<span style="color: #FF80FF"> <span style="font-weight: bold"><span style="font-size: 150%; line-height: 116%;"><div style="text-align: center;">Lea Stevens</div></span></span> </span><br/><div style="text-align: center;"><a class="postlink" href="http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn24/SociallyToxicBeauty/036e0d3a-b28c-47ec-b858-0eaea6c67e4d.jpg">[ img ]</a></div><br/><span style="font-weight: bold"><span style="font-size: 150%; line-height: 116%;"><span style="color: #FF80FF"><div style="text-align: center;">"Jazz"</div></span></span></span><br/><br/>Lea looked down at Carlos' hand as he placed it on her arm, then she looked up at him.<span style="font-style: italic">"It wasn't meant like that, Lea..."</span>he started, she held back her disbelieving snort and was glad that she had as Carlos continued his story. She slumped some as guilty flooded her and she wished she hadn't been so snappy.<br/><br/>Carlos' hand tightened some around her arm as the other in his lap clenched. She knew he wasn't aware of it, but her heart still pounded. He continued to speak about what he had done to the cop who had bad mouthed Diana and she couldn't say she was surprised.<span style="color: #FF80FF">"I'm sorry, Carlos..." </span>she said after a few moments, her free hand laying on top of the hand that rested on her arm.<span style="color: #FF80FF">"Guys like that always end up in the gutter, we both know that,"</span>she offered quietly. She felt for Carlos, she knew what it was like to feel obligated to protect someone and then failing miserably. Hell, she couldn't even protect her own family in the beginning. Every failure after that had stung just as much as the first. There had been plenty of calls her and Carlos had taken in the past that they didn't make it in time to, and every time Carlos held her after duty while she broke down. He was always able to keep her from completely falling apart.<br/><br/>And she had done the same for him. There had been times when Carlos felt as if he had not done all that he could during situations, and he would beat himself up over it. She had always been there to drag him out of his funk as he had her, but not anymore.<span style="color: #FF80FF">"I'm sorry I wasn't there,"</span>she said to him sincerely. She knew that if she had not fallen so far, she could have helped him, would have insisted that they been then ones who were Diana's body guards, would have been there to pull Carlos from his regrets. Now it was her who felt like she had failed him, failed to stay strong, failed to be there for him.<br/><br/>But now she was with Carlos again and she could help him find the killer, whether he wanted her help or not. She would find the man who had hurt so many and she would take him down.