Disclaimer- See chapter 1.

Bringing Up Memories
Chapter 7- To the Past, and to the Future

Steve had told Jesse of his father's strange, yet customary, behavior the night before. He had spoken to Mark, but he walked away muttering something about influenza inoculations. Amanda had brushed past Jesse in much the same manner as Mark, although she didn't know what track his mind was on any more that Steve did. Now he had caught up with Steve.

"Steve!" Jesse said. "What's going on? I know there's a development in the case, but Mark won't say anything."

"Jess, I can't tell you yet. Just tell my dad to call me when the results of the forensics test are in," Steve said calmly.

"Steve, this is my wife, daughter, and baby. I need to know what is going on," Jesse said.

"So Amanda told you, huh," Steve said.

"Yeah, she did. Maggie was pregnant. But I'm fine, Steve. I just need to know what's happening," Jesse repeated.

"I promise, as soon as I know something, I'll tell you." Jesse sighed, but nodded at Steve's proposal, and responded to a page for him to go to the E.R. As Jesse left, Mark walked up and greeted his son.

"Mark!" Amanda called form down the hall. Both men turned to her, waiting to hear what she had to say. "I ran that DNA through the computer, and they match up fifty percent. So, would you mind telling me what's going on now?"

"Soon, soon," Mark said, starting to walk away.

"Where are you going now?" Steve asked.

"I'm going to convey my congratulations to two new parents," he said.

.....

Nick Murphy sat with his wife and daughter. Paige Sullivan was visiting them, cooing over Baby Maggie.

"I wish I had one of these," she said with a grin.

"Actually, according to the police, you already do. When were you going to tell us about that?" Nick said.

"It's not a big deal," Paige returned. She then changed the subject. "So how is the case coming? Have you heard anything new?"

"Yes, actually, Dr. Sloan was here this morning. He said the police know who killed Maggie and Carley," Annie said.

"He didn't tell us much, except that Ian Ritodowski had a safety deposit box. Only he didn't open it until three days after he went to prison. So I guess now the police are going to go get whatever's in it. Then they can arrest whoever started this nightmare, and we can get on with our lives."

Paige left about fifteen minutes later, claiming that she had to pick up Mrs. Waverly and take her home. But her destination was in a different direction from Mrs. Waverly's room.

.....

Simone Heller slammed down the telephone in disgust. That was the last time she asked Mitch Sullivan for help. He was just too stubborn. Now she was parked outside a bank, ready to go in. She told the clerk that she was Simone Ritodowski, and that her husband had authorized her to get into the box. She held up the key and a note. The clerk matched the signature on the note to Ian Ritodowski's, and he led Simone to a small room. She sat on the edge of the table, waiting for the box. When the clerk brought it in, Simone eagerly pushed the key into the hole. She opened the box to see its four bare sides.

"Looking for this?" a voice asked from behind. Mark walked over and handed her a diary. "This diary details every move you and you accomplices made during the murder. A little messy, don't you think?"

Simone snatched the diary and ran towards the door. Her passage was blocked by Steve, and he led her back into the room by her arm. While they were walking, Paige's demeanor changed, and she looked around, suddenly scared of what she was seeing. She hung her head when Jesse followed Steve into the room. He looked between Mark and Steve, and back at Paige.

"You snuck into the Travis' apartment when you knew Jesse wouldn't be home. Then you killed Maggie, knocked Carley out, and shot her as well. Then you climbed down the fire escape, knowing full well that someone would come to investigate the shots. Then you went around the block to your car, and drove back to the apartment just in time for the party. Your plan worked perfectly. Someone else took the rap for your crime."

"But then it backfired when her fiancé went to jail," Jesse said. For once he was actually following along.

"Then she figured out a way to get Ian out of jail," Steve continued. "She left a briefcase at the precinct with enough evidence to free Ian, but enough was missing to keep herself from being incarcerated."

"That is, until Mark Sloan got on the case," Jesse finished. Steve nodded.

"Paige Sullivan, Chrissy Thomas, Simone Heller, or Madeline Davis, you are under arrest for the murder of Maggie Montgomery-Travis," he said, a satisfied tone in his voice. "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney then one will be provided for you free of charge..."

"What about Carley?" Jesse asked as two uniform officers led Steve away. "She killed her too."

"That's where you're wrong," Mark said. "Paige didn't kill Carley, she never intended to. When the ambulance got to Community General her brother, Doctor Mitch Sullivan, took care of Carley. They let everyone think that she was dead, and then had another pathologist, a Dr. Gregory Plummer, take care of the phony autopsy. Then Paige let you think that Carley's body was in the casket, and took her to raise as her own. She was so little she probably didn't remember any of it."

"I met little Grace Sullivan," Steve added. "And she remembers her real parents very well."

"Daddy?" a voice called from the doorway. Jesse turned around. Amanda and Susan were standing with a little redheaded girl between them.

"Carley?" Jesse asked, choking. She ran into his arms, and cried the tears that had never fallen.

.....

Later that week, after the arraignment, everyone was celebrating with dinner at Barbeque Bob's. Jesse and Carley were together again, and Maggie's killer was going to get some very much overdue help.

"So, Carley, how do you like being back with your dad?" Steve asked. The girl looked up at him and flashed the same impish smile, looking exactly like her father.

"I love it. I have to say I never remembered him until you asked me, but whenever Aunt Paige would forget who she was I felt very calm. And I used to dream about a man that I didn't recognize, yet I knew him. Now I know who that was." The words that she had spoken earned Carley another hug from her father. "Uncle Steve," she continued, preparing to dodge her father's playful cuff. "Has my dad always been this short?"

.....

"Mark, I don't know how to thank you," Jesse said later. "I mean, you've bee on cases that I've had personal interest in, but none of them were more controversial to me that this one."

"I know one way that you can thank me," Mark said. "Unpack Maggie from that storage shed. Put out some pictures of her. Let the memory live on in the light."

"You've got it," Jesse said. "As long as Susan doesn't mind."

"How could I mind? Especially not that Carley is living with us," Susan said with a smile, tousling her stepdaughter's hair.

"So what are your plans now?" Nick asked.

"I don't really know. Next weekend Carley and I are going to fly out to Texas and visit her mother's grave."

"I think that's a good idea," Ian said, making his first contribution to any conversation that had taken place that evening.

"Ian, I am so sorry. I really thought that you had killed them."

"No, I couldn't have. I love Carley like she's my own." Now it was his turn to ruffle the twelve-year-old's hair.

"That just made it more painful for Jesse. He couldn't believe that someone that close to Carley could kill her," Annie said.

"Detective Van Sickle was so sure that you were the one who killed Maggie, that I'm not sure she stopped to think about other possibilities."

"Detective Van Sickle once found me leaning over the body of my accountant, Ernie Pitt. I was being audited, and Mr. Pitt was supposed to meet me in my office to explain his 'creative accounting' to the IRS agent. When he didn't show up, I went to his office, but he was already dead, so I leaned over his body to check his pulse, and that's when she found me. She claimed that I was hovering. The woman doesn't know a lean when she sees one."

"I remember that. Detective Van Sickle was looking for you, so Jack Stewart smuggled you out of the hospital in a body bag," Amanda added with a smile. "Then when Steve couldn't find you he followed me and Jack around, knowing sooner or later we'd lead him right to you."

"Yes, Dad has a tendency to be found at murder scenes, leaning over the bodies," Steve said with a laugh.

.....

"Ian, I just want you to know that everything's square." Jesse said as he was cleaning up tables. It was late, and Carley was napping on a bench, covered in several eagerly volunteered jackets.

"Jess, there's nothing to forgive. You were not wrong to be mad at me. Maggie and Carley meant the world to you. I'm sorry Paige took that."

"How about a picture?" Susan said, holding up her camera and four lab coats. Ian, Jesse, Nick and Annie put on the jackets and stood together in a row. Jesse jumped out of formation, and grabbed a photo frame from behind the cash register.

"Okay, I'm ready." Susan snapped the picture, and the faces of Nick Murphy, Annie Johnson, Ian Ritodowski, Jesse Travis, and Maggie Montgomery smiled back at her.

It was getting late, so Jesse bent over his daughter and lifted her into his arms, carrying her out to the car. Susan smiled with a smile, knowing that in about eight months Jesse's joy would be doubled with the birth of the child that was growing inside her.

The End