A/N: Sorry this has taken so long to get up! For those who I haven't mentioned this to, I am currently choosing to concentrate on one story at a time, so if you also read some of my other stories, please know that I haven't forgotten them, but I just don't have the time or energy to be writing two or three or more stories at once anymore. Fortunately for all of you, this is the one I have chosen to work on first! As a bit of warning, I *think* that there are probably 4-ish chapters left in this story, based on what I want to have happen, and then an epilogue. Just so you can't say I didn't warn you that the end was coming! Okay, enough talk, on with the story...

Captain Flack frowned as he looked over the young man in front of him, trying to size up this man who was, apparently, on the verge of marrying his only daughter. He wasn't sure what he would have expected for Samantha, but whatever it was, this certainly wasn't it. In high school, his daughter had always dated jocks, the popular types who seemed destine to conquer the world – or at least, as much of the world as one could reach from a run-of-the-mill high school in Queens at age seventeen. And after that, he certainly hadn't had much opportunity to inspect her choice of companionship, but from what he had seen, he would have expected a bad-boy type, tattoos and a strung-out appearance, with a penchant for trouble and a lengthy rap sheet.

Adam Ross, of course, was none of that, which left Captain Flack in a bit of a quandary. He knew any father would be pleased to have a daughter who brought home the first type, and he knew enough to despise the second on sight. But what was he supposed to do with someone who seemed so…so undeniably average?

"So, uh," Adam began nervously, shoving his hands in his pockets as he looked down at his feet and his voice trailed off.

"Yeah," Captain Flack said hesitantly. "So, you're going to marry my daughter?"

"Yeah," Adam said.

"You love her?" Captain Flack asked.

"Yeah," Adam said again, this time looking Captain Flack straight in the eye. "Yeah, I do."

"You know," Captain Flack said slowly. "I almost thought you might actually take a swing at me when you first walked in."

"I, uh, I probably would have," Adam admitted. "If I thought you were going to hurt her, I probably still would."

"Somehow, I don't doubt that," Captain Flack said. "Although you don't strike me as the sort of kid who's been in very many fights."

"I, uh, don't really like to fight," Adam said. "So, um, are you going to?"

"Going to what?" Captain Flack asked in confusion.

"Hurt her," Adam clarified. "Because if you are, you should probably just leave right now, because you kind of frighten me and I really don't want to have to hit you, ever, but if you came here to hurt her, or if you think you might, you should know that I would, even if you could probably snap me in half and…"

"Easy there, kid," Captain Flack interrupted, holding up his hand and smiling slightly. "I'm not going to hurt her, you have my word on that. And I know I'm no expert on these things, seein' as neither of my kids has ever really brought anyone home, but aren't I the one that's supposed to be interrogating you?"

"Maybe," Adam said. "But the way I see it, I've never hurt her but you…well, you have…sir."

"You really love her, don't you?" Captain Flack asked, almost more of a statement than a question.

"More than I could ever put into words," Adam said.

"Then I don't suppose I've got any right to get in the way, do I?" Captain Flack said with a smile, extending his hand to Adam. "Welcome to the family, son."

"I, uh…thank you, sir," Adam said, hesitantly shaking Captain Flack's hand.

"So, Adam, do you live here?" Captain Flack.

"Here, as in, here in this apartment?" Adam asked, still intimidated by the man in front of him. "No, no, I don't. I, uh, I have an apartment in Manhattan, not a big one, of course, I don't make that much…not that I don't make enough, I mean, it's enough for what I need right now, and I could make more if I needed to, if I went into the private sector, that would be easy…and I…"

"Adam, relax," Captain Flack interrupted. "I'm not interrogating you, I don't care where you live and I'm not going to be judging your answers or nothing. I'm a dyed-in-the-wool Catholic guy, but I'm not naïve enough to think that either of my children follow the same standards I did growing up. You're marrying my daughter, I just want to know a little about you, that's all."

"Oh," Adam nodded. "Yeah, okay."

"So, you said you could work in the private sector," Captain Flack said. "Where do you work now?"

"I, uh, I work for the city," Adam said. "I'm a lab technician at the Crime Lab. I do a whole range of stuff, but my specialty is forensic DNA analysis."

"You do a lot of work with the homicide division, then?" Captain Flack asked curiously.

"I know your son, if that's what you're getting at," Adam said.

"It was," Captain Flack nodded. "Does he, ah…does he know about this? About you and Samantha?"

"No," Adam shook his head vigorously. "He definitely doesn't know. It's, uh, the engagement is really new, and, uh, there's not really been an opportunity to tell him, seeing as he and Samantha aren't really speaking. I wasn't exactly about to walk up to him at the lab and announce that I'm dating his sister."

"No, I don't suppose that would have gone over too well," Captain Flack agreed with a laugh. "He's always been a little overprotective when it comes to Sammy. We both have…and yet, not protective enough, it seems…"

"You know something?" Adam asked, frowning as he studied the older man, trying to figure out exactly where his statement had come from.

"I don't know," Captain Flack said hesitantly. "Do you know something?"

"I might," Adam said. "What do you know?"

"Oh for cryin' out loud," Samantha said from the doorway to the bedroom. "You both know the exact same things, okay? No one's going to give anything away."

"You told him?" Captain Flack asked in surprise.

"I'm going to marry him, Dad," Samantha reminded him as she walked to Adam's side and slipped her hand into his. "Do you really think that there's anything I wouldn't tell him?"

"Well, how am I supposed to know what sort of relationship you have with him?" Captain Flack asked.

"Was there ever anything you wouldn't have told Mom?" Samantha asked.

"No," Captain Flack said.

"That's the example I grew up with," Samantha said. "Maybe some people are willing to settle for less than that, but they didn't grow up with that, I'd guess. Because having seen that, having seen what a really great relationship is, I'd never settle for anything else, Dad. And what I have with Adam, it's real, and it's amazing and it's…I love him."

"I can see that," Captain Flack said. "So, he knows about Kevin."

"I do," Adam nodded.

"Speaking of which…" Samantha began.

"Was that Stella on the phone?" Adam asked.

"You knew?" Samantha asked in surprise.

"That's why I came home early," Adam admitted. "I thought maybe it would be better if you heard it from me."

"It doesn't change anything," Samantha said. "It's not like it has anything to do with me, not really."

"What's going on?" Captain Flack asked in confusion. "Who's Stella?"

"She's a friend of mine," Samantha said. "She's a detective with the Crime Lab."

"Stella Bonasera?" Captain Flack asked.

"You know her?" Adam asked in confusion.

"I worked a few cases with her when she was a rookie," Captain Flack said. "But mostly I just know of her. Donnie talks about her a lot."

"They do work together," Adam said.

"So what does she have to do with Kevin?" Captain Flack asked.

"Well, see, Stella knows the same things that you both do…you know, about what Kevin did to me," Samantha said. "So she just thought that I might want to know that he's…well, he's been arrested. For murder."

Stella sighed as she turned back to the booking paperwork on her desk. She hadn't really been able to concentrate since she'd hung up with Samantha almost half an hour earlier. She had been surprisingly calm when she'd heard the news, but Stella had still been glad to hear that Adam was nearby, just in case. She knew that, despite her protestations otherwise, this wasn't going to be easy for her – especially if she didn't come clean to her family and they decided to stand by Kevin.

"Okay, that guy is officially the biggest creep I've booked in a long time," Angell announced as she walked into Stella's office.

"Let me guess, you got nothing in interrogation?" Stella asked.

"He may be a creep, but he was smart enough to lawyer up the second his ass hit the chair," Angell said. "You'll love this, though. He told me we'd never get a conviction because every woman he's ever been with has enjoyed it – even if it took her a while to see it his way."

"Son of a bitch," Stella muttered angrily.

"Exactly," Angell agreed. "Hey, the D.A. stopped by while his lawyer was with him – is there any chance that woman you and Flack talked to would testify? She thought it might be helpful if we can establish the pattern with live victims, even if they only charge him for the Patterson girl."

"I doubt it," Stella said. "I'll ask her, but she claims to not remember anything from that night, and she was pretty hesitant to even talk to us about the fact that she didn't remember anything."

"I hate rape cases," Angell sighed. "When are women going to start speaking up?"

"It's not easy, you know that, Jess," Stella said. "As much as we'd like it to be otherwise, sexual assault cases tend to put more of the burden of proof on the victim than any other crime. That's a lot for a woman to bear, especially a young woman."

"Just makes me hate the bastards who'd do it even more," Angell said. "I swear, it's been a long time since I've actually had to walk out of an interrogation room, but I thought if I stayed down there, I was going to take a swing at the jackass."

"Why do you think I'm up here, doing paperwork?" Stella asked.

"I thought maybe you were just hiding from Flack," Angell shrugged. "Saw him down in booking, by the way. He looked like he was on a warpath – sorry, Stella, but I sure wouldn't want to be you when he finds you."

"So he knows about the arrest?" Stella asked.

"He was quizzing the poor booking clerk about bail, about when we could get him arraigned, all of that," Angell said. "He even tried to get him sprung on his own recognizance."

"He seriously thought a night judge was going to let an accused murderer and rapist out on the streets on his own recognizance?" Stella asked incredulously.

"I don't think he actually looked at the charges all that close," Angell said. "You know how Flack is, act first, ask questions later."

"Yeah, and that's worked out so well for him in the past," Stella sighed. "Alright, well, I guess I'd better go find him before he bites someone's head off."

"You're actually going to go…" Angell paused as Stella's phone began to ring in the middle of her sentence.

"Sorry," Stella said, picking up the receiver. "Bonasera."

Stella frowned as she listened to the frantic voice on the other end of the line.

"Yes, of course, I'll be right down."

"Something wrong?" Angell asked, sitting upright as Stella stood up and grabbed her gun and badge from the corner of the desk.

"Some sort of disturbance down in booking," Stella said, rushing out of her office and toward the elevators, Angell hot on her heels.