AUTHORS NOTE: The bad thing about updating more than one story at a time is that you slowly run out of things to write as your authors note. I'm going to have to start thinking of really corny jokes just to keep you enthralled... Ah well... New chapter! You also got them all at once because my internet was down - again.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything but Ewan and Ronan.

[The Find]

How could she say that about Stuart's love for Ronan? It sometimes felt as if Ronan and Stuart had a better relationship than Ewan did with either with them and that's because Stuart was more naturally paternal. It was in his blood. All he wanted to do was be a good father and that was what he was. "My husband loves his daughter."

"She's not his daughter though. I mean, not legally." Val pointed out causing Ewan to realise she had him there. The couple had been together for years but they'd never approached that idea. It would be a lovely idea and Ronan would be over the moon about Stuart being her legal parent. They truly did love him. So what had stopped them? "Maybe it's because you don't want to share her? You finally have something pure in your life and you don't want to taint it with the wrongs that is your lifestyle."

"No. If that was true then Stuart wouldn't be allowed anywhere near her. I love my daughter and my husband. They're my family and you're the bitch that's destroying that by stealing him away from us." He rose from his chair and looked down at her. "Maybe you should meet the little girl that stole his heart? I mean, she's just down the corridor with an officer eating ice cream and playing with some toys they found for her. I'm sure she won't mind taking a break for five minutes to come say hi to you." He snapped and the woman just continued to glare at him.

There was no reply from her so Ewan moved to the door and started to call but Val screamed, her hand slamming down on the metal of the table as she looked at him. "No. Please. Don't bring her in. I wouldn't be able to bear it." She whispered as she started to cry, her face being buried into the nook of her elbow as she let the sobs take control. Ewan grinned as he closed the door and moved back towards her.

"So you do have human feelings after all?" He pointed out as he pulled out his chair so he could sit back down. "What triggered them?" He wanted to know. He didn't want to believe it was because she had a maternal bone because not all women did. You just had to take one look at Myra Hindley and the murders she commited with her partner to know that was true about some women.

"I know how much he loves her," she whispered and looked down at her hands. "I know that it wasn't just you that stole him from me. It was the beautiful little girl." She sniffed as she thought back to that night they'd shared in her living room just drinking wine.

Their giggles were loud thanks to the amount of alcohol they'd consumed and Stuart was aware that he'd not laughed this hard in a long time. He was also aware of how good it felt as he looked over at her. "Thank you," he smiled. "I've needed a good laugh for so long." He made her aware of the point and she smiled at him, her hand lost in her blonde curls as she just stared at him.

"You need to get yourself a family so that you'll have them to make you giggle when you're done on an exceptionally wicked case," she advised and he just looked over at her, a smile on his face.

"Come now, it's not even legal for my half of the world to adopt yet. I'm never going to have a child if I find the right partner, that's also a slim option," he laughed as he looked down at his glass of wine that was nearly empty. "I'd love a daughter though. She'd be a beautiful wee thing with long ginger hair and sparkling eyes that could just light up a room and you'd see the love she felt for father and I just from the way she was with us, no matter how old she gets." He laughed before shaking his head. "Oh wow, what a downer on our wonderful conversation."

"No. I like the honesty." She teased before going onto tell him about her first marriage.

Reaching into her pocket, she slid a photograph over to him and Ewan picked it up. It was a picture of the three of them at the park. Ronan was in Stuart's arms, a huge smile on her face as she told them something particularly exciting and Ewan's fingers were laced through Stuart's as if they didn't have a care in the world. If the snapshot hadn't have been taken by Stuart's stalker then Ewan would have framed it because it was just one of those simple moments that you liked to remember.

"You've been watching us for a while," he said rubbing the time stamp at the corner that read it had been taken six months prior to this day and she had the audacity to blush as she looked away from him.

"I wanted to approach. I wanted to let him realise that he loves me and he was being foolish by hiding away from his feelings for me but one morning I woke up and my attention seemed just to zone into pictures like that one and I realised that he'd never love me so there was only one thing left to do," she whispered as she thought of what poor Stuart would be doing right now in his make shift prison, "and that was to make sure that no one could have the man I love."

"You selfish fucking bitch," Ewan shouted as his anger took control. "Why couldn't you be like Jackie and just accept that friendship was a perfect approach? He loves his female best friends more than he could ever love me and I accept that!" He shouted as he ran his hands through his hair. "Please just tell me where he is. I want to go home tonight and make sure our daughter still has two dads because sweetheart," he leant in and whispered something in her ear that caused her to blanch a little before he moved away. "I'll give you five minutes or so to consider that as I have to go make sure my daughter hasn't self induced a sugar coma." He pointed out before leaving the room, the door shutting behind him as tears fell down his cheeks.

Robbie motioned for Jackie to take cover while he made the first move. The shack was literally in the middle of nowhere but it had been owned by Val's first husband, a husband not mentioned in her recent files because he'd caused her many hours of pain that she didn't like to think about, and it was still, according to the same file, owned by a dead man which had got them thinking that this would be the perfect spot. "After three," he whispered holding up three fingers in case she couldn't hear him because of the distance and she nodded her head in confirmation before talking to the uniformed officer she had accompanying her.

Holding out his gun, Robbie counted to three mentally in his head before moving forward and kicking down the door.

"Open your eyes, sweetheart." Ewan's voice whispered and the man shook his head. "They're coming to get you, please. I don't want to have to tell Ronan that you're..." the man's voice was gone as a loud bang filled the room. Stuart's head spun at the sound, his voice not strong enough to create the groan he was mentally hearing before he tried to focus his eyes on the door.

"Ewan, my eyes are open." He whispered as someone called his name and ran over to him, kneeling beside him and checking his pulse. However after his one declaration to the figment of imagination, Stuart collapsed into a world of black.

TO BE CONTINUED...