disclaimer: don't own anything, except the characters I created

Everything Changes

Don Flack Jr. had what he thought was an amazing life a girlfriend of three years, fifteen month old twins and a job he couldn't be happier with. The ever beautiful girlfriend Lindsay Monroe, the mother of his beautiful twins Emily Elizabeth Flack and Robert Donald Flack, nothing could be further from the truth. Don and Lindsay had worked out a great daycare system, from Monday to Wednesday he would take the twins with him and drop them off at his parent's house out in Yonkers and from Thursday to Saturday Lindsay would drop them off at a daycare near the lab that was only open from Thursday to Saturday, making Sunday a rotational day-off for each of them. Then when they have a day-off the twins would stay at home with them, Don always enjoyed spending time with his kids and his girlfriend.

The day that he never expected to come came, he got off work early and decided to surprise Lindsay and the kids by picking up some Chinese food on his way home for dinner. Arriving home he didn't notice the motorcycle parked in the guest spot in the buildings parking lot. He didn't realize anything was wrong or even out of the ordinary until he came through his front door noticing a change in the atmosphere of the apartment. He figured Lindsay was probably taking a nap since the twins themselves should still be napping right now. After stopping in the twins room to check to make sure they were still asleep and would be for a while longer so that he and their mother could have some alone time before dinner. But as he was approaching there bedroom he heard noises that he knew in the back of his mind that he shouldn't hear coming from the room. So as he went to open the door he stopped dead in his tracks when he heard the words that would change his life forever, 'Danny, we have to stop. Don will be home in a couple hours and the twins will be waking up soon' 'come on Montana, when I left Flack was just called out to a double murder. So he won't be home anytime soon, don't worry plus we'll be done way before the kids wake up' 'Okay, just remember you have to be gone before they wake up' 'aren't I always?' 'Danny…' She didn't get to finish her sentence because the next thing she heard was the door slamming shut, having no idea where it came from she got up and dressed quickly and went and checked to make sure the twins were still sleep before going any further.

By the time she reached the living room Danny was already out there and staring at the bags of Chinese food sitting on the dinning room table.

"I guess the cats out of the bag" (Danny)

"What do you…crap, that's who slammed the door. He must have heard us in the bedroom" (Lindsay)

"You think" (Danny)

"You have to go Danny I have to find Don and explain" (Lindsay)

"Explain what? That you're sorry for screwing his best friend for the past month?" (Danny)

"Danny, this wasn't supposed to happen. I love Don; we have a life together a family" (Lindsay)

"Yeah but you've told me a thousand times that you aren't in love with him" (Danny)

"That's a lie Danny I love Don more than anything in this world and he's the father of my children" (Lindsay)

"And I'm just 'Uncle' Danny you know that I've done more for you in the past month then Don ever has, you told me that yourself" (Danny)

"When I said that I was depressed I hadn't been physically touched by my boyfriend since the twins were a year and you offered me that contact that Don hadn't given me in so long. And just for you to know I never said that I'm not in love with Don because I'm crazy about him he means everything to me he's my everything" (Lindsay)

"Whatever I'm down with this. Call me when you come to your senses you'll know where to find me" (Danny), and with that he was gone.

It was in that moment after Danny walked out the door, that she knew her life as she knew it was never going to be the same again. If Don didn't come back home that night she didn't know how she'd tell the children that there daddy wasn't coming home anytime soon, she just hoped it never came down to that. Luckily for her two hours later after she had feed the kids, given them baths and set them in front of the television watching their favourite movie of the moment '101 Dalmatians', Don walked in. He walked in as if nothing had happened he avoided Lindsay and went over to see his pride and joy's his children.

"How's my favorite girl and boy doing today?" (Don)

"Fine daddy, I scraped my elbow" (Emily)

"You did, I bet you didn't cry one bit did you Emi" (Don)

"Nah, not one bit" (Emily)

"Good and what about you Bobby?" (Don)

"Daddy, I played on the swings at the park" (Robert)

"That's great; you two stay out here and watch your movie I'm just going to go talk to mommy in private, okay?" (Don)

"O-Kay" (Emily and Robert), was the reply he received from both his kids. Lindsay knew that the conversation coming was the one she had been waiting for since she realized he had found out about her little secret.

"How could you Linds, in our house, our bed with our kids in the room over?" (Don)

"It was never planned Don it just happened and kind of kept happening?" (Lindsay)

"What…how long has this been going on for?" (Don)

"Just a month, but we never planned for this to happen at least I never planned for this to happen, it just did" (Lindsay)

"You make it sound like you kept forgetting to do something. You slept with my best friend Linds. The one man I thought I could trust my life with and the life of my children. And you go and do this" (Don)

"Well it wouldn't have happened if you'd just given me what I wanted" (Lindsay)

"I wouldn't know what you want you never talk to me anymore Lindsay. I try so damn hard to get you to open up and you keep shutting me down" (Don)

"It's not rocket science Don a bit of romantic contact from you would be great" (Lindsay)

"I've been trying but every time I try you shut me down" (Don), before they could say anything else they heard something crash to the ground and ran straight out there to see what it was.

Standing one just inside the kitchen and one just outside of it were the twins with broken glass everywhere. Don instinctively went straight for Bobby who was standing in his pajamas in the middle of all the glass pieces.

"Are you okay buddy?" (Don)

"Yes" (Robert)

"What were you thinking?" (Don)

"Emi and I wanted some juice so I tried to get us some" (Robert)

"Baby boy, daddy and I have told you a dozen times ask us when you want something" (Lindsay)

"Mommy, daddy told us to stay put" (Robert)

"So we we're going to be big kids and get juice our self" (Emily)

"Sweetie, its okay don't cry" (Lindsay)

"Just remember next time come get us no matter what" (Don)

"Okay" (Robert and Emily)

"Now how about we go back into the living room and finish watching the movie?" (Don)

"What about the glass?" (Emily)

"We'll clean it up after you two are in bed, okay?" (Lindsay)

"Okay" (Robert)

"Movie" (Emily)

"Yeah let's go watch the movie baby" (Don). Don and Lindsay had to wait to finish there conversation because as of right now there kids needed their attention more than any stupid conversation did. After putting the two to bed after the movie twice and cleaning up the broken glass, they decided to turn in themselves but as they went into their bedroom Flack went over and grabbed himself a wife beater and a pair of boxers and changed into them. Then he went to grab his pillow and a spare blanket out of the closet and went out to the living room to sleep on the couch, he couldn't deal with sleeping in the same bed as Lindsay right now.

Luckily for Flack he was called out during the middle of the night, so he didn't have to deal with talking to Lindsay he just hated the fact he wasn't gong to be able to see his kids awake before leaving for work. As for Lindsay she hoped that sleeping in separate areas would make the conversation a little easier, yet watching him move around the room a little after six in the morning trying not to wake her up because he had a call-out made her feel like they stood a chance at fixing this mistake. Around seven she heard the familiar sounds of little feet on the hardwood floor heading for her bedroom. Sure enough a few minutes later she heard the knock from her babies, and before she could respond the two of them had already pushed the door the rest of the way open and came in.

"Momma" (Emily)

"Mommy, morning" (Robert)

"Morning babies, you two sleep alright?" (Lindsay)

"Yea" (Emily)

"Yep, where's dada? (Robert)"

"He had to go into work early, sweetheart. But don't worry you'll see him tonight, when he picks you up from daycare" (Lindsay)

"Fine" (Robert)

"No, me want dada" (Emily)

"Baby, daddy's at work" (Lindsay)

"I want dada" (Emily)

"Emi, no. dada at work, we see later" (Robert)

"No dada, now" (Emily)

"How about I call daddy, so you can say good morning to him, how about that?" (Lindsay)

"Okay" (Emily). Those little ones were so much like there daddy that Lindsay couldn't help but love them that much more.

Lindsay decided that calling Don after getting the kids dressed for the day would be her best course of action. That way they can leave after they got to talk to him and he gets to talk to them. So as she was finding his number on speed dial both Robert and Emily were patiently waiting at their mommy's feet, for him to pick up, and when he did the two were very happy.

'Flack' 'hey it's me' 'oh hi, what do you want?' 'Your kids want to say something to you if that's alright with you?' 'Yeah put them on'

"Okay, kid's daddy's really busy so say 'hi' quickly, you got it?" (Lindsay)

"Got it" (Robert)

"Yep" (Emily)

'Morning dada' 'Morning baby girl' 'Morning daddy' 'Morning Bobby' 'Thank you Don, you made those two very happy' 'I know let me talk to them both one last time before I have to get back to work' 'alright' 'hey Emi, Bobby. You two take care of each other and behave yourselves today for daddy, okay?' 'Okay' 'fine' 'love you dada' 'love you too babies. Linds, see you later' 'sure thing' then the line went dead. There was no 'love you Linds' given to her just 'see you later', that was hard for her, but she couldn't deal with it at the moment because she had to get the twins to daycare then into work herself. Once she dropped the kids off at daycare she was running close to an hour later, since the teacher at the daycare wanted to talk to all the parents about something before they all left for work. So as she was turning onto the street where the lab parking was, she saw Don and some woman she had never seen before flirting in plain view of everyone. She couldn't believe that he would do a thing like that, so she parked the car and stormed over to him and the mystery woman demanding answers.

"What the hell are you doing Don?" (Lindsay)

"Just talking with this lovely lady, what's it to you Monroe?" (Don)

"Everything, Don. If you want to get back at me for what happened between Danny and I don't do it here at work" (Lindsay)

"I'm not getting revenge Monroe why would I do that?" (Don)

"You'd do it because you're immature and childish" (Lindsay)

"If I'm so damn immature and childish then why would, I have this in my pocket for you, then?" (Don) before she could say anything in response to his comment Lindsay's phone started ringing.

'Monroe' 'Lindsay. It's Deanna Jones, from the daycare' 'Yes, what's wrong? What happened?' that caught Don's attention only one thing can affected Lindsay that much and that would be there kids. 'Calm down Lindsay' 'please just tell me what's wrong?' 'There was an accident here…' 'Oh my god, are they alright?' 'Robert's got minor cuts and bruises, Emily though…' Lindsay didn't hear what was said next because her phone just fell to the ground, while she started to collapse to the ground; Don was right there and picked up the phone.

'Lindsay, are you there?' 'Hello, this Detective Don Flack. Who is this?' 'It's Deanna Jones, from the daycare service' 'where my kids go. What happened?' 'We had an accident a lot of the kids were injured, including Robert and Emily' 'how bad, are they?' 'Robert has minor injuries but Emily, is one of the more serve ones, she's on the way to St. Mary's right now, with several other kids I thought I should call to let you know' 'thank you we'll head right over there' 'but first come by here' 'why?' 'When the paramedics were taking the kids out of here Robert refused to move he's standing right where Emily was lying when they took her out of here, he refuses to go until his mommy and daddy get here. So detective please come' 'we'll be right over', then the call was over.

The first thing that Don did was go over to Lindsay and he saw Mac, Stella and Danny who all happened to be around Lindsay trying to calm her down.

"What's wrong Don?" (Mac)

"Yeah Flack, what's up?" (Danny)

"Dan, get out of here I don't need to see you right now" (Don)

"Whatever I'm here for Lindsay" (Danny)

"No Danny, just go. Please for now I'll let you know what's up" (Stella)

"Fine, I'll go for you Stella" (Danny)

"So what's wrong?" (Mac)

"There was an accident at the daycare where Emi and Bobby go" (Don)

"How serious?" (Stella)

"All I know is that majority of the kids were taken to St. Mary's with injures" (Don)

"What about Bobby and Emily?" (Stella)

"Emily is en route to the hospital and Bobby won't move from the spot where they found Emily" (Don)

"You should go and get him then go to the hospital to find out how your daughter is doing. And don't worry about finishing your shift Flack or Lindsay even starting hers I'll square it away with your lieu, just take as long as you need" (Mac)

"Thanks Mac. Linds, you coming?" (Don)

"Yeah" (Lindsay). He just barely heard what Lindsay said; she was so quiet and looked so weak that he was afraid to touch her. As he went to reach for her she feel straight into his arms which startled him at first but he recovered quickly and helped her to her feet keeping her in his arms the entire time that they were heading straight for her car. Once he got Lindsay into the car his mind was set on just getting to Bobby and then going to the hospital to be there for Emily, all the while with Lindsay barely moving in the seat next to him.