A/N: Thanks for the reviews! This is for you who did review!
Jake Halverson was born into a poor family. His mother was an alcoholic; his father, an abusive man. He had one brother, Josh, who was his rock, his supporter, the thing that kept him going. Josh was Jake's idol. Anything Josh did, Jake did. Their grandmother often called him Josh's shadow. Jake loved his brother, and thought he could do no wrong. When Jake graduated high school, Josh set him up with a job at his private company. Little did Jake know that his brother's "private company" was making hits for a mobster who wanted complete control of the underground cities of western side of the United States.
Jake and Josh knew Lindsay from the days when there were young enough to be running around in nothing, catching fireflies and taking naps on her couch. Her father taught them to load and cock the guns, and every now and then, he'd secretly take him on hunting trips, and let them take turns to shoot off rounds at old tree stumps. Lindsay's father would laugh and say that they were the sons he never had. Her mother would take them to the mall, for haircuts, clothes, all the things that were needed by the ever growing guys. They never once asked for anything in return.
Jake and Lindsay went to school together since kindergarten, all the way until grade 8. That was when Jake went to a high school on the other side of Bozeman, while Lindsay went to the one that most of their friends were going to. Who knew that 2 miles would be the dividing factor in that decision? Bozeman law mandated that in high school, kids within a 10 mile radius of a high school would attend that certain school. Lindsay went to North Eagle High; Jake went to South Bozeman Collegiate. They both saw each other everyday, becoming closer, and eventually, getting together. She went to his homecoming; they had sex that night, both for the first time. He accompanied her to her prom; there they made a promise to forsake everyone else for each other, no matter what the circumstances were.
After they received their diplomas, they took a road trip to Los Angeles. It was Lindsay's birthday and she wanted to see the play, Beauty and the Beast. The original plan was to go to New York, (with the help of her parents) but ultimately they changed it, opting for more private time together in the 1700 mile drive. After watching the sappy play with her, and realizing all the similar attributes, Jake had taken to calling Lindsay 'Belle', after the character. He teased her that whole summer about it, Lindsay simply retorted with "No, Beast, Don't go! Belle needs you!". She laughed at him every time he made an annoyed face; he had cried when the Beast had died.
After about nine months, Lindsay and Jake had broken things off; she was in university in Wyoming, him in Washington with Josh. Jake found himself running 'missions' with his brother, driving in luxury in Range Rovers, staying in five star hotels, the best equipment and guns, and the ability to disappear before the cops could catch him. It wasn't the miles that caused the split, it was the secrecy, the lies. She never knew what he was up to; he got upset with all her questions. Every time they spoke on the phone, Lindsay could feel Jake getting angry. The few times she did visit, there were arguments, and police were called, often with her being escorted back to Wyoming, and Jake leaving with Josh on another mission. One day, she decided to surprise him, and found his apartment overstocked with guns, enough material to make small bombs, pictures of people posted on walls, with lines and circles, all on the backs of the heads, and worst of all, a list. This list had the names off all the "Kings and Queens" that needed to be removed in order to make the invasion of the Western coast possible by the Mob king- who Lindsay overheard Jake calling Bobby. It was the number of names that were crossed off on that list that scared Lindsay. There were 12 pages; 3 of those pages had nothing but black lines going across them. Jake walked in at that moment, and she was so scared, she ran out of the apartment, headed back to Wyoming, and immediately transferred to a university in Colorado. He tracked her down, beating on her apartment door, stalking her. He finally caught her one day, and physically hit her for ignoring him and running out on him.
She called the police, filed a restraining order on Jake, and never heard from him again.
Nine years later, Lindsay was called into Washington to work on a case where a pair of brothers had assassinated a senator. She was intrigued until she heard the MO. Startled, she glanced at the numerous autopsy reports, each showing that the COD was a fatal gunshot wound made at a 25 degree angle projecting downwards- they had all been assassinated. Her mind flashed to the list she saw years ago.
"Are you ok, Ms. Monroe? These guys have killed many, maybe with your help, we can finally catch these bastards."
She was shaken, but ultimately found, through forensic work, not gut instinct, that it was Josh Halverson who delivered shot the fatal shot. Jake, his brother, was nowhere to be found. As she watched one of the boys she grew up with be administered the capital punishment, she realized that there would be no going back to Montana to work as a CSI. She accepted the position in New York offered by Detective Mac Taylor. Within 3 weeks, she had left her old life behind, ready to start fresh.
Jake, meanwhile, lost everything. The mob gave him two hundred thousand dollars as hush money and severance pay. He had no job, and now that he was investigated and written down as a possible suspect in a high profile murder case, he wouldn't get a job even if he applied to be a homeless man. He swore on his brother's grave that Lindsay Monroe would pay for his troubles, no matter what the cost.
It took seventeen months to track her down; people aren't willing to talk to you unless you have specific information. He searched through newspaper archives, performed numerous people searches, he did everything but find out where Lindsay Monroe had gone to. It was during a rainy night when he walking down the lonely streets of Bozeman that he saw her, on the news, testifying at a trial that was to put away a man who had killed his 3 children and wife, claiming that God told him to. He followed her, and the guy she almost kissed, all the way to New York. It was there he stalked, waited, watched, planned, practiced, and finally pulled off his plan to make Lindsay Monroe regret the day she walked into that apartment, un-invited, and saw what she did. She had taken his life away, now he would have hers.