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I take my glasses off and put them on my desk as I put my head in my hands."Rough day?" A voice says. I look up to be met with a tall slim figure. Eyes sunk in and dark. They put their hands on my desk and lean down."Tell me about it." I lean back in my chair. They pick up the file on my desk."Ahhh, the Ventura case.""Yup." I sigh."You know I've been looking at this guy for a month now? But hey, if anyone can take this one on, it's you Heath." She tosses it back on my desk."Thanks Solo." I chuckle."Don't work too hard on that though. This time of year, we got cases springing up all over. We'll need ya out there." She says sitting in the desk."Yeah, I know, don't worry I'll be there. You guys couldn't last a day without me." I smile."Nobody can work someone like you dude." She says. I nod."You should get outta here. If not you'll be here all night, plus Chris will be freaking out." I sigh."Suppose you're right." I say. I stand up and reach for the file. Before I can, she grabs my wrist."And leave work here for one night would ya?" She says. I pull my arm back and put on my coat."Thanks Hope." I smile and make my way for the door.It was just past eleven. I jingled my keys in the lock and then slowly closed the door behind me. I took of my jacket at out it in the rack. I walked down the hallway and saw the kitchen light on. I rounded the corner to see Christen leaning on the counter."Woah woah woah, coffee at eleven?" I asked taking the mug from her."Woah woah woah, just coming home from work at eleven?" She asked me challengingly. I sighed and gave her an apologetic look."I'm sorry." I said to her. She snaked her arms around my waist and rested her head on my chest. I kissed her forehead."I know, I know. You're just trying to keep us on our feet." I rubbed her back."How was Jack today?" I asked."He was good," Christen nodded against me, "he said he had a good day at school and he was out hours ago." She laughed."He's three years old Chris, he needs sleep." I laughed."What about you? Hmm? You need sleep too, Detective Heath. Stumbling in past eleven, running on four hours of sleep and coffee. I'm worried about you." She said. I sighed again."Yeah I know, I know.""How was work?" She asked."It was good. Getting closer on the Ventura case." I said."Oh yeah, you've been mulling over that one for a while now. That's the one that sunk those warm brown eyes in." She asked putting a finger under my eyes. She looked at with a sad expression."It wiped that smile for about a week. And it silenced that big laugh if yours." She was whispering now."I hate that case, it took you from me." I pulled her in closer."I'm right here." I said back."Now you are. Because I made the crew teach you how to leave work at work." She chuckled. I nodded."And look how much happier I am because of it." She smiled."I'm just surprised your captain let you keep working on that case, after all it put you through." I shrugged."Chris I'm one of the best detectives they have, they need me on stuff like that." She nodded."Listen, I've had a long day, and I KNOW you have, so can we just get changed and go to bed so I can cuddle with my Sherlock Holmes?" She giggled."How many times have I told you not to call me Sherlock Holmes?" I said trying to sound angry, but laughed."Obviously not enough." She kissed me and started leading me down the hallway.“So how far did you get?” She asked once we’d closed the door.“Well Kelley was laying into this pimp, who goes by Cheddar, and he gave up his boss’s name, who runs a whole ring of sex traffickers. So that’s a huge advance, now we still have to find Marcy Ventura, that senators daughter.” I explained as we got changed and into bed.“Your job makes my head hurt.” She joked.“Well yours does the same for me. Do you know how scary you are when you come home and have 40 essays to grade?” I asked.“Oh my god Tobin you try reading the same thing over and over again!” She fake yelled. We laughed and looked back up to the ceiling.“I’m really happy your back, I don’t want you ever going to that place again.” She whispered.“I know, I don’t either. I don’t know, the job has never got to me before, but, this case, it stuck.” I said.“I know.” She rolled over into me, “let’s hope it doesn’t again.”

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“Morning Heath.” Lauren said as I walked in.“Lieutenant.” I nodded.“Long night?” She asked pointing to my disheveled desk.“You could say.” I said putting my backpack under my desk and taking off my coat.“How’s the wife and kid?” She asked, already knowing the answer.“They're fine, New York keeps them on their toes, and mine.” I mumbled the last part.“Well good to see you’re in good spirits, because you’re in for a fun time today.”“What does that mean?” I asked leaning back.“We picked up Cheddar’s boss, ‘The Driller’, last night, routine traffic stop. You down for a chat?” She asked. I stood up.“I got him. I’m closing this case.” I said making my way for the box, the room where we interrogated criminals.“Maybe not. Besides lawyering up, it’s quite possible driller knows info about a bigger trafficking ring. He’s also accused some people High up of being involved in the ring, some people high up in the NYPD.” She said.“Ah, another bright day at SVU.” I sighed.“Home sweet Home.” She pat me on the back. “Get him talking, and take the new kid, Sonnet, with you.” She said. “Man I don’t know what else you want from me.” The Driller said as he crossed his arms. I stood across from him but leaned up against the wall, he was sitting at a table across from Sonnet. She banged the table at his response.“Not good enough Drill, now you tell me who’s involved in these rings, and what goes on, or I’ll make sure you get sent up to Knollvile and you’ll be shanked faster than-“ I cut her off.“Ok there.” I put a hand on her back after I sat down next to her. “Listen, Mr... Drill, you’re looking at hard time here. Four counts of kidnapping, three counts of rape, unlawful endangerment of a child, sex trafficking, I could go on and on, but you’re looking at about 900 years in prison. But, the D.A. Is prepared to plea that down to trafficking and rape in the first. You’ll do 20 years, 10 years probation, you’ll go on the registry, but you’ll see day light. And that’s your best case scenario right now. But that’ll only happen, if you give us the names of the people who are involved in these rings, and you tell us where the senators daughter is.” I said to him. He looked at his lawyer. They whispered for a minute before his lawyer turned to me.“My client will tell you names and any information he has on the girl, but he does five years, one year probation, no registry.” He said. I couldn’t hold back the laugh.“Wrong answer.” I said.“Fine,” Drill said, “them you won’t find the girl.”“Look Whatever little leverage you think you have, it just disappeared. Because if you don’t take this plea, we go to trial. And you already know what happens then. So where is the girl?” I asked again. No answer. I dropped the folder and stood up.“Fine, what do I care you rot in a cell for the rest of your life. Happy trails.” I said to him as I went for the door. I had barely opened it before he called back.“Warehouse.” He said.“There’s a hundred warehouses in Manhattan, Drill. Where, what company, who else is there?” Sonnet asked.“A Fedex warehouse. 45th Street.” He said.“Who else is there? Is the girl alive?” I asked when I sat down.“Man I think, I haven’t seen her since last week.” He said. We both looked at him expecting him to go on.“She’s there with my boss. He runs the ring.” He said.“What’s his name.” Sonnet said.“They call him Doctor.” He said. We heard a knock on the two way mirror, which meant someone was summoning is out. We both got up and left.“Great work guys.” Solo said.“Thank you, Captain.” Sonnet said.“Ok, now. Heath, you, O’Hara, and Rodriguez, go to the warehouse, bring that girl back, alive. Take the Doctor into custody, bring ESU. Sonnet, get Morgan, keep Driller talking, see if he’ll name anybody who took part in the brothels.”

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“NYPD, open up!” Amy banged on the door, when there was no answer, she signaled ESU to bust it down with a ram. We all ran inside.“Fan out. O’Hara, left side, I’ll take right, Tobs get the basement.” I ran down the basement stairs with my gun and a flashlight, followed by two ESU men. “Ms. Ventura!” I called out seeing if she’d hear me, “Ms. Ventura!” I heard a scream and the sound of glass breaking coming from across the room. The three of us raced over to a door. I flung it open to find three girls on the floor, one man with a girl in a chokehold and a piece of glass to her neck.“Drop the glass!” I yelled, but this only angered him more.“You the Doctor?” I asked him.“On call.” He remarked.“Hey cmon man, just let the girl go. I mean is this really worth it? You kill her, one of two things happen. You go to jail for murder, that’s gunna be life. Or you kill her and I spatter your brains all over the walls right now. Or three. You hand her over, and come with us quietly. Your call, Doctor.” I said keeping the flashlight trained in his eyes.He dropped the glass and she fell to her knees. Amy and Kelley were down by know. He put his hands up. Kelley ran to Ms. Ventura and Amy to the other girls. The Doctor turned and put his hands on the wall before I cuffed him. I led him out of the warehouse and put him in a squad car to be taken to the station.“Tobs I know you’re running this case but why don’t you go home and get some sleep? It’s one am, we’ll take care of the Doctor.” Amy said.“Thanks but no thanks Sarge. I got it. In fact I wanna take the Doctor myself.” I said eyeing him as we walked by him in the car.“Cmon Heath, Chris will be worried sick about you.” She said.“And I’ll explain it to her tomorrow.” I said sternly.“Tobin.” Amy said as she stepped in front of me, “go home.” “Amy cmon, this is my case and I’m gunna crack the guy like that,” I said snapping, “I’ll be in and out in-“ She stopped me.“Tobin you’re getting too caught up in this case again. What happened last time can’t-“ I stopped her this time.“This isn’t like last time. I can handle it.”“You had a full on panic attack at your desk.” She dropped her voice to a whisper.“And now I’m better than ever.” I said.“Go home.” She said. “Sargent-““That’s an order, Detective.” She said, unsubtley hinting at her superior rank. I grumbled, but stalked back to my car.I drove home and pulled into our driveway as quiet as possible. I made it to our bedroom and had just closed the door when the lights came on. I let out a sigh.“One am?” Christen asked.“I’m sorry.” I said.“It’s insane Tobin.” She said crossing her arms.“I’m really sorry baby, but we had a breakthrough on the Ventura case, we found the girl.” I said taking my jacket off.“Oh great, she gets to be with her family. When do I get to be with mine?” She asked.“Christen I know you’re upset-“ “Upset? Upset? I’m nine miles passed upset, Tobin! I’m upset when I’m eating dinner alone. I’m upset when Jack hasn’t seen you all day. But when I’m sitting on the couch at midnight and hearing about SVU investigating a warehouse and hearing there were shots fired? I’m enraged. You have no idea what it’s like knowing you could die at any minute. What it’s like to live in that fear of the next news story.”“You don’t think what I do is hard on me too? Chris you don’t see these vics. These women who’ve been beaten bloody. These kids who cry for six hours about something they can’t tell me. It’s a war zone out there.”“Well that’s just it isn’t it? Your war zone is out there. It’s the city. Well my war zone, is our home, Tobin. I don’t get to leave mine.”“If you think I don’t bring my war home with me then you’re completely wrong.” I said quieter.“But it’s not your war Tobin! It’s not your fight! You’re not the victim of these crimes! Why you? Why do you have to be the one to do this? Can nobody do this job but you?” She asked.“I don’t do this job because i have to or want to, Christen. I do this job because these people need me.”“Well they’re not the only ones. Jack, he misses you. He hasn’t seen you in two days. He waits up til 10:30. Until he physically can’t stay awake anymore, he’s falling asleep in class. And me, every night, there’s a moment that I’m certain you’re not coming back. And I think about what I have to tell Jack, and your mom, and I die a little inside Tobin.” She yelled back. I slowly sat down on the bed.“You’re right. You’re right. And I’m sorry. But I can’t just stop doing this Christen. This is a part of me.” I said.“As much as I hate that, I know it. And I understand. That it’s a part of your life. But you don’t have to make it your whole life. Listen, I know you’re trying to save the world, but it’s ok if you only save one person, and it’s ok if that person is yourself.” She said as she sat down next to me and leaned on me. I nodded to her.“Ok.” I whispered.“Ok.” She said back. “We’ll talk more in the morning.” She said.We slid back and climbed into bed, both still wearing clothes.“I love you.” I said. She leaned over and kissed me.“I love you too.”

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The next morning, I stumbled into the squad room and got right to work on the case, mapping out the details at my desk.“Heath.” I looked up to see Hope standing in the doorway to her office. She gestured for me to follow her.“Oooh.” Kelley jokes from across my desk. I threw a pen at her to get her to shut up.Once I was in the office, Hope shut the door behind me.“Tobin, I’ve been hearing you’re getting too wrapped up in this case again.” She said as I sat down.“Jesus not this crap again.” I said putting my head back.“I know what you think and I know you’re done hearing about it, but you can’t work like this, it’ll kill you.” She warned.“I’m fine.” I promised her.“Tobin I know that you care, but you’re gunna run yourself out.” She said.“That’s bullshit and you know it, Captain.” I said standing up.“No I don’t know it. And watch it Heath. I’m not saying you have to hand over your shield or anything, but maybe take a break. Go on vacation.” She suggested.“Hope you don’t understand I can’t do that I need to work this case we’re so close.”“That’s just it Tobin. You’re becoming too... emotionally attached.” She said. This made me stop.“Emotionally attached?” I asked.“Quite frankly, yes.” She said.“ Ok, you know what, Solo, yeah I do get emotionally attached, and that’s how I do my job well. Unlike some of the shmucks you got out there who don’t give two shits about this job and only work for the pay check, I’m out there busting my ass because I care about these people like they’re my kids. I’m out there, not you, I’m out there making sure New York doesn’t run itself into the ground. And the fact that you have the nerve to tell me I care too much when I take people out of hell everyday and you sit behind a desk not doing much more than signing your name is disquieting. So Yeah I do care too much, but if not me, then who?” I said leaning over her desk.“Again Tobin, I know you care, but for now, it’s too much. So if you won’t take a break, then I’ll make you. You’re on desk duty until further notice.” She said.“Solo are you insane? You need me on that Ventura case, I’ve got a rapport with all these guys.” I said.“Then we’ll get someone else to build one.” She said looking down at her papers.“Captain this is suicide, this case will implode without me.” I said.“Desk duty. Final. You’re dismissed, Heath.” She said.I walked out of her office enraged. I stormed to the other side of the squad room where the lockers were and laid a punch on one, denting the front. Kelley came over and grabbed my shoulders.“Woah woah, easy there.” She said, “why don’t we sit down for a second.” She led me back to my desk. Before I sat down I shook her off.“I just need some air.” I said as I walked out of the office. When I came back to the station after lunch I saw Sonnet and Kelley questioning The Doctor in the box. I walked over to the two way glass so I could see and hear them better.“What are you doing here, Heath? Thought I put you at a desk.” Hope said when she saw me walking over.“Yeah and I’m just watching, I’m not getting involved.” I said back. I leaned in closer to hear what was being said.“You gotta give to get. You give us some names, and we’ll get your sentence reduced.” Kelley said to him. He seemed to not be worried at all.“I’m no snitch. I don’t eat on my men.” He said.“Yeah well your men are the scum of the earth.” Sonnet said. He stopped and sat up straight, glaring at her.“You don’t talk about my boys like that. They’re the most loyal kids in the world. And there’s no way I’m ratting them out.”“Well you might wanna start.” Kelley said.“You know what I think I should do, I think I should call my lawyer.” He said. I slammed my hand against the wall out of frustration.“Damnit Solo What the hell are they doing? He’s as shut up as a clam.” I said turning to the other wall.“Me letting you stay here is a courtesy, so don’t tell me how my detectives are doing.” She said without looking at me.“Captain you keep this up you’ll never get anything out of him. Let me in there.” I begged.“You know what Heath, why don’t you go check The doctor’s record, see if there’s any priors.” She said. Busy work. I marched back to my desk and entered his name into the system. I sat there for hours until Kelley and Sonnet came running back in. Kelley tried to brief me while she grabbed her coat.“Doctor told us about an online pedophile ring. Tracked it to three modems, going to find the guys.” She said.“Oh I’ll come, I can help.” I said grabbing my own coat.“No, you can’t Tobin, that’s why it’s called desk duty.” Lauren said from behind me.“Cmon, Chen, Hope isn’t around, just let me go.” I pleaded.“You know I can’t do that.” She said, nodding to Kelley to go. “Why don’t you try to connect any of the traffickers to other crimes.” She said, more busy Work.A few hours later we got calls from Kelley and Sonnet. They had tracked the modems to apartments in the city. They already caught two of the guys on their computers uploading...unlawful and immoral images. The next call came in a while later.“Hey Tobs, Captain around?” Kelley asked.“Not right now, I’ll take a message.” I said grabbing a notepad and pen.“Thanks, just tell her that we got two out of three guys, the third guy hasn’t been online all night, ask her what we should do.” She said.“You got it.” I said finishing the note. We hung up and I went to find Hope.“Captain?” I said opening her office door.“Better be good, you’re on thin ice Heath.” She said.“Relax, it’s a message from Kelley. Said they’re not getting a long in the third guy. Wants to know what to do.” I read off.“Alright, call her back and say they can come in, we’ll try again tomorrow.” She said. I turned to leave before I got a text from Kelley.“Just got a hit off perv #3, gunna let him get settled then take him in.” It said.“Hope they got a hit.” I said turning back.“Beautiful.” She smiled. I waited a moment before asking.“Let me go, Hope.” I said quietly.“Jesus Tobin.” She said throwing her folder down.“Alright Hope listen, I’m going crazy at the desk-““It’s been a day Tobin.”“Yeah, a day lost. Now Kelley and Sonnet are en route to this guys place, what if I just go to...supervise. Make sure nothing crazy happens. Please Hope I gotta get back out there.” I said.“Tobin I can’t let you do that.”“You can’t keep coddling me Hope, nothing will get better from being sheltered. So here’s the deal. If you can’t trust me, I am done.” I threatened with a grumble and I leaned over the desk. Hope and I held a glare for what felt like an hour.The next thing I knew I was driving to meet Kelley and Sonnet.

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“NYPD open up!” Kelley banged on the door. No answer. She nodded to me. I took a step back and dropped a kick onto the door. It’s swung open to reveal an old man sitting on his couch.“NYPD, where’s your computer?” I said to him as Kelley and Emily started their search.“I don’t have a computer.” He said in a confused and scratchy voice.“We have a search warrant” Kelley said.“A-a warrant? For what?” He asked getting up.“For distributing child pornography from your IP address.” I said.“My what?” He asked, still confused.“Kitchen’s clear. No desktop, no laptop, not even a smartphone.” Kelley said.“Ok, your modem Mr.Wilkins, where’s your modem?” I asked him, starting to believe him. He just looked around confused.“Hey.” Emily said to me. I turned to face her and saw a wire on the ground leading to the closet. I threw it open to see a jumble of wires and electronics.“This, Mr. Wilkins, where does that go to?” I asked.“My neighbor put that in for my cable.” He said.“Your neighbor huh?” Kelley said, annoyed. She pulled out her phone to track the modem. “This has the signal going next door.” She said, showing me.“Who lives there Mr. Wilkins?” Emily said.“A nice family, three kids.” He said.We walked out to the hallway to confront the neighbors, but the beat us to it.“Detectives, what’s going on?”“Counselor...” Kelley said. It was Natalie Simmons. Lawyer and wife of Lloyd Simmons. The deputy police commissioner. We needed to get in the apartment to see if the signal was right, but without a warrant, we’d have to think quick.“Um, Natalie, could we maybe come in? Our cells aren’t working. Do you maybe have a computer?” I asked. She nodded and motioned for us to follow.“Oh of course, there’s one in Lloyd’s office.” She said. She led us to a den with closed doors and went to open them before I stopped her.“I’m sorry Nat, this is a police matter.” I said stepping in front of her. I opened the doors and walked in with Kelley and Emily. We were greeted with Lloyd uploading pornographic images to a website. He pushed a button, making it disappear and closed his laptop.“Deputy commissioner Simmons.” I said. He turned to us like a deer in headlights.“What are you doing here?” He asked.“We were going to ask you the same question.” Kelley said, motioning to his laptop, “step away from the computer.” He slowly backed away and I stepped between him and the laptop. It was left on the screensaver, of him and his two kids.“What’s going on here?” Natalie asked.“Nothing Nat, It’s departmental business, I’d stay out of it.” Lloyd said, trying to calm her. Kelley was using software to restore his tabs, and I just got off the phone with Hope when Natalie walked away.“I assume Captain Solo told you to walk out of here?” Lloyd asked.“Actually she’s on her way.” I said to him. His face flushed white.“Oh cmon, this was a mistake, I pushed too many buttons, some images popped up.” He pleaded.“We caught you in the act of distributing child pornography.” Sonnet said.“Oh please, I have a secure NYPD modem.” He said.“Yeah which is why you stole WiFi from your elderly neighbor.” Kelley said from the computer.“This is insane.” He said. My phone buzzed with a text.“Hope’s here, why don’t you go grab her Kel.” I said. Kelley nodded and left.“I’ll go talk to Natalie.” Emily said.“Look,” Lloyd dropped his voice, “I don’t wanna put you guys in a bad position here, but this could go wrong in a lot of ways.” He said taking a step closer to me.“I hope that isn’t a threat, deputy commissioner.” I said, taking a step closer as well. There was a knock on the door, Ashlyn Harris, an IAB Sargent, and Hope stood in the doorway.“Tobs?” She asked for me, not too happy. I walked out of the room with her.“Tobs, I know you love to make my life miserable, but Christ Almighty, this?” She said in a hushed tone.“Hey you weren’t the one that had to call up the commissioner at two am and tell him his beloved deputy is busted for child porn.” I said back.“Well I never liked the guy anyway, but you’re sure it’s him?” She asked.“My squad knows what they’re doing.” Hope said as I lead them back towards the den.“His wife’s that D.A.?” Ashlyn asked.“Natalie Simmons. She’s a social services lawyer. Protects kids.” Hope said.“This gets worse and worse.” She said.“Tell me about it, they’ve got two of their own.” I said with an audible groan.“O’Hara,” Ashlyn said when we approached them, “this thing is a done deal right? No room for doubt, no loopholes?” She asked.“Yeah, we tracked the WiFi to him, caught him actually uploading, and,” Kelley started to get defensive.“Harris just wants to make sure we give internal affairs an airtight case.” Hope said. They both nodded.“By the book.” Kelley said.“Good, then let’s keep it that way. He wasn’t the initial suspect, you’ll need a new warrant.” Ash said.“Already on the way, so in the meantime, bring Simmons in?” Kelley asked. We turned to Ash and Hope.“Yeah, just don’t cuff him in front of his family, and do it before the press show up.” She said. We nodded and headed back into the building. When we walked back into he den, Lloyd was fuming to Sonnet.“Are you guys crazy? What is this. Shake down? What are you people doing?” He said.“We are taking you into the station Lloyd.” I said.“Turn around please.” Sonnet said, pulling the cuffs from her pocket.“Harris said we don’t have to do that.” I said.“I wouldn’t count on too many more favors.” She said.“Whenever you’re ready.” I said holding the door open.

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We watched as CSU tote the apartment apart. Emily had taken Lloyd back to the station. Amy and Lauren put him in holding for now. Kelley helped Natalie and their kids find a hotel for the night. CSU took all the dvds, books, computers, anything. They checked under rugs, couches, places I wouldn’t think to check.“Hey Tobs, Hope,” Ash called from a room, “the dogs found something.” She said. We followed her to the bedroom.The dog was sniffing and barking at the cabinet. We called in a guy from CSU to do the search. He took out the first drawer and felt for something, coming up empty, he dumped it out and flipped it over to reveal two large black boxes.“Flash drives.” Hope said.“Taped to the bottom of the underwear drawer.” Ash said as she stared at them in disgust.“Yeah, and I’ll be those aren’t vacation photos.” I shook my head.“Alright, separate faraday bags. I want this covered, textbook. Give me a clear chain of custody.” Ash instructed the man. He nodded and got to work.After the search had gone on a little longer, we left it in the hands of Ash and CSU. As Hope, Kelley and I walked out of the apartment, she briefed us on the game plan.“Both Of you, listen to me, this is what’s going to happen and I want know arguments.” She said. Kelley and I shared a look, bracing ourselves for a lecture. “Kelley you’ve only been on duty for a couple of hours, so I want you to go back to the station and relieve Sonnet, rookie needs a break. Tobin,” she started, I was sure I would t like this, “as much as I don’t want you on any case right now, busting the deputy commissioner was bth brilliant and incredibly stupid. This isn’t going to be an easy fight so I need you on this case. But you’ve already been working twelve hours. It’s 3:00 am, so what I want you to do, is go home, get a bit of sleep, and be back at the station at 5:30. Can you do that? No sooner no later?” She asked.“Aye Aye Captain.” I smiled at her. She nodded and smiled back.“Good, and say hello to that beautiful wife of yours.” She smiled.“Can do.” I said, although I wasn’t even sure she’d wanna say hello to me. When I got Home Christen was asleep, which was to be expected, but she’d be getting up in a little while to get ready for work. I kicked of my shoes in our room and climbed into bed next to her. Leaving my jacket, work clothes, pretty much everything but my shoes. I wasn’t going to waste time changing I could spend with Christen.A two hours later, the heart breaking sound of Christen’s alarm clock woke both of us up.“Hey, when’d you get here?” She asked with a lazy smile.“Couple hours ago, again, I’m sorry, and it’s no excuse, but there was a big case.” I said. She leaned over and kissed me before getting up.“I know. About the other night, although I don’t love your job, I overreacted a bit. You can’t control when something like this happens.” She said as she walked out of the room and down the hall. I got up to follow her.“Yeah, but you’re right, I need to be more present, make more time for us.” I said. She smiled at the thought, almost knowing it was impossible.“Thank you baby, but it’s ok.” She said turning to the fridge.“No it’s not, I’ve got to be here more for Jack, and for you. Which is why, I’ve decided to drop one shift a week.” She turned to me skeptically.“Can you do that? Can you manage that? How much will that change your pay?” She asked.“Not much, maybe $75 less a week but we’ll make it work. And every once in a while I’ll get called on for something, but for the most part I’ll be home more.” I said. She took a second to think before nodding.“Ok. We’ll make it work.” She smiled before hugging me, “so what’s this big case?” She asked when we pulled back.“I’m actually not at liberty to say. And that’s because it’s someone pretty high up in the NYPD.” I said. She gasped like it was high school gossip.“Are you kidding?” She asked.“I wish,” I said thinking of the headaches to come, “but you’ll hear about it in the news in the next hour or so.” I said.“That’s crazy.” She commented as she started to make herself an egg.“I know, Hope’s flipping out.” I said sitting at the counter.“So what time do you have to be back at the station?” She asked.“Half an hour.” I said checking the wall clock. After that there want much dialogue. Bit because we were angry or dancing around something, but all that needed to be said had been. It was one of the beautiful things about our relationship. There was no need to fill the silence, to give the illusion of there being more, because what we had was more than enough. Being with Christen was easy. It was right. It was perfect.

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“His lawyers been in there since 6:00 am, been over two hours.” I said starring at them through the glass. Ash, Hope and and our D.A., Becky Sauerbrunn stood next to me“I don’t know what their strategy is.” Hope commented.“CCS, vomited crimes scenes, processed the flash drives, hardcore pornographic images, videos, girls, boys, all...too young.” She said a bit uncomfortably.“Uh, I-I don’t even know what to say.” Becky said.“We’re running facial recognition on the images to find out who these kids are right now.” Hope said.“Just so I’m clear, besides these vile images, he was also stealing WiFi from the old man next door?” Becky asked.“Kelley, Sonnet and I walked into his den, and caught him file sharing from the laptop.” I defended.“Well who else had access to the den?” Becky asked.“Wife, kids who are three, five, and six.” I said somewhat sarcastically.“Cleaning lady, sitter, delivery driver...anyone?” Becky asked.“We dusted that compute for prints, Lloyd Simmons’ were the only ones on it.” Hope said.“And the password he uses for the site’s chat room? Same one he uses for NYPD servers.” Ash reminded.“Where’s the family?” Becky said after a long sigh.“Stayed up in a hotel last night, Natalie is on her way with the kids for their interview.” Hope said.“She works with social services and her job is to protect kids. You’re telling me she had no idea?” Becky asked.“I really don’t think so. She let us into the apartment. Walked us into the den while he was uploading.” I responded.There was a knock on the office door and Kelley poked her head in, “Lloyd’s lawyer says they’re ready.” She said. We all nodded to her. Becky walked towards the door of the interrogation room while the rest of us just stood there looking at him.“One if you joking me? Or am I on my own?” She asked rhetorically. We all looked at each other before I turned to follow Becky. We opened the door and sat down across from them.“Lloyd what in God’s name-“ Becky started.“Hey it’s not what you think!” He said back before his lawyer calmed him down.“Let me be very clear, Mr. Simmons is here as a courtesy, here to see what you think is going on.” He said.“I think we know what’s going on.” I said.“I know what’s going on, this is a political take down! Sauerbrunn, and the DA’s office, are trying to take my name through the mud!” He yelled. Becky and I tried to assure him that was wrong until everyone was yelling at each other. Yet again, his lawyer calmed us down.“Woah woah Woah, I’m still trying to get caught up here guys, now please tell me how and why you burst through Mr. Simmons door at midnight without a warrant?” He asked.“I assure you everything was done ethically and lawfully.” Becky said.“Oh yeah? How many colleagues you think are dancing in my grave right now?” Lloyd asked.“No one’s doing that.” Becky sighed out.“Yeah right.”“Let’s take a step back from what you think you guys have. It was a neighbors modem who uploaded these images. There’s a million different explanations for what happened.” The lawyer said.“My modem was down. I might have tried his my mistake.” Lloyd said. There was silence.“Go on.” Becky said.“It was late. I was tired. Still working. Then all of the sudden an image popped up. And another one. And another one. I couldn’t close any of them. It must’ve sent me into a wormhole.” He said.“And that’s when the detectives burst in.” This lawyer added.“And this is a one time thing?” Becky asked.“Of course.” Lloyd said.“Ladies, let’s call this what it is. A one time, honest mistake for which the deputy commissioner is very embarrassed. You have his word. No need to persecute a good man.” The lawyer said.“A good man.” I said looking at the table, “see the problem is, CCS tracked usage in the same account, username and password for the night before. Over an hour. 23 hours in the last week.” I said to them.“I don’t know anything about that,” Lloyd said, more to his lawyer than us, “maybe that was someone else in the building using my WiFi, or modem, or something, I don’t know.”“Really? Do you know about the flash drives we found taped to the bottom of your underwear drawer? Each containing thousands of images and videos of extremely disturbing child pornography?” Becky asked. Lloyd seemed stunned, as did the lawyer.“Counselor,” Becky started at the lawyer, “do you need a little more time with your client?”

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We gave them an hour before we decided to get on with this. When we walked in they were speaking in hushed tones.“So gentlemen, where are we?” Becky asked sitting down.“After further discussion with my client, we’ve decided not to continue this conversation.” The lawyer said.“Trust me Lloyd, this isn’t going away. You stop talking, I have to arraign you.” Beck said leaning on the table top.“Hey hey, there’s no need for that. Oh know how the press will pounce on him.” The lawyer said, he was right about that.“Fair enough. So how about we talk about a plea deal.” Becky said.“But I’m not guilty.” Lloyd said, not looking at us.“It would be easier on your family if this is settled quickly and quietly.” Becky said.“There’s nothing quiet about a charge like this and you know it.” Lloyd said, finally turning to us.“Listen Lloyd you’ve been handling other people’s problems just like this one for years. I want you to think very carefully about what you’d advise someone in your position to do.” Becky pleading with him, honestly trying to help him. Neither him or his lawyer said a word.“Fine. We’ll see you in trial.” Becky said picking up her brief case and papers and leaving the room.~~~A few weeks later, the whole squad went to court to hear Lloyd’s arraignment hearing.“The people request bail be set at $50,000, your honor. There’s also a possibility of federal charges.” Becky said her piece, then Lloyd’s lawyer butt in.“My client has no record. He was a successful political consultant who made a career switch to public service. We request R.O.R.” He finished. The judge looked between the two and spoke up.“Given the severity of the charges, I grant the people’s request of $50,000. Mr. Simmons will be remanded to home detention pending trial. He will surrender his passport, phone and computer. He will be required to wear an ankle GPS and will refrain from any and all internet usage.” He banged his gavel and the gallery began to clear. We could hear the voices and camera clicks from the press outside. I looked at Becky and nodded, giving her a congratulatory nod.“Oh god.” Natalie mumbled under her breath glancing outside. I put an arm around her to lead her out of the courtroom. We opened the door and I shielded her from the cameras while Kelley, Alex, and Sonnet pushed the press back, but that didn’t stop them from being heard.“Did you know your husband was a pedophile?”“Were you apart of this?”“Did you have any idea?” They asked. I pulled Natalie with me and the rest of our detectives kept them back. I pulled Natalie into a stairwell, just to get away from the noise.“My god, they’re like a pack of wild dogs.” She said with a shaking voice.“I-I’m so sorry.” I said without any other words.“Oh you’re sorry? There were a hundred different ways you could’ve handled this, but you and the department are trying to destroy us.” She said starting to walk down the stairs. I chased after her.“Believe me, no one is trying to destroy you.” I said trying to steady her. She leaned against the railing.“I got an email from my boss today. I’m on leave.” She said turning to me, “I’m pending transfer to a position that doesn’t involve contact with juveniles, sex offenders, or assault victims.” She said, she was starting to panic. Her whole body shaking.“Ok, ok, Natalie just take a breath.” She did. She started to hyperventilate, “Are you ok?” I asked her.“No I am not ok!” She yelled. I grabbed her by the waist before her legs buckled so she wouldn’t fall, “we are not alright!” She said again. I guided her to the ground with me and she sobbed into my shoulder. After a minute she picked her head up.“This is about payback, isn’t it? Who got you to do this?” She asked looking around.“Nobody. It’s not, I swear.” I said to her.“It is! What else good it be?” She yelled with a hollow voice.“Natalie...” I whispered with a sigh. That was it. That was the moment she came to terms with this. When she realized it was true.“You’re telling me Lloyd did this?” She whispered.“I’m sorry.” I did quietly. She screamed and sobbed at the same time. Hurrying her face in my neck again. “It’s ok, it’s ok.” I said rubbing her back. “It’s gunna be ok.”

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I woke up to kisses on the side of my head.“Happy day off.” Was whispered in my ears as a smile spread across my face.“Mm, and what a great way to start it.” I said turning over, looking up at Christen.“What if it could start even better?” She said leaning down for another kiss. I laughed as she slid an arm behind my neck and wrapped my arms around her. Just as we started to go farther, little feet made their presence known from down the hall.“Mama!” Jack yelled as he ran into the room and jumped into our bed.“Hey little man.” I said, ruffling his hair and putting my head back on the pillow.“Hey there killjoy.” Christen said, referencing the moment we were having before Jack ran in.“What?” He asked confused, looking up at her.“Nothing bubba.” She said kissing the top of his head. The two of us laughed. “What are we doing today?” He asked.“Whatever you want dude, we’re all yours today.” I said to him.“Let’s start with breakfast.” He laughed as he got up and ran out to the kitchen. Christen and I laughed as we watched him run out.“I miss waking up with you.” She said in a whisper.“Me too.” I smiled.“Cmon slowpokes!” Jack called from the kitchen.“We should probably go before he burns the house down.” I said. She laughed and nodded.When we walked out Jack was pulling almost everything out of the fridge.“Little hungry?” I asked him. Christen had gone to the bathroom.“Yeah, a bit.” He laughed.“Well, Me too, but I don’t think mommy will like this, so let’s narrow it down to, one choice.” I said. It took ten minutes, but he finally settled on waffles. Jack managed to gobble his down in three minutes before I’d gotten three bites down.“Can we go to the park?” He asked, excitement evident in his voice. “Sure bubba, why don’t you go get ready.” Christen said. He nodded and ran off. Christen and I looked at each other and laughed. She stabbed a square of waffle with her fork and held it out in front of me as she rested her head on her hand.“You know, waking up, breakfast, the park with Jack, everyone seems to have much more fun when you’re around, Heath.” She said with a smile.“Well it’s been said I bring a certain lightness to the squad room too.” I flirted back to her. She laughed and I leaned forward to take the bite from her fork.“I like having you hear more often.” She said.“I wish I could be here more often.” I said. She nodded. I understood what that meant. Two things. She knew how bad I felt not being there. And two, she thinks I should cut more shifts or quit my job to get a better one, but she knows I can’t do that.“Well then we’ll just have to enjoy the time you are here.” She said standing up. She gently took me by the chin and kissed me as she picked up our plates to put in the sink. By the time we got to the park it was almost noon. We walked the dog, played catch with Jack and even got ice cream. My day off went by faster than expected. By 9:45 Jack was tucked into bed and Christen and I were doing the same. “So how was your day?” Christen asked. I laid down next to her and let out a sigh.“Best one I’ve had in a while.” I smiled. She laughed and rolled over to kiss me.“That’s good to hear.” She leaned down to kiss me again. She let her tongue explore the inside of my mouth as my hands found their way to her hips. She let out a soft moan into my mouth as her hips dig into mine. She sat up and reached down and lifted up her shirt. When she came back down I felt her boobs press into my chest and my breath hitch in my throat. I wrapped my arms tighter around her when her hands traveled to the waistband of my sweat pants. She curled her fingers just inside them to remove them when my phone rang out like an alarm.“Shit.” I said when she started to kiss my neck.“Oh cmon baby we haven’t been alone all day, just ignore it.” She said biting down. I closed my eyes and let the feeling of her teeth sink in when my phone rang out again.“One-one second baby.” I said kissing her a few times and reaching for the phone. I reached over and she sat up, still sitting on my hips.“Oh my god.” I whispered reading the texts.“What is it?” She asked with concern.“Group squad text from Hope. ‘Everyone report to station now.’” I read the first one then turned to Christen, “Lloyd Simmons just slashed his wrists.’”

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I raced to the station, only to jump in a squad car with Kelley the second I got there. We drove to Mercy Hospital in record time, running into the emergency room.“Where’s Lloyd Simmons’ room?” I asked a passing nurse.“And who are you?” She asked.“NYPD.” Kelley said flashing her badge, me doing the same. She checked her clipboard.“Down the Hall, last doo on your left.” She said. We got to the door before a doctor stopped us.“Woah, you can’t go in there, Mr. Simmons is in surgery.” He said. Kelley and I sighed, but understood. We donned to him and sat down in the waiting chairs close by. I put my head back and closed my eyes.“What’s your problem?” She asked.“It’s 2 am I haven’t slept yet.” I said obviously.“Exactly it’s 2 am you didn’t even get a little sleep?” She asked.“No, Chris and I were, a little preoccupied.” I said, my face turning redder.“Ahh, bow-chicka-wow-wow.” Kelley said, nudging me with her elbow.“Shut up,” I said standing up as she laughed, “you want a coffee?” I asked. She said yes and I went to go find a coffee maker. Once I’d found one, the elevator doors dinged and opened.“Natalie.” I said when I saw her come out.“Hey, Tobin,” She did hugging me, “the doctors just saw me. They said he lost a lot of blood but he’s gunna be ok.” Her voice was shaky.“That’s great.” I said trying to meet her eyes, though she only looked down.“I found him in the bathroom floor,” she recounted, “I was only there to pick up stuff for the kids. If I hadn’t-“ she started.“But you did.” I said, finally meeting her eyes, “you saved his life.”“It all happened so fast. I just reacted. I didn’t want to lose him.” She said quietly, I nodded to her. “Does this ever stop getting worse?” She asked.“No,” I said, being honest, “not until your husband accepts who he is.” I said. She nodded and hugged me before walking away with tears in her face. I made the coffees and headed back to Kelley.“Widow conversation?” She asked and I handed her the coffee.“Not a widow. Lloyd’s gunna pull through.” I said.“Oh that’s great.” She commented, really meaning it. “Only bad news is, I just got a text from Becky, his trial’s in a week.” She said showing me her phone. I let out a sigh, it really never does end. It seemed like no time passed before we were sitting in Lloyd’s trial.“Jesus Christ, going on 10 o’clock.” Hope said checking her watch and rubbing her eyes. We were sat in the gallery waiting for the trial to start. The judge had just walked in.“Mr. Simmons. On the multiple counts of possession and distribution of obscene images of a child, how do you plead?” We all looked, awaiting the answer.“Guilty, your honor.” He said, “I’ve hurt my friends, family, and countless people I don’t know. There is no explanation or excuse for my crimes, and I’m sorry.” He said.“Ms. Sauerbrunn?” The judge asked.“Given the defendants cooperation with out ongoing investigation, the people believe that justice would best be served in the sentences run concurrently.” She said.“So ordered. The defendant will remain in protective custody and will remain of the sex offenders registry for a minimum of 25 years.” He banged his gavel and the court officer took Lloyd. I put an arm around Natalie when they took him.“He’s still my husband.” She said watching him leave. I nodded, “and we have three kids.”“I get it.” I responded to comfort her. After a moment we stood up.“Thank you Tobin.” She said hugging me.“Of course,” I said, “hey you need anything,” I reached into my pocket for a business card, “you call me.” I said. She nodded and thanked me again. I walked back over to the whole squad.“As glad as I am for this to be over, I’m not excited to jump back in the sex trafficking ring with Cheddar and the Doctor.” Alex commented.“Lot of people need help.” Sonnet said almost to herself. Hope nodded, feeling the tension.“Tell you what guys, it’s been a long day, let’s put in one more hour and go home.” She said. We all nodded and made our way back to the station. As we walked back in Becky started telling us a story of a case she had earlier.“Guys you need to believe me when I say this judge was having a breakdown. Every other sentence was about her sister who ‘took her dream’ by moving to California and becoming a movie star.” She said. We all laughed as we walked in, “I’m serious, in fact-“ Becky was cut off by a cough coming from the squad room. We all turned to see Christen sitting at my desk with a beautiful blue dress on. She looked back at me with the fakest smile I’ve seen.“Hi Tobin.” She said, venom laced in every word.

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CP POVSecond bell rang as the last of my students filed into the classroom. They quietly took their seats and waited for me to start.“Alright, morning guys, happy Friday!” I said, they smiled at this and gave a few cheers. “Should be an easy day,” I said passing out papers, “all we’re doing is filling out graphic organizers for the next essay. Just go through the book and find quotes to support your points. If you need a book there’s some in the back closet.” I said. Through they weren’t happy about the essay, they were happy not being lectured. “You can listen to music, but no playing in your phones, if you need any help feel free to ask.” I said making my way back to my desk. I opened my laptop to get some lesson planning in. I worked out most of the assignments for the month and emailed the principal about a field trip for the kids. I even had time to book a reservation for mine and Tobin’s anniversary dinner. Just then a notice came up on my phone.Shots fired at an apartment building in Manhattan.I read the story a bit but didn’t get much Information. Tobin told me she’d be in court all day, but I still worried. I screen shorted the headline and sent her a text.Not you right? You’re ok? She didn’t respond in a few minutes, which I expected, if she was in court she wouldn’t be on her phone. I let out a sigh and closed all my tabs on my computer. With them gone I was left with my home screen. A beautiful picture taken by Tobin’s brother. Me, her, and Jack. I remember the day perfectly. It was last fall, we’d gone apple picking and asked Jeff to come along and photograph the day. Jack was sat on Tobin’s shoulders reaching for the highest apple on the tree. I was standing next to her, her arm around my waist, mine on her shoulder, with my leg kicked up, watching the two of them. I smiled at the picture wishing we were there.“Is that your family?” A voice said from behind me. I jumped a little and turned to see a student standing by my desk.“Go, sorry Kelsey, you scared me.” We both laughed a little.“It’s ok, I didn’t give you much notice.” We smiled to each other.“Yeah, that’s my wife and my son.” I smiled back to the picture.“Aww your family’s so beautiful.” She said.“Thank you, my son, Jack, is 8, and my wife is an NYPD Detective.” I said, making conversation.“Wow that’s really cool.” She smiled. I thanked her again.“Oh right the essay, that’s why you came up her.” I said remember we weren’t here to talk about our lives.“Oh yeah, I just had a question about this quote.” She laughed back.~~The school day had come and gone. I’d gotten a text from Tobin confirming she was in court which brought on major relief. A couple hours later my parents came to pick up Jack and watch him for the night. I got dressed in Tobin’s favorite blue dress and drove to the restaurant to meet her for our 8 o’clock reservations.“Good evening miss, can I get you anything to drink?” A waiter came by and asked.“Just a Water please.” I smiled at him. I scanned the restaurant to see if Tobin had come in, no sign of her yet. I could feel eyes of people on me, watching me sit alone and I started to get uncomfortable. After an hour I’d texted and called Tobin multiple times receiving no answer. It was going on ten o’clock.“Can I get you anything else ma’am?” The waiter asked after I’d had a few glasses of wine.“Just the check.” I said angrily. Once I’d payed I drove home. I sat in the driveway staring at our house until I broke down in tears. I felt like everything was falling apart. In all honestly Tobin and I had become distant lately. There wasn’t a lack of love. We’ve just been in different wavelengths recently. Like passing ships in the night. It felt like I was losing her. Like we kept drifting farther and farther. And that’s when I realized, if I wanted to save my marriage, I couldn’t sit here crying and hoping it fixed itself. I had to make it happen. I turned the car on and drove to the station.When I walked in no one was there. I was let in easily, most of the people there knew I was Tobin wife. I took a seat at her desk. A picture of Jack in one side and me in the other. I remember this one too. It was me sitting on the porch of a beach house Tobin and I visited when we were dating. I smiling at her. Not smiling for the camera. I’m smiling for her. We really did love each other. I put the picture down and moved the mouse of her computer in the process. When it came to life I looked at it amazed. We had the same home screen. We’d never talked about it, never seen each other’s Work computers, and yet here we were, apple picking. It made it hard to stay mad at her, but I had to. Just then I heard them coming in, Becky telling them about some judge. I coughed to get their attention and they all stopped in their tracks. Tobin looked at me in shock.“Hello Tobin.” I smiled to her.

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“Um, hey Chris, what are you doing here?” I asked nervously. My friends dispersed, trying not to intrude, but staying close enough to hear.“Do you know what day it is, Tobin?” She asked. I pulled out my phone to check. When I saw it my face went white.“March 11th, our wedding anniversary and the night we had reservations at the best restaurant in town for.” I said putting my phone back in my pocket.“Isn’t that crazy how two important things end up on the same day? I know! But of course none as important as your court date. Even though you’ve known about this for, since we got married. That day doesn’t change Tobs. Our anniversary is always gunna be March 11th. It’s so funny how something so important to me, like the day we agreed to spend the rest of our lives together is a big deal. But to you, your court date for a trial you don’t absolutely need to be at comes in first.” Just then, Hope came in to defuse the tension.“Hey Heath, why don’t you take the rest of the night off.” She said uncomfortably, not even looking at Christen. I nodded to her.“I’ll meet you at home.” She said coldly.I drove home angry. Angry at myself. When I finally got home I stood in front of the door trying to maintain composure. The lights were on and Christen’s car was in the driveway. I took one last deep breath before going inside. “Hey honey!” Christen said sarcastically.“I’m sorry Christen.” I said taking my jacket off.“I know you are,” She said, “but eventually sorry starts to lose it meaning Tobs. I can’t be married to a sorry. A series of mistakes and clean ups, hoping it stays together. I know that it’s your job and that you love it, but it can’t come before me and Jack. I get it if you miss a basketball game here and there. But when you start skipping out on birthdays and anniversary dinners, I don’t think you understand how much it hurts both of us Tobin. Sometimes I feel like a single mom! Half of Jack’s friends’ parents haven’t even met you, and the toll this must take on Jack, as much as it hurts when you do this to me, I won’t have you do this to my son.” She said. I took a step back. This was crazy. Sure Chris and I fought but we always got better, or so I thought, this was taking a more serious turn.“So, so what are you saying?” I asked taking a seat on the foot of the bed. “Do you, want to get, a divorce?” I asked quietly. She sat down next to me.“No Tobin, I really don’t. But in all honesty, you’re on thin ice. I get that it’s late nights and sudden calls, but you’re not even trying Tobin. I need more effort from you. I can’t make this work on my own, you get it?” She asked. I nodded.“You know, for a while now, I haven’t been able to shake the feeling that you picture a better life, a better wife, better nights.” I said looking at her. She took a deep breath and nodded.“I do picture a better life and better nights. But I still picture it all with you. You and me, we don’t just quit so easily. And I don’t know what it is because we’ve been doing so good. I think it’s the damn Ventura case that roped you back in. You didn’t used to work all night before that.” She said.“I agree. And maybe it was a mistake for me to jump back on that, but now that I have, I can’t get off.” I responded. She nodded back.“Tobin,” she started, “look at where we are. Look at where we started.” She laughed a bit at this, seeming to enjoy the memory. “The fact that we’re still here together is a miracle.” She said. I smiled as I starred down.“You can say that again.” I said.“This isn’t going to be easy. We’re not going to be able to just jump back into our lives. And I won’t pretend it’ll be ok right away. I won’t pretend to know what’s going to happen. It’s going to be hard.” She got up and walked in front of me. She squatted down on one knee and slowly lifted my head, “but I’m not afraid. I know who I married. So long as you come home at the end of the night. That’ll be enough.”“Ok,” I whispered, “ok. I can do that.” I said simply.“Ok.” She said as she got up. She kissed me once before walking to her side of the bed.“I’m calling Hope tomorrow. I’m asking her to cut your hours, just for a little while to kind of pull you out of this because Tobin, I can’t have half a wife anymore, I just can’t.” I understood her reasoning.“Ok.” I simply said. We silently crawled into bed together.“Goodnight Babe.” I said as I flicked the lamp off.“Goodnight Toby.” She said.~~The next morning was better. Hope had called me off of work so Christen and I had the day to ourselves while Jack was away. I had a plan. I needed to do something to show Christen how much I loved her and how important she was to me. I woke up at 5:30 am just to get it started. It took a while for me to get everything set up, but I was as excited as ever.“Babe?” Christen came walking out of the hallway, “I figured since you’d be home I’d get to wake up next to you for once.” She said with a bite to her voice.“Oh and the aftershocks from last nights earthquake are still rolling in. Good morning to you too.” I said putting an arm around her shoulders and kissing the top of her head.“Watch it.” She warned, “and why the note? ‘Morning beautiful, I’m sorry about last night, but I promise I’ll make it up to you’ when’d you do that?” She asked curiously.“Don’t worry, we’ll get to that. But for now, you need this.” I said putting a cup of coffee in front of her.“Thank you.” She said taking a sip. I stood in front of her smiling. She noticed and looked at me strangely.“Why are you standing, you’re making me nervous.” She said eyeing me.“I’m just excited about the day we’ve got planned.” I said.“You planned something?” She asked quirking an eyebrow. I nodded back. She stood up and stood next to me, leaning on me.“What’s on the agenda?” She asked. I smiled and rubbed her back.“Well it all starts with you getting dressed.” I smiled.~~“Tobin stop!” Christen laughed as I tickled her.“What? What? What’s wrong Chris?” I asked poking her sides as I kept my eyes front facing on the highway.“Tobin watch the road!” She laughed slapping at my hands.“Not like you can.” I commented.“Well you blindfolded me Tobin, that’s not my fault.” She giggled, “I still don’t know why you blindfolded me.” She said.“Because, if you could see the drive, you’d figure out where we’re going.” I said simply.“Yeah we’ll you better enjoy it. I’m scared of us jumping back in the real world.” She said. “Me too.” I said quietly. “But, just for today. Let’s enjoy the weekend.” I said. She agreed as I continued to drive. It only took a few more minutes before we pulled into the driveway of our destination.“Alright ready?” I asked Christen as I helped her out of the car.“You’re scaring me Tobin, I feel like you’re going to walk me into a tree or something.” She laughed.“Oh cmon you know you’re safe with me.” I said. She squeezed my hand a bit tighter as we walked.“Alright, ready?” I asked again. I stood behind her and took off the blindfold when she confirmed.“Tobin oh my god!” She said jumping up and turning back to me surprised. “How did you ever get this place back?” She asked. I’d taken her to the beach house we used to visit when we were dating, the one from the picture on my desk.“I talked to the owners. Turns out they went away for the weekend anyway.” I smiled. She wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me.“Happy anniversary baby.” I said.

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The rest of the night, Christen and I stayed in the house. We went for a swim then walked back up to the house for dinner...and dessert. I woke up early the next morning, habit. I made some coffee and stepped out on the porch to watch the morning waves roll in. It wasn’t long before a pair of arms wrapped around my neck.“Good morning.” Christen whispered in my ear.“Morning.” I smiled up to her. She walked around the chair and took a seat on my lap. I placed a kiss to the side of her head as she took the coffee cup from my hand.“Thank you for that.” I said sarcastically. She smiled back and rested her head against mine. I chuckled as we looked back to the beach.“I miss mornings like this.” She said. I lightly nodded in agreement.“Do you remember when we brought your brother up here?” She asked. I laughed immediately, remembering the day.“Yeah we’d been dating for a couple months and invited Jeff up here. He went out in the ocean by himself and got stung by a jellyfish. Then on the way back up here he got pinched by a crab.” I recounted. She shook her head.“Not the brightest of the Heath kids.” Christen commented.“I forgot how much we loved this place. We should bring Jack up here sometime.” She said. I nodded in agreement.“What made you wanna come back here?” She asked me. I shrugged my shoulder.“I’ve been going over every fight we’ve ever had about work in my head.” I started.“That’s your obsessiveness.” She said.“I know. But sometimes it help.” I said, she sent a soft glare my way. “Anyway I realized after every fight we had, every time we made up, I’d assure myself that it was alright because I thought that was best for everyone. Baby it’s not alright. And the night of our fight I didn’t sleep. I laid there and thought about the consequences of that. And the thing I came up with, is what if we’re a closing window? What if every time I do this, you get closer and closer to the brink. I can’t do that to you or us.” I said. She nodded. “So from now on, I’m putting you guys first. Work second. And this is how I’m starting it.” I said. She hugged me tighter.“Thank you,” she kissed my cheek, “but I don’t think the main problem is you putting Work first. I think you lack balance Tobs. Yeah, put Jack and me first, but Work is important to you, so you can love that and make that apart of your life too.” She said. I nodded as I thought this over.“So, where do we go from here?” I asked timidly. She sighed and leaned into me more.“Why don’t you talk to Hope? She knows the job better than I do so maybe she could help you out.” She said. I nodded to her.From there, we decided to leave work at work. Enjoying our beach vacation and getting back to what made us fall in love with each other in the first place.~~“So what are we gunna do today?” Christen asked as she straightened my tie while I grabbed an apple for the road.“Talk to Hope when she calls me in, take her suggestions, keep my mind on work at work. Get home on time, and be present for you and Jack at home.” I said taking a bite.“Look at you. Hit all the marks.” She said with a smile. “I’ll see you tonight.” She said with a kiss. I nodded to show a promise.“Later little dude!” I called to Jack. I heard padded feet running down the tile. Jack rounded the corner with a smile on his face.“Bye mama!” He yelled slamming into my legs. I huffed out and picked him up over my head. “I’ll be home in time for dinner.” I said with a smile.

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When I walked into the squad room I got awkward nods from everyone. The last impression I left being the one of Christen screaming, so I understood. After an hour of me sat at my desk, looking through case files and looking up every time to see someone starring at me, I finally had to say something. I stood up to talk to my team.“Ok really quick guys, yes Chris and I got in a fight, but we’re fine now...we’ll we’re working through it. Anyway can you please not all walk on eggshells around me?” I asked. Everyone nodded uncomfortably. “Perfect.” I mumbled sitting back down. Just then Hope walked in. We all greeted her with a nod or smile. After a few minutes she called me to her office. I sat down in the chair across from her practically shaking.“Tobin, you are the best detective I’ve ever worked with. Committed, intuitive, genius, and empathetic. Which is why, myself, and this team, can’t lose you to something stupid.” She said, lowering herself to sit on the corner of the desk. I nodded.“I won’t lay into you that much. I’m sure Christen already did that.” She joked, “and speaking of Christen, I talked to her the other day.” She said.“Yeah she told me she’d call you.” I said.“Now the fact that you’re so concerned with the people and your work is fantastic and necessary to do this job. But it can’t take attention from your family. From what we’ve noticed, this has only happened with a few similar cases, most recent being Ventura.” She said, I nodded. “So here’s the plan. For now, at least once a week, you are gunna sit down with the SVU psychiatrist, Ali Krieger. What’s said between you two can be kept private but she will report to me if need be, understood?” She asked. I nodded. “Krieger is also usually available if you need a quick pop In when you don’t have appointments, and she’s open to group therapy if Christen wants to come or if you want to talk with someone from the squad.” I nodded again. “Listen, I know you like to be the squad hero, and you are. Always crack the case, don’t show weakness, but right now, you need this Tobin. And this is a great opportunity. So don’t shut Ali out. And use it to your advantage.” She said putting a hand in my shoulder.“You’re right.” I said, “I-I can do that.”“Good.” She smiled.“So when does my first session with Krieger start?” I asked her. She checked her watch.“Right now.” As if on cue, Ali Krieger walked in.“Hey Hope, here for the 9:30. How’ve you been Tobin?” She asked me.“Looks like we’re already in session.” I joked.“Tobin.” Hope warned, already going back to work.“Shall we?” Ali asked, holding the door open for me. I followed her out into the squad room and to an interrogation booth.“So I heard you and Christen had a nice weekend?” She asked.“Yeah,” I said sitting down, “went up to a beach house we used to rent when we were dating. Jack stayed at her parents place, it was a good time.” I said. She smiled, but it quickly faded.“When you and Christen fight, do you often just try to fix it with some stunt?” She asked. The aggressiveness caught me by surprise.“I wouldn’t call them stunts, I do something nice for her.” I said.“I understand, but whenever you do something nice for her like this, I think you tend to just gloss over the source of your problem and sweep it under the rug.” She said making notes in the folder in front of her. I took a deep breath, I was trying to be strong and do this for Christen, and as much as I liked Ali, she was getting on my nerves.“I don’t follow.” I said through a clenched jaw.“I’m saying you have made a habit of running from your problems. And as a result of that, running from your wife. I’ve spoken to her as well. She says she’s tried to talk to you about work. To get you to explain what’s going through your mind, but you brush her off, thinking she can’t understand or won’t help.”“What are you saying Krieger? That I don’t love my wife?” I asked crossing my arms.“No actually, I think you love her so much that you try to shield her from your demons. But, if you were to let her in, that would make you two that much closer.” She said.“Not that simple.” I responded.“And why is that?” I looked back at Ali. I didn’t say anything for a while.“Because my wife has enough to deal with. Between our son and worrying about me, and a job of her own, adding to that stress would be stupid.” I said.“Well that’s just it Tobin, by talking to her and explaining why you need to stay at this job, what your day’s like and what kinds of things you guys go through, will make her stop worrying. It may seem like your contributing to stress, but you’ll see you’re actually helping her, which will help you.” She said. I nodded a bit. Her watch beeped.“Hour’s up.” She closed her folder and stood up. “Tonight when you get home, I want you to talk to Christen for at least half an hour about your day. Think you can do that?” She asked. I nodded again. She shook my hand before walking out. I stayed in the booth for a little while. I let out a long sigh before putting my head back and rubbing my eyes.“God help us.” I mumbled into my hands.

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I got home from work at record time, 6:30, just barely dark out. I wasn’t completely sure when I’d get home so Christen was surprised to see me.“Who could this be? Certainly not my wife, she only gets home after 1 am.” She joked as I walked in.“Oh worked that one in seamlessly I see.” I joked back hanging my coat up in the coat rack.“I kid I kid.” She laughed as she stirred a pot on the stove, “Jack’s in his room doing homework, just got done eating, but I haven’t eaten yet, join me for dinner?” She asked. I agreed immediately. She’s made soup and poured it into two bowls set at the table. We sat down and ate in silence for about a minute. Ali’s words kept coming back, and I thought I might as well try to make this therapy work.“Hey,” I said putting my napkin and spoon down, “can I talk about my day?” I asked her. She seemed to perk up immediately at the thought, putting her own spoon down and leaning forward.“Of course, what happened?” She asked putting her hands under her chin.“So after my therapy session with Ali, which I can go back to, we got a call about this girl who had been assaulted by her boss, so Kelley and I went down to check it out. It was so heartbreaking. She was a mess. All she wanted to do was go home, but she couldn’t because that’s where it happened.” Though not the most uplifting subject, she listened intently to every word. I told her about the call, some annoying paperwork, a rookie that’d been so clingy to everyone, even gaining a chuckle out of her.“So what he just follows you around the office?” She asked through a belly laugh.“Yeah! It’s weird, I had to hide out in the bathroom just to get some peace.” I said. She let out another laugh, throwing her head back and all.“But what about you? How was your day?” I asked her.“Oh well there was a faculty meeting today, and for every meeting someone volunteers to bring food, just to liven it up and then Karen Owens-“ I cut her off.“Wait is that bitch Karen we hate or angel Karen we love?” I asked.“Bitch.” She said with a stone cold stare.“Oh god.” I joked.“So Karen comes waltzing in with this tray of cupcakes all proud with her nose up like ‘I’m teaching three AP classes and still had time to make this’” She imitated.“Honey, I feel like I’m back in high school.” I laughed.“Exactly!” She exclaimed, “Anyway, the best part was everyone bit into them and they were soupy and raw, like how do you mess up cupcakes?” She asked. We sat laughing for minutes until we were just looking at each other. I shifted my gaze to the window, it had gotten very dark. My watch said 9:53.“See I miss this.” She said taking my hand while the other wrapped around her coffee mug.“Me too.” I sighed out running my thumb over her knuckles. I brought her hand up to my lips for a kiss. “Chris I’m sorry, that I haven’t been the best wife to you, for a while now.” She looked at me, and I couldn’t tell what she was thinking. “You know when I was a little kid, my mom would always ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up. Almost every day, and I never had a good answer. Not until I was 26. Not until the day I met you. That’s when I knew what I wanted to be. I wanted to be the person who makes you happy.” I said.“You do make me happy.” She said, seeming like she was fighting tears.“Not always,” I whispered, squinting my eyes, “Not lately.” She bowed her head as if in guilt, yet she wasn’t at fault.“The way you are with your job. The way you are with Jack. The way you are with me. You’re there, baby. You’re a ten out of ten. And I’ve been slipping down, and that not fair to you.” Now she let the tears go. “So from here on out, I’m gunna be an 11 for you, Chris.” She let a smile go. I shook my head, “actually, fuck that.” I whispered, “I’m gunna be a 12.” I looked into her eyes, trying to convey my point. “I’ll be an 11 for Jack.” I joked, “but you get a 12.” She smiled back at me.“Can you forgive me? For all of this?” I asked giving her hands a squeeze.“You’re going to organized NYPD therapy for me, of course I forgive you.” She whispered. We stood up to share a kiss across the table. We rested our foreheads together for a while.“It’s late,” I said, “and you’ve got school in the morning.” I said. I felt her nod.“And you’ve got work.” I nodded this time. “Let’s go to bed.” She said. We walked back to our room together, confident in what was to come.

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CP POV“Marcus?”“Here.”“Gianna?” “Absent.” She joked.“Very funny, Bella?”“Here.”“Jayden?”“Yeah.”“Erin?”Nothing.“Erin?” I called out again. I looked up to see an empty desk, “has anyone seen Erin?” I asked the class.“Absent again.” A kid said. I simply nodded, but inside my mind I was so confused. That was the third time this week she’s been absent, and it wasn’t like her. Erin was a smart kid, good grades, always on time, a model student. I put the thought aside and continued with my lesson. Class carried on and soon it was lunch time. The kids filed out of the room one by one and I went to my desk to organize the papers they handed in. I heard someone enter the room. I looked over to see Erin. Her clothes were ripped. She seemed drowsy, wobbling. Her eyes were glazed over as she gripped the door frame.“Erin?” I asked walking over to her to lead her to a chair. “What happened?” I asked. She slurred her words so I couldn’t completely understand.“I can’t tellyou because I’ll....” She strayed off, closing her eyes.“Erin did something happen to you?” I asked. She let out a small nod, “but I can’t tell you.” “Yes you can Erin, and if something bad happened I know people who can help you.” I said to her. She seemed to ponder the idea for a minute.“Ok, you know my ex-boyfriend? The wrestling captain?” She asked in broken English. I nodded to her. She looked at me intently before tears rolled down her face.“I think he raped me.”~~“SVU” Tobin said when she answered the phone.“Tobs?” I asked as I rubbed Erin’s back. She sat in my desk chair, comfier that the hard student chairs. She had fallen asleep on the desk so I let her stay there.“Chris? This lines for vics only, you can’t be on it, I’m on break soon, I’ll call you back in 10.” She said about to hang up.“Tobin wait!” I said louder than expected. Erin stirred, but that was it. I heard her put the phone up to her ear, “a girl in my sophomore history class has been absent three times this week. After class today she came stumbling in. She was dizzy and drowsy, her clothes were ripped and she told me she thinks her ex-boyfriend raped her.” I lowered my voice.“She thinks?” Tobin asked. “That’s what she said.” I responded.“Alright, is the girl in your room?” She asked.“Yeah, she wasn’t feeling well, she’s asleep right now.” I answered.“Alright, don’t let her out, and don’t tell anyone else. Kelley and I will be there in a few minutes.” She said.“Ok perfect,” I sighed, “Thanks, baby.” I said. I heard her smile through the phone.“Hey, it’s my job.” She joked. I let out a small laugh.“Hey, Chris?” I heard her ask. Her voice seemed worried, as if she was worried about me being there.“Yeah?” I asked, sitting on my desk.“I love you.” She said. I let out a small sigh, smiling to the ceiling.“I love you too.” I said. I hung up and pushed the hair that was stuck to Erin’s forehead. A sheen of sweat plastered it down and left a shine to her. I let out another sigh, this one more sad. I hadn’t heard much of what actually happened to Erin, but I still felt for her, I cared about all my students very much.A few minutes later I heard some commotion outside. I moved to the window facing the front of the school to see Tobin and Kelley walking in with the principle trying to catch up. Although completely inappropriate and not the time, all I could think was, ‘damn, Tobin looks good.’ I never get to see her on the job, but god. A black suit, some nice shoes and a semi-trench coat and sunglasses. Paired with the serious scowl she wore to get passed the principle as she flashed her badge, I’d show her how much I appreciated it later. There was a knock on the door soon. I opened the blinds to see Tobin taking her sunglasses off and Kelley right behind her. I let them in and thanked them for coming.“Hey.” Tobin said leaning in to kiss me and give me a small hug. I wrapped my arms around her shoulder tightly. “You ok?” She asked when she pulled back. I nodded.“Yeah just, shaken up I guess.” I said holding her arms.“That’s normal. You’ll have to be interviewed, but if you want you can talk to the therapist too.” She said.“Why do I need to be interviewed?” I asked confused.“We just need to get a statement. Make sure you didn’t tell her to say anything, cross check your stories, make sure it’s on the up and up.” She said.“Tobin I would never-“ my voice got louder as I got offended and she covered my mouth.“I know you wouldn’t.” She said slowly, “standard procedure.” She said.“Can you be the one to interview me?” I asked. She shook her head apologetically.“Conflict of interest.” She said.“I get it.” I nodded.“Hey Heath, a little help here?” Kelley called from my desk. Erin had come to and Kelley was asking her basic questions. She still seemed out of it.“Alright, I’ll call in a bus, get her to a hospital, make sure she’s ok and get a rape kit done.” Kelley said.“A bus?” I asked.“Ambulance.” She responded.“Kel you ride with her to the hospital, I’ll call A. Morgs and Sonnet to help me out.” Tobin said. Kelley spoke into a radio giving the school address. Tobin turned to me.“Chris I need a list of teachers Erin has contact with, the name of the ex-boyfriend and I gotta find the principle for personal files.” She said. I nodded and led her to my laptop at my desk as Kelley led Erin outside. I pulled up as many school records as I was authorized to, giving her the name of the boyfriend and Erin’s class schedule.“Perfect, thanks baby.” She said looking over the records. “Where’s the principle?” She asked.“She should be in her office. Room 139, just down the hall, last door on your left.” I said turning to her.“Alright. I’m gunna go talk to her.” She said. I nodded, closing the laptop. After all this, knowing the school wasn’t necessarily a safe place, a felt uncomfortable and out of place. She leaned down, putting her hands on the armrests of the chair and whispered to me.“Listen I can tell you’re pretty broken up about this so here’s what’s gunna happen. I’ll go talk to the principle, you stay right there. I’ll come back when I’m done and we’re gunna walk out of here together, for it?” She asked squatting down, resting on the balls of her feet. I nodded thankfully to her.“Ok now you still can’t tell anyone. I wanna make this as painless for Erin as possible. Just hang out here for a while, try to relax.” She said.“Easier said than done Tobs.” I responded.“I know.” She put a hand on my shoulder, “now don’t let this go to your head, but you’re pretty much always right, but when it comes to this you gotta listen to me, ok?” She laughed, as did I. I nodded and thanked her for coming again. I stood to kiss her goodbye.“I’m just down the hall if you need me.” She said. I nodded again. I watched her walk out of the door, down the hall and into the principle’s office, wishing she was still there to make this awful feeling go away.

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TH POVI knocked on the principle’s door and she yelled for me to come in.“Hi Detective Heath. Thank you for coming. And I apologize about the commotion earlier.” She said.“Don’t worry about it, confusion is often the first response.” I said, she nodded.“So what do you need from me?” I pulled out the paper Christen gave me.“What can you tell me about Jackson Whitman?” I asked.“Oh Jackson’s a model student. Wrestling team captain. A member of the English and history NHS, early acceptance to Penn state.” She said proudly, as if it were her own son she’d boasted about.“Ok, has he ever been in trouble with the law or school?” I asked taking notes. She fell silent.“There was one issue, his junior year. He, um, well, a teacher confiscated marijuana from him.” She said quietly. I nodded.“And what happened with that?” I asked.“Well it was a first offense, so we gave him a detention.” She said backtracking. I tried my best to hide my judgement. I finished up the interview soon after.“Thanks Principle Rockman, I’ll be in touch.” I said through a fake smile. She nodded and shook my hand. I walked back to Christen’s room to see her on her phone at her desk.“Hey,” She said standing up, “how’d it go?” She asked.“Alright. Talked to her about Jackson, whom she idolizes by the way. But she let it slip that he’s had a connection with drugs. That gives me probable cause to search his locker at the very least. I gotta find out what drugs were in Erin’s system. If they match ones he has, that could hold up in court.” I explained. “Oh that’s great. We’re getting somewhere.” She said. I nodded.“Yeah, Alright. Hey why don’t we head home?” I asked putting a hand on her back. It was evident she needed rest.“You’re coming home with me?” She asked.“I can bring you home, but I gotta go back to the station for about an hour to get some more details about this, but I’ll be home by 3:30.” I said. She nodded.“You gunna be alright alone?” I asked. She shrugged.“Hey why don’t we pick Jack up, keep you company.” I smiled down to her. She smiled back.~~I dropped Chris and Jack off at home and drove back to the station to talk to Kelley about the medical reports.“Any news?” I asked walking into the lab with Kelley. We met our medical examiner, Allie Long there.“Yeah. Got a rape kit done. Definite signs of trauma to the vagina. Alcohol and drugs in her system. Not a good mix.” She said.“Any dna from seamen?” I asked.“Yeah, running it now, but it’ll take some time to get a match.” She said.“What kind of drugs?” Kelley asked.“Rohypnol and Ketamine. That kind of combo would knock anyone off their feet.”“Ok, what does that mean?” Kelley asked.“Rohypnol is used mainly to treat insomnia. Ketamine is only given in a medical setting as a painkiller.”“Alright Allie, English please?” I asked.“She could have been slipped Rohypnol by anyone who has insomnia. But unless it was stolen, the Ketamine is from someone with a medical background.” We nodded to Allie and thanked her before leaving.“So now what?” Kelley asked as we walked down the hall.“Well the Ketamine’s tripping me up. We gotta find out if Jackson has some connection to the medical field.” I said.“And the Rohypnol?” I stopped and turned to her.“Let’s see if Mr. Perfect has trouble sleeping.” I smiled to Kelley before continuing on.“Alright, and we’ll do it tomorrow.” She said pointing to the clock on the wall. I grunted towards her, but she gave me a look that I knew meant going home was the only thing I’d be doing.“I won’t arrest Jackson without you.” She joked.“We’ll do me a favor, tap into school records, see what you can find on the Whitman family.” She gave me a thumbs up, then I headed for my car to go home.

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Christen barely slept that night. Which means I barely slept last night. Nightmare after nightmare about Erin woke her up, and after every one she stayed up for an hour crying. I admired how much she felt for her students. After calming down from the last one, we lay awake together for a while.“How do you do it Tobs? Not fall apart like this al the time?” Her voice still shaky. I smiled to the ceiling.“Eventually you become...stoic, I guess. But, there’s always a few, that get to you.” I said, turning to her, “and because of the way it’s tearing you apart, this will be one of them.” I said. She nodded and rolled back into me, asking to be held. I complied without hesitation.~~“Christen not going into work today?” Kelley asked as we hopped in the car to go to the school.“Nah, she needed a day off, I don’t blame her.” She agreed.“Yeah, I agree. By the way, I did some digging. Jackson’s got no direct ties to the medical field, but according to his school records, asking about medication he takes and stuff, he is prescribed Rohypnol.”“Perfect.” I smiled. When we arrived at the school we went straight for the principles office. The students were in class which would make our job very easy. She showed us to Jackson’s locker and unlocked it. Amongst other questionable things, in an orange bottle, back of his locker, sat a bottle of Rohypnol.“All I needed.” I shook the bottle in front of my face and dropped it in an evidence bag before making my way upstairs. Kelley followed close behind. I found the room I was looking for and walked in.“Can I help you?” The teacher asked. I slightly moved my jacket, showing my badge. I found Jackson and stood him up.“Jackson Whitman,” I handcuffed him and he started to freak out, “you’re under arrest for the rape of Erin Wallace. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford one, one will be provided to you. Do you understand these rights as I have read them to you?” I asked. His manly reaction? Burst into tears.~~“Look, I don’t know how many times I can tell you. I stopped seeing Erin last month.” He said rubbing his eyes. It’d been a couple hours already.“And why is that?” I asked sitting down.“I don’t know for sure. She broke it off with me.” He said. I nodded, that gives him at least a bit of motive.“Jackson, do you have insomnia?” I asked crossing my arms.“Why does that mean shit?” He asked. I gave him a glare“Yeah, I do. I’ve had it since I was a kid.” He grumbled.“And I’m guessing you take Rohypnol for that?” I asked. He nodded. “See, Rohypnol was found in Erin’s system after the rape. And you’re the only person with motive do do something like this to her.” I said.“Wh-that’s impossible I haven’t touched her since we broke up.” He said.“Yeah well I’d like to believe you, but she made a direct accusation.” I said closing the folder.“That lying bitch! She was always jealous of my success in sports and getting into Penn state. She wanted what she didn’t have. She wanted me!” He yelled.“Oh but you didn’t do it?” I asked.“No!” He yelled, “that’s not what I meant. I didn’t do it.”“But see there’s the problem we found DNA there Jackson. Seaman. And we’re gunna run it and see-“ He cut me off.“That’s impossible! I used a condom!” When he realized what he said he slowly and quietly sat down.“And that’s what you call a confession.” I said getting up. He put his head in his hands.“To rape your ex girlfriend then lie about. That’s real scum.” I said, he looked up angrily.“Shut up.” He said.“How do you sleep at night?” I asked him walking towards the door. “Oh that’s right, you don’t.” I smiled before walking out.“Nice work.” Hope said when I closed the door behind me, she’d been watching through the glass.“Thanks.” I said.“So we got the lab results back.” She said. I nodded for her to continue. “There was condom lubricant found, but seamen too.” She said. “Yeah it threw me when he said he used a condom, I figured it broke or something.” I said leaning against the wall.“I wish that was it.” Hope said.“What?” I asked She put a file down for me to look at.“Besides Jackson’s confession and the pill proof, we ran a swab of his DNA with some seamen on Erin’s blouse. I’m guessing he used a condom then...” she trailed off when I looked up, indicating she didn’t have to finish. “Yeah, you get it. Then we ran the seamen found inside Erin. Not a match to Jackson’s.” She said. I looked up at her in disbelief as if asking confirmation with my eyes. Hope nodded.“So that means...Erin was raped by two different men.”

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“I don’t understand.” Erin spoke in broken words between sobs. I sat on the foot of her bed.“I know this is hard. But you had a right to know.” I said.“So Jackson raped me. But someone else did too?” She asked. I nodded. She was so upset that she smiled.“Typical. Do you know who?” She asked.“Not yet, but I will find out for you.” I said. She nodded. “Erin can I ask you a few questions?” I said. She nodded, crossing her arms, trying to sink into the bed.“Do you know anyone with a background in medicine?” I asked. She thought before shaking her head.“Do you remember anything about the rape?” I asked.“I remember being pushed into the janitor’s closet. I’d felt dizzy so I went to see the school doctor, he gave me some Advil, and sent me back to class. I got pushed in on the way back and I blacked out. When I came to, I was dizzy, but I remember Jackson standing over me.” She said. I nodded.“Ok, thank you Erin. I’ll be in touch. I got up to leave but she grabbed my hand.“Do you, do you think I could see Mrs. Heath?” She asked. I squinted in confusion, but softened, wanting to give her what she wants. “She’s just always been there for me, I’d like to talk to her.” She said shyly. I nodded.“Yeah of course. I’ll bring her by later.” I nodded and squeezed her hand. She thanked me and I left to go back to the station.~~“So right now, our time line is, Erin goes to the nurse, gets Advil, on her way back to class, is pushed in a closet, raped, then raped again by the ex boyfriend.” Hope thought out loud.“We know Jackson gave her the Rohypnol, all that’s left is the Ketamine. Erin did mention their school nurse is a man, worth talking to him.” I commented. Hope nodded to me.“Take Alex with you Heath, A-Rod and Cheney, try to get a timeline from the perspective of Jackson the gentleman, Sonnet, O’Hara, run the second DNA through the system, see if we get a hit.” She said. Alex and I got up to go back to the school.~~“Afternoon detectives.” He said once we’d introduced ourselves.“And you, Dr....” Alex trailed off, asking for his name.“Michaels. Damien Michales.” He stick his hand out and we both shook it. For lack of better words, he was an odd man. Talk and skinny, dark hair and a presence that made you uncomfortable. He was awkward, as if he was afraid of himself.“So I understand Erin Wallace came to you a couple days ago. Said she was dizzy?” I asked looking around the room.“Oh yes. Terrible what happened to her. I’d treated Jackson for a wrestling injury before. It was only a minute but from what I understood he was not a nice person.” The doctor said. I nodded as Alex continued.“It really is. We were hoping you could give us some more information on Jackson, as in medical records.” At least that was our cover story. As Alex kept him busy I scooped the room for Ketamine, a drug that wouldn’t have a place in schools, but could easily be obtained by someone with a medical license. He looked in filing cabinets while alex nodded me to keep looking. I peered into medicine cabinets finding some questionable substance, but not what I was looking for. I turned to see them engrossed in conversation and carefully opened the cabinets as quietly as possible. I slid bottles around to see the ones in the back, but no Ketamine. I closed the cabinets just before he turned around.“Maybe it’s in this one, what did you say his last name was?” He asked moving to a filing cabinet next to be.“Whitman.” Alex said giving me a glare, begging me to not cut it so close next time. I smiled at her and shrugged. I moved behind them again to look for more medicine.“So how long have you worked here Damien?” I asked him.“Oh this is my first year, I just moved here from Massachusetts.” He said with a cheery voice. I stopped listening after that, still finding nothing. We couldn’t hold him off much longer, so alex and I went on our way.“It’s him.” I said as we walked back to the car.“We got nothing in him Tobs, we don’t know.” She said.Logically, She was right, intuitively, I was.“I know. But I know.” I said. She looked at me for a second, but got in the car nonetheless.~~“I’m home!” I called out to the house. It was about 6:30 so everyone else was home too. Christen came walking around the corner to greet me, Jack, a minute later.“Hey Listen bud, how would you like to go play with Marcus tonight?” I asked crouching down to him he nodded excitedly and I told him to go get his stuff.“What was that about Tobs?” Christen asked.“Erin asked to see you.” I said quietly, just as I did, she looked confused, then softened.“Why?” She asked. I put my hands on her forearms trying to comfort her about what was to come.“We got some results back from the lab. And from them we can conclude that, Erin was raped, by two different men.” I said. Her face twisted into shock and horror as tears spilled from her eyes.“That’s so awful, of course I’ll go see her.” She said. Jack came back then.“Why’re you crying mommy?” He asked.“No reason Bubba, just something mama said to me was sad.” She explained.“Was she mean to you?” He asked practically glaring at me. Christen stifled a laugh and turned him back around.“No, mama’s never mean to me. She’s protecting me. And you.” She explained. Content with this, he ran off to get more of his toys. Christen wiped her tears and stood up.“Let’s go.” She said~~“Hi Erin.” Christen said walking in slowly, I was right behind her.“Mrs. Heath!” She shot up in excitement holding her arms out. Christen rushed over to hug her back, mumbling sorry’s into the air.“Thank you Detective Heath.” Erin chokes out. I nodded as I stood by the door. When they pulled back they both took a moment to catch their breaths.“I can leave you guys alone for a while if you’d like.” I said backing towards the door. Erin nodded.“Thanks baby, I’ll text you.” Christen said. I nodded and went to grab a cup of coffee. By now I’d come to know a few of the doctors and nurses so I found myself talking to a doctor a few doors down from Erin’s.“So Adam, how has Erin been?” I asked.“Physically? Good. But she’s been very distant. I peered into the window in the door to see her talking animatedly to Christen.“Well she’s talking now.” I joked. We talked for a few more minutes before I heard Christen calling for me. I walked back into the room.“What happened to texting?” I joked.“Kinda hard when your phone’s ringing on the table over there.” She said. Her and Erin laughed. I picked up the phone to see five missed calls from Hope.“What is it babe?” Christen asked, taking in my shocked and confused expression.“Five missed calls from Hope.” I said. I turned to take it outside. She picked it up on the first ring.“God damnit Tobin lose your phone again?” She half joked.“You know me.” I smiled, “what’s up?”“DNA cams back on the seamen inside Erin. Get here. Now.” She ordered.

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“Ok, so, one more time, what the hell happened?” I asked Hope, trying to rap my head around the situation.“Alright. 9:43 a.m. Erin goes to her doctor for Advil, but instead he gives her Ketamine. She’s still feeling lightheaded. We got cameras from the main hallway. It shows Erin walking toward the doctor’s office. A minute later she’s walking back. Erin’s still wobbly when she runs into Jackson in the hall. She kinda falls into him and we can see him leading her out of sight.”“Ok but we already know Jackson’s good for the rape.” I said.“Yes but to what extent?” Hope asked.“What do you mean to what extent he did it. Rape is rape.” I argued.“Just watch.” She said. She fast forwarded the tape a couple minutes ahead. We see Jackson walk back down the hallway and down the stairs. Minutes later he returns with the doctor. Looking giddy as ever.“Jackson and the Doctor were in this together.” I said. We watched more as we saw the doctor leave first, then Jackson 20 minutes after.“Michaels bribed Jackson with sex, and give Erin the Ketamine. Then he took his ‘share’ and left. I’m guessing Jackson went after him but the medicine started to wear off. So he improvised, slipped her his insomnia meds.” Hope said.“But that doesn’t explain why she went to the nurse in the first place, or why he needed Jackson” I said.“Well we can find that out.” She nodded to the interrogation room with The doctor inside. She followed behind me as I reached for the door handle.“Been a while since you worked a perp Cap, think you can keep up?” I smirked to her.“Please, I’ve been booking these guys since before you were born.” She retorted.“Yeah Well Times have changed.” I shrugged. She laughed and crossed her arms.“Alright Heath, you’re feeling smart? I’ll let you take the lead.” She smiled.“That’s what I wanted to hear.” I winked before walking in. I had a file with pictures from the cameras, the DNA from the lab, showing his seamen and drugs in Erin’s system. I threw the file on the table in front of him.“So tell me doctor, when you’re raping 16 year old girls do you usually get their ex boyfriends to help or do you work alone?” I asked, sitting down.“W-what? I-“ He stammered.“Oh I’d love to hear this. We got rock solid evidence against you dude.” I smiled to him. “DNA, video footage, the Ketamine, and a confession from Jackson.” I counted off. The last two weren’t entirely true, but we were working on it. Lauren and Kelley were tossing his apartment and Arod, Sonnet, and Alex were talking to Jackson. “I would never do that to a child!” He said.“And yet you did, so let’s talk about why you did it, and why you needed Jackson’s help” Hope asked. He looked through the files to see all the proof.“Is that not Jackson leading you to the closet, where you two planned to assault Erin.” I asked.“No, no, we were just talking.” He put his head in his hands.“Ok I’ll be honest with you Doc, the DA’s office isn’t gunna wanna go after a kid, even if he is at fault. So if anyone’s taking the main fall here, it’s you. And you lying your ass off, doesn’t help.” I said. He looked between us both.“I want my lawyer.” He said.“You said the magic words.” Hope commented. We gathered our stuff and left. At the same time, Amy, Sonnet and Alex were walking out of talking with Jackson.“You guys get anywhere?” Hope asked.“Somewhat, asked him about Damien, he said he was getting him to ‘help’ Erin.” Alex said.“Keep going after him, it’ll be easier to crack him than the doctor. Tell him if he helps we can get him less time.” Hope said. They nodded and went back to the room.“You.” Hope turned to me.“Me...” I said confused.“Two things,” she continued, “one, I wanna keep you here to work on this but it’s getting late and I’ve got you on restricted hours. Two, we need to let Erin know.” She said.“Well Chris is with her right now. I can call her and tell her what happened and ask if I can stay here, she can tell Erin if you want.” I said pulling out my phone.“Ok ok, slow it down Speedy Gonzalez. Call her and ask if you can say, but she can’t tell Erin. Not sure how she’ll handle it so I want someone like you there.” She said.“You sure Cap? She really confused in Chris.” I argued. She thought for a second.“Ok, I believe you, so I want you and Christen to be there to tell her.” She said, “but not today, we’ve got enough going on.” I gave a small salute before going to call Christen.“Hey, any word?” She asked when she picked up.“Yeah, are you in the room with Erin?” I asked.“Yeah.” She responded simply.“Ok then when I tell you who the second guy was I need you not to react.” I said, trying not to scare Erin. “The second man was the school doctor. Doctor Michaels.” I said. She was silent. I’m assuming she was afraid, shocked and feeling unsafe.“Baby?” I asked, softening.“Yeah, I-I’m here.” She said.“Are you ok?” I asked. She stifled a sarcastic laugh.“I mean no, not really.” She said. I felt bad about asking to stay now.“Do you need me tonight?” I asked.“Yeah, I do,” she responded, “but, I need you to get him more.” She said. I heard the anger rise in her voice. A smile played at my face when I heard the fire in her.“That’s my girl.” I said, she laughed again, it was small, but real this time.“Do you have to work all night?” She asked.“Tell you what, I will do my absolute best to break this guy and be out of here by 11. How about you take a sick day tomorrow and I’ll stay with you?” I asked. “I’d like that.” She said.“Then that’s what we’ll do.” I said quietly.“Thank you.” She said. “Should I not tell Erin it was the doctor?” She asked.“No, not yet.” I said, “not the time.”“Ok.” She said, still shell shocked.“Ok. You call me when you’re done with Erin. You want me to send a Squad car to take you home?” I asked.“No no Tobs it’s fine, I’ll take a cab.” She said.“Ok I’m gunna send a squad car anyway.” He laughed at my answer but it died down quickly due to the ominous feeling between us both.“Hey, I love you.” She said. I smiled and bit my lip to keep myself from telling her everything would be ok and that we’d get through it. Because that’s not what she needed right now. She didn’t need a therapist yet. She needed a wife.“And I love you.” I said. “I’m gunna make this right, for you and Erin.” I said.

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CP POVI woke up next to Tobin. I’m not sure when she came in, but I knew it was after midnight because that’s when I’d fallen asleep. I figured she’d had a long night so I let her sleep in. Jack didn’t need to be up for an hour so I went to the kitchen to make a cup of coffee. During my chat with Erin I found it hard to not say the name of her second rapist. I felt like I needed to tell her to protect her, though I knew she was safe. Putting aside thoughts of Erin, I feared for myself. I’d worked in the same building as this man for a year. I’d seen him at meetings, assemblies, one time I even went down to his office. I cut my finger on some scissors and didn’t have any bandaids in my room. We even talked for a while, since it was both of our free periods. We talked about the school, the town. I talked about Tobin. I hoped he didn’t remember, or that he didn’t realize it was her. Jack woke up soon. He was easy that day, like he knew something was wrong. I arranged for him to be picked up by a friends Mom to make that day a bit easier. We waved goodbye and I trekked back inside for breakfast. Soon enough it was almost 11 when Tobin woke up. Regardless of the time she hadn’t gotten enough sleep. She stood over my chair and put her hands on my shoulders from behind.“Morning.” She mumbled.“More like Afternoon.” I joked.“Right. Sorry.” She said taking a seat.“No that wasn’t meant to be mean. I know, I told you to go, it’s ok. You were doing it for me.” I reminded her.“Everything I do, I do for you.” She replied.“Always were a smooth talker.” I retorted.“Hey it won you over didn’t it?” She laughed.“Oh please baby it was hardly you’re impossibly corny pick up lines that did the trick.” I said.“Oh yeah then what was it?” She asked.“Well it couldn’t have been those charming good looks.” I said. She laughed back before we fell silent.“So how was last night?” I asked. She sipped her coffee slowly, trying to choose her words carefully.“Slow but steady. We’re pretty sure we know what happened in terms of chain of events and motive, but we need a confession.” She said.“How was Erin?” She asked.“She was ok, but I feel like once she finds out who the second rapist was, she’ll be a bit overwhelmed.” Tobin nodded.“And what about you?” She asked.“I mean I’m shocked. I’ve talked to him before, said hi to him, it’s just weird to think about.” I said. She nodded and put a hand on my arm.“It always is.” I nodded but didn’t meet her eyes.“I’m sorry.” She said. I nodded again.“So when are you gunna tell Erin?” I asked.“About that, since you’re so good with her, Hope asked if you could be there when I tell her.” She said. I thought it over for a moment.“Well do you think that would be best for Erin?” I asked, wanting her expert opinion.“I do. I wouldn’t want you to do it yourself because there’s a lot of ways it could go, but I do think if you’re there it will soften the blow.” She said.“Ok, then I’ll do it.” I said, knowing it was the right thing, “Let’s go tonight.”~~“Hey Mrs. Heath.” Erin said, bit confused but happy as I walked in with Tobin in tow.“Hey Erin, what’s up?” I asked sitting next to her, Tobin on the other side of the room.“Oh nothing, just flipping through the same five channels.” She said, waving the remote. I laughed along.“Erin we have something to tell you.” Tobin said from her seat.“Is it about my case?” She asked.“Yeah,” Tobin said, “and I brought Christen because I want you to feel like you’re safe here and can say whatever you’d like.” Erin looked between us and turned off the tv, giving us her full attention.“Alright.” She said a little quieter.“Now we know, and you know, Jackson did assault you. And we’ve finally caught the second man.” Tobin said. Erin shifted uncomfortably but nodded.“Do I know him?” She asked. We both nodded. “Who is it?” She asked.“It’s your school doctor. Dr. Michaels.” Tobin said delicately. Erin looked between us again before breaking down in sobs. I moved closer to her and put an arm around her as she cried. Tobin stood in front of us, hands in her pocket. Not necessarily unfazed, but stoic. I couldn’t blame her. She’d had this conversation a hundred times. Erin mumbled questions and Tobin tried to answer the best she could.“He’s going to trial.”“We’re trying to figure out why.”“I promise you, he’ll never see the light of day again.”We stayed there for a while. Well into the night. Erin cried every so often. Tobin and I took shifts talking to her, trying to understand everything. There was one thing for certain. This would be a trying case.

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“I don’t know! I don’t know.”“See that’s not a good enough answer Damien. I got a lot riding on this case. And I know you know why this happened. You and I both know Jackson isn’t smart enough to scheme this up. Everybody knows that. Which means this is on you. So you tell me why you did this, and why Jackson got involved.” I sat down across from the doctor. He was practically crying.“Detective this is badgering!” His lawyer said beside him.“Save it for court.” Hope said from behind me.“You’re a good man aren’t you Damien?” I asked him. He nodded. “This isn’t how you wanted this to happen?” He nodded again. “I’m in love with Erin.” He said.“Mr. Michaels-“ his lawyer said but he called him off.“Jackson and I both were. We’d bonded over this, become friends.” He spoke with a sort of twinkle in his eye that was both sickening and endearing. “He missed her so, told me how great she was. I told him I could help him get her back, if he helped me.” He stared at the table for a second before pounding his head.“It wasn’t supposed to be me! He was supposed to go to jail! Not me!” His lawyer grabbed his hands to stop him. There’s our confession. Hope and I walked out together.“Well, that was...” she trailed off.“Disturbing? Psychotic? Frightening? Diabolical?” I asked.“To name a few.” She responded. I turned to watch him through the glass.“And to think he’d worked with kids for years.” I said. I could feel Hope’s eyes on me.“Hey why don’t you go home? Be with our family.” She said.“I still got three more hours, maybe more if he-“ I looked back through the glass.“Make it up tomorrow.” She said. “Not a request.” She finished. I nodded and left to get my things.~~The next time I saw Dr. Michaels was in court. Becky crushed his joke of a defense. Shortest trial I’ve ever been apart of. Jackson plead guilty and cut a deal for ten years probation and a spot of the sex offender registry. Don’t blame him, prison time doesn’t look too great of a college application. Erin and her family went to every part of the trial, even when she didn’t have to testify. Christen went as much as she could between work and Jack. When we finally did win, it was like a weight had been lifted. Which is true to any case, but this one was particularly freeing knowing Chris would have to be dragged into this world again. After the jury convicted and the judge sentenced, we thanked Becky and anyone else there. Christen was waiting for me that the door.“Well, it was a pleasure getting to work with you Mrs. Heath.” I joked.“Was it Though?” She pointed out the obvious.“Under the circumstances no, absolutely not. But I didn’t hate seeing you a little more.” I remarked. She smiled and leaned into me.“Cmon, I can’t get out of here fast enough.” She commented.“Wish I had the luxury of never coming back.” I smiled.“Hey you wanna be the cop but not there for the trial,” she said, “beggars can’t be choosers.” We fell into a comfortable silence before I asked a question.“So how do you feel about going back to school?” I asked. She shrugged.“I’ll feel better knowing he’s not there, but it’s still weird. In a way I guess he’ll always be there.” She looked out the window as if in a trance.“Woah woah,” I said, snapping her out of it, “can’t think like that. You think like that then he wins.” I said.“Seems like he always wins.” She said.“Yeah. It does. Especially at first. But eventually, you start seeing victims, three, four, five months into recovery. What I’ve learned about people who’ve gone through traumatic experiences like this, is that they have this incredible will to survive and conquer. And when given the right support and accommodations, they can not only survive, but thrive.” I explained. She nodded silently and then practically whispered to me.“Do you think Erin is that kind of person?” She asked.“Yeah, Erin’s gunna be fine.”

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Kelley and I sat at our desks opposite each other, staring at the phone.“I’ve never seen this phone not ringing.” She commented. It was an impossibly slow day, we’d finished our last cedes and were waiting for a new one.“That’s a good thing,” Hope said walking by, “means we’re doing our job.” As she walked, away it rang. Kelley and I both jumped then looked at each other. We scrambled to answer the phone, fighting each other off.“Guys guys!” Lauren said coming up to us. We both turned to look at her. Kelley stopped to apologize. When she let her guard down I answered the phone.“SVU, Detective Heath speaking.” I answered.“Hey!” Kelley yelled. I shrugged and smiled at her. “Hello? Hello? My daughter is missing.” The woman seemed frantic on the phone.“Ok is there anything else you can tell me ma’am?” I asked.“My husband and I came home and our house was ransacked.” She said.“Ok, I’ll send the local precinct to check in with you. I’ll be there soon ma’am.” I said and hung up. Kelley watched as I stood up and put a jacket on.“Cmon don’t just sit there and pout. Tell you what, since you didn’t answer the phone, how bout you come ride along with me.” I jokingly patronized her.“You know what Heath? Why don’t you-“ Kelley started but was cut off by Amy.“Ok!” She yelled, “both of you just go.” She said. Kelley and I turned to each other and smiled before heading for a car.~~“What do we got?” Kelley asked the precinct officer coming out of the building.“Jessica Lewis. 16. Her parents left her alone to go to a wedding. Came back this morning, place was trashed, robbed, and she was gone. She’s not at school and not answering her cell.” He said.“Last time they heard from her?” I asked.“Last night at 8. They’re convinced she’s been kidnapped.” The officer scoffed.“You’re not?” Kelley asked. He shrugged it off.“No sign of forced entry?” I asked.“No,” he responded, “and the whole house smells like weed. Neighbors heard loud music til about midnight.” Kelley and I nodded to each other.“Thanks.” I said. We made our way in to the apartment to see Jessica’s parents crying on the couch.“Mr. And Mrs. Lewis?” I asked. They jumped up to us.“Detectives! Please please! You have to find our daughter.” The mother said.“And we will do our best.” I said, “the officer thinks there might’ve been a party here, do you happen to know anything about that?” I asked.“Oh Jessica would never throw a party. Somethings happened to her.” The father said.“Has anyone contacted you about ransom?” Kelley asked.“No, but all our valuable are gone.” She said.“Well, teenagers. Unpredictable.” I commented.“Oh not Jessica. She’s never been in trouble.” The father said.“And, there’s blood in our bedroom.” The mother said softly. We all turned to her. We walked into the bedroom.“I think she might’ve been assaulted.” There was a smear of blood on their white bed sheet.“Jessica got a boyfriend?” Kelley asked.“Used to. Diego Montez. Both sophomores. They go to Holly Prep. The gifted and talented school.”“When’d they call it quits?” I asked.“Two months ago. Her grades were slipping. We told them to end it.” The Dad said.“Any chance he was here last night?” Kelley asked.“No. Not at all. He’s a nice boy.” The Dad coughed, indicating he had something to say. We turned to him.“I don’t want this to sound wrong. But he lives in the projects downtown. We called the school. He didn’t go in either.” The Dad grumbled.“Do you guys have Diego’s phone number?” Kelley asked.“It’s In Jessica’s computer.” The wife said leaving to get the laptop. The Dad stopped me and Kelley.“Listen. My wife is more, trusting. But I always had a bad feeling about that boy.” He left to join his wife.“Rebellious teenagers, forbidden love...” Kelley said.“Yeah, it’s a Westside Romeo and Juliet. But we all know how that turned out.” I shrugged to her with a knowing glance. She nodded and we followed the parents.

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“What’s the run down?” Hope asked when we came back.“Couple signs of foul play. Jewelry and cash missing along with the girl, no hits on the family’s credit cards, or either of the kids phones.” Kelley said.“Well if they don’t wanna be found they turned them off themselves.” Hope said.“What do we know about the kids relationships?” Alex asked.“Parents don’t approve. Jessica is an upper Westside only child, Diego is from the projects, Latino.” I said.“Well they’re both at Holly Prep, one of the top schools in the city. Hard to get into even from her ends. If that kid’s from the projects he’s gotta be bright.” Lauren commented.“Yeah and Diego’s got no record. But he had an older brother who was shot and killed a year ago. An AP8 gang drive by. No one was charged.” I added.“And Diego’s parents didn’t report him missing?” Alex asked.“Lives with his grandmother. Not picking up the phone.” Kelley said.“Alright,” Hope turned to me and smiled, “Tobin, you’re good with the Abuelitas, pay her a visit.” I nodded with a chuckle and numbed Kelley to tell her to come.“Cheney, A-Rod, look into the AP8 gang. History, known members, whatever you can find.” We looked between each other, seeing the gears in Hope’s mind turning.“Sonnet, Alex, check Jessica’s social media. Friends at school, most likely know more than the parents.” Hope assigned.“On it captain.” I jokingly saluted. Kelley an I got in the car to drive to Diego’s grandma’s house. Before we got there we got a call from Alex at the school. She said Jessica didn’t cut class, but Diego did, mostly to take care of his grandma. We knocked on her door and she let us in as we began to talk.“Mi niño Diego, he’s good. He takes care of me.” His grandma said.“I’m sure he does ma’am,” I said looking around, “when did he get home last night?” I asked.“Oh I was already asleep.” She said.“Did he say where he was going?” Kelley asked, “to work, maybe visit his girlfriend?” She chuckled.“Oh, that one. Se cree que es la última gota del agua en el desierto.” She said.“She thinks she’s too good for him.” I smiled and she nodded. “Is that what Diego told you.”“She broke his heart.” She said.“Right.” I mumbled, “Senora Montez, where’s Diego’s room?” I asked. She led us down the hallway to his small but neat room.“Did you see him this morning?” Kelley asked.“No, he left early. Got a job before school.“¿Donde trabajas? I asked, using more Spanish to try and get the grandmother to feel closer to us, to open up. She shrugged.“But its a good job, the other day he told me soon he’d have enough money to buy a gravestone for his brother.” I looked around the room and saw his backpack.“He left his book-bag.” I held it up. She laughed.“Very busy, he forgets.” I looked through the things on his desk before asking to look through his backpack.“May I?” I asked. She nodded. I pulled out some books and paper and then a purple hat with a black 8 on it. A symbol of the AP8 gang.“Where’d he get this?” I asked, “one of his friends, someone in a gang?” I asked. She shook her head looking very sad.“No, no, after his brother Marco...he stay away from gangs and police.“Please, please...” she kept talking but the tears made it hard to understand.Kelley and I thanked her and left. We got in the car to drive back to the station.“Puzzler, huh?” Kelley asked.“I just don’t get it. Diego’s going to Holly Prep, got a rich girlfriend and he’s running with AP8? What a double life, wonder if Jessica knew.” I said. Kelley nodded while looking out the window. A couple blocks down she perked up, pointing out the window.“Hey look, there’s that same hat the was in Diego’s backpack. Geez, these guys make it easy.” She chuckled.“Yeah, hey hey I know that kid.” I pulled the steering wheel, and sharply drove the car up the curb cut, cutting him off while he was walking. He jumped back, confused.“Hey! Arturo, you got a second?” I asked, not really caring about his answer.“Aw Cmon man, I ain’t doin nothing.” He said.“Yeah alright. Just shut up and stay put.” I walked up to him. I turned him around and pushed him up against the fence.“What do you want Heath? I’m not about that life anymore. I left, got a good job.” He said.“Yeah? With AP8?” I asked, pulling the hat off his head.“As what? Their street corner pawn?” Kelley asked. He turned around but I pushed him back against the fence.“I’m clean alright.” He said.“Look man, we’re gunna stay on you all day. You won’t make a dime. Diego Montez, where is he?” Kelley asked.“I don’t know,” he said, his eyes moving away.“Hey your lips move when you lie.” I gave a challenging smile, “Look we know he’s AP8.” I said.“Do I look like a rat to you?” He asked. I looked at him for a second.“Kel you got your cell on you?” I asked. She nodded and pulled it out, a bit confused. I grabbed Arturo and pulled him closer. Kelley understood what I was getting at. She pulled up the camera app to snap a picture.“Oh yeah, that’ll be a great one.” She said.“What-what are you, Cmon man!” Arturo complained.“Shut up and smile.” I said. He didn’t really, but I flashed a toothy smile and held up a cringe-worthy peace sign.“Yeah, let’s see it.” I said taking Kelley’s phone.“Aw man.” Arturo mumbled under his breath.“What’s your O.G. Gunna think when he finds out you’re buddy buddy with Detective Heath?” Kelley asked.“Man you can’t do that-“ Arturo struggled against the fence.“Hey-Diego-where is he?” I asked.“He’s on the corner of 40th and 6th, by Bryant park.” We let him go while Kelly and I went to go pick him up.~~We put a picture of Diego and Jessica on the table. His face softened as he picked it up. He looked back at us and his face hardened.“I don’t know. I don’t know where she is.” He said looking down.“You’re lying. You weren’t at her house last night?” Kelly asked.“No,” he said, “we broke up.”“No nod mientes, Diego. That’s not gunna end well for you. We run forensics we’re not gunna find proof you were there?” I asked, already knowing the answer.“Ok fine she invited me, we were studying.” He defended.“Oh what in her parents bed?” Kelly asked. For once, she seemed to be the hot head in the interrogation booth.“I didn’t do anything!” Diego yelled, “I couldn’t.” He said more quietly.“Couldn’t what, Diego?” I asked.“Look man when we picked you up you were carrying enough weed to charge you.” Kelly said.“And we’re gunna have to call your grandma and let her know you’re sitting in jail.” I said as we started to walk away.“Please don’t do that!” He said, “she’s got a bad heart.”“See that’s what I don’t get,” I turned around and leaned my hands on the table, “You’re a good kid, why don’t you help yourself out.” I said.“That’s what I’m doing,” he said, “just book me.” Kelly and I walked out to Hope watching from the other side.“Puts himself at the house but doesn’t know where Jessica is.” She said.“Yeah and he may be telling the truth.” Alex said walking in with Sonnet behind her. We all turned to listen.“ESU found Jessica.” She handed Hope a folder with a report. Her eyes widened and she took off running. We all shared a look before Hope called back.“Heath! Morgan! Get your asses in my car right now!” Alex and I ran after her. I had no clue what was happening.“Alex what’s going on? Where’s the girl? Why is Hope freaking out?” I asked as we ran side by side to the car.“Jessica’s about to jump off the roof of an apartment building.”

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We arrived to see Jessica standing on the roof. She was crying, trying not to look down. I pulled one of the uniform cops walking by.“What’s going on? Why is no one there trying to talk her down?” I asked.“She asked to be left alone.” He said. He was new, scared and confused.“So?” I asked, “you never leave a suicidal person alone!” I said to him, letting him go. Hope sighed and shook her head.“Alright, I’m going up.” I said.“Tobin,” Hope started. I turned to to her. She looked at me and nodded. I nodded back. I ran up the stairs of the building until I got to the roof. I slowed down as not to scare her. When I got closer, I called her name.“I already told the other office, just leave me alone.” She said staring straight ahead.“Jessica, I’m Detective Heath. Tobin.” I said with a smile to try and connect with her.“Go away.” She said.“Yeah, I-I can’t do that hon. See, your mom and Dad? They’re really worried about you. We’ve been looking for you all day.” I said. I peered over the edge to see Jessica’s parents were there, talking to Hope and Alex. Kelley and Sonnet has also arrived.“It’s freezing out here,” I said taking note of her rosy cheeks, running nose and watering eyes, “can I get you something warm to drink?” I asked.“You think I care about that?” She asked, “don’t you get it? He’s dead.” She said.“Who? Who’s dead?” I asked.“Diego,” She said, “they killed him.” She began to sob at the thought.“Diego Montez? He’s alive.” I said with a smile.“I don’t believe you.” She sobbed.“It’s true. He’s at the precinct, I can get him on the phone.” I said.“You’re lying.” She said.“No, jessica, I’m not.” I said trying to reason with her. She started to pant.“Jessica no, no, please, wait.” I said.“You’re lying!” She started to shake.“Jessica no-“ I started. But she took one step forward and jumped off. I watched her body fall and I heard everyone on the ground scream. I ran to the edge of the building in time to see Jessica landing on the blow up mat that was put down just a minute before. I tried to calm my breathing as they rolled her to one side and put her in an ambulance. The roof door opened and Lauren walked up.“Tobs.” She said coming up next to me.“Yeah.” I said still looking ahead.“Cmon. We gotta go.” She said putting and arm around me and leading me downstairs. On the car ride back, the air was heavy and silent as we drive to the hospital Jessica was staying at. When we got there, Hope went in her room with me.“His Jessica, how are you?” I asked awkwardly.“Jessica, I’m captain Solo.” Hope said, coming to my rescue, “I understand you thought Diego was dead. Why is that.” She asked.“I called his cell phone this morning. They told me I’d never see him again.” She said, near tears.“Who’s they?” Hope asked. She stayed silent. “Jessica?” She asked, “Someone in Diego’s gang?” Hope inquired.“We need to know what drove you to that roof.” I said, “what happened last night?”“It wasn’t Diego’s fault. I asked him to come over. We studied. Ordered a pizza.”“Yeah, we’ve been to the apartment. Looked like there was a party there, maybe sex.” Hope said.“Diego and I have done that before-don’t tell my parents- but not last night.” She said.“Did Diego invite people over?” Hope asked.“No,” She said, but seemed to be lying, “the doorbell rang, I went to answer it. Three guys pushed in and yelled at Diego in Spanish.” She said.“So he knew them?” I asked.“No.” She immediately defended him, “I don’t, don’t think so. Diego told me there were problems with gangs in his neighborhood.” She said.“So what did thy want?” Hope asked.“Money I guess. They raided my parents liquor cabinets, my mom’s jewelry, tore the house apart.” Hope and I shared a glance. “I screamed and tried to get away but, they grabbed me.” She said timidly.“Did they hurt you sweetie?” I asked delicately.“I can’t tell you anymore.” She said, clamming up. “They said they’d kill Diego if I did.” I understood her fear, but I was frustrated she wouldn’t let us help. I stood up and turned away to hide the frustration so Hope took over.“Ok, Jessica, right now Diego is the only one that we have in the apartment. Which means this is all on him.“No it wasn’t him I swear!” She yelled.“Ok then you need to tell us the truth.” Hope calmly responded. “Diego is in jail. And he’s gunna stay there until we know what happened.” She started to cry.“They had a gun.” She said through sobs, “they dragged me to my parents bedroom, and raped me.” She cried harder, “all three of them. They we’re laughing. Shouting ‘rocamos’.” She sobbed harder. Hope turned to me for a translation.“We rock.” I whispered. She nodded.“Where was Diego?” Hope asked. She put her head in her hands.“They held a gun on him. Makes him watch. They told him he had to go next. But he couldn’t, he wouldn’t.” She said.“How Long did this go on?” I asked. She shrugged.“It was starting to get light out. I told them my parents would be back soon. They took Diego with him. When I found out he was dead. I walked out of the house.” She said.“Ok Jessica, we’re gunna do a rape kit,” hope started, “then ask you to look at some photos, see if we can make an I.D. Ok?” She asked. Jessica nodded.“Diego had nothing to do with it. He loves me. The whole time I was falling, all I could think about was him.” We nodded as we left so the doctor could start his exam.“Well that’s a rock and a hard place if I ever saw one.” Hope commented as we got in the car. I scoffed and nodded.“You think Diego did it?” I asked her. She shrugged.“One thing I’ve learned, it’s never who you think it is, and if it is, there’s a whole there side to the story.” She said.“So what? We’re just beat?” She smiled a bit.“Do we ever really win?” She asked. I scoffed again. I stayed quiet for a while, turning the case over in my head. I was trusty stumped, for suspect, motive, everything. Hope noticed, taking glances at me. We pulled into the station a minute later. Hope swung an arm around my neck to comfort me.“Toughest case in a while.” I said. She chuckled, giving me a clap on the back as we strolled around the corner to the squad room.“Oh Tobs, if you forget all the advice I’ve ever given you, remember this, never fall in love with the job kid, she’ll never love you back.”

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Tobin POV“Can I get an iced coffee, cream and sugar and then just a coffee black?” I asked the barista as she smiled and marked it all down. I payed and waited for the order to be done. At the other counter a man handed me both cups with a smile. I thanked him and walked out of the cafe.“Tobs!” I heard someone yell. I turned to see Christen rise from a park bench and wave over to me. I smiled and trotted over to her.“Iced coffee.” I said as I handed her coffee to her and sat down.“Perfect.” She smiled and kissed the side of my head. She crossed her legs as we overlooked the park Jack was playing with a friend in. They smiled and laughed as they ran around. Christen giggled beside me watching them. I looked up to see a man standing in the edge of the park. He looked around with a hard stare at all the kids. He gave me an unsettling feeling and I couldn’t help but place him at every unsolved crime scene.“Tobs!” Christen said. I turned to look at her. “I’ve been calling you forever, you ok?” She asked sipping her coffee.“Yeah, just keeping an eye on the guy in the blue coat.” She sighed.“That’s Adam, he’s Cindy’s Dad.” She pointed to him as a little girl ran into his arms, hugging his neck. She tucked a piece of hair behind my ear. “Can we please leave work at work.” She told more than asked. I nodded and apologized. She scooted in closer and I put an arm around her.“Did you see Jack try to catch the ball that kid threw?” I asked. Christen let loose a giggle she seemed to be holding in.“I didn’t wanna make fun of him.” She said.“I’m not making fun of him, I’m acknowledging what happened.” I laughed along with her. My phone buzzed between us and Christen picked it up.“Text from Hope...” she said, if she asks you to go in you’re not.” She said.“I don’t want to.” I smiled. She smiled back.“Good, just some info about AP8.” She said.“Ahh, Yeah, Jessica and Diego. We’ll get that one, back on it tomorrow.” She said.“Yeah but today you’re mine so let’s forget about it for now.” She smiled and I nodded. We watched the kids play for a while more before heading home. We’d dropped Jack off at his friends house so Chris and I could go out to dinner. We’d read an article about the a new restaurant coming to town and she’d been dying to try it. “You ready to go Chris?” I called to her from the living room. She walked out wearing a maroon strapless dress with a slit up the left leg. She smiled at me as she grabbed her purse.“She is stunning as ever.” I commented walking over to her. She smiled and put an arm around my neck.“Thank you baby.” She smiled.“So where is this place again?” I asked. “Just down the street.” We talked as we got into the car and drove to the restaurant. When we got inside there was a bar, a dining area, a lounge, and a piano right in the middle of it all.“This almost looks like an underground nightclub.” Christen smiled back at me.“Almost like the one owned by that monster from when we first started dating.” I commented as we walked to the hostess. She nodded in agreement and put a hand on my arm as we were led to our table. Next to a window, but close to the piano as well.“How Long has it been since we had a night out?” She asked as we perused our menus.“Much too long. And if it means seeing you in a dress like that again, we’ll do it much more often.” She gave me a dark smile as our waitress came over.“And what can I get you two tonight?” She asked.“I’ll just have the smoked salmon.” Christen said with a sweet smile, handing the waitress her menu.“And I’ll have the-“ I was cut off as I felt Christen’s foot gliding its way up my thigh. I looked back at her with a questioning gaze.“I’m sorry, what was that?” The waitress asked. I coughed to clear my throat.“Just the lobster ravioli, please.” I gave her a tight lipped smile. She smiled back and walked away. Christen started to laugh. I took a sip of my water to regain composure.“That seemed a little tough for our babe.” She commented.“Well I’d say you caught me a little off guard.” I replied. Christen laughed again.“You looked back at the waitress with great fear.” She giggled.“Well how do you think she would feel if she knew you were...” I trailed off as Christen hiked her leg higher, “sliding your foot so far up my pant leg you could count the change in my pocket.” I coughed again to clear my throat. She let out a full laugh. She sighed and leaned forward in her elbows.“You’re too cute Toby.” She said. I jokingly rolled my eyes at the name but smiled back at her. The waitress came soon after with our food. We talked the whole night about nothing but each other. It was like being on our first date again. Time had passed so easily. We payed the check and went home. That was the fastest I’ve ever driven home. The second we made it through the door Christen had me pushed up against it, it was practically comical. After a couple minutes we made our way to the living room but she stopped us. She walked over to the kitchen table and fiddled with something I couldn’t see. After a moment, a familiar melody drifted my way.Wrapped around your finger
I’d spend my whole life
Tied in ways to have you
And everything was alright
Almost but not quite
I’d be tangled up without you“Dance with me baby.” She said softly as she held her hands out. I smiled and walked over to her. She rested her hands on my shoulders as mine found her waist.Oh a mess
Like a nightmare and an empty bed
With you it’s like I’m coming home again
Baby, you’re hands down the best thing
About me and baby i don’t know where I was
But I’m so glad you found meIn our dimly lit living room we swayed and spun like our love was brand new, and in a way, it was.Wrapped inside your sheets
Well, I look up to you
Because you look after me
And kiss me till I bleed
I don't want anything
But all of you
I know I swore, I said
I'll never love again
But—man, oh, man—you're my best friendChristen looked up and kissed me sweetly. It was tight and warm, almost like she was about to cry.Baby, you're hands down the best thing about me
And baby, I don't know where I was
But I'm so glad you found meShe rested her head on my shoulder for the remainder of the song. In that moment, everything came together. All the problems I’d been dealing with, all the questions. Every priority found is place. Yes I loved my job, and I still do, but it can’t be the most important thing anymore. I realized I could still do the job I love while leading a balanced life. That’s when I knew what I wanted, and what I needed to tell Christen.Baby, you know I love you
More than my words know how to show you
Baby, you know I love you
More than my words know how to show you
Baby, you know I love you
More than my words know how to show you
Baby, you know I love you
More than my words know how to show you
Baby, you know I love you
More than my words know how to show you
I'll show youThe song faded to an end as Christen looked up to me, I guess she could tell something was on my mind. She made a puzzled expression and asked me, “what’s wrong Tobs?” I looked back at her before answering.“I’ve been thinking about something lately.” I said, she looked back at me waiting to hear more, “How would you feel about having another kid?”

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Tobin POVMy next day started with an interrogation with Diego.“I wanna see Jess, is she ok?” He asked sitting cross armed before us.“Yeah that’s not happening.” Alex said.“You let your crew rape her.” I said walking behind him, “you need to tell us who it was or you’re going down as an accessory.” I said.“I don’t know who they were.” He persisted.“AP8 won’t know the names came from you.” I said.“Ahora quien miente.” He said.“Was this an initiation?” Alex asked.“They pulled a gun in me.” Diego pleaded.“Yeah after you called them, told them where you were and who was in the house?” I asked rhetorically.“You think I wanted them to do that?” He asked. Hope opened the door then.“No I don’t. I think they raped your girlfriend, made you watch, and you’re not man enough to tell us who they are.” I said sitting next to him.“If I say anything at all they’ll kill me and Jess. She knows that.” Diego said.“Well then I guess she’s tougher than you are.” Hope said putting a hand on my chair to lean on.“Who are you?” He asked her.“I was just with Jess. She’s looking at mugshots of your friends right now.” Hope said.“They’re not my friends.” Diego grumbled.“Ok.” Hope said. She turned to alex and I, “guys come with me. Let’s give Diego here a minute to think about all this.” We followed her out to see the rest of the squad looking at a board mapping out the details.“Prints at the scene were a match to Pablo Gonzalez. A.K.A ‘O.G.’ He’s the head of AP8. Jessica picked him out of a photo array.” Amy said.“Yeah then Pedro Herez AKA Crusher, was caught on the security cams pawning off the moms jewelry. Jess also ID’d him.” I added.“What about the third rapist, Julio Ramirez?” Hope asked.“Well here on his instagram he’s bragging about having sex with a rich upper west side girl. ‘Yo last night my boys and I smashed this upper west side snow bunny, that hoe couldn’t get enough of us.’” Lauren read off.“What they think cops don’t know how to use the internet?” Amy asked.“Well it did take me a year to teach you.” Sonnet said.“Alright guys cmon, go back to the gang unit, track their routines. If they’re stupid enough to post on social media, then they’re not laying low.” We all nodded.“Cap?” I asked, Hope looked at me and gave me a thumbs up. We had an agreement that if I was working bigger cases now, I was to take hour breaks every so often. At first I was strongly opposed, but since Chris and I have been reconnecting I’ve learned to appreciate them. I drove to the school to see her on her lunch break. I knocked on her classroom door to announce my presence.“Hey baby!” She said with a smile. She stood up to walk over. I left before she got up this morning so I hadn’t seen her yet. She wore a long black skirt and a sleeveless white button up shirt.“Hey, is that my shirt?” I asked, knowing the answer.“Oh yeah, it shrunk in the wash so I cut the sleeves off and claimed it.” She laughed as she leaned up to kiss me.“Well you look better in it than I ever did.” I commented taking off my coat.“Oh I don’t know about that.” She responded as she walked back to her desk. She closed her laptop and sat down.“What were you doing?” I asked taking out my lunch.“Um, nothing.” She said quickly. I raised an eyebrow at her.“Chris?” I asked. She responded with the same.“That’s fine, I’ll just get kelly to hack your computer and we’ll just hope she doesn’t find the pictures of us from our weekend in Cancun with the-“ she cut me off.“Ok! Ok! I’ll tell you just never show anyone those pictures or you won’t be seeing anything like that any time soon.” She said, cracking a smile at the end.“Alright alright.” I said.“Did you, did you mean it when you said you wanted to have another baby?” She asked looking down.“Yeah, completely.” I stood up to sit on the desk, “our family is the most important this to me. And I want to build it with you.” I said. She smiled up at me.“Me too.” She said leaning up to kiss me. “I was, looking at sperm donors.” “Really?” I asked, “find any good ones?” I asked.“Yeah a few, but, go back to talking about how much you love our family.” She said biting her lip. The gears started turning and I understood where she was going with this.“What? You mean, about how we’re gunna raise a family together, and build a life, more than we already have?” I asked. She stood up and put her arms around my neck.“Mm yeah just like that.” She said with a laugh. She leaned in to kiss me deeply, just as I started to kiss her more she pulled back, “keep going” she said, kissing my neck.“I always planned we’d have another son and twin girls, so that jack and our other son can look after them too. One of the girls would be look just like you, but she’d act like me, and the other would look like me and act like you. The boys are probably gunna be polar opposites but best friends, but regardless they’re all gunna love each other so much.” I said. “Oh baby I love you.” She flipped her hair back and kissed me again. I stood up to hold her tighter. I tried to pull away to ask her something but she held me tight.“Chris.” She pulled me back to kiss her, “Chris. Chris, are you sure we can, be doing this here?” I asked. She kissed me again before answering.“The kids don’t come back for 30 minutes, it’s fine.” She pushed me back until i hit the desk. I put my hand on the desk to feel where we were. Just as I swept the papers and other things off her desk to turn around and lay her on it, we heard the door open.“Christen, I was wondering-“ we both turned to see Christen’s boss, the principle walk in.“Ah Mrs. Heath, nice to see you.” She said crossing her arms with a cunning smile.“Hello Principle Green.” I said awkwardly. She nodded.“Would you two care to join me in my office?” She asked. We looked at each other and then back at her in fear. Just as we were about to walk with her, my watch beeped. I looked down to see the time.“Oh well look at the time! Looks like I have to be getting back to work.” I turned to grab my phone and car keys. “Goodbye. I love you. I’m sorry.” I said emphasizing the last word before kissing Christen on the cheek. I walked to the door, but principle Green was standing in the doorway. “I’m sorry, I’ll just...” I trailed off as I slipped past her. I turned to see Christen giving me a death glare. I mouthed I’m sorry again and held up a heart with my hands. I ran out of the school and drove back to the station. As I walked back in I checked my phone to see a text from Chris.I’m gunna kill you Heath. Looks like we won’t be picking up where we left off...<3I smiled and put the phone back in my pocket before going back to work.

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We split up. Alex and Sonnet went to go arrest Pablo Gonzalez. Kelley picked up Pedro Herat and I took in Julio Ramirez. We brought them back to the precinct for questioning. I was talking to Pablo Gonzalez with Alex.“Diego called you?” I asked again, dumbfounded by what he said.“Said his girl was hot, looking to machine.” “Any you believe that?” Alex asked.“She was into it.” He said.“And you know that how?” She asked. He smirked before responding.“She was coming like a steam boat the whole time.” He chuckled. I rolled my eyes.“Keep telling yourself that.” I said.“White girl wanted a trip to the boneyard. She’s crying rape now? What else is a rich bitch gunna tell her parents?” He asked. I leaned back, realizing we weren’t going to get anything right now. Alex and I walked out to converse with the rest of the squad.“How’s Jessica?” I asked Hope and Kelley as they came back from the hospital.“Not great. She feels guilty because she experienced an orgasm with them, but never with Diego. I tried to explain it didn’t mean anything but she’s 16, hard to get through.” Hope said pouring a cup of coffee.“Hey guys.” Becky said walking over to us. We called her in to talk about the case.“Tobs I’m gunna go to my office and get some more info on the gang and try to reach Jessica’s parents, can you work with Beck?” She asked. I gave her a thumbs up as Becky put down her briefcase and turned to me.“Take a look.” I gestured to the board in front of us with the run down of the case on it. Becky read it over and nodded.“Three suspects positively I.D.’d by the victim, prints all over the scene, DNA matches the rape kit, all three with priors and gang affiliations... so what’s the problem?” She asked.“Peeps are claiming she wanted it.” Sonnet said.“What else is knew? Am I missing something?” She asked.“The victim may be unwilling to testify.”“Jessica is traumatized,” I said, “she experienced involuntary orgasm during the rape. She feels guilty.”“I can get half a dozen experts to testify that doesn’t mean consent.”“She’s afraid the defense will ask her about it. Doesn’t wanna risk it, won’t take the stand.” I said.“Change her mind,” Becky stated simply, “and get the boyfriend to back up her story.” She said.“Kids got a lot on his plate, worried about his safety, Jessica’s, reprisals on his grandma. She was mugged by AP8 four times last year.” Sonnet said. Amy piped up, turning her computer around to show security cam footage.“We got this footage from her building, last fall.” It was a scared old woman in an elevator trying to fend off two huge men. She cried, hit them with her purse, anything to get them away.“My guess, he joined the gang to protect her.” Emily added.“But what would they want with an abuelita’s boy like Diego?” Becky wondered aloud.“Never hurts to have a smart kid around the front.” I said.“Or a creampuff to take the fall.” Lauren noted.“So raping Diego’s girlfriend is what? A test of his loyalty?” I asked.“Little late for that.” Alex said. “He’s been missing classes since last spring that’s probably when he joined the gang.”“There’s another possibility-payback.” Amy added.“Diego do blue crossed AP8?” Kelley asked almost sarcastically.“Yeah I don’t see it.” Becky said.“Might not be a double cross. He might’ve screwed up a big score.” Amy defended herself.“Diego told his grandma he was close to having enough money to buy a gravestone for his brother.” Kelley said.“How long ago?” I asked.“Around the same time.” Kelley responded.“Let’s go.” I said. We grabbed our coats and drove back to the grandmas house. We walked back inside with her and questioned her about Diego’s involvement with the gang and the possibility that Diego had a hand in this. She insisted that he never would.“I don’t know anything!” She pleaded after now questions.“If that’s true he’s gunna stay in jail and go to trial for raping that girl.” Kelley threatened.“No! No!” She started to panic.“Señora Montez, Diego joined the gang for your sake. You used to get mugged by them, but not anymore, right?” I asked.“No.” She responded.“He did it for you, and for Marco, you said he was close to having enough money to buy him a grave stone?” I asked.“Yes, 2000 dollars.” She said.“He tell you where he’s getting the money?” Kelley asked.“He delivers for a pharmacy.” She said. It was starting to make sense. We thanked her for her time and left.“How do you save $2000 delivering for a drugstore?” Kelley asked.“Depends on what you’re delivering.” I said.“Let’s start canvassing local pharmacies, see who got held up in the past few weeks.” She said.~~“I don’t work in the drug store I just drive their trucks.” We talked to Rick, who worked at a drug store down on 45th street.“And call in a tip to AP8 when there’s a shipment of oxy.” I said as I leaned with one foot up on the chair.“Now you can’t prove that.” He said.“We can if we find out your spending double what you make delivering. We can rake through back accounts, credit card records, alimony payments.” I said.“You’re gunna bring my ex into this?” He asked.“Listen man we’re not after you, ok?” Hope said. “Just tell us what went down that night and you’re good to go.” He looked between us.“Alright, look. I called in a tip to AP8 but the wires got crossed. They sent some skinny kid who pointed the gun, but didn’t say anything.” “This kid?” I asked, showing a picture of Diego.“Yeah,” He said, “he froze. I had to make it look real. Told him to shoot into the wall, but the owner of the store hears the shot and comes running. Told him the kid wanted oxy.” “So then what happened?” I asked.“He sent him back with a load. But he gave him aspirin, not oxy.” He said. Hope and I left the room to talk.“They raped Jessica in retaliation for him blowing the deal.” I said.“Yep they did.” She sighed.“How’s the talk with Diego going?” I asked. She pulled out her phone with a text from Alex.“Shit.” She said, “he’s not gunna testify.”I sat down on the table with a huff.“She already told Amy and Lauren who talked to Jessica. She thinks she’s the reason he’s not testifying. She wanted to talk to Diego. They brought her to him.” Hope read off.“So what happened?” I asked. Preparing for the worst.“She told him that she didn’t want it, begged him to testify. He didn’t budge, still too afraid of the gang.” Hope grumbled. I took the pen from my pocket and threw it across the room.“Alex said Jessica is back with her parents, I gotta go explain all this to them, wanna come?” She asked.“Sure.” I responded.“Christen will be ok with it?” She asked. I smiled.“Yeah we had breakfast this morning and lunch the other day, plus a day off coming up, I’ll call her in the car.” I said grabbing my stuff. “How are you guys?” She asked as we started our drive.“Good. Really good. We’re actually talking about having another kid.” I said. She turned to me.“That’s great Heath, congratulations.” She smiled genuinely.“Hey, Chris, it’s me.” I said into the phone.“Hey baby, what’s up? Everything ok?” She asked, always worrying.“Yeah yeah I’m fine, just calling to let you know I’ll be working a little later tonight, have to deal with a family, but I’ll be home soon, no later than 11.” I almost asked, looking at hope to double check.“You sure?” She laughed, picking up on the questioning tone.“Yeah I’m sure, just got the go-ahead from hope.” I laughed with her.“Ok, well I’ll miss you, you’re still off soon though right?” She asked.“Yeah in a few days, I’ll miss you too.” I smiled out the window.“Ok, I love you, be safe.” She said.“I will. I love you too.” I said before hanging up. We pulled up to see Jessica and her parents putting bags in a car.“Mr. And Mrs. Lewis, I imagine you’ve heard the news.” Hope said. The Dad closed the trunk with a thud.“Of course Diego won’t testify,” He gritted.“He should be charged!” His wife interjected.“And we will charge him, as an accessory.” Hope said.“I told you, they had a gun to his head!” She said.“I wish they shot him,” the father said, “that boy set you up, we never should have let you talk to him.” He said. Jessica got in the car angrily.“We has to try,” I said trying to ease tension, “Diego’s testimony would have made the case that much stronger.” I said.“That boy’s gang assaulted our daughter. I want all of them in prison for life.” He said.“Step at a time.” I said.“We are moving forward. Our D. A. Will need to go over Jessica’s statement with her.” Hope said.“We’re going to our house upstate for a few days, get away from the city.” The Mom scoffed.“We’ll be in touch.” I sighed. They got in the car and drove off. Hope and I got in our car and let out a collective sigh. We stayed in the parked car for a while, just thinking before we heard motorcycles. The sound of glass breaking and screams followed soon after. Hope turned on the car and drove the way their car had a few minutes earlier. We heard motorcycles in the distance but saw the lewis’ car, all the windows broken and the three inside, not looking good. It was kinda a haze from there to the hospital, just trying to keep them stable. We went with them to question them as soon as possible. Jessica had to get stitches and had a busted lip while her dad and a broken wrist and nose. Hope came out from their room looking defeated. I looked at her expectantly.“They made it clear, in no uncertain terms is there daughter to testify against AP8.” I lit my head down in frustration. Just then my phone buzzed with a call from Christen. I checked my watch. It was 12:30.“Shit.” I mumbled before walking away and taking the call.“Hey baby, I am so sorry.” I opened with. I heard her breath a sigh of relief.“Oh, I just needed to hear you were ok,” She slowed her breathing, “I saw on the news, the car and broken glass...” she trailed off.“Yeah it was bad, but I’m ok.” I repeated, I could practically see her nodding on the other end.“I’m sorry again, I just got so wrapped up in getting them to the hospital...” I said.“I know. I know. It’s ok. But I’ll see you soon?” She asked.“Yeah, I promise, just, gotta tie up a few loose ends and I should be out.” I said.“Ok, I love you.” She said.“I love you, darling.” I heard her sigh with a smiled and hang up, leaving me smiling. I went back to Hope.“Now what?” I went back to Hope who was newly joined by Becky.“You guys know as well as I do rape is tough enough to prove let alone with out the victims testimony.”“But we still have them on the stolen jewelry, ransacking the House-“ Hope started up was cut off.“They’ll say they were invited in for a party, Jessica gave them the jewelry-“ Becky responded, but was also cut off.“Guys, I may have something,” Kelley said running in,” I’ve been looking into Marco Montez’s murder, it may be a way to get to Diego.” She said.“What was in the report?”I asked.“Well witnesses told detectives Marco was shot by the Luna Verde gang, but the gun was never recovered and the witnesses were all AP8. Six months later, a bullet was pulled out of a wall at a gang expected shake down fired from the same gun. Cops followed it up went no where.” She said.“Luna Verdes were the suspects?” Becky asked.“No see that’s just it,” Kelley continued, “see that robbery was in AP8 territory. It could be a community gun. A gun any AP8 member can use. Moves from place to place, tapped under a stairwell in an abandon building.” She said.“So you’re saying Diego’s brother was killed by his own gang.” Becky asked.“It’s a theory.” Kelley said.“Work it.” Hope gave her the file back, “otherwise as of now, no Diego, no Jessica, these guys walk.” She said.“Tobs?” Kelley said, asking me to come, I knew I should go home but we were so close. I followed her. We picked up our “friend”, Arturo, from earlier. He got in the car, but wasn’t happy to be seen with us. We made it easy, the quicker he answered, the quicker he could leave.“Now you were there when Marco Montez was shot. The police interviewed you.” I said jogging his memory.“Yeah? So? I didn’t snitch.” He said, still looking around.“I thought the Luna Verdes shot Marco.” Kelley said.“Yeah.” He responded.“So who’re you afraid of rafting out?” I asked, cornering him.“And did you know the gun that show Marco was used in a robbery in AP8 territory six months later?” Kelley asked.“I don’t know!” He said.“Oh you don’t know about the community gun?” I challenged, calling bullshit. He fell silent.“Not let me ask you, the gun Diego used in the pharmacy stick up, did O. G. Give it to him?” I asked.“It wasn’t right. They shouldn’t have done that.” He said.“Shouldn’t have done what, Arturo?” Kelley asked. Once we got the confirmation from Arturo we let him go and Kelley related the news to hope. Her and Alex were with Diego trying to get a confession, and agreement to testify, anything. They showed him the proof of his brother’s murder to try to break his loyalty to the gang. Kelley and I drove back, hoping it would be cleared up when we got there.~~A week later, we were breaking the news to Jessica that Diego had a role in this mess. She was broken up, but still stayed strong. As Alex and Sonnet talked to her, a call came through. I left to pick it up. It was very brief, but chilling. I thanked the person on the other end and hung up.“Tobs what was that?” Hope asked as I put my face in my hands.“Round yo everyone.” I said. In seconds, everyone working on the case huddled around each other.“Guys, that was a call from Rikers. Diego Montez was found dead hanging in his cell. An hour ago.” I said. There was a silence before Kelley asked a question.“He killed himself?” I shook my head.“Murdered, with his tongue cut out.” I said.“Diego was supposed to be in protective custody.” Becky said angrily.“He was. Guards say things happen there’s only so much they can do.” Amy said.“Yeah and they don’t even do that.” Hope said.“Anyone talk to the grandmother?” Becky asked.“Yeah I tried shes...inconsolable.” I said.“Homicide, gang unit, they’re going hard at AP8 but no ones talking.” Alex said.“Kid got his tongue cut out in P.C. No ones ever talking.” Lauren retorted.“We tapes Diego’s confession, is there any way to use it?” I asked. Becky shook her head.“You know the rules, defense has a right to cross examine a witness. Diego’s dead, Tapes inadmissible.” She said.“What about forfeiture for wrong doing?” Hope asked.“Maybe. The only way that tape gets admitted is if you can prove Diego was killed to prevent him from testifying.” Becky explained.“The hit care from O.G. He had to sign off on it.” Sonnet said.“Yeah but the problem is, like Lauren said, no ones going to turn on him now.” Becky said.“Maybe we can get him to turn on himself.” I said.~~“One of your witnesses is no longer talking. One is no longer able to. It’s time to discuss terms of surrender.” I sat with Becky, O. G. Or, Pablo Gonzalez , and his lawyer.“Your client isn’t going anywhere. He’s guilty of a brutal gang rape.” I said.“Man I’ve been telling you lady I didn’t rape no one. And it’s horrible what happened to Diego.” He said.“Save those tears Pablo. We both know you have no case. That boy’s statement is inadmissible.” The lawyer said looking at Becky.“Usually, yes, but in the case of forfeiture and wrongdoing-““What’s she talking about?” Pablo asked.“She’s claiming you had Diego killed to prevent him from testifying.” The lawyer explained to him. “And if he could prove that-which he can’t-then Diego’s rape would be allowed.” “Except we can prove that.” I said. “Your girlfriend, Maria, you made a call to her this morning?” I asked.“Yeah, calm her down.” He said.“Stop talking Pablo.” The lawyer but in.“It was a little more than that.” Becky said. “You should know prison phone calls aren’t confidential.” Becky pushed play on a little speaker that played their phone call.“I can’t raise this baby by myself. If you’re gunna do hard time what am I gunna do?” The girlfriend asked.“I’m not doing any time baby.”“The cops told me Diego’s testifying.” She said sounding worried.“They’re lying. The boys took care of Diego. He’s not talking to nobody. Not without a tongue.” The machine clicked as the call ended.“I’ll need some time to confer with my client. We may consider a plea.” The lawyer said.“Mmhmm, we’ll take our chances in court.” Becky said. “Unless Mr. Gonzalez would be willing to testify against his fellow gang members? Then we can talk deal.” She asked.“Might be a smart move, Pablo.” I said. He glared at me.“You think you won this? That’s cool. I’ll do my bud. Prison’s tips for new recruits anyway. My boys are loyal to the core they got my back here in the inside and the outside.”“Just like Diego?” I asked.“The little bitch was never and eight.” He scoffed. “Fact is, I’m safer in here then you are out there detective...Heath, is it?” He asked challengingly. I looked up at him, almost smiling.“Tell your client to keep his mouth shut.” Becky gritted through her teeth, her protective side coming out.“No no, that’s ok. You threatening me?” I asked. We stared at each other before I lowered my voice to a husk. “I’ve got the biggest gang in the city. You think your guys are loyal? Go ahead, test the NYPD.” I paused as I smile spread across my face. “I dare you.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

The sun shone through the windows in our bedroom, radiating warmth and acting as a natural alarm clock. In a way, it made me feel like we were on our honeymoon. Not a care in the world, just the embrace of the sun, and my favorite girl in the world. I rolled over to block my eyes and put an arm over Christen’s midsection. I heard her sigh and lean back into me. She ran her hand along my arm and brought my hand up to kiss my fingers.“Happy day off.” She whispered to me.“This is my favorite way to wake up.” I said into her neck. She rolled over to face me and put one hand behind my neck and the other on my shoulder.“Me too.” She said. She leaned in to kiss me. Dare I say, it was beautiful. It was perfect. She pulled me closer as I felt a smile spread across her face. I heard thumping down the hall. I pulled back, she tried to pull me in, but I held strong.“Do you hear little feet?” I asked smiling down at her. She rolled her eyes but smiled as Jack burst through the door.“Mama!” He said, surprised to see me in the morning.“Jack Attack!” I yelled as he ran and jumped up onto our bed. I lifted him up and put him between Chris and I so we could both hug him.“How’d you sleep bubba?” Christen asked, kissing his head.“Good, Mama you’re off today right?” He asked.“All day.” I said, reassuring him.“Great, then let’s go get breakfast.” He said jumping up. Christen and I laughed as we followed him out. He stood up on a stool to pull cereal and a bowl out as Christen went in the fridge to pull out eggs and pancake mix.“Tobs can you grab the mail?” She asked over her shoulder. I walked out of our house and to the end of the driveway to the mailbox. Our neighbor, Jill, was out watering her lawn.“Morning Tobin.” She said with a wave.“Hi Ms. Ellis.” I said. I looked at her garden in disarray.“What ya got there?” She asked as I emptied our mailbox.“Just...some mail.” I said cautiously as I turned to go back inside. I walked up next to Christen as I looked through it.“Jill next door is nosy as ever.” I whispered to her. She stifled a laugh, as not to have to explain our running joke of our neighbor to Jack.“Holy shit-“ I started.“Tobin!” Christen yelled look by at me.“Sorry sorry!” I said jumping at the sudden volume in the kitchen.“What’s wrong?” She asked. I gestured to the clock.“Holy shit!” She yelled. She slapped a hand over her mouth which caused Jack to laugh.“Go get dressed bubba we’re gunna be late.“I can take him.” I said to Christen as I shoved a piece of toast into my mouth.“That’d be nice, It’s my day off too.” She joked. I helped Jack get his stuff together before throwing on clothes of my own. I rushed him out of the house and he complained the whole time. We were a few blocks from the school and he hadn’t let up.“Cmon Jack, school is fun right? You’ve got your friends there.” “I don’t wanna go, I wanna stay home with you! I never see you anymore.” I felt the dig but he had to go to school.“I know bud and I’m sorry. I’m trying to be around for you more.”“Sure. It’s like you don’t even care.” He grumbled. I stopped and couched down in front of him, taking off my sun glasses.“What’d You say?” I asked.“It’s like you don’t care.” He said again. I nodded, taken aback.“Jack you know I care about you and how much I love you. But I have to work. And you have school.” I was unsatisfied with the way this went, but we kept walking. We came to the intersection and my phone buzzed in my pocket.“Hang on bubba.” I said, dropping his hand to answer the phone.“Heath.” I listened to Kelley on the other end as she caught me up on the case I’d be working when I came back. I nodded and agreed with her. I watched the traffic light change and the white ‘walk’ sign light up. I turned around to see Jack walking out into the street. Despite the red light, a taxi was coming full speed ahead. I yelled for Jack and lunged forward, grabbing his upper arm as the taxi honked the horn. I moved back to the sidewalk while spinning to put my body between the car and Jack.“Mama!” He yelled starting to cry. I took a couple deep breaths trying to regain composure.“It’s ok baby. You’re alright.” I crouched down again to put him down but didn’t let go, still hugging him.“I’ve got you. It’s ok.”~~“Oh my god are you ok?” Christen asked as she wrapped her arms around my neck.“Yeah we’re both fine, it was just a little scary.” I said hugging her back.“I’m sure.” She said pulling back as her phone rang.“Hello?” She asked, “Oh hi Mrs. Bernard.” She looked at me making a gag face. It was known Christen didn’t love Jack’s teacher.“What? Is he ok?” She asked. I turned around, the conversation peaking my interest.“Um no im sure. If Jack was bruised we definitely would’ve noticed it.” Christen said a little sass in her voice.“Well is he ok? Is he in pain?” She asked.“Ok then maybe another student did it. Or maybe he just fell.” She said. Before she could say anything else the call was ended.“What was that?” I asked.“Jacks got a bruise on his arm.” She said.“That’s strange, I didn’t see it when I was helping him get dressed.” I said. She nodded.“I’m sure it’s fine, probably that kid Marcus, you’ve seen how rough he is right?” She asked. I nodded along, bothered by the whole event.~~A couple hours later, Mrs. Bernard called again. She asked us to come in to talk to her. The whole car ride there Christen was fuming.“Hello.” She said with an obviously fake tone. We greeted her and asked what this was about. With no surprise she told us it was about Jacks bruise.“So he has a bruise. He’s a kid.” Christen said.“I’m just following the rules.” She said.“I’m sure but, I’m sorry, I thought we cleared this up earlier today?” Christen asked.“We did, but the school nurse, questioned Jack.” She said.“And I’m sure he said it was nothing.” Christen said.“Actually he didn’t.” She said, matching the sass.“Look there’s no easy way to say this, Detective Heath, But Jack said you gave him the bruises.” She started daggers at me. I stood wide eyed as Christen turned back to me. I thought she was about to kill me right then and there.“I’m sorry?” I asked dumbfounded. Christen turned around.“Jack said Tobin gave him the bruises? I find that a little hard to believe, he idolized her.” She said, I was thankful she came to my defense.“Your job,” Mrs Bernard started, it must be stressful.”“Uh, yes it is actually, very stressful. However I don’t see what that has to do wit any of this.” I said, somewhat challengingly.“It’s just that, stress can cause people to act out physically.” She said.“Oh, ok,” I laughed sarcastically, “um, Mrs. Bernard I can assure you I’m not one of those people. This is a big misunderstanding and miscommunication.” I said.“Jack said something interesting today. He said you didn’t seem to care about him.” She said.“Oh my,” I stopped to look at Christen again. I couldn’t read her expression, “I can’t express to you enough how wrong this is and how much this is spun out of-“ she cut me off.“You’re probably right. I jut had to see for myself.” Mrs. Bernard smiled, “I’m sure you understand.” She said. I scoffed and walked out Christen behind me.“Can you believe that.” I said as we walked to the car. I sat down with a huff.“Why would he say that?” Christen wondered aloud.“I don’t know if he was mad, or acting out. On the walk today he said he thought I didn’t care because I’ve been working more lately.” I said. Christen put a hand on my shoulder.“The whole time, stupid Mrs Bernard was asking questions. All I could think was I ask the questions.” I admitted to Christen, knowing it sounded stupid.“You know you’re a good mom Tobs. So if someone says otherwise, they’ll have to answer to me.” She said kissing my cheek. I thanked her and drove away, still shaken up. The drive home was tense for me, I couldn’t believe Jacks teacher would accuse me of that. It was awful. We slumped into the house unhappy. I hung up my jacket on the coat rack and felt Christen wrap around me.“I’m so sorry she did that to you Toby.” She said as she laid her head on my back.“It’s just so awful. I spend my life trying to stop people from hurting kids. And then to be accused of something so horrible.” I said. Christen turned me around.“Honestly baby, I don’t give a fuck what Mrs. Bernard says. I know you’re a great mom and I’m not sure why jack said that, but we’ll find out.” She said before planting a kiss on my lips. I smiled at walked into the kitchen. I picked up the mail from earlier that day.“Anything good?” She gestured to the mail. I flipped through them, comically throwing the ones that didn’t matter on the floor behind me.“Bill, bill, bill, bill,” Christen gave me a disapproving smile. I got to one of the last few letters before I stopped.“Chris,” I said holding it up to show her. She furrowed her brow at the letter then looked at me.“That’s strange.” She said. It was a letter from Jack’s adoption agency. I opened it and read through trying to see what it said.“No no no.” I mumbled out loud before my eyes bugged out for the second time today.“What’s wrong baby?” Christen asked.“It says they found a blood relative of Jack’s. His mom’s dad. Some Patrick Wagner. Oh my god, this dude hired a PI to find his mom and they found Jack instead.”“What? Tobin, what are you talking about?” She asked. I sat down on the kitchen floor.“Mr. Wagner has since filed a petition to vacate the adoption of Jack Wagner Heath.” I read from the letter.“What?” Christen yelled. She took the letter from me. I opened the envelope again to fine the petition.“Why? Why?” She asked, “why are they just telling us now? How could they not know? The one thing they had to get right!” She started pacing back and forth.“I’m gunna call our lawyer.” I said standing up to get my phone. After I called him to have him come here, I went back to consoling Christen. We stood in the kitchen embracing each other for longer than I could imagine.“I’m sorry.” I whispered to her. She shook her head. “No, I’m sorry, I could have found out if there were relatives, I’m sorry Christen.” I said to her.“Tobin it’s not your fault, you didn’t know, it’s not your job to find out.” She said holding my face. The doorbell rang and I let out lawyer, Servando Carrasco, in. This was not about to go well.“You.” Christen scowled, “How could you not find out about this!” She asked. I practically held her back from tackling him.“Guys don’t worry, we’re going to fight this.” He said.“The one thing you had to get right.” She said.“You have a database, you could have cross checked this.” He said to be, before I could say something, Christen was fuming.“She’s not a lawyer! That’s for police business! This is your fucking job.” She said.“Alright, I’m not gunna stand here and defend myself-“ he started.“Oh you better defend yourself.” She said. He sighed before getting into it with her.“We’Ll fight this.” He repeated.“If we lose our son, after everything we’ve been through,” I said putting an arm around her.“That is not going to happen.” He assured. “There is no legal basis to vacate this adoption.” He said.“We both know Judge O’Riley put a rush on that adoption for us.” I said to him.“Even so, there are-“ Christen cut him off with a sniff.“Please leave.” She said through tears, “Please leave.” He picked up his suitcase and walked out before she collapsed into my arms.~~Jack had baseball practice today so he was being dropped off later via carpool. Christen and I were both waiting at the door. We showered him with affection when he came in, though we decided not to tell him way. At dinner we gave him our undivided attention and lived off of every word he said, just appreciating him. He found it strange, but definitely didn’t hate the attention. Later, Christen went to get ready for bed while I helped get him ready.“What if I read you a story tonight bud?” I asked as he jumped onto his bed.“Oh yeah! Can we keep reading Harry Potter?” He asked excitedly.“Nothing would make me happier.” I said. I helped get him under the covers and sat next to him as I read. Soon, Christen joined us as we all read the book together. They laughed as I changed voices for each character, Christen seemed to be getting very invested in it. I looked down halfway through the second chapter to see Jack out cold. I chuckled to myself.“Tobin? Why’d you stop? What happens next?” She asked. I laughed at her and gestured down to our sleeping son. She blushed a bit and smiled. We both kissed his forehead before making our way to our bedroom. We were about to lay down when there was a knock on the door. We gave each other curious looks.“Did you invite someone?” She asked. I shook my head.“Might just be the lawyer.” I said.“Then you should definitely go get it.” She said lying down. I knew it was only because she didn’t want to get up, but I didn’t have much of a choice. I walked to the hallway and looked through the peephole. It wasn’t our lawyer, but a tall, lanky, gray haired man stood on the other side. I unlocked the door and opened it to greet him.“Can I help you?” I asked questioningly.“Tobin Heath?” He asked. I nodded cautiously.“Hi. I’m Patrick Wagner, Jack’s grandfather.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

“Tobs. Tobs. Tobin. Heath!” Hope boomed from her office. I sat at my desk with my head in my hand. She raised and eyebrow towards me. I gave her an apologetic smile and went back to work. It wasn’t hard, just some of the same old paper work. I was partially put on desk duty this week. It was slower than usual and I’d worked too much last week. Usually I’d beg Hope to let me out there, but since what’s been going on with Jack I was appreciative of the extra moments I got just to think things over. I guess I’d been to obvious about it. I knew the whole squad had exchanged glances in my direction but I couldn’t pull my thoughts away from my family. And ironic turn of the tables if you ask me.“Hey, hows paper work mountain?” Kelley asked jokingly sitting on my desk. I rolled my eyes but smiled.“Slow as ever. How’s that case, the girl?” I asked, she nodded, knowing what I meant.“Teenagers have always been cruel,” she commented, the case dealt with an issue of cyber bullying, spreading pictures and rumors, it wasn’t pretty, “but when did they become cowards?” She asked, showing me the case file.“Since the invention of the internet.” I said reading it over.“Makes you think, what kind of world are our kids gunna grow up in.” She commented.“Well, whatever we think we’re gunna have to worried about, it’s not that.” I sighed.“It’s gunna be something we never saw coming.” She said. She nodded and was about to get up to work but I grabbed her wrist.“Um, Kel, speaking of-of things you never saw coming...” I started, She looked at me expecting me to keep going. I looked around and nodded toward the break room. She followed and I closed the door and leaned against the vending machine.“What’s going on Tobs?” She asked.“Jack’s biological grandfather showed up at my door the other day.” I said.“What? Who? His dad’s dad? I know the adoption center couldn’t exactly track him down.” She asked dropping her voice to a whisper and coming closer to me.“Mom’s Dad.” I answered.“The one with definite no living relatives. Are you sure?” She asked me.“Well I didn’t take a DNA swab!” I whisper yelled, lashing out a bit.“Maybe you should.” She said, ignoring the temper, knowing I was under some extra stress.“He’s also filed a petition to vacate the adoption.” I said. Her jaw dropped and she put a hand on my shoulder.“Carrasco said we have nothing to worry about but...” I started to walk away, suddenly feeling like I need to be alone.“What, I’m sorry, what, what’d he say?” She asked.“He said she was just ‘making me aware’ not in like a threatening way. I didn’t let him see Jack, in fact I closed the door in his face. I shook my head walking out as Kelley followed behind me.“I guess it’s just wishful thinking by me, if I don’t do anything about it, it’ll just go away!” I sarcastically said. She put a hand on my back as her phone buzzed.“There’s a problem with my Vic at the hospital. I’m sorry Tobs, we’ll talk later.” She said as she grabbed her jacket and ran out. I trudged back to my desk to occupy myself with the paperwork.I ended up getting buried in Work. I lost track of time and before I knew it. It was the end of the day. I clocked out with Kelley as we spoke in hushed tones about my current issue. We stood in the parking lot as a guy walked up to me.“Detective Tobin Heath?” He asked. I looked at Kelley.“Yes?” I responded. He handed me a letter and walked away. Kelley and I exchanged glances again. I opened it and sighed with a fake laugh.“What is it?” She asked.“It’s a notice of motion, from Patrick Wagner’s attorney. She’s asking the court for financial disclosure, and a psychological evaluation of me.” I slapped the letter against my leg, “she’s trying to challenge my fitness as a parent.” I said shaking my head.“Oh Tobin.” Kelley said, I heard the pity in her voice.~~“Im glad you’re feeling better bud.” I spoke into my phone as I stepped off the elevator in the courthouse, “ok, you can have a little ice cream, just make sure it’s ok with mommy, ok? Alright, jack, I love you. Can you put mommy back on?” I asked. I heard them transferring the phone until christens voice came into focus.“Hey baby, I gotta go But I’ll check in with you later. Love you, bye.” I hung up and turned to meet our lawyer.“Everything alright?” He asked.“As well as it can be.” I said.“I know that this is stressful, but you have nothing to worry about.” He said.“The why am I here?” I asked.“My guess? The judge agreed to a courtesy hearing. Give him a chance to make his case.” He said.“Just promise me I’m not gunna lose my son.” I said.“I prom-“ he started, but was cut off.“Detective Heath.” Mr. Wagner stood next to us and nodded before entering the courtroom. We followed him to begin the trial.“Patrick Wagner, you are Jack’s maternal grandfather.” The judge said.“That is correct.” He responded.“We’ve provided his daughter’s birth certificate and DNA evidence to prove relationship with Jack.” His lawyer said.“The fact that they’re related is not grounds to vacate a legal adoption, your Honor.” Carrasco said.“We would argue it is, considering my client was never notified-“ The lawyer started.“The state did conduct a thorough, year long search for relatives.” The judge interjected.“And we were under the impression he was dead.” I added.“The loss of my daughter is a regret I will carry for the rest of my life,” he started, “I spent years looking for her, I hired PI’s, I was too late. But thank god I found Jack. I want to make amends. To be there for him in a way I want for my daughter.”“He’s a child. Mine and my wife’s child. Not a way for you to alleviate your guilt.” I spoke directly to him.“Detective Heath please.” The judge said.“I don’t know his intentions. He’s a stranger to me, to Jack.” I said.“I ranted this hearing because my concern is what’s best for Jack. I would like to hear what his grandfather has to say.” The judge said.“I have no intention of taking a little boy from the only home he’s ever known. But I have serious reservations about Detective Heath’s ability to parent.” He said.“How So?” The judge asked.“My PI became aware of Jack’s existence from an ACS investigation of suspected child abuse.” He said.“That investigation is closed!” Both Servando and I yelled at the same time.“And it has absolutely no bearing on the validity of the adoption.” He said.“Exactly, there were no findings of wrong doing.” I said.“I understand there were bruises.” Patrick said standing up.“There were bruises on Jack because I saved him from almost being hit by a cab. I love my son. I would never, ever, do anything to hurt him.” I said staring daggers at him.“I want what’s best for him. I always have.” I looked at the judge.“If you really cared what was best for him then you wouldn’t deny him a relationship with his grandfather. His only living blood relative. I may not be able to overturn the adoption, but I am determined to be apart of this boy’s life. For his sake.” He said. I looked back at him shaking my head.~~“Tobin, Tobin.” Kelley said to me. I finally turned to her.“How’d it go?” She asked looking at me nervously.“Um, he tried to vacate the adoption, he couldn’t.” I said quietly.“Well that’s great!” She said.“Yeah but, the judge is letting him file for visitation.” I said.“How do you feel about that?” Kelley asked.“My first instinct is no. But then, I think, so I really know what’s best for Jack? I used to be so sure. But as he gets older, I question myself more and more. Should I be denying him the only living, blood, relative he has?” I asked. Kelley shook her head and put a hand on my shoulder.“I’m sorry Tobin.” She said. I nodded. “Are you sure you’re ready to come off desk duty today?” She asked.“Yeah Chris and I talked about it. I said, she nodded.“Ok, then here’s the deal. Girl in a park ran up to a uni, freaking out.”“She in the system?” I asked.“Don’t know, didn’t get DNA, she refused medical treatment, rape kit-“ she listed.“Hold on,” I said, “and Bellevue just let her go?” I asked.“On-call shrink said she wasn’t a danger to herself or others.” Kelley said. We drove back to the squad room where Kelley and I questioned the girl. She seemed to be a missing kid from years ago. Kelley got on the computer to check for matches to her name. It was then when I got a call from Christen.“Hey Chr-“ she cut me off.“Tobin, I think Patrick Wagner got my number.” She said, trying to keep calm but clearly a bit scared.“What? Are you sure?” I asked confused. My phone buzzed, but I ignored it.“I mean the texts said it was him.” She answered.“Ok um, I’m actually on a break now, do you want me to come look at them?” I asked. It was like I could feel the weight on her shoulders falling off.“Yeah, that would be good.” She said.“Ok, I’ll be there soon. I love you.”“Love you too.” She said before hanging up. I told Hope where I was going and took one of the squad cars. I walked into her classroom just as kids were filing out for lunch.“Hey you.” She smiled.“Hi.” I said leaning over to kiss her, “ok, what are we looking at?” I asked. She pulled out her phone to reveal a string of texts all from an unknown number. They started with telling her who they were, Patrick Wagner. Then he went on to tell her what he thinks happened in court, and then asked for visitation. What he said itself wasn’t necessarily scary, just the amount of texts sent was a bit excessive. I felt another buzz on my phone. I pulled it out to read. It was the same number and same string of texts.“How could he get our numbers?” She asked.“He’s allowed to file visitation, the courts probably gave them to him.” I said.“My god, there’s so many.” Christen said scrolling through, almost laughing at the amount.“Want me to charge him with harassment?” I asked jokingly from behind her. She laughed and spun around. She hugged me while she sat down.“Is he really gonna get visitation?” She asked quietly.“Cards on the table? He might. Courts love a good sob story.” I felt her nod on my stomach.“But hey,” I said squatting down to look up at her, “we’re his parents. Nothings gunna change that. That boy loves us, loves you, so fucking much, Christen.” She giggled a bit, “I don’t want him there any more than you do, but even if he files and gets visitation, that won’t change the fact that Jack is our child. Ok?” I asked. She nodded.“Ok. I should probably get back. Gunna use the rest of my break to try and help Kelley find this girl.” I said.“Ditching me for work again, Heath?” Christen asked. I turned around frightened. She looked stoic but broke into a smile.“I’m kidding, you’re good, this time.” She joked, but warned at the same time. I breathed out carefully, still unsure of what to do.“It was a joke! You’re fine! I’ll see you later.” She laughed. I cracked a smile before telling her I loved her and heading out. I pulled back up to the station, but got another text before I could get out of the car. Same unknown number, but this text held more weight. I texted Christen to see if she’d gotten another message, she hadn’t. I still had half an hour left on my break. So I pulled out of the parking lot and down the street. I walked to a cafe a couple blocks down. I took a breath before entering and walked over to Patrick sitting at a table.“Hi. Thank you for meeting with me.” He said somewhat timidly as I sat down, “do you want something?” He offered. I shook my head.“No, thank you.” I said. He nodded before beginning.“I don’t want to be your enemy.” He said, “I want to be your friend.” He finished. I agreed.“I don’t think we should be dealing with each other in a courtroom.” I said.“I realize that my showing up at your door, that could not have been easy for you. And I sincerely apologize if I frightened your wife.” He said. “The last thing I want to do is cause stress for you guys. Or jack.” He added.“Well, I appreciate that,” I softened.“I didn’t know how else to get your attention. I just live everyday with the thought that I drove my daughter away, and she had this child that, I don’t know.” He said.“May I ask what happened?” I asked.“Normal, teenager acting out. She had a boyfriend, a little older, he wasn’t good for her. I tried to separate them but that made it worse. She started using drugs. It put my wife under incredible stress. She died a year after my daughter left home.” He stopped to take a breath and recompose, “I lost a wife and a daughter. I don’t want to lose my grandson.” He finished.“I want what’s best for my son.” I said quietly. He nodded“So what do we do now?”~~“And you’re sure this will be ok?” Christen asked fiddling with her hands in front of me.“I do. It might be awkward for a while, but no ones gunna get hurt. You, and jack will be just fine.” I said pulling her into a hug. She pulled back right away though.“Tobin.” She said, I looked at her questioningly, “it’s you Jack and I will be fine. You have to worry about yourself sometimes. You do know you’re also a part of this family, right?” She smiled, I nodded.“You’re right. We’ll all be ok.” We walked over to Jack.“You ready bubba?” Christen asked sitting behind him and pulling him into a hug. He nodded and smiled. I squatted in front of him.“Now listen bud. Just like we talked about, if you feel uncomfortable, or don’t wanna do this, you tell one of us, ok? You whisper in my ear like we do, and we’ll all be ok.” I said looking up at Christen, she smiled into the back of Jack’s head and placed a kiss on his hair. “Ok?” I asked. Jack nodded as there was a knock on the door. I got up to answer while Christen stayed on the couch with Jack. “I hope I’m not too early.” He said.“No, right on time.” I smiled. “Please, come in.” I said.“Thank you.” He responded. He looked around then looked between Christen and I.“You have a lovely home.” He said.“Thank you.” We both said.“Christen, so nice to finally meet you.” He said walking over to shake her hand.“You too Patrick.” She smiled.“This must be Jack.” He said with a heart laugh, it was almost comforting.“Yeah, Jack,” I put a hand in his head, “this is Patrick.” I said.“Can you say Hello to him?” Christen asked.“Hello!” He said, happy as ever.“Hello Jack. It is so nice to finally meet you.” He said putting his hand out to shake it. “I’m your Grandfather.” He said.“Hi grandpa.” Jack responded.“You and I, we’re gunna get to know each other. Would that be ok?” He asked.“Ok.” Jack said.“Well I’m glad.” Patrick chuckled, “in fact, I brought some books, I was hoping I could read to you.” He said, “would that be ok?” He asked. Jack looked back to Chris, who usually reads to him.“Sure.” She said.“Sure.” He said, “do you wanna see my room?” He asked. The three of us laughed.“I’d love to see your room.” Patrick responded. Jack sprung up and took his hand to bring him to his room. Christen and I stood up behind them. I put an arm around her shoulders as she leaned into my side. As they walked away he turned around. He smiled and mouthed ‘thank you’ before following Jack. We smiled and nodded to him. I rubbed her arm and pressed a kiss to the side of her head as she sighed out.“We’re gunna be ok.” I whispered.

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Tobin POVIt had been a couple weeks since Jack’s first time meeting Patrick. The two seemed to be getting along well. And I do have to admit it was nice to see Jack this happy to see someone besides Christen and I.I got out of my car, I got off from work early today and began the walk back up to our front door. I was about to put my key in the lock until the door opened in front of me.“Tobin.” Christen whispered through gritted teeth while pushing me back into the hallway, “we have a problem.”“Oh just how I like being greeted by my lovely wife.” I joked. Christen raised an eyebrow at me.“I am not laughing.” She said crossing her arms.“What happened?” I asked.“Jack,” she pointed to the door, “just asked me about Katie.” She said.Katie was Patrick’s daughter, Jack’s mother. After she ran away and gave birth to Jack, she was involved with drugs and gangs amongst other things. We adopted Jack at one year, but before that, this was his life. Jack was put up for adoption when Katie died of a drug overdose.“He-woah, wait, he what?” I asked. She nodded.“I’m assuming you didn’t tell him?” She asked. “No of course not, I thought we were gunna do it together when he’s older.” I said. She nodded again.“Then we know who did tell him.” She said, pointing to the door again. Patrick.“I’m gunna kill him. I’m gunna kill him.” I said walking toward the door. She blocked it, using an arm to keep me back.“Tobin no. We wait until he’s asleep.” She said.“Wait...” I said, questioning what she meant.“Until Jack’s asleep to confront Patrick not until Patrick is asleep to kill him, what’s wrong with you? Your a cop!” Christen said, gently hitting me upside the head for comedic effect. We both laughed before just looking at each other.“Hi.” She said softly.“Hi.” I returned, leaning over to kiss her. She turned to unlock the door.“Besides that, good day?” I asked.“Not too bad.” She said taking my hand as we walked through the house. Patrick was reading Jack a bedtime story. I sat at the counter while Christen made tea for the three of us when he was done. 15 minutes later, he came out.“Boy, that kid was out like a light. The second his head hit the pillow.” Patrick said taking a seat next to me as Christen handed him a mug from the other side. We both forced a laugh.“I’m glad.” I said, taking a sip. He looked between the two of us.“I’m, are you ok? Did I do something-“ he started to ask but Christen cut him off.“Patrick, Jack asked me about Katie.” Christen said. He looked shocked. “I specifically told you, we hadn’t told him yet.” She said.“I know,” he started, “and I just said it without thinking.” He said.“What was your plan, if he asked what happened to her? Why she gave him up? How he spent the first year of his life?” Christen asked, and I thought I was going to be the aggressive one.“I, I really don’t know. I’m sorry.” He said. I took Christen’s hand.“You know, this whole thing is just so complicated. And that little boy is just five years old. When he is old enough and when he’s ready, he will hear the truth, but until then Patrick, you have to discuss these things with s first.” Christen said.“You are totally right. I’m sorry, I just really want this to work out.” He said. I looked over to Christen.“Us too.” I said“Can you forgive me?” He asked. I looked at Christen again.“Of course.” I said, “we’re all new at this.” I said.“Thank you.” He said. Christen got up to put the kettle in the sink as Patrick and I tried to calm down from such a tense moment.~~Patrick came over the next morning to help make breakfast. I was getting a late start today so I hung around too.“Good to see you after getting chewed out last night. You’ve got some pretty big balls my friend.” I joked in a whisper to him after Christen slipped away to put some clothes in the wash. He chuckled to me.“Not without some thought. Jesus, no offense but Christen can be scary as hell, I don’t know how you do it.” He said. I laughed back. Patrick and I had developed this witty rapport over the weeks.“Oh it is not easy my friend. I find it easy to just give in sometimes. No way I’m winning that battle.” I said taking a sip of coffee.“What are you guys talking about?” Christen said walking into the room. Patrick and I made frightened eye contact before looking back to him.“Yankee Spring Training.” We said at the exact same time. We turned to each other shocked.“Nice!”“Alright!” We celebrated by high giving each other and laughing a bit. Christen looked between the two of us before turning back to the stove.“Christen-“ Patrick said putting his utensils down, “I’d like to apologize again for last night. I was totally out of line and I can promise it won’t happen again.” He said. Christen smiled and shook her head.“I understand, thank you.” She said reassuringly.“I’d love to do something for you guys, I was thinking, what if I buy Jack a nice, warm winter coat?” He said. Christen smiled wider.“I think he’d love that.”~~“Well thank you for walking me in today.” I said dropping Christen’s hand to face her.“My pleasure Mrs. Heath.” She joked.“So you’re going to meet them?” I asked. She nodded.“Yup, you’re not the only one who gets days off.” She said.“I’ll see you tonight.” I said hugging her before giving her a quick kiss.“Love you”“Love you too.” I watched her walk away before I heard an annoying voice behind me.“Love you! Love you too.” Kelley mocked, making kissy noises behind me. “Fuck off Kelley I joked.”“So where’s Jack, shouldn’t Chris be in Mom duty?” She asked.“Patrick took him to the movies, now they’re getting lunch. She’s meeting them at the store.” I said, explaining the dynamic of the day. “He’s a lucky kid.” Kelley smiled.“He is. But he deserves it.” I said. Kelley smiled and nodded.“I’m glad it’s working out Tobs.” She said.“Yeah, me too.” I said putting a hand in her shoulder. She nodded and dropped me back at my desk.I spent the next two hours buried in paperwork. Incredibly boring. The only thing keeping me going was the occasional photo Christen sent me of Jack trying on prospective new coats. I laughed at each one. About an hour later, still in the thick of it, I got a call from Christen. I leaned back in my chair to take the call.“Hey baby.” I said with a smile.“Tobin! Tobin. Oh my god.” She sounded like she was crying.“Chris? What-“ she cut me off. “We’re at the store. Oh my god. We can’t find Jack anywhere.”

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Tobin POV“What?” I asked.“I told Patrick I was going to the bathroom, he said he’d watch Jack, I cane back and he was gone.” Christen said crying.“Ok, ok, don’t move.” I said before hanging up. I turned back to the squad.“Hey, closest precinct to the mall of midtown.” I yelled out, “I need an answer!”“Midtown South.” Hope said confused, and making a calm down motion.“Ok I need all available right now. Missing kid.” I yelled, taking my coat and heading out. Kelley followed after me.“You ok Tobs?” She asked.“No, I’m not I,” I yelled while starting to run, “it’s Jack.” “I’ll drive!” Kelley said, picking up her lace immediately while the rest of the squad followed us out. There was already two escort cars waiting to take us to the mall. We were making good time but I banged on the dashboard every time the roads got more congested. Eventually, we made it there. I ran out of the car through the doors to see Patrick talking to an officer.“Patrick!” I yelled running up to him.“I’m so sorry Tobin, I just turned away and he was gone.” He said, still in shock.“Ok, where, where we’re you?” I asked.“We-we we’re trying in coats, and I turned away to get a different one, god it wasn’t even ten seconds.” He said, mad at himself.“Was he, mad, upset about anything?” I asked looking around.“No, no of course not.” He said, borderline offended.“Ok well I’m just trying to figure out what happened to him because he doesn’t walk away when Chris and I are with him so-“ I stopped myself, “Chris, where is she?” I asked him.“She was just here a second ago.” He said. Just then I heard her calling my name from the other side of the crowd. Soon she was being pulled my way by Sonnet who had grabbed her and brought her.“Tobin!” She said throwing herself into me. She had been crying and still was as I felt her tears drip onto my neck.“Oh my god I’m so sorry.” She said pulling back. I put my hands on both sides of her face.“Hey this is not your fault, don’t apologize. I’m gunna find him. And everyone will be ok.” I said to her, she nodded but kept crying. I turned back to Patrick.“And you checked the whole store?” I asked.“Yeah, with the manager. Then I called you.” He said pointing to him.“She told us at 11:00.” He said.“Ok that’s 20 minutes ago so you have this whole place on lockdown right?” I asked.“We have the main exits.” He offered. I paused before answering him.“Oh no sir that’s not good enough. I need a cop at every single access point, now.” I said sternly.“You know he’s probably just hiding under a clothing rack or sneaked off to the toy store.” He tried to reason.“No sir that’s not my son.” I said.“We’ve got 7 floors here we can’t just-“ he started. I took a step closer to him.“And I don’t care if you have 70. You lock it down. All of it. Now.” I said.Hope and Kelley prepped the precinct cops, showing them Jack’s picture and telling them what he was wearing and what he was like. Sonnet and Alex started looking through all the stores. Lauren and Amy walked around with Jack’s picture asking if he’d been seen. Patrick kept talking to the cops trying to give any information. After getting things going I looked around to see Christen crying on one of the benches with one of the cops. I walked over and sent him off. I kneeled in front of her.“Chris.” I rasped our. She leaned forward to hug me over my back while I wrapped my arms around her waist.“Tobin how could this happen?” She asked.“I don’t know.” I answered, sitting up. This was the first time during this that I started to cry as well. I pressed our foreheads together before kissing her, “but believe me when I say I will find him. I will bring him home. And not a hair on his head will be harmed. I promise you, Christen.” I said. She nodded before pulling me in for another kiss. Soon enough another voice came up from behind us.“Tobin, Christen, please tell me you heard something-“ Patrick came bumbling over. I wasn’t too happy with him so I wasn’t going to be too keen on talking to him right now.“Patrick please, just sit down.” I said. I felt a hand in my shoulder so I turned around. It was Lauren. She led me away while talking.“Tobs I checked a toy store, two candy stores-“ I stopped her.“Chen, you and I both know he wouldn’t wander off. Somebody took him.” I said quietly. I’m not sure if it was for Christen’s sake or my own. I looked over to see Hope on the phone, it seemed like a heated topic. Soon enough she walked over.“Guys, that was Chief Wambach. She wants us to know all police resources are available to us.” She said.“That’s comforting.” Lauren said sarcastically before walking away. Hope seemed to be holding back.“There’s more.” She said. I nodded for her to go on. “You’re off the case Tobin.” She said.“That’s not happening.” I said simply with a shrug.“She says your a victim in this one.”“You’re damn right I am.” I said starting to walk, Hope followed.“She said if you stay involved you could screw the whole thing up—that’s her opinion not mine—,” Hope sputtered out fast, I’d never seen her this nervous before, “and your job.” She said.“You think I really give a fuck right now, Hope?” I said lowly.“And mine.” She said. I turned back to her.“Stop Hope. I’m not leaving. I promised Christen.” I said.“Oh my god!” Patrick came running up, “I live two blocks from here maybe he walked there.” He said.“Ok listen, Chief’s on her way. Go with him, maybe he’ll remember something. I got it.” Hope said. I nodded and followed Patrick out.~~“Jack! Jack?” Patrick and I called as we ran into his apartment. We looked around but didn’t see him anywhere. I felt my phone vibrating and pulled it out to see a call from Arod. She told me they didn’t find him in the mall.“Ok ok check the school yard, playground, the park. And then call me back.” I said before hanging up. Patrick came back in the living room with me.“What if he went to your house?” Patrick said.“I’ve already got a car posted there. Patrick listen to me. Did you talk to anyone at the mall?” I asked him.“Just the sales lady.” He said.“Is it possible someone was watching you?” I asked.“I don’t know.” I looked at him expecting more.“You don’t know? Think Patrick cmon-“ I said.“I’m trying! It’s not like I wanted this to happen-“ he started.“Nobody is saying that.” I said.“You don’t have to. Your eyes and tone did.” He said.“No one is accusing you. Stop. This is not about you.” I said, my temper running short.“I should’ve just held his hand.” He said. I nodded to myself. I turned to the fireplace to see a picture of a young girl. He saw me looking at it.“I took that photo of Katie and my brother’s cabin. We were celebrating her first return from rehab.” He said.“Ok Patrick, I need you to listen, think. Anything.” He turned to me again.“Wait wait, we stopped at Dunkin’ Donuts, I got a coffee and there was a man there, he had a little beard like a...” he trailed off.“A goatee?” I asked.“Yeah that’s it! He had a green sweatshirt on and asked Jack if he was a Yankees or a Mets fan. And then later I saw him in the department store and he smiled and waved at us.” Patrick said, I was already dialing my phone.“And this happened near the coats?” I asked, he nodded.“Kelley! Kelley!” I yelled when I heard her answer, “we may be looking for a suspect in a green sweatshirt with a goatee.”“How old was he?” I asked Patrick.“40’s?” He said. I repeated it back to Kelley.“How tall we talking?” I asked Patrick.“Uh 5’10’’ ish?” He said.“About 5’10’’.” I said back. I heard Kelley speak into the radio.“Listen up, Possible suspect is a 5’10’’ white male. Mid 40’s. Green sweatshirt and a goatee.”“Got it.” Kelley said hanging up.~~We made our way back to the mall.“What do we got?” I asked waking up to Arod and Alex.“Found goatee dude but he’s got an alibi, trying on clothes for over an hour.” Alex said.“Also spoke to two witnesses. They saw Jack but he was with a Latino man. Someone said they saw him stuff something in the trash while they were together.” Arod said.“There’s gotta be a hundred trash cans here.” I said.“Yes But She said it was by the entrances, which there’s only 9 of.” Arod said.“There’s a couple over here by the sporting goods store.” Alex said. We walked over as she took the top off to look inside.“Hey!” She said, pulling up the coat Jack was wearing.“Get Crime Scene Unit over here now.” Arod said into her radio.“That means they went out those exits.” I said pointing to the doors twenty feet away, “get me that security cam footage.” I said before walking away.~~I had to let the team go over the tapes while I tried to get more from Patrick back at his apartment. I got a call from Hope.“Heath, cams picked him up leaving and Jack and him getting in the car, but he didn’t fight him. Maybe he knows him? He had a car seat so, he came prepared.” She said. I let out a sigh. “Oh, and he’s wearing a black sweater. Are you sure he was wearing a white shirt when he left?” Hope asked.“Yeah, hang on.” I said turning to Patrick.“Patrick you’re sure Jack had in a white shirt?” I asked him.“Absolutely.” He said without question.“You’re sure it wasn’t a black sweater?” I confirmed.“I’m sure.” He said.“Yeah it was white.” I repeated to Hope.“Then he must have brought it with him. Tobin this wasn’t spontaneous.” Hope said, trying to be as delicate as possible.“He? Who? Who is he?” I asked, firing off questions.“I’ll send you a screenshot.” Hope said. My phone buzzed and I pulled it away. She send me two pictures. One of them hand in hand walking out of the store and one of him getting in the car. My heart broke just seeing it, knowing I didn’t know if Jack was safe.“Patrick do you know this man?” I showed him the picture.“Why? Do you think he-“ he started to ask.“Just look at the photo.” I said. He shook his head no.“Cmon, you’ve never seen him. At the store, the school, the park maybe?” I asked. He shook his head no. I let out a sigh.“Please god, not again.” I turned to see Patrick holding the picture of Katie. He stared at it with tears forming in his eyes.“Tobin? Tobin are you there?” Hope asked.“Hey yeah it’s me.” I said bringing the phone back up.“We just got a hit off the amber alert. The car is parked in Ridgewood New Jersey. Alex and Kelley are going now, I’ll let you know when we know anything.”“No I’m coming with you.” I said already grabbing my things.“No. You stay with Christen right now. When we need you you’ll know.” She hung up. It was final.~~Patrick and I went back to mine and Christen’s house. We all sat on the couch awaiting news from the squad. Patrick just started blankly at the TV while Christen cried into my shoulder.“I’m so sorry guys.” Patrick said again.“I can’t believe this I never should have gone to the bathroom.” Christen said.“Guys stop this isn’t helping anyone.” I said rubbing a hand on Christen’s back.“Well if I was there maybe this wouldn’t have happened.” She said.“Is that supposed to mean something?” He asked. She looked at him with that fire in her eyes.“Yeah. Maybe if I was there my son wouldn’t be gone.” She said, her voice breaking again.“Well excuse me for trying to-“ he started back but was cut off when my phone rang. I answered as quickly as I could.“Kelley.” I said.“Yeah Hey Tobs, we got the car. It’s abandoned.” She said.“Ok are you canvassing?” I asked.“We’re running prints, the plates were gone, the vehicle identification number, we’ve got local cops-“ I cut her off.“No no no I want you guys to do it.” I said.“Yeah, the thing is Tobs, the car was parked at a bus station.” My shoulders dropped as Christen grabbed on to my arm.“I wanna know everything, as soon as you know it. Do you understand me?” I said, she said she did before hanging up.“What? What is it?” Patrick asked.“They found the car at a bus station.” I said putting my head in my hands.“Oh god.” He said.“They could be anywhere.” Christen choked out. I sat up a little bit, something didn’t feel right. I coughed a couple times and Christen put a hand on my back.“I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe.” I said between labored breath.“God Tobin no.” She said slinging an arm of mine over her shoulder to help air flow.“I can’t breathe.”

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Tobin POVI settled down soon after. Christen got me some water and I just took a second to breath.“Oh my god what if he hurts Jack.” Patrick said.“You can’t think like that. We’re getting him back.” I said, still trying to settle.“He could be anywhere. I’ve lived this. I know the odds of finding a child.” He said. I put a hand on Christen to make sure she wasn’t getting too hurt by that.“This is different Patrick.” I said, keeping composure.“No it’s not.”“Katie didn’t want to be found Patrick.” This seemed to hit him. He leaned back, stoic.“I’m sorry.” I said, regretting it. “I’m very sorry.” He just nodded.“Me too.” He simply said. My phone buzzed with a text from Kelley. I let out another sigh.“He left a decoy. Bought tickets to a bus but never got on. Alex is at dealer to see if the guy who sold them the car knows anything. Said he came with his own new car seat. Alex found the box it came in in a dumpster.” I said. They both nodded.“Ok new plan.” I said standing up. “We’re going to the station. Patrick I want you to look at some photos of sex offenders, maybe the guy in the video is on the registry. Chris you were there too, maybe you saw someone.” We all got our stuff together to leave. I just had to do more.~~I set them ya in an interrogation room to look at photos while I helped with the investigation. I was looking through files when Ali came in.“Tobin!” She called when she found me. I put the file down to speak to her.“Please don’t tell me everything’s gunna be ok.” I said. I bypassed her and walked into the break room, she followed.“Do you know how many times I’ve told parents that? To stay calm? Didn’t know how stupid that is until it happens to you.” I said.“Do-do you want some coffee? Some water?” She asked. I slumped down into a chair.“I just want my son.” I said, letting myself cry. She came over and sat next to me, putting an arm around my shoulder.“All I can think is tonight is movie night. We were supposed to watch Peter Pan.” I said. She gave me a tissue and I eventually regained composure.“Thy changed his clothes. They brought a car seat. They planned with Ali it wasn’t some rando.” I said. “Somebody targeted my son.” Before Ali could say anything, Alex came in.“Tob, we got something. The car seat box had a barcode on it. It was bought from a Babies R Us in Brooklyn.”“We’ll go, get someone there.” I said.“Sonnet’s already on the way.” She said. I nodded and sat back down with Ali. “How’s Christen?” She asked.“Devastated.” I said simply, she nodded.“And you?” She asked. I gestured to myself, referencing the breakdown she just witnessed.“Did Hope send you?” I asked. Ali just smiled and nodded.“She’s just looking out for you.” “Yeah I know. I appreciate it. Both of you.” I said. My phone rang with a call from Sonnet.“Hey Em-““Tobin listen to me. I just got here they said the car seat was bought with a credit card-““Great So then you know! Who was it?” I asked eagerly. The line went silent for a second.“Tobin it’s him. Patrick took Jack.” She said. I stood up and ran out of the room to go look in the interrogation room. Patrick was gone. I ran out to asked everyone.“Hey where’d he go? Where’s Patrick?” I asked.“Said He was going home, didn’t wanna bother you.” Kelley said. I started to breath heavy again.“That’s it. Cmon!” I gestured to Kelley, “someone keep Christen calm, don’t tell her what’s going on yet.” She was behind the door so she couldn’t hear me.“Tobs we don’t know what’s going on.” Kelley said grabbing her coat and following me out.“I’ll tell you on the way.”~~Kelley used her shoulder to take down the door. We walked in, guns raised.“Clear”“Clear.” We said moving about rooms. Once we checked them all, we holstered our guns. They were gone. We were too late. I turned and punched a hole through the wall behind me.“Woah Woah!” Kelley said pinning my arms behind my back.“How stupid am I Kelley! I gave him my kid.” I said trying to get free.“Listen there’s still clothes in the closet and stuff in the bathroom. They might be coming back.” She said. Something on the mantle caught my eye. I stopped struggling so Kelley let me go.“He’s not coming back.” I said quietly.“Cmon Tobs you know you can’t think like that.” She said.“I’m not thinking. I know.” I walked over to the mantle. There was an empty space there. The picture of Katie was gone.“He took the only thing that mattered to him. He’s never coming back.”

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Tobin POVWhen we walked back into the station it was like a storm.“Tob we got trackers on his cell but there nothing, like he shut it off.” Alex said.“Nothing in credit cards. Last purchase was yesterday, Chinese restaurant around the corner at 3:42.” Sonnet said.“He emptied his bank accounts. Couple hundred thousand in the last week.” Lauren said.“We got Hartford, Connecticut Police checking her house. It’s empty, utilities shut off six months ago.” Arod said.“That’s when he showed up here.”“I’ve got cops sitting on the house in case he shows up.” She said.“Cars?” I asked.“Only one in his name is sitting in his garage in Hartford.” She said.“Check rentals, and air ports.” I said walking away.“We notified State police.” Sonnet said.“Great,” I said before turning back to her, “which state?” She didn’t have an answer. She just looked down. It was harsh, but I didn’t intend to be mean to her. I saw Christen sitting in Hope’s office so I went in to see her.“Chris..” I started.“Tobin thank god,” she said standing up to hug me, “no one will tell me what’s going on.” She said. I looked at her. Really looked at her. Her eyes were red like she’d been rubbing them for days. The bags u def them were a deep purple, and her cheeks seemed sunken in.“Chris sit down.” I choked out. I sat down right next to her and she took my hands.“We just found out, Patrick, took Jack.” I said. She slowly nodded and squeezed my hands. I heard her swallow but I kept my eyes trained on the floor. “I am so so sorry Christen.” I said finally meeting her eyes. She wiped a tear away.“Tobin there was nothing you could have done to stop this. There was no way you could have known.” She said.“You know, I think that, since I see how the world can be so scared for kids, and I see all that happens, I think I’m informed, equipped and able to take care of my son. To protect him. I thought we had an upper hand in this. But I think it just put me at a disadvantage. Because it made me think we were invincible.” I said. She pulled my head down into her lap. I laid down on Hope’s couch while she ran her hands through my hair.“You know the problem with this job, Chris? What good do I, do we,” I gestured to everyone, “really do? I mean we come in, after the storm, with a broom and a shovel, clean up the mess. Just once, I wish we could stop the storm from hitting.” I said. She put a hand on my cheek.“Baby you stop the next storm from coming.” She said. I shook my head.“I should have seen it coming. As a cop, as a parent.” I said again. She just shook her head.“Did Patrick mention any friends, family?” She asked.“I’ve already wracked my brain. He knew us.” Christen nodded.“Except for... his attorney, Arthur, Arthur Wright.” I said sitting up.“Toby I doubt he told his attorney we was going to take him.” She said.“Ok but he’s from Connecticut. How would he know any New York lawyers? And he testified that a PI found Jack. Maybe he recommended Wright. What if the PI is the guy in the hoodie, on the security cams?” I asked out loud. I walked out to the squad.“Arthur Wright.” I said walking up to Kelley.“The lawyer?” She asked. I nodded.“What are his known associates? Does he have a PI he recommends to clients?” I asked“I’ll check.” Kelley said typing into her computer. Kelley looked for a few minutes.“Got a couple calls from him to a guy named Carson Ramirez, i know for a fact he’s a PI.” She said. “Get someone on it.” I said she nodded and sent Alex out.About half an hour later I got a text from Alex, she found out the PI wasn’t the guy on the tape, but one of his associates also helped Patrick as a Pi when he was looking for Katie. He talked to some on her friends and identified the man on the video. His name was Julio Graham. He was 45 and from Hartford, just like Patrick.“He owns a gardening company and looks like he made a 10,000 dollar deposit a week ago.” Kelley said looking at the information she’d pulled up on him.“10,000 seems cheap for a kidnapping.” Arod said.“Wait, a week ago? That was when Jack first slept at Patrick’s house, he must have been there, that’s why he didn’t fight him.” I said.“Couldn’t trace his phone, must be off.” Arod said.“I’ll call Hartford police, have them stay by his house until you guys get there,” I said gesturing to Alex and Sonnet, “you guys cool with that? It’s about a two hour drive.” I said.“It’s three if you got a badge.” Alex said, already moving towards the exit.~~Alex and Sonnet gave me the heads up, they got to his house and found out he had been cutting Patrick’s lawn for years. They arrested him for kidnapping. “Hey Tob, I found Patrick’s brother. Name was Fredrick. He had a cabin out in Fairfield.” Kelley said.“He did talk about how much Jack would love the trees and lakes up there.” I said, the gears turning.“Ok I’ll call the FBI, state police,” amy said, already picking up the phone.“No no,” I said stopping her, “I don’t wanna spook her before I can get there.” I said. I tossed Kelley my keys, “you drive.” She nodded before getting her stuff together.“Chris I am gunna go finish this, for good. I’ll have amy drive you up when I know it’s safe, ok?” I asked turning to her. She nodded and kissed me.“I love you.” She whispered.“I love you too.”~~It was snowing in Connecticut. Kelley and I got there around 4:00.“I’m gunna drop the car. I’ll go around the south side you take north.” She said. I nodded and moved out. I found stairs that led up to a deck with a door to the second floor. It freaked when I opened it and I prayed no one heard me. I looked through a small window on the next door. It was foggy from the cold outside and heat of the house. With my gun drawn I slowly opened the door. There was a fire place and so couches facing each other. Katie’s picture sat on the mantle. I took a second to surgery the room before I heard a sharp yell and felt a broomstick smack me in the back. My gun fell to the floor. Patrick ran t grab it and pointed it at me. I looked up from the floor to see him. He looked scared, like he had no idea what to do. Yet secure, like he was certain that whatever he was doing, was the right thing to do.“I wasn’t gunna hurt you Patrick.” I said to him.“Cut the bullshit. You were here to take my boy away.” He said.“He’s not your boy.” I said, still on the ground.“We’ll see.” He said.“Where’s Jack, Patrick?” I asked rising to my knees.“He’s sleeping.” He said shortly.“Ok, I just wanna see him.” I said.“Absolutely not.” He gritted.“I’m his mother, Pat.” I said, standing up.“Why?” He asked, steadying the gun, “because a judge signed a piece of paper? That doesn’t make you his mother.” He said.“Well, actually, Patrick, it does.” I said, my hands up as to show I wasn’t hiding something.“No!” He yelled, “He is my blood! My family.” He lowered his voice finally, “he will never be a part of you, the way he is a part of me.” He said. It stung, but I couldn’t show that now.“Blood isn’t all that makes a family Patrick.” I said. His lip quivered but he raised the gun again.“Legally, Jack is mine, and Christen’s son.” I said, attempting to reason with him.“The law is wrong.” He said stepping to me.“Ok, Patrick we are the only mothers he’s ever known. Have you thought about what this would to do him? You shoot me, right now, and he loses one of his parents.” I said. He just laughed.“He’s a bright boy. He’ll adapt and overcome. Besides this is a much better place for him.” He spoke frantically as if he was convincing himself rather than me. “The fresh air, the woods. This is how you raise men. It’s much better than that drab city. And you? Well you’re always at work. I will be there for him-“ I stopped him.“I am here for him.” I said. He shook his head. “Patrick you know me. I will not let that happen.” He smiled.“I’m not a bad person Tobin. I am willing to let you go.” He said.“I can’t do that.” I said simply.“Why not? You can go back, You an adopt another baby. Sign another piece of paper and get a kid. One who actually needs a family. You don’t know what this means to me. You couldn’t.” He said.“You’re not his parent, Patrick.” I said slowly, trying not to anger the beast within. Just then the door opened. I thought it was Kelley coming in for the save, however I was met with a different face.“Mama!” I looked down to see Jack running towards me. Patrick held the gun under his hand then slid it behind a box on the table. Jack jumped up into my arms.“Jack, my boy, oh I missed you.” I said hugging him maybe too tight.“Patrick told me you would get here soon, where’s mommy?” He asked.“Oh she’s here bud, just uh, give her a minute.” I said trying not to scare him.“Hey Jack, do you wanna go see the bears?” Patrick asked walking towards us. He was gunna take him again. I put Jack down and started pushing him towards the door.“Jack come with me.” I said shielding him from Patrick with my body.“No Jack you come with me.” He said. We spoke over each other until I got to the door and pushed him out before abruptly shutting it, so he wouldn’t be a part of this.“No no no!” He yelled trying to fight me to get to the door. I held him off and turned him around.“You can’t do this He’s my boy!” I pinned his arms behind his back. “You can’t take him I love him.” I could hear his voice break. He started to cry and leaned against me. I leaned against the door. We both slid down until we sat on the floor. He cried saying I couldn’t do this. I just cried.~~I put Patrick in handcuffs and led him outside. Ten cop cars were there to help and Christen would be arriving in one soon. I led him to the car in silence. When we got there he turned to face me.“What’s gunna happen to me?” He asked.“Well, we’ll take you to a local precinct for your extradition.” I said. He slumped over.“I’m very sorry, Tobin.” I looked at him stunned.“I know.” I said pushing his head back into the arm and closing the door.“How you doin Tobs?” Hope and Kelley came up behind me.“Alright, shaken up.” I said, “Ali will have a field day.”“And Jack?” Hope asked.“Hopefully better that I’m doing,” I watched the car with Patrick drive away, “excuse me.” I said before walking over to the ambulance. Jack sat there wrapped in a blanket.“Well I am pretty tired, and ready to go home. How about you?” I asked him, sitting down.“You and grandpa Patrick were fighting.” He said, not sad or disappointed, just confused.“Yeah, we were buddy.” I said, honestly.“Is He bad?” He asked. I looked at him. I put my hands on his shoulders and dusted them off before kneeling in front of him. “Listen bud, Patrick is a good person, who did a very bad thing. Do you understand?” I asked.“Will he be ok?” He asked.“I hope so,” I said, not wanting to make promises, “but guess what?” I asked.“What?”“Mommy is gunna be here any minute. Then Aunt Hope and Aunt Kelley are gunna drive us home, and I bet they’ll let us stop and get chicken nuggets if you want.” He nodded aggressively. I laughed before bringing him in for a hug. I sat back in the seat and pulled him into my lap.“I love you baby.” I said kissing the side of his head, “so much, so so much.” Just then I heard a car door close and footsteps rapidly approaching.“Tobin! Jack! Oh my baby boy!” She yelled climbing into the truck. I handed Jack to her, letting them have their moment. I leaned back in my seat and sighed. It felt like the first breath I took since I got the call from Christen saying he was gone. I looked at the ceiling before closing my eyes. Just trying to breath.“God Tobin, thank you.” Christen cried pulling me into a hug by my shirt.“Chris thank you, I would have crumbled without you.” I said. We held Jack between us as the two of us cried. Jack had no idea why, neither of us had the heart to tell him. We stayed like that for a while, to the point where my legs started to hurt. I kissed Christen’s forehead and the top of Jack’s head.“Let’s go home.” I said quietly. They both agreed. We walked to the car in silence. And for the first time in a while, the quiet wasn’t so painful.~~A while later there was a knock at the door. I moved around Christen in the kitchen to get it. On the other side stood Hope.“Hey” She said softly, “how are you?”“You know I’m not quite sure how to answer that. Chris and I have been watching him fall asleep at night. I hear a noise, I’m up. The other day, some man at the park said Jack was cute and I practically ripped his head off but, you didn’t come here to hear about that did you?” I asked catching myself, she smiled.“I came here to talk to my friend about whatever she wanted to talk about.” I smiled back and nodded thankfully. She looked around for a second before speaking up.“Is she gunna invite me in or...?” She trailed off. I laughed before moving aside.“Of course, please.” I gestured inside. Hope entered with me in tow. Lauren sat at the island talking to Christen while her daughter played with Jack. Amy was helping her two boys build lego houses at the foot of the couch. Kelley waved to Hope as she came in and cleared a spot next to her for her to sit. Ashlyn and Ali sat on the floor talking to Jack and J.T. Alex and Sonnet shared a conversation complete with elaborate hand gestures, raised voices and some questionable facial expressions while Becky just looked on with confusion, trying to keep them in line. It was my perfect scene. I walked back over to Christen in the kitchen while Hope said her hellos.“Aunt Hope!” Jack said peeking up.“Hey Jack.” She smiled taking her coat off and sitting by Kelley.“Tell her about the deer.” Kelley said.“On the drive home we saw a baby deer and a mommy deer. They ran right in front of our car!” Jack said completely astonished.“In front of you? That’s jaywalking. They’re lucky they weren’t here or we would have arrested them.” Hope joked.“You can’t arrest a deer, you’re so silly.” Jack retorted. Hope laughed along with this, admitting defeat.Christen stirred a pot on the stove with her back to everyone so I walked up behind her hugging her from behind. I dropped my head and planted a kiss on her shoulder. She put the spoon down and started to sway with me.“Let me guess who this is.” She said bringing a hand up to the back of my head.“It’s Ash.” I joked. She laughed at this and turned around in my arms.“Wouldn’t be surprised.” She laughed before putting her hands around my neck.“Thank you so much Tobin. For everything. For staying calm, for being so protective, for finding our son.” She said. I just nodded, not sure what to say.“I am nothing without you Chris.” I reminded her. She just smiled and shook her head.“No I mean it. You and Jack, you’re my whole world. And I almost lost that.” I said. She nodded and pulled me closer.“But we’re right here.” She said. I nodded and let myself be engulfed in the hug.“And I love you both so much. And I feel like there’s enough love inside me to give more away.” I said, “Christen I want to have another baby with you.” I said. She beamed back at me.We both turned to see Jack playing with everyone, always the entertainer. We both laughed. I leaned in again and kissed her slowly, just so thankful to have her near. “Well, We do make the best kids.” She said. I laughed and pulled her closer than I thought possible.“Please, He gets it all from you.”

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Soooooooo since. This ended up getting more response than anticipated... I was thinking of possibly writing a sequel to the Heath Files? It might not be one cohesive story, rather new cases that aren’t necessarily connected and may jump around in time. Thoughts? I don’t wanna add to this if you guys think it’ll ruin the story or feel like it’s being dragged out. Let me know what you guys think, all feedback is welcome! Thanks, love you guys!!