A/N: This is an attempt to incorporate "Amends" into my Madison verse. The first part is more of a prologue that adds "missing scenes" into the actual episode in order for the following chapter(s) to make sense and to connect it to my fic Pointing Home. Yes I have a tendency to over explain things. LOL. Please review.

Prologue

Madison rested her chin on Bobby's forearm as they sat at the kitchen table with puzzle pieces spread out in front of them. Alex sat across from them half reading a book and half watching them as they worked on opposite corners of the puzzle.

They were in Bobby's third week of leave, even though Alex had gone back that Monday mostly working on paperwork and helping out Logan and Barek where she could.

They had spent the first two weeks being normal; taking Madison to school, spending the days home alone together or out running errands, and having family dinners at night. There were a couple days when Bobby would go to Lewis' garage or Alex would go out with her sister and sister-in-laws, but otherwise it was just them. It was all oddly domestic and…normal.

One thing that still troubled them was Brady's ramblings in that yellow legal pad. Alex was bothered by the fact that Bobby was insistent on reading through it and he was bothered by not finding the answers he wanted.

Despite the worry gnawing at the back of her mind, she couldn't help but relax as she watched him and Madison across from her. He caught her watching them and smiled, which she easily returned.

She was about ready to get up to refill her glass of water, mostly as an excuse to wrap her arms around him in passing, when her cell phone began to ring.

"Eames," she answered and listened to the captain, her face growing serious and somber. "Of course, I'll meet you at the hospital."

She rose from the chair and looked over at Bobby's questioning gaze.

"What is it?"

"Uh…that was Ross…an officer has been hurt. He wants me to come in…"

Bobby nodded and rose from his chair.

"I-I'll go with you…"

"He's not expecting you…"

Bobby shrugged. "It's a cop…I'm going."

Alex looked over him wearily, but then nodded with thin pressed lips.

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Alex never expected to be sitting in Teresa Quinn's living room eleven years after they lost contact as her family members roamed the house morning the loss of Kevin Quinn. She fought not to squirm as Teresa brought up Alex's own loss and shrugged off her apology for not keeping in touch.

"Someone told me they thought you had gotten remarried…" Teresa said, twisting a Kleenex around her fingers.

Alex faintly smiled with tight lips and nodded. "For about four years."

"No one seemed to know for sure," Teresa said. "Is he a cop?"

Alex nodded and then reluctantly said, "He…uh…he's in your kitchen talking to Copa."

"Really?" Teresa asked with an expression Alex could only read as disappointment. "Sorry…I guess I have a hard time seeing you with any one but Joe."

Alex looked down at the floor, understanding better than anyone the leap from one to the other.

"Neither could I for a long time," Alex said and tried to give her a reassuring smile.

Teresa wiped her eyes and then said, "I guess this is where you tell me it'll get better…you just have to give it time…"

Alex shook her head. "I wanted to slug every person who told me that."

Teresa let out a weak snort and nodded.

"Do you have any kids?" Teresa asked.

"A girl…she just turned six last week."

"Six? I thought you'd been married four years?'

Alex sighed and gave a tight smile. "She wasn't exactly planned…but she's ours and I wouldn't change anything."

"Not anything?" Teresa asked with a hint of an accusation in her tone.

Alex held Teresa's dark eyes with a sober and remorseful gaze while her mind wandered to the life she planned as opposed to the one she got.

"Eames?"

She looked up and found her partner standing hesitantly in front of them, wringing his hands together.

"We…we need to get back," Bobby said.

Alex nodded and rose from the sofa.

"You'll be at the funeral?" Teresa asked as she stood up.

"Of course," Alex said.

Teresa nodded, thankfully and Alex returned the gesture before turning toward the door.

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They got home late that night and found Eleanor on the sofa with a sleeping Madison curled up in a ball with her head resting on Eleanor's thigh.

Bobby veered to the left toward the kitchen while Alex went to the right toward the living room.

Eleanor gave her a tired but amused smile.

"She wouldn't go to bed until you two got home," Eleanor said in her subtle southern draw. "Stubborn as a mule."

Alex smiled as Eleanor carefully lifted herself out of the seat.

"She comes by it naturally," Alex said. "Thanks for everything."

Eleanor patted Alex's shoulder and lightly shook her head.

"You make an old woman feel useful…keep me young…" Eleanor said.

Alex watched her head toward the door and saw Bobby stroll to let her out.

While Bobby and Eleanor said good night, Alex lifted Madison off of the sofa and carried her down to her room.

She tucked the covers around her daughter and then knelt beside the bed, tracing her fingers along the soft skin of the girl's cheek.

Before she was conceived, Alex had spent many nights thinking about and mourning the children she never thought she would have after Joe's murder. It was especially true when she was pregnant with her nephew and she never really thought she would end up pregnant again, let alone fall in love.

Alex felt Bobby kneel down beside her and then his hand on her back.

"You-you okay?" he whispered.

She nodded a little too vigorously and said, "Yeah…this case just…it brings back a lot of memories."

Bobby hesitantly nodded and began to draw circles on her back, while she continued to watch Madison's sleeping face.

"Any you want to talk about?" he asked.

Alex shrugged. "It's nothing you don't already know."

"I can listen again…or at least pretend to," he tried to teased.

She softly chuckled and without thinking leaned into him, but when she connected to him she felt her muscles tense with guilt for a crime she wasn't even sure if she was culpable for: betrayal.

"Are you upset with me?" Bobby's voice broke through her thoughts, sensing her hesitation just like she knew he would.

"What? No…"

"Everyone else is be…because of the line-up…it's okay—"

Alex shook her head and sat up.

"You were doing your job…"

"Then what's bothering you?" he asked, softly.

She sighed. "I don't know how to explain…like I said…there's just a lot of things that I haven't thought about in a really long time."

"I…I might be able to help…"

She shook her head. "You know all those times you've had to sort out things by yourself first?"

He nodded with a soft sigh and then said, "It's one of those times, huh?"

"Yeah."

Bobby kissed her forehead and bit back all the questions and insecurities that still rumbled through him when it came to Joe.

"Okay," he said.

"Thank you," Alex said and then brushed her lips against his.

He rose, pulling her up with him and wrapped his arms around her. She let him hold her, resting her head on his chest and understood he needed the reassurance. His warmth and musky scent slightly relaxed her and she realized how exhausted she really felt.

"I'm going to bed," she said and pulled away from him.

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The picture from the St. Patrick's Day parade still burned in Alex's mind as she hugged Teresa.

She had forgotten how good she and Joe looked together; how perfectly she fit against him or how effortlessly he could make her laugh.

Teresa pulled away and Alex saw her expression darken.

"Is it true your partner let that bastard go?"

Alex sighed, shifting on the balls of her feet, and glanced at the floor.

"Teresa, I know how hard this is, but—"

"Do you? Do you even remember?"

"What Copa said…it wasn't adding up—"

"What, because your partner says so? The chief told me about him…his reputation…" Teresa said, keeping her voice low. "…nearly risked losing his badge mouthing off at the commissioner after his daughter was murdered…and you're telling me to trust his judgment just because you're sleeping with him."

"I'm…" she sighed to stop the trembling in her voice. "We will find who did this."

Teresa shook with anger and grief. She stormed off and ran into Copa along the way, who tightly hugged her as she cried. Alex caught him looking at her with cold eyes and a clenched jaw.

She met his eyes, biting back the urge to call him out in front of Teresa and his own wife, and thought at least I wasn't off getting a blow job while my partner was being murdered.

Alex let out a shaky breath as she turned away and quietly made her way out onto the front stoop.

She saw Bobby leaning against the SUV as he watched Teresa's oldest son. Her first instinct was to walk up to him and bury her face in his chest while he stroked her hair or back, but she knew it wasn't the place. She headed toward him and settled for brushing her finger tips along his palm as she passed him the keys.