Chapter Fifteen: Farewell to Storyville

"The aim of love is to love. No more, no less." -Oscar Wilde

"So, I should be home around six and then we'll fly out tomorrow morning," Will said as he set a plate with bacon, eggs, and toast down in front of Tate.

"Okay," Tate replied as she sipped her orange juice.

Will and JJ had decided it was finally time to look for a house in DC, as JJ's current apartment was much too small for the soon to be family of five. They wanted Tate to have an opinion as well, which is why instead of staying with Beck and Amelia over the weekend, she'd be making the journey to DC with Will.

It was also helpful that they were looking at houses this particular weekend, as Beck and Amelia had taken the boys up to Seattle to visit Amelia's sister, so Tate wouldn't have been able to stay with them.

"Alright, you ready to go?" Will asked, noticing Tate was done.

Tate nodded in response, hopping off the stool before grabbing her backpack on the floor.

"Mornin', Will," Jonesy said, greeting Will as he walked into the precinct.

"Jonesy, everything alright?" Will asked, as the captain usually wasn't looking for him first thing in the morning.

Drew had also just arrived at the precinct and was waved over by Jonesy.

"Madigan's got hard evidence on the 39ers, so we're raiding the warehouse this afternoon," the captain informed them.

The 39ers were a gang that they'd been trying to pin for months. Besides the drug dealing, they'd also been tied to multiple murders, which was why Will and Drew were involved. An officer that handled gangs, Daniel Madigan, had been undercover for the past seven months trying to get evidence to arrest the leaders and bring down the gang.

"I want the two of you coming with us," Jonesy continued.

"What time?" Drew asked.

"Four o'clock, according to Madigan, that's when they're having their meeting in the warehouse, so no one will be guarding the perimeter".

"Alright, we'll be ready," Will promised the captain.

Tate got home just after 2:30 and was greeted at the door by Max. Since Beck and Amelia were away, the 3-year-old golden retriever was staying with Will and Tate for the week and would be dropped off at Drew's tomorrow morning on their way to the airport.

"Hey, buddy," Tate said, scratching behind his ears as she reached for his leash on the coat hook. "Let's go for a little walk".

After walking around the block with Max, Tate settled down at the counter with a cup of yogurt as a snack. Some girls from her class were hanging out after school, but she hadn't seen the point in going. After all, in just a few weeks, she and Will would be leaving New Orleans.

She sighed at the thought of another move, another new school, another new city, another new house. But when Will had asked her if she'd be okay with it, she hadn't wanted him to feel guilty, and she knew regardless of her response, they'd be going.

So, she'd pretended to be excited by it, happy to be going to DC to look at houses, and looking forward to the move. However, in reality, she was dreading it. This was how it always was for Tate though, repeatedly getting uprooted just as she'd gotten settled in a new place, so she supposed she should be used to it. But, just because she was used to it didn't mean she found it any less exhausting.

As Tate was about to get started on her homework, the phone rang. "LaMontagne residence," she said into the phone.

"Oh uh hello, I was looking for William," a woman said, sounding confused.

"He's at work right now, but you could try calling back later. Or I could take a message," Tate offered.

"Can I ask who this is?" the woman replied, a hint of annoyance creeping into her voice

"This is Tate, Will's sorta fostering me," she informed the woman.

"I see. Well, just tell William that Annie asked him to call her back".

"Annie?" Tate asked, the name sounding familiar.

"His mother, dear," Annie responded.

"Oh, right. Just so you know, he probably won't be home till later tonight, and we're going to visit JJ in DC this weekend to look for houses, so he might not get back to you until Monday".

"Who's JJ?" Annie asked, now sounding very annoyed.

Tate cursed quietly as she realized she was just digging Will into a deeper hole.

"Uh, Will's girlfriend…" she trailed off.

"And why exactly is William moving to DC?".

"Well, JJ didn't really wanna move here so-" Tate began.

"Last time I talked to Beckett, he told me Will had no intentions of moving, so what's changed?" the woman interrupted Tate.

Seeing no way out, Tate realized she either had to tell the woman now, or Will would have to when he got home.

"JJ's pregnant," she told Annie hesitantly.

There was a moment of silence over the phone, but Tate could still hear Annie breathing, so she knew she hadn't been disconnected or hung up.

"Just make sure William calls me," Annie snapped harshly.

A second later, Tate heard the dial tone that indicated Annie had hung up, and she set the phone back in its cradle.

"Nice to meet you too," she said to the empty room.

Tate realized she had probably messed everything up for Will by telling his mother things he clearly hadn't wanted her to know. In her defense, she'd assume Will or Beck would've told her, as at least one of them talks to her every other month.

She decided there was nothing she could do about it now and went back to working on her homework, hoping Will wouldn't be too upset when he found out.

By the time she'd finished her homework, it was also 6 o'clock, so Will would be home any minute. Tate settled down onto the couch, and read Strangers on a Train, one of the books she knew Reid had picked out, as JJ would certainly never have gotten it for her.

6:15 rolled around and Will hadn't come home yet, which Tate found odd. Will was always on time and was always home when he'd said he'd be. On the rare occasion, he was running late, he'd call Tate to let her know.

15 minutes later, when Will still hadn't returned, Tate decided to try calling him. The phone rang several times and eventually, Tate heard the distinct sound of Will's voicemail message in her ear.

"This is Detective William LaMontagne, I'm not available at the moment but leave me a message and I'll call you back as soon as possible".

Tate sighed and was beginning to worry. It wasn't like Will to be late, and he hardly ever let his phone go to voicemail.

When Will hadn't shown up by 7 o'clock, Tate decided to call Drew and see if they were still on patrol or at the precinct. Similarly to Will's phone, his went straight to voicemail.

She could feel the distinct pain of hunger in her stomach and decided to just make herself dinner. Usually, Will just made dinner when he got home so Tate hadn't bothered earlier, but since it seemed he was running very late, she figured she should.

It wasn't until Tate went to get some food from the fridge that she noticed the police car sitting outside in the driveway, the glow from their flashing blue and red lights filtering through the kitchen window and illuminating the room.

At the sight of the car, Tate's heart dropped and for a moment she couldn't breathe. She knew all too well why the car was here. After all, there was only one reason a police officer would come by Will's house at night where he had yet to return.

It was the exact same thing that had happened to Tate and Theo seven years ago. Their parents hadn't been answering their phones, and they hadn't gotten on their flight to come home. When the police showed up, the babysitter had answered the door, and just like that, their world was gone.

A knock at the door pulled Tate from her thoughts, and she realized the officer had been knocking for a while.

She slowly approached the door, still not able to take a deep breath. Will had to be okay. He had to be. There was simply no other option.

Tate lightly gripped the doorknob, not yet wanting to twist it and open the door. She wouldn't survive if Will was gone, if another family member was taken from her, another parent dead and buried. This would be the straw that broke the camel's back, the thing that finally destroyed Tate. It'd been hard enough to get through her parent's death, but she had Theo, and when Theo died, she had Will. But who would be there for her now?

Another knock gave her the push to open the door, and it swung open, creaking on its hinges.

She recognized the officer before her, but she couldn't remember his name. In the back of her mind, she knew that was strange, she did after all have a photographic memory. But for the life of her, she couldn't recall his name. All she could focus on was the sound of her heartbeat in her ears as it hammered away in her chest.

"Hey, kiddo. How's it going?" the officer greeted her, a look of sorrow on his face. Tate reminded herself to breathe, no matter how hard it was, and she noticed the nametag the man had pinned onto his uniform. The silver pin gleamed in the moonlight so despite the darkness Tate could make out the name embroidered: Nolan.

It was almost as if the name jump-started her brain. Now, she could remember meeting the man, Parker Nolan, at a party Drew had hosted at his house a few weeks ago.

"What happened, Officer Nolan?" she asked the man quietly, struggling to get the words out.

A flash of pain went across the young man's face, and he bit his lip for a moment. Tate could feel Max's wet nose press against the back of her hand, before feeling his furry head underneath it, but she couldn't bring herself to tear her gaze away from the officer.

"Remember, kiddo, I told you, you can call me Parker," he began.

Tate didn't want him calling her "kiddo". That was what Will called her. When anyone else did it, she thought it was patronizing, but she liked it when Will did it. When he called her "kiddo", it was fatherly, the way her dad used to so many years ago.

"Listen, Tate, I'm sorry but your dad got hurt tonight-" Nolan continued to talk but Tate couldn't hear him anymore. Everything was muffled like she was underwater. She hadn't even corrected him in her head when he called Will her dad. This morning, everything had been perfect and now, everything was broken. Ruined, just like Tate's entire life had been.

Three Hours Earlier

Will walked through the barricades the police had set up to surround the block that the warehouse was in. They had parked all their cars and extra officers at the barricades, and the rest of them would walk on foot to the warehouse so they wouldn't draw attention.

"You ready?" Drew asked, standing beside him.

"Yeah," Will said as he shrugged on his Kevlar vest before holstering his gun that he'd just checked.

Jonesy walked up to the pair and handed each of them a radio, which they clipped to the strap of their vests.

"We're moving out soon. The other half of the squad is gonna come from the opposite end of the block, and they'll go in the east entrance," Jonesy informed them.

"And Madigan?" Will asked.

"He'll be at the meeting, it would've been suspicious if he didn't show up. Soon as we get in, he'll make a run for it so that he doesn't get caught in the fire," Jonesy assured him.

The team quickly approached the warehouse, surrounding the gang and rushing inside. At first, the gang tried to put up a fight, but quickly realized it would only end poorly for them and those that hadn't run off surrendered.

Officers began leading handcuffed members outside towards the squad cars that would take them to lock-up, and Will stayed behind with Drew and a few others to collect any remaining evidence.

Outside the warehouse, Jonesy finally caught up with Madigan talking to another officer.

"Danny, good work," Jonesy told the young man, clapping him on the back.

Madigan was thanking him when an officer came up to give Jonesy their report.

"Captain, one of the members threw a Molotov by the east side of the warehouse and it's too big for the fire extinguishers, so we called the fire department in," he informed the man.

"Alright, good call," Jonesy said, nodding.

Madigan went pale and quickly called out to the officer that was now walking away.

"Where on the east side?".

"Near the stairs leading down to the basement," the officer replied.

Madigan swore and turned back to Jonesy.

"They've been cookin' meth in a room right off the staircase, if the fire gets close enough it'll blow," he told him in a panic.

"Shit," Jonesy said, reaching for his radio. "Evacuate the building now, I repeat, evacuate the building now, there's a meth lab that's about to blow,".

Drew, who was still deep in the heart of the large warehouse, heard his captain's orders over the radio.

"Will! C'mon, we gotta go, man," he yelled to his partner who had been packaging up evidence.

Will quickly stood up and went to follow Drew out of the warehouse along with the other officers that had been left inside, when suddenly a blast hit him from behind, and everything went dark.

Will slowly opened his eyes and found himself looking up at the ceiling. His ears were ringing sharply, and his whole body hurt. He could feel heat getting closer, which he then realized was fire but he was too tired to move. All he wanted to do was close his eyes and sleep.

He heard someone stumble over to him, and he felt hands pressing firmly on his stomach. It sent a shooting pain through him, and Will forced his eyes open as he gasped in pain.

He could see Drew leaning over him, putting pressure on what Will assumed was a wound. Like Will, he no longer wore his kevlar vest, having removed it after the gang members were escorted out of the building.

Drew's lips were moving but the ringing in his ears prevented him from hearing anything the man was saying. Slowly the ringing wore off, and the man's words grew louder.

"Will, you gotta stay awake, alright? You're gonna be fine man, just fine," he assured Will, pressing his hands down even harder.

Drew reached for his radio and switched it on.

"I have several officers down with critical injuries, we need medical assistance now," he said, only to get static in response.

"Dammit," he said and shook Will slightly. "Hey, eyes on me,".

Will hadn't even realized he'd shut them again until Drew said that. He suddenly found it was getting harder to breathe, but he didn't feel the pain anymore. He was barely aware enough to realize that was a bad sign.

Seeing his breaths slowing, Drew twisted around to face the exit of the warehouse.

"I need a medic now!" he shouted as loud as he could.

Noticing Will once again closing his eyes, he lightly slapped the man's face.

"C'mon, man, you gotta stay awake, okay? You have to fight right now. I know it hurts, but you gotta keep fighting. Tate and JJ need you to fight," Drew told him.

At the mention of his girls, Will's eyes flew open. He knew Drew was right, he couldn't die. JJ needed him to live, to be a father for their babies. And Tate, Tate had already lost so much. She needed her parent, she needed him. JJ wouldn't be able to take care of her and the twins by herself, so hopefully Beck and Amelia would be able to take her. But he was her foster father, and the state wouldn't let Beck and Amelia take her if he died. At least, not immediately.

He needed to live, for both of them. He'd promised both of them that he wouldn't leave them alone, and he was a man of his word.

But, hard as he tried, he once again felt his eyes fluttering shut. Drew's voice in his ear grew quieter, the heat from the fire dulled, and the pain from his injuries faded. Something came over him, something telling him to sleep, to rest. Just to close his eyes for a minute.

He wanted to give in, no longer remembering why he needed to stay awake, but Drew's voice was preventing him from sleeping. The voice slowly grew silent, and Will couldn't hear his partner's pleas anymore. And then the world washed away, and everything was gone. All the pain, the noise, the worries, the chaos. He could finally rest.

He let his eyes close shut, and everything slipped away.

"Dying's the easy part. The dead are at peace, but the real heroes are the ones who have to keep going." -Oliver Queen