'Dad, Amanda get away from here right now' Steve said, turning from the door to face his horrified companions. His voice was strangely calm, but his mind was working furiously. Frantically he scanned the options, rapidly coming to the conclusion that the Beach House offered little real protection

'Get into the cupboard under the stairs' he said finally, 'the struts form part of the foundations, it's gotta be the strongest part of the house'. He swallowed hard, it was a long shot, but there might be a chance.

'Okay' Mark nodded, breathing hard, he too had been thinking fast, Steve was right, it was their best chance. He grabbed Amanda's arm and began to move, pulling the terrified young woman along with him. In contrast to their earlier painstaking progress through the house, there was no caution now, and they clattered into the couch on their way past, spilling the cushions on to the floor. He was almost at the stairs before he realised that his son wasn't with them.

'Steve, come on' Mark shouted urgently.

Steve turned. His eyes met his father's and it was in that instant that Mark realised his son's plan.

'No, Steve, no way' Mark said, letting go of Amanda and beginning to walk back towards the front door.

Steve held up his hand to stop his father coming any closer. He shook his head, his eyes sad but resolute 'It's the only way' he said.

'No it's not' Mark said equally resolute 'There's room for 3 in that cupboard'.

Steve dropped his voice so Amanda couldn't hear 'Dad you know as well as I do that unless I defuse this bomb chances of survival are slim to none even in the cupboard.'

'Mark what's going on?' Amanda called out. She was waiting, caught in limbo at the top of the staircase. Her eyes were wide, her breath coming in ragged gasps. He could see her trembling.

'Amanda you have to go to the cupboard under the stairs and barricade yourself in there, right now'. Mark spoke calmly, but there was an urgency to his tone that Amanda had never heard before.

'But you're coming right?' she asked.

'Yes' Mark nodded 'We're coming'. He looked at Steve 'we're both coming' he said quietly. Then he turned back to Amanda 'Now you have to trust me honey and go quickly'

Still she hesitated, torn.

'Amanda please' Mark said, his blue eye beseeching 'CJ needs you to be strong now'.

A tear ran down her cheek, but she nodded 'okay, but Mark please hurry'.

He smiled grimly 'We will'

Still she stood, tears streaming down her face 'I love you' she said quietly 'both of you'

Mark nodded, giving her a warm smile 'We love you too' he said gently 'but you have to be quick now'

'Okay' she nodded, giving him one last look and then she turned and ran. Striding back to his son Mark could hear Amanda's heels clattering on the wooden staircase, muffled sobs and the slamming of the cupboard door.

Still hunched over the bomb Steve felt his father's presence, and was reassured by it. He didn't try to persuade him to leave. He knew his father would never go.

Mark looked at Steve. His son had continued working on the bomb, feverishly separating out the different wires. He thought about trying to persuade Steve to leave him with the bomb, but didn't bother to voice the thought. He knew his son would never go.

There were six wires - red, yellow, green, black, white and blue. Spread out in front of him, to Mark they looked like brightly coloured poisonous snakes, each one poised to deliver a killer bite. The timer now read 30 seconds.

'Any colour preferences?' Steve asked, turning to his father with a wry smile

'Well' Mark said sitting on the floor beside Steve 'I've always liked blue' he said. He smiled at Steve 'colour of your mother's eyes'.

Steve looked up at his father and smiled 'Blue works for me' he said lightly.

They both knew there was no time to figure out how to defuse the bomb. Survival now was down to pure dumb luck, a random colour choice. Steve snagged his pocket knife from his back pocket and prepared to make the cut.

'Your mother loved you very much' Mark said softly 'And I do too'

Steve swallowed hard 'I know and I love you too Dad'

The two men looked at each other. Instinctively Mark took Steve's face in both hands and kissed him on the forehead, just as he used to when Steve was a child. Instantly Steve's good arm snaked around his father's back and for a couple of seconds they held each other tightly.

It was Mark who broke the embrace first. Wiping away his tears he smiled at Steve 'So I guess we'd better do this right?'

Passing a hand across his own eyes, Steve nodded 'I guess so'

The timer was down to 10 seconds.

Hand trembling Steve reached for the blue wire. Mark placed a hand on his son's shoulder.

'Here goes nothing' Steve said.

Taking a deep breath he cut the wire.

Nothing happened.

The timer continued ticking down.

5 seconds now

'Guess it wasn't blue' Steve said; his eyes sad.

2 seconds

There was no time.

'Sorry son' Mark said, his face grave.

This time Steve drew his father into a one armed embrace. Mark gripped Steve's shoulders and squeezed his eyes tightly shut. He wished it didn't have to end this way. What he wouldn't give to have more time with his son and friends. His years as a doctor had taught him how tenuous life was, how precious, but it was only at the end that real clarity came.

Steve held his breath, his eyes were also closed. All the years he'd been working as a cop, he'd known death was a possibility, he'd thought he'd been ready. He wasn't. He wondered how much it would hurt. His muscles tensed, waiting for the blast.

DMDMDMDMDM

'Me?' Tanis said softly, looking at the man seated across from her, suddenly shy.

Cainen nodded 'Yes' he said simply. 'For the first time in years I've let myself open up to someone'. He shrugged 'There have been women whilst I've been Ross Cainen, there had to be to maintain my cover, but it was empty, shallow'. He paused 'I was empty, shallow'. His looked at her intently, his face open, the mask gone 'But with you it was different'.

She didn't answer, couldn't answer, her emotions were shot, her thoughts refusing to connect.

He was still looking at her, his mouth twisting into a wry smile now, his eyes sad 'I know you've got feelings for Sloan' he said.

Her own eyes widened in surprise 'What?' she stuttered, a faint blush appearing on both cheeks.

He didn't appear to notice her discomfort, instead he carried on 'And I know that you had some kind of fight and I got in the middle of it some how'. Tentatively he took her hand 'I'm real sorry about that. I didn't wanna mess things up for you guys, but I kinda think I did'.

'No' Tanis said, her own guard coming down now 'It's not you' she said 'I messed it up myself'. She sighed 'It's just hard, ya know'. She paused 'The job just makes things complicated. Steve is a great guy but he doesn't really understand …'

'The Task Force?' Cainen said softly.

'The Task Force' she agreed. She let out a breath 'I know that the Task Force doesn't operate within the kinda rules he's comfortable with'.

'Smart guy' Cainen said dryly, with a nod to his own incarceration.

'I'm beginning to think so' she said 'but I think it may be too late for me and Steve'

Cainen shook his head 'He still cares for you' he said softly' It's written all over his face every time the two of you are together'.

Tanis bit her lip 'I don't know about that' she said 'Not after what I did.'

'You mean what we did?' he said gently

'You and me' she said awkwardly 'it was …'

'A mistake?' he filled in for her, his eyes sad

She shook her head 'nice' she said 'it was nice'

'But?' he prompted, knowing the answer but not wanting to hear it.

'But I don't know' she said honestly, letting out a breath. She looked down at the table, unwilling to meet his eyes. Nervously she pulled at a loose thread on the sleeve of her blouse 'I'm sorry' she said, 'I guess that's not the answer you were looking for'

He gave her a half smile 'I gotta tell ya, it's better than the answer I was expecting'.

Gently he put his hand over hers, stilling her nervous fidgeting. This time she didn't pull away. His hand felt warm, familiar.

'I've felt closer to you than I have to any man' she said quietly, still not meeting his eyes 'you understand me; you know what I'm going through, you seem to know what I think, how I feel'. She paused and with her free hand began tracing nervous circles on the wooden surface of the table before her. He could see her fingers trembling.

'When I'm with you it's like I don't have to explain anything, don't have to justify myself' she said quietly.

'And with Steve you do?'

She nodded, swiping a hand across her eyes to quench the irrational tears that had suddenly formed 'With Steve I do, or at least I have lately'.

He reached forward and gently touched her chin, tilting her face upwards so that their eyes met. Carefully he smoothed away the tears. His dark brown eyes were soft 'I'm not gonna pressurise you' he said, his tone serious 'but I won't lie. I have feelings for you, strong feelings, but I know you have unfinished business with Sloan and I'm not gonna get in your way'.

Slowly he traced a finger down her cheek 'I just wanna let you know that I'm not planning on going anywhere.'

Tanis blinked, for once at a loss for words. His left hand was still touching her right and she found herself suddenly very aware of the contact. The air around them felt heavy, charged with unspoken emotion. The silence stretched out between them and she found she couldn't tear her eyes away.

Suddenly he grinned at her, feeling the need to break the tension between them 'I know I said I wasn't gonna go anywhere, but I gotta say, getting outta this room sounds pretty good about now!'

She smiled, relieved that he'd let her off the hook so easily. Removing her hand from his, she made to stand up, her legs feeling surprisingly shaky beneath her 'Why don't I go see if I can't do something about that' she said, turning away from him, but flashing a quick, grateful smile over her shoulder.

But before she'd even made it to the door she was intercepted by Ron Wagnor. Instantly she knew something was terribly wrong. Fear gripped her heart, sent a chill through her body. She stretched out a hand towards the wall of the interrogation room, suddenly feeling the need to hold on to something solid.

Cainen too, could see the change in his former tormentor. He stood up, his eyes fixed on the FBI agent.

'What is it?' Cainen asked urgently 'What's happened?'

But Tanis didn't need to be told, in her heart she already knew.

'Steve' she cried

Ron took a step towards her, the anguish in his eyes mirrored in the slowness of his step. He said nothing, merely folded her in his arms and held her tightly as the tears slid down her cheeks.

DMDMDMDMD

The booming sound had filled his head so there was nothing but the noise. He felt himself falling backwards, wrenched out of his father's embrace as he rolled on his knees and elbows, finally coming to a stop flat on his back, with the wind knocked out of him. He could feel the heat, the air was pulsating with it, but somehow none of it was as painful as he'd been expecting. Maybe the pain would kick in later, or may be, maybe he was already dead?

That thought shocked him. Was he dead? Is this all there was? No angels playing harps, no floating above yourself watching the paramedics battle to save your life, no seeing family members long since passed over?

All he felt was a little dazed, a little sore. The sonic boom had been replaced by the thumping of a headache and he could hear voices, lots of voices. Maybe the voices were other dead souls ready to welcome him to the after life? Experimentally he cracked open an eye, ready to face whoever was out there. He blinked. Rather than the clouds of angels he was expecting, all he saw was the door of the beach house hanging at a crazy angle and strange masked creatures talking on radios. Was he in hell?

He blinked again harder, trying to make sense of this craziness. Then it struck him, where was his father? 'Dad?' he croaked urgently, half surprised that his voice still worked. He tried to lever himself up to a sitting position, but there was a restraining hand on his shoulder.

'Take it easy Steve' a familiar voice said soothingly 'you've had a busy day'.

'Jess?' he said. Now he knew he was in trouble. Jesse was in the hospital wasn't he? Oh god! 'Are you dead too?' Steve asked sadly.

Jesse's face floating hazily above him broke into a boyish grin 'Nobody's dead Steve' he said reassuringly 'although you and Mark gave us quite a scare this time'.

'Oh' Steve was comforted by the fact that he wasn't dead, but he couldn't quite see how he'd managed to avoid it. 'The timer' he said 'it ran out'.

'Not quite' Jesse said reaching carefully around behind him he struggled for a moment, hindered by his heavily bandaged hands, but when he returned to Steve's line of vision he was waving an alarm clock in his friend's face. The timer read 1 second 'see what I mean about giving us a scare' he said accusingly.

'But the bomb went off' Steve croaked

'Yes it did' Jesse agreed 'but it was a controlled explosion' he shifted slightly to allow Steve a better look 'these guy's did a great job' Jesse said shaking his head and letting out a low whistle 'imagine doing bomb disposal for a living, and I thought you needed a steady hand for surgery!'

'But how … how did they …'

'How did they get here?' this time it was his father's voice.

Mark's smiling face hovered into view. His usually pristine moustache was looking grimy and his white hair dishevelled, but apart from that he was looking pretty damn good.

'Dad you're okay?' Steve said, relief flooding through him.

'Yes, yes I am' Mark confirmed happily 'thanks to Jesse'

Jesse beamed proudly.

'What did Jesse do?' Steve asked struggling to keep up.

'Word search!' Jesse said happily.

Steve frowned. His head was throbbing, but if it hadn't been he wasn't sure he could have worked out the relevance of 'word search'.

Mark smiled at his son's confusion 'Whilst Jesse was in hospital he became quite the expert at word searches' he explained. 'Word searches are about letter patterns and once Jesse had gotten used to looking for patterns …'

'He spelt out Sweeney' Steve said, finally catching up.

'I tried to call the beach house and there was no answer, so I got straight on to the bomb squad' Jesse said. 'I don't think they really believed me' Jesse said with an impish grin 'but I was so insistent they sent a team out just to get rid of me!'

'Thank God they did' Mark said gravely 'You know there were three other bombs placed strategically around the exits from the house. They didn't think they were gonna be able to shut them all down in time'

'Amanda!' Steve said suddenly 'where is she?'

'Don't worry, she's fine' Jesse said, shifting sideways once again so that Steve could see. Amanda was on the phone.

'CJ?' Steve asked hazarding a guess.

'Yup' Jesse nodded 'She came over to see you a little while ago, but you were still kinda out of it'.

That was something that had been puzzling him. If the bomb had been detonated in a controlled fashion and everyone had escaped with barely a scratch, how come he was flat on his back with a thumping headache?

Noticing Steve's expression and guessing what was coming next, Mark and Jesse exchanged sheepish glances.

'I didn't get injured by the bomb did I?' Steve said suspiciously

Mark swallowed hard 'That would be correct son'

'So what happened?'

'Well' Jesse began and then taking a deep breath spoke very quickly 'When the firemen broke the door down you were kinda close to it. It hit you on the head and gave you a concussion.'

He risked a glance at Steve.

'I got knocked out by a door?' Steve groaned.

Nodding, Mark bit down on his lip to keep from laughing 'that just about covers it' he said.

Jesse's shoulders were trembling and he was letting out stifled little chokes. He turned away, trying to regain his composure, but it was no good. Mark gave up and then the three of them were laughing, the build up of tension from the near death experience being released in the tears of hilarity.

'Ouch' Steve complained cradling his aching side 'It hurts, but ..' he looked at his father and Jesse, both of whom were still crying with laughter 'It's a good hurt'.

Amanda joining them later, looked at them in confusion. After trying to get some sense out of them she shook her head and gave up. Not knowing why they were laughing and not caring, she joined in.

DMDMDMDMD

Now comfortably ensconced in a hospital bed, with his shoulder re-strapped and more bandages on his forehead, Steve was reading through the case report Ron Wagnor had personally delivered. Steve had been shocked to hear that Ron and Tanis had thought he was dead and was glad that they'd found out the truth fairly swiftly. So far, there'd been no sign of Tanis. Even though he didn't want to admit it, he'd been lying here hoping that she'd show. Every time the door went his heart leapt into his throat, but so far it had just been a steady stream of nurses checking that he was resting, that he was hydrated, that he had a magazine to read.

He tossed the case file aside and slumped back against the pillow. The good news was they'd caught the bomber. The man had gotten careless, stayed around a little too long to admire his handiwork at the beach house. Black and whites had caught him leaving the scene. His name was Roberto Caradine and he was a dead ringer for Ross Cainen. Apparently even Cainen himself had been shocked at the similarity.

Sure the eyes were a little meaner, the face a little tougher, but the resemblance was uncanny. No wonder no one had seen anything at the first bomb blast at Suzie's dinner. His father had been right about hiding in plain sight. Anyone who had spotted Caradine that night would have thought they were seeing Cainen and would have thought nothing of it.

The bad news was that Carradine wasn't talking. At least not yet. And they needed his testimony not only to get a lead on the sharpshooterbut to implicate Sweeney. So far the only evidence they had of Sweeney's involvement was that the murder victims' initials spelt out his name. Steve knew that there was no way that one would hold up in court. He sighed, letting his eyes close. It'd been a long day, hell it'd been a long couple of weeks. He needed a vacation. But before he went anywhere, he was gonna nail Sweeney once and for all.

He yawned widely and shifted to get more comfortable, although comfort was relative at this precise moment. His head was still aching where he'd been hit by the door, his shoulder wound, courtesy of Ross Cainen, was throbbing and if he moved to quickly he was reminded that his side was recently stitched.

'Need some more meds?' a familiar voice asked.

Steve smiled 'No I'm good' he said 'if I get any more pain medication this week I'll be floating on the ceiling'.

'Well I do think you're starting to develop a tolerance for it by now' Mark said with a grin.

Steve opened his eyes and looked at his father who had taken a seat beside the bed.

'Some day huh?' Steve said lightly, although the expression in his eyes was serious.

Mark nodded 'Some day'.

'Don't want another one like that' Steve said.

'Nope' Mark agreed 'That one was a little close even for me'. He reached across and took Steve's hand, giving it a gentle squeeze 'I meant what I said you know' he paused 'when we thought it was the end' he gave a wry smile 'thinking you're gonna die gives you a heck of a lot of clarity'.

Looking at his father, Steve saw tears starting to form and he was filled with a rush of love. Squeezing Mark's hand, he swallowed the lump in his throat 'I meant what I said too' he said softly feeling his own eyes start to swim.

And then Mark was smiling through his tears and Steve was smiling too.

'I knew it wasn't gonna end today' Mark said airily, trying to get his emotions back on an even keel'

'Oh you did huh?' Steve said, swiping a hand across his eyes.

'Yup' Mark said nonchalantly. Reaching around behind him to grab the remote for the TV that hung above the foot of Steve's bed, he flicked on the set and surfed the channels until he found the big fight 'because we have a date with fight night, and in about a half hour you, my friend, are gonna owe me 10 bucks'

Steve grinned 'Oh you think so?'

'I know so'

With Mark's chair turned around to face the set, father and son settled down to watch TV. A half hour later they were joined by Jesse and Amanda, just as Mark was retrieving Steve's wallet from his bedside cabinet to claim his $10. They'd come close to dying and they knew it. Tomorrow they would think about getting revenge on Carter Sweeney, but tonight, tonight they were four friends enjoying a night together and toasting many more to come.

THE END