A Fresh Start Chapter 9

Stepping Up

Jamie was flabbergasted as he walked into his new office ready to start his new job. His family had taken the news of the move surprisingly well, and he'd been surprised to learn that his grandfather had been living with his family for the last nine months. He was very grateful, that his family came in and helped without having to ask. He hoped that never had to happen again. He didn't think that he could take being away from his family that long ever again.

Eddie was able to transfer without issue. Jamie was being talked about as if he was a unicorn or something. Few people believed that he was able to achieve all that in just over two years.

The thing that surprised him the most was that with the move came another new revelation, Eddie was going to be reporting to him. They had both made it clear to all that they were married, but their superiors had been told that they worked well together on several cases in Seattle. It was a risk that they were willing to take for these two impeccable members of the agency.

Again, Eddie's parents helped with the move. The kids would have a much bigger yard to play in and they were excited. Jamie didn't get to experience near as much as local Seattle life as he wished. That wasn't going to let that happen in their new home.

One thing Jamie was striving for since he got home from his UC assignment was to take the kids to school each morning. Bella loved her new school because she was going five days a week like Frankie and Betty. The nanny would pick them up and be with them each day until Jamie and Eddie were able to get home.

Jamie had one major concern coming into his new job, he'd only been an agent for a three years, while most reporting to him had been agents for several years. He wondered how they would adapt to reporting to him.

"Good morning, SAC Valentine." Jamie said as he entered his new boss' office.

"Good morning ASAC Reagan, are you and your family getting acclimated to the area?"

"Yes sir. We like it here so far. The kids are enjoying their new school and already making friends."

"Three kids, correct?"

"Yes sir, two girls and boy."

"You did an exceptional job with RLM, and I know that we had quite the fight to keep you. Everyone from Homeland Security to the NYPD and the Secret Service were all fighting for you."

"Thank you, sir. Just doing my job."

"Ok, you worked patrol for NYPD according to your record, and then you became a detective for LAPD. You've had quite the career. I'm looking forward to seeing what you can do here."

"Thank you, sir. I'm looking forward learning and growing here."

"Ok, in your new position, you'll be assigning cases and running some of the higher profile cases, and there will be some traveling required. You'll have six agents, three analysts, two techs, and a Detroit detective who'll be your liaison with the department. You'll be working with the federal prosecutor when needed. Some days will have long hours because it's not uncommon for your entire team to go home and still have a few hours' worth of work before you can leave." Valentine was trying to figure out if Reagan knew what he just got himself into.

"Ok, are they all in or any currently out on assignment?"

"They are all currently in the office. I'll call a meeting in the bullpen and introduce you to everyone, although I know you already know one of your analysts."

"Yes sir." Wondering what he thought of the couple working together.

"I spoke to your ASAC who told me how well you and your wife worked together. Don't worry as long as there are no problems everything should be okay. Let's go meet the team.

Jamie had heard about the team from Eddie. She's started a week earlier than he had since he was needed in Washington for an award ceremony that his family had been at and was recorded so Eddie and the kids could see.

"Team, please give me your attention. This is ASAC Reagan, who had finally been able to join us and is looking forward to working with everyone." SAC Valentine said while he waited for the room to quiet down.

"Agent Abigail Lucas and her partner Agent Jordan Young."

"Sir, nice to meet you." Both agents said at the same time. Jamie could tell that they'd been partnered together for a while now and would bet that they had a strong partnership.

"Agent Michela Oliver and her partner Agent Mallory Evans."

"Nice to meet you, and welcome to Michigan." Agent Evans says wondering what this California boy is going to teach them, not knowing his history or where he's truly from.

"Agent Christian Rodriguez and Adam Lindstrom."

They walked across the room to where the other half of Jamie's team sat.

"These are your analysts, Eddie Reagan, Toni Madison, and Vinny Abernathy."

Walking further into the room his boss finishes his introductions with Michael Rivers, Detective with DPD, and Anthony Ramos and Jenna, their techs.

Jamie didn't get a chance to ease into his new position. An hour into his first day a threat to the Ambassador Bridge was called in. All six agents hit the streets while the analysts and techs got to work to see what they could figure out about the person who called the tip in, along with trying to figure out who the person was that called in the threat.

Six hours later they got the guy. He was serious about damage but wasn't prepared to do actual damage. He'd been an EDP who thought that he was going to help people by removing the bridge. Everything was handled effectively and efficiently, the public and media never knew anything was going on. Another successful day. Jamie left the office three hours after his team that night with two thoughts on his mind. His mind kept going back to an extended shift years earlier with Renzulli where they rode the train for hours on end, and he had no idea what was going on. At the time he wished he'd known, now that he was in a position to know he was wishing to be back in the place of ignorance where all he had to do was follow commands. He always had respect for his father and grandfather, but now having responsibilities similar to what they have/had as PC he has a much better understanding of the choices that they've made, and the things that they have to live with.

That night, they ate dinner as a family, went for a walk by the river and let the kids play in the playground for a while. Being with family and spending time outside really helped to center himself and Eddie. One things that Jamie needed to remember is that Eddie was right there with him seeing all the disturbing things that he did each day. They needed to support each other.

The next few weeks Jamie's getting used to handing out the cases and supporting his agents. He misses being out on the streets but knows that his job is important to help get criminals off the streets and keep his agents safe.

It's finally the weekend and both he and Eddie are off. Their goal is to pick a place and take the kids and explore their new home.

"Good morning!" Jamie says happily. The kids think that he has to go to work still.

"Good morning!" Betty says with a happy hug. She takes anytime with her dad that she can get.

"Morning dad." Frankie says while waiting for his dad to get changed and go to work. He hadn't taken to his dad's constant working as either one of the girls. He wanted his dad around more. His friends got to spend more time with their dads.

"Morning dad. Why are you still in your pajama's, do you have to go to work?" Bella asks without pause.

"Because I'm not going to work until Monday." Jamie smiles as all three kids come up and hug him. They hadn't had a family day in a while. That was something he was aiming to stop, he wanted to have them at least once a month.

Eddie sat, drank her coffee, and watched. She loved what she and Jamie did and kept their family and many other families safe every day, but she wished that they could have more times like these.

"Pancakes and bacon for breakfast?" Jamie asked his already excited kids.

"Yes!" They all yelled at once.

Jamie started cooking while the kids went and watched cartoons.

"I think you made their day, and mine." Eddie gave him a hug from behind as he cooked the bacon on the stove.

"Mine too. Since its raining, how does Henry Ford Museum sound?"

"Sounds good. None of the kids have a field trip there anytime soon. Should be a fun day."

"I think so. Let's eat and get ready to go."

Two hours later they were at the museum looking at the cars, and historical items. They got to see the history of the engine and how they work, and a cool historical exhibit about taking a road trip and a bunch of cool looking buildings. The kids all had fun and were exhausted by the time that they left four hours later. An exciting end to the day was stopping for pizza before heading home.

"That was the best day!" Betty said as they pulled into the garage.

"I agree. Can we do it again soon?" Bella asked.

"If it's not raining, can we go to Greenfield Village, my friends told me that they have all kinds of cool stuff to do there?" Frankie asked.

"Yes, we can do it again soon, and if it's not raining that day, we'll go to Greenfield Village." Eddie said happily although exhausted too.

"Who wants to watch a movie?" Eddie asks knowing its close to their bedtimes but wants everyone to just chill out before bed.

"I want to read." Betty says and then goes to her room to grab her current book.

"Me too." Bella and Frankie follow.

Fix minutes later all three kids are on the couch in the living room listening to the rain reading their books.

"Ya know, if I didn't know better, I would say all three of those kids got your big Harvard brain. Now the question is will they follow us into law enforcement?" Eddie jokes.

"I know what you mean. I'm not going to argue with it though. We are lucky." Jamie hugs her and smiles.

"Yes, we are. Ya know I'll never forget how I met you. I was not in a great headspace and then Betty ran into you and took you down. I was so mad. The look you had on your face, I thought that she really hurt you."

"That was the best day of my life. I could tell you were mad, and I get it. My mom could yell like no one else and if I did what she did, I would have been in so much trouble, but I needed to be knocked down like that. If that hadn't happened, I don' know where I'd be now."

"Had that not happened we would have run into each other eventually. Spencer does work for my dad, and there were a couple of trainings that we were in together."

"Yeah. Still, it's the best story, and we'll be telling it forever." Jamie laughed.

With that Jamie and Eddie grabbed their current books and headed down to the living room to find Bella and Frankie asleep and Betty fully engrossed in her book. Jamie took Frankie and Eddie took Bella, thankful that they had already put their jammies on and put them in bed.

An hour later the entire family was in bed.

Monday morning after Jamie dropped the kids off at school, he made it into work to see things calmer than he'd ever seen them.

"Hey boss." Agent Lucas said happy to see that he was in a good mood.

"Hey Lucas, have a good weekend?"

"Yeah, went to the movies with the family and had the entire family over for dinner on Sunday. Helped me remember why we don't do it more often." Lucas laughed.

"If we lived in New York, we would be attending church every afternoon and have dinner with my family every Sunday. The only way out is to live far enough away or to be on duty. Eddie and the kids have only experienced that on a short-term basis. They don't know the fun of being there every single week."

"My family does a version of that. It varies in my family though, sometimes its breakfast, other days its lunch or dinner. It all depends on what Grandma wants. She sends us all a text message Friday letting us know when to be at her house." Evan's says learning that she and the new boss had a lot in common with how they both grew up. She was from a law enforcement family too.

"I couldn't stand it if my family did that. It was bad enough that we all still lived on their property until I got married, but I looked for any excuse I could to get out of family functions." Eddie said as she walked up behind the group. She enjoyed the Sunday dinners with Jamie's family. Compared to her family they were easy to be around for her. She knew that he had some of the same family issues that she did.

"Your parents dislike me because I moved you and their grandkids off the west coast." Jamie laughed.

"Yeah, but I love it here."

With that Jamie made it over to his desk to start reading through his hundreds of emails. Eddie and the others went to get coffee.

Ten minutes later the calm morning was gone, and hot case had landed in their laps via New York. Specifically, the NYPD. They'd received intel about a fugitive from New York who had ties to the area, and they expected him to come get his family and escape via boat to Canada. Coast Guard was on alert and looking for him incase he'd gotten an earlier start than they thought.

"Reagan, in my office now." SAC Valentine called out.

"Yes sir."

"Take a seat, we need to call the New York PC. He asked us to call this morning to get more information on this guy."

"Ok."

"Commissioner, you have SAC Valentine and ASAC Reagan about the Laughton case."

"Hello, I have Lt. Gormley and DCP Moore with me." Frank says looking forward to working with his son.

"Commissioner, what information do you have for me and my team." Jamie says ready to get his guys working.

"He's dangerous. He stabbed three people that we are aware of. Detective Reagan caught the case and had him twice, but at the time none of the victims were conscious and he didn't have enough evidence to hold him." Frank said knowing Jamie is probably seething on the other end because it was something he and Danny fought about constantly.

"Do you have enough evidence now?" Valentine asked hoping that this wasn't going to be a waste of their time. Some days it felt like cases came in by the minute and he didn't need a dead end one, and he could tell the situation frustrated his ASAC.

"Yes, we have three witnesses, fortunately he didn't kill anyone, but each person he stabbed after breaking and entering and grand theft. The DA assures me that he will be spending a lot of time upstate."

"Ok, the file and photos were sent to us and the Coast Guard, correct?" Jamie asks trying to figure out how much coordinating he needed to do and how many other organizations he needed to bring in for the man hunt.

"Yeah, Coast Guard was notified as soon as he left the city, knowing that he's spent some substantial time in Canada."

"Thank you, Commissioner. Any other relevant details we need to know."

"Not at this time. Everything should be in the file. Should you have questions you can call the Detective he's been told to cooperate."

"Thank you for your time and assistance on this Commissioner. Are the detective's contact information in the file?"

"Yes, ASAC Reagan, should have both contact numbers already as a backup."

"Thank you for your time." SAC Valentine says and ends the call.

"I thought you walked patrol for NYPD?" Valentine says wondering why he has the contact information for what he thinks are two random detectives.

"Detective Reagan is my older brother, and he's been partners with Baez since I was on the force."

With that Jamie left Valentine's office and mobilized his agents and got the rest in the office working.

"Hey Jamie, we got a problem." Eddie said after reviewing the evidence and victim statements.

"Yeah, what is it?"

"I don't think that this evidence will hold up?" Eddie says while pointing out the evidence she's worried about in the file.

"Okay, I'll call Danny." Jamie sighed. He wasn't surprised. He just hoped that it wouldn't come to this and hoped that his guys did their due diligence and were able to obtain enough evidence to take the guy down federally. The last thing he had to do before calling his brother was inform his boss of the issue, and his plan to resolve it so they weren't wasting their time on this man hunt.

"Hey Danny."

"Jamie. Personal or about the case? Dad told me he talked to you and your boss about it this morning."

"Yeah, nothing like being called into the boss' office first thing. Listen we have some questions about some of the evidence."

"What questions and remember he's being going through the system in New York, not the feds so somethings are done differently." Danny sneered a little. He didn't like the direction that this was going in.

"I know Danny and I know New York laws."

"Of course, you do. You know everything." Danny was mad. His kid brother was supposed to be looking for his help, not questioning how he does his job.

"Danny, stop. I have a few questions about the guy I'm looking for, so we can transport back to New York." Jamie said, not giving into Danny's ire.

"Fine, ask your questions?"

"How did you obtain the evidence against Laughton for the theft?"

"We have him on video, and another tenant saw them moving the belongings out of the apartment." Danny said knowing how to do his job and it always bothered him that his sister was on his back about procedure, now to have his kid brother there too was very frustrating.

"How did you obtain the video?" Jamie asked. Eddie didn't like that a warrant hadn't been issued for it.

"The guy who owns the building cooperated with us. The second person stabbed was his cousin, and he was willing to do anything to help us out. Rare I know. I have a signed statement from him. Isn't it in your copy of the file?" Danny asked thinking that they are missing some information.

"No, we don't have his statement. Is he willing to testify too?" Jamie asked making sure all t's were crossed and I's dotted.

"I'll make sure the full file is sent over. I don't know when 1PP pulled it to send to you. We were still waiting on some final information before we let 1PP know it was ready to be handed off." Danny said knowing he was probably gonna get his head chewed off for not making sure 1PP knew that the file wasn't complete and ready for send.

"Thanks Danny." Jamie said and gave Danny his work email address. They talked about family for a few minutes before they were both off to work.

Three hours later Jamie's life took a turn. Laughton had made it to Michigan and was trying to convince his ex-wife and daughter to come on the run with him. They didn't want to spend their lives running. His daughter enjoyed her school and liked her friends and wanted to be a cop when she grew up. His ex-wife had a good job at a local hospital. Agents Lucas and Young were there staking out his ex-wife's house. When they saw Laughton, a chase began. Young was able to call it in and get back-up on the way, but it came too late. Laughton was able to stab Lucas multiple times before taking off in his ex-wife's car.

"Jordan, how is she? Any word yet?" Jamie asked as he entered the emergency room.

"No, but it looked bad, sir." Agent Young said trying to show respect to his boss.

Ten minutes later the doctor came out with a somber look on her face.

"Family of Agent Lucas?" She said sadly.

"How is she doctor?" Jamie asked hoping that she was okay.

"We did everything that we could, but there was just too much damage and blood loss. We lost her."

A familiar feeling went over Jamie. Only this time he was the team lead and not Agent Lucas' partner. It didn't matter though; he wasn't able to keep her safe.

"Jordan, give your statement, and then I'll have someone drive you home."

"Yes sir." Jordan said not able to think. Abby had been his only partner since he became an agent and he'd never lost a partner before. He was numb.

The following day the mood at the office was somber but determined. Jamie stayed at worked through the night. He'd lost an agent. Things had changed. This guy was going down for life in Federal prison. He would spend his life paying for what he did to Abby.

Eddie was worried about Jamie. Fortunately, they hadn't lost any officers when they were LAPD together, but she could see the impact of an injured officer on him. She'd known about Joe and at first, she thought that his death and how he grew up was the reason for how hard he took anything happening another member of the force. A few weeks later they'd been walking on the beach when he told her that his last partner on the NYPD had been killed a few months before he moved. She knew some of the details but didn't know the entire story.

The man hunt was still on, and all area PDs had been read in and told to approach with extreme caution. The news of Agent Lucas' death made national news. The entire Reagan family was all on edge waiting for this guy to be taken down and waiting to hear how Jamie was handling everything. They were worried.

It had been three long days, but the team had finally found where Laughton was hiding out. They had the small house in Flint surrounded. Jamie was leading the team today, showing his team support and he wanted to be there to arrest the guy who killed one of his agents.

Fifteen minutes later, Laughton is dead after stabbing Jamie, and his agents are frantically waiting for the ambulance. It had been a long hard week, and this is and isn't how they wanted it to end. They were happy that they' gotten the guy who killed their friend and co-worker but upset that he'd been able successfully hurt their boss.

Agents Oliver and Evens headed to the office to take Eddie to the hospital. She watched the entry into the house on the screen in the office, but fortunately she didn't see Jamie get hurt.

Young and Rodriguez went to the hospital with Jamie.

Once Eddie got to the hospital, she saw Young and Rodriguez waiting for her.

"How is he?" She asked nervously.

"We don't know yet. They haven't told us anything, they just took him to surgery."

"Eddie, here sit down. Do you want some water or coffee?" Rodriguez asked worried about his boss and co-worker.

"No, he did it to save someone else didn't he?" She asked and got puzzling looks for both of the agents.

"What do you mean?" Young asked.

"Jamie was hurt because he jumped in to save someone else, right?" Eddie already knew the answer. She knew her husband and he always put others' lives above his own. She knows without a doubt that he would die for anyone he cares for, and she loved him for that, but it scared her too.

"Yes, he was coming after me and Jamie tackled him." Young said sadly. It had been a very long hard week. He was mentally and physically exhausted. "That's how he got hurt. He stabbed him in the side when they went down. He had the perfect angle to miss his vest. I'm sorry Eddie."

"Not your fault. Jamie wouldn't have it any other way, and he knows that he has to come home, so I know he's back there fighting to come home to me and the kids. He knows what it's like to be the kid waiting at home no knowing if his dad was gonna make it home every night." Eddie hugged Jordan; they both needed all the support they could get now.

With that everyone at the hospital settled in to wait.

Back at the office the SAC was getting ready to make a second call to one of his agent's families. He hated this part of the job.

"Commissioner, this is SAC Valentine."

"SAC Valentine, how can I help you today." Frank was hoping he was calling to say that they got the guy. He was going to request Jamie bring him to New York.

"Commissioner, Laughton was killed today during our take down. Sir, your son was stabbed. He's currently in surgery."

"Please call me Frank. Has his wife been notified?" Frank asked trying to hold in his emotions. He had to inform the rest of the family and travel to Michigan.

"Yes, Eddie's been notified. She was one of the analysts on the operation. Three agents are with her while we wait, and I am headed to the hospital soon."

"Do you know anything about Jamie's injuries." Frank asked not hiding his fear anymore.

"Frank, all I know is that he was stabbed twice in the side in between the sides of his vest."

"Okay, please give your number to Detective Baker. I need to call my family."

With that Frank hung up and took a deep breath. He didn't want to make the next three calls, well four. He needed to call Eddie and check on her.

"Hey pop." Frank said knowing he would get some support from his dad.

"Francis, is everything okay?" Henry didn't usually talk to Frank during the day, so he knew something was wrong.

"I just got a call from Jamie's boss; he's been stabbed and is in surgery. I don't have any other information."

"Ok, what do I need to do? I can get us plane tickets, call Danny or Erin, or do you want me to call and check on Eddie?" Henry said needing to do something. He couldn't lose another grandchild. He couldn't stand to see his great-grandchildren grow up without their father.

"Please call Erin and find out if she can get away. I'm going to call Danny. I'll have Abigail see if she can get us a private flight out, so it doesn't matter how many of us go."

"Okay, and he's going to be okay, Francis. Jamie is strong." Henry could not let himself think of any other outcome. He wasn't going to lose another grandson to the job.

"He is pop. Okay I'll talk to you soon."

He hung up with his dad and immediately called Danny. He knew that Baker was already looking for transportation for himself and the family.

"Hey Danny got a minute to talk?" Frank hated making these calls and calling his oldest always meant that he was going to get a bad reaction.

"Yeah pop. I'm just doing paperwork." Danny was happy for a break, and there was always a chance when his dad called that he may get a new case and not have to do paperwork any longer. All he could do is hope.

"Laughton is dead." Frank said and was interrupted before he could finish.

"Good, he deserved it. He killed a cop. How's Jamie handling losing one of his agents?" Danny had been worried about his kid brother. He knew what it was like to lose another cop but had no idea what it was like to be in command and lose someone.

"Last I heard Jamie's in surgery. Laughton stabbed him when he tackled him after he went after another one of his agents." Frank said sadly.

"What! Dad is he okay? When do we leave? How's Eddie? What about the kids?" Danny rambled off. His last interaction with Jamie hadn't gone the best and now that may end up being the last thing, he'd ever said to him.

"Calm down Danny, at this point we don't know anything else other than he's in surgery. I'm waiting on a call back from his boss."

"What about Eddie, hasn't she called?" Danny worried. Only thinking that she hasn't called because things are grim or didn't know anything.

"No, last I knew she'd been taken to the hospital, by other agents and she's waiting on an update from the medical staff."

"Ok, let me know when we leave. I'm gonna call Linda and let her know I'm heading out of town for a couple days. I know she'd come, but she's working doubles right now because of low staff. Is grandpa going or is he going to hold down the fort here?"

"He's going."

With that they moved onto their next tasks. Frank had to call Erin Both worried about Jamie, and if they would get to see him again.

"Family of Agent Reagan." The doctor said looking at a room full of Eddie and her entire team.

"I'm his wife, how is he doctor?" Eddie had tears rolling down her face. She'd been waiting hours. Right now, she wasn't an FBI analyst, she was the wife of an agent.

"Very lucky. He lost a lot of blood, so we don't expect him to wake up for a few days, but the damage was minimal. The knife nicked one of his lungs, but we were able to repair it and the same happened to one of his kidneys. I expect a full recovery. It will just take some time."

Eddie was so happy. From what she'd heard of the incident she was really worried that she was going to be a widow. Stab wounds were scary.

"Eddie, how is he?" Frank asked as he, his dad, Danny, and Erin all made their way into the waiting room.

"Frank, how did you get here so fast?" Eddie was surprised. She was getting ready to call the family, she hadn't yet because she wanted to have news so they wouldn't be stuck worrying like she'd been over the last four hours.

"SAC Valentine called, and we got here as fast as we could." Frank said seeing nothing more than the tears running down his daughters-in-law's face.

"You guys just missed the doctor. Jamie's gonna be okay, he lost a lot of blood, and they don't expect him to wake up for a few days, but they do expect a full recovery."

"Oh, thank god." Erin said and gave Eddie a big tearful hug.

"When can we see him?" Danny was anxious to see his brother for himself, and he needed to apologize for how he initially reacted to Jamie's questions about the case.

"I don't know yet."

Eddie was being overwhelmed with family asking questions, but soon they were interrupted by the doctor.

"Mrs. Reagan, your husband has been moved into ICU, you can go back and see him now."

"My family just arrived, can they come with me?" Eddie gestured to Frank, Henry, Erin, and Danny.

"Two at a time, please." The doctor asked not wanting too much excitement around his patient yet. "Once he's awake and shown some improvement he'll be able to have more than two visitors at a time."

"Thank you doctor." Frank shook the man's hand thankful that he was able to save his son.

It was decided that Eddie and Frank were the first to head back. When they got there Jamie was pale and very still. To Eddie the only way that she knew he was alive was by the constant beeping of the heart monitor. Jamie had never been still since she met him. He was either working, working out, or reading.

"Frank." Was all Eddie could get out at the sight of her husband.

"He'll be okay just like the doctor said. Jamie is so strong and he's fighting like hell to come back to us. I know he is." Frank said not even thinking that things could change because the entire situation was out of his control.

After they spoke to Jamie urging him to get well and wake up soon, Henry and Danny were the next visitors expressing the same thoughts, and lastly Erin and SAC Valentine were allowed in to see him.

The next three days progressed slowly for all. The family took turns spending time at the hospital with Jamie while others were spent with the kids reassuring them that their dad would be okay and be home as soon as he was allowed to leave the hospital. The kids were scared but had learned to trust the adults after Jamie's last accident at work. They were thankful that they only had one parent in harm's way. Frank and Henry were making things as good as they could since they were there.

The morning of the fourth day Jamie woke up, and the family was relieved. He was tired and sore but hadn't suffered any setbacks.

"Jamie, I'm so happy that you're awake."

"Hey babe, sorry I scared you. Give me a couple days and I'll be good as new." Jamie smiled. He had only been awake a couple hours and hadn't been able to grasp the seriousness of his injury.

"It's going to take a little longer than that, but you will be okay and as soon as you get moved into a regular room the kids are going to be thrilled to see you."

"I can't wait to see them. I guess I'll be out for a bit, so the nanny will get a break." Jamie laughed.

"I don't know about the break. I think you'll need some help and I know a lot of people that are going to be willing to help." Eddie smiled for the first time in days, that wasn't around the kids.

"Does the family know?"

"What do you think?" Eddie's face said it all. She and Jamie had developed a way of communicating with just a look. He didn't need her to say anymore, but she did anyway. "Yes, they know, and they're here."

"They're here! Okay." Jamie was surprised and not surprised. He didn't want them to worry.

"Hey Jamie, ya know when we come to visit, it would be nice if you were awake." Danny joked thrilled to see his baby brother awake finally.

"Danny." Erin shot him a dirty look.

"Jamie, its so good to see you." Frank sighed happily for the first time this week. "Pop is back at the house with the kids, but he'll be here later."

"You guys didn't have to come all this way. I'm okay, I'll be back to normal before ya know it."

"Yes, we did, and you did a good job taking that guy down Jamie." Frank said wishing his son wouldn't have been hurt or would've stood down. He didn't need to be a hero.

"Next time you have to remember that you're the FBI and not Superman." Erin wiped tears from her eyes. There were times she wished her family wasn't in any type of law enforcement.

"I was just doing my job and protecting my agents." Jamie argued. He was too tired to argue, but no one in his family knew what it was like to do this specific job. His father and grandfather had some idea, but the FBI was its own animal.

"We know, Jamie. We just worry about you guys especially since you live so far away."

"Better than Nome, Alaska, and we're closer than we were in when we lived in Seattle." Eddie joked.

The group talked a few minutes longer before the doctor came in and asked all but Eddie to leave so they could discuss his condition and next steps. The doctor reminded them that despite having slept for over three days he was still recovering.

A week later Jamie was released from the hospital and couldn't be happier than to be headed home. Danny and Erin were only able to stay a few days, but his dad and grandpa had managed to stay until he got out of the hospital. He kept telling his dad that he understood if he needed to get home and get back to work.

"Dad, you've been here for almost two weeks. I'm home and I'm good." Jamie smiled. He understood his dad's concern, but he was an adult with his own kids now. He worried his dad sticking around too long would have them worried for no reason.

"I know. It's hard. You didn't look great when we got here. This would be easier if you still lived in New York, but I don't know if that will ever happen again."

"Dad. I know that my life hasn't gone like you would have planned."

Frank couldn't let Jamie continue. He wouldn't let his son feel guilty for making his own way in life. Jamie always wanted to make everyone happy.

"Jamie, I've told you before that it's your life, and all I really want is for you to be happy, and as much as it hurts, I can tell that you're happy."

"I am dad."

"Now just be more careful. You're in a command position now, I shouldn't have to worry about you as much."

"I may be in command, but I'm still technically a field agent. You won't have me tucked away safe in an office until my next promotion." Jamie laughed.

Finally, two days later Jamie was able to convince his dad and grandpa to go home so he'd have two less to hover over him while he was getting better. The kids were getting older, and he'd learned that they all were caregivers.

He'd ended up spending a month at home, while his injuries healed. The kids loved having him home. Two weeks later he'd been approved to drive on a limited basis, so he was taking the kids to school and picking them up each day. He was enjoying all the time with the kids because he knew that it wouldn't be much longer, and they'd be teenagers and not want anything to do with Eddie and himself.