"Some days I want to spit

me out, the whole mess of me,
but mostly I am good

and quiet.
How much silence buys me

mercy, how much
silence covers all the lives it takes to make me."

Camille Rankine, from "Emergency Management"

She's up before Fritz the next morning, sipping hot chocolate that's dressed ridiculously with whipped cream and chocolate sauce, and sitting with her parents. She sends a text to Sharon that says, Have a safe flight!

"You know," her Mama says in the silence, "I thought your Sharon sounded familiar—"

"Mama," Brenda complained, "She ain't my—"

"Don't interrupt your mother," Wille Rae said, and Brenda wisely took a sip of her hot chocolate rather than reply. Willie Rae continued, "When Charlene— Charlie got back, she mentioned a 'nice Captain Sharon'."

"Well," Brenda replied slowly. "She is nice."

"I'll have to find out for myself! You've never introduced anyone to us as a friend before, Brenda Leigh," Willie Rae exclaimed.

"Well, we are friends… friendly? Just not at work. That's why I got all tongue-tied trying to introduce her yesterday."

Willie Rae nodded, her father just grunted to say that he acknowledged he heard her and turned the page of his newspaper.

Brenda took another sip of hot chocolate and closed her eyes, inhaling steam and feeling the warmness of the cup seep into her hands. By today, everyone should be where they need to be, or on their way. Skander Marku will be going home with a relative for the holiday. Her detectives will make their holiday plans. Captain Raydor will get to Park City. And she'll be here… with her parents and Fritz.

Until her phone rang. Seeing it was Lieutenant Provenza, who was in the office manning the phones, she excused herself into the bedroom to take the call.

"Good morning, Chief. Remember the case we solved last night?"

"... uh huh?" Brenda doesn't like where this is going.

"Well, Merry Christmas, because Gabriel went and unsolved it."

Brenda let the phone rest on her collarbone.

"Chief?"

She picks up the nearest pillow and screams her frustration into it. So much for getting Fritz off her back for one year, spending time with her parents, and getting her detective's where they need to be.

"Chief? Chief, are you there? What's going on?"

Throwing the pillow aside, Brenda takes a deep breath, and puts the phone back up to her ear. "Nothing, Lieutenant. I'll be there shortly. Buh-bye now."

"It's not my fault!"

"What's not your fault?" Brenda asks warily, walking back into the Murder Room she had counted on not seeing for a bit.

"Going through Anila Marku's financials, and-" Gabriel gestures to Tao, "Lieutenant Tao?"

Brenda steps over to his computer, and he shows her the footage. "At the time her father was attacking her brother, Anila was withdrawing cash from an ATM."

She drops her purse and sighs. "So he couldn't have killed her."

"Yeah, but banks - who knows if their clocks are even right?" Flynn tries. Brenda just turns around on her heel to look at him, unamused.

"Okay, sorry. But my ex-wife invited me to Christmas Eve dinner with the kids - it's the first time in six years!" Flynn exclaims.

"-and I'm defrosting two turkeys-" Buzz adds.

"-And my flight leaves in four hours so arrivederci Roma.*" Gabriel says half sarcastically.

"Well hey, it's not my fault our timeline just blew up," she says, aghast.

"Yeah, but Chief, you promised, you gave your word we'd all be where we're supposed to be at Christmas!"

"... And you are! You're here. Because there's a murder, and it hasn't been solved, now," she looks accusingly at Gabriel, but it holds no malice. If she had found the information he had, she wouldn't have kept it to herself just to send them all on their vacations, and she knows none of them - except maybe Provenza - would have.

She takes off her coat and drapes it over her purse. "And… my Mama makes enough food for a hundred, so you're all invited to have Christmas dinner with us. Okay?"

Flynn grunts and Tao looks despairingly at his keyboard. Brenda makes an unimpressed face at them both.

Chief Pope comes striding into the room. "Oh, looks like everybody gets holiday pay today!" Can't keep him happy, either, she thinks, anxiously playing with her wedding rings and remembering how expensive her division is. "Lieutenant Provenza, Aloha Bowl, my office, two hours?" Well, he can't be too upset, then.

Provenza just gives him some gesture with his pen from where he's doing a crossword that presumably means 'yes', but she's just baffled that Pope and Provenza have enough of a working relationship that they'd willingly spend Christmas watching the Aloha Bowl together.

"Aloha," Tao says wistfully. "Means 'hello', and 'goodbye'."

Brenda's face just twitches. Again.

"Okay, so the Marku's paid for an internet connection, but there's no computer in their apartment."

"It's missing?"

"That explains why there's no phone; it's a lot cheaper to make overseas calls with a computer," Tao explains. Speaking from experience, maybe, she thinks. I need to ask more about their lives.

"To a sister in Kosovo, maybe," she suggests.

"Excuse me, Chief, I ended up getting in touch with Skander's school, and the principal sent me the roster… there's no Rudy, Rudolph, Rudolpho-"

"No Donner, no Blitzen-"

"Lieutenant," she snaps.

Flynn holds his hands up in surrender.

Sanchez looked between the two of them and continued, "and if you look at his school record, the school issued him a computer."

"Alright, Lieutenant Provenza, I wanna talk to that boy again," she says and he nods, sitting up.

"Chief!"

Brenda closes her eyes. Oh, that woman… I thought you were supposed to be far, far away by now.

"Captain!" Brenda injects some amount of neutrality into her voice, but it's hard not to be fond and excited when she sees Sharon. "I thought you were going to your parents for Christmas," she says, but Sharon is pulling a suitcase behind her and wearing a windbreaker that's far too adorable and her cheeks redden at the thought. Oh, this woman is going to be the death of me.

"I am!" and this is the Sharon that Brenda doesn't get to see very often, the unapologetically happy Sharon, but she's thankful that she gets to see her today. "They're in Park City skiing with my kids."

Brenda smiles. "Oh! So your father must be feeling better?"

"It turns out it was just a really, really bad cold and it's all cleared up - it's a Christmas miracle. But I want to thank you for being so helpful, and I have a little present for you," Sharon grins a little mischievously at her.

She tilts her head, confused. Brenda had absolutely no idea what she was talking about. But then Sharon took a step closer and she could smell the very distinct notes of roses, patchouli, saffron, and even the other things that she wasn't sure about but could identify; jasmine sambac and amber. She wore the perfume I got her**. Brenda inhaled through her nose and exhaled through her mouth slowly so she didn't pass out. She felt light-headed. The scents blended with Sharon so uniquely and in the best way.

"You shouldn't have, Captain," Brenda says, and it comes out in far more of a murmur than she means it too. Sharon licks her lips, but recovers enough for the both of them.

"Oh, it's not that kind of present," Sharon winks at Brenda, "It's the 911 calls. This is really interesting; in the background, you can hear the two men arguing!"

And this has Brenda's attention. "Really?"

"Except there's all sorts of noise, plus they're arguing in a foreign language. So I sent the tapes down to the sound lab for you and who knows when they'll be ready. And, everybody: Merry Christmas!"

No one seems inclined to say it back to her, but Brenda lightly taps her foot and pointedly jerks her head towards Sharon as she's leaving.

"Merry Christmas Captain Raydor," the squad says to her back.

"Hey Raydor," Flynn calls out to her, and Brenda sighs, expecting to have to step in. "Is that a new perfume?"

Sharon stopped and turned around, blinked at him once before making brief eye contact with Brenda and smirking. "Yes, Lieutenant Flynn, it is."

She turned on her heel and in a flourish of brown hair she was out the door.

"I hate her," Tao said dispassionately, staring at the floor once she was gone.

Everyone turned to look at him as one entity. Brenda wanted to scold him but honestly, Sharon had gotten the reaction she wanted from her squad.

Tao turned to face them. "Did I say that outloud?"

It was a little funny, but she sympathized with her boys being frustrated that the Captain got to make her plans and they didn't. She hoped they didn't let misogyny determine that because she was a higher rank she got to make her plans when it was just a matter of how things ended up working out. She knows most of the boys wouldn't, but Flynn or Provenza might. She's gotta keep an eye on them. Go out with them more. Engage with her squad.

She's got all these things to do and never enough time or energy to do them. She picks up her phone to send a text.

B: I appreciated the… 'present'. It's lovely on you.

Sharon replied about thirty minutes later.

S: I thought you might. Have a lovely Christmas, Brenda Leigh. Hope your squad isn't too mad at me.

Brenda grinned at her screen before putting her phone on her desk and putting her hands on her hips. Time to get the ball moving.

Bzz.

Brenda places her head on her desk.

Bzz.

Why did she let Will say he'll take care of it?

Bzz.

Over an hour later, she finally scooped her phone up to peek at the texts when she had a plate of leftovers in front of her with hershey's kisses on the side - picking up her first one and unwrapping, popping it in her mouth.

She just knew the minute Will stepped back into her Murder Room and said that he had arrested Skander Marku that Sharon was going to be madder than a wet hen.

You have (3) New Messages

Sharon - IA

S: BRENDA!

S: What did Pope do?!

S: I know you're more than capable of answering me, and I have a long ride back from the airport!

Brenda rubbed her face and threw her phone back on the table, sinking into her chair with a groan.

"This looks wonderful Mrs. Johnson," Buzz compliments her Mama, and Brenda feels appreciation for her boys skyrocket.

"It's just leftovers," her Mama hummed. "Could you imagine cooking a full Christmas dinner here? I guess you could with a crockpot and a broaster!"

"Brenda Leigh, what's the matter?" her Daddy asks, rubbing her shoulder comfortingly. "Aren't you hungry?"

"Too many things right now," Brenda mutters, rubbing her face. "I'm not hungry, Daddy."

"Where's Lieutenant Provenza?" Willie Rae asks.

"I'm bringing a plate to him and Skander now, ma'am," Sanchez answers.

"Maybe black-eyed peas and fried okra will get him to talk," Brenda says sarcastically.

"You know, this is wild, Chief. Why don't we just ask the boy if he did it?" Flynn suggests.

Brenda scoffs, turning slightly in her seat to look at Flynn. "And what if he confesses? He's got a lawyer but she's not present. He's a juvenile but I don't know."

Captain Raydor practically flies into the room, wheels on her suitcase squeaking, and the expression on her face furious. Brenda sits up. "Captain, I thought you were-"

Sharon gives her a look. "Not anymore. I am once again in a seventy-two hour reporting cycle for an officer related assault involving our acting chief of police, and your suspect is my witness, so-"

It's like a light goes off above Brenda's head. "Oh, it's a Christmas miracle."

The other woman looks at her suspiciously. "What is?"

"We aren't sure if we can interview the boy… but you have to!" Sharon doesn't seem especially pleased but Brenda plows on, "I-I just have a couple questions I need you to ask."

"As soon as I'm done asking my questions, I'll ask some of yours, but when I'm done I want a police escort to L.A.X!"

"Done!" Brenda agrees happily.

"Can you tell me which policeman pushed your Uncle?" Sharon asks.

"The bald one," Skander replies, deadpan.

Buzz chokes on his food and Brenda looks over at him as Will passes him another napkin before she looks back at the screen. Sometimes her boys have trouble keeping it professional and unfortunately when it comes to making fun of Will that's always.

"And then what happened?"

"If I say, will you let me go?" Skander asks, looking bored and extremely distrustful.

"Skander, if you tell me what happened after the policeman pushed your uncle, I can help you go home, yes," Sharon says seriously, checking her watch.

Skander sat back. "He didn't push my uncle."

"He didn't?" Sharon looks at her watch, the hidden camera, and then shuts her notebook.

"He punched him in the face, then took out his gun and pointed it at my head."

Sharon refrains the urge to groan, and there's several chuckles in the media room.

"Skander… Are you sure about that?" She gives him a hard stare.

"Yeah!" He insisted indignantly. "Then he shoved me in a closet, put a blindfold on me, and told me to lie down on the floor."

Skander didn't say anything else, looking at Sharon expectantly. She looked up at the ceiling. "Oh, God," and opened up her notebook again.

"And then, he tied me up, and said he was gonna kill me."

"All of those things crossed my mind," Will nods casually.

Brenda rolls her eyes heavily. "Did it?" He wisely shuts up

"Brenda Leigh," her Mama tries.

"Mama, please, not right now."

"And then he kicked me in the stomach."

Sharon leaned down to look at him intensely and, hopefully, intimidate him with her Mom-Raydor stare into telling the truth, but he just snaps, "It's true!"

She pulls back and puts her hands up before resuming her writing. "Okay, O-kay. This is some bad stuff. And that bald policeman is in big, big trouble."

"This isn't helping me at all," Brenda snaps, pulling her glasses off.

"Brenda Leigh, you don't really have to ask the boy questions."

"Mama, yes, I do-"

Willie Rae cuts her off. "No, what I mean is, whenever we have trouble with Charlie, we let her use Clay's laptop…" Will looks on from behind Brenda, wanting to see where she was going with this. "And then we check her emails."

Brenda gaped. "Mama, you spied on Charlie?"

"Pot, kettle?" Pope says and she turns to glare at him.

Willie Rae just nodded serenely. "Well, yes! It was our computer, Brenda Leigh," Pope chuckled behind them both. "I know it sounds bad, but it's not against the law! Is it?"

Buzz shrugs sheepishly.

Brenda thinks hard about Morales' parting words from the morgue, holding the picture of Sara. You know that moment every year when it suddenly begins to feel like Christmas? [...] Not happening for me.

It's not really happening for her, either. This entire family has been decimated within a blink of an eye; it's not exactly screaming 'tis the season'.

Flynn hangs up the phone as she puts the picture in an envelope. "Alright Chief, not to worry, the black and whites are in place. All the Marku's are safe and accounted for."

"Thank you, Lieutenant," she says absently, staring at the board.

"But uh, Mrs. Marku is already getting bent out of shape, talking harassment," he adds.

Brenda shrugs. "As long as they're all alive."

Flynn takes an expo-marker and crosses off his own plans on the 'Holiday Plans' part of the board.

Gabriel speaks up now. "Chief, I left messages at the Kosovar consulate and with interpol, trying to figure out what these blood feuds are about-ouch," he winces when Flynn crosses out his name on the board.

"You have the Bosnians, your Croatians, your Serbians and your Albanians… They're like any place; colonial feuds going back hundreds of years. One is a colonizer, the other colonized, then the other repeats it, and they go back and forth," Sanchez says.

Flynn loudly crosses Sanchez's plans off the board and Brenda winces again.

"And I've been doing some research on Albanian codes of honor… 'kanun', and you can't kill someone in their own home, and it absolutely forbids the killing of women," Tao says.

"Yeah, but you get a free pass for the rape and the torture?" Flynn snorts, and then crosses Tao's name off the list.

"Oh, no," Tao says.

Provenza reenters the murder room, significantly lower in morale. "Lieutenant! How's it going with the boy?"

"Well, for a kid that just found out his family was annihilated… about what you'd expect."

"Did you find out why he told us his Uncle Armand was dead? Or about the emails?"

Provenza lowers his voice. "Chief, Chief please. He's been crying most of the night and… and I'm not doing so great myself. Let's just give him a moment."

Brenda nods, placing a supportive hand on his shoulder. "Anything you need, you just let me know."

He nodded and then clapped his hands together before nodding to the Santa suit. "Who should we talk to about bringing those toys to the children?"

Commander Taylor chose that moment to enter the murder room jovially. "Good morning, Major Crimes! And Merry Christmas."

"Good morning, Commander, Merry Christmas. What a surprise to see you this morning," Brenda smiles. His mood is a little infectious, and then in a moment of brilliant clarity she figures out a way to solve all of her problems… or at least a few of 'em.

Taylor shrugs, hands in his pockets. "Two of my kids woke up sick, so I figured 'hey, why not go to church?' Unless you need me to do something for you?"

Ding! Ding! Ding! Exactly what she wanted to hear. "In fact, I do," she smiles easily. "Lieutenant Provenza, if you'll explain? But first," she motions him towards her.

She leans down and whispers the first solution into Provenza's ear, which is really asking him for a tiny favor, and after some furious whispering, exchanging phone numbers and sure grins, she makes her way to Detective Sanchez to lean down and ask him for a favor, too. Now just to check in with Mama, and she can make this work.

The familiar sound of clicking heels keys her into Sharon's arrival and she sighs. Can't she focus for one minute? Flynn points to her and then crosses her name off the board.

"Chief Johnson?" Sharon points to the media room and pivots away, indicating she'll meet her there.

"Alright, great," Taylor says, clapping his hands together. Provenza holds up the Santa suit to him.

"How are you with, ho, ho, ho?" Provenza asks wryly.

Flynn crosses Taylor's name off the board.

"Chief Johnson, you can now hear 911 calls made while Shariq attacked Armand," Sharon says, looking extremely pleased with herself.

"I thought you dropped those off at the sound lab yesterday?"

"I did! But I figured since there was no telling when they'd get to it tomorrow, that maybe your team could sort it out!"

"You want something," Brenda said flatly. "Alright, what is it?"

"Just listen! I worked-" Buzz looks at Sharon, affronted, and she amends, "Buzz worked very hard to put this together."

"First, I combined the background audio from all the calls to our 911 operator during the attack, then I added the sound portion from the video one of the witnesses took with his phone. After I was able to cobble together the argument between Armand and his father."

"Would you like to hear it?" Sharon asked expectantly.

"Of course," Brenda replied.

"A request first?

Brenda raised an eyebrow, "Certainly."

"I would love another chance to talk to little Skander-"

"Oh, Captain, that's delicate-"

"-Because if I could get him to change his ridiculous story about Chief Pope kidnapping him and holding him at gunpoint, I might be able to make the last flight to Salt Lake City for Christmas with my family, so please, if you just-"

"Skanders in a difficult place right now-"

"Five minutes!"

"He just found out what happened to his family-"

"-And then all I'll need is to get Joan Marku to drop her lawsuit and I'll be gone for weeks!"

"Buzz, please leave the room!" Brenda barked, and he hauled ass, putting his headphones on the desk and rushing past Brenda.

Brenda put her head in her palm. "Sharon, this is a very traumatized little boy. I want you to make Christmas with your family. I do."

Sharon took a deep breath, but said nothing. Brenda continued, "When Lieutenant Provenza comes in to talk to him, in addition to our questions, I'll have Provenza get him to drop the charges. Does that work?"

"Yes! Thank you."

Brenda steps into the hallway to call for Buzz. "Can you please come play the video?"

Sharon looks at her expectantly and then she realizes that she's expecting her to be able to understand them. "You know, just because I speak European languages doesn't mean I can understand a word they're saying," Brenda says, unimpressed. "That's in Albanian. They're speaking Albanian."

Buzz snickers quietly.

Sharon, red faced at having been caught, sputters. "Of course it's in Albanian - it was always in Albanian!"

"I just assumed you had it translated?" Brenda scratches her head.

"Well, where on Earth was I going to get an Albanian translator on Christmas morning?"

Brenda muttered, "That's what Fritz said too," and Sharon narrowed her eyes.

It was absentminded and she doubts Brenda even realized she said it, but she disliked the feeling of being compared to Fritz. The urge to somehow locate an Albanian translator spontaneously because he couldn't either was suddenly almost difficult to swallow down.

"Excuse me Chief, I finally got access to Sara Marku's emails," Tao says, bringing a laptop with him.

Brenda squints and then leans back, pursing her lips. "These are all in Albanian."

Buzz and Sharon fight to keep smirks off their faces.

"Yeah, sorry about that," Tao apologizes. "But I did find something interesting. The day before everyone in the family started dying, Sara sent Anila this picture."

"Joan Marku," Brenda blinks. Her phone starts ringing in her purse.

"Maybe that's why the laptops were stolen?" Captain Raydor suggested. "So we wouldn't see these emails."

"Fritzi?" She answers, turning away from the others in the room.

"Yeah, honey? We have a problem."

Brenda hears her mother in the background and then her Mama is on the phone. "Brenda Leigh, there's been a terrible crime!" Her warbling voice says through the line.

"What, Mama? Where?"

"Gimme that," she hears in the background, and then her Daddy is talking the way he used to when he was still in active service. "We need police assistance and we need it right now. Do you copy?!"

Brenda blinks rapidly. "Um, y-yes, Daddy, I copy! I'll be there right away!" She snaps her phone shut and sweeps from the room without saying another word.

"What on Earth was that?" Sharon asks in an amazed whisper.

Buzz snorts. "That was the Johnson family and a normal day."

"So... everything alright with the Johnson's?" Sharon asks when Brenda makes her way back into the office. Brenda startles, nearly dropping all of her files and her purse.

"Sharon! You startled me," Brenda places a hand on her chest. "I-yes? I think so. Someone stole the Christmas presents and their RV microwave, so I needed to go deal with that."

Brenda sits in her chair and just rubs her temples. The blinds are already shut, and before she knows it, Sharon is gently caressing her shoulders, progressing to just massaging them. "You're so tense," Sharon murmurs.

"Like that's a surprise," Brenda mutters under her breath.

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

"What you're doin' right now is pretty good," Brenda groaned, rolling her shoulders.

Sharon straightened when she heard three sets of footsteps on their way towards Brenda's office, taking a more appropriate stance on the other side of her desk.

"-And don't think this gets you out of encouraging Chief Pope to apprehend the boy!" Sharon barks, to a startled Brenda and Tao, Flynn and Sanchez, who just opened the door.

"I-Of course, Captain," Brenda replied slowly, catching on. She stands to meet with the boys. "We'll have to talk about it more later. Say a working lunch?"

Sharon smirked. "I count on it, Chief Johnson," she swept past the surprised and bright red detectives. "Gentlemen."

"You okay, Chief?" Gabriel asks, having caught the tail end of it as Sharon left, closing the door behind them.

"Captain Raydor's just a little… uptight right now. Can't say I blame her. Now, c'mon, show me what you got," she gestures to the men practically hiding in her office after they walked in on what they believed to be the tail end of a - albeit staged - heated argument. She snaps her fingers. "C'mon, c'mon."

Tao is the first to present his findings to the Chief. "I did some digging around, and four days ago, Joan Marku had outpatient surgery at the same hospital that Sara Marku worked in."

"And then the next day, Sara sent Anila this email with the picture, and that's when everything went to hell," Gabriel finishes, handing her a printed form of the email.

Brenda huffs. "But what's it say… we still need a translator."

"I was giving it a shot with this Albanian translation guide, and I actually recognized a few words from this email - hospital, ghost-" he backtracks, seeing her growing annoyance. "I'll keep working on it."

"Wait, wait a minute, Chief," Gabriel says, pointing at the Marku's through the glass, "They both speak Albanian, don't they?"

"Yes, they do," she nodded, frustration evident. "But who should I ask for help?"

"What a 'one is lying and the other cannot lie' riddle," David mutters, and Brenda would've laughed if it wasn't so accurate.

"Before you decide that, Chief, I picked up the DNA results that we ran on the Marku family," Sanchez says, handing her the folder. "It looks like we made a mistake when we handed in our samples… It's pretty interesting."

Brenda inhales sharply. "I want to know why Skander thought his Uncle Armand was dead," she says. "Tell Lieutenant Provenza it's time for those questions he's been putting off."

They put Joan in front of the recorded testimony of Skander Marku telling the story his grandfather told about the ghosts after she translated the mall fight conversation for them. She's completely quiet aside from a muttered, "oh, my God,"

"We've heard this story before, and so have you," Brenda says, and Mrs. Marku flees the room.

"There's only one survivor in that story but we've heard it twice," She calls out after the woman, chasing her, David taking the other side to box her in.

"It was a mistake," Joan says. "Just leave me alone! Shariq wasn't there!"

Joan turns to face Brenda, cornered by the two of them. Brenda holds up the bullet that Morales dug out of Shariq. "Our pathologist dug this out of Shariq's back at the morgue, lodged right next to his spinal column."

"And we've identified that bullet as belonging to a Zastava CZ 9 pistol, which was a standard issue for Serbian soldiers," David says.

Joan looks between the two of them. "Armand is alive," she says. "He's alive."

"Your husband's hand was slashed and the blood got on Shariq's clothing, and we tested the DNA by mistake. When we compared it to the rest of the Marku family-"

Brenda picks up for him, "The man you know as Armand is not Shariq's son. Anila and Sara are not his sisters. But he is related to one person here today."

Joan looks up in horror. "No,"

"How do you think little Skander came into the world?"

"He's not your husband's nephew," Detective Gabriel elaborates, in case she needed the clarification, "Skander is his son."

"And he's also living proof that you're married to a war criminal," Brenda adds.

This seems to be the 'too much' breaking point for Joan, who rushes into the bathrooms. Gabriel and Brenda just stare at each other before he gestures broadly to the bathrooms and she sighs, following the woman in.

"Why did all of this turn up now?" Joan asks, wiping her tears.

"Because you had a benign skin tumor removed last week," Brenda replies gently. "Sara Marku worked at the hospital where you had your procedure. We think that she saw your last name on the intake log and decided to do some research, and that she found out someone in L.A. was living disguised as her dead brother."

Joan doesn't reply immediately. She takes a few deep breaths first.

"So… you're suggesting the man I married… raped all those women and murdered those men… and then took the identity of-"

Brenda nods solemnly. "Of the man he most resembled, yes."

Joan just covers her mouth and retreats to the furthest wall in the bathroom. Her voice is fast and quiet. "They specialized in identity theft, the Serbians. We trained them in it, back when we thought the Albanians were the bad guys. They practiced terrorism too, you know. Both groups behaved badly, you know, we changed sides several times ourselves-"

"Really? Whose side should we be on now that Anila and Sara Marku's throats have been cut?" Brenda demands, pulling out pictures of their prone bodies.

It wasn't really a question. Joan knew as well as Brenda what the answer was, touching the tips of her fingers to the picture of Anila.

They send Joan into the room with 'Armand' and wearing a wire. Flynn, Sanchez, and Buzz burst into the room with video of the Marku family vehicle.

"Will they let us take Skander home with us, do you think?"

"P-probably," Joan replies, so uncertain now around a man she probably loved so much.

Brenda could relate; she once loved Fritz with all of her tiny heart, but now in his presence she was unsure.

Joan says, "They-they want to make sure none of us are in danger from whoever killed your sisters…"

'Armand's' voice hardens just slightly, and Brenda feels a shudder build in her that she suppresses at the insidious feeling that tone gives her.

"Listen to me Joanie, listen. Listen. There can be no 'probably' in this."

"Tell me I can search that car," Brenda asks the detectives upon arrival.

"I say you can, but, here's the video," Flynn points to Buzz, who throws it in and gets it playing. "Unfortunately, as you can see, though the car is in our parking structure, there's no blood."

"We looked into it from every angle Chief, couldn't even see a stain that would give us probable cause to search it," Sanchez says.

"Did you get prints off the door?" He nods. "Okay, I want a copy of those prints sent to Agent Howard, please, and lt's put patrol officers around the Marku's car - I don't want it leaving the premises."

"Look, this guy told his wife there was blood in the car," Flynn starts. "So I say we open it up and we find the evidence that ties this scumbag to at least one of our murders!"

Brenda sighs and opens her mouth to explain, but Sharon beats her to it. "Lieutenant, you simply cannot enter that car based on a privileged conversation between husband and wife."

"The DNA match between Armand and the boy should give us probable cause!" Flynn argues.

"Not according to the U.S. Supreme Court which regards marital privilege as and I quote, 'so essential to the preservation of the marriage relationship as to outweigh-"

"-the disadvantages to the administration of justice," Tao finished in unison with her, nodding. "Wolfle vs the United States."

"We could let the car go and pull them over for a traffic violation, and search it then?" Brenda suggests, briefly forgetting Sharon was in the room.

"As long as you can swear in court you did not have it searched based on what Joan Marku told you," Sharon answered. "Could you do that?"

"I think I have some other way to arrest her husband for murder," Brenda says, tapping her chin in thought.

"Ah, Captain, you're still here," Chief Pope noted with raised eyebrows. "Waiting for the boy to recant?"

"Lieutenant Provenza is getting him to withdraw his charges now, and I expect Joan Marku will drop the kidnapping suit as soon as Chief Johnson is done. So… you're off the hook."

"So, why the long face?"

Sharon purses her lips. "Because I was stuck here, the Salt Lake City airport has been closed due to snow; no flights in or out, so there goes Christmas."

Willie Rae pops up behind Sharon like a ghost. "Why, Sharon, you can have dinner with all of us here! Your friend Brenda wouldn't have it any other way."

"My friend Brenda?" Sharon repeated, and then turned to Chief Pope, smirking at each other. "My friend Brenda."

Willie Rae tapped Sharon's shoulder. "You know what; why don't you come help me in the kitchen and I'll tell you some fun stories about Brenda Leigh when she was a girl; they'll make you laugh!"

Sharon chuckled and stood. "I'm sure they will."

"Come on!"

Pope observes the table and decorations. "You make a beautiful Christmas table, Mrs. Johnson," he compliments warmly.

"It's so festive!" Willie Rae exclaims cheerily, Sharon trailing behind her. "You'd never know they call this place the Murder Room! Come along, come along!"

Brenda changed into more festive Christmas attire once dinner got closer and they closed the case, sending Zoran to booking. She put a little red clip into her hair just for fun.

Buzz finishes setting up the laptops as Brenda's Christmas surprises begin to roll in, or connect. Cathy Tao and her kids connect to the Skype call, given that they're three hours behind in Hawai'i, full of smiling and understanding faces. The next laptop is Gabriel's parents, who take a few minutes of gentle conversation over the chatroom to get them on the call.

"Mom! Dad!" David exclaims. "How did you-How did they?"

Mike grins, waving at his family. "Hey, guys! How's Maui?"

Sanchez looks at Brenda, talking quietly with Fritz in the corner. Buzz begins to set up the camera. Coming through the door is the last surprise she managed - Flynn's ex-wife, Sandra, and their daughter, Nicole.

Flynn's toothpick falls from his mouth, and Provenza laughs before whacking him with his crossword. "Go say something!"

"Nicole, Sandra, Merry Christmas," he says, truly looking lost. Nicole smiles and wraps her arms around her dad.

"Merry Christmas, Dad. I'm glad I got to see you this year," she says quietly, and he hugs her back fiercely. He makes eye contact with Sandra over her shoulder, thanking her for coming without words. Sandra just smiles back tentatively.

Sandra had been hesitant when Chief Johnson had phoned her, but once she had explained the situation and extended the invitation, they were curious. It wasn't like they hadn't planned to invite him anyway. It just worked out that they already had Christmas dinner earlier in the day.

Brenda and Fritz part looking not at all like they reconciled whatever it was they were talking about. Buzz has almost finished setting up the camera just right. Captain Raydor is talking quietly with Mike and his family, Gabriel is talking animatedly with his parents with the Johnson's, Flynn is introducing his ex-wife and his daughter to the squad, and despite feeling completely worn out by the past three days, she feels a sense of peace fall over her watching her squad. Her own family.

"Now who wants to carve the turkey?" Clay asks.

Morales stands up and grins. "Let me, I do this all day."

David makes a grossed out face, while Provenza just motions for them to get it over with.

"Just one second," Buzz asks, "Can you all say 'Merry Christmas, and happy New Year' to the camera?"

"Really? For the love of baby Jesus-"

"Come on, Lieutenant, where's your Christmas spirit?" Willie Rae nudges him.

"Yeah!" one of Tao's kids shouts from the laptop, and Cathy Tao laughs amid chuckles before hushing them gently, as the passing of food and carving of the turkey is about to start.

"On three," someone says, and it's over just as quickly, everyone watching Morales begin to carve the turkey.

Later, when Buzz is rewatching the footage and looking through the pictures captured, he finds one that catches his eyes. Captain Raydor, sometime during the night, he remembers, had moved, and in this picture is sitting right next to Chief Johnson. To her other side is Agent Howard, but he seems to be in conversation with some others.

Buzz isn't sure exactly what Captain Raydor might've been saying, but Chief Johnson's face was alight with a soft laugh he isn't sure she's ever laughed in the office before. At least, not before then. They're leaning closely together.

Buzz leans in and squints. Probably too closely. Maybe he's been up too long and looking for subtext. Maybe they had too much wine with dinner. But one thing is clear... this candid is the best out of all of them. Aside from the picture of all of them sat down for dinner. That one came out surprisingly well, despite how he had to angle and set up the laptops with the skype calls. They did do a second one without them, but he likes the first one. He stays up till the late hours sorting the ones suitable for print and editing the footage for gifts.

chapter title from im with you by mayday parade
*goodbye rome
**perfume that Brenda got for Sharon from alkemia perfumes, linked here /collections/everything/products/rondeaux-d-amour-black-plum-saffron-jasmine-sambac-orris-root-dark-red-roses-amber-vanilla-incense-patchouli-and-pheromones
okay so. what if Brenda was Jewish. im gonna talk to some of my Jewish friends for help on writing this correctly - a Southern Jewish convert - but i was like… since Kyra is Jewish, I kind of want to make Brenda Jewish, especially given the themes I'm working with. it would have to take some editing and working around (small tweaks to the lore regarding Eve/the snake and I'd have to submit myself to the mortifying ideal of being known and show some of my friends my work so they can read and let me know what needs to be changed) but I don't know how else to fit in her being Jewish… i feel like she'd grow up, find Fundamentalist Christian values not what she was looking for spiritually - because I see Brenda as a very spiritual character, but I think that fundamentalist Christian just wouldn't suit her and frankly she doesn't seem keen on it in the show either - and convert while she was away from home. I can't think of a way to make it natural of her parents being Jewish.
If anyone reading is Jewish please feel free (and I encourage you if you have the energy and would like to) to comment! I'd love your feedback :)