A/N: Wow, it's been 2 weeks since I updated this? Sorry for the delay--I went out of town for a few days, and when I got back it was the end of the marking period at school, so I had to get my grades in. But I'm back now with a new chapter for you...get ready for a little drama ;-)

Maddie was standing in the hall between classes, leaning against the doorframe of her room, keeping an eye on the mob of students milling around as she chatted with the biology teacher next door to her. She greeted the students that she knew, smiling, joking, trading quips with them while hurrying them along to their respective classes.

Just as the bell was about to ring, she saw a face that looked familiar.

"No," she muttered under her breath, squinting and trying to get a better look at the boy. "I knew he was out but he can't be here…"

"Who's out?" the biology teacher asked.

"Oh my God it is…Antwan Jones," she explained.

The biology teacher's eyes went wide. "Antwan Jones that was dating Shayla?"

Maddie nodded. "Antwan Jones that beat the crap out of Shayla. He got sixty days on a misdemeanor assault plea because it was his first offence."

The biology teacher snorted. "First offence that he was charged with."

"He got out a while ago, but I didn't think they'd let him back in the same school with her. And here he is, a week into the new year, waltzing around like he owns the place."

They watched with wary eyes as Antwan rounded the corner and walked deliberately past them, winking at Maddie with a wide grin. It took every fiber of her being not to tackle him right there and make him pay for what he did to her foster daughter, but Maddie managed to remain still, leaning against the door, showing no reaction.

Antwan continued slowly past the two teachers and down the hall, sauntering leisurely even after the bell rang. Maddie moved inside her room and called to her class to begin the warm-up exercises she had posted on the board for them without turning entirely away from the hallway. A student cursed loudly from her desk and Maddie's eyes flickered to her for a moment, motioning her to settle down.

With her eyes off him for a split second, Antwan yanked open a classroom door and burst inside, shouting demands and threats, grabbing Shayla by the arm and dragging her into the hallway.

"Help me!" the girl cried.

Maddie's eyes were instantly drawn back down the hall, and she sprang into action. "Mike!" she shouted to the biology teacher. "Call security!" She sprinted down the hall as Antwan began throwing punches, striking Shayla over and over again even as she begged him to stop.

"Rat me out, will ya?" he yelled. "Run to the cops? Don't ever mess with me, you little bitch!"

"You get the hell away from her!" Maddie ordered forcefully. Blood splattered across her face from a cut opened up on Shayla's forehead as she shoved her way between the two students, shielding her foster daughter from the onslaught. Antwan wound up and threw another punch, hoping to get one more in on Shayla, but connecting instead with Maddie's cheek.

A dull groan escaped from her throat but she barely noticed the pain, her attention focused solely on protecting Shayla. Another teacher arrived on the scene, followed quickly by two security guards and an assistant principal who managed to wrench Antwan away from his ex-girlfriend and pin him up against a set of lockers. Officers from the local precinct had the offender in handcuffs shortly after that, all while Shayla was sobbing, bleeding, in Maddie's arms.

Once Antwan had been escorted to a waiting police cruiser, the assistant principal turned to Maddie. "Take care of Shayla," he said softly. "We'll cover your classes for the rest of the day."

"Thanks Bill," Maddie returned with a grateful smile. She helped Shayla up off the floor where she had crouched in a desperate attempt to escape her attacker, and gently led her out to the car for the trip to the hospital.

While the nurses took Shayla to a corner of the emergency room to clean and stitch up her wounds, Maddie slipped outside with her cell phone to call Danny, who dropped everything he was doing and broke every traffic law on the books getting to the hospital.

He marched into the ER pulling his badge from his belt and slamming it down on the counter. "Where is Shayla Green?" he demanded. "Where's my daughter?"

Before the slightly stunned nurse at the desk could answer he heard a soft voice call his name.

"Danny?"

He spun on his heel and rushed toward her voice. "Shayla? Honey, are you all right?" he asked, carefully sliding his arms around her and kissing her hair.

The girl turned into him and buried her face in his shoulder, tears forming in her eyes again. Danny held her close, squeezing his eyes shut as he whispered, "It' okay, sweetheart. It's okay, now…"

He released her a few minutes later when she had calmed down again, kissing her forehead and slipping around the curtain with his wife. "She gonna be okay?" he asked, his voice rough with unspoken emotion.

Maddie nodded. "No baseball bat this time," she told him. "He pulled her out of class and hit her with his fists."

Danny's hands were balling up into fists of his own and his lips became a thin, tight line as he pressed them together in an attempt to contain the rage building up inside him.

Maddie wrapped an arm around his shoulders, running her free hand over his stubbly face and through his hair. "He's going down for more than just misdemeanor assault this time," she assured him.

He slid an arm around her and looked deep into her blue eyes, noticing for the first time the bruise that was beginning to form on her cheek. "He added assaulting a teacher, didn't he?" Danny asked, his thumb stroking the purpling skin.

Maddie nodded again, tightening her grip on his shoulders. "I'm alright," she replied. "It was only one punch. But he isn't getting sixty days on this one."

"You're gonna have to give a statement," he reminded her.

"Yeah. I'm due at the precinct in an hour. The uniforms let me come here with Shayla first," she responded.

"I want to be there."

It was a declaration rather than a request, but Maddie shook her head. "Danny, I don't think that's a good idea."

His fingers curled and began to dig into her waist, another wave of anger washing over him. "I wasn't there to protect you at school, but I sure as hell am gonna be there every time you or Shayla have to be anywhere near this guy from now on. I will not let this happen again."

Her fingers combed down through his hair again and came to rest on his chest. "I know, babe, and that's why I don't think you should be there. You don't want to do somethin' stupid…"

"With all those cops around?" he asked shaking his head. "And with you and Shayla there? Only if he tries somethin'…then the kid'll wish he was never born. But if he plays it cool, I'll play it cool too."

"You promise?"

Danny nodded. "I promise."



Sheldon arrived at the precinct just after Maddie and Shayla had been taken to separate interview rooms to give their statements. The desk sergeant directed him to the rooms in question, and the former Medical Examiner strode quickly toward them. On his way back, though, he found a familiar looking young man sitting dejectedly on a row of hard plastic chairs against the wall.

"Dantrell?"

The boy looked up and managed a half-smile. "Dr. Hawkes. You here with Detective Messer and Miss Parrish?"

Sheldon smiled a little, too, at the use of Maddie's maiden name, knowing that Danny had been insistently instructing people to use her married one since the wedding. But the smile went as quickly as it came. "Yeah. They just went back to give statements. Do they know you're here?"

Dantrell shook his head. "I just got here, and they'd already gone back. This is as far as the cops will let me go."

"You probably don't want to hear any of that anyway," Sheldon told him. "A statement has to be very detailed…"

"But I gotta know," Dantrell interrupted. "Miss Parrish will tell me a little bit about it but not everything, and Shayla won't talk about it at all…"

Sheldon looked him in the eye. "You're sure you want to know?"

The younger man nodded. "I need to. They're part of my family."

The doctor paused, frowning. Dantrell really didn't need to be subjected to more violence than he already had been exposed to, but he was old enough to make the decision himself. "Come with me."

The two headed toward the bank of interrogation/interview rooms near the back of the building, passing Don as he stood outside one of the large mirrors observing another detective taking Maddie's statement.

The best friend looking after the wife, Sheldon knew. Family taking care of family. Danny must be in with Shayla…

Walking further down the hall and around the corner, the CSI and the college student found the room they were looking for. Sheldon reached over and flipped on the intercom so they could here the conversation inside.

"So he pulled you out of your classroom, dragged you into the hallway, and started beating you," the detective conducting the interview repeated.

Shayla nodded.

"Where did he hit you?"

The girl described each punch, each kick, detailing each wound as the detective took notes. Dantrell stepped close to the window, crossing his arms over his chest to hide his clenched fists. Inside the room, Danny was struggling with his emotions as well, trying to remain calm for his foster daughter as he had promised his wife, but becoming angrier and angrier as he listened to what happened.

"And how did you dislocate your shoulder?" the detective asked, indicating the sling Shayla's right arm was in.

"That's from when he grabbed me in class," she replied matter-of-factly.

"Poor kid," Sheldon said softly. "She finally gets away from her abusive mother and she's still not safe."

Dantrell didn't reply, so fixated was he on Shayla's account of the incident. When she finished giving her statement, a female officer entered the room with a camera, explaining that more pictures were needed to capture any bruises that had formed since her release from the hospital. The young woman rose from her chair and allowed the officer to snap photos of her face and arms, and didn't protest when she was asked to turn around for shots of her back. Danny carefully lifted her shirt out of the way, the fury clearly written on his features as the camera clicked in the officer's hands. Shayla calmly took his free hand in hers and squeezed it gently, having cried out all her tears at the hospital.

Dantrell pressed his lips together tightly and frowned. She's done this so many times she doesn't even get upset anymore, he thought bitterly. She's the one who was attacked and she's comforting Detective Messer!

He made a promise to himself and to Shayla there in the hallway, much the same way Danny had at the hospital. Never again, the boy vowed. This will never happen to her again.

When the officer was finally finished with Shayla, Danny slid an arm around her and walked her out of the interview room.

"Hey doc," he greeted Sheldon. "Checkin' up on us?"

Sheldon nodded, trying to keep his own temper under wraps. "I was processing a scene not too far from here, and Mac suggested I stop by when I finished up. I found Dantrell here sitting in the squadroom."

"Can I talk to you for a second?" the boy asked Danny.

Catching the serious tone of his voice, Danny squeezed Shayla's shoulders and kissed her cheek. "Sweetheart, why don't you and Sheldon go see if you can find Maddie?"

She kissed him back and nodded, sliding away from him for the walk beside the doctor. When they were out of earshot, Dantrell turned to Danny.

"We can't let this happen to her again," he began.

Danny nodded. "Without a doubt. The Assistant District Attorney is going to ask for a restraining order when they arraign Antwan, 'cause the mutt's gonna make bail…"

"…but he won't care about a restraining order," Dantrell finished. "And neither will his friends. They'll come after Shayla again…and Miss Parrish too…"

Danny nodded again, frustrated that there was so little he could do to protect his family. This wasn't like dealing with his father's mob connections. They, at least, respected the rules of the game. These punks didn't even know there were rules. "Neither of them should be alone."

"No," the younger man agreed. "But I think between the two of us, and the NYPD, we can keep them safe."

Danny took a good look at the boy as he spoke. He was obviously furious, but was mature enough to channel his animosity toward something good. He could be out lookin' for this kid…huntin' him down like a dog to get revenge, Danny realized. I sure as hell want to. But he's not. He's focused on the thing that matter most—his family.

Danny slung an arm around Dantrell's shoulders, proud of how much he had grown up in the two short years they had known each other. Maybe this kid could teach me a thing or two, he thought. Out loud he asked, "So what did you have in mind?"