I hope you all liked the first chapter. This one should explain things more fully.

Present Day

"You're up early." Don observed as he studied his wife. He held out the cup of coffee he had poured when he heard her moving around.

"Thanks." She murmured as she accepted the cup. She moved past him sleepily to sit at the table.

"Why didn't you stay in bed?" He asked brushing a hand over her head.

"I wanted to talk to you before you left this morning." Melie answered forcing her eyes open.

"Oh yeah? What about?" He asked as the toast popped up.

Shaking her head at the offered food she stifled a yawn. "You're going to your dad's for dinner tonight?" She asked.

"If I get out of work on time." Don answered carefully, mentally groaning at the thought of the oft covered ground. "You're going out with Madison tonight? Right?"

"No." She replied shaking her head. "She's got to work."

"If you don't have plans I could stay home with you." He grinned at her suggestively. "We can rent some movies, or if you want we can go out."

Melie shook her head. "They're short handed tonight. I might go in for a few hours." She looked up at him through her eyelashes. "Or you could just tell your family that you're married and I could go with you."

Don sighed as he got up to refill his coffee. "I can't just tell them that. I've known you for a year and a half and a couple months ago we got married. It's not something I can drop in their laps. Baby steps." He cautioned.

"It's been five months and you haven't taken the first baby step. We're going to have a baby before you say anything." She exclaimed, throwing up her hands.

Don turned to stare at her. "You aren't …."

Melie had to laugh at the look on his face. "No."

"Oh." Don turned back to the sink, unsure how he felt about the whole issue.

"Would you at least tell them you have a girlfriend?" She asked breaking into his thoughts. She came to lean against him.

"I'm not doing this because of you. You know that right?" He asked kissing the top of her head.

"I know. You have issues with your brother." She answered sadly. "That doesn't make it hurt any less." She smiled up at him sadly before turning away.

Don watched her walk back up the stairs, his heart heavy. He hated the affect his secret was having on her. She tried so hard to find the good in life and he was purposely keeping her away from the best part of his.

And it wasn't that easy, juggling two different lives. He had to delegate more of his work to avoid the long hours he habitually worked. While he missed the amount of hands on action he was used too, it freed up his evenings. The struggle came in dividing up the remaining time between his two households.

He could admit to himself that she was right. He should have told his family about Melie from the very beginning. But how was he supposed to explain the fact that he kept her a secret for almost two years.

Don rubbed his eyes as a headache hit full force. Taking the time to down a couple Tylenol he walked out to his suburban and headed to work.

"Hey." Megan greeted him as he walked into the office. "You look rough."

"Just a headache." He replied turning on his computer.

"You know if you had a wife you wouldn't have as many headaches in your life." She advised, looking at him out of the side of eyes.

"You would think." He mumbled to himself. Looking up he asked her. "Why the sudden interest in my love life?"

"Oh nothing much." She shrugged her shoulders. "I went to the new restaurant over on Apple Street last night." She paused as she looked at him appraisaly. "I saw you there with a very pretty girl."

Don concentrated on the computer screen in front of him. "Old friend. We meet up every once in a while." He said shortly.

She laughed. "Did anybody ever tell you you're a horrible liar?" She leaned over his shoulder so that their faces where touching. "I saw the way you two acted with each other." She walked away laughing as Don sat there speechless.

"What's so funny?" Colby asked as he came into the room.

"The amount of paperwork on your desk Granger." Megan replied playfully.

"Ha, not all of us are as anal as you about the way we do things." He tossed back.

"Hey, do you think we could get some work done today?" Don snapped, avoiding looking at his female partner. "David where are we on finding the owner of the car?"

"The car was reported stolen two weeks ago. Report's in the file on your desk." The dark skinned man supplied.

"See that just doesn't fly with me. Why would you steal a car and wait to do the robbery two weeks later." Don pointed out leaning back in his chair.

"Premeditation." Colby tossed a small ball between his hands. "He knew he would need a get away car."

Megan shook his head. "No, I'm with Don on this. It poses too much risk."

"Too much time. Why not just take a car during the robbery?" Don pointed out. He flipped through the file. "Run the background on the guy that filed the report. Maybe it never got stolen in the first place." He watched as David and Colby left before realizing that the action left him alone with Megan.

"Relax hotshot." She laughed at the look on his face. "I'll leave it alone for now. Ballistics are back on the security guard they shot." She added handing him a file.

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"This looks great dad." Don said as he helped the older man carry the dishes to the table.

"Yeah, well I have to make it special. You hardly spend any time here anymore." Alan grumbled.

Don sighed inwardly. Before he could comment Charlie popped into the room.

"Food. It smells great." He gushed as he drove in.

Don smirked at his little brother. "When was the last time you ate?"

Charlie waved the fork around absently. "Don't remember. Been busy."

Don turned to his father. "And you say I don't spend enough time here."

"Don't get me started on him." He studied his eldest son for a moment. "I met a nice girl today at the supermarket today." He said casually.

Don looked up from his food. "Really? Good for you."

Charlie grinned into his chicken. He knew what was coming.

"No,no. She's too young for me. I was thinking more for you." Alan continued.

Don sighed as he leaned back in his chair. "Dad you know I'm not interested in dating right now."

"Why not?" Alan demanded. "It'd be good for you."

"I don't have time for one thing. You said tonight that I don't spend enough time here." He protested.

"You could bring her with you when you come over. And you could stop working such long hours." Alan waved a finger at his oldest son. "It's not healthy."

"I have a job to do. I can't just punch out at five." Don argued. He shook his head. "If I don't find the bad guys someone gets hurt."

"You have people that work for you. They can do some of the work can't they?" Alan asked. He knew he was pushing his son, could see the headache forming behind his eyes.

"Could we drop this please? I come over here to spend time with my family. Not to be interrogated." The FBI agent pleaded.

Charlie spoke up in the uncomfortable silence that followed. "Speaking of love life. How's yours going dad?"

Don grinned at the look their father threw his brother. "Yeah, did you decide on a birthday gift?"

"I went shopping today." Alan started. He looked at each of his sons. "What do you think about jewelry?"

"Oh no, dad tell me you didn't buy her jewelry." Don groaned.

"Seventy five percent of women associate jewelry with intimacy." Charlie supplied.

"Intimacy huh?"

"Intimacy as in long term relationships." Don clarified. "Are you sure you want to go there?"

"What happened to my suggestion of dinner and flowers?" Charlie asked. He frowned at his father. "It's a proven hypothesis."

"Proven by two Mathematicians. What do they know about love?" Don teased.

"About as much as you?" Charlie quipped.

"Ohh, just for that you do the dishes. I'm going to watch the game." He picked up his beer and wandered into the living room.

Alan wondered in some time later to find his son frowning at the TV. "What's the matter? The dodgers not winning?

Don shrugged. "Just tired I guess." He accepted the fresh beer that Charlie brought in with him. "Thanks buddy."

"Big case?" The younger man asked as he settled into a chair.

"Bank robbery but the security guard was killed." He shook his head. "I don't know. Things just aren't adding up. Hey maybe you could look at the file, see what you find."

Alan could see his youngest son wagering an internal battle. "He can't do it."

Don looked at his father in confusion. "What?"

"He'll lose his job." Alan stated firmly.

"Aren't you like tenured or something?" Don asked his brother, his confusion growing.

"Well yeah but I have certain responsibilities that I am required to meet." Charlie explained.

"Responsibilities he's neglected by working with the FBI."

Charlie waved his father's comments aside. "I love working with the FBI and helping you." He told his brother. "It's my fault that I got so behind."

"Why didn't you say anything?" Don asked

Charlie shifted restlessly in his seat. "It's really no big deal. In fact why don't you leave the file here? I'll try to fine time to look at it tonight."

"Don't worry about it buddy. You concentrate on keeping your job." Don advised his brother.

"I don't want to let you down. If I could be of some assistance to your case.." He trailed off when Don held up his hands.

"It was just a thought. I don't have anything specific for you to look at."

"But.."

"Enough. Charlie you have to leave for the conference tomorrow. You need to concentrate on that." Alan said firmly.

"Conference huh? Where at?" Don asked winching as the opposing team scored a home run.

"Las Vegas." The younger man said unhappily.

"Oh yeah. Gonna play some machines, take in some shows?" His brother asked interested.

"Actually the chance of winning the jackpot on a slot machine is.."

Don through a pillow at his brother to shut him up. "The point of playing the slots while you're on vacation is to have fun. You should try it sometime." He stood up.

"Going home?" Alan asked as he dragged his attention from the TV. "The game's not over yet."

"Yeah I'm beat." He looked at the score. "And yes it's over."