Crash and Burn – 1/2 – Duochanfan

Reading Time: 102 Minutes

Title: Crash and Burn
Series: Affirmation
Series Order: 3
Author: Duochanfan
Fandom: 9-1-1
Genre: Angst, Crime Drama, Drama, Family, Hurt/Comfort, Romance
Relationship(s): Eddie Diaz/Evan Buckley
Content Rating: NC-17
Warnings: Hate Crimes, Hate Speech, Violence-Graphic, Violence-Domestic, Violence-Against Children/Child Abuse. Bigotry, Canon Natural Disasters, Canon Typical Violence, Character Bashing, Dark Themes, Death Minor Character, Discussion Death of Children, Gun Violence, Homophobia, Injury, Kidnapping of a Minor, Attempted Murder, Attempted Murder of a Minor, Murder, Stalking.
Author Note: Crash and Burn by Savage Garden really resonated with this part for me.
Beta: HarleyJQuin. Thank you so much for the editing you’ve done, and all the capital letters you took!
Alpha: HarleyJQuin. Once again, thank you for all the help with everything, and to BytheBry for your help with the romance side of things!
Word Count: 52,912
Summary: Evan Buckley was now Officer Evan Buckley of the LAPD. A career he hoped to find a home in. But when homicide Detective Lou Ransone asks for some help on a case. Evan and Athena Grant are the two to answer the call. The three of them have to work together to bring a killer to justice, while Evan deals with a new romance with Eddie. But things begin to Crash and Burn around them.
Artist: Tpena19
Artist Appreciation: Thank you so much, the art work is wonderful and I love looking at everything.

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Chapter One

Evan ran through the side street, the young man in front of him was just as quick on his feet, but that didn’t matter. Evan was faster, he’d made sure he had the best spirit times at his local track meets. He’s beaten Lou easily on them after the two started to race against each other a few months earlier. The man tried to jump a fence but Evan was quicker. Grabbing the back of his jacket, he hauled him back and onto the ground. He could hear another set of footfalls coming up behind him.

“Really, running, is that the best you have,” Evan huffed as he pulled out his cuffs and read him his rights as Athena strolled up.

“You’ve been holding out on me, Buckaroo,” Athena smirked as she looked at the man Evan had collared. “That’s our perp,” she snorted, “no mistaking that ugly mustache.”

“Some people have the face for it, others really don’t,” Evan snorted, “I don’t have the face for it, it always tends to make me look young, and I have enough of that as is.”

“Let me fucking go you fucking bastard!” the perp finally got his breath back as he struggled in the cuffs as Evan hauled him to his feet.

“Not a fucking chance,” Evan rolled his eyes, “Like we’re seriously going to let them go after we damn well arrest them,” he muttered.

Athena laughed. “They’re criminals, they’re idiots. Of course, they’re going to ask stupid questions,” she grinned at him as they headed back to the car.

“I ain’t gonna,” the idiot said as he tried to struggle and push Evan back.

“Not gonna happen, bub,” Evan said as he straightened him out, “Now, I can carry you or you can come quietly, which will it be?” he asked, “And as for the carry, it’s the fireman carry, it’s gonna hurt your stomach cus I ain’t gonna be gentle,” he warned him.

Athena shook her head, but the perp went quiet and huffy as he dragged his feet as they headed back to the car. “Right, let’s get him to the station and booked, and then you’re done for the day,” she told him.

Evan nodded, grinning a little, today would mark his first full year as a cop. He was damn proud of that, and there was a minor celebration going on at home. Athena and her family were invited to join, it had taken a little fast talking, but she had agreed to be there. It helped a little that Lou promised he would as well.

Evan took the young man down to booking, going through the paperwork as Athena stood to one side. They were still working together, and Evan was surprised that he had remained with her for so long. The other officer who had gone through the academy with him had switched stations three months before. Evan finished with booking and left the man in lockup as a detective was going to be dealing with the last of the case since it had been pure luck that they had come across the man when they did. He had been identified as a burglar, and they had been on the lookout after he had broken into an old couple’s home during the night. It wasn’t the first time that he’d been arrested for the same type of crime either.

“Right, Buckley, we’re done,” Athena said as they headed out.

“Are you still coming?” Evan asked, “Lou should be there as well, so you won’t be the odd one out. I have my godson coming too, he’s a little younger than your Harry, but they might be able to play together,” he said.

“If you’re sure you want me there, Micheal and I will be, along with the kids. May might be a little off, she’s not happy with her brother at the moment, he accidently broke one of her toys. So she hasn’t spoken to him for two days,” Athena snorted.

“Well, she might end up talking to him, if there aren’t many other children around. We have a couple of Pepa’s grandchildren coming, but they are between Harry’s and May’s age. Yeah, Abuela and Abuelo went all out with my dad’s help,” he snorted seeing the look that Athena was giving him.

“How in the world did the celebration, that I thought was going to be a small BBQ, end up with so many people?” she asked as they headed to the parking garage to get to their cars.

Evan sighed, “One of my best friend’s family kinda adopted me into theirs. His abuela and abuelo took me in when I first came to LA. They gave me a home and treated me like family. I was… injured when I first arrived, they helped to look after me, taking me to appointments, just… being amazing. So when they heard that I was coming up to a year as an officer, they decided that we were going to celebrate. More of the family heard so more wanted to come and celebrate. If there is one thing that the Diaz family do right, it’s to have a large celebration and not to feel like the odd one out,” he snorted, “Someone will always be wanting to talk to you about something. Then there is my other best friend, whose family has moved all the way to LA, they’ll be joining in as well,”

“You have your hands full,” Athena said, shaking her head.

“Maybe I do, but I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he smiled as he reached his car, “I’ll see you tonight, around six then?” he asked.

“You will, won’t stay long with the children’s bedtime,” she warned.

“Don’t worry about that, there’s going to be plenty of napping space for the kids,” Evan laughed, “The parents all do the same thing, let them nap a little, and let them run around after food.”

“We’ll see,” Athena smiled, “I’ll see you tonight,” she nodded as she went to her own car.

Evan got in his car, checking his phone to see if there were any messages. There was one from Lou telling him that he was still coming, he just had a lead to follow on the serial killer case, that still hadn’t been solved. It was haunting the older man, and Evan has been trying his best to keep him going and sane. Only a few believed him that the killer was still out there, even though he had been silent for the last four months. Another had been attacked since Mathew, he was murdered, same MO as the others. Sending a message back, he put his phone down and headed for home.

XxXxX

Evan smiled as Athena and her family arrived. He’d met them a couple of times over the last year, as they came to see Athena at work. Most often Micheal came to drop off something to eat for the two of them, making sure that they had good healthy meals, and not just the junk that they would occasionally find themselves eating. “Glad you could make it, Lou isn’t here yet but he’s on his way,” he told Athena as he reached her.

“Still getting caught on that case?” she asked.

“Following another lead,” he sighed, “Nothing has panned out, he’s getting frustrated, but doesn’t show it,” he said, “Come on, and I’ll introduce you around,” he added as May walked beside them, Harry was in his dad’s arms, looking around curiously. Evan introduced them around, letting them meet as many as they could handle before Micheal started talking with Pepa’s eldest, and Athena took to talking with Shannon as Harry and Christopher began to play and May darted off with some of the older kids.

It was almost time to serve food when Lou arrived. He walked in, hugging Shannon, Evan and picked up Christopher for a hug. Harry and May were excited to see him, as he was a bit of a fixture at the Grant home, Athena had been his partner for a while, before he began a homicide detective.

“Glad you could make it,” Evan said as he stood beside his friend.

“Same, I’d hope the information I got would have panned out, but nothing,” he sighed, “it’s like he dropped off the face of the planet and there’s been nothing for the last four months,” he added.

“Right, nothing at all?” he asked, “I know Mathew hasn’t been able to remember anything more either. I can’t think of anything.”

“There isn’t anything out there. There was nothing that forensics could pick up that could lead us anywhere. I was late because I discovered that a first responder has gone missing. A cop,” he added when he saw the querying look on Evan’s face.

“Fuck, not from ours then?” he asked.

Lou shook his head, “No, not from ours. Turns out that the investigating cop has a bit of a grudge against the one missing, which means that the case got transferred to me as soon as I showed an interest. The detective that was in charge isn’t happy about it. Nothing he can do now, it’s a done deal. Everything has been transferred over to my office, and the evidence is going through the labs again. I need to talk to the wife, and friends of this guy. Thinking about asking for additional help to get this done,” he added.

“Well, I know you’ve worked with Athena, why don’t you ask for her, she’s good, she should be a damn detective herself if she didn’t want to deal with more paperwork,” Evan snorted.

“Don’t let her hear you say that,” Lou reminded him.

“I know,” he said, glancing around to make sure the woman in question was still talking to others.

“But yeah, not sure what’s going on with that killer, but I have a new case to work on,” he sighed, shaking his head, “How are you doing?”

“Well, getting on good with my job, enjoying it a lot. I’ve learned a lot from Athena, she’s… been great,” he said.

“She is, she knows the streets well. She has a sixth sense about things, so I might just ask Captain Maynard for her to be assigned to me for a bit, along with you, since she’s your partner at the moment. This cop isn’t the only one I found missing, there are two more that I’m looking into,” Lou told him, glancing over at him.

“Oh… yeah, right,” Evan nodded, “Well, I don’t know how much help I’ll be, but I can try,” he told him.

“That’s all I can ask,” Lou said, “And I know you’re smart enough to help,” he smirked, “Now, let’s go and enjoy this celebration instead of talking shop. You don’t want that taking over your life,” he warned him.

“No, no I don’t,” he said, already having that type of warning from Athena.

“Unca Evan!” came a crying yell.

“Well, Chris calls,” Evan grinned as he went to rush over to his godson.

“Yeah, he does,” Lou said, sighing a little as he watched his former boyfriend start to play with his godson and Harry Grant.

“You’re still hung up on him,” Athena said as she reached him.

Lou refrained from jumping, but it was a close thing, “Not quite in the way you think. Our relationship was good, great even. I just… didn’t want to hold him back. I think he needs a little more time to just be himself before I can maybe… try again. But…” he stopped, shaking his head, “I think someone else is going to get there first.”

“Hmm,” Athena shook her head, “What’s stopping you from going for him now?” she asked.

“Because we’re not currently right for each other,” he smiled a little sad still, “It is what it is, Athena,” he told her, “I’m just happy that we still get along. I didn’t want to lose his friendship when our relationship ended. We’re back to being how we were before we started dating,” he added quietly, “And I’m happy with that.”

“If you say so,” Athena said, shaking her head.

“I do,” he said with a look, “But there’s something that I want to run by you after I talk to Maynard, so stick around the station before heading off on patrol tomorrow,” he wanted her.

Athena nodded as the two were approached by Pepa.

Chapter Two

Evan walked into the bullpen and went over to the small desk he had, Athena was already there, “Morning,” he greeted.

“Morning, Buckaroo,” she said as she looked up, “Lou is in with Captain Maynard and is asking for the two of us to join him as foot soldiers,” she told him.

Evan nodded, “He mentioned something like that during the party last night,” he told her, “Wanting some fresh eyes on things.”

Athena nodded, “We’ll know soon if we’re being assigned, until then, we can work on what little paperwork we have left,” she told him.

Evan smiled at her and got to work. Both of them worked until they felt a shadow over them. they looked up to see Lou standing there with Captain Maynard.

“Captain,” Evan said, “Detective,” he added, nodding at the two of them as Athena did the same.

“Sergeant Grant, Officer Buckley, you’re both being assigned to work with Detective Ransone, he has a couple of cases he would like the both of you to help with. Sergeant Grant, you’re to show Officer Buckley how we work a homicide around here. Not your usual wheelhouse, I know, but you know you should be a damn detective by now yourself if you ever decide to take the exam.”

“I’m a beat cop, Captain,” she reminded her friend with a little smirk, “And Detective Ransone, we will be happy to help,” she told him.

“I have my office set up for the three of us to work in. I’ve got a board up so I can explain the two cases that I’d like your help with. One is new to me, so most of the interviews will need to be done again. I trust that the two of you would be able to do that?” he asked as the two got up, closing out their paperwork and computers.

“Yeah,” Evan said with a nod, “I should be able to,” he glanced at Athena, hoping that she would be there with him if he had to interview anyone. He still hadn’t really done that alone yet.

“You’ll be fine,” Athena told him, reassuring the young officer with a smile.

“Come on,” Lou said, shaking his head as he led the way to his office. He’d got enough space for someone else to work in there with him, but he’d not been assigned a new partner in a while. Entering his office he let the two inside before closing the door. “Right, let’s have a quick run down,” he said as he walked over to the first board. “This is the serial killer, that isn’t, according to the higher-ups. Cap agrees with me, and thinks they don’t know how shit works anymore because they’ve not walked the streets in a couple of decades,” he snorted.

Athena laughed as Evan tried to hide his with a cough. “What do you have?”

“Right, so we have four victims so far from the first case that I’m working on. The first victim was Clint McKay, 31, a cop, he was killed on April 12th, 2012. So last year. The second victim is William Berry, a Paramedic at the 103, killed and found on the same day, June 22nd, 2012. Then we have Mathew Fredricks, who’s alive, and an officer at this station. He was attacked on 5th January 2013, at the beginning of the year. The killer was interrupted at that time. Lucien Kaiser, a firefighter out of the 136, is the last of this case. He was attacked and killed on June 1st, we are unsure of why there was a long break of several months between the third attack and the fourth. But they’ve been silent since the fourth attack as well,” he added.

“Have any of them been linked together?” Athena asked.

“The second and fourth victims have. Hair was found on the bodies and was linked to each other though that. It’s a match. We have nothing to match it to,” he answered, as he looked between the two.

“What about the injuries of the victims?” Evan asked, looking up from the notes he was making.

“Each of them sustained heavy blunt force injuries and several knife wounds. They were inflicted while the victim would have been in a semi-conscious state. There are minimal defensive wounds. The only one who wasn’t the same was Mathew. He survived,” he added, looking at Evan, “Because the killer was interrupted.”

“By me,” Evan whispered.

“Yeah,” Lou nodded. “He’s been silent now for four months. The first two kills were close together, part of me believes that there are more out there that we don’t know of. They either haven’t been found or reported missing. So I don’t know if he will continue to be silent on this. While looking I’ve been looking through missing persons, concentrating on first responders, firefighters, paramedics, and police,” Lou paused as he pointed to three cases that were on the board.

“You’ve found three?” Athena asked, as she stepped closer and began to look at them.

“Yeah, three. The first one, Joseph Miles went missing on February 14th. He’s not been located and was said to have been going on a date. He never returned home to his sister, who had been staying with him at the time. The second is Henry Devan, missing on May 9th. Nothing indicates that it could be the same killer as this one, but is still a missing person that I’m interested in. Talking with friends and family, he was severely depressed and it looks like he may have done something drastic from the last call that was recorded from him. The last is Simon Masters, husband to Rose Masters. Father of one, and another on the way. He went missing on August 26th. This is the case that I took over,” he added, “The Cop that was investigating it, wasn’t doing his job because he and Masters had it out sometime before. They’ve been antagonistic to each other since. I’ve not had time to do more than go over the notes that were made, and I have to say, the cop is now being investigated by Internal Affairs because of his actions, or rather lack of them. Nothing has been done, nothing that should have been done. So we’re going to be playing catch up for that one,” he finished, sighing.

“So what have we got on all of these victims?” Athena asked him.

“Miles went missing after a date. His last location was at a restaurant, the Bella Enchanted. We have CCTV footage of him arriving, and then an hour later, when it’s clear he was stood up, he leaves, looking at his phone. His car was found in the parking lot. Talking to witnesses, he met with someone outside the restaurant and seemed to know them, they talked and laughed before the two walked off together. There is no footage or anything of the two leaving the area,” Lou answered, before adding, “Henry Deven sent voicemails to his brother and father. Both stated that they couldn’t take things anymore and that he didn’t know how to carry on. We have those recordings, so we’ll listen to them later. We haven’t located his car, and the last place his mobile pinged has been searched. At the moment, I have a few beat cops going to all the usual places for suicides. We’re hoping that we can locate him like that, and give the family some closure. As for Simon Masters. We’re going to have to start that. I’ve already started going through the list of people that he had gone out with that night according to his wife. I still need to question her as well about when she last heard from her husband.”

“Basically we have our hands full,” Athena huffed, shaking her head.

“Yeah. We have CCTV footage from the Hose Pipe, that is the bar that Masters was last at, according to friends and his wife,” Lou told the two, “We need to go through it, to find out when he arrived and when he left. If he left with anyone.”

“The badge and ladder bar most of us use,” Athena said, shaking her head, “Well, he’s got a type.”

“I can at least make a start on the footage we have to see when he arrives and leaves. Make a note and print out of those with him as well,” Evan said, glancing up from his notes once more. Looking at the two boards that Lou had put up for them. He could see on the wall that there were several other cases that Lou was working on.

“His wife is the one that reported him missing?” Athena asked him.

Lou nodded, “She’s six months pregnant with their second child. She has been upset and distraught because of the way the investigation had been handled. Her complaint and with me taking over the case is what has caused IA to get involved. They’re going to be breathing down my neck for a while in this case. To make sure that nothing is fucked up again. So we do this one by the book. We look at everything and then look at it again. I know it’s going to be a bit of a bitch for this. But I’d rather have it all dotted and crossed.”

“I’ll get started on the list of his friends and co-workers, see what they know,” Athena said as she stood up from where she had been leaning against a desk.

“I’ll make a start on the footage and try and get what I can from it,” Evan added, as he looked to where the laptop was.

“Right, and I’ll make sure to look through the notes of the detective that had this case first, and see if I can get anything from them. I also need to talk to his wife. See what she knows as well. She said that he called her, but I’ve nothing on that call,” Lou sighed, shaking his head. The case had been fucked up right from the start. He just hoped that the three of them would be able to make some sense of it.

“Are we sure that no one he works for is involved in his disappearance?” Athena then asked, wondering if that could be the case since there were problems between Masters and a detective.

“They could be,” Lou winced, “it’s one of the main reasons why Internal Affairs are breathing down my neck. They want me to eliminate the possibility of them being involved. If I can’t do so within the week, then they are going to be taking over the case.”

“Right, we work quickly and efficiently. Make sure everything is dotted and crossed,” Athena agreed, lips pursed together. No one liked it when Internal Affairs took over or started to look too closely at how you worked. It wasn’t a pleasant feeling.

“Oh, what about his car? Did he drive to the bar, Uber, or did someone give him a lift?” Evan asked, glancing over at them, “We could check the parking lot.”

“He drove his car to the bar, but his wife said that he doesn’t drink, and hasn’t done so since their first child was born. The car was still in the parking lot. Forensics have it but haven’t looked it over yet. I’ve sent a request for them to do so ASAP,” Lou answered him.

Evan nodded as he turned to the laptop he was now seated at. He booted it up and brought up the files, checking to make sure they were the right ones he began to go over them.

Athena sat herself down at the other desk and grabbed the names and numbers of people who were close to Simon Masters. They would be dealing with him first. Lou watched the two and nodded to himself as he brought up the files for Miles and began to go over them. He had a feeling that this man was part of the original killing case that he was investigating. But he wouldn’t be able to prove anything until they found him. So he concentrated on trying to figure out his last moments.

Chapter Three

Evan smiled as he tickled Christopher’s tummy, “I got you, my little Superman!” he called out, as Christopher laughed and squealed in delight.

“No, Unca Evan!” he laughed, giggling a few more times as he glanced at the laptop. “When’s Daddy going to call?” he asked, pouting at the screen that was waiting for a Skype call.

“Soon, he has to make sure he’s in a good place first,” Evan told him, “He’ll come online soon,” he promised, hoping that would be the case. Normally Shannon would do the calls with Christopher, but she was out with her mother and an aunt who had stopped by from New York for a couple of days.

“I want Daddy, when he home?” he asked, pouting at Evan.

“He’ll be home in time for your birthday,” Evan answered, hoping to prevent a temper tantrum.

“No, I want Daddy home!” he yelled, “I want Daddy!” he said as he began to tear up.

Evan rocked him, the two-and-a-half-year-old adored his dad. Even with him being half a world away for most of his life, Christopher loved talking to him. Eddie and Evan had made several videos for Christopher, of Eddie reading books out loud for his son to listen to during bedtime. Telling him wild little stories. Eddie had asked him to help make a good two dozen of them before he had finished his leave. the computer beeped. “Look, look, Daddy’s calling,” he said, hoping that would stop the tears and get him to look at the screen as he accepted the incoming call.

“Daddy!” Christopher yelled as he leaned towards the screen.

“Hey, mijo,” Eddie smiled, “Look at you, you’re getting so big.”

“Daddy, gonna be big like Unca Evan and Daddy,” he grinned, before tearing up, “Miss Daddy.”

“I know, I miss you as well, but are you being good?” Eddie said, a soft sad smile on his face as he looked at his son. He really did miss him a lot while he was gone. He was missing so much of his son’s life.

“Yeah, Daddy,” Christopher sniffled, “Want hug.”

“I sent all my hugs to Unca Evan to give to you,” Eddie told him.” So Evan, can you please give Chris one of my hugs?”

“Of course,” Evan smiled at him before wrapping his arms around Christopher and hugging him tightly. “Daddy loves you so much,” he murmured, “And he wishes always to be here with you.”

“Miss you, Daddy,” he said.

“I miss you,” Eddie said, repeating it a couple of times as Evan loosened his hold on Christopher. “What have you been doing with Mommy, Nana, and everyone?” he asked.

“We go park, it fun, Daddy. I walk now,” Christopher babbled as he told Eddie everything he could until he started yawning. “No go, Daddy,” he said, as his eyes began to close.

“How much longer have you got?” Evan asked him.

“I’ve got another twenty minutes before my time is up. Go put him to bed,” Eddie told him, “I’ll still be here,” he added, “Night mijo, daddy loves you so much.”

“Uv u,” came the sleepy reply as Evan got up slowly, took Christopher to his room, and settled him into bed.

Evan rushed back to the laptop and sat down. “Hey,” he said as Eddie was still there.

“Hey Evan, you look tired,” he frowned, “What’s going on?” he asked.

“Case I’m working on. Remember how Mathew was attacked before your last leave?” he asked.

“Yeah, I remember,” Eddie nodded.

“Four victims and the killer has been silent since. Now Lou found another first responder that went missing. And two more, that I think might have been killed by the same person, but Lou doesn’t think so. I don’t know why I’m hung up on this, Eds. I keep dreaming about finding Mat and finding him dead. I keep dreaming of others that I’m going to come across and it fucking sucks so much,” he said, his voice breaking at the thought.

“Evan,” Eddie began softly, “You… need to talk to someone.”

“I,” he paused for a moment, “I’m fine, I’ve talked to someone about the nightmares about Mat, and it’s just my brain going over the things that could have happened,” he sighed. Taking a breath he steadied himself. “I’m working a homicide case and a missing person, and I’ve got a bad feeling. Eds, I don’t like this at all. I… I don’t know if I should say anything to them or not.”

“Do so, look, they’ll listen to you. Lou knows you well, and knows how you think as well. He’ll listen to you at the very least. I don’t really know Athena that much, but from what you’ve told me, she relies on her gut to keep her safe, just like you do,” Eddie advised, “Talk to them, and see what they say. They might listen and see what they can find and that, you know. You don’t know until you’ve tried.”

“Yeah, how are things out there?”

“Hot, humid and ugh,” he muttered, “We’ve had a few med evacs come in over the last couple of days. Since I’m a combat medic, I go out and help where I can. Oh and I got that promotion. I’m now Staff Sergeant Diaz. Happened a lot earlier than I thought it would,” he grinned, “So one bonus.”

Evan snorted, “Yeah, that’s good. I know you’ve been working towards it,” he said, “Just, take care of yourself, oh and that novel you wanted, I’ve brought it on kindle, and since you share with me, you can download it when you can to read,” he added.

“That’s great, I’ve just finished the latest one,” he murmured, “Thanks,” he smiled, “I’ll do that when I get a chance.”

“Chris… isn’t the only one that misses you. I like talking with you when you have time,” he said with a shrug, “It feels weird doing it like this though. More used to letters. But when you’re here, it’s great.”

Eddie smiled softly, “Yeah, I like it as well, a few more months and I’ll be back for a bit. Chris is going to be three soon, can’t believe it,” he added, shaking his head.

“I know, right!” Evan exclmained, eyes going wide, “it’s like it was only yesterday that we were taking Shannon to the hospital and your parents being absolute fucking dicks,” he huffed.

“The less said about those two the better,” Eddie wrinkled his nose a few times before he added, “They sent me an email, they aren’t happy that they’re still being cut out of our lives.”

“What are they up to now?” he asked, “They were in LA a few weeks ago, I saw them as I was at Abuela’s. They didn’t notice that I saw them, but they left before I left Abuela’s,” he told him.

Eddie growled, “Fucking hell, they’re fucking hell beasts, seriously,” he cursed, “They’ve been making talk about coming down to try and see Christopher, that they aren’t going to let it slide for much longer. They’ve not got a leg to stand on of course; I’ve made sure of that. They’ve seen Chris about six times since he was born, and they aren’t going to at all,” he paused for a moment, “I don’t want them in his life. They give conditional love. As long as we’re doing what they want, when they want, then they love us. I don’t want that for Chris.”

“He won’t, we’ll make sure of that,” Evan said, “They really don’t like Shannon or me, didn’t like it when I was living with Abuela and Abuelo either,” he added.

“No they didn’t,” he snorted, “Abuelo really laid into Dad when he tried to dictate what they did.”

“I-” he began only for a small alarm to sound.

“Damn, I gotta go,” Eddie said as he looked at something off to one side.

“Diaz, we have inbound, injured on board, we need all hands on deck,” a voice called.

“On it, sir,” he said as he got up, “I’ll see you soon, okay Evan. Take care of yourself, and talk to them,” he said as he ended the call as soon as Evan had said bye.

Evan sat there staring at the screen for a few moments before shutting the laptop down. Sighing he got up and grabbed the book he had been reading and settled down to read.

XxXxX

Evan walked into work, with something churning in his gut. Instead of going to his small little desk in the bullpen, he headed to Lou’s office since that was where he and Athena had been camped out. Lou was still working on other cases, with a little help from Athena and Evan. One of them had ended up being closed after they had been able to generate a new lead and arrested someone for the murder.

“You okay?” Lou asked as he looked up, seeing the frustrated and weary look on Evan’s face.”

“Yeah, I think so,” he nodded. “I just… I’ve been thinking about this case. Both of them. I just have this bad feeling about them. That all but Devon is linked. I think Miles might be one of our killer’s victims, and I think that Masters is as well. I just think that even if it is two different killers, they are all linked in some way, and I just can’t figure it out.”

“There are a number of similarities between the cases I g-” Lou began only to be interrupted by a knock on the door. “Come in,” he called out.

“Detective Ransone,” the officer said as he entered the room, “A Mrs Masters is here to speak to you about her husband.”

“Right, thank you, can you bring her here?” he said as he got up and moved the board around so it wasn’t on show. Evan went over and helped as he covered a few more things up. Neither of them wanted to distress the woman any more than she already was. A young woman walked into the room not moments later. She looked tired and worn out. A bump showed she was pregnant as she gently laid a hand on it.

“I’m sorry,” she said, “I didn’t mean to just drop by without asking for a time. I just needed to talk to you face to face, instead of over the phone. Sergeant Grant said we could do it like that, but I’d rather be here,” she added.

“That’s fine,” Lou said, “Thank you for coming in, I know this isn’t a great time at the moment, and we could have come to you if you wished.”

“No, I needed to get out of the house. It’s been… hard since Simon disappeared,” she said, looking a second away from crying. “I just… Do you believe what Detective Lando said? That Simon ran?”

“No, I don’t. Friends and colleagues have said he loved you and your son, and was excited. Those close to him told me the same. How excited he was for the new baby. I can’t see him running away from that,” he told her. “I just wish I had news on him, to find out what happened.” he pushed for a moment before he asked, “What was the last call you had with him?”

“It was the day he disappeared. He called me, telling me he loved me, Craig, and the baby. He was tearful, he sounded like he was drunk. But I know my husband, he wouldn’t drink. He wouldn’t. But it was odd, the call was odd. He was being sappy, but not in the usual way. I could tell he was hiding something from me,” she began, frowning when she made a leap, “he knew he was going to die… didn’t he?”

“We don’t know that. We won’t be able to figure that out at all for now. May I ask you a few more questions about the people he was with and what you think of them?” Lou asked as Evan brought over the pictures from those that had entered the bar with Masters.

“Of course,” she nodded as she looked at them, naming them and telling them what she thought of them. “They’re all good men,” she pointed out two of the men, “I’m not sure of those two, but that’s more because they’re new to this little group.”

“Right, we’ll look into them a little more,” Lou told her, “We’re going to do our best to find him for you.”

“Thank you,” she said as he then asked her a few more questions about the last time she had seen her husband. There wasn’t much to get from it, but it still opened up the possibility that he knew he was going to die. That he was allowed to call him before he was murdered. It would change things if that was the case.

“Thank you for coming, Mrs Masters. We’ll keep in touch and give you updates when we can,” he said as he got up to see her out.

“Thank you,” she said once more as she was escorted out.

Lou came back and sighed, “I wish we had a recording of the call he made home. Find out when that is and see if it’s before or after he left the bar.”

Evan nodded as he began to go through the call log that they had been given. Finding out that the call had been made after he had left the bar.

Chapter Four

Christopher was vibrating as he watched Evan set up his gait trainer. Evan was going over what the therapist had told him to make sure that it was set up properly so that Christopher could use it. Evan and Eric had gone through the Diaz-Whitt home to make it so that Christopher could get around the place without bumping into too many things. Evan and Shannon both knew that Christopher was going to be rushing around the house as much as he could. His therapist had said he had a good handle on it, but to always supervise him with it, at least at first, until he got more used to using it around the home.

“Is it done?!” Christopher asked as Evan sat back, eyes going wide as he went to slide off the couch.

“Yeah it’s done,” he smiled as Christopher stood there, his legs shaking as they held him up and he took a step towards it. Even pushed it closer and Christopher grabbed on. “Yay!” he said Evan then helped him settle into it. He then zoomed off as fast as he could to find his mom. “Mommy!”

Evan laughed and got up, following him through the house as he went to see where Shannon was. It didn’t take him long to find her putting a few clothes away in her room. He stood in the doorway as Christopher sped into the room.

“Mommmmmyyyy!” he yelled out, giggling, “Unca Evan did it, Mommy,” he said.

“That’s amazing,” Shannon said as she watched him walk towards her, “Mommy is so proud of you,” she added as she knelt and let her son fall into her arms for a moment. She hugged him, “So proud.”

“He’s really good with that,” Evan said, as Christopher was back on the trainer and darting off to other parts of the house to explore in a way that he had never been able to before. “He’s not going to be sitting still at all for the next few days.”

“I know, I’ve already got a few days off to take him to the park, there’s an accessible one that I know will be fine for him to play on. There are more that I can let him play at as well,” she sighed, as they followed Christopher around the house, keeping an eye on him.

“Something else is going on?” Evan asked her, as he could see that she was beginning to stress over something.

Shannon nodded, “They’re already talking about a second operation. It’s not even been a year yet, hell, not even six months,” she answered, “He’s growing quickly, like a damn weed and it’s causing some of his muscles to tighten in ways that are soon going to be causing him some pain. He’s two and a half, Evan, he’s still so tiny. They just want to wait a few more months before they do it, but they are going to want to do it before the middle of next year. I don’t want to go through that again, but I know that he’s going to be having them on and off over the next few years, and it… scares me.”

Evan looked at her and nodded, “Yeah, yeah, I hate that he’s going to have to go through them. But this way, this way he’s going to be okay, he’s going to have a full and rewarding life. I know it,” he told her, reminding her that everything they were doing, that Christopher was going through, was all so he could have a full life.

“I know, but it doesn’t help me at the moment, Evan,” she told him, sounding a little snappish.

“I know it doesn’t. But that’s what we have to remember, what we have to think of. We’re going to be doing everything we can to make sure he can fly,” Evan reminded her.

Shannon sighed, “I know. It fucking hurts though, Evan. It hurts to know he’s going to have to fight for everything he gets in life. No matter what is going on, he’s going to have to battle all the damn time for just the same amount everyone else would be getting.”

“He is, and we’re going to be here for the tantrums, the tears, and everything. Everything he goes through, we’re going to be there for as long as we can,” he said, hugging her, “Now, why don’t I take the little man and his trainer out for a little walk around the neighborhood to get him used to it outside?” he suggested.

“Yeah, I can carry on sorting out the laundry and get started on a late lunch,” she said, “Sorry, for snapping. I’m just-”

“You’re a mother worried about her son,” Evan told her, “Right, I’m going to get our new little speed demon and take him out for a walk around. Hopefully, he’ll not rush off into the road.”

“Even with the trainer, he won’t be able to outrun you,” Shannon snorted.

“I know,” he smiled, “take it easy and I’ll keep him out so you can have a nice relaxing bath. How about we head out for lunch in around an hour or two, forget the housework for a moment, I’ll help with that when he goes down for a small nap when we get back?”

“Okay, I’ll relax a little, and I’ve already made an appointment with Dr Marcus,” she told him, “I know I’m spiraling again.”

“Good, don’t forget that we’re here to help and so is she,” he reminded her, hugging her tightly a moment before gathering Christopher to take him out for a little while, letting his friend take some time for herself.

XxXxX

Evan sighed as he closed the file he was going over. He stood up, “I’m going to grab some coffee, you two want one?” he asked Athena and Lou. They were back in the office. The friends that Simon had been with had been accounted for. The car had yielded nothing, and neither had the check at the bar.

“Su-” Lou began as his phone started ringing. He answered, “Detective Ransone,” he began, “Yeah, right, okay, we’ll be there as soon as we can.”

“What’s going on?” Athena asked.

“A body has been found, the ID on them says Simon Masters, our missing vic. Let go and head out there,” he said as he got up and grabbed his things, telling them the address.

Athena got up, “Let’s get going then,” she said as he and Evan headed out.

It took them almost an hour to reach the scene. It was a hiking trail, one that was rarely used considering how it was slightly overgrown. They walked down the path that was being carefully gone through for anything that might be found.

“Here, Detective,” said one of the officers on the scene.

“Thank you,” Lou said as he moved to the side of the trail, a little further in, but easily seen from the trail, was a body, decomposed, beside it was a middle-aged woman examining it, hair in tight box braids that were bunched together at the nape of her neck.

“Detective Ransone, been a while,” she said as he looked over and smiled at him, “We have a male, late twenties to mid-thirties,” she began, “Looks like he has defensive wounds from a knife on the bones and what little flesh is left, which isn’t much,” she added, “I would put death at around two months, but I’ll be able to give you better when I’ve examined him in the lab. I can give you a cause of death at the moment. He has blunt-force trauma to some bones and knife injuries here and there. I need to examine him properly to give you something. But I believe this he would have died soon after he went missing. I’ll give you better later,” she said as she glanced up.

“Thanks, Aliyah,” he smiled back, “I look forward to the report,” he nodded as he turned to the officer who was nearby. “Who found the body?” he asked.

“The young man over there, he was going for a hike, college student,” the officer said as he gestured to a pale and shaking young man who was being questioned to one side of the clearing they were in.

“Evan, can you talk to him and find out what you can? I’m going to look around, Athena, could join me? Two sets of eyes are better than one.” he asked, “When you’re done talking to him, Evan, look around too. With all three of us looking, we might find something.”

“Right,” Evan said as he turned and went over to the hiker. He could see Athena and Lou looking around the scene, getting close to the body, but not as near as they had been when they had first arrived on scene. “Hi, I’m Officer Buckley,” he said, as he smiled reassuringly at the hiker.

“I… I’m Terry,” he said, “I never… I never,” he continued to say, shaking his head.

“Let’s move a little further away,” Evan said as he guided the young man away from the sight of the body. “Now, what can you tell me when you came up here?” he said, “Just go through it as best as you can.”

“I… I just walking up the path. I saw that it was overgrown, and on the app I was trying, it said that it was a trail. So I decided to go through it. I like it when there aren’t many people around. People kinda suck,” he said, with a chuckle that sounded forced, “and well…” he frowned. “I saw a few broken things, but it was old, like weeks old.”

“What like?” Evan asked, making a couple of notes.

“Further back there was like, a broken bat, and there was some trash as well,” he said, wrinkling his nose. “I remember since I was going to report it. It shouldn’t be here, there are bins around that people can use. Though I didn’t see any on the trail.”

“Right,” he nodded, “Anything else?”

“No, I was getting up here and the place just felt peaceful, I couldn’t hear people at all. It was really nice. I turned to go further along the train and something glinted in the sunlight,” he said, frowning a little again as he said, “I went closer towards it and then I found… that.”

“Thank you,” Evan smiled, “Please remain with the officer here, and give them your details. They’ll be able to escort you away if you’re not needed anymore.”

“Thanks,” he nodded as the officer he had been with before, came back.

Evan began to walk around. He went a little further away than Athena and Lou. On the edges of the clearing and began to look around the bushes and trees that were dotted around. “Hmm,” he said as he noticed that there was some rubbish around. Then he found a small pile of things under a bush. “Detective Ransone! Sergeant Grant!” he called out, turning to face where the two were, and waiting for them to head over to him.

“What you got?” Lou asked, heading over to him quickly.

“This,” he said as he moved aside some leaves and revealed a phone and a few items of trash. On the back of the phone case was a sticker of Rose and Simon Masters, along with two very kiddie-like stickers, that no doubt his child would have put on there.

“That would be his,” Lou sighed, “Right, bag and tag,” he said as he called over one of the forensic team to do so.

“We’ll get it to the lab and see what we can get off it,” the tech said as he took a few pictures before putting it into an evidence bag.

“Thanks,” Lou said, “Right,” he said as he glanced around, “Evan, where would you say that the last signal from the phone was recorded compared to here?”

“The area that the phone last ping from isn’t that far from here, this trail is just outside of it,” he said as he tried to remember the map that he had plotted for it the day before. “I was going to check the area out when we got a chance, but…” he trailed off.

“Right, let’s go now then,” Lou said. “Lead the way.”

Evan nodded and led the way down the trail. “It’s about half a mile this way, still a green area, but a little more out the way, there’s nothing much there from where it pinged.”

They reached the area that Evan was on about and began to look around. The forensic team was called as blood and weapons were found. They had found the initial crime scene, but it had been months since then, and they had little hope of finding anything that would be useful in identifying their killer.

Chapter Five

Evan looked up as Shannon walked into the house. She was smiling and looking happier than she had been in a while. “So, how did things go?” he asked as she walked over and just sunk into the chair.

“It was really good. Damn, I forgot what it was like, to just have fun like that,” she smiled at him, “this is our third date. I’ll be telling him about Christopher soon, I don’t want him blindsided at all. But… I don’t know what he thinks about kids, but for now, I’m just going to enjoy having someone.”

“Good,” Evan grinned at her, “It’s about time you did.”

“What about you?Are you going to get back out there and start dating again? It’s been months since you and Lou broke up, even though you’ve both fallen into this weird friendship since then. He was at Thanksgiving after all,” she asked him, sending him a curious look.

“I’m good,” he said, “I just…” he sighed, “I liked Lou a lot, he was great, we got along well. But I kinda knew that it wasn’t going to last by the time Christmas came. We’re great friends, and he means a lot to me. But by then, I knew something wasn’t right between us. He… I think he felt like he was holding me back. That while I’m mature, there is still something about me that didn’t gel well with him.”

“He told you that?” she asked.

“Something like that, he said that while we’re the right people, it was just the wrong time,” Evan sighed again and shrugged, “It was great while it lasted, but, well it’s over, and now he’s a friend I know I can rely on if I need someone to have my back. For now, I’m okay with being single,” he added, giving her a smile.

“Alright,” she said, pursing her lips together like she wanted to say something but was holding back. “What if… someone liked you but didn’t want to say anything?”

“Well, I’ll say one thing, if they like me, they should ask, maybe I’ll say yes, maybe not. Depends on who they are and what I think of them,” he told her.

“Right,” she nodded, “okay,” she said with a smile forming on her face.

Evan snorted, “Anyway, I should head home. It’s getting late and I have work in the morning. Glad you enjoyed your night.”

“Do you have your uniform with you?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he nodded.

“Then you should just stay here, you can use the guest room. You know Mom is down in San Francisco at the moment with some friends,” she reminded him, giving him a look. “Come on, we haven’t just been able to do this without Christopher since he was little,” she added.

“Yeah, okay, I’ll stay, let me get my uniform out of the car and hang it up though,” he said as he got up. He went to his car and grabbed the garment bag that was hanging in the back of his car. He’d had his uniform professionally cleaned that morning, especially since he’d fallen while they had been looking through the trails, and landed in something he really didn’t want to know the origin of.

“Here,” she said as she handed him a glass of wine as soon as he came into the living room after hanging up his things in the guest room.

“Oh, thanks, so it’s one of those nights?” he asked her as he walked to the couch and flopped on it.

Shannon smiled, “I’m happy, Evan,” she told him, “Really happy. I have another date in a couple of days. I have a wonderful son that is doing so well at the moment. Good friends around me, even with one half way across the world, he’s still there when I need to rant and rave about things,” she smiled, “Mom’s doing well at the moment, she has a check up again in January, but they are hopeful that she’s still going to be fine. She’s not found anything at all, sooo,” she gave a little shrug. “I’m just happy with how things are going.”

“Yeah, I’m happy as well,” Evan grinned, “Oh, are you taking him to see Santa in two weeks? The mall has a Santa’s Grotto that starts from the first.”

“I was thinking that you could take him. I know I’d like to, but he’s been asking you to go with him, so, would you?” she asked, feeling a little disappointed at not being chosen.

“How about we make a day of it, we spend some time together, I take him to see Santa, you do some super secret Christopher present shopping, then after you’ve bundled that in the car we meet for dinner?” he asked her.

“That sounds like a great plan. Don’t forget to try and hear what he wants for Christmas,” she reminded him.

“I won’t,” he nodded, laughing as they began to talk about other things.

XxXxX

Eric laughed as Evan fell once more. “Seriously, you have no damn balance,” he laughed as he skated over and helped his friend back to his feet again.

Evan started to flail around as soon as he was on his feet. Or rather on the ice skates he was wearing. “I’m not good at this, why the hell did you talk me into doing this again?” he asked, “Didn’t we learn last time that I’ll either break a leg or end up with a concussion?” he reminded him the last couple of times that they had gone ice skating over the years.

“I just don’t get how you can still be this bad when we used to do this all the time,” he said, as he watched Evan struggle as he tried to move forward, almost falling backward when he started to slip. “Eric grabbed him, setting him to rights. “There we go again,” he said, shaking his head.

“I have no idea, I’ve even taken lessons and they don’t seem to work at all,” Evan huffed, glancing back at his friend and then yelling out as he slipped and fell back on the ice. “Oww,” he said as he sat there on his butt.

“Seriously,” he sighed as he went over to help his friend up once more. “How many does that make it?” he asked.

“Too fucking many,” Evan huffed, rubbing his butt as soon as he was back on his feet.

“Right, try and stay on your feet, an impossible task I know,” Eric grinned as Evan flipped him off before trying to skate away. Eric watched as he managed a few meters before he started to slip and slide on the ice. This time he went down with a heavy thud onto the ice and didn’t move. “Evan!” he called out as some of the others around him began to gather, “hey, buddy,” he said as he got down on the ice and checked his friend, “Fuck, not again,” he muttered as he pulled out his phone and called 9-1-1.

It didn’t take long for a commotion to happen as paramedics headed over. “What happened?” one asked as he knelt down.

Eric didn’t move, keeping Evan’s head still. The man was slowly waking up, “Evan Buckley, age twenty one. I would say a concussion. He landed on the ice hard, he’s starting to wake, and he will struggle, so let me remain where I am.”

Evan woke more and began to try and squirm away and bat away those trying to help him, “No, le-”

“Evan, Evan, it’s okay, just the usual, paramedics are going to check you over. You knocked yourself out again on the ice.”

“Told you, ice has it out for me, never again,” he murmured as he began to settle at hearing his friend’s voice. He opened his eyes, “oh, pretty lady.”

Eric laughed, “Yes, she is rather,” he said, as he looked at the black woman that was treating his friend with a smaller asian man.

“My name is Hen, this is Chim, and we’re just going to check you over and then get you to the hospital,” she said.

“‘Kay, still pretty though,” he said as he let her carry on. He answered the questions as she did the concussion check.

“Yes to the concussion,” she said as he looked at the young man.

“I’m in med school at the moment. And this isn’t my first time having to do this with Evan,” he said with a shrug, “I know what he’s like and concussions are… too often. Though it’s been a while since he was hurt.”

“Almost made two years,” Evan grinned at his friend. “Stupid ice, reminded me not to give in to your need to dominate the ice, okay.”

“You said that last time, and I said I was happy to come alone, but you insisted on joining me,” Eric reminded his best friend.

“I don’t want you going out on your own at the moment,” he said, pouting up at him.

“Right,” Hen said,” we’re going to get you to the hospital, and no doubt you’ll be terrorizing your friend again.”

“Plan on it,” he said as he was helped onto the gurney and into the ambulance.

XxXxX

Phillip covered his sleeping son with a blanket. Phillip had gone to the hospital to pick him up after hearing that he had been taken if. “Damn ice, that was the fourth time that I know of that he’s fallen and needed treatment at a hospital,” he muttered to himself.

Phillip looked up from where he was hovering as someone knocked on the door. He went over and answered, “Oh, Lou, Athena, good to see you both.”

“We heard what happened? How is he?” Lou asked, glancing beyond Phillip trying to see Evan.

“Why don’t you come in and see for yourself. He’s sleeping at the moment, but I’m keeping an eye on him,” he said as he opened the door wide to let the two inside.

“Thanks,” Lou said, feeling relieved that he could check on his friend and ex.

“Thank you, Phillip,” Athena said as she walked past him with a nod.

Phillip shook his head, “You have so many people that care, Evan,” he murmured as he closed the door and followed the two.

Lou looked down at Evan, “He was ice skating?” he asked quietly.

“He and Eric went ice skating. He can’t skate at all, not once has he been able to keep his balance for more than a couple of yards before he falls. I don’t know why he keeps trying. But as soon as Eric mentioned going to the ice rink, he’s quick to join in,” Phillip answered. “It’s not the first time, and I doubt it will be the last,” he sighed.

Lou nodded, “I know he mentioned something when we were dating, but we never went.”

“Be glad you didn’t,” Phillip told him, “Eric has been dealing with this type of thing for longer than he should have done,” he sighed, “But, he’s going to be fine. Just needs to rest for a couple of days and he’ll be back at work.”

“We just wanted to stop by and see how he was doing,” Athena said quietly as they headed into the kitchen to talk, so as not to wake Evan.

“He’s alright, concussion, bruising on his coccyx, but nothing serious. He’ll be just fine in a few days. You’re welcome to stop by again if you want. When he’s awake, so you can talk and see for yourself,” Phillips said, “I’m going to be here tonight. So he’s going to be well taken care of.”

“Alright, thanks for letting us at least come and see him. Tell him we stopped by and to message if he’s up for visitors when work is over. We’ll stop by then,” Lou said, getting a nod from Athena.

“I’ll cook something for him, so he doesn’t have to. I can make it for more than just him if you’re still here as well,” Athena said, “I’ll have my husband drop something by in the morning, for you both, I know you work still.”

“I do, but I mostly work from home. So I’m fine to work here,” Phillip told her, “I do have to fly out in two days for around a week. Need to see to some of my businesses to make sure things are going well.”

“Right,” she said as there was another knock on the door.

“That would be Isabel and Edmundo, no doubt dropping dinner off for tonight,” he said, “They cook a lot, so it wouldn’t surprise me if they have a lot with them,” he added as he went to answer the door, and just like he said it was Isabel and Edmuno. He let the two in.

“Ah, you have visitors,” Isabel smiled, “Lou, good to see you,” she added as she hugged the younger man.

“And you Isabel,” he smiled back.

“Why don’t you both stay for dinner?” she suggested, “we have plenty.”

“I would love to,” Lou agreed.

“Well, Micheal has taken the kids out to the movies and is treating them to a meal, so I’ll say yes, if you truly don’t mind,” Athena smiled at the two.

“The more the merrier,” Edmundo said as the two Diaz’s moved around the kitchen with ease to get dinner ready for when Evan was awake.

Chapter Six

Evan finally managed to take Christopher to see Santa. It had been a little longer than planned because of work and Evan’s concussion leaving him dizzy and nauseous for two days. But he was fine now, back at work, and finally taking Christopher to see Santa and hopefully learn his Christmas wish.

“Unca Evan,” Christopher said as they waited in line, “Do Santa make wishes come true?” he asked.

“He takes what we would like in the whole world and does his best to make sure we have our dreams come true,” Evan answered as best as he could. “I think he always tries his best to make sure every child will be happy and have what they would like on Christmas day.”

“I have big wish,” he said, sighing heavily, “maybe you ask too. Then it come true,” he hoped.

“We can try, but for that, I need to know what you want,” Evan said carefully, as he kneeled before Christopher.

“I ask Santa if more is better,” Christopher said with a firm nod. He went quiet, thinking seriously about his wish as Evan stood beside him wondering just what Christopher was going to ask.

Christopher was finally being helped to sit on Santa’s lap.

“Hello there,” he began looking at Evan for a name.

“Christopher,” he mouthed.

“Christopher,” he said, “Now, why don’t you tell Santa what you would like for Christmas,” he said, smiling at the little boy.

“A big wish, and if no, I sad but it okay,” Christopher said, biting his lip and looking at Evan for a second.

“Oh, and what’s the wish?” he asked, “What does Christopher want the most in the whole world.”

“Want Daddy home,” Christopher said, “I miss him lots and lots, and I want him home. He in army, a hero. But home, please. Not birthday, but Christmas. Miss him lots, need cuddles from Daddy too.”

“Well, that is a big wish, isn’t it,” Santa said, stroking his beard as he said, “I do wish I could make it come true, but I’m not sure if I’ll be able to.”

Evan closed his eyes, feeling the hurt in his heart for Christopher. He wondered what Eddie would say to it when he heard. Eddie was going to be calling tonight, and Evan was the one that would be answering. He would be talking to Eddie alone for a bit, while Christopher was sleeping, but he’ll wake him up for a bit to speak to his dad. It was going to be a late call tonight.

“Thank you Santa, it okay,” Christopher smiled, trying to stay happy.

“Is there anything else that you would like?” Santa asked him, “Just in case I can’t do it.”

Christopher shook his head, “No, I have lots of toys and books and cool things. I just want Daddy,” he said.

“Alright then, I’ll see what I can do, but I can’t make any promises, I wish I could,” Santa told him.

“It’s okay,” he said, patting Santa’s cheek and smiling, “Try your best.”

“I will,” Santa smiled and laughed as Christopher got a little gift from the elf and helped back to his gait trainer.

Evan followed as Christopher tried to rush off. It took a few moments before the two-year-old, almost three year old, stopped and started to sob. Evan scooped him up into his arms and held him as the little boy sobbed his heart out.

“I want Daddy,” he cried, holding onto Evan tightly.

Evan rubbed his back, “I know, I know you do, Superman, and I wish I could have him come home and be here all the time with you,” he said, wishing he could do something that would put a smile on his godson’s face.

“Wanna go home,” Christopher sobbed brokenly, “Wanna go home.”

“Alright,” he sighed, grabbing his phone and messaging Shannon with the change of plans. He grabbed the gair trainer in one hand, thankful that he was strong enough to manage both that and Christopher as he went back to where they had parked. He was about to try and put Christopher into the car when he cried out even more and clung on even tighter. Evan murmured words to him as he put the gair trainer in the trunk after one-handedly folding it down.

“What’s wrong?” Shannon asked as she rushed over, seeing Christopher crying in Evan’s arms.

“I want Daddy!” Christopher sobbed as he reached out for his mom.

Shannon took him, “Oh, baby,” she said, “I wish I could bring him home right this minute,” she added as she held him tightly and rocked him in her arms. She had tears in her own eyes and she could see that Evan was no better.

“Let’s go home and have some pancakes for lunch,” Evan said, hoping that would cheer Christopher up a little bit.

“With blueberries?” Christopher sniffled.

“Yeah,” Evan nodded, smiling a little bit, “I know you’re sad buddy, and I am too, so is Mommy. We all miss Daddy very much. I know that if he could, he would be here, but he has to work so far away from us. But he’ll be calling tonight, and I’ll wake you up so you can talk to him for a bit. I know it’s not the same, but it’s the best we can do at the moment,” he told him.

“Promised I can?” he asked, looking at him through tear filled eyes.

“If he calls, I promise that you’ll be able to talk to him. I’ll even wake you up,” Evan said as he held out his hand, it had been a long time since he had thought about the pinky promises he once made with his sister. The memory of them was tainted somewhat after the way she had been behaving. “This is a pinky promise, I can’t break these at all, if I make a pinky promise, it means that I will do what I said, no matter what. If your dad calls tonight as he should, then I will wake you so you can talk to him,” he said, as he held out his little pinky finger and waited for Christopher to do the same.

Christopher frowned but copied his godfather. Evan smiled as he hooked his pinky around Christopher and gave a gentle shake. “That a promise?” he asked, face looking puffy as tears were still running down his face.

“It is,” he told him, “So let’s go get some pancakes at home and we’ll watch some movies, okay?”

“Okay,” he said leaning against his mom as he gave a hitching little breath as he cuddled his mom for a few more moments before he was put in his car seat. The three headed home, with Christopher crying softly in the background, and Shannon twisted in her seat doing her best to comfort him.

XxXxx

Shannon hadn’t wanted to go out on her date, but Evan had insisted. It was almost time for Eddie to call, and he knew that he had to tell him what Christopher had wanted for Christmas, since he had no doubt the little boy would be telling his daddy about his wish. The call came in and Evan was quick to answer, “Hey, Eds,” he smiled.

“Evan, good to see you,” Eddie grinned widely as he looked a little more cheerful than the last time that they had talked.

“Same,” he grinned, “How are things out there?”

“The usual. Nothing out of the norm has happened, but, hey, fingers crossed it stays like that,” he said as he crossed his fingers on the screen.

“I hate to be the bearer of bad news,” he said, “But, Chris, went to see Santa today. I didn’t even get a picture of him apart from the one that the mall photographer took and sent to me,” he sighed, “But… he asked for something, and he knew it wouldn’t happen, but he hoped.”

“What?” Eddie said, frowning as the smile from earlier had disappeared fully.

“He wanted you to come home for Christmas. I wouldn’t normally tell you, but he wished and I told him he could talk to you tonight. I think he needs some Daddy and son time with you,” he said.

“Damn,” Eddie cursed quietly, “I… I ever really thought about this.”

“That he would miss having you at home,” Evan finished for him, “He would, you’re his dad and he loves you. You might not be here physically, but you’ve done a lot to make sure that he knows you, and can have that connection with you.”

Eddie nodded, “Yeah, but it doesn’t feel like enough,” he said softly.

“You’re doing your best, you’re doing a job you love, and over time, things will even out over here. For now, we can have a small talk and then I need to wake Chris, I pinky promised him that I would let him talk to you tonight.”

“Isn’t it late over there?” Eddie asked him.

“Yeah, almost ten,” he said, “But I promised him, Eddie. I think he just needs to see you at the moment. It’s been a week for him, and to a little boy, that’s years,” he added, shaking his head slightly. “He just… misses you, like I do. We just… love you, Eds,” he said, biting his lip for a moment before he began to get up.

“I miss you all as well, and I still… I still want a career and I just… I don’t know how to balance that,” he murmured, looking at Evan and wishing that he was home at that moment.

“Maybe, talk to someone with family at home and how they can help manage situations like this. That’s… all I can think of suggesting to do. Eddie, he’s going to come to terms with how things are, at the moment, he’s just a little boy wanting his daddy and I can get it. I can understand wanting your dad with you,” he said, he has wanted the same, but he had never gotten it. But it was for another reason than his dad being away at war, working hard to provide, and doing what he could to mitigate the fact that he wasn’t home like most fathers were.

“I’ll do that,” he said, deep in thought for a moment, “go and get Chris, I’ll talk to him for a little bit, but only a little bit, he needs his sleep.”

Evan smiled, “Alright,” he said as he got up and headed to wake Christopher. He came back carrying the half-asleep little boy. However, that half-asleep state didn’t last long.

“Hey, mijo,” Eddie called out as soon as Evan had sat down.

“Daddy!” he yelled out, bursting into tears, “miss you, Daddy,” he cried out.

“I miss you too, buddy,” he said, “I love you so much.”

“I want you home, Daddy,” he said, sniffling as he clung to Evan, though he looked like he wanted to dart to the screen and try to hug his dad.

“I know, I know you do, I do too, mijo but I’m out here helping people, making sure that they can go home to their families,” he told him, “It’s really important what I do. I wish I was home,” he added. He was getting emotional, feeling guilty for wanting to be away from his son.

Christopher was still crying slightly as he asked his dad so many questions before he began to fall asleep against Evan’s shoulder.

“Time for sleep, mijo, I love you so much and I’ll see you again soon,” Eddie said, as he blew his son a kiss.

Christopher reached out, giggling a little as he pretended to catch it, “I keeps it, Daddy, forever and ever,” he said before he blew a kiss with his other hand.

Eddie reached out and caught it, smiling at his son, “And I’ll keep yours forever and ever,” he replied.

Evan took Christopher back to bed, tucking him in before being able to go back to Eddie and talk to him for a little while longer before their call was at an end.

Chapter Seven

Christmas was in full swing in the Diaz home. Christopher was delighted with his presents, but there was still that lingering sadness around him that everyone wished that they could lift. Evan was on the floor playing with Christopher as he used his imagination to tell a story about his new Hulk figure and the Superman one that he had gotten. Evan laughed as of course the good guys were winning against the evil in the world.

“We’re winning,” Evan said as he looked at Christopher.

“Yeah!” he giggled loudly.

“I have one last gift,” Isabel said as she stood up, “I just need to get it. I need it to be unwrapped before we have dinner.”

Everyone stopped and looked at her curiously. “Wonder what she has this time,” Edmundo was the one to speak, “She has been giggly and secretive all week,” he added.

“You’ve no idea what she’s up to?” Shannon asked.

“Not a clue,” he huffed, “she even kicked me out of the house yesterday, told me to go for a walk and not come back for a few hours. Then locked up a room and wouldn’t let me go inside.”

Isabel walked back, but she wasn’t carrying anything, “Right, Christopher, my bisnieto,” she said, “you had a very special Christmas wish. I was asked by Santa to help. Can you tell everyone what you asked Santa for?”

Christopher looked sad as he said, “I asked for Daddy home, at Christmas.”

Evan brought Christopher onto his lap to hug him.

“Well, Santa got some help and we were able to make your wish come true,” Isabel said as she stepped to the side of the door.

Christopher looked up, his eyes going wide as Eddie walked into the room. “DADDY!” he yelled out, bursting into tears as he scrambled off Evan’s lap, wanting nothing more than to get to his dad.

Eddie rushed into the room and over to his son, scooping him up into his arms he helped Christopher as he cried. “Oh, mijo, I’m here, I’m right here,” Eddie said as he held him tightly.

“Daddy, Daddy,” he cried, as his arms were in a death grip around Eddie’s neck.

“How?” Evan asked as he finally got up.

“When you called, I talked to my CO about what was going on. He suggested that I take a week’s leave now. I only have until New Year’s Day, but I can spend some time with my family and make a wish come true for my special little guy,” he replied quietly, as he pressed a kiss to Christopher’s head.

“This is amazing,” Shannon said as she got up and went over, hugging her son and ex.

“Santa did it, Mommy, Unca Evan, Santa did it,” Christopher said, as he moved back to look at his dad. “Daddy, love you.”

“Love you too, so much,” Eddie said as he pressed a few kisses onto Christopher’s face, causing the little boy to giggle.

“Well, dinner will be ready in around ten minutes, sit, and I’ll get you a drink,” she told them.

Eddie looked at her, “Thanks, Abuela, for the help,” he told her, grateful that she had been able to help him surprise his family.

“Welcome, always, Eddito,” she told him.

Eddie smiled and went back to spending a little time with his family. Christopher not letting go of him, even when it came to eating. The almost three-year-old insisted that he eat his dinner on his daddy’s lap, not wanting to take the chance that he was going to leave.

XxXxX

Eddie spent the days he had at home, spending as much time with his son as he could. Taking him to the park and just generally being a dad. He knew that time was running short and that soon he would be heading back to a war zone, but he had new pictures of him and Christopher. It was New Year’s Eve and Isabel was throwing the usual Diaz family get-together, with a few additions. Being Shannon, Janet, Phillip, and Lou. She had invited Athena and her family as well, but they were spending New Year with a few of their own friends.

“Can’t believe the year is almost over,” Evan said as he walked over to where Eddie was standing. Christopher was half asleep in his arms. The almost three-year-old was fighting sleep, wanting to spend as much waking time with his dad as possible. Since he had learned he would be leaving again soon.

“I know,” Eddie said, “Didn’t think I would be back home until. Feb,” he added, “But can’t say I hate this,” he smiled slightly. “Spending time with everyone, just being here, it’s nice. It makes me second guess what I’m doing in the army at times.”

“But it’s still what you want to do,” Evan said, nodding in understanding.

“Yesh, it is, but…” he sighed, “I’m going to start splitting my leave up a little more. Instead of just taking the thirty days in one go. Maybe doing three lots like one for Christmas, one in the middle of that, and then two weeks with you all for Christopher’s birthday. I think… that would be better. Splitting it up like that may help in how much he misses me during the year. It’s an entire year that I don’t get to see him. And you’re right, it would seem like years to this one,” he said as Christopher mumbled sleepily in his arms.

“That’s… a good idea,” he said, nodding slowly.

“I thought so, and so does my CO, he suggested that I start doing that. A lot do that instead of taking their leave in one go,” he grinned, “This means I’ll be able to spend time with you all at different parts of the year, and not just one. Does mean I’ll miss Abuela’s birthday sometimes, but I talked with her and she’s fine with it, she told me to do what was best for my family.”

“She is all about family after all,” Evan smiled.

“Yeah,” Eddie said, looking at the guests as they talked and moved around the party. Some of the children that were still awake were dancing, even some of the adults were joining in. Laughter filled the air and joyous talk about what their plans were for the coming year was echoing around the large garden.

“Countdown!” Edmundo yelled out, “Go to your partner and get ready for the magical New years Eve kiss!” he said as he went to Isabel and spun her around, “Mi Vida,” he smiled at her as the countdown started.

Evan and Eddie laughed and smiled at the couple. “They are still in love.”

“Yep,” Eddie said, nodding along, “They have been since they were teenagers. They met and fell in love and never stopped acting like newlyweds,” he said wistfully, “It’s something I want for myself as well. To have a relationship like theirs.”

“3!”

Eddie turned to Evan and smiled, “And you?” he asked.

“2!”

“Yeah, I’d want something like that too,” he replied.

“1!”

“Fuck it,” Eddie murmured as he leaned closer to Evan and pulled him closer, kissing him on the lips, “Happy New Year, when I come home from leave, want to go on a date?”

Evan blinked a few times as he took in what just happened. “I…” he said, a little hesitant. “I don’t… want to ruin anything.”

“You won’t. I know how you’re still friends with Lou, and considering he’s talking to one of my cousins at the moment, I don’t think anything can go bad, even if this doesn’t work out. But… take a chance?” Eddie asked him.

“Yeah, yeah, okay, a chance,” Evan said.

“Can I kiss you again?” Eddie asked, “I rather like that one.”

Evan laughed, “Sure, a kiss would be nice, and Happy New Year.”

“Daddy, Happy New Year,” Christopher said, opening his tired eyes.

“Happy New Year, mijo,” Eddie said as he brought his attention to Christopher once more.

“Love you,” he yawned as he snuggled closer and went to sleep again, with another murmur of Happy New Year to his Unca Evan, before giving a little snore.

“I think you should put this one to bed for a bit,” Evan said as he rubbed Christophers back.

“Yeah,” Eddie nodded, “I’ll pop him down for a nap,” he said as he added, “I’ll be back in a bit.”

“Sure,” Evan said as he watched Eddie go.

“So, finally moving on,” came a voice from behind him.

“Oh, hey Lou,” he said as he turned to face his ex, suddenly feeling uncomfortable.

“Hey, it’s fine, we all knew it was going to happen one day,” he smiled, “and I know Eddie’s a good man who will love you like you should be loved, just give it time and make sure you work on things. We… talked a lot when we were together, you need to do the same to him, be open and listen,” he told him, reminding him of the things that they were told by Isabel and Edmundo, advice for their relationship.

“Yeah,” Evan said, “thanks,” he told him.

Lou smiled and then looked behind him, “Eddie, congrats, and good luck. Not that I think you’ll need it,” he added, as he walked off.

“You okay?” Eddie asked.

“Yeah,” Evan said, “Just being reminded of the good times me and Lou had. Most of them were spent talking about all kinds of things. But mostly, making sure we talked to each other, about the harder things as well. We can’t be shy about it, we have to… talk about them. Even if we don’t want to. If we want to make this work, we’ll have to do that,” he finished, feeling nervous.

Eddie took in what Evan had said and then nodded, “Yeah, that was the thing that me and Shannon never could do; talk. We could talk about some things, but a lot of the time we never talked about what was really needed, not until it was too late,” he said, taking a hand, “We’re going to work on it, we have time, and I know a lot of my calls will be with Shannon and Chris, but I’ll do the same with you.”

“No, I’ll be with Chris sometimes, we can talk then, we still have emails and letters that we can use. I won’t take time away from Chris, okay, he’s important, too important for anything less than that,” he told him as they moved to another part of the garden to talk quietly with each other.

XxXxX

Morning came all too soon and Eddie was dressed in his fatigues and ready to hit the road to go back to a war zone. “Hey,” Eddie said as Evan stood in the doorway of his room.

“I don’t want you to go,” he said, “And I feel so damn selfish about it,” he snorted, shaking his head as he walked over, “I’m gonna miss you. So’s Chris, but we understand, this is work and what you want to do,” he smiled, “And have to say, looking hot,” he grinned as Eddie laughed.

Eddie laughed, “I had the same thought when I saw you in your uniform,” he added moving closer and wiggling his eyebrows before pulling Evan into a kiss. “I wish I could take you on a date before I leave,” he said.

“Same, but it is what it is,” Evan said, kissing again, “come on, Chris wants to come with us to say bye properly,” he told him.

Eddie smiled and nodded as the two of them headed into the living room, where Christopher was waiting for them, “Daddy!” Christopher yelled out, happy to see him, “Gonna miss you,” he said as soon as Eddie picked him up.

“I’m going to miss you as well,” Eddie said, “Now, you’re going to see me off?” he asked him.

“Yeah!” Christopher grinned, “I get to say bye pro-per-ly,” he nodded, sounding the last word out, “That right?” he asked.

“It is, well done,” Evan said, kissing Christopher’s cheek, “You’re so smart,” he grinned.

“Like Daddy and Unca Evan and Mommy,” he nodded.

Eddie smiled, “Yeah, you are,” he agreed as they headed out. Evan grabbed Eddie’s duffle so he could keep holding Christopher as they headed to the car to take Eddie to the airport for his flight.

Chapter Eight

Lou and Athena were following up on a lead as Evan remained in the office to go over the cases. He was trying to figure out why he believed the two were linked. Evan growled at himself as he stood up and began to pace. Going over the case aloud he went through each of the victims. Then paused, “The only thing linking them is that they were all first responders,” he muttered, “But, injuries, the type,” he said as he went over the autopsy reports.

He grabbed them and went to a part of the whiteboard that was still blank and began to list the injuries that were on the first victim. He then made columns, ticking them all in the first one. Then grabbing the second victim’s report he went through it, ticking off those that were present. “Nothing to add,” he murmured as he then did the same for the others. Though Mathew’s file was a report on his injuries that had been sustained and there were half of them already ticked off. “He was so lucky,” he murmured, as he thought of his friend and fellow cop. The fourth was added. “All the same, except for Mat, but that was interrupted.”

He stood there for a moment and then grabbed the report from the Simon Masters murder. He sighed as he began reading through it again, ticking off what was there. When he ticked off the last one he stood back. “The same, just hidden and not just attacked at what seemed like random,” he murmured, “So why target Masters?”

Evan sat down at his desk again, looking at the notes that had been made about how he had gone missing. The door to the office opened and he looked up from what he was doing. “How’d it go?” he asked Athena and Lou as they walked in.

Lou walked over to his desk and put down a coffee, “Here, and not good. Wasn’t able to find anything new that might help.”

“I’ve been going over both cases and…” he began trailing off as he gestured to the board, “I went through the injuries that they received, each of them, apart from Mat, had the same injuries at the time of death,” he told them, “All of them, including Masters,” he added.

Athena walked over and looked at it, “All the same,” she nodded, “damn, this is why you think they’re the same killer?”

“I just think instead of attacking in the open and risking getting caught, he’s evolved to do so in a more secure place, by taking his victim elsewhere. I just wonder why he let the phone call happen. It happened while they were at the spot. And from what Mrs Masters said, it sounds like Masters knew he was going to be killed. He knew it, something changed in that one, and I don’t know what,” he frowned.

“Could… his victim know his killer this time?” Athena suggested, “It’s possible that all the others could have been to cover for this one?”

“It’s possible, we’ve ruled out so many so far though. Friends, co-workers. We can work the list again, but I don’t think we’re going to get a change of answer for this,” Lou said, as he brought out the list of people that they had already cleared.

“I think they knew of each other but weren’t friends. The same circle,” he added, “I… think our killer might be a first responder as well,” Evan finished as he looked at them. “Cop, firefighter, or paramedic. I’m thinking more about the latter two. Not a cop, a cop would do better at covering their tracks I think.”

“That’s a serious thing to say,” Athena said carefully.

“I know, but that’s the feeling that I’m getting,” Evan said, shaking his head, “I don’t know why, but that’s just what I’m getting the vibe for.”

“He could be right,” Lou said, “it’s a possibility that it could be a first responder, but we have no clear evidence of first responder involvement,” he added as he looked at Evan, “What are you seeing?” he asked.

“Well,” Evan said as he stood up, “Masters was seen with someone out in the parking lot. They were talking, didn’t seem unfriendly, and seemed like they knew each other. Mat said in his statement that it felt like he knew the person who had come at him. We have the same thing with victim number one. The last person to see them, said they seemed to know the person they were with before they were found.”

“But we have no description of the killer,” Lou reminded him.

“But who is it that we would go with, someone we know, or knew from work. And how many of us have interacted with Fire and rescue over the years? Cops would go with them, and so would fellow firefighters. We’re tight-knit most of the time,” he replied, looking at Lou first and then at Athena.

“That’s true,” Athena said, as she thought about Hen and the people she knew from various fire stations around LA, and even cops that she would listen to and follow.

“So we may have a killer that’s one of ours, or possibly a firefighter, or paramedic,” Lou sighed, “This isn’t going to go well with the brass. They’re already fighting me on the fact that the cases aren’t from the same killer.”

“As long as Captain Maynard believes in you, you’ll be fine. She’ll go to bat for you, no matter what the chief says,” Athena reminded him, “you know that.”

“I do,” he sighed, “Right, let’s compile the people that they would have met through the job. What calls they were on with other cops and which firehouses interacted with them on scenes.”

“How did you make this leap?” Athena asked.

“Who would we trust out there? To go to a secluded place with? So be alone with?” Evan asked them both.

“Fellow first responders,” Lou said, “I never really would have thought of that,” he added, “We don’t think of that, that it would be one of us. We’re here to help, to save.”

“It’s a shock,” Athena said, “To even think that one of ours would do something like this. But he’s right, we wouldn’t think about it, and we would trust them as well, as soon as they said where they were from if he told them the truth… about who he was when he first talked to them. They would go even after checking it out.”

“See if any of our victims made such a check with someone. We might be able to find out who our killer is,” Lou said as the other two got to work to see if their victims had contacted anyone prior to their deaths.

XxXxX

Lou sighed as he finished the call. “Two bodies have been found. One we believe is Devan. The other was found around a hundred yards away. If that’s the case, it could be that Devan was murdered and it wasn’t a suicide like we thought. The other body, they don’t have anything on them identifying at the moment. But…”

“It could be Miles,” Evan said as he got a nod from Lou.

“We’re heading out now,” Lou said as he grabbed his things. Evan and Athena doing the same. Lou drove them all to the crime scene. techs were already all over the place along with the ME. Lou got out and went over to where one of the bodies lay. “Hey, Aliyah,” he greeted the woman.

“I would say good to see you Lou, but always wish it was under better circumstances,” she smiled up at him. “early thirties male. Strangulation is the main cause of death I would say, but will know for sure when we do the autopsy. He has numerous injuries as well,” she told him, getting up, “Now, as for the other,” she said as she walked the distance between the two.

She stopped and looked at the second body, though it was mostly skeletal at this point. “I can see knife damage on the bones, and more,” she said, crouching down once more, “Here,” she said pointing toward the skull, “You can see this indentation here, I would say that he had a massive blow to the head and was then attacked. He has minimal defensive wounds on the remaining flesh,” she told them, “As for identity,” she began, “I’m no clue on that. We’ll have to wait for that.”

“Right,” Lou said, “Fan out and see if we can find any evidence. Who found them?” he asked as he stood up straight.

“A patrol,” Aliyah answered, “They were doing a sweep of the area and found the first. Looking around, they found the second and sent for you.”

“Thanks,” he said as he stood up and went over to the patrol officers who were hanging back a little. There were so many others looking around.

Evan and Athena broke off and started to look around, being careful of where they trod and looked. They didn’t find anything, and since they were in a more out-of-the-way place, no one was around for them to ask if they had seen anything.

XxXxX

Lou walked into the office. Seeing Evan going over the evidence that had been gathered from the latest crime scene. Athena had stepped out moments before to follow up on something. “I’ve just been informed that another first responder has gone missing,” he told them.

“Who?” Evan asked as he turned around in his seat to look at Lou

“Leon Walker, he didn’t show up for work this morning. His roommate has also just walked in and said he didn’t come home last night and it’s not like him. I’ve asked for him to be brought here,” he told the two.

Evan nodded, “Want me to talk to him, or are you going to.”

“I’m going to,” Lou said, “But take notes, and ask anything that you can think of as well.”

The two nodded as someone knocked on the door. Lou opened it and nodded to the officer who had brought the roommate to the office. “Thanks,” he said as he looked at the young man, “Come and please, sit down,” he said as he gestured to the chair.

“I’m Nathan Jones, sorry, I just… Leon… he’s always on time. Never late to anything, never not home after going out to see friends. He’s a firefighter, and he takes it seriously. He works at the 133, they are a tight-knit group. Though he’s doing shifts at a different house this time. I don’t know which one. You’d have to talk to the LAFD for that,” he said, “I’m trying not to panic, he’s not like this. He always tells everyone where he is, and what he’s doing. He’s a bit paranoid about that,” he told them, shaking his head.

Evan looked at him, “You’re more than a roommate to him,” he said softly.

The guy looked startled and then nodded, “We’re together, have been for five years. No one… no one really knows. Leon had to move to another station after the last one found out we were dating. They were… bad, it was reported, but nothing was done, so he was able to transfer out. Last night I wasn’t feeling too well, so I decided to stay home. He went to the bar, and I got a call, just before midnight. I didn’t hear it, but he left a voicemail,” he said as he pulled out his phone.

“May we listen?” Lou asked.

“Sure,” he said as he called the voicemail and set it up. Letting them listen.

“Hey, love, babe,” came the voice through the speaker. “I love you, you know that. I love you so much. All the time we’ve spent together isn’t enough. It isn’t enough,” he choked on the words as the call cut out.

Lou and Evan shared a look. It sounded like Leon knew that he was going to die and time was short. He had been missing since last night, and chances were, he was already dead. Evan and Lou asked Nathan a few more questions before letting him return home. Compiling what they knew of the latest victim, and informing Athena when she returned to the office.

Chapter Nine

Eddie looked up as he walked towards the pickup point where he had told Evan to meet him. He could see the man leaning against his car, waiting. Eddie hurried to see him properly. Since returning, he couldn’t talk to Evan as often as he would have liked. “Ev,” he grinned as he finally got outside and headed over.

Evan smiled and rushed over, “Eddie,” he said as they embraced and held each other tightly. “Damn, I’ve missed you,” he added.

“Same,” Eddie said as he kissed him, “Come on, let’s get home.”

“Yeah,” Evan said as he let Eddie put his duffle in the back, before getting in the front. “It’s good to have you home. So you’re staying for two weeks before heading back.”

“Yeah, it’s a lot, doing it this way, but I’ll have another leave around August as well,” he said, “It’s worth it, it really is.”

“I know, and I know a certain little boy that will be happy that his daddy is home again,” Evan smiled as they headed to the Diaz-Whitt home.

“I can’t believe he’s three already,” Eddie said, a soft smile on his face. “I can remember holding him that first time. Cutting the cord and everything. It feels like it was only yesterday and I just… I can’t understand how my baby is already three years old.”

“Neither can I, and he is getting into everything, he might not be as speedy as most three-year-olds, but damn he’s still fast,” he laughed lightly, shaking his head as they stopped at a red light for a few moments before it turned green.

“Sometimes, I do wish that I had taken the out from the army, just to be here for him,” Eddie said quietly. “I sometimes feel like the world’s worst father for being out there and missing so much.”

“It’s a job, and one you love. There are so many out there who do the same thing as you, and they make it work. They have families and loved ones at home. You know this. I wish you’d stop feeling guilty, but I think you need to talk to someone about that,” he told him.

Eddie was quiet, “I’ll think about it, there isn’t much I can do at the moment.”

“I know, but really, Eds, don’t let your parents get into your head,” Evan said, shaking his head.

“How the hell do you know it’s them?” Eddie asked, shocked as he looked at his boyfriend.

Evan snorted, “Eddie, before Abuelo banned them from coming down to see us, they said the exact same type of shit. That you abandoned Shannon and Christopher, and you ran away from them, and that was why you’re a bad parent. Don’t let them get in your head,” he told him.

The two went silent as Eddie contemplated what Evan had just said. He was right in the fact that his parents were contacting him through email all the time, gaslighting him for leaving Shannon and Christopher. That it would be his fault if anything happened to them. That they were alone and had no one because he had decided to move them to LA. It didn’t matter that Eddie had replied telling them to fuck off, and blocked them. They would just create a new email and start again. It had gotten to a point where he had blocked any email that had come to him that wasn’t from someone he knew.

“And home,” Evan said as he pulled up into the driveway and the Diaz-Whitt home. “Come on, Chris is inside, and already hyper from the fact that he knows you’re going to be home,” he grinned as Eddie got out.

Eddie gave a slow smile before he looked at the door. “You’re right. I keep letting my parents in, thinking that they’re finally going to be the parents that I’ve always wished they were. Their love has always been conditional on what they want me to do. If I didn’t do what they wanted, then they would make my life a misery. They’d stop me from doing anything I wanted to do, be it going out with friends, to playing in a baseball game at school. They used anything and everything against me. My sisters… they had things better than me. They didn’t have that conditional love. My parents love them, and they still do. They… never saw it from my position. I was the youngest and the only boy. I had to follow everything they wanted, or suffer the consequences. Hell Sophia liked to purposefully get me in trouble to see me punished. And when I dated Shannon in high school. They made my life hell for those eight months we dated. But to me, it was worth it. I had someone who made my world light up for a while.”

“She doesn’t do that now?” Evan asked.

“She does, but in a different way. She gave me a new light,” he smiled, “Christopher, and you are the one that shines just as brightly,” he added as he reached out a hand.

Evan smiled as he took it and squeezed it. “Come on, Shannon and Christopher are waiting. Abuela and Abuelo have dinner planned for tomorrow for you. You’ll see most of the family then. Then the large gathering for Chris’ birthday,” he warned him of what was to come.

“Right, so lots has been planned,” Eddie snorted with a grin appearing on his face.

“Just those for now. I’ve also… planned a date for us. And a day out for you, me, and Christopher as well; something for all three of us to do,” he smiled at him, hoping that was okay.

“I planned something for the two of us and the three of us together as well,” he laughed, “I’ve been asking Abuela to help me book things,” he smiled, “Great minds think alike, Evan,” he said softly as he pulled him close and kissed him lightly.

“Are you two going to be out there all night!” came a yell from the door as it opened. “I have an overly excited three-year-old that is about ready to storm out of the house to drag you both inside.”

Eddie snorted as the two leaned their foreheads together, “I’ve been summoned.”

“DADDY!” came a yell that followed shortly after his mother’s.

“Yeah, you have,” Evan said as he let him go, “You better go to him, he’s almost gone flying down the steps to the house in the last few weeks. We’re looking to find someone to build a ramp so he can do it without falling.”

“I can do that,” Eddie said, “I used to do a lot of that kind of thing when I lived in El Paso. I’ve built a few ramps for people as well, won’t be hard.”

“You can do that on the days I’m working, or at least take Christopher out somewhere fun for some daddy-son bonding time,” Evan said as Eddie finally started walking to the house.

Eddie smiled as soon as he caught sight of Christopher, “You’ve gotten so much bigger already!” he exclaimed as he went to his son, got him from the gait trainer, and scooped him up into his arms.

“Yep, I be taller than you soon,” he giggled. “Missed you, Daddy,” he said as he placed a sloppy kiss on Eddie’s cheek.

“I missed you as well,” Eddie said, “come on then. Let’s get inside. Daddy wants a nice shower and to change into something comfy.”

“Watch movie?” Christopher asked, looking all wide eyed hopeful at his dad.

“Yeah, sure, you pick,” Eddie said as Shannon brought the gait trainer to them so he could set Christopher down with it, “You choose while Daddy gets ready.”

“Okay!” Christopher as he sped off to find something for them to watch.

“I’ll get your things washed. Evan, you keep an eye on Christopher, and make sure he doesn’t start trying to climb things as well,” she said, giving Evan a pointed look.

“He didn’t get that high,” Evan said, huffing, “And seriously, who knew he could move that fast.”

“Just keep an eye on Evel Knievel,” she said as she took Eddie’s duffle and went to empty it and wash what was inside.

“What happened?” Eddie asked.

“He decided that it was a good idea to try and climb the bookcase. I caught him before he could get too high. He was after one of the DVDs on the upper shelves,” he said, “We rearranged it all to make sure the ones he would want to go for are on the lower two.”

Eddie smirked, “Right, well, go keep an eye on him, and I’ll be out shortly.”

Evan nodded as he kept his eye on Christopher, so far the almost three-year-old hadn’t tried to do any more climbing, but Evan had taken him to the playground with the smaller climbing frames there, so he could try it out with him supervising.

XxXxX

They were half way through the movie when someone started knocking on the door. Shannon got up and answered it, bringing someone into the living room with her.

“Lou?” Evan asked, wondering why he was there.

“I’m sorry to call like this on your day off, but Walker has been found. Athena is going to meet us there, and since you were on the way, I thought I would come and get you. I know normally this doesn’t happen, but with this case…” he trailed off.

“You want us there,” Evan said as he got up, “Sorry,” he said as he kissed Eddie, and then Christopher when the little boy pouted at him. “I’ve got some work to do. I’ll be back as soon as I can,” he promised.

“I understand,” Eddie said, “Take care, and call me as soon as you’re on the way home.”

“I will,” Evan said as he turned to Lou, “Should I change into uniform?” he asked.

Lou shook his head, “No, just get your badge and weapon,” he told him.

“Alright,” he said as he added, “For my weapon, we’ll need to stop by mine.”

“I figured,” Lou said, “it’s on the way to the scene,” he added as the two left.

It was almost an hour later when they arrived at the crime scene. This time it had been less than a week since Leon Walker had disappeared. The ME, Alyiah, was already there. Athena was talking to someone on one side, giving them a nod as soon as they had appeared. Alyiah stood up to greet them.

“Evening,” she said, “wish it was a better reason for calling you all in on your day off,” she added, “But I know that you’re working on this case,” she finished.

“Same. So, what do we have?” Lou asked her.

“Leon Walker, aged 34, firefighter. He was beaten, strangled, and stabbed. He has some defensive wounds, but not many considering his size and I would say strength as well,” she paused for a moment. “Cause of death was a stab wound to his chest, it would have nicked his heart from the position of it, though I won’t know for sure until autopsy,” she added, “Time of death I would place as being five days ago.”

Lou nodded, “So right when he went missing,” he said, sighing, “Thanks Alyiah, get the results to me as soon as you can.”

“I will,” she agreed, going back to the body to see its transfer to the morgue.

“Let’s look around the area, and see if we can’t find anything else out,” Lou suggested as he looked around, already spotting a few places that could be of interest.

“Yeah,” he agreed as he and Lou split up to search the area, there was already forensics that was going through the area as well, so he was careful where he stood and what he touched, even with gloves on.

They spent two hours on the scene as the body was taken away. Weapons and the victim’s phone were found. There were also tire treads, molds were taken of them. Nothing else of interest had been found. Lou dropped Evan off at home, before taking him back to the Diaz-Whitt home. Lou still had the task of informing Leon Walker’s partner what they had found, and what had happened. Evan didn’t envy him the task at all.

Chapter Ten

Evan was nervous as he got in the truck. Eddie was taking him on a date first, since he had arranged a few things for them. He had already said that it wasn’t anything fancy or epic, but something just for them to really talk and get to know each other outside of being friends. Evan liked the thought, but he had never really thought, in all the years that he had known Eddie, that they would end up going on a date together. It had been almost six years since they had first started talking to each other and it still boggled his mind that Eddie was one of his oldest friends, outside of Eric.

“You okay?” Eddie asked as he drove off from Evan’s home.

“Yeah, yeah I’m okay. Just… feel nervous,” he said, shooting Eddie a smile.

“I know, I feel the same. I’ve been… thinking about this since last year. When I saw you during Christopher’s second birthday, I knew that I wanted to try and ask you out. I’ve been talking to Shannon about it for a while. and she told me that I should just go for it, that I had nothing to lose by trying.”

“Ah, so that was who she was on about,” Evan said with a nod. “She asked me a few things, about asking me out,” he smiled, “And now I know that she was asking about you. Seeing if I would be interested at all. I told her that if someone liked me, then they should just ask me out.”

Eddie snorted, “Yeah, she told me that,” he smiled.

“So… where are we going?” Evan asked him.

“There’s this restaurant that I really like, it’s little more than a hole in the wall, but it’s out the way, quiet, and has great Greek food,” he answered with a smile. “I found it by accident when I was exploring one summer when I stayed with my abuelos. I had a bite to eat, and I go back when I can. I think I’ve only ever taken the abuelos there, never anyone else,” he admitted. “The last time I went I went alone. They know I’ve got a kid, but I’ve never taken him there. Maybe I will next time.”

“Sounds like a nice little place,” Evan said.

“It is,” he replied smiling softly, “I’ll be happy to share it with you,” he added.

The two went quiet for a bit as they drove to the restaurant. Parking, Eddie looked at Evan and smiled as they got out. The two walked close to each other, as Eddie swung out his hand and grabbed Evan’s, sharing a smile as they walked into the restaurant.

“Eddie, fíle mou!” came a joyful cry as an older lady walked over to him, “Oh it’s good to see you again,” she said as she huffed him, “Now, you said you have a date, where is he?” she asked as she then spotted Evan, “Hello young one,” she smiled, “Come, I saved you the best spot,” she laughed lightly as she led them to a nice little alcove that afforded them some privacy.

“Thank you, Daphne,” he said, as they were seated and menus given to them.

“I’ll bring you over some tatzhiki and some tirokafteri to tide you over while you decide. What about to drink?”

“Can we have some of the homemade visinada, please,” Eddie said.

“Of course, I’ll bring them over,” she smiled at the two.

“Thank you,” Eddie smiled back. She made a few notes and left them alone to decide.

“So what’s good here?” Evan asked him, as he began to look over the menu.

“That depends if you want to go with something Greek, or something more American?” he asked.

“Greek,” he answered, rolling his eyes.

“Right, so for mains, I would go with either the moussaka or the kleftiko. Both are good, and I enjoy them; kleftiko is my favorite. Most of the time, I have it with a small side of orzo as well,” Eddie suggested, grinning.

“Why don’t we have both and share?” Evan asked.

“Sounds good,” he grinned, “The kleftiko is a lamb shank, it’s marinated overnight in cinnamon and herbs. It’s really good with the roasted potatoes that they do. Though, like I said, the small orzo that can come with it is good too. The moussaka is slow-cooked minced lamb and beef. It’s in layers with roasted potatoes, eggplant and courgettes. The sauce is bechamel. It’s so good,” he added, explaining each dish.

“They do sound good, I’ll have the moussaka,” he said as he looked at the deserts.

“The desserts there are two that are similar, the bougasta and galaktoboureko, both are custard desserts in filo. One is normal custard and the other a semolina custard,” he told him.

“Oh, let’s get those,” he grinned.

Eddie nodded, “Okay, I think we know what we want,” he smiled.

It didn’t take long for Daphne to come back, putting down the two dishes and then returning again with the drinks. They ordered their food and they were left alone.

Evan looked curiously at the drink before him, “What’s this?” he asked, looking at the red drink.

“It’s a cherry drink. They have sour cherries, sugar, and water, and simmer it to a syrup. Then use it with a club soda. It’s good, try it,” he said, as he pulled his over and took a sip.

Evan was cautious as he brought the drink to him and took a sip. “Ohh,” he said, “That’s… refreshing, that would be so good when it gets really hot,” he added.

“It is good. I spent many summers here drinking my weight,” he grinned, “I did a few summer assignments here as well.”

“How much time did you spend out here in LA?” Evan asked, “You’ve never really talked much about your time before you joined up.”

“I spent nearly any holiday from school here. I hated being home. Mom and Dad were always pushing me to do what they wanted all the time. In the end, it was Abuelo who was able to get me out of the home when he saw what they were doing. You know that they were… abusive toward me. Abuelo found out, and tried to get custody, but something they did stopped it from happening. Adriana and Sophia were always spoiled; they could do what they wanted, and they were never in trouble. Instead, if they did something wrong, I would be the one in trouble for letting them. It didn’t matter that Sophia is four years older than me and Adriana is seven. They never expected them to do the right things. Hell, when Adriana was sneaking out at sixteen, I got the belt for letting her. I was only nine myself,” he snorted.

Evan shook his head, “What are Adriana and Sophia like without them around all the time?” Grabbing some of the pita and dipping it into the spicy feta cheese dip. “This is good,” he murmured, getting a nod of agreement from Eddie.

“They’re not trying to get me in trouble all the time. But they still have their moments when they think I’m doing the wrong thing in not letting our parents take Christopher. They aren’t happy about the fact that I shut them out of my life and won’t let them see Christopher after they said that. They’ve tried to talk to Abuela and Abuelo about it, but nothing has worked. I’ve already told them that I’m not going to let them back in at all,” he said, picking up another piece of pita bread and dipping it into the blend of garlic, cucumber, dill, mint, and Greek yogurt.

“Well, are they coming to Christopher’s birthday in a few days?” Evan asked, as he did the same.

“No, I told them not to bother this year, they’re trying again to make me reconsider letting our parents into my life. So I told them to stay away and that I didn’t want them there. I’m not going to put up with it. They know what they have to do if they want to be part of my and Christopher’s life. But they don’t believe they were wrong, and my mother will never admit that she was wrong in what she tried to do when Chris was born. I know exactly what they’re going to be like when they find out about Christopher. So far my sisters don’t know what’s wrong with him at all. They’ve not really been around him since they still live in El Paso. They play nice to my face more often than not, but then when they’re back home, they’re… just like they were when they were younger,” he shrugged, as they finished off the two starters that they had been given.

“Well, they can just stay out of our lives. We have no time for toxic people,” Evan reminded him.

“I know, I’ve taken your stance on things,” he grinned as Daphne made her way over.

“Here we go,” she said as she put down the two meals, “Enjoy.”

“We shall,” Eddie smiled at her as they looked at the two meals and began to dig in.

“This lamb is just… melt in the mouth,” Evan said as he was given a bite of Eddie’s kleftiko.

“It really is,” he smiled, “And the bechamel sauce is so creamy with yours, the flavors are amazing,” he said, smiling as the two carried on eating, this time talking more about Christopher and how he was doing in his physiotherapy, and the talk of another operation that they wanted to do in May.

“His walking with the trainer is really good now. They’re thinking that by the time he gets used to moving around again after his next surgery, they’re going to start working with him on crutches,” Evan said, having gone to the last two appointments with Shannon to give her some extra support. Janet would usually be the one to go, but she had been disappearing often the last few weeks.

“I hate that I miss so much,” Eddie said, once more feeling guilty about not being there for his son.

“You’re there when you can. He understands it, and so do we all. Stop feeling guilty,” Evan said with a glare.

Eddie huffed, “Easier said than done.”

“I know,” he smiled, as dessert arrived. “These look amazing,” he said, one was dusted with powdered sugar, and the other looked crisp and shiny as if they had been dipped in a syrup of some kind.

“Half each?” Eddie suggested.

“Sure,” Evan smiled as he cut his in half and fed Eddie. “Good?”

“The best,” Eddie said. He then did the same with his and fed Evan the half he had for him.

“Ohh, that’s really nice,” he murmured, humming in appreciation of the taste. “The pastry is just so flaky. The custard is creamy.”

“It is,” he added as they began to eat their own.

“This place is great,” Evan said as they finished.

“It really is, you can see why I brought you here. I know you like to try new foods and I didn’t think you had Greek yet,” Eddie smirked.

“I hadn’t, so excellent choice,” he laughed as they paid the bill.

Eddie nodded and smiled at him as they left the restaurant after hugging Daphne goodbye and taking a bottle of vyssinada with them to have at home.

“That was good,” Evan told him, as they walked side by side, softly bumping into each other until Eddie wrapped an arm around Evan’s waist and pulled him close as they headed to the truck.

“It was, I’m looking forward to seeing what you’ve arranged, mine was rather simple.”

“So’s mine, but simple is nice,” Evan smiled at him, “And tonight was just right,” he added as he leaned against Eddie.

“Yeah, it was. We have a picnic with Christopher in a couple of days, the day before his birthday. Abuela is helping me make up the picnic basket. She’s been teaching me more recipes each time I come home,” he smiled, “I love spending time with her. I’m always afraid, after Abuelo’s heart attack, that I would be losing one of them. That I’ll get a call and that I’ll find out one of them has passed away,” he said softly.

“Spend as much time with them as you can, make memories, and take pictures, recordings, and all that,” Evan said as they reached the truck.

“I am,” Eddie nodded as they remained outside of the truck for a moment, “How about we go to the park, it’s still early, we can go for a walk before heading home? I know you have work tomorrow, but…” he trailed off.

Evan moved closer and kissed him, “I’d like that,” he murmured.

Eddie smiled, kissing him back, before they got in the truck and headed to one of the local parks to walk around for a bit and talk a little more.

Chapter Eleven

Evan got behind the wheel of the patrol car he had been given. He and Athena would spend at least one shift a week out in the field, patrolling the areas they usually did. But they were alone this time, not partnered up. Today was his day out to patrol. He headed out on his usual patrol route, heading past Griffen Park. His eyes scanned the streets as he went past, just in case he noticed anything odd.

“717 L57, this is dispatch,” his radio cackled to life.

“This is 717 L57, what can I do for you Dispatch?” he asked.

“Attempted 207 in Griffen Park Recreation Center. The victim is eleven years old, the suspect has been detained by passers-by, respond immediately, and more units are en route. You’re closest, 717 L57,” the dispatcher said, giving him more information.

“On route,” he said, flipping lights and sirens to get there as fast as he could, “Two minutes out,” he added.

“Understood,” the dispatcher responded.

Evan pulled up and got out quickly. Rushing over to where he could see the commotion going on. “Okay,” he said as he looked at the man who was being detained and started to head over. “Can so…” he trailed off and sighed as he recognized the man that was being held. It was someone that he and Athena had arrested shortly after he had joined the LAPD. One of his first arrests. “What happened?” he asked as he went over.

“This bastard tried to take a kid. Grabbed her when she was playing with some of the other kids. She’s over with a family, they said that they’re looking after her for the day,” the one holding the man said.

“Fucking bitch, she fu-” the guy spat as he struggled.

“Adam Pickles,” he began as he went over. “Kidnapping a minor,” he shook his head as he began to read him his rights and cuffed the man as another unit pulled up.

“Evan!” came an upset cry as a young child ran from the family group and over to him.

Evan was grabbed and hugged tightly by the young girl. He looked down at the tear-stained face, his eyes going wide as looking back up at him was May. “May,” he said, “Hey, you’re safe now,” he murmured as he realized that she had been the target.

“He… he tried to take me. But I did what mom taught me. I fought him, I hit and kicked,” she babbled as Evan and one of the officers who had arrived for backup came over to talk to her, listened and learned what had happened.

“You did so good, May,” Evan praised, “You did your mom so proud today,” he told her as he grabbed his radio. “I’m going to call someone to get in touch with your mom, alright?” he said, “To get you so you can go home.”

“I wanna go home,” May said as she began to cry, her whole body beginning to shake.

Evan held her and moved to one of the benches, letting her sit on his lap as she curled against him. “Dispatch, this is 717 L57,” he said.

“Go 717 L57,” the dispatcher responded.

“The victim is Sergeant Grant’s daughter. She’s unharmed, but I’m requesting an RA unit to come and check her over, to make sure. Can you also contact Detective Lou Ransone about what has happened so he can inform Sergeant Grant? May needs to go home.”

“Understood 717 L57, I’ll have Detective Ransone informed shortly, and an RA unit has been sent to your location,” they replied.

“Thank you. Can you make sure that Detective Ransone tells Sergeant Grant that I’m with her daughter and that I’ll remain with her until she arrives,” he added, as May clung onto someone she knew was safe. Evan had spent a bit of time with the Grant family over the time he’d been Athena’s partner. Getting to know her family, her husband, and her children. And had babysat them a couple of times over the last couple of months.

Sirens were heard as an ambulance appeared on the scene. Another patrol car pulled up at the same time. The two cops inside started to take statements as soon as they got out. A family of four was hovering nearby. No doubt it was the family that May was spending the day with. Two paramedics began to approach.

“Hi,” one said, as she walked over a kind smile on her face, “May?” she said as she saw the little girl.

“Miss Hen,” May sniffled as she looked at her, but kept holding onto Evan.

“Oh, baby, what happened?” she asked as she began to check the eleven-year-old over.

May flinched when the Asian man started to come closer, so he hung back in case he was needed. Letting May relax a little again with the two people she knew well.

“That man tried to take me. He said that Mom cost him his kid…” she trailed off as she began to cry once more.

“It’s okay, you’re safe now,” Evan soothed again, “Your mom should be here soon.”

“I wanna go home,” she cried as she buried her head against Evan’s neck. trying to hide away from the world that had hurt her. Evan saw that Hen was done with her checks and wrapped his arms around the small child. Running his hand over her hair which was in tight braids.

“I know, you’ll be able to soon,” he promised, rocking her gently.

“May!” came a frantic cry as soon as Athena arrived on scene. She saw the two and ran over, “Oh, baby.”

“Mama!” May yelled out as soon as she heard her mother’s voice. She pushed away from Evan and stumbled to her feet and ran to her mother. Evan got up slowly and walked over.

“Oh, my sweet baby girl,” Athena murmured, on her knees and hugging her daughter tightly.

“Mama,” May cried, collapsing into her arms, finally fully safe.

“I got you,” she murmured, “I’ve got you, baby.”

Evan walked over and Hen followed after him, as she quickly told Athena that May was fine, just shaken up over what had happened.

Evan was quick to send word to dispatch, that he was taking some time to take Athena and May home. Lou looked like he was going to offer, but his phone began to ring and he was called back to the station. “Take care of them,” Lou said as he looked at him.

“I will,” Evan nodded before turning his attention to mother and daughter, as Hen left. “Come on, let’s get the two of you home,” he then said as he looked at his partner.

“Are you sure?” Athena asked as she stood up, May leaning against her. “I can-”

“Athena,” Evan said quietly, “You need to get May home. Having to take her back to the precinct to get your car is going to be a little much. Take it from someone who has been attacked like that, it’s not nice and all you wanna do is hunker down for a bit. Let her have today, and then tomorrow, maybe sure you spend the day just being out and having fun. Reminding her that the world isn’t always a terrible place,” he told her, making sure that he kept the words away from May.

Athena nodded, “I know, I know,” she murmured as she looked down at her daughter. “Come on May, Evan’s taking us home,” she told her, getting her attention.

“Okay, Mom,” she said, nodding a few times.

“Derek, Kelly,” Athena said, “Thank you for taking her out, sorry to cut the day short.

Derek looked at her, shaking his head, “It’s fine, really, I’m sorry I didn’t protect her.”

“No doubt you did,” Athena told him.

Kelly nodded. “May, I’ll let Aimie come over sometime soon so you can both have some fun.”

“Okay,” May nodded, giving the woman a weak smile before Athena ushered her to Evan’s patrol car.

“Come on,” Evan said again as he got to the car and let the two get in the back. He sat in the front and looked at them in the rearview mirror. He could see that they were as close as their seatbelts would let them. He sighed a little as he started the car up and headed to Athena’s home.

XxXxX

It took just over an hour to reach the Grant home. He parked the car on the drive so that they didn’t have to be outside that long. He could see that May was over today and that she just wanted to hide away. Athena got out, and May was quick to follow. Athena looked worried as May stuck to her side instead of racing towards the door.

Evan remained by the car as Athena and May went to the front door.

“Evan, call into dispatch and tell them you’re breaking for an early lunch,” she told him.

“I should l-”

“Don’t even think about finishing that sentence, come on in, I’ll make lunch,” she said, giving him a look that made him compile.

May couldn’t help the little bubble of laughter as she saw her mom give Evan the mother’s look, that she often pointed towards herself and her brother. “Don’t argue with Mom, it’s useless,” she said as she looked at him.

Evan smiled at May, “Yeah, I know,” he told her as he called into dispatch and took himself off the roster for a bit, so he could break for lunch.

“You’re learning,” Athena told him, a satisfied smirk on her face as the three of them entered the home. Athena would have to call Micheal soon to tell him what happened. He would be on his way back from camping out with Harry in a couple of hours, and she wondered if she should wait to tell him until he arrived home. She didn’t want him driving distracted by what had happened. She went into her room, locking away her gun before joining them in the living room for a second.

May was looking at Evan, as Evan looked back, pulling a few faces and getting a couple of laughs from the young girl. Athena pressed a kiss to her daughter’s head as she ran a hand over Evan’s hand, much as a mother would have done her child.

“I’ll get us something to eat,” she said, as she carried on into the kitchen.

“Evan,” May said quietly, having lost the Mr that she had been using the first time he had started coming around.

“Yeah, May?” he asked, waiting for her to talk.

“I’m scared,” she whispered like she didn’t want her mom to find out.

“Oh, May, it’s okay to be scared. I was as well, when someone tried to hurt me. It’s really scary and it feels like you want to run away and hide and never go anywhere again,” he told her, remembering the feelings he had after his mother’s attack and after Doug’s. “It’s hard, but tell your mom that you want to talk to someone, I did and it helped a lot.”

May nodded. At eleven years old, she had lost the feeling of safety she had once had, and Evan wished he could do something to bring that back for her. Evan talked to her a little, hoping that he was being a help. When she saw Athena check up on them, she was smiling thankfully towards him. He gave her a nod as she called the two in for lunch, setting the club sandwiches down for the three.

Evan spent a pleasant lunch with the two before he returned to his patrol. He sighed and hoped that May would be able to talk to her mother about what she was going through. Feeling alone in that type of situation sucked, and he wouldn’t wish it on anyone, especially not an eleven-year-old child. His radio crackled to life once more as he was called to a robbery in progress.

Chapter Twelve

Christopher’s birthday had come and gone quickly. Presents were given and opened with a joyful laugh as he sat on his dad’s lap for all of it. The three-year-old had gotten many new toys, but his favorite thing had been spending time with his dad. Going to the park, the zoo, and the aquarium. A lot of fun for the three of them, and even just a day for Christopher and Eddie to spend some quality father-son time.

Tonight, however, was just for Evan and Eddie. Eddie had another two days left before he would be heading back. And Evan was going to take the opportunity to have a date with his boyfriend. Evan looked around his living room and smiled. The place was set for them to watch a few movies. First was dinner that he had cooked. He was doing some minted lamb chops that he had marinated overnight, he was doing a bit of mashed potatoes and some veg with it. Something simple, but something he knew that the two of them enjoyed.

Evan jumped when someone knocked on his front door. He rushed over and smiled as he saw Eddie standing there, a bottle of wine in his hand. “Hey,” he said as Eddie stepped towards him and pulled him into a kiss.

“Hey, yourself,” Eddie grinned, as he pulled back, “Missed having you around the last two days.”

“I know, I had a shift and then ended up covering for someone,” Evan told him as he took the wine and let him inside. He went to the kitchen and opened it, letting it breathe on the side as he turned to face Eddie. “Well, dinner is almost ready,” he began, feeling nervous. This wouldn’t be the first time cooking for Eddie, but it would be the first time doing it as a night-in for the two of them like a date. Usually, when Evan cooked for them both, Christopher and others were usually there as well.

“It’s fine, and I can’t wait, it smells delicious,” he said as he moved over, “How has work been?” he asked, “I heard about May,” he added, having met the young girl at Christopher’s birthday party; she and her brother had attended. May had enjoyed bossing the two boys about in their playtime, to make sure that everyone was able to let Christopher join in as much as possible.

“It’s been okay, Athena took a couple of shifts off to spend time with May after what happened. She’s doing well and now seeing a therapist. So that’s a good thing,” he smiled, “The case is still… messing things up. I’ve been looking at so much footage, hoping to spot something we might have missed.”

“I wish you luck with it,” Eddie said, unsure of what he could say to that.

“Yeah,” he smiled as he turned to finish off dinner and plate it all. He mashed the potatoes after draining them, adding a little butter, milk, and some herbs, along with a bit of salt and pepper. He brought out the meat, grinning when the fat had a slight crunch to it as he plated them and the mash, doing the same with the vegetables, “Here we go,” he said as he gestured for Eddie to sit at the table and place the plate down in front of him. Grabbing the wine glasses, he filed the two and set them down as well, before sitting himself at the table. “Bon Appetit,” he grinned.

Eddie grinned back at him as they began to eat, “This is good,” he said after taking the first bite.

“Yeah,” Evan nodded, “It’s one of my favorite meals to have. Something simple, but so damn good.” As they ate dinner, they talked a little about Christopher’s birthday, the operation that would be coming up in four months, and Eddie’s last few days in the US before shipping back out.

As soon as dinner was done, the two moved around the kitchen as they cleaned up. Evan had tried to get the older man to head into the living room to just relax while he cleaned up.

“Go and sit down, just going to do us a bowl of popcorn,” Evan said as he shooed him out of the kitchen.

“I can get us some drinks,” Eddie protested.

“I’ll get them,” he told him, huffing, “This is supposed to be a date where I’m doing things,” he reminded him.

“But I like to help,” Eddie added as he was forced to leave the kitchen. “Fine,” he huffed, as Evan gave a triumphant smirk.

“Good, now go and choose the movies, I’ve placed a load on the coffee table for you to choose from,” he added, “I’ll be out with the popcorn and drinks in a moment.

Eddie gave another little huff but went to the living room and made a beeline for the coffee table. There were around a dozen movies on there. Most of them were action-type moves, ones that he knew he enjoyed, and a few new ones that he and Evan had talked about over the last several months. It reminded him that he very rarely went to the theater, more because there was never anything good that he wanted to watch when he was on leave. He finally chose one, Die Hard, it was one of his favorite films to watch. And he hadn’t had much chance to watch it over the last couple of years.

Evan walked back in a large bowl in one hand and two bottles of beer in the other. “Here we go,” he said, handing one of the bottles over as Eddie finished putting the DVD into the player.

“Thanks,” he said, as he looked at the popcorn, wondering why there were globs of butter on it.

“Butter?” he asked.

“Yep, Lou’s fault. I can’t have popcorn at home or the theatre without adding globs of butter to it. It gets all melty and on your fingers, but damn, it tastes so good,” he grinned as he set his beer down and settled on the couch. Eddie smiled and nodded and sat beside him. “It has to be hot popcorn,” he added as he set the bowl between them, the butter melting onto the popcorn. “Not only that, the salted kind only, not unsalted, really doesn’t taste good.”

“I believe you,” Eddie smiled as he started the film and the two settled against each other to watch. Taking a kernel of popcorn or a few at a time to pop one into his mouth. “It’s good,” he agreed, nodding his head a few times.

“Like I said, blame Lou. He brought butter into the theater so he could do this when we went to watch a film on one of our dates,” he said, “I kinda enjoyed it a lot, and now I have to do it.”

“He made a good choice,” Eddie nodded as he leaned closer to Evan.

Evan looked down at him, grinning a little as they carried on eating the buttery popcorn. They fought over the last few kernels. With Eddie getting them and then feeding Evan two of them while munching on the two he kept. “More?” Evan asked.

“Not just yet,” he murmured a reply as he looked back at the screen. Holding one of Evan’s hands and playing with the fingers absently.

Evan smiled, loving how relaxed Eddie looked. He remembered something that Lou had done and stifled a giggle as he pretended to stretch and placed his arm over Eddie, pulling him closer.

Eddie looked at him, eyes going wide before breaking into a large smile. “Fuck, you’re adorable,” he stated as he leaned up for a kiss.

They shared a few kisses before watching a little bit more of the movie. Slowly, Eddie soon found himself resting his head in Evan’s lap as the younger man ran his fingers through his short hair. Nails scraped pleasantly along his scalp, leaving him a pile of homelessness as he traced patterns on Evan’s thigh.

XxXxX

Eddie walked into the station. He knew that Evan was out on patrol again, this time with Athena. He had brought a bit of food with him, he wanted to meet up with Lou. Evan had asked him to make sure that Lou had something to eat. Evan was getting worried about how much Lou had been stressing. Internal Affairs had taken care of what had happened in the other station but were still hanging around at times. So Eddie had told him he would get the man some food and make sure he took a break.

“Hi, I’m looking for Detective Lou Ransone. Can you tell him, Eddie Diaz is here to speak with him. Not about a case,” he added before the officer he was talking to could think that.

“Alright,” he said, as he got up and asked someone to fetch Lou.

Eddie moved aside, and let someone else talk as he waited. It took a few minutes, but Lou walked over.

“Eddie, what are you doing here?” he asked as he frowned, a sudden worry going through him.

“Everything is fine,” he said before the man could worry anymore. He could see it on his face. “Evan asked me to come and make sure you had lunch. I was with my Abuela, and she made extras for me to take, so I brought some for you,” he told him, “here,” he said as he brought up a bag and handed it over.

“You got some more for yourself?” Lou asked.

“Yeah,” he said, bringing up another bag.

“Come and join me for lunch then, I could do with a break,” he sighed, grateful for the distraction.

Eddie followed him as he went towards his office. Lou opened the door and let him inside. “Thanks,” he said as he looked at the older and taller man.

“Welcome,” Lou nodded, “Didn’t think you would be stopping by.”

“Well, Evan asked me to, and I don’t mind. You’re a good guy, and well, we had a date last night, and I think he pulled a few moves that you taught him,” he grinned as they headed to a desk in the corner of the room that looked like it was used more for food and drinks than for work.

Lou sat down, opened the bag, and took out the Tupperware tub full of food, there was a second in there with rice inside as well. Opening the lids he sighed, “Damn, smells good,” he grinned.

“I know,” Eddie grinned, “My Abuela’s a great cook, she’s teaching me a couple of the family recipes. The empanadas are a family favorite,” he said as he pulled one out of his own tub and bit into it.

Lou nodded, “My dad loves to cook,” he said softly, taking his own bite and humming at the flavors that burst over his tongue, “This is so damn good.”

Eddie laughed, “Yeah, oh, and em. Did you teach Ev that stretch and arm around shoulders thing?”

Lou blushed, “Yeah, we went to the movies, and I thought I would… give him the full experience,” he grinned.

“Well, thank you, it’s fucking adorable on him,” he laughed lightly, “And that buttered popcorn thing, so good too.”

Lou laughed, shaking his head, “Yeah, I can’t watch a film without these days.”

“I can see why,” Eddie nodded, “but thank you. For showing him that, and being there for him. I never really saw him as someone I could date for a while. He was a kid when I first got to know him. Didn’t take long for me to see that while he was a kid, he was more mature than some of my bunkmates,” he snorted. “It wasn’t until Christopher was born that I started to wonder if I could see him as something more. Then he met you, and I thought I’d lost my chance. I’d be happy for him, and I was. You were great to him, treated him right, everything. I know he was upset when you both broke up. He was… hoping that maybe one day you would get a second chance.”

“But you saw your chance, waited a bit then asked,” Lou said, “And you’re right, I think in another couple of years, I may have tried again. It is, what it is,” he smiled, “I’m happy he is happy. That’s all I want for him.”

“I hope he is, with me. And I’m… kinda feel bad,” Eddie said, with a small laugh.

Lou laughed, “Don’t, I’m moving on,” he said softly, smiling at him, “Let’s enjoy lunch, and thanks, for bringing it.”

“Welcome,” Eddie nodded, smiling back as they talked about other things for a while as they ate, before Eddie had to leave.

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