So this is my apology for the previous three chapters. I hope it heals the hole in your heart or at least patches it up a little.

If you haven't read the previous three chapters I don't even know if you'll want to but it will make this one chapter more clear as they are referenced.

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As Donovan blew out the last match, the door to the apartment opened and Carter walked in, kicked off her shoes, and tossed her satchel onto the dining room table.

"That's it," she said. "We are going to be destitute, there's no way around it."

Concealing a smile, Donovan sank back on the couch, looking at Carter. Surrounded by a room full of candlelight, she seemed to glow, the flickering flames warming her tan skin and glinting off of her blue eyes. To him, she appeared almost otherworldly, but she wasn't. She was real.

With a sigh, Carter flopped onto the couch beside him, resting her head back, eyes closed.

"We'll be homeless," she said. "You'll have to walk the streets so that photographers can see you and offer money to take your picture for some fancy magazine they work for." 

"Will you be walking beside me?" Donovan asked, not sure if he should be amused or annoyed that she didn't notice the candles everywhere.

"No. I scowl too much. They wouldn't want my picture."

"The interview went that badly?"

She gave another sigh, this one resigned. "Not in the beginning. I make a very impressive candidate. But then when I mentioned that I have the ability to see what others miss, he asked me such as?"

Donovan groaned. "Carter no." He covered his face with his hand. "Do I even want to ask what you said to that?"

"He asked me point blank what I could see that others missed, how was I supposed to take that any other way?"

"Just tell me."

A beat of silence. "I pointed out the fact that I knew he was sleeping with his secretary. Who happens to not be his wife."

When Donovan let out a soft chuckle, Carter sat up.

"Donovan, I don't know how others didn't see it. She smelled so strongly of his cologne you'd think she bathed in it!"

"You're right," Donovan said. "We're going to be destitute, might as well enjoy each day we have left here."

At that Carter gazed about the apartment, frowning. "Why are all these candles here? Don't tell me we couldn't pay the electricity bill already and they cut the power?"

Donovan cocked his head. "Carter, sometimes I don't know if you really don't understand what a romantic gesture is or your pretend not to know."

"A fire hazard is romantic, since when?"

Donovan stared at her, struggling between amused and bemused. Before he could decide which one he felt, Carter smiled.

"Ah, there is it," she murmured. She touched his forehead tenderly with her finger. "You get this wrinkle right there when you quite figure me out."

"You don't want me to figure you out?"

"No, I just like knowing that there are somethings left for us to discover about each other."

"Who knew we still had some mystery in our relationship." Donovan took her hand and kissed her palm. Carter quickly scanned the apartment. This act Donovan could at least decipher.

"She's doing a double feature with Harrison. Toy Story 3 and 4."

Carter smiled. "Great, we shall have a sobbing mess for a child when it's over."

"Just because you cried at the trash scene, doesn't mean everyone else does."

"I didn't cry!"

Donovan held her hand between both of his, brushing his thumb over her skin, simply because he could.

"You were a mess."

"Okay, but can you blame me? They are all preparing to die with each other. If you don't get the significance of that, you don't have a heart. Besides, which one of us was it that cried at the beginning of Up?"

She had him there. But it couldn't be helped. The beginning sequence was heartbreaking and the end result was Donovan's worst nightmare. One he'd had to live through five months ago.
"He loses a baby and his wife, you can't blame me for feeling something at that."

Carter gave a dramatic sigh. "Fine. You can't be blamed. We both have our weaknesses." The edge of her mouth curled up mischievously and Donovan didn't care what plans lay in her mind, he would follow them as long as he could see that smile forever.

"You know what this lighting is perfect for?" she asked.

With only candles, the apartment was dim with wavering shadows.

"I think it's time to have a rematch on our gun assembling race."

"Carter, you can't be serious," Donovan said, wanting to laugh. "In all our years together you have still yet to beat me. Why would this be different?"

"Because while I was away, when I wasn't going over plans to take down O'Malley I assembled and disassembled my gun thousands, if not millions of times while you were catatonic."

Donovan froze as hours upon hours of feeling cut open and left to wither away burst in his mind. Panic flashed across Carter's face. In a breath, she held his face in her hands, eyes glued to his.

"Don't," she said. "Don't leave me. Don't retreat. I'm sorry. I'm sorry I said that. All of it was my fault, please don't pull away."

Slowly, Donovan covered her hands with his and she let out a scared breath.

"It was both our faults," he said. "I should have been there for Kennedy."

"And I should have been there for both of you."

For a long while, they sat there their past invading the room, sucking away the carefree feeling of before.

"I'm sorry I ruined your romantic night," Carter whispered.

Something sparked inside Donovan, they worked so hard to find a new balance, a new way of connecting and he couldn't let it be ruined. He wouldn't let it be ruined. He would fight his past and fight for them. Without speaking, he pressed play on a song and stood, bringing Carter with him.

Soft jazzy music swelled around them, the saxophone singing out its soulful melody. Wrapping an arm around her waist, Donovan drew Carter to him, taking her hand. Closing his eyes, he rested his head against her hair.

"I can't dance as well as you," she said.

He smiled. "It's good I don't want to dance. I want to stand here and hold you as we sway back and forth. Because you are real."

They rocked side to side, barely rotating, holding each other, aware of nothing else. With each song their pain quietly retreated.

"Donovan?"

"Hmmm?"

"What was Dream Carter like?"

Donovan's smile slipped into something thoughtful. In his mind, he could still see Dream Carter sitting on the edge of his bed, smiling at him, caressing his face, speaking to him. "Looking back I can see that she wasn't like you."

At this, Carter peered up at him. "How so?"

"She was kind."

Scowling, Carter hit his arm which made him smile.

"She was gentle too."

Carter huffed, rolling her eyes. Donovan tucked a strand of Carter's hair behind her ear, watching as her annoyance vanished. She rested her hand on the back of his neck. 

"She lacked your fire," he said.

"Yes, my fire that flares and gets me sacked before I'm ever employed."

Donovan laughed. "Yes, that one."

Carter sobered, brow creasing with uncertainty. "What are we going to do? I clearly have no marketable skills other than being hostile and able to handle a weapon."

"Do you want the answer? Or do you want to try working for a juice place or yoga studio?"

"I mentioned hostile, didn't I?"

"You did. Which is why I think this new job will work for you?"

Carter narrowed her eyes, caught between curious and mystified. He paused capturing the look, storing it away.

"Ah, there it is," he said echoing her.

She shook her head at him even as she smiled. "You mentioned a job?"

"Yes, it so happens that I have a brilliant older brother who is starting a criminal consulting business and he's looking for employees." Carter froze, staring at him. "Employees he trusts to work with police forces all over the country and can handle challenging cases. He's asked if I know anyone who fits that description."

Carter swallowed. "That would mean..." He saw as she put the final piece together, saw how her face lit up with hesitant hope. "We would work together again. We would be...partners."

She gripped his shirt and Donovan could feel the excitement and disbelief in the gesture. Guilt still lived in her, guilt over broken trust. He knew this. But quitting proved to him that she would do anything to rebuild and he planned to do all he could to rebuild with her.

"Yes," he said. "We'd be partners." He kissed her and she laughed, pulling him closer.

She beamed up at him.

"Partners," she whispered, savoring the word in her mouth.

Donovan cupped her cheek. "After all how can we leave the world without the Unstoppable Couple?"

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*lowers shield* Am I free to put this down yet?

You wanted and deserved a happy chapter because let's face it the last ones were so utterly depressing. I hope this made up for them. Let me know your thoughts on it! 🗯💬💭💕

Also, who else is going to admit that they teared up at Toy Story 3 and 4 as well as UP? Gosh those are supposed to me kids movies! How are they so sad!

Again, I know so many of you wanted to know how old Kennedy was but I still don't know how this effects her future so I didn't put her in again.

Also after the last chapter people asked how the timelines added up with Carter quitting the FBI but then was with the FBI while Kennedy was in high school. For high school, Carter and Donovan take on one final job for the FBI because they are the only ones that can do it. That's how it works out.

I love you, I'm sorry for all the tears in the last chapters. Thanks for not hating me or attempting to murder me.

Vote, comment, follow but only if that's the last possibly option you have.