Epilogue

            Ian walked purposely into the courthouse; carrying a large rectangular white box, and hoping to put a potentially disastrous situation to rest. He knew he should have kept his mouth shut about that time. No more then five minutes had passed from when the nurses chased all visitors out did he receive the call.

            Shana was furious with him for having brought up the incident in front of the Joes; and rightly so he'd been the one to initiate the silence about it, apparently someone asked or mentioned it. By doing so there would inevitably be a rift between her and them, and that would be the last thing he needed to have happen.

            He saw his quarry sitting on a bench outside a pair of large, heavy oak doors; the hearing was in session and he had obviously been denied entrance, to Ian's small pleasure.

            "Where is she?" he asked.

            *Inside*

            "Good, there are things that need to be addressed outside of her presence."

            *What things?* Snake Eyes signed.

            "I understand that someone brought up my unintentional mention of that time, on her first day in the hospital. I wish to know who said it."

            *I did*

            "Do you love her?"

            *Yes* he signed not knowing where the line of questions were going.

            "Then you'll not mention it again; just forget you ever heard about it." He paused.

            "If you truly love her then you'll never speak of it again, the last thing she needs is to have to recall it. I'll admit that we should have dealt with it long ago, and had she stayed we would have. He saw it as a weakness; a flaw in an otherwise flawless work of art, something that needed to be dealt with immediately. She had too much knowledge of the goings on within to simply be discarded; the only other option would have been to kill her. Daniel and I couldn't allow it; she was too big a part of us by then."

            "Daniel and I had been only children; friends were few and far between for him, I had none at all. We were forced to let her go to save her life. Shana was and always will be my very best true friend; more of a sister in many ways, perhaps not in blood but in heart and soul. If you ask her questions about that it'll only do her harm."

            A silence fell between the two for several minutes, before the oak doors opened. Jake walked out.

            "Agent McCartey." Ian said as he rose from his seat.

            "How did it go?"

            "Good, man. It's all over."

            *Where's Shana*

            "She took off a few minutes ago, said she had something important to do."

            "Well, it's all over now. The Bulls are going to prison, Dante's dead; and I get to go home." She said as she stood at the foot of the grave; a dozen roses in her hand; six red and six were yellow.

            "Ian broke the silence about you know what the other day, in front of people I work with no less. I think that was worse than anything Dante could have come up with. I know I need to deal with it, somehow, but that didn't help at all." She moved closer to the headstone.

            "I miss the camaraderie that I used to share with the rest of the Dragons. The way the group of us would play sports, and have different athletic events. The chess games with Moby, the sparring matches out in the field, intensive training with Ian, him making me sit for hours on end so he could sketch. I never did get to see a finished sketch by him. But do you know what it is that I miss the most?" She paused for a long time.

            "I miss having debates with you. We'd always seemed to talk about the most irrelevant things; and I'd never give in to you; and when I did, you knew I wasn't doing it completely. And you never bothered me about it. I remember the time you convinced me to get that tattoo. You were always there when I needed you; after those torturous three days in hell, and seeing Dante kill that man. Through it all you were there, doing everything and anything to help me, and now you're gone and I miss you. You know something funny," she began with a small smile.

            "You were right; Danny, about falling in love, when you told me that sometimes you won't get to choose. It just happens you said and I scoffed at the idea. Truthfully I was afraid to fall; especially with the fact that I could go off one day and not come back or maybe he could go and not come back. I knew I couldn't put a person through that, not the way I'd seen others put through it. I didn't want to." She finished.

            Snake Eyes approached silently, from behind her; not wanting to interrupt her 'conversation'. He stopped his approach a few feet away; far enough to not startle her and close enough to make out what she was saying.

            "I didn't believe in the concept of love at first sight and forget all about soulmates. Love was something that would make you weak, it could only cause problems on the field; if you were in charge, people could get hurt, you'd play favorites, and kill someone. I thought love couldn't exist for me because of that, but I was wrong; about everything." she fell silent for a minute.

            "Love does exist, and it found me just when I needed it the most. I don't know if Snake Eyes and I are soulmates; I won't say that there's no such thing anymore. I said that about loving at first sight, but I fell hard and fast at first sight. Love doesn't make you weak, if anything I'm stronger than I'd ever been; it's never caused a problem, we're just about always together so we watch each other's back as well as anyone else's. As for getting hurt, people get hurt everyday; may be physically or emotionally. By allowing myself to fall in love, I took a chance on something I was afraid of. The brave may not live long but the cautious do not live at all. The advice you gave me after you heard about me leaving; when you came back to see me. On a better note, the White Bulls are finished, we dealt them a heavy blow and they're dropping like flies. They're turning each other in for leniency on the charges. Some are giving up names of Bulls from other precincts throughout the city, so you know our team is winning." She paused for a minute.

            "Are you just going to loiter back there and eavesdrop or do you want to come over here?" She asked, turning to Snake Eyes quickly.

            *How did you know I was here?* he signed as he approached her.

            "In a place this quiet, if you've got good hearing; you notice the subtle shifts in the silence that alert you to other's presence," she paused. "or maybe I know you too well. I knew that Dragon was outside waiting for word on how the hearing went; and he'd probably tell you where I'd be."

            *You miss Danny?*

            "Now more than ever." She answered, kneeling by the grave and setting the flowers down on the dirt.

            "We were supposed to get together after this was over; toasting the fall of the White Bulls and joking about old times. I met Danny at a good point in my life; we were the best of friends. When things started to happen around me; I swear that I would have gone crazy but I managed to latch on to Danny."

`           *You loved Danny.*

            Scarlett paused at that comment for a few minutes, before speaking again.

            "I guess I did; as much as two friends can love each other and now he's gone."

*But you're not alone; he will never truly be gone if you hold on to his memory. He knew that when he left that there would be people to take care of you and see you through this. And you can always think of it this way; Danny's your own personal guardian angel now.*

"Thanks I think I needed to hear that." she said with a smile as she rose from her position.

            *You fell in love with me at first sight?*

            "Somehow I knew you were going to ask that," she said, "yes, I did."

            *So to you, I was attractive.*

            Scarlett didn't need to think to know what he meant. He referred to his scars; the ones from that helicopter crash, the ones he got saving her life. She could also read the hidden question in his eyes; the one that asked why she loved him.

            "To me, you are attractive. I did not fall in love with just your face. I wouldn't love you for looks and I wouldn't love you for all the money in the world. I love you for you, for the man I see inside. For your heart and for your soul." She spoke quietly holding his eyes in her own.

            *But the scars…*

            "That you got saving my life. Everyone has scars; some are visible and some are not, I have them too. Just because you can't see them doesn't mean they aren't there. But if the scars are as important to you as they seem; I'll tell you, they serve as a reminder to me."

            *A reminder of what?*

            "What you went through to save my life. I don't know what I did to deserve someone as good as you. And I can't imagine why you'd love me now after that." She said virulently, looking away and breaking the gaze.

            In an effort to regain her attention, he put his hand on her shoulder. She kept her gaze averted and didn't acknowledge the gesture; she wouldn't allow him to see the tears forming in her eyes. He slowly reached his hand out to touch one of her cheeks; then slowly and gently he made her look at him. He noticed her tears but something told him that he shouldn't ask.

            *I'd never stop loving you, Shana.*

            "Then why are you so sure that I will? Do you doubt me that much?"

            Her questions caught him off guard; he didn't doubt her, he could never doubt her. He recalled Dragon's words to the group that day in the hospital. 'You must have faith in her. To know that one's friends have lost faith in you is worse than losing faith in yourself. To one such as Shana it would hurt worse than any mortal wound,'.

            *I won't doubt you again.* he signed before holding out his hand to her.

            "Give me a minute?" At his nod, she turned back to the gravestone;

            "Thanks for everything, Danny. I'll miss you, but I'll be okay now. I finished what we started and we can both go now. So I guess this is goodbye my friend."

            As she turned away from the grave; wanting to stop the sadness she felt, Snake Eyes signed a question.

*Why were you afraid to fall in love?*

            "I was afraid of being hurt,"

            *I would never willingly hurt you.*

            "I know." She said as she took his hand to walk out of the cemetery.

GOODBYE, MY FRIEND

Oh we never know where life will take us

I know it's just a ride on a wheel

And we never know when death will shake us

And we wonder how it will feel

So goodbye my friend

I know I'll never see you again

But the time together through the years

Will take away these tears

It's okay now

Goodbye my friend.

I see a lot of things that make me crazy

And I guess I held onto you

I could've run away and left

Well, maybe…

But it wasn't time, we both knew

So goodbye my friend

I know I'll never see you again

But the love you gave me through the years

Will take these tears away

It's okay now…

Goodbye my friend

Life's so fragile and love's so pure

We can't hold on but we try

We watch how quickly it disappears

And we never know why

But I'm okay now

Goodbye my friend

I can go now

Goodbye my friend

A/N: It took a little longer than expected and I apologize. I wasn't satisfied with my first attempt, the song is property of Linda Ronstadt. I'm not really sure if it fits the story, but it did help with my slight case of writers block on this particular chapter.

On a good note, my sequel is in the works and a few chapters are finished and posting those should begin very soon.