Hangovers and Game Plans

The sun barely began to shine as Callie started to wake up in unfamiliar surroundings. She looks across from her. There she sees Eddie sleeping soundly across from her in the other twin bed in the room. Callie rolls over as she hears heavy footsteps in the hallway that passes by the door. She takes a deep breath in, remembers where she is and who lives in the location, calms herself down, grabs her gun and sweatshirt, quickly pops one of her pain pills, and places her shoes on. She can smell the faint aroma of coffee being brewed somewhere in the house. The room had a slight chill, but she put on her sweatshirt and crept out of the room to not wake the rest of the house. She slipped downstairs and into the kitchen to see Frank fixing his coffee. "How's the hangover?" he stifles a light laugh.

"Better, sir. I must apologize for my methods." She smiles a little.

"Well," he offers the cup of coffee while she nods, taking the hot cup and sipping. She then sits down at the table.

Frank finishes making the second cup and sits down. "I want your personal opinion on something that may affect how everything will pan out." She looks at him, waiting for the question.

"What is your impression of my son and Officer Janko's working relationship?" he deadpanned.

She takes a sip. "As far as I can tell, they have kept everything professional. I haven't seen any indication that they crossed any lines. However, I think they may have thought about it once or twice. It's the way they look at each other. It reminds me of how my father looked at my mother. I miss that, honestly. I am almost willing to bet that after everything is said and done that they will come to realize they are soulmates. They can't be away from each other."

Frank nods. "So, the same thing everyone else sees….." She nods. "except them."

They hear footsteps coming into the kitchen and they look up to see Jamie standing in the doorway with his phone. The look on his face told Callie something was wrong. "Morning… Taylor, when your TO banged in sick, was that legitimate?"

"As far as I know…he did have a cough the last shift we were on so when he called out with the flu, I assumed it was legit."

The look on Jamie's face began to look solemn and made an audible gulp.

"Renzulli texted me…Taylor, Sgt Marks's wife didn't show for work or call in sick. Her work called the station and sent a unit to do a welfare check…..they were found dead this morning along with their two kids, single shot to the head for them, all in their beds." The look on her face were nothing short of pure shock.

"I uh….I didn't tell him what was going on, like Janko, he constantly asked what was up with me and I refused to talk. I guess it was a good thing y'all told her to stay here, but I guess it was too late for him." Callie began to shed a few tears, then wiped them with her sleeve. "But now we have problem….my assumption they wouldn't go after the kids might be more unfounded. That is a huge escalation."

Frank looked sternly at Callie. "Do you think they may hit us here?" She looked at him. "It wouldn't be surprising if they have eyes on us by now, since I banged in sick this morning, and I am assuming theres other things you guys are doing."

"It would seem Detectives Reagan and Baez are choosing to work the cases they are working on to draw less suspicions. Erin has her protective detail provided by the DA's office, Nicki is in California so they shouldn't be able to reach her out there. Then there's Danny's kids."

"Honestly Commissionor," she began, but Frank interrupted her. "Frank in this house please."

"Frank,…" she has a pained face using his name informally. "I don't think it would be wise to bring any of the younger members of the family here, because if I were them, here would be a hell of a target if everyone were under one roof. However…." She looks at Jamie. "from what I can see, it's a good place to defend."

Frank looked at her poignantly. "I would much rather take the war to them if I want to be honest. But, if we attempt and you believe they may be watching this house, then we wouldn't be able to make out the front door." She nods in agreement.

"Dad," Jamie interrupted. "I don't like the idea of bringing this to our home any more than you do, but if they seriously want to hurt us, then we are going to have to get help. I don't know where but we don't have many options."

"Jamie…" Eddie softly interrupts, her cheeks stained with tears.

"Eddie….you ok? What happened?"

"I got a call from Ft. Dix….My dad was beaten into a coma last night and according to the doctors, it…."

Jamie put a hand on her shoulder, guiding her into his embrace, and she begins to sob. "It may be possible he nevers wake up."

Callie looks down at her hands and shakes her head, anger filling her words. "This is my fault…I should have just let them kill me."

"No, Callie, you did what you had to do to survive long enough to bring it to light." Frank started.

Callie interrupted. "The Marks are dead because of me…" She shakes her head.

Frank looks at her. "Let's hope Erin can get the Feds to bite on the line she casted." She nods in agreement.

Frank stands up and walks over to Jamie and Eddie. "I'm sorry about your father, Eddie. I know you want to get to him, but I have a feeling his attack is meant to draw you out into the open. Is he stable for now?" She nods, her face hidden in Jamie's chest. "Ok. At the first moment, we will see about getting you to him. But right now, we need to focus on surviving."

"These attacks are a clear escalation, if I were to take out a target, I would do all of this to stir up chaos to disorient and make a bad move." Callie said, finishing her coffee, tips the mug to Frank. "Thank you."

Eddie calms down enough where she pulls back from Jamie. "What do we do?"

Frank looks at Callie. She looks back. "I say the next 24 hours will be interesting."

Callie stands up and walks toward Jamie, Eddie, and Frank. "I am really sorry to hear about your dad, Janko. I really am." She keeps walking toward the stairs.

"Dad, what do you want us to do? Because right now, we are sitting ducks."

"Let's hope Erin can get the reinforcements she and I discussed last night. I am worried about everyone here."

Frank walked back over to his kitchen window and looks out. The change in expression on his face was noticed by Jamie and Eddie. "It would seem, Callie's suspicions about being followed may be correct because I noticed an SUV down the street and it had the same two occupants last night sitting on the street this morning." Frank moved away from the window to allow Jamie to pretend to be washing his coffee mug out and peer out the window.

"I think they followed us from the station, Dad." Jamie moves away.

Frank sighs. "Sitting ducks. With where they are, no chances on sneaking out. The only thing I can do is have my detail escort us to the Federal building into the city. But that will have to wait until Erin calls back." His phone begins to virbrate. He picks it up and with a smile, hoping for good news. "Yeah?"

Erin on the other line sounded excited and terrified all at once. "Dad, I got the files Officer Taylor brought to Anthony and we made a couple calls to the Feds. They want to arrest Callie." Frank's eyes went from relief to confused. "For what?"

A slight annoyance in her voice at the situation. "For having prior knowledge and not reporting it right away for starters, but they said they would offer her a deal in exchange for her testimony."

"Witness protection is the main thing, but they want her in jail for a year and hand in the badge."

"No, I'm not willing to hand in my officer like that…."

"I figured you would say that…told him no jail time but witness protection would be an option."

"That's something she will have to discuss with an attorney."

"Way ahead of you, Dad. I called Jack….." his name slips off her tongue in a bit of annoyance. "He agreed to speak on her behalf. Besides, these bastards killed our family. He liked Joe and Linda. He also respects Jamie."

"Well, tell him I said thanks…." Erin knew it was hard for Frank to say those words about his former son-in-law.

"When I see him,…" she started. "He is concerned about Nicki not exactly being protected even tho she is in California."

"As am I along with the boys." Frank responds.

"What is Danny going to do?"

"I don't know and I hope the boys will be left alone by the end of all this." Frank responds. "However, we do need a game plan and help from the Feds to get them in one fell swoop."

"I'll see if I can talk to my contacts in the DEA and see if they can help since Taylor mentioned they were using drugs." Erin assures.

"Sounds good. Talk to you soon and please be careful." Frank warns.

"I will Dad, love you, be safe." They hung up.

Frank turns to see the eyes of Callie, Eddie, and Jamie staring. Frank can only sit down and look at Callie. "It would see that the DA wants to offer you a deal, Callie with your resignation and testimony, they wanted to offer you a year in jail along with Witness Protection." She hung her head. But Frank grunts to get her to look at him.

"I am not handing you over like that. Just know that I got your six. With that being said, Erin called an attorney.." He has to spit the name out. "Jack Boyle to represent you in the legal matters. I am sure we will be seeing him at some point today to talk to you about your options."

Callie hung her head again. "I joined the NYPD to make a difference and to help people. Now, trying to do the right thing is going to get me killed." She stifles a laugh. "The sins of the father.."

"Are not for the young to bear." Jamie said. "Taylor as far as I and the rest of the 12th is concerned, you have been nothing short of exemplerary. Please, do not sell yourself short."

"Jamie is right Callie. You did what you could, and did the majority of the leg work for investigators. If anything, once all this is said and done and we can come out on top, I will look into getting you promoted."

"Commish….I mean Frank…" she corrected herself. "What will the rest of the rank and file see me as if I get a promotion out of something like this? A rat. Which, truth be told, is true. You think I would get any respect after all of this…?" she is on the verge of tears.

"I don't know….but no self deserving cops earn the right be called as such if they support those who killed one of their own. I was thinking a promotion to Investigator and a transfer to IAB since you would be in good company." She slightly picks up her head. "Let's survive this first. How do we contact this Jack Boyle anyways?"

Jamie smiles. "I can call him. He's my ex-brother-in-law." She quirks an eyebrow at him. She pulls out a cell phone and tosses it to him. "Dial it."