Cause Of Death - Flash From The Past Chapter 19.

Chapter 19 - One Fatal Consequence.

You are now Mal Fallon.

You know the trigger is going to go off at any minute and you know the time you get to her it will be too late, in a desperate attempt you call to Jamie.

"Wait! Before you pull that trigger I want you to have something." You pull the two dog tags out jacket pocket which you were given 10 years ago from his father.

You are now Ben Grayson.

You see Detective Fallon reach into his pocket as he retrieves an object; you hold fire to see what he has in his hands.

He holds up the silver shining objects.

"Wait! Before you pull that trigger I want you to have something."

Without needing to ask you know immediately what he has in his hands; it's your Dad's dog tags.

He used to wear them all the time when you were a kid and now the fact Detective Fallon has those, makes tears develop in your eyes.

With your free hand you wipe your tears away that you have battled with for so long, Mal slowly walks over, getting closer to your direction.

You tense up as the gun is still fully aimed at Natara, your finger still on the trigger.

Mal inches closer and hands the dog tags over to you. You hesitate before taking them off him.

"How...I...you...my...Dad's dogs tags." You mutter in confusion as you're overwhelmed with emotion. This is the only thing you have left of your father's memory which has now been reunited with you.

"I know you won't believe me but it's the truth." He sighs. "He gave them to me before he slipped away; he told me some wise words in that one day that I always keep living by."

It's too much and you can't seem to make such words, you just hold onto them tightly, bringing them to your chest and for once in your life your icy cold heart seems to be pumping and feeling so much happiness in this one moment...

Mal smiles as he sees how much they mean to you.

"I held onto them so that one day I could track you down, so that I could reunite them back with you." He says softly, you can hear that he has honest and sincere present in his tone of voice.

You meet his gaze that has now caused your face to soften and the flames of anger to die down. Your about to put your gun down and give yourself up when...

The whole dynamic of the situation changes, taking the turn for the worst...

In that moment there is a loud crash of doors flying of their hinges and smoke filling the atmosphere...

S.W.A.T teams barge in that spook you and that when it happens…

Time seemed to slow down and you don't even recall the sound that rings in your ears, other than the sound of the exchange of screams before a gunshot, which ricochets across the room, followed by the sound of a body crumpling to the ground. You look on with horror as you realise that it was you who pulled the trigger it was you who shot...

All you can see is the horror in her face as she rushes to his side, you can see the blood that trickle from his body as he whimpers in pain.

You can hear her whispering telling him that she loves him and that he's got to keep hanging on in there, to stay with her. Because she can't lose him, like you lost your father and now you can feel his pain as he relives this moment again but this time he didn't make the mistake it was you...

You are now Mal Fallon.

The loud echo of a ricochet bullet buzzes around your ears blocking all the current and vagrant sound of people screaming your name.

You feel a slight sharp pain as a small object enters your chest and you can feel it lodge inside the deeper it gets your breathes become shallow as you find it hard to intake oxygen.

You see a silhouette making their way towards you, but your eyes seem to feel heavy, and your legs becoming weak from the built up pressure that is happening inside of your body as it slowly begins to shut down.

"MAL!...NOO!" A scream that is now a muffle.

"You're bleeding Mal! Oh my god Mal!"

Your shirt once white is starting to stain a crimson deadly red, as the warmth of your blood begins to flood from your body and the shadows seem to close in.

You then feel the weight of gravity pull you down to the hard pavement and the coldness of your core temperature slowly dropping from inside of you. You collapse into the world unknown...

You are now Natara Williams.

You have just witness the devastating blow of Ben Grayson's fire, as his bullet rocketed into Mal chest, you watch helplessly as he crumples to the ground and the blood that seeps from his chest.

Your heart begins to ache as you can't control your feelings of hurt let loose!

You scream his name at the top of your lungs and the agony of the thought that you could lose him.

"NOO MAL! You're bleeding Mal! Oh my god Mal!"

You don't hesitate in being by his side you take your jacket off, trying to apply pressure to his gunshot wound trying to stop the endless amount of blood that is flooding from his chest.

"Mal, come on stay with me, please I need you to open your eyes and speak to me. Hell I'm not losing you now not ever! I need you! Please open your eyes." You call to him trying to get him to respond to your cries.

The tears begin to flow as you can't hold back this pain any longer its hurts to much.

You hold him close into your chest, as you whisper in his ear softly. "I Love you Mal, please don't leave me, you have no idea how much you mean to me, how much you're my everything, how much I hate myself for not telling you before now. I want to live the rest of my life with you! Please keep fighting and I'll fight too. I promise just hang in there. I love you, I love you."

You are now Ben Grayson.

"Freeze! Drop your weapon! Put it down slowly and drop to the floor!" Orders are barked at you by an army of a S.W.A.T team that all have their guns locked onto you."

You look over to Natara and see her breaking her heart out, and then to Mal who is utterly still. The guilt of shooting him gets to you and now you can feel the pain he felt when he shot your father. Instead of listening to their orders, you run in their direction.

"HAULT! Freeze or I will be forced to shoot."

You begin to run in their direction, shots fire around you.

"STOP!" Screams yell at you.

'Bang, bang, bang, bang.'

Bullet after bullet enters your body, but no matter how much there slowly bringing you down or how the agonising pain is starting to take hold, you don't look back as you carry on running.

You don't listen to the yells that are aimed at you instead you crawl to Mal's aid, regardless of the bleeding that is seeping from several different gunshot wounds, you quickly throw your jacket off and placing it on his chest, with force you apply heavy pressure and begin to perform CPR.

Natara looks up to you with a confused expression before her eyes study your own, as she can see the blood beginning to flood from you. "Ben? You're bleeding."

You look at her with a soften look, she matches your expression. "Am sorry for everything Natara, I won't let him die, you need him and he needs you, I was wrong about him, he's a good man who doesn't deserve to die." You whisper softly.

"I knew there was good in you somewhere Ben." She puts a hand on yours and smiles.

You carry on giving Mal CPR, viscously pondering on his torso again and again, repeatedly trying to get a response from him.

There's a long pause before he is back into conscious as his eyes open meeting yours, his expression shocked.

"Mal! I thought I lost you!" Natara cries with relief as she gently hold him in her arms.

Your about to move away from Mal when he grabs your arm. "Wait..." You stop hearing what he has to say. "Thank you." He mutters.

You grasp his hand in a firm shake and smile. "No thank you Mal, you brought me closure to my father's death and reunited me with his memory. You're the one who has given me a new outlook on life."

You pause, before sighing. "Am so sorry for everything I put you and Natara through."

S.W.A.T teams close in with their guns trained followed by paramedics that swarm Mal.

You slowly rise from the ground to your shaken feet and make your way over to S.W.A.T team to give yourself up, you then look over to Mal and Natara with a smile knowing they are good people at heart; you just wished it never had to come to this.

Your body is slowly shutting down by the second and you know in that instant you're dying from the amount of blood you're quickly loosing.

You mouth a shaky "I forgive you Mal, I forgive you."

Before your body collapses and the shadows take hold, as your eyes close and you know it's for the best.

You don't even get the chance to hear Mal's agonising screams. "NO! Do something! You can't let him die!"

You now know that you're in a better place, the place you always wanted to be, where you can finally be with your parents forever and now your peace can be made.

You are now Mal Fallon.

The paramedics help you onto a gurney, they have tubes attach that are giving you fluids to help with the pain, Natara is by your side.

Ben had just limped away from you to give himself up, but every step he takes his body slowly crumples as all you can do is watch helplessly as he falls and hits the pavement.

You scream at the top of your lungs. "NO!..Do something! You can't let him die!"

A few moments pass...

"Is he..?" Natara softly asks.

"He is gone, am so very sorry Detective Fallon, Agent Williams."

Natara lets a devastated sigh and her heart sinks just as your own, she holds your hand tightly and gives it a squeeze.

A single tear drops falls from eyes as the saddest outcome of the situation hits you.

"This isn't how it was meant to end! He shouldn't have died, but I just failed like last time I let both of them down!" You hit the gurney with your fist in frustration.

Natara rubs your hand tenderly. "Mal you did everything you could today, you even got shot, risking your life for me. I know this is not the result you wanted but at least at you both got closure."

You nod knowing she's right, you touch her hand softly and smile.

"Your right Nat, I may have lost another life today but do you know what I have gained something so amazing."

She blushes lightly. "And what is that Mal?"

You grin playfully. "The woman of my dreams, I love you Nat."

"I love you to Mal."

You kiss her softly, and for once in your life you know you have done something right.

You then look at the lifeless corpse getting took away, and with that you and Natara are on your way to the hospital together not as partners but something much more.

2 weeks Later.

Entering the station you walk hand in hand with your partner and now your boyfriend Mal, as you are both are greeted with familiar faces of your co-workers. They smile widely as they see you both, and you know what they are all thinking.

You had secretly set up this get together for him, as you thought he deserved it with everything that happened with Ben Grayson you thought it may help cheer him up.

"Hey Mal, how you doing buddy?"

"Looking good there Mal."

"Glad to have you back!"

"Finally Maltara is really happening, and not just in my fanfics." Kai cheers fist pumping the air.

"Finally you guys are together! So happy for you both it's about time you both were happy!"

Everyone welcomes you both so warmly as you past everyone in the precinct you can see Mal's crystal blue eyes sparkle.

He squeezes your hand lightly before gazing at you with loving eyes, with that you smile and bite your lip flirtatiously, as you know he is finally yours and you're his.

You hear his name being called from across the room so you decide to let him mingle in the station and catch up with his colleagues.

You pull him into a tight hug before whispering in his ear.

"I'll see you later, there someone I need to see, I noticed that you're wanted by your little fan group over there. You giggle as you playfully ruffle through his soft brown locks.

"So I'll come and get you later handsome."

He places a tender kiss onto your lips that leaves you wanting more before returning the whisper.

"You're only jealous that you don't have one." he returns the playfulness.

"I'll see you later beautiful and thank you for putting this together. You're the best!...Oh and I love you."

"I love you too!"

He then turns on his heels and walks off to converse with his fellow co-workers.

You then smile before heading down to the crime lab to see Amy. You enter to find her typing at her computer; she turns away from her screen and faces you as she hears you entering the room.

You both smile before rushing over to her!

"OMG Natara you're okay! She beams with excitement as you both hug each other tightly.

"Amy I'm so glad to see you and of course I am, I have you to thank for that."

"Me? I didn't do anything?" She shyly looks away.

"You called for reinforcements didn't you?"

She pauses before nodding. "Please don't be angry Natara. I just had a bad feeling about the whole situation and I couldn't bare the thought of you and Mal getting hurt...I…I"

You beam her smile which cuts her off mid-sentence. "Amy, I'm glad you did, without the back-up, well something bad could of happen, so thank you from the bottom of my heart." You say with the most sincere tone of voice.

You can see her eyes light up as you hug once again before you both go and join everyone else in the precinct, to enjoy Mal's welcome back party.

You both enter the precinct and you can see everyone is having a great time but also pleased to see that Mal is back in good health.

You see Amy give him a tight squeeze hug, as she is glad he is okay, you smile as you watch this.

Everyone suddenly stops hearing the door swing open and a familiar voice whichs fills the room.

"Is someone throwing a party without me?"

As they enter further you light up with a smile as you see no one other than Ken in the doorway as he flashes a charming smile.

You see Mal stop, turn and face him before he beams with joy as you can see one of his charming signature Fallon smiles, gets flashed Ken's way.

"I see someone is feeling much better, you never did miss a party though."

"Damn right I don't, you know me if there's a party then am there."

They both share a chuckle before walking up to each other and bro hugging.

"Look man, am sorry for not believing you, when I should've had you back."

"Heh, don't go all soft on me Kenneth, new jacket here don't want any tear stains on it." Mal playfully teases.

"Hell no, I don't cry Malachi but you on the other hand…"

You and Amy giggle as you can see Mal burrow his head into a frown at Ken's comment.

"Hey that was only one time! You swore you would never bring that up again." He puts his hands up in defence.

"Heh, sorry man it was needed. Glad to have you back bud."

"Same here! Now let's get this party started. First around is on me!"

Later that Evening.

After having such a good welcome back party for Mal, you both walk out the station hand in hand and head to your car.

Since the circumstances of recent events, Mal thought it was only right to visit the graves of Micheal and Ben Grayson. He feels like he at least owes them that, he still beats himself up to this day for losing both of them.

After a 20 minute drive you and Mal both enter San Francisco's cemetery. You and Mal both get out of the car and head to the two gravestones, as you both stand there in silence.

You don't need words as you know what each other is thinking, Mal kneels down in between the two graves and gently throws a single red rose for Micheal and Ben.

You put a hand on Mal's shoulder before giving it a light squeeze. He doesn't say a word but places his hand on top of yours.

He then stands next to you before take a deep breathe.

"Am so sorry, for everything I have put you both through, I wish so much that I wasn't stood here paying my respects to you both now, that you were still living life to the full."

He pauses as you can tell he feels emotional you grab his hand tightly and softly whisper soothing words that help him remain his composure.

"But in a way I hope that one day when we meet in the next life that you could forgive from my mistakes. Rest in peace."

Before you walk away Mal then goes to both of the graves and places a single army dog tag on each.

"R.I.P. Soldiers." He whispers before saluting them.

In the distance you notice Mal staring into space, you follow his gaze and that's where your eyes meet with two ghostly figures.

As you watch closely you see two sprits; one looks older and mature like an adult type silhouette and the one looking childlike sprit running towards him, laughter and happiness comes from them both as they hug each other briefly.

'Dad! It is really you!"

'Ben my boy!'

'Am so glad to see you again! I missed you so much!'

'Well Ben am here now, am not going anywhere I promise.'

'I love you Dad!'

'I love you too!'

'There you both are, your tea is getting cold, let's go home my two handsome men.'

That's when you see a lady figure appear who joins them; they all then join hands and walk away together before disappears into thin air.

You can see Mal's face lights up, as he watches the same moment you're witnessing, first you feel like it's a dream but it actually happening.

That when in that moment you can tell Ben finally got his happiness he so desperately wanted.

You smile as Mal then walks away from the graves and snakes his arm around you pulling you close before you both hold each other hands and leave the graveyard, together knowing that the once broken and all the heartache has now been fixed and the peace Mal has been searching for all these years has finally been made.

The past has finally been put to rest...

A/N: Hey guys well it saddens me to say this but we have come to an end to Flash From The Past. I must say I really enjoyed writing this story so much, even though I had a period where I stopped writing, but then I got back into the hang of it again after writing the last two chapters and didn't want to stop.

I do enjoy writing my stories even though I tend to stop, but even though that being said, what makes it worthwhile is reading all of your guys lovely comments and feedback but also all the construction criticism. It helps so much at looking at my own writing ability as a writer and then from this using your comment to adapt my abilities in becoming better in writing but also helping me grow as a writer!

It means so much for all of the support I have received for this story! So thank you! I love you all so much! :D

I hope to see you all in my upcoming stories so watch out for that! :)

And...P.s I promise for my upcoming stories that my updates will be more organised and done more frequently next time! :D

Have an awesome day/evening!

-Lots of Love Nat157s :) x