The dinner was as romantic as either one of them could have hoped.  Glowing candles set the mood as the two lovers sat opposite each other in the small Italian eatry on the corner of Fourth and Seventh streets.  He took another sip of his red wine, finishing off the  glass. He put back on the table slowly as he stared into her eyes.
     Nothing but absolutle solitude and perfection met his eyes.  The rain outside finished the ensemble of love as he lost himself in her beautiful blue eyes.  She was everything to him, the piece that not only completed him but made him shine out the more.  He slid his hand on top of hers, feeling the connection, the magic and sparks that he always felt when he graced her hand.
    She let loose a angelic smile as she grasped his hand tightly.  She couldn't belive the magic she felt inside.  It had been seven months since they began dateing, and still the fire erupted everytime they touched.  She slid her thumb over his palm as he asked the waiter for the check.
     Tonight was a special night for both of them, being not only their seven month anniversery, but also the night she resigned from the police force.  He was a soldier now.  When she first heard that he was leaving overseas, being stationed at some remote country, she fell apart.  Once she realized he wanted her to come live with him, her heart lept for joy.  It meant giving up everything she had worked for since college, but she threw it all in a instant.  Her left hand slid across her belt, feeling the cold brass of her police badge.  She'd have to turn it back in tomorrow morning.
     He signed the check with a smile and slid it into the small black portfolio.  Just as he stood, three men burst through the resturant doors, shouting and screaming while openly brandishing hand guns.  It wasn't the first time the resturant had been robbed, so the clerks acted with urgency but without a certain sense of fear.  They came in, took the money and left, never hurting anyone.  Assuming this robbery would be no different, the manager opened the cash register and began handing over the money.
    He pushed her back into the booth, covering her so that no harm could come to her.  As she fell gently back into the chair, her badge caught on the table corner and fell to the ground with a clank.  Niether noticed it fall in the chaos as the robbers grabbed more and more money.

   Two of the robbers rushed out of the store, cash in hand, to the get away car.  The other turned and fired several shots into the air.  As the man turned to follow his companions out the door, his eye caught the golden gleam of the badge on the floor.  The very sight of it's brass sent the man into a fury.  He rushed over to the badge, threw it in the air and began demanding to know who the police officer was.
     She stared into his eyes.  The look he found gave it all away.  It was his lover's badge.  Without hesitating, knowing very well that the robber intended on killing whomever owned the badge, turned the robber and said it was his.  Seconds later he fell across the table from the swift kick the thief had delivered.
     The masked man grabbed him by the shirt coller and led him outside at gun point.  Her eyes filled with sobs as she watched him dissapear out the back door.  She sprinted after the pair, praying it wasn't happening.
       Outside he was on his knees, the robber standing over him with the handgun pointed down.  The man repeatedly slammed him with the handgun until he crumpled down unconcious.  As the sound of sirens began to approach, the robber kicked him one more time then ran down the alleyway in the rain, searching for his accomplices.
      She fled to him as the tears from her eyes mixed with the rain that poured down onto the street.  Her mouth could form no words, her throat no sounds as she lifted his head from the pavement.  The rain had now completely drenched them.  "My Love, my love.....don't leave me......don't leave me....." she soflty cried as the rain poured harder down upon them.  She placed his head gently into her arms and held him close as the police car's sirens drove down the street, their sirens echoing down the alleys.
       "My love....my love....don't leave me...."