Garret drove Abby to Maggie's house. He waited in his car until she was inside and then started home. He entered his apartment and made his way to his bedroom in the dark. He lay on his back; one arm tucked behind his head and listened as a fire truck headed off to some nameless tragedy. When the noise faded, Garret sighed, suddenly wishing for the company of the wailing siren. The silence closed in on him and never before had he felt more alone.

The next day he went to work, content to follow his routine and keep his mind off what had happened the night before. He busied himself with paperwork until he was completely caught up and then signed up for the first autopsy that needing doing. He was half way through when Nigel came in to lend a hand.

"Hey Dr. M," Nigel said, in his usual chipper tone, "How's it going?"

"Fine," Garret said flatly.

"Smashing party last night, huh?"

"Yeah,"

"You and our lady DA friend were awfully cosy," Nigel smiled.

"Excuse me?" Garret asked, sensing the hostility in his own voice.

"Oh, nothing, nothing," Nigel stammered, "I was just, it's nothing,"

"You want to leave my personal life, out of the office please, Nigel" he snapped.

"Yeah, sure, sorry, Dr. Macy," Nigel said quietly, nervously diverting his gaze form his employer. Garret backed away from the corpse in front of him. His head was spinning. He was in no state to be working on a human being, dead or alive. He snapped his gloves from his hands and hurled them in the direction of the nearest garbage can.

"I'll send Bug in to finish," he said gruffly, before heading back to his office.

xxxxxxxxxxx

Before going home on Monday night Renee had made the decision to pretend that Saturday's late night kiss on her doorstep had never happened. The whole thing was more than she could take. Although she hated to admit it, she was petrified to give herself up to Garret again. Three years ago, things had been different. She could afford to be reckless with her heart. But now, every decision she made, she made with thoughts of Jake in the back of her mind. She and Garret hadn't been able to make their relationship work in the past and she worried that they wouldn't be able to now. And if they couldn't make it work, what would that mean for Jake?

All this was swirling around in Renee's mind as she opened her door on Monday night. She took a deep breath and kicked off her shoes. Like always, Jake came charging for her. That night, Garret stayed for dinner and the two of them talked uncomfortably. To Renee, it seemed that every silence needed to be filled, so she talked about the weather, her upcoming case, the new toy Jake wanted, and anything she could think of in order to avoid what was really on her mind. When Garret was finallygone for the night, Renee let herself relax, glad thathe too, had decided to ignore what happened.

After the initial uncomfortable Monday, Renee, Garret and Jake resumed their usual routine. Renee threw her self into her work, and kept a one hundred percent conviction rate for an entire month. Every night she went home to her unconventional family, forcing herself to keep her distance from Garret emotionally. She didn't want to give him the impression that she was interested in igniting their old flame, even though that was all she had wanted since they had parted more than three years before. She had convinced herself that a romantic relationship between them would be utterly impossible. She had yet to divine a concrete reason why such a relationship could not work, but nonetheless avoided any mention of it. When she had finally convinced herself that her only role in Garret's life would be as the mother of his son, she gave into a persistent fellow attorney who had been after her for a date for months.

Naturally, on the night of her date, Renee was late getting home from work. She barrelled through the door, not waiting for Jake to greet her before she moved towards the bathroom. She stood before the mirror, quickly evaluating herself and deciding what changes needed to be made to her attire before her evening out. Jake was suddenly at her side.

"Hi Mom," he said causally, looking at her in the mirror.

"Hi pal," Renee said, reaching down and ruffling his hair, "did your dad give you your dinner?"

"Yeah,"

"What'd you have?"

"Pizza," Jake sighed, "Where are you going?" he asked suddenly.

"Out," Renee said simply, "I told you yesterday, I'm going for dinner with a friend."

"Can I come?" Jake asked with hopeful exuberance. Renee knelt before him and reasoned with him.

"Who's going to keep your dad company if you come with me?" Jake gave her a sad smile and relented.

"Fine," he sighed. Suddenly his expression changed and he charged out of the bathroom as the starting theme from Sponge Bob Square Pants sounded from the living room.

xxxxxxxxxxx

Garret finished the dishes and wandered out of the kitchen. As he made his way towards the living room he was suddenly aware of how comfortable he felt. This apartment wasn't his but it felt more like home than his own ever had. Since Jake and Renee had re-entered his life, sleeping was the only thing he did there. When he wasn't at the morgue he was here with Jake and Renee. His family. He smiled to himself. This was not how he had expected his life to turn out. After he had finished with Renee all those years ago he hadn't really expected to be happy. He thought perhaps his chances at happiness had run out. But as he sat down next to his son on the sofa he realized they hadn't. He was happy now. He was happy with what he had and happy with who he was. But still Garret felt like there was something missing. He felt it when he was at his own apartment. He felt it when he was alone, an aching emptiness for which he knew only one cure.

"Where's your mom?" Garret asked his son. Jake didn't take his eyes from the television, just pointed towards his mother's room. Garret pulled himself from the sofa and headed in the direction Jake instructed. Reaching Renee's door he pushed it open without knocking and was surprised to find her half dressed before a full length mirror. She turned to him with a gasp of surprise. Garret immediately diverted his eyes.

"You don't knock anymore?" she asked jokingly as she wrapped a blouse around herself and went to work on its buttons.

"Sorry," Garret said with sheepish smile.

"Don't worry about it," Renee laughed, "it's nothing you haven't seen before." Garret blushed and hoped Renee couldn't see the colour in his cheeks.

"Where are you going?" Garret asked casually as she flipped her hair out from where it was tucked inside her shirt. Renee sighed dramatically.

"I told you last week. I'm going out with Tom Spencer."

"Tom Spencer?" Garret asked with surprise in his voice, "What do you want to go out with Tom Spencer for? He's an idiot." Garret moved across Renee's room and perched himself on the edge of her bed. She had buried herself in her closet, searching for the right pair of shoes, but he could still hear her muffled explanation.

"He's not an idiot, you're an idiot," she called, "and I'm going out with him because he's asked me and because he's a nice guy." She emerged from the closet and slipped a pair of black pumps onto her feet before heading to the bathroom. "And," she said over her shoulder, "let's be realistic for a moment here, okay? I haven't been on a date for more than three years. I think I'm about due."

"Yeah, but Tom Spencer?" Garret argued, "C'mon, you can do so much better than that." Renee sighed deeply as she hurried out of the bathroom, pushing an earring into place.

"Shut up," she ordered, "I'm not having this conversation with you, okay? What do you care anyways?" she asked making her way towards him. She stopped a few feet short of where he sat. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were jealous."

"I am," Garret admitted quietly, "you should be going out with me tonight, not him." Renee rolled her eyes and lifted her head to the ceiling.

"Shut up," she said again, "I can't do this with you." Garret noticed right away how she gripped her hands and twisted them together in nervousness. "I'm going out with Tom Spencer and that's it. Me and you are-" she started, clearly unsure how to finish. Garret met her gaze as she moved it from the textured ceiling, "well, I don't know what we are, but what we have works. And that's the way it's going to stay." Finally she dropped her hands to her sides, "Now," she said, changing the subject, "how do I look?" Garret looked her up and down, taking in every inch of her. She tapped her foot, anxious for his response.

"Amazing," he smiled. Renee rolled her eyes and laughed, reaching for her purse.

"Shut up," she laughed. Garret held his arms out in mock surrender.

"What? You asked!" he protested, "What do you want me to say?"

"Tell me you're not mad because I'm going out with Tom Spencer," Renee said, turning from him and leaving the room. Garret followed close behind.

"I'm not mad," he said honestly.

"Liar," Renee said with a coy smile.

"I can't win with you," Garret laughed as they entered the living room.

"That's the most intelligent thing you've said all day," Renee joked, bending before her son and kissing his cheek. Garret watched as she collected her keys from the dish by the door and reached for the knob. She stopped before she exited and Garret noticed the steep rise and fall of her shoulder as she took a long, slow breath. It was at that moment that Garret realized that he might still have chance to fill the empty space she had left in his heart three years ago.