Scott….

"They can't take her away." I said sternly as I clenched the back on my chair tightly. I felt like I was going to fall over.

"They can and they might Scott. There's nothing we can do about it." He said leaning back with a sigh.

"We can and WILL keep them together. They won't be taken apart, that's the worst thing they could ever even think to do." I said angrily. He narrowed his eyes. One thing about Jim, he hates being told what to do.

"They have reason Scott, their undercover cop was involved with her, you could be lying to save her ass for all they know. You're an invalid source!" he yelled. I looked down with a sigh, still holding the chair. This is all my fault. I never should've let it go as far as it did.

"I've never lied on a case Jim, have you told them that or are you just living this up?" I snapped. He slammed his fist on the desk.

"I did what I could Scott, that's all that can be done. Just get over it; she seemed to me like a whore anyways." I clenched the seat tighter, right along with my jaw as my temper hit the roof.

"What did you just say about her?" I said through clenched teeth.

"I said; she seems like a whore anyways. I mean come on Scott; she screwed you in the park. Only a slut would do that." I started shaking. He did not just say that to me…

"You followed us?" I growled. He rolled his eyes.

"I've got better things to do than to watch you get lucky Scott. It was a backup agent." I nearly flew off the handle at this point. I picked up the chair and threw it at the wall. "Scott!" he yelled angrily when it broke into pieces.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" I screamed at him, getting up in his face.

"I think I'm your boss and you're risking your job right now!" he yelled right back into my face.

"I don't give a sh-"

"Hey! Both of you back off!" Jackson yelled as he pulled me back from Jim. I shrugged him off and got right back in his face.

"How dare you, why did you put me on the case if you were going to have us followed?"

"Because I found out I couldn't trust your judgment, you were too close to her to trust." I clenched my fists and felt Jackson hold onto my arm again.

"Come on Scott, it's not worth it, let's just go."

"All of this is your fault you asinine bastard." I spat angrily, letting Jackson pull me away from him.

"You'll thank me later." He said flatly. I stopped dead in my tracks again, feeling my anger take over again.

"And why would I ever thank you?" I spat turning around. I heard Jackson sigh.

"Because I stopped you two before it could get any further." He said looking down at paperwork like nothing was going on.

"You did WHAT?" I hissed angrily. I heard Jackson mumble something behind me.

"I sent that agent over early. I knew it'd end everything and you'd be back to work like before." He said shrugging.

"Awe hell." Jackson mumbled holding onto me again.

"So it's your fault this happened?" I asked filled with anger and astonishment.

"Of course it is." He said like I was stupid. "She wasn't right for you anyways, you can do better." Jackson tightened his hold on me; he knew that was the last straw.

"I can do better?" he nodded. "You don't even know her. There is NO one out there even close to her, let alone better." I spat. "She is the best there is." I tried to step forward but Jackson was one step ahead of me.

"You clearly haven't been out ever." He said making a face. I tried going at him again but Jackson's stronger than me.

"Why do you care? Does it matter if I'm with someone not up to your standards?" I snapped.

"It affects your work Scott; I won't have that crap going on here." He said irritated.

"That'll happen no matter who I'm with Jim, is that why I've never been able to settle down?"

"Think what you want Scott, I did what was best for the case."

"For the case? What about what's best for ME?" I yelled.

"That crap doesn't matter to me Scott." He stated easily.

"Oh hell no." Jackson said letting go of me. I stepped forward and punched him square in the face, knocking him out of his chair backwards.

"You can talk all the crap about me you want, but don't you dare ever mention a single word about my Reba." I said towering over him angrily.

"Go Scott." Jackson said proudly. I turned around and half smiled at him.

"Felt good but it's not enough." I said looking back at my stunned boss.

"What the hell did you just do?" he asked with his hand on his bleeding nose.

"I'm doing what's best for the case; I don't give a rats ass about you." I said smiling. Jackson busted up laughing.

"You're going to lose your job over this!" he yelled. I smiled bigger.

"I better go out with a bang then." I said punching him hard again.

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"What do you want for lunch?" I asked Hailey as she sat at the table and drew. It made me smile to see it.

"Can I have spaghetti?" I laughed sitting beside her.

"Yes you can, I think that sounds yummy." She smiled over at me, making me smile bigger.

"Can I help you make it?" she asked hopefully.

"I'd love that!" I said excitedly. I stood up and got the supplies out.

"I drew you another picture mommy." She said smiling from ear to ear. I walked over and picked it up. It was a picture of a redhead and a little blonde girl. Me and Hailey I'm guessing. We were smiling and holding hands. I loved it.

"I love it baby." I said hugging her. She squeezed me back.

"Thank you mommy." I pulled back and looked at her.

"I want you to get all your drawings together for me so I can hang them up for thanksgiving dinner tomorrow okay?" her whole face lit up.

"Okay! Is Scott coming to dinner? He said he'd bring me a banana cream pie." I felt my heart sink a little.

"Honey, I don't think Scott's going to be coming around here anymore." Her face fell, making me feel like total, utter crap.

"Why not? Cheyenne said he'd be back." I let out a sigh as I felt a flair of anger at my daughter for giving my baby false hope. I held her hands.

"Some things have happened and mommy has to deal with them. I don't think it'd be a good idea to have him around anymore." I hated having to tell her this; I never should've had him around her.

"Did you have a fight?" she asked looking sad.

"Yes we did."

"My old mommy use to tell me if I said sorry when I was in a fight, everything would be better again." I felt the tears tickle my throat.

"Things are a little more complicated than that this time honey."

"Did he make you mad?" I sighed.

"A little bit."

"Did he say he was sorry?"

"Yes but sometimes sorry isn't enough Hailey, sometimes you need to do more than just say sorry." I said honestly.

"Did he try to make it better?" I bit the inside of my lip and just looked into those beautiful little eyes. "Did he mommy?" I closed my eyes.

"Yes he did."

"Then why can't he come over if he tried? Didn't you tell me trying your best was all that mattered?" my eyes filled up with tears. I think I just learned a life lesson from a four year old.

"I did say that didn't I?" she nodded.

"Yes you did." I let a sigh out.

"Should I call him over for lunch then?" a smile spread across her face.

"Yeah!" I smiled a little as I stood up.

"I'll call him then." I felt the butterflies flood my stomach. Am I really going to make things right with him?

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Scott..

"What?" Jackson snapped into the phone. I wasn't allowed to use my phone for some stupid reason. "Oh hell honey, I'm sorry." He said quickly in a completely different tone. Even his face changed.

"Who is it?" I whispered to him curiously. His wife wouldn't call my phone when his never even went off.

"Reba." He mouthed to me. My cocky smile from earlier events fell.

"Reba?" I asked in a higher voice, like maybe I misread his lips. He nodded.

"Well, there were a few things that came up just a little bit ago." He said raising his eyebrows while rubbing the back of his neck. "He can't talk right now."

"What the hell's going on? Give me the phone." I said standing up to go get the phone. I was quickly stopped by the handcuffs that had me attached to my little bench.

"Sit your ass back down Scott; you don't need to get in anymore trouble." He snapped in a hushed tone. Reba must've heard him because he sighed and ran a hand over his face. "No, he'll be alright here shortly. Just in a bit of trouble with our boss right now." He said honestly. He looked over at me with a little smile as he shook his head. "I'll pass that right along to him Miss Red." At that they hung up.

"What's going on?" I said before he could take a breath.

"If you can get out of here by 7 she wants you to come over for dinner." I'm glad I was sitting down because I would've fallen over if I wasn't.

"She what?" I asked stunned. He laughed at me.

"She said she's thought everything over and her and Hailey want you to come over for dinner." He said leaning on the wall beside me.

"Did she sound angry?" he shook his head. "She was sincere when she said she wants me to come over because she's thought everything over?" I felt all my joy bubble in my stomach and beg to be screamed out loud.

"I think she's ready to give you two another go. Don't know what changed so quickly but something must've." He laughed at me. "Boy, you better quit smiling at me like that before I slap it off you." I laughed too. I tried to run my hand through my hair but I couldn't reach because my hand was handcuffed to the bench. All the joy inside of me fizzled out.

"Shit Jackson, I can't go over there now. I just lost my job and she might lose Hailey." I felt like punching Jim in the face just one more time. It was all his fault anyways.

"Tell her the truth." He said shrugging. I felt my anger flair.

"Yes, since that worked WONDERS last time." I snapped. He made a face.

"None of this is my fault here Scott, you're the one who got yourself into this mess this deep. If anything I've tried helping your sorry ass." He was mad. I sighed and ran my free hand over my face.

"Look, I'm sorry Jackson. I know you've tried to help me. It just seems like no matter what I do I'm going to lose here." He sighed and shook his head.

"You two are supposed to be together. If that's true, then it'll happen one way or another." I closed my eyes.

"That can't happen if she doesn't let it." I leaned back and he nodded knowingly.

"You did what you had to do and you even gave your job up for her, she'll come around." I smiled a little.

"Felt good throwing my job away." He laughed.

"Looked like it felt good too." I nodded laughing.

"Thanks for letting me do it." I said looking up at him. He nodded smiling.

"If you didn't, I would have. What he was saying was way out of line. I wasn't going to stand for that crap either." I laughed.

"And to think; you're the level headed one of us." He laughed nodding. "But you risked your job to let me hit him. You didn't have to do that for me." Everything seemed to go serious.

"I did have to do that Scott. For you, for me, for Reba, and for that little girl that means so much to all of us." I didn't know what I felt.

"Thank you Jackson." I said quietly. Before he could say anything, my bosses boss came around the corner.

"Alright Scott, time for your questioning." He said easily. He was such an easy going guy. Any other time I loved talking to him but when I do something wrong, his laid back attitude gets put back and I may as well have killed his dog. Jackson undid the handcuffs and I followed Michael around the corner to his office. I sat down and felt like a little kid being sent to the office.

"Jackson, you can leave now." Michael order instead of suggested. He didn't budge.

"What happened was as much my doing as it was his sir." They just stared at each other with stern eyes till Michael gave in and turned his eyes on me.

"So could you please explain to me why you beat the hell out of Jim? I know it was bound to happen eventually but I thought you had more self control than that." I swallowed.

"He crossed way too many lines sir. Ones that I just couldn't handle him crossing." He leaned back in his chair.

"You do realize you almost destroyed a 3 year investigation correct?" I was stunned.

"I had no idea sir." I said in shock.

"You do realize I said 'almost', correct?" I just sat there with my jaw half opened as I tried to keep up with what he was trying to say. "He confessed to all the things we had no hard proof of. We had his room bugged but he was very careful of the things he said. We had a few things we could use against him but not enough to take him to court. Because of you, we can finally put him away." My jaw completely dropped.

"Jim's going to jail?" he nodded. "But I was the cop he always sent undercover illegally, am I going to jail here too?" I felt my nerves build up.

"We have hard proof that you were against it every time, every step of the way but were forced to by obligation to your job." I felt stunned. "However, we do have the one argument that you didn't come to me when you realized the laws being broken." I felt myself sink in the chair a little bit. "But I can work around that easily." I let a little sigh out.

"What happens to Hailey now?" I said automatically. He sighed.

"It would be a very hard case to win to keep her there." I felt like screaming. She can't leave, she just can't.

"But it was a false investigation, doesn't that mean anything?" Jackson said behind me. I forgot he was even there.

"That's the reason it'd be so hard. Every piece of information correlating to the case has to be disregarded. There's no proof she's a suitable guardian for the girl." I stood up and ran a hand through my hair.

"What if she was monitored for the next few months? I didn't lie, you know I'd never lie on a case though." I said turning to look at him pleadingly. "It'll kill her to have that little girl taken away from her. They consider each other family; it'd kill both of them to lose each other. Please, I'll do anything to keep them together." I said, practically getting down on my knees.

"I'll even help him day and night to keep them together sir, you haven't seen them together, they're supposed to be together." Jackson said behind me. I turned and looked at him, he wasn't lying.

"I understand that, but the court won't. I'll see what I can do but I'm not making any promises. If it can be done, I'll make sure it does, if not, there's nothing I can do." I felt like hugging him. Michael would do all he can to help someone in need, I trust his word.

"You have no idea what this means to me sir." I said feeling a little relieved.

"Don't worry, I'll find a way for you to make it up to me." I shook my head laughing.

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"He's here! He's here!" Hailey yelled excitedly as she ran into the kitchen. I smiled at her but felt like my stomach was going to explode with all the nerves and butterflies.

"You didn't let him in did you?" I asked walking into the living room. She grabbed my hand.

"No, I'm not allowed too." I smiled.

"Good girl." I stood in front of the door and felt like fainting. I was so nervous. I reached out and opened it with a shaking hand.

"Reba." He said in a soft tone, meeting my eyes. I felt my stomach ball up even tighter.

"Scott." I barely said.

"Don't forget about me!" Hailey said grinning from ear to ear as she nearly jumped up and down in place. He smiled as big as she did as he knelt at her level. I could see it in his face how much he missed her.

"I could never forget about you missy." He said in an honest tone. She jumped into him for a hug I don't think either of them were expecting. He held her tight though.

"You coming in?" I asked meeting his eyes. I felt like something's changed. I think he feels it too.

"I'd love too." He said smiling that little smile. I feel like something good's about to happen here. And it's about time.