Chapter 1:

"I'm sorry Mac," Lindsay comforted the next morning, "But as a woman, I'm telling you, you did the right thing. No woman wants to, or should for that matter, be with a man who doesn't want to be with her. You hurt her, Mac, there's no getting around that, but I'm telling you, you did the right thing." Lucy pulled at her mother's shoulder, "Can you watch her for a bit? I hate to ask given the circumstances, but I have to go testify to the Jenkins case.

"Of course." He waved his hand and shook his head, he didn't mind babysitting, then turned to Lucy. "Well, it looks like my favorite little girl is going to be spending some time with me today?" Lucy nodded, "Come here and give Uncle Mac a hug!" She did just that, and Lindsay exited, mouthing 'thank you' as she hurried out. Mac hugged Lucy a bit longer than he normally would, but it was curing the ache in his heart. Claire and I should've had kids. He couldn't hold back the thought, he had always wanted children, but his job had gotten in the way and he and Claire were waiting for it to settle down into at least a little bit of a schedule, in fact, they were just about to start trying to have a baby when September 11th had occurred.

A couple of hours had passed, and Lucy was sitting in one of the chairs in Mac's office coloring in a coloring book as he completed some paperwork. Mac lifted his eyes, noticing a woman in professional dress, he didn't recognize her, and was surprised to see her knock on the door to his office, no one knocked around there. He waved her to come in,

"Hi, I'm-" Mac cut her off, recognizing her from a video chat meeting they'd had,

"You're my new investigator. Pleased to meet you, Ms. Bryan, I'm Mac Taylor." they shook hands, and then Mac was speaking businesslike "You don't need to report to work until tomorrow."

"I know, I just thought I'd familiarize myself with the place and the boss if you weren't busy, and you weren't… So I guess I'll be out now."

"Hi!" Lucy squealed to the lady,

"Hey there, Sweetie." The woman greeted warmly, she was obviously a mother or at the very least had the caretaker personality. She turned back to Mac, "You have an adorable daughter."

"Oh she's not min-"

"Uncle Mac, I need to go potty!" She screeched,

"Well, nice meeting you in person," They shook hands and she was out the door.