Disclaimer- I still have not managed to secure ownership, but I keep trying. Until I do, I'll just have to play with them in fic.

Author's Note- Thank you so much for all the great reviews but you know what a pig I am for them so don't forget to let me know what you think.

At six o'clock, Garret and Jordan sat in his office waiting for Kate to arrive. Nigel paced nervously up and down in the hall.

"I think Nigel has it bad for your little sister, Gar." Jordan grinned. "Are you gonna go all big brother on him? You know, protect your sister from the big bad wolf."

"I have a feeling someone should protect Nigel from Kate." Garret quirked a half smile. "She is a real piece of work. I can see so much of Harry in her. She plays fast and loose with the rules and yet she's got her own weird code of ethics."

"The loveable rogue." Jordan smiled.

"What?" Garret looked puzzled.

"You know one of those damned literary archetypes, a sub type of the outcast. C'mon Gar, I know you took literature in college, it wasn't that long ago." Jordan teased.

"Yeah, I just never thought of Kate or Harry in those terms, but you're right. They are loveable rogues."

"I gonna get some real coffee across the street, you want some?" Jordan stood and stretched.

"No, I'm good. But I'll walk with you, I feel like I going to start climbing the walls any minute." Garret headed out the door behind her. As they stopped to ask Nigel if he'd like something, the elevator doors opened and a woman stepped off. Jordan walked out to reception.

"Can I help you ma'am." She asked the fragile looking older woman.

Mud brown eyes raised to her face and the woman coughed and then spoke in a voice that had obviously seen one too many cigarettes.

"Yeah, I'm looking for a Dr. Macy." The woman's flat broad accent seemed Midwestern.

"I'm Garret Macy, how can I help you?" Garret stepped through the doors and asked.

"I need a drink and a ride, if it willna be a bother." A lilting Scots brogue replaced the flat Midwestern twang.

"Kate?" Garret and Jordan exclaimed at the same time.

"Where?" Nigel came through the doors at the sound of their surprised voices.

Kate looked up at him and grinned. "How do you like my new look, laddie."

"Ahh." Nigel jumped back and then laughed.

"No quite the woman you left showering at the hotel now is it?" Kate teased.

"I umh…I…Dr. M, nothing happened." Nigel blushed and stammered as if he'd been accused of sleeping with Abby.

"Nigel, laddie. 'Tis not that I wouldna enjoy entertaining you of an evening when this job is done, but its none of yon mannie's business and I sleep with the whole of the Black Watch Guard. I am a woman grown, after all." Kate's laugh was as merry as if they were at a party.

Garret cleared his throat and everyone looked at him. "We need to go, Kate. The cleaning crew comes in at 7 and its 6:15."

Kate walked over to Nigel. "Give us a kiss for luck, mo caraid." Nigel pulled her into his arms and kissed her thoroughly. When he sat her down, she smiled up at him.

"Perhaps twould take two evenings to properly appreciate you, lad." She stroked his cheek for a moment and turned to Jordan. "Keep him in line for me, will you no?"

"I'll try, Kate. Good luck." Jordan smiled.

Kate and Garret entered the elevator and Kate gave them a big grin as the doors closed.

Outside Moran's office building, Kate turned to Garret and smiled. "Give me thirty minutes, Garret. If I'm not out leave and if you hear sirens, you mun go, straight away. When the police come to question you, tell them you knew nothing about me, only that I'm your half sister whom you'd never seen until this week." She reached for his hand. "Thank you, mo brathair. I'll see you in half an hour."

Garret leaned over and kissed her cheek. "Be careful, Kate and good luck."

"Its no the luck, it's the planning and for all that we did it in a night, this plan is solid. But I'll take a 'bennachd leibh' from you." At his puzzled expression she laughed. "It means, 'blessings with you'."

"Okay then, benna, beenak…what you said." Kate giggled merrily and kissed his cheek before jumping out of the car and shuffling into the building's rear entrance.

Garret checked his watch a hundred times in the first fifteen minutes and twice that in the next ten. With only four minutes to go, Kate appeared at the car door and jumped in carrying a black garbage bag.

"Now what?" Garret asked as they drove away.

"Now, I wait for Petrechenko to call and set the meet. When he gives me the time and place, I'll take the money and the egg and pray he lets Harry and I walk out in one piece." Kate smiled. "I'd rather you and your staff not get to know me from the inside out, mo brathair, if you catch my meaning."

"You're not going alone, Kate. I'll go with you." Garret said as they stopped for a light.

"Indeed, you willna. You've a daughter to think of, man. I've no one to miss me excepting Fergus and he'll only miss the money he can make from me."

"You're wrong Kate, you have me and I'll miss you. I'm going with you and that's final." Garret stared at her, daring her to contradict him.

"All right, Garret. Have it your way, but you canna say I didna warn you." Kate agreed, it never occurred to Garret until much later that she gave in far too easily.

After they arrived back at the morgue and had a celebratory drink, Kate asked Nigel to drive her to her hotel. As he walked her to her room, she turned to him.

"Nigel, will you give me a bit of a hand." Kate asked flashing a smile at him.

"Of course, luv. What is it that you need?" Nigel smiled down at her.

"I need something to put in a drink, which will knock a man out quickly, but is odorless and tasteless." Kate asked.

"Ah, so you're going to slip the blighter a mickey and get you and Harry out, is that the plan?" Nigel guessed.

"Something like that." Kate smiled at him.

"No worries, luv. I think we can come up with something."

Two Days Later

Garret sat by the phone as Kate slept on the couch in his office; the egg had been in Kate's hands for two days and still no word from Petrechenko. Kate hadn't slept since the robbery and Garret had finally ordered her to lie down for ten minutes. That had been five hours ago and she was still sleeping. Garret watched her face for a while seeing her as she must have looked as a young girl, innocent, with a slight smile.

He wondered at her life, how her Uncle must have treated her. From what she'd said, he must have been very cold, like Garret's mother had been. It must have been a hard life for her and yet she survived with humor and an easy grace about her. She seemed to enjoy life in a way Garret had never been able to. He whispered a silent prayer to a God he no longer believed in that he would be able to keep her safe. He marveled that he'd fallen under his little sister's spell just as easily as Nigel had.

The tall Brit had hardly left her side since she'd walked back into the lab after the 'job' as she called it. He'd barely looked at the beautiful Faberge Egg when Kate had set it on Garret's desk for her accomplices to see. His eyes kept drifting to Kate's face as she studied the stolen artifact and when Kate mentioned getting a bite to eat, he'd jumped at the chance to take her out.

The man definitely was interested and made very little attempt to hide it. Kate for her part had spent a great deal of time glancing at Nigel. If Garret had to bet on it, he'd say that the two would be spending a great deal of time together once this mess was straightened out. Providing Garret could keep his promise and bring Kate back from the exchange safely.

As he considered various ways of keeping that promise Kate's cell phone rang and she leapt up wide awake to answer it.

"Yes?" She said.

"Aye, I have it."

"I know the place."

"Tonight at 10 o'clock? I'll be there." Kate hung up the phone and looked at Garret.

"The Commons by the Swan Boats at 10 tonight." She answered the question in his eyes. Looking at the clock, she sighed. "6 o'clock, ye gods, I wish he'd have set it sooner, I'll be a nervous wreck by 10."

"You could get some more sleep." Garret suggested, knowing it was futile.

"Rightie-o, I'll just whistle up the sandman, shall I?" Kate laughed. "I couldna more sleep now, than take wings and fly to Edinburgh. I'm as nervous as Campbell's cat at a sewing circle."

Garret poured them both a measure of scotch and came over to the couch pulling her down beside him.

"So," he rumbled. "Tell me how this is going to go."

"I havena clue. I've never had to exchange goods for someone's life before." Kate said. Her voice seemed very small and much less confident. Garret pulled her head over onto his shoulder.

"We'll get through this Kate and then I intend to read you and Harry both the riot act. No more cons, no more 'jobs'." Garret took a sip of his drink. "I want both of you to settle down and be normal law-abiding citizens, because, frankly my nerves are shot."

Kate grinned up at him. "From now on, I'm as pure as the Blessed Virgin herself." Garret snorted and Kate continued. "Weel now, as far as how I make my money I will be. I make no promises when it comes to a certain Englishman."

"You know I really don't think I want to know about my little sister's sex life and I know I don't want to know about Nigel's" Garret grinned. "I have a feeling it would be way too weird."

"I think, that laddie could teach me a thing or two I never learned before and that's saying a great deal since once upon at time…" Kate's voice trailed off to nothing and she blushed.

"Do I want to know?" Garret said looking down at her flaming cheeks.

"I doona want you to think little of me, Garret." She muttered.

"Kate, I already know that you make your living as a thief and I've come to love you anyway. What more could you tell me." Garret smiled and then it faded as he saw the tears in her eyes. "Kate, whatever it is, it's past and doesn't matter to me. Tell me if you want or keep it secret, either way you're my sister."

"Once upon a time when I was just a lass, Uncle Fergus got pinched up on a job. The owner of the house shot him in the back and the coppers took him away. They gave him five years and I was just an apprentice thief. I couldna pull a job on my own, did I want to stay free. I used the money we had to go home to Edinburgh and when I got there, I barely avoid the social workers. They wanted to put me in an orphanage, so I ran to Glasgow and got myself lost. The problem was I had no money, it was all gone to take me away home."

Kate got up and refilled her glass, taking a long drink, she turned back and Garret could see the pain in her eyes. "I was 15 alone and scared and no way to eat or pay for a roof over my head. I looked around at what sort of work I could find and discovered that there was nothing that wouldna put me in risk of running over the coppers. Then I looked at the houses on Windham Close and realized I could have a bed and food and protection did I but do one little thing."

Garret thought he saw where this was going but had a feeling she needed to talk it out.

Kate took a deep breath and continued. "I asked around with the working girls and found out which house was the safest, the cleanest. So first thing the next morning, I took myself to the woman that ran it and we struck a bargain. She'd feed me, clothe me and keep me safe, making certain sure that I had no fear of the coppers. In exchange, I would work for her until Fergus was released or until I turned 18, which ever came first. Two days later with my consent, she auctioned my innocence to the highest bidder." Kate drew a shuddering breath and Garret pulled her down beside him, wrapping his arm around her.

She looked up at him. "Doona think I was mistreated in anyway. Margaret Handley was verra good to me. She had a girl who used to teach, but had been fired for improper conduct who kept me up with schooling and she made me learn to save my money and to sew and cook and keep a proper house. She taught me all the things a mother would teach her child and treated me with respect and kindness always."

Kate took another sip of scotch. "She allowed me to pick and chose the men I would see and of all her girls I was the only who could refuse a man. On my 18th birthday, she threw me a party as she had each year and sent me on my way with the promise that I could return if ever I needed a place to stay and no need to work for her in exchange. When I'd packed my things, she walked me to the door we stood and cried, and then she kissed my cheek and pressed a bank slip into my hand. She'd saved every pence she ever gotten for my services and gave it to me. That dear woman fed, clothed and loved me for nigh on three years and got not a pound in return. She knew I wouldna take charity, I mun make my own way or starve." Kate smiled. "I was a prideful little baggage. So now, you know I was not just a thief but a whore as well. Not a one you'd want to introduce to daughter, am I?"

Garret smiled at her. "Kate, I can't wait for Abby to meet you. You are strong, confident and caring and if my daughter takes after her Aunt Kate, I'll be very proud of her."

Kate smiled, tears sparkling in her eyes. "Auntie Kate, I like the sound of that." She threw her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek. "Thank you Garret, for everything you've done and most of all for accepting me."

"What are brothers for?" He smiled at her.

A/N- Kate jumped up in the back of my and insisted that she tell some of her back-story to Garret. I'm glad she did because frankly I was unhappy with the way this chapter was before I added this. By the way for those taking the Gaelic lesson (yes Matt, I mean you.) mo caraid is pronounce mo CHA rayd. It means my friend. (The CH sound is a soft breathy k sound made at the back of the throat)