"Maybe not, but you are part of the conspiracy and are just as guilty as Montgomery."

Austin and Derrick came into the room and Austin roughly cuffed him while Derrick went over to Edward and gave him a hand up.

Confusion darkening her eyes even more, she made a helpless gesture with her hand. "You're wearing vests. Oh, thank God," Piper said, jumping off the sofa and running to her brother, hugging him tight.

"Bulldozer. It's so good to see you." He looked over at Dex. "You the SEAL?"

Dex walked into the room and took the hand that Edward offered. "Thank you so much for saving my sister and for uncovering my brother-in-law's murder. We owe you so much."

Dex nodded as the sound of sirens in the distance got closer.

"Did you get everything?"

Edward walked to his desk and picked up the camera and pushed a few buttons. "Yup, got it all. Mullins isn't going to be able to either buy his way or talk his way out of this. He confessed to everything. Unfortunately, Montgomery isn't going to stand for his crimes, but he got what was coming to him."

EMTs came into the room, but the billionaire and the assassin were both dead.

Edward removed the digital card and put it in its case, handing the evidence to Derrick.

"The NCIS agents didn't go back to San Diego. They came here and you set all this up. Gave you two vests and planned the video." Piper looked at Derrick. "Why did you leave me out of this?" she demanded.

Derrick looked at Dex. "This one is all yours, boss," he said, and left the room, Edward following him. They were alone.

"Why?"

"You already had enough heartache and I didn't see the need to add to it. If Montgomery was on the up-and-up, we wouldn't need the vests and the camera, but if he wasn't, we were covered. Well, Mullins wasn't the only one with a backup plan. I sent NCIS here and you know the rest. I knew you would trust me to keep you safe. I wished he hadn't been involved. A betrayal by a friend is so much harder to deal with."

She nodded and went into his arms. Now she knew how she would react to losing Dex, and the thought of him in the kind of danger a SEAL lived every day was too much for her.

"Piper, I've got some military stuff to deal with. I've got to call my CO and let him know what happened and they're probably going to make me go to Walter Reed, but I want to talk to you about us."

She closed her eyes and slipped out of his embrace. Leaning against the desk, she folded her arms and she looked at him. "I can't," she whispered, her voice breaking. "I want to be strong enough to be the woman you need, but I can't take the risk of losing you to..."

"Combat."

She huddled in her arms, a terrible anguish lining her face. "I see what you deal with in a war zone. I'll know you're in jeopardy every day and I can't ask you not to do something you're so passionate about and so good at. I would never do that, never let you down."

He swallowed hard, knowing with all his heart this was the woman for him. The problem was, she didn't know how strong she was. She didn't think she could stand by him, but he knew differently. She was scared and she had been through a lot the last week. He would let this be for now. But he realized he had to let her go. It had to be her choice to want to be with him. She would have to come to him.

There wasn't anything more to talk about. She cried silently as Dex turned and left, stopping briefly to tell Edward that Piper needed him.

He walked out of her house and got into the rental and sat there for a moment as if that assassin's bullet had pierced his chest and opened a gaping hole.

He called his father and brother and let them know it was over and he was done.

When he called into base command at Coronado, California, and asked for his commander, he was sitting on the bed he'd shared with Piper; the suitcase from Afghanistan was stuffed with the meager clothes he had.

When the call went through and Dex explained where he'd been for six days, his commander ripped him a new one for a full fifteen minutes and ordered him to Walter Reed. His mother was already taking care of the house, and the files and computer had been confiscated by NCIS.

Austin and Derrick had already gone back to San Diego, and Mullins was being processed, charged with so many crimes, least of all treason. Stephen Montgomery was lucky he was dead.

Experiencing another jolt of fury, he stripped down and donned swim trunks and hit the pool, swimming lap after lap until his lungs shut down and his legs gave out. That's where Rock found him.

His brother hadn't said a word, just hauled his ass out of the pool and into the house. He forced him into the shower, his mouth tightening when he saw the wound on his side.

"Jesus. Why aren't you in the hospital, for God's sake, Dexter?"

"I got my ass chewed and I'm supposed to get some goddamned R and R before my CO wants to see my ugly mug in Coronado. I've been ordered to Walter Reed."

"Well, let's get you over there."

He just gave Rock a hard, flat look and Rock backed out of the bathroom. Dex stood there and then, dizzy and feeling sick, he leaned against the counter.

The face reflected back at him showed a haggard, hunched man with thick scruff and shaggy, dripping hair. He'd chased his brother out of the room. He didn't want him to see him come apart at the seams. He stared at his reflection in the mirror, struggling with the tightness in his throat.

Piper was finally safe. He could finally let go.

"I'm coming back in there if I don't hear that shower come on...like...now."

He stood there for a moment and thought about Spaceman, Slim and DJ. He gave them some head and heart time, pissed that they had died for nothing.

The room started to spin and he held on tighter to the counter.

"Rock..." he breathed, his knees buckling. He was heading to the floor, but as he started to fall, his brother was there, catching him.

"I got you."

Dex came to lying on the bed and Rock was on the phone. As soon as he got off, he helped Dex to his feet.

"That was Walter Reed. They're expecting you," Rock said as he set his broad shoulder under his brother's armpit and half carried him out of the house.

Dex rose, catching the lingering scent of Piper as he exited the room. He didn't know why, but he was suddenly angry with her. Maybe it was because anger was safe and it shut down everything else he was feeling. And when he was around Piper Jones, he needed to be shut down.

Maybe, he thought grimly, that was how he would survive losing her.

His diagnosis was exhaustion, mental fatigue and incomplete rest and healing of his wound. He slept for eighteen hours straight, then found out he was stuck at Walter Reed for a week. He would then be discharged and he would fly back to Coronado and stay with Rock until he was fully well and was cleared by the doctors there. Rock was in and out and his parents came to visit him.

On the third day, there was a light knock on his door and he looked up into the soft eyes of Piper.

"Is this a good time?" Her voice was so soft, so unsteady, he could barely hear her. "I can come back," she said, taking another uneven breath when he didn't answer.

"No," he blurted out. "Now is fine."

As if bracing herself, her voice stronger, she said, "I wanted to thank you." Her voice caught. "I was pretty much wrung out when we last talked...and you left before...before..." She paused, and Dex knew she'd been crying. He felt torn up inside. "I wanted to tell you how sorry I am that you got dragged into my mess."

Her voice was doing painful damage to his heart. Clenching and unclenching his jaw, he reached down deep for an easiness he did not feel. "Hey, Senator," he said gruffly. "All in a SEAL's day."

"It meant something," she said, the same heart-wrenching catch to her voice. "You were always there when I needed you."

She walked to the open closet door where his two uniforms were hanging. Rock had gotten him his military gear to fly home. She stared at them, then reached out and ran her hand over the fabric, clutching it. He looked away.

A funny, uncomfortable sensation coursed through him. He blinked a couple of times and stared at the ceiling, his insides going dead still. Another woman was leaving him. But this one, this woman, mattered the most. His other relationships paled in comparison and it hurt so damn bad.

She approached the bed and he wasn't sure how much longer he could hang on to the pressure in his chest.

"I'm glad I was there for you, Piper. I'm glad that you're safe. No thanks are necessary. I would have done it for anyone. Protect the weak. Defend the innocent."

She smiled then and his heart rolled over. "Goodbye, Dexter," she said, bending down and kissing him on the side of his face. "Sois prudent, mon amour," she whispered, then rushed out of the room.

Feeling as if he'd just taken a blow to the heart, Dex dragged his hand down his unshaven face, his throat cramped up, his eyes smarting.

Ask more of yourself than others. Even when it was hard to bear.

Piper resumed her activities, well aware of the day Dex was leaving, and when the time of his flight came and went, she locked herself in her office and cried like a baby. After that, it got easier. She took the next three weeks hour by hour, but the funny thing was, the ache for Dex never went away. It only got worse. The mornings were the most terrible because she remembered how wonderful it was to wake up in his arms.

That night she curled up into a ball and cried some more. Her nightmares had disappeared and with them her holding on to the memories of Brad. He was gone and she had to let him go. Let him have peace, so that she could find her own, but it eluded her.

She had word about Tyler weekly. He was improving and that was a boon to her heart. Soon he would be home.

As the days passed, she felt more fatigued than normal, falling asleep at her desk when she'd been able to work with no problem in the past. The simplest thing would set her off, but she chalked it up to getting less sleep and missing Dex.

The Mullins scandal and the whole horrible story got released to the press and Piper spent almost as much time dodging the media as she did working.

A month after Dex left, Brad's bill went to the floor and it passed. The last thing she needed to do for him was done. It was only a formality now and the president would sign it into law. That's when she went into his congressional email and saw evidence that Brad had planned to run for president. Something he'd just assumed she would go along with. Without even consulting her. It made her so sad that she had been so complacent. Lost her identity along the way.

With the overwhelming evidence, Mullins went to prison and Piper was free to move on with her life.

The problem was, she had no idea what she wanted to do with it.

She told Brock she was leaving early, and she stopped at a florist, then drove to the cemetery. She parked her car in the lot and started walking. Early September in DC was still steamy and she was hot and sweaty when she reached the grave site.

She stared down at Brad's large stone, brushing off grass, leaves and twigs. Then she knelt down and did the same for the tiny little headstone beside his. She set eleven roses on Brad's grave and one lone rose on Sophie's. Then she sat back on her heels and felt the sun on her face and the wind against her moist skin, giving her a temporary reprieve from the humidity.

She had six weeks left in Brad's term, mostly a formality. After she got home from the graveyard, she put her Georgetown town house on the market and it sold within a week. Since it was a cash offer, she was able to finalize the deal. She donated and sold off all of her furniture and household goods, and as each possession disappeared, she felt lighter and lighter.

In the back of her mind, she thought about the beautiful California house on the ocean. It called to her.

She moved back to the Bethesda mansion with Edward.

The first morning she was home, something sharp and staccato intruded on the heaviness of sleep, pushing back the gray trailers of a dream. Piper sighed and stirred, annoyed that the dream had evaporated. It was lovely and it featured Dex, naked in a pool, trying to coax her into the water.

She got up and looked outside to see that the grounds keepers had started on the hedge trimming. She went downstairs and found Edward at the table watching the morning news.

"Hey, you. Sleep well?"

"Moderately."

"There's eggs and bacon." She went to the pan and dished herself up a helping.

Settling at the table, she said, "Edward, why are you keeping this monstrosity of a house?"

"It's our home, Piper. Do you want to sell it?"

"I don't know. I'm restless and..."

He gave her a sympathetic look. "Unhappy."

She sighed. "Edward."

He set down the paper and sat forward. "What's wrong? You sold your house, your term is ending. Seems like you're letting go and moving on."

"Brad told me to."

"Doesn't make it easy," he said.

"No. I'm just thankful that I wasn't wrong about him, Edward."

He reached out and squeezed her hand. "I saw the video, Piper. You weren't wrong. He was a brave and loyal man. He didn't deserve to die like that." He was silent for a minute. "Piper, do you want to talk about the SEAL?"

"No." Her throat got thick and tears flooded her eyes. She brushed them away.

"It was obvious to me that he was head over heels for you. Had it bad."

"We bonded." That was such a paltry answer to what she and Dex had together.

"No kidding. Look, it's easy for me to tell you what to do. But guys like him don't come along every day."

"It's his profession."

"Really, he's serving his country, Piper."

"I don't think I could take another loss."

"Seems to me, sis, that you are experiencing another loss. You're afraid of taking a risk again, and even though he's in a dangerous profession, isn't it better to have him every day than live without him forever?"

That hit her hard.

"Ty's coming home next week. He'll need some care, PT. I'm hiring a nurse to take care of him."

"If she's pretty, he's going to charm the heck out of her."

Edward took a bite of his toast. "Ha, maybe I'll hire a pretty one. Might motivate him."