Chapter 36---Here's the latest in this cross-FF story. I hope you like it, thanks for reading and your comments!

C.J. and Alex looked at each other before they looked at the bank robbers and then Alex nodded at C.J. Duke folded his arms and glared at them.

"What is it, because we don't have all day and I'm liable to start shooting people soon…"

C.J. took a deep breath.

"It's about your friend Harley."

Duke frowned and Bruiser looked at him.

"What about him?"

"I think he snuck out the back entrance and is ratting out your whole operation to the cops," C.J. said.

The two robbers looked at each other before Duke looked back at her.

"I don't believe you."

She sighed then looked at her watch.

"I think I saw him sneak out about an hour ago," she said.

"Why didn't you say anything," he said.

She folded her arms.

"It's not my place to give you updates on what your own men are doing."

Duke glared at Bruiser.

"Why didn't I hear anything about it from you?"

Bruiser looked uncomfortable.

"I didn't see him for a while," he said, "but how do you know she's not lying?"

Duke looked at C.J. again.

"I don't."

C.J. sighed again.

"Look, I'm just telling you what I saw," she said.

Duke looked at Alex who nodded.

"He's probably telling the feds and the police everything about you," Alex said, "You should think about giving yourselves up while you still have the chance."

Duke flashed them a look of suspicion.

"We're not planning on giving ourselves up to anyone," he said, "Not until they give us what we want."

Alex shook her head.

"I don't think it's going to happen."

Duke glared at them again.

"I think it will."

Then the two men stomped out of the office again. The two women looked at each other and leaned back against the wall.

"How are you holding up," Alex asked.

C.J. rubbed her forehead.

"I want to get out of here," she said, "I'm starving, I'm nauseous and my bladder…"

Alex laughed despite herself.

"I remember those days," she said, "It'll get better."

"I wonder how Houston and Walker are doing."

Alex ran her hand through her hair.

"They're probably coming up with some sort of plan to help us," she said, "We have to trust that they'll do that and be ready to help when they need us."

"I know they will," C.J. said, "I wish the others could know. I wonder how they're doing…Fran…"

"I'm sure they're doing fine," Alex said, "We're going to be okay."

C.J. nodded.

"I know," she said, "I just hate being not able to control what happens, of having that taken away from me."

"I don't like it either," Alex said, "Hopefully it won't be for too much longer and these thugs will be going back to prison where they belong or they'll be dead."

Matt and Walker still waited inside the bathroom.

"I wonder how Sydney and Gage are doing," he said.

"How well do they work together," Matt asked.

Walker didn't hesitate.

"They're the best in the business," he said, "I wouldn't work with people who weren't."

Matt nodded.

"Me neither."

"Your partner out there seems pretty top notch," Walker noted.

"He was one of the top investigators in the LAPD," Matt said, "My friend's a captain and he gives cops my cards at their retirement parties."

"The best place to find them," Walker said, "since they retire fairly young out there."

"I don't hear any movement out there," Matt said, "There are two of them left."

Walker sighed.

"Duke's going to be the most difficult one to deal with," he said, "the most dangerous."

Matt rubbed his forehead.

"If we can just take out the other one," he said, "At least it will be just Duke we'll have to deal with."

Walker nodded.

"It's getting late," he said, "Angela won't see her mother for her second night."

"She's staying with a friend?"

"Someone she knows very well and has spent time with when Alex and I are at work," Walker said, "She's still too young to know what's going on around her."

"I always wanted children."

Walker looked over at Matt.

"I heard you got started already," he said.

"I don't know for sure," Matt said, "I never had a chance to find out."

"You will," Walker said, "You'll have plenty of time after this is over to plan your future."

Matt woke up one morning and the space in the bed beside him was empty. He got out of bed and reached for his robe. C.J. was in the kitchen washing some dishes when he walked in and he saw some leftover eggs on the stove.

"There's some toast left over," she said, without looking at him, "and some bacon."

"You got up early," he noted, "I thought you would have wanted to sleep in after your late night."

She shrugged and her face was hidden, framed by her wavy hair.

"I'm sorry I got back so late," she said, "Alesha's not really feeling comfortable in her new safe house and I just want to make things easier for her."

"She's been through a lot C.J.," he said, "It's going to take time for her to open up."

C.J. nodded.

"I know," she said, "And the feds want to push the trial of those drug traffickers instead of postponing it several months until she feels ready. They've assigned a new prosecutor, a woman, to the case."

He heard the tone of despair in her voice.

"I'm sure it will be okay," Matt said, "They need her testimony to put those thugs away for a long time."

"Yes they do," C.J. said, "I'm just afraid they'll push her too hard."

He joined her by the sink and picked up the dishes she had set aside after rinsing and began to dry them.

"Like they pushed you."

"There hasn't even been a trial in my case and I don't know if they ever will be."

He looked at her sideways.

"But that grand jury proceeding was pretty rough, they asked some really tough questions, made you relive everything," he said, "but you made it through."

She smiled, but her eyes didn't.

"As I recall, I flew to L.A. and barely made it to your birthday party."

He put down the towel and stroked the hair out of her face with his hand.

"You were there when it counted."

She nodded, remembering how she had accompanied him on a stakeout and had almost witnessed him getting shot. If she hadn't screamed his name…

"You saved my life," he said.

She shrugged.

"I'm sure you would have gotten away from him. You always do."

"Probably not that time," he said, "That's the closest I'd come to dying because of my career in quite a while and afterward I felt everything just hit me in a rush…"

She remembered that night and how it had affected her as well. They had come a long ways since then through some difficult times that had sorely tested them but joy had made its mark also.

"It was the only part of that day that I felt mattered," she said, "that nothing happened to you."

She turned towards him and her eyes met his own, as he embraced her. They stayed that way for a while and then she let him go. She caressed his face with her hand and thanked him.

Now Matt had to play a waiting game for the bad guys to come to him and he hoped it would be soon so that he and C.J. could get out of this bank and go home. Walker looked at him and knew that his thoughts matched his own. He couldn't wait until he could reunite his wife with their daughter and they could resume life as a family again.

C.J. looked over at the door where the two men were standing and talking.

"I'm tired of waiting," she said, "The men are waiting to take these men out of commission. We'll have to do our part."

Alex nodded.

"We've got to find a way to get them into a bathroom."

C.J. snorted.

"I would have thought nature would have done that," she said, "God knows my bladder's already filling up again."

"Okay," Alex said, "We're going to have to come up with some good reason for one of them to go while the other stays here with us."

"I've got the perfect excuse," C.J. said, "Pregnancy."

Alex nodded.

"That will work," she said, "Are you sure you're up to it?"

"I've been up to it," C.J. said, "I want to go home and I want everyone else to go home too."

Alex looked back out the door.

"We might get our chance," she said, "Here they come."

C.J. stood up and the men reacted. She put her hands up.

"Relax," she said, "I'm not doing anything but nature calls."

Duke scowled.

"You just went."

C.J. folded her arms.

"I have to go again," she said, "I drank too much soda with the pizza."

"That does it for me boss," Bruiser said, "I'll take her."

C.J. started to follow him. Duke put up his hand.

"Wait a minute," he said, "How do we know this isn't a ruse?"

C.J. gave him a pointed look.

"I can prove it in a minute because I really have to go."

Bruiser looked at Duke.

"I think she's really got to go," he said, "I'll keep a close eye on her in case she tries anything."

"I'm not up for doing anything," C.J. said, "I know it won't do any good anyway. I'm waiting for the SWAT Team to come in."

Bruiser's face grew paler.

"Do you think they're going to do that?"

Duke shot C.J. a dagger look.

"I'll start shooting hostages if they do that," he said, "and they know that."

C.J. nodded.

"That's probably true," she said, "But there's more of them and they'll wipe you out first. I thought we'd established that."

"They'll pay for it if they try that," Duke said.

Bruiser looked over at Duke.

"I'll take her and then we'll be right back."

Duke finally nodded and C.J. smiled at him.

"Thank you."

She and Bruiser walked towards the restroom. She opened the door slowly and started to enter.

"I'll tell you when I'm finished," she said.

He nodded and stood guard by the door.

"You're so much reasonable than your boss," C.J. said then went inside.

She looked around.

"It's me," she said, "I'm C.J."

At that, Gage and Sydney came out of the storage room.

"They let you come down by yourself," Gage asked.

"No," C.J. said, "One of them is waiting outside and Duke's in with Alex."

Gage and Sydney looked at each other.

"Alex is okay," C.J. said, "We've been in the office for the past several hours."

"We're working on a plan with the others to get you all out," Sydney said.

"I know," C.J. said, "We want to help you however we can."

"We need to get one of them in here," Gage said.

C.J. nodded.

"One's outside the door," she said, "Why don't we start with him?"

"Sounds good to me," Sydney said.

"Just allow me," C.J. said, and then walked towards the door.

She knocked on it.

"Hey I'm done here," she said, "but I need your help with something. The door latch is stuck."

"You can't push it open," Bruiser said.

"No, I don't have big strong muscles like you do," she said.

"Okay," she heard him say from the other side of the door.

The door opened and he walked inside and saw C.J. standing by the sink. As he moved closer, two hands grabbed him from behind from where Gage had hidden in one of the stalls. Bruiser tried to struggle but Sydney swung around and did a roundhouse kick which hit him in his thighs, knocking him down on the floor.

"I give up," he said, as Gage leaned on top of him pushing him to the ground as Sydney frisked him pulling out two guns.

"You're pretty packed," she noted, "How many more guns are in this bank?"

He smirked.

"More than you think."

She smiled back.

"Maybe not as many as you think," she said, "Your buddy in crime Harley, he's spilling his guts to the feds even as we speak."

Bruiser's face fell as Gage pulled out his handcuffs and fastened them to Bruiser's wrists behind him. He pulled out his radio to contact Brody in the tunnels.

"We've got another one," he reported, "One left."

Sydney looked over where C.J. stood.

"You okay?"

C.J. looked back at her.

"Nice roundhouse," she said, "

Sydney smiled.

"Thanks," she said, "You kickbox?"

C.J. nodded.

"I learned last year," she said, "I haven't been able to do it lately because…well I just haven't."

Sydney and Gage dragged Bruiser towards the storage room for some reinforcements to take him up to where the feds were located at street level.

"So what do I do now," C.J. said, "They're going to know that something happened if he doesn't come with me."

Sydney thought fast.

"Just tell him that this guy had to go answer the call of nature or that he found Harley."

Gage raised a brow.

"She can just leave through the tunnel and get out of here."

C.J. shook her head.

"I can't," she said, "It's more dangerous if I disappear and I can't leave the others. It will be okay. I'll come up with something."

She walked out of the bathroom leaving them there and walked back to the office where Alex and Duke were waiting.

Matt turned to Walker after Sydney had notified them that they were only down to one robber, the ringleader Duke. Both men were relieved until Matt learned the role that C.J. had played in his capture.

"It's too dangerous for her to be involved," he said.

"From what Sydney said she handled herself well," Walker said, "She did just what she should have done."

Matt knew that but it didn't make him worry any less for her welfare.

"I wish she had just left and gone to safety."

"She wouldn't have done that," Walker said, "We're going to get everyone out of here and pretty soon."

Matt nodded.

"Now we're just down to Duke, the most dangerous of the group."

"We're going to have to find a way to get at him," Walker said, "He's too smart to come to us."

"Okay we'll come up with a plan" Matt said, "but we're going to have to do it fast."