In retrospect Jayden should have known that Harwell wouldn't lie down and face life in prison or an execution. Not with his money and power. Of course, in retrospect, everything is clearer.

First there were the lawyers, then the lawsuits, accusations, motions of discovery, the publicizing of portions of his personnel file, the Mars case was dragged into the media again and in the end he was given an administrative leave of absence and Harwell's conviction was dropped down to manslaughter.

Manslaughter for the deaths of three children including his own son. Manslaughter. Jayden started to spiral downwards. Three months after cuffing Harwell in a backwater sheriff's office, three months after finding another dead kid, Jayden was riding a stool in his neighborhood bar and trying to decide if getting utterly shit faced would jeopardize his Tripto sobriety. With Lovell's grudging oversight he had cold turkey'd his maintenance medication a month previously. His administrative leave was transitioning to termination for cause thanks to his detractors and embarrassing public profile. Termination for cause would end any chance of a career with any law enforcement agency.

"Hey stranger." Irritated by the laziness of the pickup line he turned to snarl at the working girl he assumed had uttered it only to come face to face with Madison Paige.

He was shocked into silence. She grinned and stole his glass of scotch downed it and regarded him solemnly. "Agent Norman Jayden." She said gravely though her eyes gleamed with amusement.

"Madison Paige come to drive the last nails into my career's coffin?" He growled venomously and turned back to the bar.

Her face clouded and she set the glass onto the bar hard enough to crack it."Fuck you Jayden, I'm the only one out there defending you." She snapped.

"Why? Because it sells more books? More hits on your blog? Are you here to interview me for your follow up?" He hissed feeling the hate and poison he'd been carrying for weeks vomit forth.

"I guess I deserve that." She sighed and gestured at the bartender.

"Scotch, neat, make that two." She said steadily while glancing at Jayden.

"Why are you here Madison?" He asked wearily though he accepted the drink.

"I thought you might need a friend." She said flushing slightly, suddenly unable to meet his eyes. Her cool exterior finally cracking. He wondered if it was a calculated act of vulnerability.

"Friend? Since when the fuck are we friends? I barely know you." He snapped suddenly vicious, he felt like dumping his helpless rage on her but bit it back. She wasn't to blame for his situation not entirely.

"And that's my fault Jayden but I know what you did for Ethan and Shaun I know what kind of man you are and the press doesn't, worse, they aren't even interested. You sell more hits and copies as an unstable renegade."

"You aren't a member of the press anymore? Look Madison, I'm a fucking drug addicted unstable political liability as far as the FBI is concerned. They will never bring me back to active duty and no police force in the country is going to accept me as a desk sergeant let alone an investigator, I'm fucked. The last thing I need is you swooping in to make me your cause celebre."

"Look, Jayden, I owe you my life, so do Shaun and Ethan, this isn't an act of charity or a way to publicize my next book –"

"So you are writing one." He hissed, downed his drink and rose from his seat, the impotent anger hot in his throat, tightening his chest. He felt tears sting his eyes and flushed in rage at the weakness of them.

"Wait!" Madison said grabbing his arm and pulling him slightly off balance. The booze, the anger, and the fact that he wasn't sure when he had last eaten combined and he was hit with a dizzy spell. He grabbed her arm to steady himself, feeling his stomach lurch, and his head swim.

He felt Madison's hand on his back, her sharp voice ordering someone out of the way, a harsh comment from the bartender, then icy air on his face and the familiar swishing roar of traffic on a wet street.

"Just breathe." Madison soothed. He resented her presence as much as he was grateful for it, he settled for focusing on his breathing and quashing his anger.

"What do you actually want from me Madison?" He asked sitting on the curb, looking up at her. She was haloed by the streetlight, standing hipshot, face obscured in shadow.

"Come back to Ethan's with me. Meet Shaun, take some time to recover from all this."

"And let you interview me?"

"Would that be so bad?" She asked softly.

"So food and board in exchange for baring my soul to a stranger? Yeah no that sounds fucking swell Madison."

"Goddamnit Norman you don't even have to talk to me, hell everything will be off the record until you say otherwise, okay?"

"Madison I just…" He couldn't find the right words.

What did he want? Ideally his old job back and a clean slate but that wasn't possible so what then? His rent was a month overdue he was going to be evicted in a week or two, he had nothing he could pawn to make rent and even if he did he would face the same problem in another couple weeks. He had never been good with people and consequently didn't have any close friends he could turn to. He was the black sheep of his family – what was left of it. His little sister had thrown him out of her house four years ago when he demanded she dump her drug dealing boyfriend, his mother was dead and father….

"Fuck alright Madison." He sighed scrubbing his face and finally allowing himself to understand how fucked he waqs. He felt a sudden sharp craving for Tripto, like hunger pangs in the marrow of his bones.

"Come on." She said and offered him her hand.


Madison and Ethan had managed to patch up their relationship after Shaun's rescue. Ethan had forgiven her subterfuge in the face of her courage and determination to save Shaun but it had taken time and work. A policy of absolute honesty was the only way they had managed to rebuild trust. Love had always been present but after the collapse of his marriage to Grace and Grace's suspicions and blame after Shaun's disappearance Ethan couldn't tolerate secrets or suspicions. He knew it was neurotic but Madison rarely gave him shit over it and as time went on he relaxed into the trust they were building.

"They're excited to see you." Madison said as she pulled into the parking garage for their building.

"You okay?" Madison asked gently after Jayden didn't respond.

"I'm never okay Madison." He said wryly and flashed her a weak smile. He was freaking out quietly, calmly, and with hardly a visible sign but freaking out nonetheless.

"Norman you don't have to –" She started to say gently.

"Really Madison I'm fine, we shouldn't keep them waiting." He said unbuckling his seat belt and ignoring his own panic. He was a master at compartmentalizing and he was going to stuff his panic and fear into his gut and get through this. Jesus what the fuck was he worried about anyway? Ethan and Shaun owed him their lives, they weren't going to hurt him.

Madison gave Jayden a long look then sighed and got out of the car. She was surrounded by complicated men.

The building was nice Jayden decided, an older brick building that looked like it had started life as a warehouse, each floor was rented individually, Madison and Ethan had the top floor. He glanced at Madison as they walked to the elevator.

"They're expecting us; Ethan said Shaun is excited to meet you properly." Madison said with an encouraging smile.

Norman wasn't sure what Shaun knew about him, or remembered. The boy had been beyond exhausted and borderline hypothermic when his father had pulled him from the storm drain, Norman wasn't even sure if Shaun had seen him during the rescue.

"I… does he know who I am?"

She laughed. "He knows, he's old enough to pay attention to the news, but we've told him the truth about you." He frowned at that caveat. So the boy had his head filled with false news stories and hero worshipping half truths. Awesome.

"Okay and what was that?" He asked stiffly his defenses slamming into place.

"That you risked your life to save him, you're a good man and the media have a lot of things wrong. That Harwell is a bad man with a lot of money."

"Yeah." Jayden agreed distractedly. He wasn't sure if that was true, he was so turned around that he wasn't sure what the hell was true anymore, the media image of him as a wacked out rogue agent with an insane obsession and vendetta or the dedicated agent wronged by the press. It didn't matter, he decided, none of it did, he was here now, he would make the best of it, he would start over. Again.

Madison lifted the gate on the elevator and waited for him to step aboard; he complied and watched her hit a button labeled Mars.

"Security?"

"Best on the market."

"How…is Ethan adjusting?"

"For a while he would have a panic attack whenever Shaun was out of sight we had a tutor coming for a few weeks but Shaun went back to school last month. The tutor was a good idea anyway; now that the story has been out of the news for a while the kids are adjusting to him a lot easier."

"Yeah it would suck to be infamous in a new school." Jayden agreed.

"You sure you're okay with this?" Madison asked.

"It beats living under a bridge." He said and smiled at her nervous glance. Inside his head he was cackling, no he was absofuckinglutely not sure about this or any other goddamn thing but it beat a cardboard box.

"You don't talk to your family?" Madison asked carefully.

"It…never really mattered before." Jayden admitted as Madison inserted a key and hit the button to the top floor then pulled the key free.

They arrived at their floor, Jayden felt himself tense, cut a glance at Madison and draw a sharp short breath, holding it for a moment then letting it out as the door opened.