C.J. had often thought about having children of her own. Not seriously like she was going to go out and do it tomorrow. She was still young enough after all to put it off until she found that person she wanted to share that experience with…get married and raise a family together. She hadn't been close…well that wasn't exactly true. There'd been that one time when she'd been much younger but she didn't want to go there.

She'd doubted Matt had been looking for that in the women he dated…since he didn't take the whole thing seriously. But it was different for guys like him. They could sire children in their eighties if they chose whereas women, the window of opportunity was much shorter.

She sat in the office catching up on some paperwork while Matt had yet to come to the office. She knew that he'd taken Cynthia the daughter of a prominent senator out clubbing last night.

So it might it might be noon by the time he finally dropped in.

Chris poked her head in the office.

"You want some coffee…I'm going to pick up a latte at that new place down the street."

"Sure…I just got to finish up some court papers here."

Then the phone rang and when she saw who it was, she answered it immediately.

Matt pulled his car into the parking lot. He'd been out late last night with Cynthia but hadn't spent the night at her place. The paparazzi had been following them so he'd left her at her house. He didn't know if they'd be going out again soon. He'd met her through his involvement in the charity organization that was building the new wing at Wilshire Memorial…which he chose due to all the time he'd spent there in the ER or as a patient. Besides, after they'd taken such good care of his best friend C.J. there a month ago…he figured he owed them.

She'd come back to work as if she never left and wanted to be out in the field with him. He remanded her to office duty with some protest for the past few weeks until the doctor cleared her for more activity.

"Be careful. I don't want to see either of you again."

Those had been Dr. Peters' closing words when C.J. had been wheeled out of the hospital to go home to finish recuperating. She'd gone back into training with Too Mean soon enough to regain any edge she felt she might have lost and the former football player turned bodyguard told him that she'd kicked his ass on the mat soon enough.

She was one tough woman…but then Matt thought, tell me something I don't know. Still she had to wait to go back on active duty on case. Carl had fussed over his girlfriend too until he had to fly back to Chicago. He'd gotten all the way to the final round for the position at Caltech but he still had to finish up his projects over a thousand miles east of them. He did know better than to try to tell C.J. what to do…she'd put him in his place well enough if he tried that.

He took the elevator up the stairs and saw C.J. eating a Danish by the bar. She smiled at him.

"You got here…"

He walked over to her to pour himself some coffee.

"Yes I did…didn't oversleep either."

She nodded approvingly.

"How's Cynthia doing?"

"She's at home. I crashed as soon as I got to my place after dropping her off."

She arched her brows at him.

"You didn't invite her in for a drink?"

He shook his head.

"Turned in early…got that conference call with Murray and the head of that pharmaceutical company this morning."

"Ah that…I wish I could help you," she said, "I left some specs for you on your desk."

"Thanks…"

She went back to her office and he watched her go. He'd promised Carl that he'd keep an eye on the girlfriend. As her best friend who had no designs on her whatsoever, he was obviously trustworthy…though Carl wasn't the jealous type. He knew that C.J. only had eyes for him…but Matt hoped he knew how lucky he was to have a woman like her.

C.J. was the complete package. Beauty, brains, just enough brawn to take care of herself and a heart so big…well the best friend a person could ever have and…though his one night he'd spent with her didn't make him an authority…well he really shouldn't be thinking about that part of it right now.

The past was the past…best leave it there after all. It wasn't something a guy quickly forgot.

Then the phone rang.

Matt called C.J. over to listen to the disturbing message on the answering machine from a young girl named Marcie. She'd been looking for her younger sister Butterfly who'd been snatched from her. She knew who did it too.

A man named "St. Nick" had been responsible. C.J had been putting some time in at a women's crisis center during her free time.

"He's a pimp Houston…specializes in younger girls."

"What's his real name…when he's not ripping off Santa Claus."

She shrugged.

"Don't know. No one knows who he really is…though there's rumors that there's someone in a position of power involved…and a lot of secrecy around him."

"I guess we'd better go find her."

"I've just faxed the notes to Murray on the merger so I'll be ready…"

He looked at her carefully.

"You sure?"

She rolled her eyes at the man.

"I'm sure…Too Mean told you I just handed his ass back to him on a platter didn't he? Houston I'm ready to go back out there."

"But…"

She put a hand up.

"No buts Houston…or I'll hand your ass back to you on a plate…got it?"

He nodded.

"Then let's get a move on okay?"

They left the penthouse suite to go look for their new client.

Marcia looked younger than her 16 years…and she didn't stop moving for an instant. Matt had tried to get her settled in the office but all she could talk about was how "St. Nick" had gotten her hands on her sister and how she had to find her quick.

They'd been on the run for two years running away from a stepfather who couldn't keep his own hands to himself. Their mother had been too into her new husband and what he could do for her to stop him from trying to molest her daughters. So Marcia and Butterfly had split one night.

"I almost did the same thing once Houston…when I was in foster care."

She'd been a ward of the state for not so long but she'd done time with three families. One of which had been headed by a man who made her uncomfortable the whole time she was there. He hadn't known that but then she didn't talk about it much. Just that she had a father who died when she'd been young in a car bomb explosion related to his job and a mother who died mostly of a broken heart within a year. There'd been several years between that and being placed with an uncle who lived next to the ranch owned by Matt's daddy.

"What'd you do?"

Matt knew what he would have done if he'd known about it then…or even knew her. But they'd met up later and had become fast friends.

"I was going to run Houston…had a bag packed underneath the bed but then his wife called to have me taken away…said I was too friendly with her husband and she couldn't trust me. Nothing about what he was doing."

He just listened to her until Marcie came back after cleaning up from downstairs.

"So how am I going to find her? How am I going to find my sister before it's too late?"

Matt and C.J. looked at each other. They still had no idea who the pimp really was and that any searches so far had resulted in dead ends. They needed to find "St. Nick" before locating Butterfly.

"I got to go out and look for her now."

Matt and C.J. had been on Baby looking for viable suspects. But didn't find out very much.

"He's going to give her off to some politician…a senator…if no one stops him. She's just 14."

That filled both Matt and C.J. with disgust. A man like that…who used his position…well Matt could think of a half dozen things to do with him none of them legal. He had to focus on finding Butterfly and getting her away from St. Nick.

But first things first.

"Did you go to the police?"

The girl just stared at him.

"You're kidding right…"

He sighed.

"No I'm not…they're the ones best equipped to help you. If it helps, I know a lieutenant there who can help you."

She shook her head at him.

"They won't help and if I go to them, they'll lock me up for hooking. The pimps are untouchables…they're too busy putting us girls into jail instead."

"Lt. Hoyt's not like that…he'll help you."

She just didn't seem interested.

"No thanks…look if you can't help me. I'll go get her myself."

He shook his head.

"It's too dangerous…"

She didn't look too afraid.

"I know and my little sister's in the middle of it. I got to help her. Someone's got to help her and I hoped that'd be you… I read the rag that called you sexiest…"

C.J. finished it for him.

"The PEOPLE one…sexiest millionaire/investigator."

Marcia nodded.

"Yeah…I don't care about all that. Men are creeps…all of them but I want to hire you to find her. I don't got much money but I'm good for it in other ways."

"I'm not interested in those other ways Marcia. You just let me handle that part of it okay? Just focus on telling me how I might find her."

It hadn't worked out that way after all. Marcia had gotten scared and bolted. In fact, she'd hotwired his car and drove off on it. He'd reported it stolen but told Hoyt to have the police go easy on her. All she wanted to do was find Butterfly.

So did he and C.J. But they had no idea where to start looking. So they went down to the garage to his fleet of cars, picked one out, got into it and started driving around L.A.

Needle in a haystack. As it turned out more than one needle.

Matt had felt like a failure only several times in his life. Where his best hadn't been nearly good enough and this was one of them. The police had found his stolen car with Marcia inside of it.

Only she was deceased as the coroner put it, most likely another homicide from the Sunset strip. He and C.J. had gone to claim her body. Her parents sure hadn't done that. She'd looked so young, like the child she still was, laying under a white sheet on the steel table.

"We'll pay for her burial," Matt said, "if she needs a plot, got a family one back in Texas."

C.J. nodded.

"I'll untangle any bureaucracy," she said, "Plus I know someone in the ME's office."

Hoyt walked up behind them, his face etched with concern. Even a seasoned officer who'd seen everything couldn't help but be affected by the sight in front of him.

"I'll clear the path but we still got to find next of kin and notify them first."

Matt sighed.

"If they even bother to respond," he said, "Marcia told us the stepfather abused her and her sister."

Hoyt nodded.

"That's why so many girls wind up on the streets with creeps like this "St. Nick" in the first place."

"Any word on an ID?"

Hoyt shook his head.

"I'd hoped to ask Marcia that when we caught up with her but someone made sure she couldn't tell anyone anything."

C.J. couldn't take her eyes off of the young girl.

"She didn't seem to know when she talked to us. He might be someone in a position of importance or with money…enough to conceal his illegal trades."

Matt sighed.

"We've got to find him so we can Butterfly. Marcia died trying to protect her little sister. It's up to us to make sure she succeeds."

"Houston…"

He shook his head.

"No Hoyt…she's our client. That didn't stop because she was murdered."

The lieutenant looked at C.J. but she didn't give him an inch either.

"I'm with him."

Hoyt shook his head.

"C.J. you just got shot not too long ago."

She smiled.

"I'm back now…and the flowers were really nice."

They did rescue Butterfly, a young girl with thick brunette hair and a heart shaped face. She of course got her heart broken upon hearing about the death of her older sister. Matt and C.J. vowed to go after her killer and the men who'd kidnapped Butterfly and put them away forever.

A male prostitute who knew Marcia had come forward but was scared to death that he'd be next on the hit list. He'd had some information on St. Nick but Matt still felt stymied as he went out to investigate the new leads.

C.J. spent time with Butterfly who was under guard by a security detail provided by a subsidiary of Matt's empire. She ate some dinner and then was tucked into bed by the lawyer. She didn't seem eager to fall asleep right away…too much sorrow about what had happened to Marcia.

"She took care of me…even though they said she was a hooker."

A loaded word to come out of such a young girl's mouth. C.J. didn't know how to do anything like tread cautiously with Butterfly about her sister's life and then death.

"C.J. do hookers go to question?"

She just looked at the expectant expression on Butterfly's face and knew that question's answer stood between their client and a good night's sleep and probably something more long-term than that.

"That's a tough question. Let me rephrase it another way. Do girls who love their younger sisters to the point where they'll do anything to protect them go to heaven?"

Butterfly reached her and hugged her so tightly, crying into her chest. C.J. just held the younger girl who had been through so much so young. She knew what it'd been like not to have her parents able to take care of her…to have that left on others who perhaps didn't welcome the responsibility.

At least working with Matt on his father's ranch had kept her grounded even while living with an uncle she barely saw. Life could have so easily gone so much worse for her than what she faced…she could have wound up like Butterfly and her sister.

After she settled the young girl down to sleep for a while, she went to pour herself some Scotch. Some cases more than others just hit too close to home for her and this was one of them.

Matt came across her drinking the Scotch. He had actually overheard her conversation with Butterfly but hadn't interfered or let on. He'd just gone upstairs to deal with some business that Murray had sent him that just needed his signature. His hunt for St. Nick had been fruitless and the male prostitute…he'd been more scared than anything else and now turned up missing.

Like so many kids in his situation. Matt had known that this reality had existed buried somewhere unseen from the wealth and power of the upper echelons of society in L.A. But to have to stare him in the face while hunting down the elusive killer of now two young teens had sickened him to the point where he wanted to beat someone's head in…St. Nick and the state senator who'd purchased Butterfly for his own use.

"You want a glass?"

C.J. had poured him some Scotch already and handed it to him. He sipped it gratefully while thinking of his next move.

"I think I might know the senator…have a name," he said, "I could try to find St. Nick on that end of it."

She nodded.

"That could work…so who's the pedophile in the Senate?"

Matt named him. C.J. winced.

"Doesn't he have a daughter named Cynthia?"

Yeah he knew that already, as he nodded.

"I doubt she knows that side of her father," he said, "but she will soon enough."

C.J. refilled her glass.

"There's no word on the parents," she said, "They should know by now unless they're under a rock. I just can't understand why they don't come forward."

Matt shook his head.

"Maybe the stepfather doesn't want to be exposed for what he really is C.J."

She stared at her glass.

"Yeah…maybe…"

He sighed.

"Not everyone's fit to be a parent."

After all, he'd met his own biological father within hours of the man's death. The man whose wife had died not long after birthing him, the tragedy driving him to the bottle and a nervous breakdown. Bill had taken in Matt as a baby and if it hadn't been for him…Matt just closed his eyes because there's so few people he told this story to…keeping it in the family.

But looking at C.J. he didn't want to keep anything from her so when the time was right…he'd sit down and tell her.

Butterfly looked so pretty in her brand new gingham dress and bows in her long hair. New shoes on her feet and a teddy bear given to her by her social worker. Her parents had surfaced but the mother said she'd feel better if someone else raised her surviving daughter. They did take Marcia back for burial after a funeral service at St. Brenden's.

Chris and the social worker had tried to find a foster family to raise Butterfly and did one better. A nice couple with a young daughter wanted to adopt her and give her a forever home. After the background checks, examinations and interviews, they were approved for a tentative adoption for a year before it'd be finalized.

But C.J. and Matt knew the young girl had found her parents. They'd hugged and kissed her goodbye telling her to keep in touch or that they were only a phone call away. After she'd gone with the social worker to meet her new parents, they both felt the emptiness right away.

"I'll miss her Houston…"

"So will I…"

She'd left for the airport to meet Carl who'd be flying in to see her for the weekend and Matt decided to invite his father for a weekend of fishing and hiking up in Pinewood. They'd not seen each other in a while and more than anything right now, he wanted to spend time with his daddy.

He'd already buried the one who'd sired him and then showed up in time to save him. But Bill, the one who had taken him in and raised him, he would always be his father.