A/N This is my first Cold Case story. I have written some Bones and Standoff ones but this little idea wouldn't leave me alone so i decided to role with it. I got the idea from seeing an add for the movie In Pursuit of happiness ( or whatever it is called). Having not actually seen the film, i don't know exactly what happens so nothing in my story comes from the movie, only the title and the idea of a guy with a young son trying to pick up the pieces of his life. Hope you like it.

Disclaimer: I own nothing that is affiliated with Cold Case or The Pursuit of Happiness, i do own Luca, Hannah, Jessie and Thomas.

He was standing in the middle of a beach or at least he thought he was. He could feel the soft sand under foot, taste the salty air in his mouth, yep it was definitely the beach, but something was wrong. It was like staring at a picture that you know has something that's not quite right but you can't tell what. Then you stare at it a bit more and suddenly you see it, like it's the clearest thing in the picture and you wonder how you didn't see it all along. That was how he was feeling now and it scared the hell out of him. He turned his head to the side and that was when he saw her, running towards him down the beach. 'Daniella' he tried to call but nothing would come out. He tried again, over and over but all that he could hear was the whistle of the wind and the waves lapping up against the sand. In, out, in, out. She was getting closer now; soon he would be able to see the soft strands of brown hair that she always left out or her dark eyes, darker than any he had seen before. The wind whipped up a spray of sand and he closed his eyes defensively, when he opened them again she was standing right in front of him. He saw her mouth 'sorry' to him and he frowned not understanding what she was sorry for. Then she reached out her hand and stuck it into his chest squeezing hard. He screamed in agony but he could hear nothing only the waves lapping against the sand. In, out, in out, and then a little boy yelling 'Daddy, Daddy' where was that coming from, he wondered.

"Daddy" yelled Luca tugging at his father's sleeve. "Daddy, wake up"

"What?" asked Scotty bolting up into a sitting position. He looked down at Luca who by now had climbed onto his lap to look him in the eyes. "You were yelling" said the 4 year old before placing his hands on Scotty's forehead. "What are you doing?" asked Scotty, waving the boys hands away from his face.

"What mummy does when I have a bad dream" he replied with his don't-you-know-anything look, that he had adopted from his grandfather while staying the night one time.

"Oh" said Scotty. "I'm fine" he told the boy before lying back down on his side to sleep.

Unfortunately Luca had other plans. He climbed up until he was sitting on Scotty's side and stared him in the face before asking curiously "What was your dream about?"

""Nothing Luca" said Scotty, dismissively. "Now go back to sleep"

His only response was a loud sigh followed by a Luca's tell-me-now pout.

"Fine then" muttered Scotty. "I dreamed that I was at the beach" he said quickly before rolling back over to face away from his son. Luca sat back deciding whether now was a good time to test his father's patience. Of course, being the 4 and a half year old boy he was, his own curiosity prevailed so after a few more seconds silence he leaned against Scotty's back and inquired innocently as to whether it was a nice beach or not.

"Luca" growled Scotty "It was just a beach, it had sand and water"

"Yes but was it nice like the one Grandma took me to or weird like the one that Sam next door went to on holiday's last year?"

"Well having not been on that holiday my self I would have to say I don't know, Luca but if you ask me one more question about it I might just send you off to the beach with Sam". So with that Scotty rolled back over, pulled his jacket over his eyes and willed him self to fall asleep before Luca's inquisitive four year old mind could come up with any more questions.

"Mummy would have told me if the beach was nice" grumbled Luca staring angrily at his fathers back.

"What did you say?" asked Scotty.

"I said Mummy would have told me if the beach was nice" Luca all but yelled.

"Yeah, well your mothers gone so I guess you're just stuck with me" said Scotty, this time succeeding in yelling where Luca had failed. He immediately regretted it though and after hearing Luca pull in a few sharp breathes that meant tears would follow he reached over and pulled the trembling boy onto his lap and held him tight against his chest. "I'm sorry" he whispered over and over again in the boy's ear gently stroking his golden hair. Sometimes he forgot that behind the strong words was a young four year old boy. Almost five, he corrected him self. He thought back a few day's to when Luca had first enlightened him to that knowledge. They had been at the fair when a lady sitting with them on the carousel had asked how old he was. Luca replied with a very educated 'Well I'm not four, but I'm not really five either". When the lady asked him how that was so, he leaned in close 'well' he answered and then nodded his head as if letting her in on a big secret 'I'm almost five, so I figure I can't just say I'm four, but I'm not five yet' and with that he had nodded his little golden head decisively and gone back to eating his giant fairy-floss.

"I'm sorry as well Daddy" he whispered in between sobbing induced hiccups.

Scotty looked down at the young boy staring back up at him "What for?" he asked.

"For asking to many questions" he replied before hitting Scotty with another don't-you-know-anything look undertoned with an I'm-sorry-please-forgive-me look.

"That's okay" whispered Scotty. "You should never stop asking questions" he told his son "But let's make a deal. No questions between 10 pm and 6 am, okay"

"Okay" agreed Luca "Shake"

"Shake" agreed Scotty grabbing the little hand in between his big one.

"Now, let's get some sleep" he said leaning back against the store room door, where his jacket had been propped up as a pillow. He positioned Luca so that he was lying against his chest. "We have a big day tomorrow" he told the little boy

"Where are we going?" asked Luca, sleep creeping into his voice.

"Philadelphia" answered Scotty, smiling slightly at the name.

"What's in Philadelphia?" asked Luca half asleep already.

"Luca" warned Scotty.

"Sorry" he whispered back softly before dropping his head against his dad's chest. Scotty looked down at his almost-sleeping son. He was still to tell the little boy that the reason the had been sleeping in a storeroom for the last week was because his mother had taken everything they owned but at the moment he didn't wanted to scare Luca who held his mother in the highest regard. So, instead he told him the only piece of good news he could think of. "Lilly" he whispered "Lilly's in Philadelphia"

A/N So did you like it. i'm going away for the next two weeks so i won't be able to update till the 20th. Hopefully though if i come back and have heaps of reviews I will be inspired to write straight when i get home, so please read and then Review. Thankyou.