AUTHOR'S NOTE: Well this it is: the last and final chapter. I've been working on it for-well actually, I've lost count to how many actual days I've been striving for patience and writing bits and pieces; knocking out scene by scene that I wanted to write for this final chapter. I'm glad to not have to tell myself anymore that today will be the day that I will finish it.

Thank you to who have read 'Wherever You Will' and have been so patient, through the long pauses and the writer's block; to those who just came in, and especially to those who have reviewed. I bet you're just as glad as I' am that I've finally finished this story. Once last thing, Please remember to review. Until next time ;)


"Thank you so much for everything that you've guys have done for Charlee and for our family." Lucia added with a grateful smile as she held onto Charlee's hand. "I never thought we would see her again."

"Well, we're all going to miss her around here, that's for sure." Colby chimed in, nodding towards Charlee.

Lucia squeezed her daughter's hand with an ecstatic smile. She was just glowing with happiness that her daughter was back safely. "Maybe one day she'll tell me about it."

Charlee squeezed her hand back. "Can I give everyone a hug?"

"Of course." Lucia nodded, and Charlee immediately ran over to Don and held onto his leg. He had been talking to another agent that had helped arrest Joe Carlos.

"Hey you. I think you could take me down with that kind of move." She smiled at that remark as he picked her up and tickled her stomach. She giggled with delight and wrapped her arms around his neck.

Don stood there stiffly, his hand resting on her back. "I love you, Don." Charlee made him reconsider why he wasn't married or had kids. He let his come up and rest on the small of her back. He felt mute as she sat up and put her hands on his cheeks. She gave a happy hum as she studied him. It seemed that even though he couldn't say anything, that she knew that he loved her too.

She wiggled out of his arms and walked over to David. He opened his arms out to her and she ran right into them. "We're really to going to miss you around this place."

"I'll miss you too." She raised her gaze to his, a slight pout on her lips. "Will I get to see you again?"

Despite trying to keep his composure, his gave her a gentle smile. He looked over at Lucia, then back to her. "I'm sure we can arrange something." Charlee sighed into him as she yawned and walked over to Colby, who looked a bit more emotional.

He crouched down to her level. "You're sad." Charlee ran her hand down his cheek. She felt the smoothness of his cheeks; the way they tightened in concern. "Is it 'cause I didn't give you a sucker?"

That got a small chuckle from everyone. Colby shook his head, with a small smirk. "You're quite something, you know that?" She smiled, hugging him tightly. When she finally broke the grasp, she kissed him on his forehead and he smiled gratefully as skipped over and stopped at a complete halt when she got to Megan, who had tears in her eyes.

"It's not goodbye, right Megan?" The little girl asked quietly, gazing up at her. Megan nodded, bent down to her level and then took her hands into hers.

"You're one of the bravest little girls that I've met. Remember what we talked about—you show your siblings how to be brave. Think you can do that for me?"

Charlee nodded, pursing her lips. "I think I can do that." She put one finger on her chin as her eyes lit up. She turned to Lucia, bringing up the question. "How many brothers do I have?"

"You have one older brother and sister, and a younger sister."

"And the one in your tummy? Boy or girl?"

Lucia rubbed at her stomach. "A little boy." As if to say he was there, the bump moved. Mouth opening slightly, Charlee jumped back a little.

"He moved!" She added ecstatically, slowly moving forward. Her hand reached up to touch her stomach; the baby kicked again. "I've never had any brothers to play with before."

Lucia whispered, rubbing the top of her stomach and breathing out deeply. "I think he likes you."

Charlee smiled. "I think he does too."

"We should get going. I think there are a lot of people that want to meet you, besides this little one."

Megan stepped in, seeing that Charlee was trying to stall their leaving. "Come on, I'll walk you out to the car." Lucia grasped her daughter's hand tightly as they stepped through the doors.

The air was hot as they walked out into the busy LA sidewalk. Many people were walking back and forth, dressed in a variety of colors. "I parked just over here."

"Where?" Charlee asked, looking around at all the different cars that they passed. Her other hand was grasping Megan's and swinging back and forth.

"See that blue car down there in the distance."

"Yeah."

"Well, that's the car that we're going in." Walking down the sidewalk a couple more steps, Lucia reached into her purse and clicked the unlock button. Once they were there, Lucia opened the car door.

There was a blue covered car seat near the door. It had already been buckled in—and a booster seat to the side of it, in a pastel yellow with pink flowers. "Is that where I'm sitting?" Charlee wrinkled her nose, pointing to the booster seat.

"I think you're too big to be sitting in the car seat, don't you think?" Lucia teased, touching her daughter's nose with her finger. Charlee giggled. "Would you like me to buckle you in?"

"No thanks, I used to do it all the time." As if proving her point, Charlee buckled herself in and looked out the car window with a sigh.

"Thank you so much for everything." Hugging Megan, it was hard to bump her with burgeoning belly.

Megan smiled, returning the hug. "The next time we see you, you're going to have a baby in those arms."

"I know." Lucia beamed. "It'll be amazing having five bouncing kids, all together again. Feel free to come help out if you want." Rounding the car, Lucia hopped into the driver's seat and started the engine.

"I'm sure I'll be coming by to visit soon enough."

"Bye Charlee." Megan waved, but Charlee didn't look back at her. "I think somebody's tired."

"It's been quite the day." Lucia remarked, hands on the steering wheel.

"Give us a call if you need anything." Megan stepped back, hand on the door, ready to close it.

"We will—thanks!" With that Megan closed the door, her heart breaking as they drove away. She stood there for a few minutes afterwards, trying to compose herself before walking back into the building.

It didn't take her long to finish up everything that she needed to do at the office, before Don sent her home to rest up before the dinner. This week had felt strangely long as she took Larry's hand.

He had been waiting for her patiently back up in the office, chatting with David, Colby and Don. "You okay?" He asked as they walked to the car. She didn't answer until he was opening the car door.

Megan shook her head as she laid her head against the seat. "Truthfully, this case has exhausted me. I'm just glad that it's over—"She trailed off, closing her eyes. The way that she had said it, just seemed all wrong, but she was too tired to correct herself.

Before she knew it, Larry was shaking her awake. She only woke up long enough to walk upstairs and lie on her bed. There was no time to assess the damage of her home, or realize that Charlee wasn't there any more—no, the last thing she remembered was Larry pulling the covers over and the door closing.

About a half an hour later, there was a knock on the door. It was her neighbor Sally, bringing over a potted flower. She introduced herself. "You must be Larry. Megan talks about you all the time." She shook his hand. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but I brought this over after everything that has happened." And then she excused herself, as her children were expected to be coming home any minute.

"That's quite thoughtful. I'll let her know that you came by." She waved and he shut the door, putting the potted flower onto the coffee table. He let out a deep sigh and looked around. Not much had been displaced, but someone had invaded her home. "Why weren't you here?" He chided himself, reflecting his thoughts. "I should have been there." A noise startled him and he turned around quickly, to see Megan watching him on the stairs. He gave her a small smile.

"I know that look." She held onto the railing, walking slowly down the stairs.

"Thinking is not just merely a thought."

"What I mean is—" Her green eyes glistened with a knowing smile. "—don't beat yourself up over what happened." Wrapping her hand in his, she led him over to the couch.

"It wasn't necessarily a mute point when he came after Charlee."

Megan shook her head. "Charlee had witnessed way too much, and he wanted to put a stop to it." Reaching behind him, Larry pulled out a bear that Megan had given to her.

She smiled softly. "It's the bear I gave to her when she first came here. She slept with this thing every night."

A white piece of paper caught his eye; although small, it had been folded underneath the plaid ribbon. He opened it up.

"What do you have there?"

Turning the note around, it revealed a red drawn heart and an 'M' written beside it. "I'm getting the feeling that she left this bear here on purpose."

She took the bear into her hands, giving it a squeeze. "You should have seen her face as they were getting ready to leave. The expression in her eyes were filled with so much sadness that I just wanted to take her back and hold her."

Larry looked quite thoughtful. "Maybe she won't understand it until she's older, but she should know of the love that radiates for her—even though she is with her family now."

Looking at her watch, Megan leaned forward to kiss him. "I'd better get ready." Her lips lingered on his, before she brought her head down so her cheek was resting against his shoulder. Letting out a content sigh, she let her eyes wander—over to the blanket where Charlee had been hiding when Joe Carlos had come in; the coffee table where her phone was still sitting; the note beside it from Larry. "I really don't know what I would have done if you had been here and something had happened to you." She reminisced, snuggling into him momentarily before getting up. "I love you Larry."

He gave her that adoring smile—one of the reasons that he had fallen in love with her. "I love you to the stars and beyond." Sighing contently, she made her way up the stairs and shut the door moments later, her back to the wall.

Spotting the small toothbrush that had belonged to Charlee, Megan griped the side of the counter. Tears welled up in her eyes as she looked into the mirror. It a few minutes to calm down as she held the toothbrush in her hands and put it in the drawer before putting on a light amount of makeup.

She went into her room, her eyes flickering up to the picture of her son as she walked over to the closet and pulled out a black top with ruffles at the bottom. Picking some black jeans to wear she laid them on the bed next to the shirt.

Quickly getting dressed, she brushed a couple times through her hair. Looking in the mirror, she pulled it up into a simple ponytail and walked back into the bathroom to grab a hair tie. Once that was done, she walked back into the bedroom to put on a gold bracelet that her mom had given her when she was a teenager and a necklace that had the letter 'M' that Larry had given to her for their second anniversary.

Checking her outfit, she put a black and white shirt just in case and walked downstairs. On the way down, her hand brushed across the bullet hole in the wall. A thought occurred to her that she would have to get that fixed later.

Once she got back downstairs, she kissed him lightly and smiled. "Hi."

He kissed her back, slightly confused. "Hi."

Eyes moving back and forth, she tried to read the expression on his face. "What?"

"You just look a lot happier than you were." Shrugging, he closed the distance between them.

"A thought occurred—"Brushing her hair behind her ear, Megan continued. "—while I was up there getting ready. I broke out into tears, just literal tears. I realized that we do a dangerous job that to a degree that no one else does. And I'm not sure that I want to give that up. Not yet." She locked eyes with him.

He closed the distance between them. "The only thing standing in the way of unhappiness is the darkness." He stated. "I just want you to be happy." She smiled gratefully and they walked over to the door.

About half an hour later, they arrived at the Eppes resident. "Larry, Megan." Charlie greeted them, allowing them to come in; he shakes Larry's hand and then hugs Megan. Don, Liz, David, Colby, and Amita and Robin were already there, chatting away. Robin was stirring the pasta and smiled over at them.

Alan was just putting the pasta in the sink as they walked in. He greeted Larry and walked over and gave Megan a big hug in that fatherly way. He looked at her. "You look like you could use a good meal."

She laughed, genuinely smiling. There was a brief moment where she realized that she needed that. "You always know just what I need." She peeked around him, the smell wafting in her direction. "I'm guessing it was a bad night to wear white."

"I think I have just the thing that you can wear." He waved her over and she followed him into the hall. Alan pulled out a tan colored apron with flowers on it from the closet. "Margaret use to wear this. It's nothing fancy."

Megan took it, running her fingers over the material. "Did she make this?"

"Yeah." Closing the closet, they started walking back down the hall. "Actually she made it when Don was just a couple months old—said it kept her busy. She made a lot of things: blankets, pillows, covers."

"Well, it's beautiful."

He took in an abrupt breath, like he wanted to say something else but changed his mind. "We should be getting back, shouldn't we?" And with that he disappeared into the kitchen.

Dinner consisted of talking between bites; trying to catch up, memories, bits and pieces of the case that they could discuss, and stuffing themselves—despite warning that there was still dessert to be eaten.

Liz groaned, patting her stomach. "I know that I can't fit anything more in here right now." Megan was in the middle of taking a sip of water, when she exchanged a glance with Larry. She questioned the thought of telling them as she locked eyes with him.

"Yeah, I think I had two helpings too many." David chimed in, taking another bite of spaghetti. That got a laugh from everyone, and the kitchen erupted in a loud roar of laughing that sparked many conversations.

Liz inquired, sitting up slowly and leaned in. "I hate to ruin this moment, where the two of you stare at each other—"Colby laughed beside her at something that he and David were talking about. "But I couldn't help but notice that the two of you have been particularly quiet this evening."

Megan cracked a smile, setting her glass down on the table. "It's been a long week."

"Among other things." Larry hinted, nodding along. His hand was shaking slightly as it cupped around the glass.

Liz gave them an odd, intrigued look. "Yeah, Don was filling us in a little before you came. I wish I had been there to watch you guys take them down. Sounds like it would have been an interesting case to follow along with."

"Ah, I'm sure it will be a case that will never be forgotten." Larry's hand was now grasping the fork.

"Larry." Charlie broke in, leaning towards him—trying to be discreet as possible. "I have an equation that you most possible would like to see in the garage." Larry nodded his understanding and Charlie straightened back and moved his chair away from the table.

Larry followed suit and they both stood. They had just rounded the table when Alan called out to them. "Hey Charlie, if you and Larry are going to the garage, would you mind getting the pies out of the fridge?" He knew them entirely too well.

Charlie nodded, "We were about to—after I show Larry this equation." without looking back, they made their way into the garage.

"Can't it wait until after dinner?"

As soon as Larry had closed the door, he watched Charlie move towards the fridge. "Now, I didn't exactly get just the pies that my dad asked for—" Larry opened his mouth to interject when Charlie continued. "Because—I was thinking about our talk earlier. When you spoke of not knowing how to tell everyone about yours and Megan's previous engagement, I thought of a clever way that you could say it. "

With that he pulled out a two layered tier cake. The first tier was a dark blue with stars that had been dotted all over in different sizes, like they were looking up at the stars. The second was a dark blue, but had 'Larry and Megan' written in neat cursive in a lighter silver color. There were rings that had been drawn with yellow icing; one with a small diamond on it; the other a simple ring that was hooked together with the other.

Placing it on the coffee table, Larry sits down on the couch with a sigh. "This is really is it, isn't it?" Charlie asked with a smile on his face; hands shoved into his pockets.

He looked up at Charlie and nodded gratefully. "Yeah Charles, it really is."

They didn't have to say much more after that, because a few minutes later they returned into the kitchen, Larry walking by his side. Charlie was holding the cake to the side so that the details couldn't be seen just yet, while Larry was holding the pies.

"If I could call attention to the cake." Larry offered nervously, setting down the pies on the counter. The chatter that once had filled the kitchen had now quieted down; all eyes were on them now. "that Charles has thoughtfully gotten to celebrate the announcement of my love to Megan as we celebrate a new point in our lives."

He looked around at the array of emotions that were going through the room, but what mattered most was Megan was sitting there in her chair with the most beautiful, glowing smile on her face.

At that moment, Charlie turns the cake around and there are some excited gasps as they take in the beauty of the cake and the words written. "I've asked Megan to be my wife, and she's gladly accepted."

"The two of you are getting married?" David asked, pointing teasingly at them. "Congrats! I never thought I'd see the day." That erupted in a few laughs as he stood up and shook Larry's hand.

"That's great, congratulations!" Amita commented happily over the noise.

Robin nodded, chiming in. "I assume that you guys have known this for awhile. When's the happy day?"

It got quiet again as they waited for one of them to respond. Larry ran his fingers through his hair, responding first. "Actually, we haven't set a day yet."

Liz and Colby exchange a glance; the palm of her hand resting on her cheek. "Well that would explain the glowing."

"That would explain most of it." Colby countered, nodding in agreement with another smile. Taking a sip of his drink, he placed it back down. It seemed like the evening went on like that: more congratulations, talking about wedding arrangements, eating cake.

"Guess you'll get that daughter that you always wanted, right dad?"

"Yeah!" Alan perked up. At this time they were all standing around chattering away. "I guess in a way I will. " He mumbled the last part. "Now if only I could get the grandchildren—then I think this part of my life will be complete."

Don smiled, patting his dad on the shoulder. "Maybe one day." He excused himself to go outside. Alan watched his son go, then walked over to the other side of the room. "Megan-"

"Oh hey, Alan."

"First off, I haven't given you my congratulations." He smiled at her, pulling her into a hug. "Second—you know my son better than anyone." He licked at his lips nervously, waving it off with his hand. "Guess what I'm getting at is that you have always been able to have a way with words." She follows his gaze towards the back door; the light on and illuminating the porch.

"We just got through a tough case, involving a little girl." Megan revealed, knowing that was a big part of why the team was slightly down.

He nodded at her sympathetically. "I take it you don't have a lot of cases involving children." Megan nodded. "—but you got her out safe and sound, right?"

"She's back with her family."

Alan looked relieved. "That's great. Well, you seem to be the only one that can talk to Don these days. I would appreciate it if you put in a good word that his family is here too."

She was far too exhausted to explain everything that had gone on in the last little while, so she patted his shoulder gently. "I'll see what I can do." Excusing herself, Megan walked outside; the cooling air hitting her skin.

Looking around, she took in the reddening sunset and leaned against the railing—knowing that she won't be able to do that much longer. She finally spotted him standing by the Koi pond and walked down onto the grass.

He turned around when he heard her feet rustling against the grass. "Heard you might be out here." She smiled as she walked next to him.

"Yeah, I came out here for a breath of fresh air. Told my dad that I would check out the Koi pond while I over her for the dinner." Megan nodded, watching as he stared into the Koi pond and gazed at all the fish swimming around; the patio light bouncing around in the rippling water.

Hair catching in the wind, he looked up at her. Her gaze was gentle and she looked more beautiful and radiant. Despite knowing that she was recovering from the case, taking care of a scared and beautiful six year old girl, and then watching her give her back to her family—she looked genuinely happy.

"I've known you long enough to know that's not the only reason you came out here."

Don threw some fish food into the pond; blowing out a long breath. "Had a lot on my mind." He offered that simple explanation; yet in her mind, it seemed to explain a lot.

And then a thought occurred about what they had been talking about when he had come over to talk. "You're still worried about the team. You, Me, Colby, David." He didn't respond, but threw another handful of fish food into the pond and screwed the lid back on.

"Yeah you know, out of all the people that I've worked with—you're the people that I would and have trusted my life to."

"And you still can. Believe it or not, we're family. Not only that, but you have family inside that loves you and cares about you. You know, I've been thinking about what you said about trying to put the team together, but what if you start over?"

He narrowed his eyes; not harshly, but more puzzled more than anything. "It's not that easy to start over; you know that."

"Not completely. There will always be things that cannot be forgotten, but I've realized in the last week especially that sometimes we have to put things behind us, in order to move forward. Something to think about." With that, she turned and walked back into the house.