I'm sorry it's been so long. I hope you like it! Please read and review, I wold love to hear what you think.

The case had lasted so much longer than they thought it would. After Adam ran the bullet through ballistics it had linked to 10 other murders dating back 6 months. Unfortunately the other 10 murders were in fact cases being run by the Feds and much to Mac's dismay meant that Russ Josephson asked to be involved within their investigation. Of course he had to allow him the curtsey if he wanted to maintain good relations with the FBI and hope to receive the same curtsey should the need arise.

With Jo and Lindsay having been at the scene at the time of the murder they were a step ahead of any previous kills. There was no time for a clean up and so the little pieces of evidence which would have blown away such as fibres and hairs were all still present at processing. Due to the FBI watching their every move the team was on hyper alert working overtime.

Later in the day Russ had completely spoiled Mac's plan to take Jo for lunch and had taken her himself to discuss Tyler and Ellie, a low move even for Russ, knowing that Jo's only weakness when it came to Russ was her children. Jo had gone with Russ purely because she felt obliged to as soon as Tyler was mentioned because boys talk to boys, and she was worried Russ knew something that she didn't. That was not the case and as per usual Russ started flirting with her again. This left Jo in a bad mood for the rest of the case.

A long 43 hours later the Murderer had been arrested and transported to the precinct and the case was closed. It had been one of those cases which had them running circles around the perp. He had been questioned multiple times and knew all the right things say. Eventually he had slipped up; mentioning a detail of a murder which had never been released, and they were ready for it.

Jo was in her office collecting some files and downing yet another coffee so that she wouldn't fall asleep behind the wheel trying to get home. She turned and saw a rather nervous looking Mac Taylor, not something she had experienced before. "Hey Jo, good work today."

"Thanks Mac, you didn't do too badly yourself" she smirked at him with her usual playfulness trying to help him relax a little. "You should really get some sleep Mac, goodness knows how you are still functioning!"

"I was just leaving, but I wanted to see if you'd join me to get something to eat, I'm not sure the last time you ate and I know I haven't eaten in at least a day." He smiled at her.

"Not tonight Mac" She sighed and looked up at him and saw the disappointment in his eyes. "Hey, it's not that I don't want to. It's just this case took longer than I was expecting and Ellie needs her mama to be around. So I'm going to go home and spend some time with her. I wouldn't be a good mother if I didn't."

"Okay, maybe some other time?" He looked at her hopefully.

"Absolutely." She leaned in and hugged him. At first he was rather stiff, shocked by the suddenness of it. But he soon relaxed into her, allowing the smell of vanilla and lavender to surround him.

She pulled away brushing her lips across his cheek, picking up her coat and bag. "Night Mac"

"Good night Jo" he watched her walk down to the elevator and get in. He had been so wrapped up in the case that he hadn't realized that Jo had neglected to go home, he wondered if eating at the diner over 43 hours earlier might have been the last time something other than coffee had passed her lips.

Standing in the elevator Jo looked at her reflection in the metal. "Oh honestly Jo you're not a teenager anymore, you should not be feeling like this. Be a woman honestly." Mentally she continued to berate herself until reaching her floor.

Jo walked through the parking garage to her avalanche and climbed in. It took all of her self control not to fall asleep right there and then. She started the car and began the short drive across town.

When she reached her apartment block she looked up and saw a light still on and smiled. She took the elevator up and walked to her door shoving the keys in the lock.

"Ellie, are you still up?" She was rewarded with Ellie running towards her and throwing her arms around her.

"I missed you mama"

"I missed you too sweetie" Ellie took her mom's coat and bags and hung them up for her. Then led her over to the sofa where she had been previously sitting. When Jo sat down Ellie turned leaning against her. She didn't need to say anything, Jo knew that was Ellie's way of comforting her, Ellie knew her better than she knew herself sometimes and had already noticed that something was bothering her. Ellie would ask her about it later, but not when she saw just how tired she was. They sat there together watching tv, while Jo fell asleep cuddling her daughter.

She woke to the sound of the door and looked at the clock on the tv. It was 3 in the morning. Jo got up carefully to avoid waking Ellie and opened the door. There stood in a delivery boy from her favourite Chinese take away.

"Delivery"

"Sorry not tonight Luke I didn't order anything" at that he giggled

"You may not have but the delivery is for you." He passed her the bag and left. "Good night Miss Danville" Jo stood in the door watching him walk away smiling.

Walking back into her apartment she set the bag on the table. There was a note pinned to the front, warily she opened it.

"A southern girl's gotta eat x" she smiled, the number of times she had used that exact phrase to get Mac to leave the office and join her for a meal. Opening the bag she saw he had ordered all of her favourites knowing that she wouldn't be able to resist. "Damn you Mac Taylor"