Hi folks! Hope everyone is well. I have a new one-shot here for you and it's a result of a request from my dear meggie who is an avid FM friendship fan (although, who isn't?) we were talking (as we always do) one day/night about 9x04 - the unspoken episode and we were talking about... well, you'll see. But this one-shot is based around that episode. Look Meggie, I'm finally posting it. How proud are you?!

p.s. she just got me a tumblr. laurzz6 - you should all come and help me figure it out because god knows i have no clue.

Now, before we go into this, I do need to use my A/N for something a little random. Sometimes as an author it's difficult to reply to reviews when they are left with no pen-name to reply to, so I'd just like to take a moment to address a recent review, be my guest to skip along to the story now.

Dear Pam,

Thank you for your comment in regards to my story, Wedding Bells. Unfortunately as you didn't sign in to review, I'm afraid I couldn't reply personally. I did want to just reply though so I hope it's okay if I reply here instead. In terms of the story, surprisingly enough it was rated as an M rated fic; as I don't write violent fanfics, it's likely to be that of an adult nature. Therefore before you clicked on, there would have been the indication that it contained 'nonsensical porn'. Also, the fact that it is a fanfic means that sometimes it's okay for the characters to be 'out of character' in their actions because as I just mentioned - it's a fanfic. it's a fan, writing some fiction therefore they can do whatever I like. I wanted to write something different for a change and that just happened to be the end result. I'm sorry if you were offended by the car issue you mentioned in anyway but it was simply written for a bit of fun. I shall take on your feedback for future reference and I appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts. I hope this story is more to your liking and you feel it is more sensible and realistic.

Kind regards,

Laura.

Sorrow weighs my shoulders down and trouble haunts my mind, but I know the present will not last and tomorrow will be kinder.

- Tomorrow Will Be Kinder, The Secret Sisters

"So what are you guys going to do?"

"I don't know," Lindsay said, securing the phone between her ear and shoulder so that she could continue with the dishes in the sink. "Probably just go to the playground or something."

"Are you guys going to be okay?"

"Danny," Lindsay sighed. "I'm fine. Will you stop worrying about me?"

"You didn't see your x-ray, Linds." He sighed dejectedly.

"Stop!" she growled down the phone. "Ok, they wouldn't have let me come home if I wasn't perfectly fine, Danny. It was a hairline fracture. No big deal."

"Have you heard yourself, Linds? No big deal? You were unconscious for twelve hours!"

"Because they kept me sedated!" She implored.

"The fact that you think this is perfectly acceptable is beyond me, Lindsay." He roared in frustration. "You know, at least I give a damn about you, Linds. Be glad about that. I could be a jerk and not care."

"You're being ridiculous. I'm hanging up. Call me back when you can have a grown up conversation." And with that she disconnected the call and dropped the landline down to the counter with a clatter. As much as she loved her husband, sometimes he was the bane of her existence.

She dropped a handful of cutlery into the drainer with a muttered curse word under her breath.

"Mommy," Lucy yawned from behind her. Lindsay turned and smiled at the sight of her just woken daughter. Her long brown hair was matted to her head from sleep, her eyes were barely open and her thumb was in her mouth.

"Get that outta there," Lindsay smiled at her daughter as she reached towards her with soapy hands and pulled her daughter's thumb from her mouth. "You're nearly six now. You can't be sucking your thumb. Big girls don't suck their thumbs, Lucy."

"They do when they're sleepy like me."

"Why are you so sleepy?" Lindsay furrowed her brow, glancing at the clock on the stove, which read nine am. "It's not early."

Lucy shrugged as she yawned. "Did I hear you say to Daddy we were goin' to the playground?"

"You heard that?"

Lucy nodded as she rubbed her eyes.

"Well I was thinking about it. You want to?"

Lucy nodded enthusiastically, suddenly not looking so tired. "I love playgrounds!"

"You don't say," Lindsay smirked as the landline started ringing. "This is Daddy, tell you what… you go get dressed and when I get off the phone with him, we'll go, okay? We might even get breakfast on the way, how does that sound?"

"Okay!" Lucy giggled as she skipped out of the kitchen.

Lindsay watched her go before picking up the phone. "Hello?"

"That took you a while; I thought you weren't goin' to answer."

"I was talking to Lucy." Lindsay said by way of explanation. "Have you decided to act like a grown up now?"

Lindsay could hear him take a deep breath down the phone as he resisted a smart reply.

"Yes." He finally sighed. "I'm sorry Linds. I just worry about you. Especially with what we know now about him in your hospital room… look, I don't wanna talk about it, ok? Just make sure you take some painkillers and your cell phone, okay?"

"I will." Lindsay rolled her eyes as she fought the urge to call him stupid for telling her to do things he knew she already would do. "I was actually thinking of calling Flack to see if he wanted to bring Grace. Lu has been driving me crazy ever since he got that dog."

"Call him," He said; the relief already evident in his voice. "I'll feel better with him there to look after you, Linds."

Lindsay opened her mouth before closing it again. Even though he was driving her crazy, she knew he was doing out of love and care for her and she couldn't fault him for that.

"Danny," she said, a smile now tugging at her lips as Lucy appeared in the doorway, dressed in her favourite t-shirt and shorts. "I love you."

"I love you too, baby. Say hi to Lucy for me."

"She's here now if you wanna say it yourself?"

"Sure, pass the phone to her."

"It's Daddy." Lindsay smiled as she handed the phone to her daughter.

She watched Lucy's animated face giggle and squeal with whatever it was that Danny was telling her down the line. She made a mental note of coercing Lucy into a different outfit, more suited to the early Spring time weather that March brought. It wasn't quite shorts weather yet, but she couldn't fault her daughter for trying… much like she couldn't fault her husband for caring.

Don Flack couldn't get the image out of his head and in short, it was driving him crazy. When he sat awake in bed all night, he thought about it. When he sat watching TV, he saw it in the form of actors in crime dramas, acting out his nightmare on screen. When he was doing paperwork, he relived it. When he closed his eyes for five minutes, he dreamt about it. It was killing him slowly as he constantly had to re-watch such an innocent little boy shoot an equally innocent little girl with the gun. He'd classed him as innocent, but he'd known to remove the clip; just forgetting about the loaded bullet within the barrel of the gun. The thought of that had made him sick to his stomach ever since. There was such a level of regret coursing through him that it kept him up at night, and for all night. He couldn't even look at a child without tears building.

It was in times like this that he understood the insistence the captain had on mandatory therapy and a psych evaluation to match. Granted, he was blessed with a usually strong stomach and a stable psyche. He transformed from Don to Flack when out in the field. Flack was someone who did a damn good job. It was almost like he had an alter-ego. Don however was a brother. Don was a best friend. Don was an 'uncle' Don. And it had been Don that had watched that little girl get shot that day and clearly Flack had taken an extended vacation.

Even a good run around central park earlier with Grace hadn't cleared his head. He wasn't sure what would help him deal with what he'd seen, but he hoped it damn well materialised soon because one thing he did know was that he couldn't take much more of this.

"Grace!" Lucy bellowed, crossing the grassy area as fast as her little legs with carry her. Grace barked eagerly in response to her playmate for the afternoon. "Grace, wait for meee!"

"Lucy! Wait for Mommy!"

"I got her!" Flack called out to Lindsay as he jogged after the five year old before scooping her up into the air as Grace stood on her hind legs, scratching at his jeans, desperate to love all over Lucy.

"What's your Daddy said to you?" Flack began as he settled her on his hip. "When it's you and Mommy out together, you stay with Mommy. That goes for anyone you're out with, actually."

Lucy scrunched her nose up. "You sound just like Daddy."

"Because I'm right, like he is; you can't take off like that." He said as Lindsay approached then. "What do you need to say to your Mom?"

"Sorry," Lucy frowned. "Flack thinks I'm a bad girl now, Mommy."

"Hey, whoa!" Flack implored. "I didn't say that. I love you kiddo, you're my best girl and all I want is for you to keep yourself safe, that's all. Nobody's bad here. Now, can I trust you with Grace? It's a big grown up job so you need be up for the challenge."

"I'm up for the challenge!" Lucy giggled as Flack set her down on the grass.

"Okay then," Flack smirked, handing Lucy the leash and some treats. "Go ahead, but make sure you remember what we said."

"I'll stay near you and Mommy. I promise."

"Atta girl!" Flack smiled at her before turning to Lindsay. "You don't mind me disciplining your kid, right?… sorry Linds, I just-"

"Don't even worry about it, Flack." Lindsay smiled, "You did a perfect job. Not to mention she might actually listen to you. I think she thinks Danny and I are mean for the fun of it sometimes."

"Don't all five year olds?" Flack shrugged with a smirk as he and Lindsay began walking in sync. "How's the head?"

"Sore." She frowned, pressing a hand to her forehead which was now bandage free. "I'm letting it breathe, it's a –"

"-Montana thing." Flack finished. Lindsay furrowed her brow at how Flack had known, and without her needing to say a word. Upon her obvious confusion, he smiled. "Danny told me."

"He did?"

Flack nodded. "Clumsy, aren't you?"

"What the hell are you talking about, Flack?" She implored. "The metal ice cream cart ramming into my head while I was laid on the floor protecting Lucy isn't exactly a-"

"I meant when you bumped into Danny. You knew he was right behind you."

Lindsay stopped still, to which Flack stopped as well just a few steps ahead of her. "Wait, he told you about that? About when we kissed? When did he tell you that?"

"As soon as I woke up from the coma." Flack grinned. "He couldn't keep secrets for shit back then. It's like getting information from a stone cemented into a brick wall with him now though."

"For you maybe," Lindsay said softly. "Listen, he told me about you know, the little girl… I hope you're doing okay Don."

"I'm fine," Flack nodded, with the tone of his voice and the nod of conviction, he almost convinced himself – not Lindsay though. "And her name was Amy."

"Listen, I know what it's like to see a trigger being pulled and not being able to do a damn thing to stop it. It can't be easy what you saw. If you need to talk about what happened with Amy then-"

"I'm good," Flack cut in and stopped Lindsay short of finishing her sentence. "But thanks Linds."

"Alright," she shrugged, placing her hands into the pockets of her jacket as she watched Lucy give Grace another treat.

He watched as she walked quietly next to him and he sighed heavily. "They weren't doing anything wrong." Flack began. "Just explorin', bein' kids. He didn't know… The look on her face, Linds. I mean… I can't get it out of my head; she wasn't much older than Lucy." Flack said solemnly. "She's someone's Lucy. Someone loves her as much as we all love Lucy. And now their version of Lucy is gone. Just like that. I don't know how to deal with it Linds. Nothing has ever hit this close to home before."

Lindsay sighed heavily and linked her arm through Flack's as Lucy chucked a treat for Grace in the air, giggling as Grace caught it in her mouth. "That part of what we do is always, always the worst part."

"Amy held my hand, Linds." Flack said quietly. "She knew what was happening. Nine years old and she knew she was dying. It makes me sick. Her best friend shot her and it was a complete accident. Some sick fuck put these two kids in that situation. She died in an alley with some random police officer holding her hand. Not her Mom and Dad, but some random person she didn't even know the name of. I didn't even get to say a word to her. I couldn't. It was just all over so quickly. She didn't deserve that and I can't deal with it Linds."

Lindsay placed her hand on Flack's and squeezed it before calling out to Lucy who was about five paces ahead. "Okay, stay there Lucy. No further."

Lucy turned to acknowledge her mother and nodded, sitting down on the grass as she did so.

"I honestly don't know what I can say to make it better. I wish I knew exactly what to say to make it not hurt quite so much." Lindsay said as she sat them down on a bench nearby where Lucy was rolling around on the floor with Grace. "But I don't think you can ever say the right thing to make it stop hurting. It's always gonna hurt and haunt you on those tough nights... But you might not believe me but it eventually clicks. You eventually get closure and it's easier. It gets better. It might still hurt, but it doesn't hurt quite so much. I promise Don."

"I know it does, Linds. I've seen it with you. I've seen it with Danny. I mean, that whole thing with Ruben Sandoval, we both saw how that affected him. Neither of us knew who he was back then. I just… I held a little girl's hand as she died."

"I know." Lindsay said softly as she wrapped her arm around him and squeezed his shoulder tightly. "But you were there. You were everything she needed you to be Flack. You made her feel safe in the scariest moment of her short life."

"Why doesn't it feel like enough then?"

"Because it will never feel like enough, it was something that was taken out of your hands."

"It should have been different. I should have said something sooner. I should have told him not to do it." Flack wrung his hands on his lap.

"He didn't know though," Lindsay said softly. "You weren't to know there was a bullet in the gun. You didn't know he'd accidentally pull the trigger."

"I wish it would have been different Linds. I'd do anything to go back and stop it from happening."

"I know you would." Lindsay nodded, watching Flack's inner frustration. She licked her lips before clearing her throat. "Lucy!" She called out to her little girl.

"Yeah?!" Lucy called in return, looking away from where she'd been petting Grace.

"Come over here for a minute. Bring Grace."

Lucy stood and skipped towards the bench where Lindsay and Flack were seated. "Yeah?"

"Listen baby, Uncle Don is feeling upset. He had a sad day at work a few days ago."

Lucy nodded as she tugged on Grace's leash so that Grace sat next to her.

"Do you think you could maybe give him some hugs and kisses?"

Lucy nodded as she silently handed Lindsay Grace's leash. Lucy then clambered onto Flack's lap and cupped his face with her hands. "Don't be sad, Uncle Don."

"I wish it was that easy, honey." Flack frowned as he felt Lucy's cold hands on the side of his face.

Lucy frowned as she looked at her mother. Lindsay smiled at her reassuringly, and Lucy turned back to face Flack. "When I get sad I just think of Minions from Despicable me and then I get happy again. They're funny."

Flack smiled at Lucy's pure innocence. "They are pretty funny."

"You should think of something that makes you happy Uncle Don. It will stop you from bein' sad and you'll start bein' happy."

"Kid's got some logic," Flack shot towards Lindsay with a smirk.

Before Lindsay could reply however, Lucy had turned Flack's head back so that his eyes were on her's. She smiled her toothy smile at him before pressing a kiss to his forehead.

"Daddy does that to me and Mommy when we're sad." She explained. She then settled on his lap and let go of his face with her two hands and instead, she took one hand and squeezed it tightly – much like Amy had. He glanced down to their intertwined hands and he felt Lucy's little index finger hook itself underneath his chin so that he was looking at her. "Why are you so sad, Uncle Don?"

Flack looked towards Lindsay for help. Lindsay however had conveniently averted her eyes right at the last second so when he turned back to Lucy, he was met with her big, brown, eager to help eyes.

"A bad man had left a gun lying around and it was used by the wrong people and someone got hurt. I'm pretty sad that this person got hurt."

Lucy frowned. "Did the bad man say sorry?"

Flack sighed. "He did, but sorry sometimes isn't enough to make people feel better."

Lucy nodded. "I know. When Mason, a boy in my class, bit me on the arm last week even when he said sorry I was still upset. And cross. But I don't like Mason. He's mean and makes bad choices."

"No wonder if he bites you." Flack frowned. "I hope you bit him back."

"Uncle Don!" Lucy scoffed. "If I bit him back then I'd be bad too. I'm not bad, I'm good."

Flack nodded and fought the smirk on his face. "Oh yeah, that's right. I'm sorry."

"So," Lucy sighed as she shifted on Flack's lap, still holding his hand tightly. "Did the person look sorry? Because my teacher told me that if the person looks sorry then sometimes you have to listen to their sorry even if you don't really want to, because that's what the right thing to do is. Even though I didn't wanna listen, Mason looked sorry, so I thought it was good to let him be my friend again... so did he look sorry?"

Flack thought about it and nodded for a minute. "Yeah, I guess he did look sorry."

"So you were the big boy." Lucy smiled at Flack as she squeezed his hand. "Just like I was the big girl with Mason."

"Right," Flack smiled as Grace settled her head onto Flack's knee so that Lucy could pet her with her spare hand.

"You know Uncle Don, I like Grace. I think if you get bored of Grace, you should give her to me."

"Uh, does Mommy get a say in this?" Lindsay piped up from where she'd sat silently, watching Lucy work her innocent magic on Flack.

"But Mommy, Gracey loves me so much, and I love her more!" Lucy blinked her long eyelashes in Lindsay's direction. "Daddy would say yes."

"Daddy would not say yes!" Lindsay implored. "Because it would be Daddy taking Grace for walks when it's raining or when you're sleepy."

"But-"

"Hey, Grace is stayin' with me for a good long time, missy." Flack smirked as he prodded Lucy's little nose. "Get your mitts off her, okay? I think we'll settle for visits before you whisk her off."

"Okay." She frowned. "But remember, if you get bored of her, I have her!"

"Okay, well I think that's really up to Mommy and Daddy, kiddo." Flack winked at her.

Lucy sighed as she shuffled on Flack's lap before sliding back down to the ground. "I go play now."

"Alright," Lindsay smiled. "Remember, don't go too far, okay?"

"Okay Mommy. I love you."

Lindsay smiled as she reached for Lucy's hand and pulled her close. She dropped a kiss to Lucy's forehead and smiled as she cupped her daughter's face. "I love you too, honey."

"I love you too, Uncle Don."

Holding a hand to his chest, Flack sighed heavily. "I love you too Lucy."

And with that, Lucy was off, frolicking in the park with Grace, making sure she cast an eye towards her Mommy and Uncle Don every now and then. The twosome spent a moment watching the five year old before turning to face one another.

Flack licked his lips and softly shook his head before wrapping his arm around Lindsay. "I'll tell you Linds, you and Danny make dangerous children. She's gonna be a friggin' peace maker when she's older."

"What makes you say that?"

"She's five!" Flack implored. "And I don't know whether I dare say it, but I actually feel a little better. I mean, when she took my hand and squeezed it… everything didn't seem so painful. I thought it was gonna be like a dagger twisting in my chest when she held it, but it wasn't anythin' like it. She made it seem easier."

"Because to her, it is; she's five and everything in the world can be fixed by Mommy and Daddy… and the Despicable Me minions."

"To be five again." Flack sighed. "So, speaking of Messer kids, when are you and Danny plannin' on givin' me another adoptive niece or nephew 'cause I kind of like them… surprisingly."

"Ha-ha, very funny Flack." Lindsay rolled her eyes. "And if you must know, we've been talking about it." She said quietly.

"What?" Flack blinked. "Seriously? Linds, that's awesome!"

"Only talking about it Flack, don't get excited." She laughed. "Yeah, I mean we want to… you know, have another baby but we just don't have the space in our apartment."

"So move." Flack reasoned.

"It's not that easy."

"Isn't it?" Flack countered. "It's only difficult if you make it difficult."

"It's difficult Flack, trust me. I mean first of all, the place we are in now is rent controlled; anywhere more expensive and we wouldn't be able to afford, but it's going to have to be more expensive because we'll need more space, therefore it'll have to be bigger, and then we're talking ridiculous prices."

"So buy somewhere Linds." Flack implored. "Between you and Danny you could get a decent mortgage. Then New York is your oyster. It doesn't matter where you go then. You're not confined to any particular borough; there's townhouses everywhere going for cheap enough."

Lindsay nodded contemplatively.

"I get the feeling you've already thought about this though."

"We have." Lindsay said quietly. "And we came to a conclusion neither of us liked."

"Moving out of the city?"

"Moving out of the city." Lindsay confirmed.

"Well, you know Linds," Flack said, taking one of her hands in his, "That's okay too."

"I just don't know, Don." She said sadly. "I mean, I look at Lucy and she's happy… I just, I know she could be so much happier. I would love to give her a dog. Danny might not be so hot on the idea, but when he sees her with her very own dog, he'd love it too. And I hate that she has to be confined to a two bed apartment on a busy street in the middle of Brooklyn. She's always so active and she's desperate for a swing set. She calls it her very own park… My Dad has a swing set and slide and stuff on the ranch back in Montana."

Flack smiled, to which Lindsay caught sight of and furrowed her brow. "I'm glad my troubles amuse you."

"No, it's not that." He said, sitting back on the bench. "You said back in Montana." He pointed out.

"Well done, you were listening. What about it?"

"You didn't say back home."

"Well, Montana is where I grew up, wherever Danny and Lucy are is where my home is."

"You've just answered all of your problems in one sentence, there Linds. It doesn't matter whether all three of you are squashed into a one bedroom bedsit or whether you're in a six bedroomed mansion. Wherever Danny and Lucy are is where you're supposed to be. Whether it's in Queens, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Staten Island…Montana. It doesn't matter where it is. What matters is, is that you're all there together. Lucy's nearly six, Linds. She's not gonna be young forever; and look at her – she'd make the most perfect sister."

"I know." Lindsay smiled, watching her little girl. "I just… it's scary, you know? It's a big deal, moving when you have a family. When it was just me and Danny I didn't give a hoot. We moved all the time when our leases were up and it didn't really make a difference. But with Lucy? She needs stability, which is really hard to give her in our job, you know?"

"I know." Flack nodded. "But a house, Linds? A house would give her every ounce of stability that your current apartment gives her. So long as you guys are there and you love her as much as you both do, it doesn't matter where you live. What you need to do is start thinkin' about what's right for you guys, and not what you'll be leaving behind. The lab is always going to be there, no matter where you both live. Mac's flexible; you know that. Just… think about it. I'd love to have a nephew to teach ice hockey to."

"You can forget about that Don Flack!" Lindsay implored. "After watching you morons on the ice in the last NYPD-FDNY game I've had my fill of ice hockey for the rest of my life. Brawling on the damn ice – you must think I'm crazy letting my future son anywhere near an ice rink with you or Danny."

"Future son, huh?" Flack smirked. "You know, Linds, I always pegged you for wanting a son."

"I grew up with boys." Lindsay winked at him. "Lucy's been a huge, wonderful, amazing learning curve for me. Braids, princesses and ponies were something I knew about but wasn't ever too involved in."

"I don't believe that for one second; tell me you didn't love princesses and ponies." Flack teased.

Lindsay smirked. "I had a quiet affinity for them, sure. But I spent most of my time shooting pebbles at squirrels from a makeshift slingshot while sat in trees. Ask Danny about that."

"All sounds very Hunger Games to me."

Lindsay snorted. "The fact that you can reference the Hunger Games gives me great joy, Flack. Who knew you were a closet dork. You read Twilight too?"

"Sparkly vampires aren't my thing." Flack snorted. "And actually if you must know, one of the guy's at the precinct has a daughter who has quite the crush on the main character, Peeta. She takes great joy in fillin' me in on the latest antics when he brings her down to scare her back into line. She's a pretty good kid."

"And I'm sure you listen with all your heart." Lindsay smirked.

"Hey, Katniss and Peeta have a beautiful relationship."

Lindsay shook her head and shoved Flack teasingly away from her. "You're such a girl, Don Flack."

Flack laughed as he sat back on the bench and let out an extended sigh. "You know, I'm glad you called me today, Linds. I was feeling pretty shitty this mornin' if I'm completely honest, but between you and Lucy… I feel a hundred times better. Thanks."

"Hey, what are friends for?" Lindsay nudged him playfully.

"I got one more thing though… Do you think he was sorry?"

"Who, the school teacher?"

"Yeah." Flack nodded.

Lindsay thought about it for a moment before nodding. "I don't think he ever meant to hurt anyone other than the person he set out to hurt. I think he was hurting himself and was blinded by that pain. I mean, I can't imagine what that would feel like. To be a teacher and form a bond with a class of students over the school year, watch them grow and then to be told that you're inappropriate, even though you're just a genuine, caring teacher… it must be soul destroying. Lucy loves her teacher and I'm sure he had children saying the same thing about him... people just don't trust other people anymore. I'm sure he meant nothing by it but..."

"Doesn't make it any better. Doesn't bring her back, does it?"

"It doesn't." Lindsay shook her head. "But maybe heaven needed a new angel?"

Flack exhaled softly as he watched Grace playfully lick Lucy's cheek. Lucy burst out into giggles as she cuddled Grace tightly. As he watched his beautiful, intelligent and thoughtful adoptive niece, Flack realised that even though this ordeal would leave a scar for many years, he couldn't dwell upon it. Sometimes bad things happened to good, innocent people, like Amy. He didn't know why things like that happened; but they did. And he could either let it break him or strengthen him.

And with the help of one of his best friends and her five year old daughter, he'd decided that he was going to let it strengthen him.

I've gotta say, I'm sorry about the katniss and peeta mention. I've recently fallen in love with them (and the hunger games) and couldn't help myself.

I hope you guys liked this one. I must say, I'm pretty proud of how it turned out. I always love Flack and Lindsay's friendship and would have killed to see this play out on screen. And I mean with that adorable button Lucy in tow, who wouldn't? haha.

Thanks for reading guys! I would love to hear what you have to say about it if you have a spare minute. Until next time! :)