Hello. I just want to remind you that I don't own the characters. It's just a fan-to-fan story

Danny, Lou, Quinn and Catherine were working on a kidnapping case. There was a negotiator and several HPD officers were there too.

Catherine received a phone call and walked away to answer. She came back a minute later and already knew she would hear complaints. "Danny, the daycare director called me, Joe's not well and I need to pick him up."

"Catherine, we're in the middle of a kidnapping negotiation. There are over thirty people in danger in there, and Junior and Tani are off duty. The week is not even over yet and you haven't served your shift for three days straight. That's not fair to your coworkers".

"My son is sick, Danny. What would you do if your children were sick? Steve has always been there for you with your kids, and what do you do for his kids? Debby and Joe are your friend's kids! Do you remember him?" Catherine asked in tears. She was exhausted and full of problems.

"Go get your kids, Catherine. Lou and I can handle it," Quinn told her.

"Thank you," she answered and got in the car.

"Don't look at me like that. How can I keep her on the team like this? The governor charges results," Danny told them.

"She's going through some tough times, Danny. You have to understand. Steve disappeared almost three years ago, there's no body, no news, she's been through a lot," Quinn told him.

"It's hard for her to work, take care of the kids, and look for Steve," Lou said.

."She supported Steve to go on that mission that the Navy offered him. She has her share of the blame. Steve didn't come back from that damn mission because he doesn't exist anymore," Danny told them.

"We don't know, Danny," Lou replied.

Catherine drove to day care and when she got there Joe was crying in an employee's lap and Debby was sitting still and had a sheet of paper in her hand.

"Hi, I got here as fast as I could," Catherine said.

"He has a fever and cries all the time."

Catherine held him in her lap. "Let's go home, my love. Mommy will take care of you." She reached out to Debby and the girl held her hand. "Come, darling."

Catherine took them to the car and put them in the chair. "Is it a drawing, my love?" She asked Debby about the paper she held carefully.

"It's a drawing for Daddy," Debby answered.

"Okay, When we get home you keep it in Daddy's folder," Catherine told her. Debby had a folder and in that folder there was a picture her with her father, and she kept there all the drawings she did for Steve in the hope that he would come home someday.

Catherine came home with the children and saw Mary sitting on the front porche with Joan.

"Joan!" Debby ran to Joan who picked her up. "Hi! How you've grown, Debby!"

Catherine approached with Joe on her lap. "Oh, Mary! Forgive me. I forgot you were coming."

"It's all right, Catherine. We arrived fifteen minutes ago," Mary answered. Catherine had Joe in her lap and the kids' backpacks in her other hand.

"Give me those backpacks," Mary took the backpacks from Catherine's hand and looked at Joe. "What's wrong with my prince?" Mary stroked his hair, but he didn't cheer up.

"He's sick again, Mary," Catherine answered.

"Again, Catherine?"

"Yes, the doctor said he has low immunity. Now he has an inflamed throat and ear".

Mary kissed the boy's forehead. "Poor Joe. But he'll get better soon."

"I hope so, Mary. Let's go inside."

They entered the house and Debby ran to the bedroom and got the folder. She took her drawing and gave a kiss. "It's for you, Daddy," and kept it in the folder.

"Make yourself at home, Mary. I'm going to go medicate Joe and I'll be right back."

"Okay, Catherine," Mary answered. She sat down and looked around. "The house is so empty without him. I don't know how Catherine can stand that silence that hurts the soul, that cuts the heart."

A few minutes later, Catherine returned to the room with Joe on her lap. "Mary, put your bags in the bedroom. I took a while because I gave Joe a shower. Joan is playing with Debby."

" I thought that was so beautiful the tribute that you and Steve did to Aunt Debby by putting her name on your daughter."

" He wanted Deborah if it was a girl and Joe if it was a boy. So when I got pregnant for the second time, I did what he wanted, even if he wasn't here," Catherine told Mary.

Joe was crying and Mary picked him up. "Come here with auntie." Mary looked at him as she was cradling him on her lap. "Like you remind me of your father. And it makes me so sad that he was gone before he knew your mother was pregnant," Mary thought.

Joe calmed down, and slept on Mary's lap. "Do you see that? Aunt Mary's lap works miracles."

"Put him on the couch very slowly so he doesn't wake up. He didn't sleep well at night and neither did I," Catherine told Mary.

Mary put Joe down on the couch and sat down. She called Catherine to sit down next to her because she wanted to talk. "And you, Catherine? How are you?"

Catherine didn't hold back her tears and let Mary know everything that was going on with her. She talked about getting false leads about Steve's whereabouts, the pressure at work, the lack he was doing in her life.

"People tell me they saw him somewhere and I go, and when I get there I can't find him. How can people play with my suffering like this? I've spent a lot of money going after false leads, Mary".

"I know how hard it is for you, Catherine."

"I need to work and daycare doesn't stay with Joe if he's sick. Today I argued with Danny about why I had to pick up the kids at daycare early. I sometimes feel like I'm reaching my limit. All I wanted was to have my husband back."

Mary held Catherine's hands and didn't know how to tell her what she thought. "Catherine... you have to accept the fact that Steve is gone."

"No, Mary. He's not gone, my heart tells me he's alive somewhere in this world."

Mary felt sorry for Catherine. "Then why didn't he come back?" Mary asked.

"I don't know..."

"My mother left me a lgood sum of money, and she was going to leave Steve a good sum of money, too, but she didn't have time. I'll share my share with you so you can stay home with the kids while they're still very young."

"I can't accept, Mary."

"Of course you can accept. I want to help my nephew and my niece."

"Thank you, Mary." Catherine couldn't help herself and cried a lot.

"Don't cry, Catherine."

Too far away from there...

Two monks watched a man standing, staring at the stars, while a cold wind seemed to cut his skin. "What is he doing out there in that cold?"

"He needs to find peace. It's hard not to have a memory, not to know where he came from, not to know who he is".

"He needs to start over from now."

"But for sure there are people in his past, there is someone who cares about him and wants him well."

"Jamal!" The monk called him. "Come in, or you'll get sick. It's too cold."