Cassia lingered in the mortuary after Zacharias had gone. She was putting off the inevitable: going home to pack her things.

She couldn't spend Christmas with Sebastian. She'd dragged this on for far too long, and it was time to leave.

The afternoon was creeping by when she left the building. Long, dark shadows stretched down the drive from the artificial lights in the concrete sky. She weaved around the section that was still taped off as a crime scene, passing behind a paramedic van. The cold air dug its fingers down her coat, sending a chill sweeping from her skin to her heart. Another man she'd loved. Another man she was going to lose.

Her love for Sebastian was different to the gentle love she'd once felt for Miles. The chemistry between them had lit a fire inside her, and now it was always burning. She loved him with strength and fervour, and even in their quieter moments, there was something intensely passionate about it.

Would she ever be able to forget?

She reached the top of the drive and walked towards the tram stop, her legs heavy. A carriage stopped just as she reached the sign, and she squashed herself on board with harassed husbands and disorganised families. The seats in front of hers were occupied by a mother and toddler, and the child was munching a gingerbread man. Part of her warmed. The other part of her hardened as she caught a glimpse of the mother digging through a tattered handbag. Something about her, even from behind, set her apart from the others on the tram.

That would be her, soon -- a single mother.

They reached Sebastian's road when her extremities were starting to turn numb. She was the only passenger to get off. As the tram pulled away, she turned around and walked towards his building. It was the second one along, with a covered alleyway arching between the near wall and its neighbour. A skip had been tucked to the side within, and as she approached, something inside it rustled in the breeze.

The tram stayed level with her for a second, then picked up pace and drew past.

A gunshot cracked the air.

She felt the bullet pass over her head, and then something hit her from behind. Arms clamped over her body. They rolled into the alleyway.

Panic bolted through her like an electric shock. She thrashed against her attacker, opening her mouth to scream.

"Cassia," Sebastian said.

One word. A promise and a warning.

He dumped her on the floor and sat up so that she was behind him, his pistol in one hand. The gunshot had shattered the sounds of the city, and silence hung for a second.

Then footsteps filled it.

Cassia struggled to sit up, gasping for breath. A shadow was approaching from the other side of the road. Another gun glinted as it entered the light.

Sebastian shoved her shoulder without looking behind him. "Get down!"

Cassia caught his arm. The shadow fired.

They hit the wall just in time. While the gunshot echoed, she readjusted her grip and took Sebastian down, landing on top of him. Jesus Christ. That had been so close. She wanted to yell at him, but she was barely in control of her breathing, and the shadow had unnervingly vanished.

"Well, well." A deep voice floated down the alleyway. "Your boyfriend came to save you."

Sebastian pushed her off, sighting into the darkness. "Tobias Evans."

"It took you a while to work it out. I thought I'd get another one."

"You thought wrong. Put the gun down, or I'll be forced to shoot you."

"You don't even know where I am," the voice said. "And I'm not giving up my weapon until I've killed Cassia."

The hair on the back of her neck stood up. He knew her name.

"Why?" Sebastian's voice was a growl. "Why are you doing this?"

"Because I hate my mother -- and everyone like her."

Sebastian eased forwards, and Cassia sat up to crawl after him. He stilled, lowering his voice. "What the hell are you doing?"

"I'm waiting to flatten you if he comes around the corner." Like she'd just had to do.

"I'm watching. I'll shoot him when he does."

She hesitated. A chilly breeze swept down the alleyway, cooling her stomach. Her baby.

She lay down. Please don't die.

Sebastian raised his voice. "You hold a grudge against people who can afford to buy jewellery from Ever Empire?"

"I can hardly afford to feed myself. This time of year is the worst. Christmas? What's that? I don't have the money to celebrate it. Meanwhile, my mother and her kind buy new pieces of jewellery every week. It's not fair. They need teaching a lesson."

"That's why you killed the others?" Sebastian inched forwards.

"I'd had enough. Seeing my mother there again, buying herself a Christmas present but knowing she wouldn't even help me put food on my table...I'd had enough. I knew the people who walked into that shop didn't deserve what they'd been given. So I tracked down everyone who came in that day -- everyone who's ever been. And I'm going to take everything away from them all."

The diamond earrings for her mother...nausea washed over Cassia. The day after she'd slept with Sebastian and conceived their child, she'd shared a shop with a murderous psychopath.

The alley spun around her, and she briefly closed her eyes. Don't be sick. No distractions. His life is on the line.

A gentle hum started up outside, then grew closer. She heard the whir and clank of robots as they touched down on the street, and then the thump of boots across the concrete. A smudge of hope rose, clearing her vision. Back-up had arrived.

"Don't move!" Amber's voice echoed down the street. "Don't move, or I'll shoot!"

But the shadows by the mouth of the alley were moving. A flash of steel emerged from the darkness.

Sebastian fired.

***

The team gathered outside the crime scene once Tobias had been taken away in the ambulance. He was alive. Just.

It wasn't the first time Sebastian had discharged his firearm with the intention of killing in the line of duty. Probably wouldn't be the last. But it was the only time it had been personal. He'd discharged his weapon not just for an innocent, but for Cassia.

She was shivering at his side, her eyes slowly turning blank with shock. To him, the sight was worse than the body. He'd seen her stay strong through a lot, but now she was crumbling. He didn't blame her.

If she'd taken one step differently, she would have been dead. If he'd taken one second more to tackle her, Tobias might have fired again.

He'd come so close to losing her, and inside, he was crumbling as well.

Amber was splitting her attention between the crime scene littered with PRBs and her sister. The crime scene because it was now hers, and her sister because she was worried. Alex was watching his wife, and DCS Ky Dixon was assessing all of them with a grave expression.

Ordinarily, he would have been bollocking Sebastian for taking off on his own. But, had Sebastian waited for everyone else to assemble, Cassia would have died. So no bollocking came.

"Cassia," the chief superintendent said, his gruff voice unusually soft, "we'll have to take a statement when you're ready."

She hunched in her coat, her eyes sliding to the floor. "I'll do it now, while everything's still clear."

Dixon nodded and glanced at Sebastian. "You know you'll have to give one, too."

"Yes, sir." He wished he didn't. There was nothing he wanted less than to go over how close he'd come to losing Cassia in detail.

Amber hugged her sister, her arms locking tight. She didn't say anything for a long moment. When she stepped back, she latched onto Sebastian, tears in her eyes. "Thank you."

He didn't reply. He hadn't done it for her.

Otto accompanied them back to the station. When they arrived, he stuck to Cassia's side, and they went into one interview room together. Sebastian handed over his weapon as forensic evidence and entered another. There would be a standard investigation into Tobias' shooting, run by Amber. He knew he'd be cleared. He'd looked down Tobias' barrel and seen how close death had been. There was no question about whether it had been necessary.

His biggest worry was Cassia.

After he'd given his statement, he found her and Otto in his office. His sergeant had given her a cardboard cup of tea, but she was ignoring it, staring through the glass walls. It took her a long moment to move her gaze to Sebastian, and when she did, he saw that shock had turned to heartbreak. It struck a nerve deep in his core.

He caught the door as it started to swing shut behind him. "Come on."

She rose slowly.

He took her hand and nodded at Otto. "I owe you a beer."

"Make it a full pack." Otto smiled, but his eyes were worried as they flicked between him and Cassia. "Merry Christmas, sir. I'll see you when you come back."

"Merry Christmas." Sebastian led Cassia out.

"Sir?"

He glanced back.

Take care of her, Otto mouthed.

Sebastian frowned as he turned away. He always took care of Cassia.

***

She didn't look at Sebastian all the way home. His hand around hers was torture enough.

She'd almost lost him. Now she had to leave him.

They said nothing until they'd reached his building and he'd locked them inside his flat. Then he suddenly crushed her against him. "I'm sorry, Cassia. I'm so sorry."

He smelled of tobacco and gunpowder, familiar and frightening, and she felt her defences crumble. Everything with him was so right, but so wrong -- a reminder of safety and a reminder of danger. A reminder of the gunshots and the lives they'd almost lost. She shuddered against him.

"It's okay," he said roughly. "You're safe now." He kissed her scalp, then rested his chin on her head.

She sobbed. "I a-almost --"

Lost you. Lost the baby.

An overwhelming feeling of protection surged up in her, and she pulled away from his strong hold. "I h-have to go."

"Go?" He frowned. "Go where?"

"Home."

Hurt crashed across his features, tightening his jaw. "This is your home. Temporarily."

Temporarily. The word cut like a knife. Back in the mortuary with Zacharias, she'd been right.

He wouldn't change. It would never be more than a fling for him.

"Don't go," he said.

"Why?" Her voice cracked. "Why do you want me to stay?"

"Why do you want to go? I don't understand."

He was so beautiful, even when he looked so uncertain. She wanted to trail kisses along his jawline, to run her hands through his blond hair. She wanted to make him forget his fears and feel something else -- something stronger.

"I love you," she whispered, an ache spreading across her chest. "I'm going because I love you, and you can't love me."

"No." He tensed. "You don't love me. You told me you didn't want a happy ending."

"That was true before you changed my life. You're my best friend -- and more than that now."

"I don't do commitment." His voice was desperate, and he closed his hands into fists. "I'll hurt you."

He still didn't trust her. The realisation struck her like a stone and made her knees turn weak. She'd thought they'd understood each other.

"You're not afraid of hurting me. You're afraid of getting hurt, the way you were hurt by your parents. I thought you knew me better than to lump me in with them."

"You're asking for commitment!"

"I'm not." She raised her chin as tears trickled down her cheeks. "I'm trying to protect you. I'm walking away."

He stared at her. "Your flat..."

"The heating should be working now. There's no reason for me to stay." She turned to go. "I promised you I didn't want a happy ending. I let you down, and I'm trying to fix my mistake. I'm sorry."

She left the room and packed.

He didn't come after her.