A/N: I am posting this at the tail end of Mardi Gras day and wish all of my readers could be here with me to experience Carnival Magic!

And here is the cheat sheet for keeping up with all the gang: Mac is retired and occasional consultant for NOPD lab, Stella still head of NOPD lab. Adopted kids: Zaria 14, Zalea 11 Zavier 8. Surprise bio kid: Holly, 5. Gus is working for NYPD Wellness Unit, Flack is the Borough chief for homicide Manhattan North. Kids: Aiden & Jess 8, Will 18 months. Jo retired but consults for FBI lives in Fairhope AL close to Ellie at Tulane law school. Danny head of NYPD crime lab, Lindsay works for civilian lab. Kids: Lucy 13, Louie 9, Lydia 7, Rueben 4. Sheldon is Chief ME married to Camille a Nurse, their daughter Mikayla 4. Adam is high up in lab "the new Danny", Christopher is an early educator (they are engaged, no kids).


Chapter 5

Carnival Time 2022

Gus curled her lip at her reflection, remarking, "yep, these are still truly unflattering," smoothing the jacket over her hips.

"That's because dress blues are generally cut for men," Lindsay remarked from her spot on the bed, flipping through the hotel's magazine.

"Ew," Lucy remarked, causing both women to look at her with narrowed eyes. "Not Ti Gus, the patriarchy," she finished rolling her eyes.

Stella let out a laugh, "you are raising her right, Monroe. But I also think we need to do something about this," she said, gesturing to Gus' reflection and going to grab the sewing kit from the desk.

"Well it isn't like I can ride in one of the super krewes where they are saluting frontline workers dressed in a potato sack!" Gus admonished, hooking a thumb in the gap at her waistline, briefly thinking maybe she shouldn't have been so focused on losing her baby weight.

"What makes it a super krewe again? I know the krewes are who put on the parades," Camille said from where she was braiding Zaria's hair.

Stella had been so relieved to have both Camille and Ellie there for the weekend, as there was still plenty she had to learn about raising black daughters. "More people, more money," Stella quipped, moving in with the needle and thread to work magic.

"Bigger floats, better throws," Gus added, "which are literally the things they throw at you, usually bead necklaces, but also shoes, coconuts, sunglasses, plungers."

"Plungers?" Camille asked, shaking her head, "it really is a different world down here."

Stella let out a small snort. "On a good day, but they really kick it up for Carnival."

"And who pays for all this again?" Camille asked, thinking it seemed like an awful waste of money that could be spent on plenty of better things.

"Rich white people," Zaria replied, with a mischievous grin. Stella's eyes widened and her cheeks flushed.

Gus smirked, "she isn't wrong. Thus would have cost us a pretty penny if we were trying to ride as normal members. Which is nothing compared to what it costs to be Mardi Gras royalty."

Stella took in the confused looks on Camille and Lucy's faces, supplying, "each krewe picks a royal court fashioned after the real thing. They have big coronation balls where they are crowned, the maids are usually chosen from the debutantes of the season and the royalty is someone well respected among the krewe and the city."

"And Rex, the big daddy of them all, is King of all of New Orleans for a day. Mayor gives him the key and everything, if only symbolically..." Gus trailed off, realizing how bizarre this all sounded.

"So rich white people?" Camille shot back with a hearty laugh.

"Pretty much," Gus sighed, suddenly wanting to change the subject. "How do you think the men are doing?"

Lindsay could sense Gus' discomfort. "Ten kids under 12, what could go wrong?"" she shrugged.

"At least Jo and Ellie are meeting them at the zoo, so they won't be too outnumbered," Gus said, eternally grateful their former colleague had settled close by, unlike Jaime and Cree who had moved across the country. Not that she blamed them, Lovato's star was on the rise in the SFPD, far more than it would have been had she stayed in New York.

"Our zoo at the zoo should be interesting," Lindsay joked, while hoping everyone came back in one piece.


"I wanna see the monkeys," Lydia Messer called out as soon as they cleared the ticket gate.

"You smell like a monkey!" her older brother chided.

"Daddy, Louie is being mean!" Lydia yelled, sniffling, though it was all for show.

Danny grumbled, "I'll drop both of yous off with the apes if you don't behave!" he warned.

"Gers!" Will called out from where he was strapped to Don's chest.

"Gers?" Adam asked, looking at the youngest Flack.

"Tigers, they are his favorite," Don explained, "Gus keeps saying she is going to send him to LSU."

"I don't think I can allow that to happen," Jo retorted, "Roll Tide all the way!" she finished, not shocked when a man in a crimson cap yelled back "Roll Tide."

"Do I even want to know?" Sheldon asked, pushing the zoo's double stroller with his daughter and the youngest Messer in it.

Mac shook his head, Holly gripping tightly at his hand while her older siblings took off with Ellie and the Flack twins toward the flamingos, happy to have the day off school and to be 'the big kids' for once. "I still haven't quite figured it out after almost eight years, Sheldon, I am not sure it is worth your time."

"If we go this way, we can see the tigers on the way to the primates and then end up over at the rhinos and then be back at the hotel for naptime," Christopher said, studying the map and coming up with a schedule in his head, knowing none of them wanted to deal with an epic meltdown in the middle of the zoo.

"Ross, marry this one already, would ya, he's like Marty Poppins over here," Don quipped, slapping Adam on the back.

"We are engaged, Flack," Adam protested, "and not everyone can plan a wedding in eight weeks," he teased.

"Nobody should," Jo agreed with a nod.

"We had waited long enough," Don replied with a knowing smile.

"Ain't that the damn truth," Messer agreed before running after his monkeys.


"You want us to put our children on top of rickety ladders?" Sheldon quipped, as they all stood out in front of a palatial home on St. Charles Avenue.

"Look around, dawlin', everyone has their kids on a ladder, easier to keep track of them that way," Billy replied.

His head swiveled and sure enough, ladders lined the avenue filled with children, specially made with boxes at the top. Even Holly Taylor was perched on one, though Mac was holding on to the ladder until his knuckles turned white.

"You stand behind them and your weight balances everything out, Shelly, I promise, and they are far enough back to be safe!" Gus interjected, pointing to Will and Don as an example.

"Still seems like a lawsuit waiting to happen," Sheldon said, studying the ladder setup carefully.

"Or a crime scene," Adam tacked on with a smirk.

"Can we stop talking about work for five seconds?" Gus begged.

Danny swooped in handing out cups filled with a red concoction. "Yeah, a couple of these babies and you won't even remember whatcha do for a livin'".

Don snickered from above, "you might want to watch those hurricanes, Dan-o".

"Why's that, Flack?" Danny said, gulping down the sweet beverage, wondering how it could be so hot in February.

Gus couldn't help but smirk and parrot, "Yeah, why is that, Flack?" she teased, tugging on the leg of his jeans until he leaned down to give her a quick kiss.

Don flushed slightly, a dozen years later and he still couldn't handle the smell of one. "I'm just sayin', don't say you haven't been warned."

"Nice boa, Adam," Lindsay teased her friend, who was wrapped in a black and silver boa with matching mask.

"Don't knock the power of feathers, Linds," Adam replied, feeling strangely outgoing behind a mask.


"You have taken a million pictures, Shel, why don't you catch some beads?" Camille said to her husband, who was rapidly filling the memory card on his camera.

"It is just that these floats are amazing and it isn't often I get to take pictures of things that are alive, besides you have enough beads for all of us!" Sheldon shot back, pointing to Camille's bead laden neck, so much that you could no longer see her neck.

"It is always the quiet ones who turn out to be the bead whores," Billy laughed from beside them.

"Bead whats?"Aiden Flack asked, his green eyes wide and blinking at everything happening around him.

"Young ears, William Brooks!" Gus admonished before looking down at her son, "ignore him, Aid, it's an antiquated term at best."

"Well I'm not going to call her a bead sex worker, Gussie," Billy teased in a whisper next to ear.

Gus couldn't help but laugh even as she shook her head. "Just go watch your godson for a hot minute so we can take the older kids up front."

It didn't take long for Louie, Aiden, Jess, or Lydia to be covered in beads, ducking plushes, cups and other trinkets. Zalea and Zavier did a great job as natives teaching their visiting cousins how to yell 'hey mister' loud enough that they could probably be heard back home.

Lucy and Zaria were having fun fashioning a jump rope out of broken beads with Ellie, while Holly bossed Ruben and Mikayla around under the watchful eye of Mac. Jo and Stella stood back slightly, taking in the scene with giant matching smiles.

"They got you good, I see," Gus teased as soon as Mac was released from the clutches of one of the members of an all female dance crew who covered him with lipstick marks.

"Yes and thank you for pointing me out to them, Augusta" he said, narrowing his eyes and trying to rub the lipstick off.

"Oh they had already spotted you," Stella chortled with glee, going up to help her husband.


"Mama, up, up!" came a slightly tearful plea from Billy's arms, Will straining to get out of his carrier towards his mother.

"Oh no, little man, what happened?" she asked, taking in his furrow.

"We got kicked off the ladder," Billy explained, pointing to Holly, Ruben and Mikayla racking up stuffed animals from their perch.

Will gave one last sniff into his mother's neck, until she tickled him until his dimple flashed in a smile. "Well let's go fix their wagon," she said, pushing her way up to the next float. "Okay, Will, what do we say?" she said as the float came to a stop in front of them.

"Ister, pease!" shouted at the top of his lungs, his whole body straining with excitement as he waved his arms in the air.

The masked man in front of them broke out in laughter. "Cute kid, you got him trained good," he drawled to Gus.

"Well what good are kids if you can't teach 'em a few tricks?" Gus laughed back.

"Yeah you right! Cute mama too," the man said and motioned from them to come closer. "What is your favorite animal, son?" he asked, leaning down so he was looking Will in the eye.

"Grrrrrrr!" Will said, making a ferocious little face.

"Ah, an LSU fan!" the guy exclaimed.

"Not exactly, he is from New York," Gus explained.

"Long way from home, huh, buddy? Well we can still turn you into an LSU fan. Here ya go, kid!" With that, the man reached down and pulled out an enormous stuffed tiger, one twice the size of Will.

"What do you say?" Gus prodded.

"'Ank 'ou ister!" Will called, clapping his hands.

"You got yourself a charmer there, sugar!" the man said with a wink at Gus.

"Was it you or our son that caught that?" Don asked as Gus and Will made their way back to the ladder to show off their prize.

"Team effort," Gus said with a wink and a smile, handing Will off to him before trying to figure out where to stash the tiger.


"Tell me we are done for tonight!" Camille pleaded, bags overflowing with beads weighing her down.

"We are done for tonight," Gus reassured her.

"Thank god, is it really after midnight?" Sheldon asked.

Billy nodded, "I know, the kids passed out inside before the last parade even started."

"And by kids he means Adam and Chris," Gus joked.

"Them too, don't think they paced themselves," Billy pointed out.

"I don't think any of us did," Lindsay agreed, her voice slightly horse from all the screaming.

"Just what are you going to do with all those shoes, Danny?" Don asked Danny who was carrying half a dozen heavily decorated women's shoes.

"Well seeing as none of them is my size..." he replied with a grin.

"What were you doing out there, Messer?" Gus asked, poking her finger into Danny's side.

"Nothing, I swear," he protested.

Lindsay snickering as he blushed. "Those women sure loved you, cowboy, can't say I blame them." she said, moving in for a kiss.

"They liked Mac too," Stella added, pointing to Mac who was still trying to shove all his throws into bags.

"I think that woman on the last float wanted you to get up there with her, Uncle Mac,!" Gus laughed.

"That story stays here on the route, Gussie," Mac warned.

Gus snorted, "it's Mardi Gras, not Vegas, but my lips are sealed!"

"Hate to break this up, but the cars are pulled up on Prytania, ready to sweep you and all your children back to the hotel. Please do not leave any of them behind, I will sell them." Billy called from the front porch behind them.