The day was gray and wet, if there was such a thing as a perfect day for a funeral this would be that day. She stood next to the casket holding the single red rose that she planned to place on top of the casket as it was lowered into the ground. The tears fell freely from her eyes as she stared at the black box, she was unable to look anywhere else, at anyone else. She felt them around her, they pitied her, but she would not, could not, look at them.

Her heart was breaking as she stood there, she felt that at any moment her legs were going to give out on her and she was going to fall to the ground. She had prepared herself for this day, had spent all day yesterday locked in her room with her memories. She had been determined to be strong, to keep her tears inside but when the service began she could not control her emotions.

As the casket was lowered into the ground, she watched the other feet walk by and drop their flowers off on the casket, saying their final good-byes. She stood until the end, until the others were gone and the casket was completely in the ground. She didn't want to say her final good-bye.

She heard a voice near her speaking, “We haven't seen any activity from Nick in the last week. When we questioned Steph, she gave us the times of all their camps. The camps were all vacated by the time we got there but at one we found a massive amount of blood. We tested it and it was Nick's. No one could have lived after losing that much blood. Nick is gone for good.”

The words were for her, but she couldn't listen to talk about Nick right now. She didn't want to think about him right now, he didn't belong as part of this day. She was glad he was gone, but she did not want to be reminded of him, not today.

“I hate to bring this up today, but I feel you should know. Steph somehow managed to get away. We think she had another device hidden on her body. You should be careful, she probably wants revenge.”

Julie nodded at this. Of course Steph got away, she expected the woman wouldn't stay captive for long. In fact she was amazed she hadn't escaped the handcuffs prior to AJ and Erika being dispatched to retrieve her. The project was already forming teams to find the members of Nick's group, to bring them in, to fix what they had changed.

Julie took a deep breath deciding it was time to say her final good-byes. She walked to the edge of the grave crouched down next to the grave.

“I love you, I will always love you. Thank you for being in my life,” Julie held her rose out and dropped it into the grave, she watched it fall into the pile with the others. Tears she thought she'd been done crying came back fresh.

Out of the corner of her eye she noticed a pair of patent leather dress shoes and a hand reaching down to her to help her up. She took the hand in hers and stood back up burrowing her face in Good Samaritan's chest. Hands smoothed her hair as the person comforted her.

She looked up into the green eyes of the man holding her. His face was still bruised and battered from Nick pummeling him but the softness of his eyes comforted her. He stood next to holding her and leaning heavily on a cane.

“We should get you back Kevin, Howie is having a fit you insisted on coming with me,” She hugged him gently again as they started to walk towards the cars waiting nearby. She felt him leaning on her, though it was because he was still recovering from the bullet wound. He had flat lined that day but Howie never stopped believing his friend could pull through as he did everything to get his heart beating again.

Julie turned back to look at the grave one last time. “Good bye Mom,” She whispered and then turned back to resume walking.

They reached the cars and carefully climbed inside. When they were moving, Julie looked at those who supported her by coming that day, friends she had made due to that horrible accident that she thought was the end of her life. She'd even helped them stop the main rogue volunteer, put an end to Nick and his recruiting. Now she would be returning to twenty-thirty with her volunteer and her love, Kevin and her new friends. She had decided, this was her new life.