Thanks to all reading and especially to those who reviewed, it's awesome to hear that you like this story. So I was gonna save what happens in this chapter till later on in the story but decided that Flack needed to get some action in the bedroom department sooner. To anyone wondering about Lara's past, she's about to explain it, well some of it at least.

Disclaimer: Not mine.

Chapter 4

Jo walked along finishing off the hot dog in her hands. Ellie walked beside her, having already finished her own hot dog. Ellie was telling Jo a story about some girls in school that she didn't like because they were the 'mean girls' that every generation had to cope with, Jo could only laugh. She remembered being the same with her mom when she was in school, telling her the same stories, she'd hated the 'mean girls' too

Jo looked up from her empty hot dog wrapper and noticed a petite brunette walking along hugging a young boy who suddenly began to smile. She couldn't help but notice he had the exact same smile as his mother. "Lara!" she called out, "Sweetie, come on!" she said as she grabbed Ellie's hand and pulled her towards Lara and Jace.

Lara stood there, her arm around Jace, as Jo came to a stop in front of her. "Fancy seeing you here?" Jo smiled. "This must be your son, right?" she'd barely seen him when he'd showed up at the lab.

Lara smiled, "Yeah this is Jace. Jace this is Detective Jo Danville from work."

"Call me Jo." she told him, "This is my daughter, Ellie." Jo told them.

"Hey there." Lara said to her.

"Hi," Ellie replied sweetly.

"So what brings you two here?" Jo asked.

"Jace wanted to spend the day in Central Park seeing all the sights in particular the Zoo." Lara said.

"Trust me you need more than a day to see the wonders of this place." Jo said with her usual friendly smile. "Feel like some company?" she asked.

Lara couldn't refuse. There was something about Jo that just made her feel safe to be around. "Sure," she said. "I'd like that."

~0~0~

They'd been walking around together for the best part of an hour, Ellie and Jace walked just slightly ahead as Ellie showed him all the best places of the park. Even though she was engaged in conversation with Jo, Lara never took her eyes off Jace for more than thirty seconds; it was a force of habit.

"So, how are you liking living here in the Big Apple?" Jo asked her.

"It's…different." Lara laughed.

"Tell me bout it. I love this place but it was kinda hard to get used to at first." Jo confessed

"It's totally different from anywhere we've ever lived." Lara told her.

"Ellie hated it when we first moved, but she wouldn't let me take her anywhere else now." Jo laughed.

"She's adopted?"

"Yeah, I adopted her when she was barely two and I cannot imagine my life without her. My biological son Tyler absolutely dotes on her."

"I would have loved for Jace to have had a sibling. I never had one growing up and I always swore when I got married I would have a whole bunch of kids." Lara said, thinking back to how stupidly naive she had once been.

"You're young, you could still have more." Jo said.

Lara smiled but shook her head and sighed and shoved her hands in her pockets, a nervous habit.

"So what changed?" Jo asked, knowing something bad had happened to Lara.

Ellie and Jace had stopped to watch the sea lions getting fed so Jo and Lara sat down on a bench nearby. Lara sighed again and then hesitated before she thought again about answering Jo truthfully and not holding stuff back like she usually did. Cal was in prison now, perhaps it was safe to talk, and for some reason she really did trust Jo.

"The first time that Jace's dad hit me, I figured it was because he was drunk, and because I was mouthing off at him for not helping me out enough with taking care of Jace. He was just a new-born and I was young and had no clue as to what I was doing. He apologised promised never to do it again. He spent the next week sucking up to me, he even changed a diaper for the first time." Lara said with a faint smile which quickly disappeared.

"Then he came home one day about a month later, walked into the kitchen where I was doing the dinner and he beat the hell outta me. He said sorry and I figured he would change if I gave him the chance. I wanted Jace to have a real family so I stuck it out. I really believed Cal would change. He didn't and I spent the next year and a half praying he would come home or just wake up in a good mood. Pretty stupid huh?"

"No, no not at all, you were young. Like you said you wanted your son to have a family but some might say you were just blind with love." Jo said to her.

"Well I wish I would have opened my eyes sooner, because one day about two weeks before Jace's second birthday he came home from work. I was feeding Jace in the kitchen and Cal stormed in there and began hitting me, harder than he'd ever hit me before. I kept asking him, what have I done wrong? I kept telling him that I was sorry. He hit me some more then he slammed and pinned me down against the kitchen table and…" The words got lost in her throat. It sickened her to say them, "He raped me on the table right in front of my baby, and when Jace didn't stop crying Cal kicked his high chair over."

Jo felt so saddened that she had to reach out and place her hand on Lara's hand and give it a gentle squeeze. She could see the young Detective was struggling to hold back tears.

"I waited for him to fall asleep, I took whatever money I could find, I grabbed Jace and I ran. He caught up with us about a week later, beat me till I couldn't walk, and then dragged us home."

"How did you get out again?" Jo asked.

"I waited until I got better and I put some sedative in his beer and waited for him to pass out. I caught a cab to the bus station, a bus to the nearest airport and I flew us as far away as I could afford to."

Jo was more than shocked by what she had heard. "Where are your parents?" she asked.

"They died in a car crash just before Jace was born." Lara told her.

"Sweetheart, I'm so sorry." Jo replied.

"Thanks. You 'know, I just know that none of it would have ever happened if they were still alive. My dad tried to tell me that Cal was dangerous. I should have listened to him."

"Unfortunately in life we have to make our own mistakes, it's the only way we learn from them." Jo replied.

"Yeah, but mine have me and my son running for our lives. I hate that Jace has to live like this but I can't stand the thought of Cal getting his hands on him. Jace is the sweetest kid in the world, he wouldn't hurt a fly but Cal would break that out of him."

Jo couldn't pull her eyes away from Lara's. The fear in them was totally obvious and it was so strong that Jo felt a shiver go down her spine. "What about the scars?" she suddenly had to ask.

Lara turned away for a moment but then turned to look at her again. She placed her hand on her stomach and ran her finger tips over the many scars on it. "Every time he finds me he cuts me with a knife, twice, once for me and once for Jace. Like he's marking his territory like some sort of god-damn dog, reminding me we're his." she said angrily.

"Have you ever tried going to the police?" Jo asked in disbelief.

"I come from one generation of cops. He comes from generations and generations of cops and prison guards. It wasn't just him I was running from. It was literally his brothers in blue too. One of the benefits of being a Detective is that I can get to know the people who could be chasing me and Jace. It's helped me get us out of places before Cal could catch up with us, but not always."

"Do you know where he is now?" Jo asked out of curiosity.

Lara looked at her. She knew where Cal was, in prison, but she couldn't risk telling Jo in case maybe she told Cal where she was, or told someone else who may tell him. Cal had family and connections everywhere. Maybe she was just being paranoid, but better to be safe rather than sorry. She shook her head. "I have no idea." she lied.

~0~0~0~0~

Lara and Jo had continued talking, about things other than Lara's past. They had actually talked about Jo more than Lara for the rest of the time they spent together, which seemed to make Lara relax more. Jo knew she liked her but now she had truly developed a strong respect for the young woman. She was determined to find out more on Cal, but how she wasn't sure because Lara hadn't told her his surname and she hadn't wanted to push her.

They'd both headed their separate ways as the rain began to fall. Now, Lara pulled up outside her apartment building and both she and Jace climbed out of the car. The old blue sedan was nearing the end of its days, but it got her from A to B and it didn't stand out in a crowd. She liked to call it 'old reliable'.

She did her usual checks as she and Jace ran towards the building, desperate to get out of the heavy rain. She saw nothing to trouble her, but that was only because she didn't see who was watching her.

~0~0~0~0~

Lara was stood in the kitchen. She had her cell phone in her hand. There was a message all typed up and ready to be sent but she found herself debating whether or not to actually send it. She glanced down and read it again. 'Don, sorry about last night. Feel like a drink and a chat, promise I won't freak out and kick you out. Lara.' "Just do it!" she told herself as she hit send.

She stood there and with each second that passed by in silence she wished she could take it back, but then her phone vibrated and bleeped in her hand. She opened the message and read, 'Sounds great, I'll bring the wine. I like you calling me Don. : )'

She smiled as she locked the screen on her phone. She suddenly realised she was wearing pyjama's, she had to get changed. She ran across the living room and stopped when she saw Jace asleep on the couch, she had to smile at him. She crept over to him and scooped him up in her arms. She kissed his forehead as she carried him to his room and put him in his bed. He was already in his pyjama's so she tucked him in and turned the lamp on beside his bed.

"Sleep sweet, baby." she whispered as she kissed him again and brushed the hair back of his face. "Love you." she told him.

She crept over to the door and stopped when she heard him sleepily say "Love you too, Mom." She smiled and wished him goodnight before she closed the door. She then ran to her room to change.

~0~0~0~0~

It didn't take Flack long to get to her apartment. He was wearing a pair of blue jeans and a white short sleeved t-shirt and a black jacket. He knocked on the door and waited for Lara to answer. As soon as she did he found himself smiling at her. She had the ability to make him smile so easily.

She had on a pair of pale blue jeans that had a rip across the knee and one across her thigh, revealing her caramel coloured skin that he loved looking at so much. She also had on a black tank top, he caught a quick glimpse of her scars and he knew she saw it, but she didn't seem to mind.

"How can I help you, Detective?" she asked playfully.

"I received a text message from a phone linked to this address, I was hoping you could tell me who sent it?" he played back.

Lara couldn't keep it up, she just began to laugh. Her laugh was almost musical and Flack felt his heart melt just at the sound of it. "Come on in." she told him, still laughing slightly.

Once more, Flack, found himself following Lara into the kitchen. She reached into a drawer and passed him the corkscrew, and while he opened the bottle she reached up and grabbed two wine glasses. She turned to face him just as he popped the cork. She held the glasses out and watched as he poured the wine.

"You enjoy your day off?" he asked.

"Yeah, Jace and I spent it in central park." she told him.

"Speaking of Jace, where is he?"

"He's in bed, he was shattered by the time we got home."

"I got him this game," Flack said as he pulled it out of his jacket pocket. "He was telling me he had it but it got lost when you moved, figured I'd buy him a new one."

"You didn't have to do that." Lara said, feeling guilty that Jace had lost the game in the first place because they'd had to make a quick escape.

"It's okay. I wanted I to." he said as he passed it her.

She took it and placed it down on the counter. Smiling, she said, "He's gonna be so psyched when he sees that in the morning." She looked up at Flack to find him looking at her. "What?" she asked.

"You just look really happy is all?"

"You saying I usually look like a miserable bitch?" she asked, pretending to be offended, but her smile gave her away.

He laughed and replied, "No, but it's nice to see you really smile. That trip to the park must have done you some good." he said.

Lara nodded but she figured it was more to do with being able to talk to someone about her problems. She shook the thought away and asked, "You wanna come sit down?"

"Yeah, but first I want to apologise about last night. I think that wine really went to my head." Flack said.

"No…it was me. I'd had far too much before you got here, and getting attacked by our perp, it just made me act all pathetic." she said, "I don't usually drink…wine." she added making them both laugh.

"Well then let's take our time with this bottle." he said. Lara agreed and they tapped their glasses together to toast to the fact.

"Come on." she said to him, leading the way into the living room. She hit play on the CD player as she walked past it.

Flack sat down on the couch next to her where she sat sideways on it with her legs tucked underneath her.

"By the way, that perp attacking you scared the hell outta me. From now on I don't let your ass outta my sight at crime scenes where the perp could still be."

"So it's just my ass you wanna watch?" she joked.

"Yeah," Flack said, then thought about how it sounded, "I mean, no! I just meant I got your back." he told her.

She smiled, loving how she had made him blush. "Thank you." she said, his words meant a lot to her. It was nice, if not a little odd, to know she had someone watching out for her for a change.

Flack suddenly noticed that the CD playing was the same as last night, Sarah McLachlan. "Is this your favourite?" he asked, pointing to the CD player.

"It's kinda the only CD I own." she said, blushing at the fact. "It's one of the few things I make sure comes with me whenever we have to move. Having it and playing it is kinda like the only thing that makes somewhere feel like home for me. Stupid as it sounds she's like a comfort blanket."

"I like it." he told her.

"I adore her." Lara confessed. "So, come on, Don," she said with a smile spreading across her face. She liked how his name felt as she spoke it, "Tell me something about you that I don't know?"

"There's a lot about me you don't know, and there's even more I don't know about you." he replied.

"Very true, but I asked first." she defended, swallowing the wine in her mouth.

"Okay… err," It was hard for him to just think of something off the top of his head. He turned to look at her, trying hard to think of something. "I'm alive today because of a shoelace." he told her.

The look on her face told him she was baffled by his words. "Did you just say a shoelace?" she asked in disbelief.

Flack just nodded. "That and Mac. We were in a building when a bomb went off. I was badly injured and he stopped me from bleeding to death using a shoelace." He pulled his shirt up to show her the scar, proof he was telling the truth. She was momentarily shocked by the scar. She reached up and gently touched it as she did both of them felt the same wave of electricity soar through their bodies as their skin touched.

Lara glanced up at him but quickly looked down at the scar. "That's pretty impressive." she said still looking at his chest and the scar.

"I work out." he joked.

She smiled at sat up straight, pulling his shirt down for him.

"Your turn, tell me something I don't know about you." Flack said.

She sighed, as if what she was about to say was going to be the hardest thing she'd ever said, "I hate the colour pink." she told him simply, smiling she added "It reminds me of Barbie dolls and fairies, both of which I hate."

"That's it? I tell you about my near death experience and you tell me you don't like pink because it reminds you of dolls."

"Hey, I didn't say it had to be personal." she smirked.

She saw how he looked at her. He wanted to know more about her and she was desperate to know more about him. She'd never let herself fall for another guy after Cal, but she found she couldn't stop herself from falling for Flack. She pulled her shirt down a little to reveal lots of little scars but one bigger one on the top swell of her left breast. It was an angry looking scar and it was the one he'd only caught glimpses of before now.

"I was stabbed." she told him. "They never caught the guy." she lied.

The guy was caught. The guy was Cal and it was the reason he was in prison. He'd been seen by too many witnesses and so his connections couldn't get him out of it. Lara had got lucky because the knife hadn't been driven too deep into her body thanks to a bystander who had grabbed Cal as he'd swung the knife at her. That and she'd got medical treatment straight away and then, as soon as she'd been able to, she and Jace had ran again.

Flack reached up and delicately touched the scar, once more sending the same wave of electricity racing through their bodies, only stronger this time. He couldn't help but think that it didn't look that old. He wanted to ask her more about it, but when he looked up his eyes locked on hers.

Her eyes were the deepest brown he'd ever seen and he completely adored them. His fingers remained on her scar but his other hand came up to cup her face. She nuzzled into his hand and continued to look at him. Silence hung over them, but it wasn't an awkward one. It was one that dared them to make a move, so they did.

Their faces inched closer until their lips finally touched. He dropped his hand to her knee. He didn't want to touch her anywhere that would make her feel uncomfortable. However, she reached down and took hold of his hand and tucked it inside her t-shirt and onto her stomach.

He could feel her scars beneath his fingers and he knew she must have known this. "Lara, are you sure you want this?" he asked as he looked into her chocolate brown eyes again.

She nodded and smiled. "Absolutely." she said and then moved her lips back onto his.

~0~0~

He wasn't sure how it had happened but somehow he and Lara had moved into her bedroom after having spent some time just allowing their mouths to explore each other's. They now lay on her bed, she was beneath him as he supported his weight on his left side. He had his hand on her stomach still and the other on her face as they kissed.

He pulled away from the kiss and looked into her eyes as she reached down between them and unbuttoned his trousers. He found himself following her lead. With them undone Lara pulled off his shirt. Flack was once more about to follow her lead but he hesitated. He then slowly began to pull her shirt off, she put her arms above her head to assist him, and to show him she was ok with it.

Flack couldn't help but look at the map of scars on her stomach. He gently traced his fingers over them. He then moved his kisses to them. Kissing each one like it would somehow heal the hurt he knew they had caused her.

Lara tangled her fingers in his hair and allowed herself to fall for him, for his touch and especially for his kisses. When he returned his lips to hers she kissed him back with a hunger that he copied. Their trousers were kicked off as well as any other clothing getting in the way of their need for complete contact.

Their hands explored each other's bodies, touching everywhere, just as their lips touched everywhere, leaving behind lingering kisses that tingled on their skin and sent little shocks of electricity to all the right places. Flack moved both his hands down Lara's sides. At the same time he trailed kisses over her breasts and down to her bellybutton and below it.

His touch and his kisses moved teasingly slow and made her moan beneath him and arch her body up against his. His body was ready for hers and hers was ready for his, her words only confirmed it, "I need you." she whispered to him.

"I'm right here for you," he whispered back before he kissed her lips again.

She placed her hands on his face and kissed him back with a hungry passion. She could feel how prepared his body was for hers as he lay on top of her. She bucked her hips up against him in another bid for him to give her body what it was now becoming desperate for.

Flack didn't leave her waiting any longer, he moved into her, slowly, gently and lovingly. Their bodies fit together perfectly, like puzzles pieces made to be together. They quickly found a rhythm that soon had them both threatening to fall over the edge and into pure bliss. Flack began placing kisses along Lara's jaw and down onto her neck and she moaned his name as it only intensified the pleasure she felt in the pit of her stomach, threatening to burst up inside her. His movements were slow but controlled and had her begging him for more.

His kisses stopped and their faces simply touched together as he began to move quicker, still controlling it so that she was desperately seeking the release only he could give her now. As he quickened his movements more she held onto him, ready to take him over the edge with her.

He moved quick, deep inside of her now, and he found himself climaxing with her. She moaned into his ear as pleasure took over her body. She'd never felt such a connection with someone and she never wanted it to end and Flack felt the exact same.

When it was finally over she kept her arms fixed around him and gazed up at him as he held himself above her, their bodies still joined as one. They were both out of breath, and both struggling to come down off the high they'd sent each other to.

Flack suddenly had to kiss her, the urge was too strong to resist. She kissed him back, she herself unable not to.

~0~0~0~0~

Cal was stood in the men's bathroom, the same guard stood beside him, waiting for him to finish up his call. The guard couldn't hear the conversation but from the way Cal kicked a trash can over he guessed it wasn't good news he was getting.

"You're sure?" he yelled angrily into the guard's iPhone.

"Cal, I'm telling you, this guy went into her apartment. I saw them through the window. He hasn't come back out yet and he's been in there for hours now."

"So whoever he is he's sleeping with my wife." Cal snapped.

"I thought you guys were divorced?"

"She said 'I do' and that was for good in my eyes, she's my wife and she's screwing around while I'm in here."

"Then you know what you have to do, buddy."

"I do." Cal said before he hung up.

He threw the iPhone back to the guard who caught it and hid it back in his sock. The guard looked up, about to ask Cal what was going on but Cal was now stood right in front of him, a determined look on his face. "I need to get out of here…tonight!" Cal told him.

TBC

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