On February 18, CBS announced Boston Blue, a new spinoff centered on Danny Reagan, who leaves the NYPD to join the Boston Police Department. The series follows Danny – played by Donnie Wahlberg – as he partners with Detective Lena Peter, another eldest child of a major law-enforcement family.

Danny’s move raises the big question fans have been asking since the Blue Bloods finale: What happens to his long-teased relationship with his partner, Maria Baez? The finale finally confirmed their romantic potential when Danny asked Baez out for pizza, a moment viewers had waited for since Season 3.

But with the action now set in Boston, it’s unlikely Marisa Ramirez (Baez) will join the new series. Even if Danny and Baez are together after Blue Bloods, their relationship probably wouldn’t be far enough along for her to uproot her life in New York.

So how will Boston Blue explain her absence? There are two likely options:

Danny and Baez quietly break up, either because of distance or before he takes the Boston job, leaving him single for a possible storyline with his new partner, Lena.
Baez is killed off-screen – a more dramatic and less likely choice that would almost certainly upset fans, though similar moves have happened in other spinoffs.
If Baez remains alive, she could still appear as a guest star to resolve things with Danny. For now, fans shouldn’t give up hope on the couple just yet.