Doggett paced the floor wearing holes into the ground and his shoes. Reyes had been missing for two hours, and there was no sign of her.

"How can none of you seen where she went?! There were twelve cops out there for crying out loud!"

"John, I'm sorry. But it's almost nine am on December 30th. People are getting ready for the New Year, they aren't thinking about work like they should. Anyway, you saw that old guys body, having to look at that at Christmas, it brings spirits down, now I'm not defending my boys not paying attention to your partner, but I didn't see her go anywhere either."

"There are still thirty-nine hours until the New Year, now I want every guy you got out there looking for her! I got family too! You think I wanna be doing this?!"

"I think you wanna find her."

"Damn it! Of course I wanna find her! Gees, she's here for about three hours and I get her put in danger."

"Well, she offered to come with us, I assumed you sent her to help with Bobby, what with your ma, well, you know."

"I know."

"Sorry to hear about that man."

"Yeah. You gotta find her. She shouldn't have come here, not to get mixed up in this Bobby thing."

"Didn't you keep asking her to come back cause you said she could help?"

"You trying to make me feel bad on purpose?"

"No, God no, sorry. It's just that, she knew that Bobby had killed that guy before we even got there, said she had some kinda feeling' that it was him. That he was in trouble."

"That's Monica."

"Go home John, get freshened up, see how your ma's doin. Leave this with us."

"I can't do that. I'll find her myself."

"John, Johnny wait!" But it was no use; Doggett was out of there and in his car to the crime scene before he even heard the detective calling his name. He'd find Monica, and he'd be there to take her home and wish her a happy New Year. Nothing was going to stop him, and she was the strongest person he knew, if anyone could handle something like this, she could.

Reyes opened her eyes and looked around her. She wasn't anywhere different. She was still in the same room that she'd been knocked out in. She felt her head pounding and touched her scalp. She winced in pain as she felt blood and traced it down her face. She tried to stand up but she couldn't. She couldn't feel her legs. Her eyes adjusted to the darkness around her and it was then that she saw someone standing in front of her.

"Who's there?"

"You're awake? I'm so glad. I was beginning to get a little scared that we'd been too hard on you. Hit you too hard."

"John?"

"Ha ha ha ha ha. No. Close."

"Bobby? Is that you?"

"The one and only. People always did say that I sounded just like my big brother."

"It's a shame a similar voice is the only thing you share."

"Ouch, hitting me where it hurts. The big brother taking all the lime light."

"John is a good man."

"'John is a good man', gees if I hear one more lame assed Johnny whipped person tell me how great Johnny fabulous is then I will shoot myself."

"Well now wouldn't that save us all a lot of trouble."

"Ooo, you're a feisty one aren't you. I can see why he likes you."

"That's none of your God damn business!"

"Oh, does somebody have a little crush on John Doggett? Is he not returning the gesture? Always was a lame ass with the ladies. What you need is a real man to show you a good time." He walked over to Reyes and got down close to her face. She could feel his hot smelly breath on her face, making her feel sick. She turned her head away but he grabbed her and held her so that he was looking directly into her eyes.

"Don't get bitchy with me Monica. I'm not a push over like my big brother. You piss me off, you'll know about it."

"What do you want with me?"

"I'm gonna give my amazing big brother a present for New Years as I missed Christmas."

"What are you talking about?"

"You'll see. Lie back and enjoy yourself. You're not going anywhere, the drugs have seen to that." Bobby walked away and slammed a door closed behind him. Reyes breathed heavily and took a deep breath. She couldn't lose it now. She had to stay calm and focused if she was ever going to get out of this and have anybody see her alive again.

Doggett was looking for anything, a clue, a sign, something to give him a hint as to where
Reyes may have gone. He knew her better than anyone, if she'd have seen something and wanted to investigate it she would have, she wouldn't ask for help, she wouldn't normally need it. At the same time as this he was constantly calling the hospital to check on his mother, if anything happened whilst he wasn't at her bedside he'd never forgive himself. But there was no change in her condition. They were awaiting test results, and they were still being very frank in the fact that she may just never wake up. He'd been looking for Reyes for two hours now and there was nothing. He kept telling himself he'd find her before the day was over. He was certain of it. There was no way he'd see in the New Year without being able to toast it with Reyes standing beside him.

When Reyes opened her eyes she manoeuvred herself so that she could see the time on her watch. It was almost noon. She could see the sun through the blinds on the windows; a tiny glow of light was shining through. Nobody had spoken to her since Bobby had been with her, and even he hadn't been back to check on her. In a way she wished she hadn't fallen asleep so she could have tried to escape. But the bump to her head had caused her to keep blacking out. She had no recollection of falling asleep, she didn't dream, she didn't slowly wake up as if from a sleep, she woke terrified and struggling for breath as if she were drowning in a river. She stood up slowly and the energy it took from her was as if she had run eight miles. She had no balance, no energy; she wasn't capable of doing anything.

A door opened and she looked up slowly. Whoever it was had a torch, they were shining it in her eyes and it was painful to look at it. She covered her face with her hands and tried to look away. But whoever it was came up close to her and pulled her hands down. As Reyes looked up she thought that this time maybe she was asleep, and dreaming.

"John..." The man standing in front of her smiled.

"Would it make this easier if I told you I was John?" Reyes adjusted her vision, focused on the image before her.

"Bobby."

"The one and only. But I don't mind a little role-play before we do this. If you wanna call me John, I can be John for you, I'm sure I'd be more than an adequate substitute. I bet he hasn't even kissed you yet has he?"

"Please... Just let me go Bobby, and I'll get them to go easy on you." Bobby laughed and
grabbed Reyes' arm. He dragged her to the window and opened the blind.

"Sun's up. New Years eve. Not long now."

"What are you talking about..."

"You'll see. First of all some friends of mine are here to meet you. They wanna see what all the fuss is about. What's so special about Monica Reyes born in Texas and raised in Mexico. Has anybody actually ever wanted you to be in their lives? Cause I gotta tell you, it aint a good sign when your parents don't want you and you're not with your adopted family over the holidays. Gees, you must be a curse to everyone. Johnny will be better off without you."

Reyes slumped to the floor and started to cry. It wasn't like her to let her emotions take over like this, but she couldn't find the strength in her that would usually ignore what someone like Bobby was saying. She had no idea that Doggett told his family about her, about her being adopted.

"Don't worry Monica, your Johnny fabulous didn't spill the beans on your life history, I may not look smart but I know how to access personal information on FBI agents over the Internet. Piece of cake. I'm just gonna go call my friends in. They have a game to play with you." Bobby left the room and Reyes knew that this was her last chance to escape and get free of him and his friends.

She stood up again and picked up what looked like a chair leg from the floor. She stood by the door and got her breath back whilst she waited to make a run for it. She could hear voices, but then she heard someone coming towards her. As the door opened she swung the chair leg round and hit someone hard over the head. Whoever it was fell to the ground and she went down to hit them again. But they grabbed her and she dropped her weapon to the ground.

"Jesus Monica, it's me."

"John?"

"Come on, I gotta get you out of here."

"No..."

"What?"

"It's not you, it's him, he keeps tricking me, making me think John's here... I'm not gonna
fall for it this time..."

"Damn it Monica, it's me John, we gotta leave, I can't deal with Bobby right now, the police are on their way."

"John?"

"Yeah, I'm John, with a mild concussion." Reyes looked deep into Doggett's eyes and started to cry.

"John, it's really you."

"Come on, we gotta leave now." Doggett stood up and helped Reyes to her feet. She leaned on him heavily as she was still incredibly unstable. As they got down one flight of stairs they relaxed feeling safe. They were wrong to. Bobby came running after them, screaming at his friends not to let them escape.

"Let it go Bobby! You're not gonna win this. Jesus, how did this happen to you?"

"Oh gee I don't know, maybe when mom and dad were so high on how great John and Kate were, they forgot about Bobby. They didn't give a crap about me or what I was doing."

"So what, you're doing all this to make a point? To get noticed?"

"You think it's working?"

"You're sick Bobby. And you're going to prison for a long time."

"Well I'd like to see that try and come to pass. I aint goin nowhere big brother. Now put the girl down, and we'll let you go. We got a surprise for you."

"I'm leaving. We are leaving."

"John..."

"Monica? Monica!"

"She out cold again?" Yeah, she's been doing that all night. Must be some kinda head injury. I guess."

"What did you do to her?!"

"Nothing! None of the fun stuff we had planned anyway, you're gettin in the way of that!"

"I swear to God if you've done anything to her I will kill you myself."

"Now is that anyway to talk to your baby brother?"

"You're not my brother. Not anymore. We're way past family ties now. This is about the law, and it's my job to up hold the law. And to see that those who disobey it are punished."

"What are you talking about?" Doggett gently lay Reyes on the ground, she was out cold. He took out his gun and stood up to look directly at his brother.

"End of the road Bobby."

"Wrong Johnny."

Out of nowhere someone hit Doggett and he fell to the ground. Bobby ran past him and picked up Reyes as she slowly came round. Confused and in pain she gave up trying to recognise if she was in Doggett's or Bobby's arms. She just wanted to sleep. Doggett slowly got to his feet and turned to look at Bobby and Reyes. He had a knife at her throat.

"Up to you big brother. Let us go or your girlfriend gets it. And you never get to tell her all the things that I am convinced you haven't told her already. Have you even kissed her yet?"

"I'm warning you, let her go."

"It's sad really. I mean, the last I heard Kate was doing well with her latest boyfriend in
London, and I never had any trouble getting dates, and this bad boy image is a real babe
magnet. But poor little Johnny..."

"Don't do this Bobby."

"Poor little Johnny, divorced, son murdered, and no dates in almost ten years. Monica's an attractive lady, I'm surprised she's hung around so long."

"Just let her go you bastard!"

"I think she needs a real man, someone from the Doggett family that knows what they're doing."

"I wont tell you again, don't push me Bobby."

"Why what are you gonna do? You gonna shoot me? Go ahead. It's not as if morale full John would ever be able to live with the guilt. Shoot me. I dare you!" Doggett looked at Reyes and then his brother. Without even thinking about it he pulled the trigger and shot Bobby. He fell to the floor taking Reyes down with him. Doggett rushed over and helped her free and looked at Bobby.

"I'd rather live with the guilt of shooting you than live without her."

He picked Reyes up and carried her outside to the arrival of police cars and ambulances. He sent them in to his brother telling them there was about ten of them altogether, and then he took Reyes to an ambulance where she was rushed into hospital.

Doggett arrived at the hospital a few minutes later than the ambulance; he had tried to
follow in his car but got broken off by traffic and pedestrians. He asked every nurse and
doctor he could find where Reyes was but no one seemed to be able to help him. He finally found her himself asleep in a room. He walked in and was stopped by her doctor before he was even close to her.

"Who are you?"

"I'm her partner, friend, um, is she ok?"

"She's going to be fine Mr?"

"Doggett, John Doggett."

"She's got a bad bump to the head and is very tired and dehydrated, but she will be fine."

"Can I see her?"

"Well she should get some rest right now. Why don't you come back later, you can see her then, you look like you need a rest too."

"Thanks. I'm fine." The doctor left and Doggett looked at Reyes; satisfied she was safe he went to find his father to let him know what had happened. It was a story he wasn't looking forward to telling. Doggett found his father sitting with his mother in her room. He slowly opened the door and put his hand on his father's shoulder.

"John, you're back. Where've you been?"

"Dad, can I talk to you for a sec?"

"Sure." They walked out of the room and sat down on the seats provided by the hospital. Doggett took a deep breath and looked at his father as he began to speak.

"It's Bobby. We found him. We got him."

"You did? Well, that's great news! Did you fin Monica too?"

"Yeah. He'd taken her hostage. Drugged her, gave her a bad blow to the head, God only knows what he and his friends were about to do when I arrived."

"Well, you did good son. You never need to know."

"There's something else. He... He had a knife to her throat."

"Who?"

"Bobby, and Monica. He was gonna kill her dad, I didn't have a choice."

"What are you talkin' about?"

"I shot him. The doctors are workin' on him now."

"What? My God John. We wanted you to catch him, but shooting him?"

"He was gonna kill her dad! I wasn't gonna let that happen! There was no way that bastard was taking her away from me!"

"You love her?"

"Dad..."

"I wanna know, do you love this woman you shot your brother for?"

"Yeah! I love her a damn site more than I do that man you keep referring to as my brother!" Doggett stood up and went into his mother's room. He closed the door behind him and prepared to tell her what had happened. He knew she'd want to know, he just didn't know if she could hear him or not.

He cried as he sat with her. All she had ever wanted for her life was to see her children
happy. And they were at some point. But happiness was as unpredictable and unreliable as the weather. Nobody knew when it was going to come, or how long it would stay, or how long you might have to go without it. But they had been happy. They had been happier than their mother could ever have imagined. But things go wrong. People move away, people die, and people go down different paths and separate, they want different kinds of happiness. And now he had Reyes. Seeing his brother with that knife at her throat, there was no question as to who he'd rather lose. But Bobby was right about one thing; the guilt of this would shadow him forever. Especially when his family all knew, they'd never let him forget it.

He sat holding his mother's hand and explained everything to her. When he finished talking he couldn't stop crying. He'd lost his brother forever now, his mother was dying, and his father and sister may never forgive him for what he did. He rested his head on his mother's bed and took some deep breaths to calm himself down. As he did he felt something on the back of his head. He looked up and his mother looked down at him smiling. She was stroking his hair.

"Ma?"

"Ssh, it's ok. It's all goin to be ok."

"I'll get a doctor and dad."

"No, wait... I heard you, I heard everything."

"Oh ma, I'm so sorry. I let you down, I let you down so badly."

"No. No you've made me feel prouder than you could have ever imagined."

"What are you talking about?"

"You're in love again. That's all I ever wanted for my boy. You did what you had to do."

"You mean..."

"I'm not mad. Your father will have a piece of my mind about making you feel bad about what you did, but I'm not mad. I'm so happy for you." Doggett stood up and kissed his mother's forehead. She smiled and turned her head slightly. She fell asleep and the smile never left her face. He walked out of the room and quietly closed the door. He smiled to himself and went to tell the doctor.