A/N: Well I must confess this didn't turn out as well as I had hoped so here are the last two chapters. Thanks to all who have read and reviewed.

Chapter 11

Adam swallowed and took a deep breath. He stared at the door in front of him and knocked gently before tentatively pushing it open. He stopped short, surprised to see the hospital bed empty. He whirled around as he heard his name called from behind him. "Hi Jo. Hi Boss! I er ..." Adam suddenly couldn't find the words he had so carefully prepared. He stood back to allow Jo to push Mac back into the room. Jo pushed the wheelchair to the other side of the room next to an armchair. She bent down to whisper something to Mac. He nodded and she turned to leave.

Jo smiled at Adam. "I'm just going to check on Bruce. Can you keep Mac company until I get back?". Adam nodded. "Make sure he doesn't try to escape!" She grinned as she closed the door quietly behind her..

Adam turned to look at Mac who smiled and gestured to the chair. "Come and have a seat Adam. " Adam looked nervously at his boss as he moved to sit down. He was surprised to see Mac looking as well as he did. Admittedly his left shoulder was heavily bandaged and his arm was strapped tight to his chest to prevent him from using those muscles but he looked perfectly relaxed in dark blue sweats and over-sized t-shirt. Adam sank into the visitor's chair grateful that Mac didn't seem at all mad at him. In fact, Adam thought, Mac almost seemed pleased to see him. Adam fiddled with his hands unable to look Mac in the face as he tried to remember the speech he had rehearsed. "How are you coping Adam?" Mac asked quietly. Adam's head snapped up. He hadn't expected Mac to ask him how he was doing.

"What? … How am I ...?" He spluttered. "I'm … er … fine. I guess. I ..." He took a deep breath. "I want to thank you … er … for what you did. You shouldn't have done it. I mean … not for me. You shouldn't have ..." Adam wasn't able to continue as a lump formed in his throat.

"Adam?" Mac smiled as Adam looked up at him. "I once told one of my staff that I will protect three things at any cost: the honour of my country, the safety of my city and the integrity of my lab. I was wrong. There are four things I will protect at any cost. I missed out the most important thing. The people I care for. And I would do it again. Without hesitation!" The intensity of Mac's words and the look in his eyes left Adam in no doubt. Suddenly a feeling of warmth and belonging swept over him and in that moment, just briefly, Adam understood what had pushed Rowan to do what he did. He couldn't imagine how he would feel if he was no longer a part of this team, if he didn't have the support and the friendship they freely offered. Even the mere thought of losing that made him shudder.

"What's going to happen to Rowan?" he asked.

Mac shook his head, his face sad. "In reality he should be charged with attempted murder, kidnapping, criminal damage and a whole host of minors but Jo is going to talk with his doctors and then with the D.A. I don't think they'll bring charges. He needs help not imprisonment."

"I'm sorry Mac."

"What do you have to be sorry for?"

"This is my fault. I could have ..."

"None of this is your fault Adam. How could you have known was he was planning?" Mac looked at Adam and instinctively knew that Adam was feeling guilty about something.

"I saw him Mac." Mac frowned. "The night before he went to the school, before he gave the piece to Lucy. He was in the coffee shop opposite the lab. He seemed so … normal. He said everything was great and how we should get together to catch upon old times. I can't believe he was planning this whole thing. It's crazy..." Adam's voice trailed away. Mac didn't say anything sensing that Adam wasn't finished. Adam's head dropped as a sense of guilt washed over him. "You know I always found it hard to get on with him when we worked together. I would try to avoid him. He was so strange … er ... I mean I know I'm a bit strange, … well kinda' odd really ... no more like zany … no quirky … yeah that's it quirky! I know that ... but he was ..." Adam looked at Mac who was smiling at him again and realized that he was rambling. He took a deep breath. "It's just that after that weird appearance at Anna's wedding, well I didn't know what to say to him … if I had just made some excuse … if only I'd thought quicker … Mac I'm so sorry! If I'd have done something different this would never have happened..."

"Adam!" The tone of Mac's voice forced Adam to look up again. "You couldn't have prevented this. Now what's done is done. Rowan is going to get the help he needs and Bruce looks as though he's going to make it too."

"But what about you?" Mac leaned back in his chair touched by the concern in the young man's eyes.

"I'm fine. Now stop worrying. Tell me what's going on at the lab? Is everyone behaving themselves?"

Adam smiled and finally began to relax as they chatted about developments on their two current cases, one involving blue sugar trace which got them side-tracked onto the subject of cocktails and bars. When Jo got back, she was surprised to see them sitting and laughing over some private joke. She watched them through the window for a time. She thought back to her visit to Rowan Leech. It made her sad to think of him sitting there rocking endlessly back and forth, wrapped in his own misery, cut off from the people he admired and loved. Had life been hard on him or was he responsible for the position he found himself in? Jo looked at Adam. He wasn't unlike Rowan in many ways. Both quirky, shy personalities, both geniuses in their fields. How had they come to take such different paths? Jo prayed that Rowan would find the help he needed and perhaps get back some part of the life he so desperately craved. Jo turned as she sensed Don come up behind her.

"How are you doing Jo?" he asked as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"I'm fine." She answered giving him the first genuine smile he'd seen from her in while. He had a sneaking suspicion that Jo cared rather more for Mac than she let on and that the last two days had been especially hard on her.

Don huffed. "Hey, that's Mac's line." Jo arched an eyebrow as Don looked over her shoulder. Adam laughed at something Mac had said. "Well look at them. No one would believe that it's only been 36 hours since it happened." Don shook his head. "He's not going to press charges is he?"

Jo shook her head. "No."

"Bruce doesn't want to either. Can you believe it? This crazy kid almost killed them both and neither wants to put him behind bars." Don shook his head in dismay.

"Rowan didn't really mean to hurt them Don. And he's not mentally fit to stand trial."

"Yeah. Well I think he still deserves to be in prison."

Jo sighed. "I think he's already in prison, just like Luke Robertson. " Don stared at Jo in incomprehension. "A prison of their own making. They ended up hurting those they cared for the most and neither of them can forgive themselves."

Don shrugged. "Well at least it looks like Adam's off the hook. He was convinced Mac was either going to kill him or fire him." They both noticed Mac wince and shift uncomfortably as Adam chattered on, his arms flying through the air. "Come on let's go rescue Mac from another of Adam's shaggy dog stories."

Jo laughed and agreed but secretly she delighted in seeing Mac and Adam together. She couldn't imagine the New York Crime Lab without them.

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