Thank you for your patience, team. I hope this chapter delivers! I'm excited to see what you all think :)

Frank:

Frank's heart was pounding so hard he was surprised Nancy couldn't hear it through the phone. He glanced back at Callie in the rear-view mirror, but she seemed unaware of the drama that was unfolding. Instead, her dark eyes were focused on the traffic moving busily. Her pale face was set. The irony was that she looked like a beautiful, tragic oil painting. In her pain, she'd become a work of art. Frank's musings gave way to anger. How could someone something like this to someone else? They couldn't. Not as far as he could see. They were missing something.

"Frank?" Nancy prodded. "Are you okay?"

He trained his eyes on the road ahead. "Yeah. I… are you sure? I'm not sure I understand…"

Nancy laughed, but there was no humor in it. "You and me both. Nothing makes sense. But I'm standing outside the interview room, where McNamara has Vinnie Hollis. Frank, he admitted it. He said he threw the brick because Ted put him up to it. I heard it with my own two ears."

"I know, and I trust you, love. It's just… are we sure Vinnie isn't just throwing Ted under the bus, here? They obviously have bad blood and well, Vinnie is a felon." Frank wasn't even listening to himself. Why had he called Nancy "love"? It had just slipped out. But he'd been trying so hard to focus on this case and be the cool, collected guy he needed to be right now. He was worried any over the top behavior might drive her away. It would, wouldn't it? She was looking for a partner, not another romance. And besides, Nancy wasn't a Nicholas Sparks kind of woman.

"Look, that's always a possibility. He's on something, anyway, so we have to take whatever he says with a grain of salt. But Frank, we've run out of time. We can't afford to sit around and wait for Vinnie to sober up. I-" she cut off for a second. Frank imagined her placing a hand over the speaker as someone spoke to her.

Her tone was different when she came back. "-I have to go. McNamara is going to give me a lift to the art fair. I'll be there soon. But just…" she trailed off, swallowed. "Be careful, okay?"

"I always am, Nance."

"I know but… I wouldn't know what to do with myself… if…"

"Don't worry. I know. I'll see you soon, okay?"

"I'll call you."

After Frank hung up, he gripped the steering wheel, watched his knuckles clench into whiteness against the dark leather. Why had he ridden in over her? What had she been going to say? Nancy, FBI, gun-toting, kick-ass Nancy had been worried about him.

In the "good old days" they'd been so unaware of their own mortality, but something had changed. Iola had died. And now he was falling hard for Nancy and he had an inkling how Joe felt. But instead, he had no inclination to push Nancy away to avoid feeling scared and vulnerable. It just made him want to squeeze her tighter to him.

"Frank?" Joe asked.

Frank glanced over at his brother. He saw the blue eyes bright with concern and curiosity and then Callie's tired, pinched face. And he made the split-second decision not to say a word.

He gave Joe one of his frowns that said: "later." Out loud he said, "Nancy's just running late. She's going to meet us there. So, we'll have time to set Callie up."

"Thanks, Frank." She rubbed her stomach and sighed loudly. "I feel so bad. You and Nancy probably want to spend time together, but here I am… I'd like to say I'm surprised… but Teddy's been… well, he's been pretty shitty. I wish I knew why…"

Joe didn't look pleased to be in the dark, but he took Frank's lead, lapsing into silence and jabbing at his phone screen. Another phone game? Frank knew Candy Crush was out. But Joe seemed happy enough, frowning and poking.

"I thought you guys were happy."

"We were. But the baby…. Kind of threw a spanner in the works," Callie said with a rueful laugh. "Whirlwind romance, check. Baby, check. Neither of us really planned it this way. You know what I told you. I wanted to travel and stuff. I was making good money, getting gigs like this…" she looked down at her belly and smiled wistfully. "But things change."

They really did. Frank wondered what it'd have been like if Callie had stuck around. If that baby had been his. He felt a pang, but it was gone as his thoughts briefly flittered to a certain red head. He was happy. But was Callie? She had her baby. But Ted was up to something. Frank didn't know what, but as he pulled up at the parking lot alongside the art fair hall his guts were all knotted up. He felt a sheen of sweat on his brow, despite the cool air outside.

He stood with his door open, surveying the lot. He couldn't see Ted Hollis, but that didn't mean anything. There were so many stalls and stands. He could be anyone milling in the crowd. Everyone was wearing heavy coats and thick hats. A single man could be hiding in plain sight.

Joe:

"Where are we going?" Joe asked.

Callie pointed ahead and the two brothers followed her, lugging easels and bags. Two other men jumped in to help out. Of course, Callie looked like a damsel in distress. Petite blondes always did. And she was pregnant, which only helped. She was used to being offered help, but Joe wasn't used to accepting it. He half expected her to bite their heads off.

But instead, she just accepted the help and busied herself calling someone and barking at them over the phone as her helpers jostled around in her wake.

"What's going on?" Joe asked Frank in a low voice.

His brother brought his up to date and Joe was shocked by what he heard. "No way. Does this have anything to do with the murder? The bomb threats... The art theft? How does it all work? One guy? Has he been calling the shots? Why?"

"Beats me."

"Here, guys. Thank you." Callie gave Frank a kiss on the cheek, then she gave Joe an awkward one-armed hug. "You two are the best. Look, I'll be okay now. My manager is coming any second, so why don't you two take a break? There are heaps of things to see. And Nancy will be here."

Callie encouraging her ex to see Nancy? Gosh. Frank really picked the weirdest girls. Joe shook his head. He knew Frank wanted marriage and babies one day, but he knew how to pick career women who wanted to put their lives first. Sure, he liked Nancy. But Joe did sometimes wonder if she was just Callie 2.0. Frank sure had a type!

Did Joe have a type? He thought of his two contenders: soft, curvy, fun Bess and thin, straight, wicked Vanessa. Physically, maybe not, but those two knew how to have a good time. Bess loved to laugh, and Van was quick and sarcastic. He liked charismatic, friendly people. And the idea of a family someday might appeal to him if he could just get over his fear of commitment.

"Come on Joe. Let's have a look around."

Joe joined his brother as the entered the crowd. Frank put a hand on Joe's arm, trying to stay close amongst the shunting bodies. It looked like a civilized crowd. But there were so many people. Joe felt dread overcome him. It wasn't sudden like a wave. Instead, it crept over him until he was almost paralyzed. There really were so many people…

"What's up?" Frank pulled Joe to the side; his dark eyes concerned.

Joe had to unstick his tongue from the roof of his mouth. "I just… I'm just realizing… there are so many people here. I didn't think that many people liked art. I mean…" he couldn't get the words out. But luckily, they were on the same page.

"I know what you mean. There are so many innocent people here and we might have a mad bomber on the loose. I'm scared too, Joe."

"Iola…"

Frank wrapped his brother in a sudden, firm hug. "Not again. I promise."

Maybe if they'd been little boys, Joe might have relaxed into the hug. But they were grown men. And besides, there was a task at hand. The brief contact provided the comfort only a big brother could give. And besides, Frank never made idle promises. Joe trusted him above anyone else.

"I'll hold you to that," he said roughly.

And they both pretended his eyes weren't wet.

Nancy:

Nancy hung up with Frank and joined McNamara at the FBI garage on B0 level.

"B0 looks like BO," McNamara joked seeing her glance at the sign.

Nancy gave him a look.

"What? I know you think I'm a giant kid, but I'm just trying to relieve the tension. Would you rather talk about the babies at that fair? The innocent grannies?"

"I'll stick to jokes, thanks."

"Same. Your boyfriend is there, right?"

"Wow. Not helping. He's not a baby or a grandmother, but I care about him."

McNamara winced and raked a hand through his hair. "Yeah… sorry… bad time to pull out that casual conversation card. Sorry. I didn't mean…"

"I know Ted Hollis' wife. She's pregnant."

"You think he's involved?"

"No. But she's there, McNamara. She's at the fair. And he wants to blow it up."

"That's so fucked up. Like, so fucked up. Don't worry, Drew. We'll get your guy and the lady with the baby out of there. Huh, get it? Lady with a baby sounds like a rhyme."

Nancy saw through the jokes then. McNamara was like Joe, hiding behind the glossy veneer of humor and deprecation. "Yeah. I get it. You can call me Nancy."

He looked surprised. "Finn."

She glanced at her phone, praying Frank and Joe were keeping safe. She wasn't a religious person normally, but when she was trapped inside a moving vehicle, miles away she felt the need to put an appeal out there. If there was a god, they might hear it.

"Funny. There's a car behind us. I think he's following us," Finn McNamara said suddenly.

Nancy glanced behind her as an SUV moved out from behind them, indicating as if to move into the next lane. But at the last moment the car slammed into the rear of their vehicle.

"Finn!" Nancy cried out as the car spun towards the opposite lane of traffic. As if in slow motion their car clipped a sedan and veered at an alarming pace towards a barrier.

Nancy raised her hands to protect her face just in time. The car slammed into the barrier with devastating force. Through her fingers Nancy saw the quick progression of events as the windscreen cracked, an almost beautiful filigree forming across the glass. Then, her airbag deployed, marring her vision.

She pushed it away, just in time to see the SUV screaming away and disappearing into the traffic.

"Finn. Finn." She forced his airbag back, felt for a pulse.

Feeling nothing, she grabbed her phone and cried out, "we need an ambulance and back up right now. Special Agent Finn McNamara is non-responsive, and we've been hit. A white late 1990's SUV has got away. I think Ted Hollis attacked us. I repeat, Ted Hollis has just got away."