Reyes was looking out of the window in her old bedroom when she heard her father calling her from down stairs. She went down to see someone with him. An old friend.

"Marcos?"

"Ci! You are mucho beautiful after all these years senorita Monica."

"Espanola Marcos!"

"Papa, perdone mi." Reyes walked into the kitchen and found her mother laughing at the kitchen sink.

"Mama? Did you know anything about this? What is papa doing?"

"Espanola Monica!"

"Oh mama, please, what is Marcos doing here?"

"Your father thinks you should get married."

"That's great, and maybe one day I will, but why is Marcos here?"

"Your father thinks you should marry Marcos."

"What? That's crazy!"

"Why? You love somebody else?" Reyes blushed but didn't answer her mother's question.

"Then there is no problemo, you can be married to Marcos."

"Do you know I haven't seen him in over ten years? He still looks exactly the same, I'm not marrying him."

"Looks, that is all your generation care about, you think I married your father because of how he looks?"

"I really don't want to hear this story."

"Good, because I am fed up of telling you, it only goes in on ear and out the other."

"Mama, please, help me get rid of him."

"No! I will not, you tell him you will not marry him because he is not pretty, and you watch him cry."

"Yeah, cause that's a real turn on, a grown man crying because of his looks!"

"Monica Reyes!"

"Don't full name me mama, I'm sorry. I'll go talk to Marcos."

"Wait. You marry for love Monica, nothing but for love." Reyes smiled at her mother and walked back out to her father and Marcos, who were both standing completely oblivious to her non-existent enthusiasm at him being there.

Reyes passed the afternoon with funny tales from she and Marcos growing up together,
things that happened at school, people they dated, people they missed and didn't miss. Despite her best efforts not to, Reyes did have a good afternoon and couldn't see the harm in catching up with an old friend when that was the main purpose of her visit, to catch up with her past. When Marcos finally left, she went and helped her mother prepare dinner, her father was there too going on about how wonderful Marcos was and how perfect he was for Monica. But Reyes knew that as long as her mother said she could marry for love, her father would have no choice but to go along with it.

The next day Reyes woke early to her cell phone ringing, the sun hadn't even come up and she stumbled around in the dark before finding her phone and then switching the light on.

"Monica Reyes."

"Monica? It's Scully."

"Dana what is it?"

"It's Agent Doggett."

"What? Has he got you to call me to get me back to D.C.? Because if he has..."

"No Monica, he um, he called me about an hour ago, it's his mother. She's had a stroke, she's in the hospital and it doesn't look like she'll come out of this."

"Oh my God."

"Agent Doggett asked me not to tell you, he feels bad about how you parted, and he doesn't want to ruin your New Year, but I thought you'd want to know."

"Yeah, of course. I'll be on the first flight back."

"Call me and I'll pick you up from the airport."

"Thanks." Reyes put down her phone and quickly got dressed. She threw all of her things into her bags and scribbled a note for her parents. But as she opened the front door to quietly leave, her mother called her into the kitchen.

"Mama. Why aren't you asleep?"

"I could ask you the same thing. I had indigestion. You?"

"I'm going back to D.C. A friend needs my help."

"The Doggett friend?"

"Yes."

"What's so important that you leave your family in the middle of the night without saying
good bye?"

"His mother is ill. She's in hospital and may not survive." This struck a chord with Reyes'
mother, she wasn't expecting such a reply. The truth was she was proud of her daughter and how she showed so much compassion for others. But her daughter being an FBI agent scared her, she knew the dangers, and she wanted to keep her in Mexico as long as possible.

"Your father will not be happy."

"I know. But you can explain it to him for me."

"I can?"

"Mama, don't do this. I have to leave. I checked with the airport and there's a flight in 40
minutes, if I hurry I'll make it in time."

"You should wait until the morning and tell your father."

"Why? Because you think he'd talk me out of it?"

"No. Because you wouldn't walk away from him as you would me."

"What are you talking about?"

"You do not respect me like him. You will not speak Spanish with me, you will not speak English with him."

"Mama please, I love you both so much, don't pitch me one against the other. You're trying to make me feel bad, and I know you know me well enough to know that it won't work. You know me better than anyone, do you honestly believe that anything you say will change my mind about going to support someone who needs me?" Her mother looked at her and then down at the ground. How could she look her in the eye when she knew that she was wrong to ask her to stay.

"Call me when you land." Reyes smiled and walked over to her mother, she kissed her and her mother hugged her tightly before letting her go. "Don't leave it so long before you come back."

"I won't mama. Mi promesa." Seeing her mother smile, Reyes felt satisfied and walked out of the house to the car waiting for her outside. She was at the airport in time for her flight and was back in Washington before she knew it.

Doggett was sitting in the hospital waiting room when his father came over to him from
speaking with his mother's doctors. The look on his face told Doggett all he needed to know. But he couldn't accept it. How could this be? He stood up to his father and begged him with just a single look to tell him that everything would be ok.

"I'm sorry son. It doesn't look good. They're not sure that she'll even wake up again. They're trying to find out if there is any permanent damage been done to her brain. Keep your chin up kid, I gotta call your sister, you any idea what time it is in London?"

"No."

"Oh well, she's gotta know. She'd wanna be here. You should call Barbara too."

"What? Why?"

"Your mom would want her to know."

"This has nothing to do with Barbara."

"Don't get pissed at me, you know your ma never excepted the two of you getting divorced. She's always dreamt of the two of you getting back together, or at least for you to find someone else. Just call her." Doggett's father left and went to ask where the pay phones were. Doggett sat back down and rubbed his temples with his hand. He hadn't slept for over 24 hours and it was beginning to take its toll on him. He couldn't cope with this, he couldn't lose his mother. He turned around to see where his father had gone and couldn't believe who he saw standing where he'd last seen him.

"Monica."

"Hey." He stood up and she walked over to him. There were no words needed, she hugged him and he welcomed the comfort and warmth of her in his embrace. He took in her energy, her life; she gave him the boost he needed to keep going. They slowly came apart, but Reyes held his hand as they sat down on the benches in the waiting room.

"What are you doing here?"

"Agent Scully called me."

"I asked her not to involve you in this."

"Why?"

"Because I knew you didn't wanna be here. This isn't fair. Go home Monica."

"John, I can't believe you didn't call me. I'm not going anywhere." Doggett looked at Reyes and smiled weakly. He was so glad that she was there but couldn't find the words to tell her, so he gently squeezed her hand to show his appreciation. Reyes smiled back and looked him straight in the eye.

"How is she?" Doggett took a deep breath.

"Not good. They say they don't know that she'll wake up from this. That we might not get her back."

"Oh John, I'm so sorry."

"Yeah. Me too."

"Is your dad here?"

"Yeah. He's gone to call Kate."

"Your sister?"

"Yeah, God only knows how she'll get here. And we have no idea where Bobby is."

"What about Barbara?"

"Barbara? Not you as well."

"What?"

"My dad asked me to call her."

"Have you?"

"No. And I don't intend to."

"But, your mom, she and Barbara were close weren't they?"

"Yeah they were. And then we got divorced and my mom never got over it. I'm not calling her and raking all that up again. I can't."

"Sure. I understand. It must bring up a lot of old feelings for you, for Barbara." Doggett
looked at Reyes and was shocked to see how the mention of his ex-wife had effected her. She looked hurt, bruised by the mention of her name. Surely she wasn't jealous?

"It's nothing like that Monica, I mean I don't have feelings for Barbara, not those kind of
feelings, not anymore, I mean I, well you know how I feel about... Dad."

"What?" Reyes turned around to see Doggett's father standing over them like a hawk watching its territory.

"Dad, you remember Monica?"

"Sure. You helped with Luke, well when Luke, when he... Nice to see you again."

"Mr Doggett you too."

"Oh please, call me Frank. You work together at the FBI now right?"

"Yeah, little over a year now."

"Dad, you get hold of Kate?"

"No. I had to leave a message with her secretary would you believe. She'll call when she gets the message." An awkward silence filled the room. Reyes looked at Doggett, looked from her to his father, and his father looked at him. No one knew what to say to anyone for fear of saying something wrong or something that may cause offence.

"Well, I should leave you guys alone, I need to check into a motel somewhere."

"You don't need to do that." Doggett wanted to take the words back even before he'd said them. His father looked at him, and finished what he was saying taking the angle of comment to a different level.

"Well, I guess she can stay in the spare room at home then."

"That's not what I meant, I mean, you're welcome to stay, but I mean, I didn't think you'd be staying, don't you have to get back to your folks?" Reyes didn't know how to read the
situation. Did Doggett want her to leave New York right away, or did he just feel embarrassed about her being in his home? Did he just want her out of the way or did he feel guilty for her not being in Mexico? She didn't know what to think, but she wasn't going to bail out that soon.

"It's fine really. I'll find a motel. I'll call you."

"Sure. Ok." Reyes stood up and Doggett followed suit. She smiled politely and excused herself. As she walked out Doggett's father looked at him shaking his head. Doggett hung his head with shame and went after her.

"Monica!"

"Yeah?"

"I just wanted to say... Well I just... Thanks for coming down here. I appreciate it."

"You're welcome."

Reyes checked into a motel about five miles from Doggett's family home. She wanted to be close to him but she didn't want to freak him out by being too overpowering and in the way. She was glad she'd come to New York, and she hoped that Doggett meant it when he said he was glad to have her there. She wasn't sure what use she could be though, but she knew that she could help track down his brother and maybe get the family together for the New Year, to say good bye to their mother.

She went to the local police department and took the first steps to helping out the Doggett family when they needed it the most.

"Excuse me ma'am can I help you?"

"Yes, I hope so, I'm looking for detective Roberts."

"You're looking at him."

"Oh, hi. I'm special Agent Monica Reyes."

"You're with the bureau? Who called you out here?"

"Actually I'm here with a friend. Agent John Doggett."

"You know John?"

"I'm his partner."

"Oh I see, he didn't tell any of the boys he was dating again!"

"Actually I'm his FBI partner."

"Oh, sorry about that. Should have known you weren't with Johnny! Well, have a seat, I take it you're here about Bobby?"

"Yeah. I wanna do what I can to help. Especially now that their mother has taken ill."

"Oh gees, I didn't know about that. Well that sucks."

"I know."

"Well, I'll fill you in on what we got so far and we'll see if we can't fix this sorry mess for
good."

"Thank you."

"Don't mention it, a friend of Johnny's is a friend of the New York police department." Reyes smiled and followed the detective into his office where he filled her in on the latest regarding Doggett's brother. It wasn't good. And when an officer came running into the office shouting about a murder, she knew that it was Bobby. She could feel it. He'd walked down a path that was impossible to turn back and run out of.

Reyes had never seen so much blood. An old man lay on the ground, his grocery shopping lay all around him, his empty wallet lay beside him, no longer a brown leather, it was a dark dirty red. Dirty like everything about the crime scene. She knew that it was Bobby. There was a message for him from his brother that he needed to hear. On the wall he'd written with the oldman's blood: 'tell John I'm ready for him'. She looked over to detective Roberts and he nodded at her politely as she dialled Doggett's number. This was a call she never hoped to be making.

As Reyes looked around she felt as if she were being watched. And as she looked around she saw someone move from a window frame in a building across the road. It was him. She crossed the road as she waited for Doggett to answer his phone. She entered the building and tried to work out which floor she'd seen him on. She took out her weapon just to be on the safe side, she didn't know if he was alone or not.

"John Doggett."

"John, it's me. I think there's something you need to see."

"What? What is it?"

"There's been a murder."

"Yeah? Oh God... Oh not Bobby. Not Bobby."

"There was a message on the wall at the scene. It was for you."

"I'll be there as soon as I can."

"34th Street. I'm sorry John."

"I know. I just wish this would all end. I'm so sick of it Monica."

"I know. I just wish that I could..." As Reyes had been talking she'd carried on walking around the building, and as she was talking to Doggett somebody grabbed her from the shadows and she dropped both her phone and her weapon to the ground in shock.

"Monica? Monica you there? Monica?! What happened?! Monica!"