing him, Stone had ended up falling from a building, most likely because Pride had fought back and thrown him off. The next morning, while investigating his death, Loretta discovered Pride's print on the shirt Stone was wearing, but it was vowed amongst her, Sonja and Chris, along with the rest of the team, that everything they did know had to stay quiet in order to find Pride as well as help him. With help from Coast Guard Agent Joan Swanson, and reluctantly from Isler, they kept investigating and found undeniable proof of Hamilton's plans, in the form of a model of the planned shipyard in his office.

Unknown to them, however, at least then, was that Pride took Hamilton, and after a near standoff with NOPD, along with Pride and the team's run-in with Stone's gunmen, they were found at Clearwater Baptist, and now fully aware of Hamilton's actions and motives, NCIS and NOPD, along with Isler, showed up on scene as Pride arrested the mayor, and not too long after, the team met at Pride's bar to help him begin renovating it from the explosion. But before that, Sonja and Chris had another private talk.

"Hey. Can we talk for a second?"

"Sure."

"Yeah, it's just... with all the craziness lately, I never really got the chance to thank you. You know, you really put yourself on the line for me when I went to jail, and kept me safe. I mean, you even got the judge to let me out."

"And you would have done the same for me."

"No, no, no. What I wanna say is I appreciate it. Your support means more than I can say."

"Before you do whatever it is you're about to do, just hear me out. Alright, this thing between us - "

"Whoa, who says that there's a thing?"

"Well, I don't know. Maybe it's nothing, but - "

"Yeah, it can't really happen."

"We just barely kept the team from falling apart."

"Yeah, I mean, we don't need our personal stuff getting in the way of that."

"Yeah, we're a family, alright? We need to protect that for the good of the team."

"Yeah. Okay."

In the weeks that followed, on a personal level, everything was good for the team, even to the point that Sonja and Tammy moved in together - ironically in the same apartment that belonged to a suspect that they wound up killing. But case wise, they thwarted another potential terrorist attack while also dealing with a temporary change in leadership while Pride was still out after the Hamilton mess finally ended. Then they had to rescue him from a crazed admirer in addition to trying to take down a serial killer. Later, Tammy reunited with Eva Azarova to save a presumed Russian operative that turned out to be Eva's brother, while also taking down a rogue FBI agent assigned to work with Isler, who everyone else - especially Sebastian - jokingly referred to as "Tammy 2.0", and for the rest of the mission, and at it's end, there was some tension between Sonja and Chris about Tammy's trust in and proximity to Eva, which included Eva briefly being at their apartment, as well as Chris agreeing at the time with the decision by Barns - Isler's protege who went rogue - to put a BOLO out on Tammy and Eva.

"You, um, wanna talk about today? Feel like there's a lot of tension between us."

"Absolutely not. Just leave it be."

And eventually the team had to work to clear Sebastian's name after he was wrongfully accused of killing an innocent man, a problem further compounded when it went viral and ended up on the news.

But right before that, while working a murder case that had ties to a death that happened 150 years earlier, another heart-to-heart talk was soon to be had, in a cemetery of all places.

"...As far as we know, we're just on a wild ghost chase (wild ghost chase). Percy - "

"Let's not - "

"Now we gotta talk about this."

"Ugggh."

"This tension between us is affecting more than just us. Team too."

"Yeah, and the team's all that matters, right? I'm sorry, I, I didn't mean that. What I mean is I understand why we decided not to be more than just friends, but.. I don't know how to go back to being just friends. It's... not easy."

"Well, it's not like anything's changed though, has it? I mean, Country Mouse, City Mouse all preceded that too."

"Yeah, and it's also what led to it too. Well, almost did anyway. Maybe it's... time to retire the mice."

Before Chris could respond, Sonja discovered another clue, and they continued working the case. But later that evening, when they were about to discover the biggest piece that would solve everything, Sonja found herself in front of the newly revealed killer, and when Chris stood across the street at the pharmacy that everything centered around, he would soon learn the gravity of his partner's predicament.

"Percy! What are you doing?"

"So what are you gonna do? You can't push me off the roof like you did Jacob. I'm not alone here."

"Percy, come on already. Do you see anything, or don't you?"

"(Tell him there's nothing here, and you're coming down. Now!)"

"Nothing's here... City Mouse!"

The wrong nickname was all Lasalle needed to get across the street.

"So now what?"

"Don't do it!"

It was then that Tate Prescott turned his attention towards Chris, as he took a shot from his gun but missed. This allowed Sonja to get behind him and hit him causing him to drop the gun, but she quickly paid for it after he turned around and kicked her. But as he went to strike her again, Sonja landed her own blow again, and this time, it left Prescott barely hanging on to the ledge. Rather than simply let him fall, Chris rushed over to try and pull him up, and Sonja helped by grabbing onto the wall and Lasalle's hand as he tried to keep Prescott from falling. But Prescott refused their help, and he ultimately fell to his death rather than face any inevitable punishment.

When morning came and Pride showed up, eventually digging up an old time capsule, Chris and Sonja discussed the case some more as he went through pictures of the pharmacy's owners, proving that Jacob and Tate's families were in business together. It was then that Sonja had a moment of clarity and gratitude.

"Yeah, well luckily, you were too busy saving my butt... Country Mouse."

"I thought you wanted to 'retire the mice'."

"That was before they saved my life."

A couple of weeks later, Chris found himself in an heavily unenviable position before, during and after the team's efforts to bring down a woman suspected of killing a petty officer, along with other men who had high security clearance. For starters, he had to deal with his father, Beau, pushing relentlessly to get him to give up his career as an agent and step in as the next owner of the oil business that his father ran. Then worse yet, when he went undercover at the petty officer's memorial gathering as the man's adopted brother, he wound up being tied up and held hostage as Chloe Miles, the woman in question, tried to force him to access files that would provide answers into a CIA operation that led to her father's death. And when Sonja, Tammy and Pride arrived at the abandoned ship where Chloe had Chris, it had appeared that they had shown up too late, and it struck the most fear into his partner.

"Christopher! Oh my God! He's got no pulse!"

Chris had apparently been given some kind of lethal drug, and Sonja could only watch in horror and panic as Pride and Tammy worked to revive him.

"Come on Christopher, give me something!"

"We've been doing this for three minutes and 35 seconds. We gotta get him outta here, Pride."

"The EMTs are five minutes away, but NOPD can rush him to the hospital."

"We don't have that much time!"

"God... What did she do to him?!"

"Burst blood vessel, puncture mark on his neck, syringe on the floor, made it look like an overdose."

"That's it! Gregorio, take over!"

"Alright. Come on, come on."

"Gregorio, get out of the way!"

Pride then gave Chris a dose of Narcan, and within seconds, Chris was alive and awake again, and in a great deal of shock.

"What the hell just happened?!"

"You just came back from the dead!"

"You had to make a scene, huh?"

Chris wanted to get up and finish what he started in pursuing Chloe, but Pride insisted that he stay behind and in the care of NOPD and the paramedics. The team stopped her at a hotel just as she was attempting to release the files to the public. And later, after he got out of the hospital, Chris stood his ground against his father when they met for another dinner, and let him know that his life and career were in New Orleans with NCIS.

Neither of them knew it at the time, but their days as partners were running short, and oddly enough, the first sign came from someone Sonja knew and trusted. While the team was on the hunt for gun runners who had gained access to military weapons and ammunition, some of which was used in a shootout with NOPD, Sonja had reunited with her ATF partner Jake Roman, and in different instances - particularly before they had sex after he showed up at her and Tammy's place, he said that she was good for only sticking around for three years before moving on to something and somewhere else, even alluding to an undercover assignment that lasted in that same span of time, which ironically was the same assignment that led her to cross paths with Chris and Pride when they were still after Paul Jenks during the "Baitfish" days.

Later, after NOPD officer Mary Crane died from injuries she suffered in the shootout, and after he killed CIA agent Megan Sutter, Willard Kurtz and his wife Claire were both arrested, and then that evening while a memorial for Mary was being held at the TruTone, Jake told Sonja about his resignation from the ATF, along with possibly needing a lawyer after being the fall guy for the operation having ultimately led to Sutter's death, and he had also warned her to watch her back in regard to Pride, pointing out his reputation on how he handled cases. Sonja stood up for Pride, but Jake didn't back down from his stance, and he even suggested that it might be time for her to move on from NCIS.

But as prophetic as it might have been, Jake's revelation paled in comparison to what was coming next. Just a couple of weeks later, while investigating a petty officer's murder at a nightclub that Pride had ties to, Chris received a phone call and found out that Beau had passed away as the result of a heart condition. His problems were heightened when he learned that Beau still wanted him to run the oil business in spite of their conversation just weeks before. Still, one small (figuratively and literally) bright spot that remained was Sonja wanting to help out.

"Hey, um, you going to Delilah's?"

"Uh, got a lot to do here, you know, setting up with the funeral and all."

"Come on. Josie's gonna be singing, and you know Pride's gonna end up playing, you don't wanna miss that."

"Maybe later."

"You haven't really said much the last couple of days. You alright?"

"It comes and goes, you know. Sometimes I, I feel fine, and then other times, I feel like I've been hit by a two-by-four."

"Yeah."

"Just... be better to get through all this."

"Hey, it may help to... bring a friend. My 'go bag' is packed, so just let me know, and I'm... 'pschoom'."

"Thanks Percy. That means a lot."

"Yeah, of course. Yeah, um, come on, Country Mouse! Let's get our drink on! That stuff will be here tomorrow!"

"You're right. Sure, let's go."

"Yeah!"

Just as they were about to leave, Rachel Modine, a childhood friend of Chris's who was also the family attorney, had shown up to the office, upset with him because he hadn't answered or returned her calls, pointing out that his "game hasn't changed" since he was 10. Sonja wholeheartedly agreed as she introduced herself to Rachel, even describing him as a "master avoider". Things seemed fine at that point, but may have changed when Chris simply described Sonja as one of his co-workers as he introduced Rachel to her. With the situation seemingly and suddenly turning awkward, Sonja simply decided to go.

"Ummm... I'm, I'm actually gonna split, uh, and meet up with the other co-workers. You should bring the family lawyer if you want."

Sonja did go with the rest of the team, and when Chris was brought up into the conversation, she mentioned that he was with Rachel. Tammy took a sudden interest, even saying that Rachel "sounds pretty", with Sonja saying she wasn't her type.

"So she is pretty."

Sonja replied by telling Tammy that she shouldn't profile, before letting everyone know that she simply wanted to drop it altogether before continuing to drink.

The next week, when there was the case of a murdered petty officer working with a refugee family, Sonja was noticeably absent, especially to Chris. At one point while he and Tammy were out looking for leads, she had no problem with keeping him from prying too hard into Sonja's presence or lack thereof. Later, at Pride's bar, when Chris brought it up again, Tammy simply stated -

"Keep fishing, Lasalle. Keep fishing."

Sonja was back a week later, but it resulted in her working in another undercover case, this time with Isler of all people as her partner, as they worked to bring down a crew of robbers responsible for multiple heists, largely involving opioids. Ironically, just as he was en route to the TruTone just before his flight back to D.C., Isler had suggested to Sonja that if she wanted a change from NCIS, she should consider working at the FBI.

Then a couple of weeks later, while investigating the murder of a Navy captain who was killed on a treasure hunt, Sonja was in a standoffish kind of mood, in general, but seemingly even more so with Chris. He tried to get answers from her about it, but all he got was -

"Don't worry. It's got nothing to do with you. It's just... me."

Chris was ready to talk about it with Sonja, but he was quickly rejected again, and got more of the same when he asked her to dinner after work, with her stating that she and Tammy already had plans.

While Sonja's distance and shutting down seemed like a personal issue that involved him, even if she didn't wanna admit it, Chris and everybody else would soon find out just how deep it really went.

When Pride received a late night phone call about a dead lieutenant who had recommended his presence in South America in order to take down a cartel boss, he decided to call in his team for backup during the mission. Sebastian had shown up as asked, and Pride wanted Sonja there as well, but when it came time to leave, Tammy showed up instead, and she was left with the task of having to cover for Sonja, explaining only that she told her about "a personal meeting that couldn't be missed".

Loretta realized something was up when Sonja came to the lab, and in between interrogations, Tammy eventually caved and told Pride more about what Sonja was dealing with, which was all preceded by Pride insisting that he and Sonja were gonna talk once he was back in New Orleans. Then it inevitably was time for her to chat with Chris, who couldn't help himself in thinking that her potential departure was because of him somehow.

"...Well, if adventure's what you want, you shouldn't have bailed on that plane last night."

"I didn't bail. Okay, I had something to deal with."

"Look, I know you've been feeling a little restless, and unsatisfied, and... you and Pride have had your issues."

"Not issues, I've just questioned some of the risks he took."

"All that's sorted out now. I mean, Pride's on the straight and narrow."

"I know, and... you're right. I have been feeling restless. And then, an opportunity came up."

"What kind of opportunity?"

"Job interview. FBI International Operations. Isler recommended me, and the head of the division came down from D.C., I... I couldn't cancel."

"Well, why didn't you tell Pride?"

"I didn't tell anyone."

"Other than Gregorio?"

"Yeah, she knows - "

"And me?"

"I, I, I didn't know how you'd react."

"Hey, well, if leaving's what you want, I'd be happy for you. Is... leaving what you want?"

Before Sonja could answer Chris, Patton came back with another lead, but not before cracking a joke or two about their "special moment", and possibly hearing them declaring their "undenying" friendship had he not rolled in. Back overseas, Pride, Tammy and Sebastian had cleared the initial suspects in the lieutenant's death, one of whom being Sydney Halliday, a Green Beret who would wind up in New Orleans in the coming weeks, and later, they took down a crooked CIA agent who was the lieutenant's true killer. And just as it had been with Brody leaving after the Russo case, Sebastian was the last to discover Sonja possibly being on the way out as well, which wasn't too easy for him to hear either.

Before the night was over, Pride and Sonja did talk, and the gravity of just how difficult a decision was for her at that point was summed up in a short question and answer.

"What are you going to do?"

"Honestly, I have no idea."

And then came the last case.

Early on that morning, a group of bicyclists were almost killed when a distracted truck driver nearly crashed into them due to him being on his phone shortly before that. Aside from the barrels of spilled waste that were spread out through the street, and of course the bikers, everything appeared fine until a dead body had been found, and the body was hidden in one of the barrels on the truck. Said body was that of Yeoman Ethan Bennett, who had been shot in the back of the head, and because of the caliber of the bullet that was recovered, it was determined to have been a professional hit.

Through all of this, Sonja came to work and let everyone know that she hadn't taken the job at FBI (yet), and as for the case of Bennett, it turned out that he was a poker player and had been invited to a high stakes game by a woman named Amy Collins, who was referred to as "the Dragon Lady". Newly in possession of 10 thousand dollars, Sonja and Chris, along with Tammy, went to the Treasure Chest Casino, with Sonja at the poker table and involved in a game. Her skills, which had been alluded to by Patton, had her up big in the beginning, and she had even drawn the attention of the Dragon Lady. But Sonja's choice to go all in with a hand of Jacks was beaten by another player's flush, which cost her the game, the 10 grand and the Dragon Lady's focus.

The next day, Sonja expressed regret about the loss at the casino, feeling that she let the team down, leading Pride to ask if she was still at NCIS because she was afraid of doing just that. But he also was ready to let her go back out for another game, even telling her "let's go fix it" after their conversation.

Before that, though, Collins had been brought in for questioning, admitting that her "Dragon Lady" persona was just that, and that she only started it to earn extra money to take care of her son. She also revealed that a man named Kurt Young would be in charge of the next game, and that he went after Bennett at his own boss's command because Bennett worked at the Navy Research Lab at the Stennis Space Center. Kurt also warned her that if she didn't find another player like Bennett, then her son would be harmed.

Later, Sonja and Chris arrived at the house where the game was being held, and before getting inside, the subject of the FBI job came up again, and just as she did with Pride, Sonja told Chris that she didn't take it because she didn't want to break up the team, but Chris wasn't convinced. When they got in, and just before she went to play, Sonja simply assured him -

"Don't worry, Country Mouse. I got this."

The game started, and Sonja was off to a hot start like she had been at the casino, with Patton and Pride listening in, but had ultimately drawn the attention of Young's boss Henry Chen. Ronny, the man who won the game, turned out to be an inside man who was willing to cheat, but still, Chen had warned Sonja that after she lost, she now owed him, and wanted her to take him to the Navy Research Lab, and in order to keep her from refusing, he showed Sonja a video on his phone of Chris and Amy being held in a then unknown location.

It was soon revealed that Chen and Young were part of the MSS, with both of them working under an alias, and they wanted to get on base to get near a new satellite the Navy had launched, and if they were able to bug it, they would always have the whereabouts of every Navy sub and ship. Sonja got onto the base, and was quickly allowed access due to her being a NCIS agent. Meanwhile, Tammy and Sebastian went to find Lasalle and the Dragon Lady, and Pride raced to catch up with Sonja. Eventually, she drove the SUV she and Chen were in erratically, catching the attention of the guard who let them in, along with others. Chen was adamant about what would happen if things didn't go as planned, telling Sonja that he would "kill her boyfriend", to which she said that Chris wasn't her boyfriend and that it "was complicated". She also realized that she hadn't taken the job with the FBI because she was afraid of letting the team down and breaking it up, but now saw that it was "the wrong call".

"Do you think I'm bluffing?"

"No. But I'm not bluffing either."

Sonja then knocked Chen's gun from his hand before wildly speeding again, and he got on his phone with Young ordering him to kill Lasalle and Amy, but just as he did so, Tammy and Sebastian came in and shot Young. Oddly enough, after the SUV was flipped over, Chen was still alive, and just as Percy was climbing her way out, Chen had regained his gun and was ready to shoot her, but Pride, who initially asked the guards to stand down, had shot Chen himself.

Once Chen and Young were killed, Chris and Amy were freed and Sonja had gotten out of the SUV, one thing that she and Chris both did was ask about the other's well being. And Pride had his own input about what just occurred.

"I'm not sure that was the best decision you were about to make there."

"Well, it seems to be a pattern lately."

Once everyone was back at the office, and after Pride had another big conversation with his daughter Laurel about her future after graduating college, Sonja and Pride had one last talk, and when she had expressed her concern and doubt on why she hadn't left to begin with, he let her know that "sometimes you have to give up something to get something." After that, she was ready to tell the rest of the group, with Pride pointing out that they may have already knew, as they had been listening from inside. Sonja said her goodbye to Sebastian and Patton, then to Tammy, promising to catch up with her. Then once the room cleared out, it was just her and Chris.

"You mad at me?"

"No. No, I'm happy for you. It's just - "

"What?"

"I don't know. Now that this is really happening, and you really are leaving, I can't help but to wonder what might have been."

"Me too."

"It's kinda funny. We chose not to follow through for the good of the team, and you almost sacrificed yourself today for the same reason."

"Yeah, well, I came in a lone wolf, I'm leaving a team player."

"Yes you are. I'm gonna miss you, City Mouse."

"I'll miss you too, Country Mouse."

Sonja and Chris hugged one last time.

"Come on. Let's go be with our friends."

"I'll be right there."

Sonja took a final look around the office before leaving for the last time. But when she finally walked out, she left with a smile.

Back in the present, more time had passed, and while she was no longer crying, at least at the moment, Sonja was still in shock over learning about Chris being killed. Along with a general sense of mourning and loss, she felt regret over not being there for Chris, not just in his final moments, but throughout the past year. She also began to think more about the times they did have, both on and off the job, when it suddenly hit her.

Although she had gained a new number since heading to Washington, Sonja still had the phone she used during her NCIS days, and it contained many old photos from while she was still in New Orleans.

After some quick scrolling, one picture that caught her attention was when she and Chris, along with Pride, Sebastian, Loretta, Patton and Brody were at Pride's bar before it opened, and they met legendary musician Dr. John, who had played while he was there. Next was the shot taken of the team except for Patton when they participated in the "Red Dress Run", followed by the selfie she, Chris and Brody took during the opening of Pride's bar during Mardi Gras.

"I wonder if Merri knows about Chris," Sonja asked herself. Since Brody left NCIS after what happened with her and Russo, and how it almost led to a terrorist attack, it was almost as if she herself had died, because outside of her alerting Pride (and Loretta) about her departure, contact with the team was virtually nonexistent.

After her quick moment of "where is she" about Brody, Sonja started looking at more pictures and came across one taken of her while she was singing at Pride's Christmas party. She then found a picture of the team, now with Tammy, at Pride's bar after breaking up another attack that would have happened during and under the cover of a fireworks display while Pride was still off from work on administrative leave after finally nailing Hamilton.

Then she began seeing pictures of just her and Chris together. One was a shot of them together in Loretta's lab, with Sonja flashing a very bright smile. The next was a picture of them in his truck, but she was behind the wheel. Yet it didn't seem to phase him, as he seemed to laugh in the passenger seat. Then she saw a picture taken of them when they had went to the House Of Blues one Saturday night, and both of them had gotten dressed up, with Sonja wearing a strapless purple top, matching dress pants and tan-ish colored heels, while Chris had on black jeans, a dark blue suit jacket, a multi-colored dress shirt and brown shoes. For a long time in her eyes, it didn't appear to be anything more than two friends enjoying a night out, but now, and back then to someone else if they ever saw it, it would have looked like they were on a date.

The picture itself, along with the thought she just had, was all Sonja could take before she cried again. Along with all the current regret she felt, she was considering going back to New Orleans, first and foremost to say a proper goodbye to Chris, but she also had given thought to returning to NCIS. She had no idea that Eddie Barrett would be let go from prison due to a lack of evidence linking him to LaSalle's murder, that he led a cult or that he and his followers would be in a standoff with NCIS and the FBI. All that she could and wanted to do at the moment was to get her feelings off of her chest.

"God, if you're listening, it's me, Sonja Percy. I really haven't been the praying type in my lifetime, but... if you're really real, and if Heaven is real, then I pray that you let Christopher and Cade LaSalle in there. Chris was an incredible agent, but he was an even better man, and he was a great friend too. And I never got to meet Cade, but I know how much Chris loved him and cared about him..."

Sonja cried at the thought of how hard it must have been for Chris to lose Cade, especially knowing what happened to their father in the last year, and she still remembered how bad Chris felt when he lost Savannah. Not quite finished with baring her soul, Sonja then turned her attention to her friend and ex-partner.

"And Chris... Christopher. I'm so sorry for not staying with you, with the team. I know Tammy said that me staying or coming here wouldn't have made a difference in whether you lived or died, but if I stayed, I probably could have been there to help you. And even if you died anyway, if I was there, I would have been at your funeral. I would have been able to say goodbye to you in the right way. And I'm really sorry I didn't take a chance on us. I cared about you too. It wasn't just a stupid hug. Whatever was going on between us, it wasn't weird, and as much as we cared about the sake of the team, we shouldn't have let it stop us from trying to be more than friends."

"If you were ever jealous of seeing me kiss someone else, it's okay, because I felt the same way when I saw you with Melody and Tucker. I wasn't upset because you were a father, or at least you thought you were. I thought I lost a chance to be with you. But I lost plenty more chances every time I let my fear get in the way. I should have kissed you when we were standing face to face after all of those close calls. And I should have told you what I'm about to tell you now. I love you, Christopher Lasalle. I've missed you every day ever since I came here to D.C., and I miss you even more now that you're gone. I love you, Country Mouse."

Sonja began to cry again, but it didn't last long this time, as the emotional stress of knowing Chris was gone, along with the physical wear and tear of the work she had done lately, had tired her out, and in a flash, she was fast asleep.

If you're still here at this point, that means you actually bothered to stick it out and finish the story. It took longer to write it than I thought it would, and it's a longer story than I pictured it would be, but hopefully it was worth the read. And if you did read it, what did you think? Let me know. Oh, and if you didn't see "Requital" yet, watch it ASAP. It was wild. Anyway, that's all I got for now. Thanks for reading. Peace!