Hey all, how are things? Sorry this one is slowing down I have been addicted to CSI: Miami for the last few days thanks to Aphina and "Finding Kate". Still, my email inbox told me that I need to get my ass in gear again and get updating so here goes. This one is based on Miami and I don't own, blah blah blah. You know the drill.

Shane Vanson: There is a little fluff just for you!

BEG75: Flack with a kid is just too cute. You do it so much better than me!

Marialisa: Thank you, I appreciate the review!

Aphina: I'm having so much fun writing Kate, she's great. Your Kate is hooking me too!

Dol: Thanks for the kind words and everything else. You really are the best!

Chapter 10. A father's choice.

Jessica Angell looked at the photographs spread on the desk in the main Trace Lab and sighed. Around the room, Mac and his team were all surveying the results with the same expressions.

"Let's run the story so far," Mac said. "Flack and Stella have gone to interview Mr Kaplan. Maybe he can help us with this."

"I've got Davis and Sully in holding with the wife's sister," Angell said. "Maybe she can shed some light on why they were all at home."

"Evidence in the kitchen suggests that Mom was caught up with a newborn and the toddler," Kate put in. She pointed to the photos that she'd snapped of the chaos around the house. "Dishes were unwashed, place looked like it hadn't been cleaned in months."

"Empty fridge, " Danny continued, " garbage everywhere. They lived on Fast food."

"No sign of struggle," was Hawkes' contribution. "No blood anywhere except around the victims and nothing broken."

"We found some burgers and half eaten fries on the counter," Kate added, consulted her notes. "And some medication in the bedroom for depression. None were taken."

"Looked like Mom wasn't taking very good care of the family," Danny commented.

Kate shot him a glare. "Post natal depression, maybe?"

"IF it is, and she shot her family, does that make it ok?"

Kate was just about to make an argument when Mac stepped in." Ok. Ease up." He turned to the photos of the victims lying on the ground. It didn't take a blind man to see that he was thinking of his own wife and baby at home." What else have we got on the timeline?"

"It appears that Erin came to the mother, went around the father, and then went to the brother and Max," Hawkes said. "I'd say that she was standing over Luke when he bled out."

"Poor baby," Kate said sadly. "She's got nobody left now."

"She has a Dad and an Aunt," Danny reminded her. "She's not alone."

"Why was she the only one not shot?" Mac mused. "Why was she spared?" He looked up at them. "We need to go back to that house and go over it again."

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"Jason Kaplan just got out of surgery," Mac informed Kate as he hung up the phone. "Flack and Stella are interviewing him now. They'll be done soon."

"How's he doing?" Danny asked. "He going to be ok?"

"He's a fighter, according to the doctors," Mac answered. He looked at Danny, who was using his torch to search the doorway of the bedroom. Kate was processing the bedclothes for the second time.

"I've got to get to the Lab," Mac said. "Kate, I need you with me. Hawkes, Danny, you stay here. Fine Comb this place."

"What are you thinking?" Kate asked Mac as they sat in the Jeep on the way back to the Lab. "I'm thinking that Mom got fed up and took a gun to her head after she shot her family."

"I don't know, Mac," Kate said doubtfully. "Something just isn't right about that."

"We'll see what Kaplan says to Flack and Stella." Mac's phone rang. "Taylor. Flack, what have you?"

He listened, then hung up. "Kaplan can't remember anything. HE says he thought he heard the baby cry, then saw his son on the ground. After that, just a flash of heat and nothing else."

"Damn," Kate shook her head. "What about that hair we found on the bed. It's a brunette hair. Mom was blonde."

"Maybe Adam will have something. Kendall volunteered to come in and help too. Should speed things up a little."

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"The owner of your brunette hair was related to Mom," Adam Ross informed them as they entered the Trace Lab. "I'm thinking sister, judging by the DNA results."

"Could Dad have been getting a little on the side from the sister?" Kate wondered, looking at the page. "Have we still got her in questioning?"

"Angell was talking to her," Mac answered. "What say we head on over and see what she has to say."

"I'll have fifty pounds lost running around this building, " Kate complained as she trotted after Mac. "The elevators aren't working today for some reason."

"Maintenance will get them running," Mac said calmly. "Don't panic."

"Mac!" Kendall hurried to catch them before they left the building. "I'm running trace on the bottle you got in the kitchen and the gun." She smiled at Kate. "I'll let you know what I find."

Sara Williams was a pretty brunette with grief stricken dark eyes and a fragile appearance. She sat in the interrogation room nervously twisting her hands together.

"Did you know your sister was seeing a psychiatrist?" Angell asked her.

Kate raised her eyebrows at Mac. This was news to her.

"Yes," Sara answered, her voice wavering. "She wasn't coping. Not sleeping." Tears rose in her eyes. "The baby wasn't sleeping very well. Colic, I think."

"Baby blues are one thing," Angell said evenly. "Post partum psychosis is quite another."

"My sister didn't kill her kids." Sara's voice rose defensively. "She loved them more than anything in the world." She glared at Mac. " Steph was depressed. She wasn't crazy."

"She had medication that she wasn't taking," Kate said quietly.

"She was nursing," Sara answered. "She didn't want to hurt Max." She began to cry. "She loved those children. They were her life."

"We found your hair in their bed," Mac stated. "Were you helping your brother in law to cope?"

Sara looked at them in utter disbelief. "Are you insane? All I wanted was my sister's happiness."

"That goal could get you into trouble," Angell stated flatly. "Where were you yesterday?"

"In Buffalo," Sara answered defiantly. "On business. You can call the airline."

"We'll be doing that," Mac said. "How do you explain your trip between the sheets?"

"I held my sister when she couldn't stop crying," Sara yelled, finally at the end of her rope. "When she couldn't get out of bed and her no good husband gone."

"No good?" Kate asked, observing the fury in the other woman's eyes.

"He hid at work," Sara told her. "He was never there. Steph was alone with four kids."

"Sounds like it was too much for her," Mac said.

"That was too much for anyone," Sara retorted. "She may have been a wreck, but she didn't kill them. None." She sat back and folded her arms.

Just then, a knock sounded at the door. Kendall stood outside. She motioned to Mac, who excused himself and stepped outside the room. Kate immediately followed, curiosity getting the better of her.

"The prints on the bottle are a match to Timothy's," Kendall began. "There were no useful prints on the shotgun." She looked at Kate. "I don't know what to make of this."

"So," Kate mused. "The nine year old was parenting the baby, what was the mother doing?"

"Opening the gun safe?" Kendall suggested. "Her prints are the only ones on it."

"So why didn't she shoot the toddler?" Mac rubbed his eyes and sighed. "This just doesn't add up."

"Maybe she couldn't find her." At Mac's incredulous look, Kate continued. "Think about it, Mac. If she couldn't function, then maybe she couldn't keep track of her kids. Erin could have been playing peek a boo, or something like that. Kids love to play."

"Kate, go back in there and tell Sara Williams that she can go." Mac looked at the woman through the glass on the door. "For now. Then head on down to Autopsy and see if Sid has anything for us."

"He doesn't," Kate said. "I asked him about a half hour ago and he told me he'd be done when he was done."

Her phone rang, startling her. "Kennedy. Hey, Danny. No kidding? Really? Ok, I'll tell him." She hung up the phone and turned to Mac. "Danny and Hawkes found where the toddler was hiding. It was in the kennel out back. They're sending soil samples to Adam now. It should tell us a bit about who was alive and who saw what."

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"Autopsy results, " Kate announced to the rest of the group as they sat in various chairs around the table in Mac's office. "Sid confirmed the gunshot wounds on each as the COD, and our reconstruction of Mom's shooting confirmed that she couldn't have shot herself. She was asleep."

"Blood on the blanket from the kennel proves that Erin was there after someone was injured," Danny began. He looked exhausted. " The transfer from the blanket came from Mom, so she must have gone to her Ma first."

"Any chance she went outside herself?" Mac asked.

"None," Danny replied. "Hawkes and I scraped every inch of that blanket. There is no trace of soil from the back yard on it or the clothes she was wearing. Someone carried her."

"This is getting frustrating," Flack growled. He'd stayed silent so far, taking it all in. Now he stood up and paced. "We have a ton of evidence, but nothing that can tell us who murdered this kid's family."

"We'll get there, Flack," Stella said, putting a restraining hand on his arm. "Evidence never lies."

"Let's check the shoes," Kate suggested. "We can see who carried her from the trace on the soles."

"Already done," Adam said. "Luke had traces of the soil on their shoes. So did Dad."

"Whoever carried the toddler into the yard, did so with Mom's blood, which means someone was standing when she died." Kate was pacing around rapidly. "So that means that this isn't a murder suicide." She looked around at the faces of her colleagues. "Guys, that means - "

"This is a murder," Stella said grimly. "Someone killed them."

"And it had to be Luke or Dad," Hawkes added. He looked as sick as Kate felt.

"Think a sixteen year old kid is capable of doing that?" Angell asked. "He's a kid."

"A kid with an ulcer," Kate put in, holding up the autopsy report. "Maybe he got tired of doing everything for everyone. Maybe he snapped."

"We've looked at the spatter, " Adam said, showing them pictures of the stains on Luke's pants. "I think its transfer."

"Of Mom's blood?" Flack looked sickened. "That means that Mom was dead. That kid walked in and spotted his Mom dead, his baby sister standing in her blood, and then - "

"Took Erin and hid her outside," Danny interjected, his eyes lighting up. "So he came back in and went to take the baby. Meanwhile - "

"Shooter was upstairs taking out Timmy," Stella finished. She looked appalled. "Jason Kaplan is the shooter."

"Hold up," Mac said, putting a hand in the air to silence the mass of explanations. "Why would Kaplan shoot his own family?"

"I don't know," Kate said grimly. "But I know how to tell. Adam, where is the trace from the baby?"

"The infant's own blood was here," Adam said, pointing to a spot on the neck. "Luke's was on the arm, Mom's spatter here."

"Where's Dad's blood," Mac asked, getting to his feet.

"Right there," Adam said, pointing to the drops on the other shoulder.

"Those are gravitational droplets," Mac said. He turned to Stella, who had come up behind him. "We got him."

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"Today sucked," Kate said to Flack as they stood outside the room of the hospital where little Erin Kaplan was being discharged. Sara Williams had already been granted custody of the little girl following her father's arrest. "Did you hear what he said when Mac and Angell went to arrest him?"

"No." Flack looked interested. "What was his excuse?"

Kate looked disgusted. "He told them that he never slept. They were slowly driving him out of his mind because they always wanted more."

"Oh my God," Flack was appalled. "He's going to try for a plea of insanity."

"He's claiming post partum psychosis by proxy," Kate told him, her mouth tightening.

"You believe him?"

"I believe he had a choice," Kate answered. She tipped her face up to look at him. "He chose to use that gun and shoot his children and his wife." Her eyes were blazing with fury. "He killed his entire family. A father's dilemma my ass, Flack. It was a father's choice. He deserves everything he gets."

"She does too," Flack said, pointing to Erin Kaplan, currently being held tightly in her aunt's arms. She was smiling at the nurse. When she spotted Flack her eyes lit up. She immediately held out her little arms, babbling excitedly.

"Hey there, doll," Flack reached out and took her, smiling at Sara, whose eyes were red rimmed. "Did you miss me?"

"Serena told us that you were very good to Erin," Sara said gratefully. "You saved her life." Tears rolled down her cheeks. "She's all I have left of my sister, Detective. I just wanted to thank you."

"No problem," Flack said. He tickled the child's nose and handed her back to her aunt. "Take care, Erin."

"Bye," Kate said, watching as Sara took Erin down the hall. She looked up at Flack. He looked unusually serious. "You ok?"

"Yeah," he said after a pause. "I really hope she's ok."

"You saved her," Kate reminded him. "You're a good guy, remember?"

He looked down at her. "Am I?"

She felt her face grow hot. "You are. I told you that before."

"You also kissed me," Flack pointed out. "We never did talk about that. We just left it."

"What are you, female?" Kate joked, suddenly feeling like this was getting way out of her control. Panic set in as he turned and faced her. She stepped back hastily.

"No, " he replied. He opened his mouth, seemingly about to say something, then shut it again. Repeating the process, he scrubbed a hand through his dark hair in frustration.

"What?" Kate asked him, something dancing in her belly. "What is it. just say it." Without even realising it, she was backing away from him.

"You called me nice. And kissed me."

"You said that already."

Once again, he seemed lost for words. The look in his blue eyes confused her as well as scaring her a little. It was intense. Like there was nobody else in the vicinity, despite various hospital personnel passing them.

Flack stepped towards her, enjoying her look of confusion as she realised her back was to the wall.

"Flack?"

"Yes?"

"I don't think that I - "

"To hell with it." He pushed her right up against the wall and gripped her arms in his big hands.

Her protest was cut off as his mouth crashed down on hers. She tensed instinctively, but realised that the small whimper she was hearing was her own. Heat speared through her and she found herself kissing him back. Some instinct made her push against him until he moved away.

"I'm sorry," he said immediately. "I don't know what came over me."

She could only stare up at him, eyes wide with confusion. Stormy blue ones met hers. "What was that?"

"To hell with it," Flack swore again. "I wanted to do that, ok? I wanted to." He strode towards the double doors at the end of the hospital corridor. "I want to do it again, too," he added as he shoved them open and disappeared through them.

"Wait!" Kate dashed after him, finally finding her voice. "Flack, stop!" She realised that people were looking at them, so she took his arm and dragged him towards the stairwell.

"I'm not apologising," Flack said, looking defiant. "Don't wait for me to."

"You just kissed me," Kate began, ordering herself to be calm. "You kissed me, and then told me you wanted to kiss me. You'd like to kiss me again, and you won't apologise for that. Have I got it straight so far?"

"Yep."

"Ok." She watched as his eyes grew wide. "Ok," she repeated with a small smile.

"Ok?" The words came out as a question.

"Flack," Kate said patiently. "Get your brain back in gear." She moved in closer. "I'd like it if you'd kiss me again."

"Just doing my civic duty," he said with a grin as he lowered his head to hers again.

"This doesn't mean you can just not make an effort," Kate told him, pulling away suddenly. "I want to be taken on a proper date."

"A proper date, huh?" Flack teased. "Ok. How's Friday? Worked for Bosco - hey!" as she gave him a dig in the ribs. "Kidding. Can we go home now?"

"I've got work to do at the lab," Kate said with a grimace. "How about we just talk later. I'll call you when I get home."

"Sounds good to me," Flack said, before indulging himself with another kiss. It had taken him long enough, he thought, smirking at the thought of Tara's face.

She was going to be insufferable.

A/n: Got sick of them dancing around each other. I'm not sure quite how romantic Flack is, or how this is going to work for them. Kate has some problems in store. Any ideas where they should go for a first date? I think I'll do that in the next chapter. I feel the need for a little fluff for a while. Too much drama in life!!

Please review! Thanks!!