Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't own standoff. If I did, Standoff would have definitely been renewed for another season.

Author's note:kind of an unusual fic but please give it a chance. I've got this story planned out in 3 chapters, hopefully you all like it. I love reviews and feedback is definitely welcome!

Just a glimpse

Matt slammed his front door shut and made his way to the fridge where he pulled out a beer, his third for the night, to reward himself for getting through the day. Working with Emily since their break up had been incredible difficult but being without her at home was even worse. Matt had been hanging out at Sloan's, avoiding the topic of Emily until Duff mentioned that he heard through Lia, that one of Emily's close friends set her up on a blind date that night with some guy named Pete. Her friend absolutely was insistent about getting her back into dating game. And Matt's heart broke into two when Duff shared the news; they had only broken up five days ago. So there Matt was, in the dark, sitting on his couch with his beer in hand, at 9 o'clock at night wondering whether he had the guts to tell Emily how he really feels.

Matt woke with his head pounding. He closed his eyes are rolled over, silently cursing the killer of a headache that made him feel completely ill. The funny thing was he never had a hangover like this from just a few beers.

"Good Morning" an overly chirpy voice greeted him causing him to flinch. Matt opened his eyes to find a blonde women lying next to him, who had obviously slept with last night.

"Uh, morning……um…er.. I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name" Matt said cautiously.

"Yeah, that happens a lot when you drink tequila like it's water. I'm Miranda."

"Hi, I'm Matt" he replied, followed a brief moment of awkward silence.

"So I'm gonna go. I'll leave my number incase you wanna do what we did again some time. Bye" Miranda said before she clumsily put her clothes on before leaving the room. Matt cursed to himself again and knew he would be throwing that number out.

After putting some clothes on, he wondered through out his house, some how things had changed. The picture he once had of him and Emily had been replaced with a picture of him and a few of the guys from HRT getting drunk off their faces. The phone began ringing and as soon as he answered he was greeted with the voice of Frank.

"Flannery" Matt answered gruffly.

"Good Morning sunshine" Frank greeted. "How's that lovely lady that you picked up last night."

"She left." He answered abruptly. "Frank how could you let me go home completely drunk with some strange woman especially when I messed things up with Emily so badly."

"Woah, it's been awhile since I've heard you slip out that name. Guess you had a bit too much to drink last night. You okay?"

"Fine. It's been six days since we broke up and I'm a mess that's all" Matt replied.

"You sure you're okay. What year is it?" Frank asked.

"2007"

"Matt, it's 2012. You and Emily broke up 5 years ago. She doesn't work at CNU anymore. She and Pete got married and she quit after the twins came along. Does that ring any bells?"
"Ah, yeah, of course" Matt said lying through his teeth.

"Good. Hopefully it's just the tequila in you that's still talking. Call me later to let me know you're okay. Alright?"

"Uh, yeah sure"

"Later Matt"

The combination of the news and his hang over was making his head spin. He needed to get away, to think things over. He grabbed his coat and walked out the door.

Some how he ended up at a park half and hour away from his house. It was Saturday morning and the park was already filled with people. Matt sat himself on a bench and began questioning whether he had gone nuts. Was this some sort of crazy dream or did he really get himself so drunk, he forgot the last five year. He realized that if it was the latter, he had wasted away the last five years of his life in what he assumed to be a series of one night stands. He turned and looked around that the people that were at the park, mainly families, a few couples and they were all happy people. This was something he had always wanted with Emily, but that was in the past too.

A child's balls rolled past him. Matt stopped the ball, picking it up and turned to look at the owner. A small toddler came running after the ball.

"scuse me, you have my ball" She stated.

"Yeah I do, here you go" Matt said bending down to her level.

"Natalie, what did I say about talking to strangers?" a familiar voice from behind asked. Matt turned his head and was greeted with the sight of Emily Lehman.

"Sorry, momma" Natalie replied softly. Matt still hadn't taken his eyes off Emily who was staring right back at him.

"Natalie, sweetie, why don't you go play with Daddy, Ryan and Rover. I'll be back in a few minutes, okay?" Emily said to her daughter. The little girl nodded, slowly toddling back to her father, twin brother and pet dog, while her mother watched. Matt made a mental note to stay away from Emily's family not only to avoid their dog but to also avoid meeting or re-meeting her husband.

"Hey Matt, sorry about that, Pete and I are trying to teach the twins about stranger danger"

"Oh, okay" Matt said quietly. He was staring at Emily's family, watching her two children and her husband play with their dog, where he was grateful to be at a distance. He felt a sad sinking feeling in his stomach and mentally kicked himself for being such an idiot five years ago.

"So how are things at CNU?" Emily asked curiously.

"Same old" He said praying his guess was correct. "How about you, what's life like for you now?"

"Completely different. I don't know if I ever told you this but it was hard at first when Pete asked me to give up negotiating but I guess it's worth it. It's great to spend time with the kids but it's stressful, not like negotiating stressful, but full time mommy stressful" She replied honestly.

"Yeah I can see that" he said still watching her family, in particular her son chasing their dog with a toy truck. "Do you miss negotiating?" he asked.

"Yeah I do but my family's my number one priority" Emily said before drifting into silence. She watched as Ryan smeared dirt all over Natalie while her husband was trying to keep hold of rover's leash and clean off the dirt off Natalie simultaneously. "I should get back, it was good seeing you Matt again"

"You too Em, Bye" Matt said sadly watching her walk away. He sat back down on the bench trying to absorb what had just happened. Emily was still as beautiful as ever on the inside and out, but she had changed so much. She seemed to be happy. He wanted to be the lucky one to marry her, to give her the life she has now, to put a smile on her face everyday, but it seems like he was too late.

Matt left soon after, walking back to his house and collapsing on the couch. "I am such an idiot' he muttered to himself wondering if he could ever fix it.