1.08 - Best Laid Plans

Last chapter, a few people were mad at Dov and saw his questioning of Vivian as character regression. He was playing Devil's Advocate. He's the sergeant and it's his job to make the rookies ready. He had to be sure Vivian knew herself because it's only going to get harder.

The rookies have been cut loose for almost a month. It's December, some time before Christmas. We'll kick things off with a coffee date that might be a little familiar.

A word of warning. This chapter takes a dark turn and is emotionally painful.


The coffee bistro was cozy, which was a welcome respite from the outside world. Cold. Cold. Cold. Vivian let the heat seep in for a moment, looking around for someone who fit the bill of her blind date. At a side table was a blonde woman about her age, nervously chewing her thumbnail. Bingo.

Vivian shucked her coat. "Hi, Gwen?"

The woman looked up, her face a mixture of relief and surprise. "Yes? Oh! You must be Vivian." Getting to her feet, she held out a hand. "It's nice, nice to meet you. I didn't know what you liked. To drink I mean. So I just... Um. I didn't order anything. For you. Or me. I think they're annoyed."

Rambling. Interesting. "Mostly coffee," Vivian replied. "I'll get some. Do you...?"

"Oh! Pumpkin spice?"

It wasn't a Starbucks, but pretty much every coffee shop had a version of that now. "Sure. Be right back." Vivian left her coat on the chair and went to get the coffees.

The barista eyed her as she came up and made the order. "We had a bet her date wasn't coming."

Smiling a little, Vivian pulled out her wallet. "I was stuck at work."

"She's really nervous. First date?"

"Blind date," admitted Vivian, taking the mugs. "Thanks."

"Good luck," laughed the barista.

That was never heartening. Vivian stuck the polite smile on her face as she handed Gwen the coffee. "Here you go. Pumpkin spice."

To her surprise, Gwen frowned. "You were pretty chatty with the barista."

Vivian blinked and looked back. The barista was chatting up the next customer. "Ooookay," Vivian exhaled. "She's engaged."

"How... How do you know that?" Gwen looked surprised.

"She has a ring on, with a rock. And she was holding her hand like she wanted everyone to notice it."

Gwen stared at her. "I thought Kate was kidding..."

Kate, Lisa's erstwhile companion who still hated being called a girlfriend even though she and Lisa had lived together forever, was Gwen's boss and had set them up. At some point her aunts colluded and decided to help get their virtual niece laid. It was nice and well intentioned, though sometimes it was a bit weird. Like Gwen? Way too high strung. But she was a baby lawyer. Maybe it was to be expected. "Kidding?"

"You are a cop."

Vivian smiled. "I am. I have a badge and everything."

Tilting her head, Gwen smiled. "Do they let you bring things home?"

Warning bells went off in Vivian's head. "Some things," she said carefully and sipped the coffee.

"Do you bring them with you?"

Vivian arched both eyebrows. When she'd had registered for the academy, Gail had made a passing remark about watching out for Badge Bunnies and Holly had turned red. It wasn't like Vivian didn't know that there were hordes of people who found the badge at total turn on, and honestly she wasn't opposed to the idea. If she looked good in uniform, good for her. That Holly found Gail attractive in her uniform was also good.

Some things related to the uniform just were not appealing. And Vivian had a feeling that they were about to be going that way. "Like…?"

Gwen leaned in and said, in a quieter voice. "Handcuffs?"

Yeah. She was going to kill Kate. "Ooookay," she sighed.

"I'm just saying, my apartment's not far from here—"

"No," cut in Vivian wearily. "This date just is not going well."

Gwen looked actually surprised. "We just got here."

Taking another swing of her coffee, Vivian put it down. "We did. But I'm going to finish this festive drink and then I'm going home. Alone."

Shaking her head, Gwen pointed out, "See, I should have known not to take a date with someone blue collar."

"I'm gonna go now," decided Vivian and got up. "Thanks for the coffee."

Bewildered, the baby lawyer said, "But… you paid."

When she got home, Holly was still up watching a game on the West Coast. "Shoot me, Mom," grumbled Vivian and she fell onto the couch, dangling her feet over the arm.

Holly smirked. "Oh dear. That bad?"

"She wanted to play with my handcuffs." There was a stifled snort from her mother. "You're not helping."

"I'm sorry, honey," managed Holly, but Vivian could hear the smile in her voice.

Vivian pulled a pillow over her face. "She also called me blue collar." There was a shift of the feel of the room. Vivian peeked over and saw her mother scowling. "Uh, it's fine, Mom. That's when I walked out."

Grimacing, Holly pulled her phone out and tapped into it. "I'm going to kill Lisa, don't mind me."

"Lisa- oh." The memory hit. Lisa called Gail blue collar. Now it was a joke. Then ... "Mom, it wasn't like that at all."

"It's not okay, Vivian. You have a degree in-"

"Mom!" Vivian had to raise her voice to get Holly to stop typing, and it startled her mother. "Gwen was an idiot. Kate and Lisa didn't set me up on purpose. Not for that. She's just ... Shallow and boring and she babbled in a way that wasn't attractive."

Holly sat still for a while and then put her phone down. "I feel like I need to run to protect you all the time," she muttered.

Hugging the pillow, Vivian tilted her head to regard her mother. "You're a good Mom, Mom."

"Yeah?" She sighed loudly. "Do you remember when you first called us Moms?"

Vivian blinked. "No." She remembered calling them Miss Holly and Miss Gail. She remembered shouting that Holly wasn't her mom. She remembered blaming things on Gail. But she didn't remember when she switched from Misses to names to Moms.

"You just said it one day, before we went to see my parents for Christmas the first time? Weeks after the adoption and you didn't say it, which was fine. We really didn't care. And ... and then you just said Moms. You went upstairs to go to bed and I remember you came back and asked for 'Mom' to read you a story."

That sounded like her. Vivian looked at the smile on Holly's face, a soft smile that reminded her how much she was wanted and loved. "You do really cool voices," admitted Vivian.

Holly laughed. It was a heartwarming laugh that filled Vivian with relief and protection. It was like her smiles and hugs. She just made people feel good. And Holly was phenomenal in a crisis, when anyone had a meltdown she was there and held them. "I learned them from my dad," Holly smiled.

"Grandpa's really good at them too," Vivian agreed.

"He is. But. When you called me Mom? That was the first day my mom knew she'd raised me right."

Blinking, Vivian tried to sort that out. Grandma Lily didn't know she was a good mom, that she'd raised a good kid, until Holly was in her forties? "Well. You have twenty years to go, I guess," she finally said.

Holly's rich laugh prefaced the pillow that hit the side of Vivian's head. Vivian couldn't help but laugh too. At length, Holly sighed. "You sure you're going to be okay, home alone on Christmas?"

"Yep. Elaine and I are making lunch at Traci and Steve's, and then I'm working night so I'll open presents there after shift and sleep."

Shaking her head, Holly picked up the pillow. "Our first Christmas without you. I don't like it."

Vivian looked at her mother thoughtfully. "Mom, honest. I'll be fine. And it's good. For me."

"If you say so." Holly looked like she didn't buy it. Neither was Vivian, but it felt important in some odd way. "Tell you what, help me fix my draft picks will you? I need to kick Lily's ass."


The best thing about winter was knowing she didn't have to go out and patrol in it. Also the lack of night shifts helped keep her sleep patterns normal. Even if she was awake way too early right now. She could feel her wife awake in the bed and pressed her face a little closer.

"I don't miss my uniform," Gail mumbled into Holly's ribs, slinging her arm across her wife's waist.

Her wife laughed softly and put her tablet down with a soft clack. "Good morning."

Gail snuggled close and looked up. "What time is it?"

"Early. Go back to sleep."

Closing her eyes again, Gail sighed. "Too hot?"

"No, just woke up," admitted Holly. But she turned off her light and settled back in bed. That wasn't good. That meant Holly had either had a weird dream or she was feeling bad and didn't want to say anything.

Winter had been harder for Holly with each passing year. When they'd first figured out she was suffering from depression, the doctor had warned Gail that winter would be a bad season. The lack of sunlight might have a direct impact on Holly's moods. Might turned into 'did' pretty quickly. Now every time the daylight hours got shorter, Gail spent a little more time keeping an eye on her wife's emotional temperature.

"Hey," yawned Gail, propping herself up on one arm.

Holly sighed and patted Gail's arm. "I'm fine. Just can't sleep right."

"Mind racing?" There was a long pause before Holly nodded. Gail exhaled and reached up to caress Holly's face. That wasn't new either, though it wasn't seasonal. The medical term was 'racing thoughts' which just meant what it sounded like. Holly's thoughts were racing. There was no cure for Holly's brain running off with itself. Sometimes she just couldn't quiet things and, thus, couldn't sleep.

"Go to sleep," Holly said, a little morosely. She hated keeping Gail up.

Gail nodded and brushed the back of her fingers down the side of Holly's neck. They'd tried meditation. They'd tried medication. They'd tried exercise. None of it had really worked. "Want to do some midnight yoga?"

There was a short moment before Holly started laughing. "Yoga?"

"We haven't tried that yet," said Gail with a smile. "It can't hurt, can it?"

Holly laughed again and reached up to tug at Gail's nightgown. "Stop, just lie down."

Smiling, Gail put her head down on Holly's chest. "We could play video games."

"Gail," groaned Holly, but her voice was still amused. "Sleep."

Reaching up, Gail's fingers found Holly's face and she caressed her wife's cheek and chin. "Sleeping is considerably less fun alone," she noted.

"Yes, but I'm right here."

"Wrong resonance." Her wife laughed softly, so Gail went on. "You don't breathe right and your heartbeat is different."

Holly laughed again. "Oh really?" She shifted slightly and Gail smiled.

There was, of course, another option to zero out Holly's brain and knock her out. It didn't always work. Sometimes it ended with Holly in a paint-the-house mood. Still. It was worth a try. Gail ran her hand down the side of Holly's neck again, fingers trailing a soft touch. "Yeah," she said softly. "Really."

As she caressed Holly's neckline, her wife let go of her shirt. Excellent. Gail propped herself up and kissed the skin above Holly's shirt collar. "You are very persuasive," Holly sighed.

"Persistent." Gail smiled.

Holly laughed softly and nudged Gail up, taking her shirt off. "Better than yoga," she teased.

"You know, it's funny how much you hate yoga and love sports," replied Gail, moving to sit on Holly's hips, straddling her.

"It's not a sport." Holly's grumbling died off as Gail slowly eased her nightgown off. "Which, technically, this isn't either. I mean, I'm certainly not competing with you for who wins. A mutual, mutual win, maybe, but, um," Holly paused and bit her lower lip as her eyes roamed over Gail's naked form. "I'm definitely winning at something in life to deserve this."

There were actually many ways to stop a Stewart in full babble mode. Lily could do it to Brian by raising an eyebrow, a trick that didn't exactly work on Holly though it did on Vivian. According to Olivia, the kissing thing worked though, which was highly amusing. Gail stored that tidbit away to arm any future girlfriend Vivian brought home.

But, in theory, nudity would work on all of them. Gail had mentioned that to Lily one night when they were comparing notes on how similar Holly was to her father. Her mother-in-law had laughed and confessed that she'd done that to Brian on no few occasions. Not that Gail particularly wanted to think about her father-in-law or her daughter looking at naked people right then.

She smiled down at Holly. No, she wanted to look at one naked person, and one alone. "The objective here is to get the mind to calm down." Gail stretched her arms up over her head.

Holly's eyes widened a little, darkening as her pupils took over. "Uh, racing thoughts are ... Thoughts are gonna race when you're naked there. You're really, really, beautiful, Gail." Holly reached out with her hands, rubbing her palms on Gail's bare thighs. Her eyes bounced from Gail's face to the breasts and down to her own hands on Gail's thighs.

Teasing, Gail asked, "How can you even see anything without your glasses?" She reached down and covered Holly's hands with her own, bringing them up to her chest.

Her wife sucked in a breath. "Don't need to, um, don't need to see that to know... God." Holly caught her lower lip between her teeth again. "What was I saying?"

There really was something flattering about her reactions. To know how much Holly wanted her in that moment. To know that, after over twenty years together, Holly was still attracted to her in all the ways she'd been in the first place. They'd had a connection. From that first moment they'd met, there was something then undefinable.

She knew now. She knew that Holly was the answer to so many questions in Gail's life. The solution to the questions everyone else seemed to know. Who she was. What she was. How she was. So much was found there in the brown eyes and the smile to the side and the laughter.

Gail leaned forward, her hands on either side of Holly's head, and kissed her. "I know," she smiled.

And it did work.

Wrangling Holly back into her shirt afterwards, Gail smiled and watched her wife curl up sleepily. "Thank you," mumbled Holly, her hand limply resting on Gail's arm.

"Any time," Gail grinned and rolled over, scooting into the little spoon spot, dragging Holly's arm over her waist.

Within moments, Holly was snoring softly. Gail felt the tendrils of sleep reaching for her and smiled. She wondered if their doctor would congratulate her for finding a new and entertaining way to calm Holly's thoughts, or would she be told off for using sex as an avoidance tactic. Hard to say.

"I still think you should try yoga, though," she told the sleeping Holly. And then Gail yawned and closed her eyes, letting herself fall asleep in her wife's arms, listening to her snore. Feeling her steady, calm, heartbeat.

Resonance. It really was a thing.


Hands on her knees, Vivian hunched over and sucked in air trying to catch her breath. "I hate basketball," she wheezed.

"You okay?" Christian sounded worried, which Vivian didn't think was fair, considering how she was struggling to inhale after his elbow connected sharply with her rib cage.

She flipped him off and straightened. "Fuck, that hurt."

Christian winced. "Sorry."

"You're an asshole," Vivian told him, lifting her shirt to see if it looked like it felt. It was still red.

Leaning in, Christian pointed out, "For someone who rock climbs and jumps around like you do, you're a bit of a wimp."

She backhanded him in his chest. "Ass. Rocks don't decide to leap out and slam you in your ribs." Vivian took a deep breath. Okay. "What's the score?"

"Eight to three, me." They were playing to ten.

Vivian nodded and took the ball, bouncing it a couple times and wincing with every movement. "Foul. My ball."

Of course Christian, who was far better at basketball, won. He always won. The closest Vivian had gotten in basketball was two points behind. She'd kicked his ass at the batting cages, and was better at soccer and anything rock climbing related. They were still arguing about the elbows (plural) to the ribs as they went to Parade, though.

"I'm just saying, it was totally fair."

"Seriously, C? If that's how they teach you sportsmanship in school, then boys' athletics needs a revamp."

"Well that's true," snorted Lara. "You're lucky you're not as pale as your mom."

That was also true. Gail purpled like mad. "No kidding." She sat down with a wince. That hurt. And he'd nailed her there twice.

"Okay, folks," said Dov as he walked in. "This is the last week of school before vacation. There's ice on the road, so I want everyone to do road checks. Help unstick cars. Get involved with the community. You know the drill. Peck, saw that. You're on front desk. Everyone else, assignments are on the board. Protect, serve, keep warm." He rapped the podium and walked back out.

"Well that was brief," laughed Lara. "Have fun in desk, Peck."

"I will have fun keeping nice and warm while you freeze your nipples off."

Lara looked horrified as she read the board. "I'm with Moore?"

"Could be worse. Could be Rich." Vivian patted her shoulder and went to the front desk, settling in. She didn't mind being on desk duty. It was dull, but it was a change from being out in the cold. That had been her last two weeks. Long patrols in the snow. Welfare checks. Traffic stops.

A dull day, on a day when her ribs wanted her to fuck off, was welcome. She knew she'd be fine in a couple days, max, but still. The only downside was that she knew her family would find out shortly. The text from Holly was the one she expected.

What'd you hurt? And when?

Yep. Because she hadn't been hurt when she left the house.

C elbowed me playing basketball because he's a big fat cheater.

Her mother replied with a laughing emoji. Nothing to worry about, nothing to be worried about.

As the wind picked up outside, Vivian decided she was very happy to be stuck inside for a couple days. She also figured out that she was dead wrong by the end of the first day. When no one came in, because of the weather, she spent her hours attempting to coordinate with dispatch for welfare checks, or sitting and watching nothing.

It was mid-nothing on day two that Jenny came in and put down a coffee. "Okay, how the hell do you do this gig and not want to murder people?"

"I'll let you know when I'm not arrested," sighed Vivian. "Is that for me?"

"It is. And it's an apology. I have to take over for you."

Vivian arched her eyebrows and looked Jenny up and down. "Nice boot." The other officer was wearing a removable cast. Vivian quickly got up and ceded her seat.

"Don't try ice skating," muttered Jenny.

"I used to play hockey," Vivian grinned.

Her friend rolled her eyes. "Jesus, you are such a stereotype! Sports, short hair, motorcycle."

The quip came naturally. "Fleece and backpacks too!"

"All you need is a girlfriend, Peck," joked Jenny.

"You just had to go there." Vivian shook her head. The disastrous date with Gwen had included Aunt Lisa telling Kate off about picking bitches for her favorite niece. She adored her auntie Bitch Tits a lot, for many reasons, but Lisa's unflagging support of her life choices was a big reason. It was like she was still trying to make up for the fight Gail and Holly once had. "Who'm I with?"

"Christian." Jenny sighed. "I can't believe they asked me to come back to work with my foot like this."

Vivian shrugged. "We're short staffed. Still." Jenny grumbled acknowledgment and Vivian went back to the locker room to get out her vest. She took a moment to look at the inside. She hadn't yet asked her moms to write on it, but Vivian had written messages to them. The day after she was cut loose, Nick had told her to. It was her vest, not a shared one, and she had to make sure it was hers.

Vivian had chosen not to tell him that Gail's vest still had her message on it, though she noticed Andy had not written something on his. Different ways about things, apparently. Her message was simple: Everything good I learned from Moms.

Neither of her moms had seen that yet. It probably wasn't what Nick had meant, since his just had a love letter to Andy, but it felt right to Vivian. Isn't that what mattered? As she headed back out, Dov was waiting for her. "I'm really sorry to send you out," he sighed.

"Nah, I'll be fine as long as I don't try a lay up."

Dov smiled. "I meant because it's cold."

Making a face, Vivian tugged on her winter hat. "It is cold. But better than how hot summer got. I didn't think I'd ever get the smell of sweat out of my uniform."

"Gail had a weird trick for that."

"Oh god, no. Please. Holly got all scientific on her about it," groaned Vivian.

Pausing, Dov looked thoughtful. Vivian swore she could see the wheels turning in his head. "Ouch," he finally said. "Well. Be safe."

"Excellent advice, sir," she smirked, and went to the garage.

Christian was seated on the hood of 1509. Not Vivian's favorite car, but not the worst. She, like Gail, was convinced that 1504 was cursed. "Hey, Viv. You sure you're okay?"

"Better than Jenny's ankle. How bad is it?"

"Well. She rolled it on our first stop," he smirked. "I'm driving."

Waving a hand to 'whatever' that away, Vivian got in the passenger seat. "Anything interesting?"

Her friend smirked. "We were getting coffee."

Vivian smirked back. "Oh. We are so going to give her shit for that." She and Christian fist bumped. "So how boring is it out there?"

"BAF," sighed Christian. Boring as fuck. "No one wants to do crime. It's too cold."

"Did you ever hear what Oliver said? The boring days are the ones where we know we did our job right."

Christian laughed softly. "Well then we're doing it right."


It was officially too cold, Holly decided. Either it was getting colder and global warming was a lie, or she was getting older and less able to deal with the weather. She did not plan on voicing this thought to her wife, who no doubt would make a joke about getting old. The point was, after all, that it was cold.

"Welcome back, boss," smiled Ruth, her new receptionist/assistant. "You look freezing."

"I should have driven," Holly lamented. She'd walked down the street to her meeting, thinking that getting outside would do her good.

"I'll make you some fresh tea."

Holly exhaled loudly. "You are totally welcome to keep sucking up like that."

Her old front desk person, Katie, had married and moved to Manitoba to be with family. Ruth had been there for half a year, and Holly was thrilled with how she was working out. And not just because of the tea. Holly hung up her coat and stood in front of the heat vent, letting it warm her up.

In no time at all, Ruth came back with fresh tea. "Here you go. Nothing happened while you were out, except an Amber Alert. Rodney pushed it to the front of the queue."

Nodding, Holly sat on her couch. "Good. Do they think it's an abduction?"

"Seven year old went missing from school." Ruth shrugged and pulled up the information on a tablet.

The evidence for them to process was scant. At recess, the kids went outside to have a snowball fight. When it was over, the teachers noticed little Gabe Rodriguez was missing. Rodney had sent a crew over to try and find trace, but in the snow, after a bunch of kids had a fight, the odds were slim. The report was from Andy, which was good. She knew about kids and kidnappings more personally that most.

Holly wondered how Christian felt about that. When Vivian's past had come back to haunt her, it had messed her kid up a little. Christian didn't really have the same kind of support that Vivian did. Hell, he barely had a parent. His father had gone to jail a second time for domestic assault when Christian was eight, and Gail, Dov, and Oliver had made sure he was never going to see the boy again.

That was something heavy to carry. Holly couldn't imagine the weight kids like Christian and Vivian had to bear. Once Gail had mentioned that Chris had been forced to grow up too soon. It was months and months after his death. They'd been sitting outside watching Vivian playing on her new jungle gym. In retrospect, Holly should have seen the fascination with things like parkour.

Sitting side by side, Gail told her about how Chris had wanted to rescue a puppy, and that was the day she learned about his mother. Tina Diaz was crazy, with a bunch of rules. She was always punishing Chris. Once, when he was ten, he spilled a box of spaghetti, and Tina apparently made him stand on a chair for three hours. Her husband, Chris' stepfather, Ryan Miller, had called social services and been kicked out.

Ryan and Tina had both come to Chris's funeral.

It had all left so much pain in Chris, which even Gail had noticed. Her demented upbringing aside, Gail knew that there was some love. The fact that her mother had come back for her, that Elaine had fought for her in the end, gave Gail a sense of comfort and relief.

Chris had died without really feeling that.

Christian was living without it either. The man he thought of as his father was dead before he'd done more than made a good impression on the boy. Though at least Christian had friends like Vivian. And he had people like herself who were there when he needed them.

Pulling herself out of the cloud of memory, Holly read over the case notes. Gabe Rodriguez was the youngest of four, three sisters and him, and their father was divorced. According to the notes, none of them had seen the mother in years. There was already a BOLO out on the mother, just in case.

There was no reason Holly could reason for the mother to kidnap her own son, but then again, you couldn't apply reason to parents. Parents did the most unreasonable things out of love. The older she got, the longer she was a parent, the more what Elaine did made sense. The older she got, the more the things she'd thought of as crazy and selfish were actually selfless. Still crazy, though. Like how Gail barely slept when Vivian had gone out to Montréal for a long weekend, or how the cop had panicked every time there was a potential sleepover or camp out.

Holly trusted their kid to test her limits and ask for help when she needed it. Gail did too, but she also expected the bullheadedness of a child and young adult out of her. Because they'd raised a child who came to them as a miniature adult into a thinking person. A good person. A person who could be reckless and a bit of a thrill seeker.

Maybe Vivian liked doing the athletic dangerous things because of her self-imposed limitation. That had been Holly's theory for years, that it was the safest outlet Vivian could find. And now her kid was a cop, out there protecting other kids from being her. Because that was the kind of person she was. That was the person they'd raised her to be.

"Ruth, if they call in needing a pathologist, I'll take it."

Children were hard on everyone. It didn't seem fair to fob it off on other people. It had taken Holly years to be comfortable doing the autopsy of a child. After they adopted Vivian, it had started to get easier for much the same reason as why she did this job in the first place. Holly could make the lives of the parents easier, give them closure and peace. And that was what she, as a mother, would want.


At least she knew the area from her somewhat covert scouting. Vivian sighed and carefully walked out on the snowbank.

"If you fall, Viv, I'm gonna tease you forever."

Vivian looked back at Christian. "I won't fall," she told him. "Someone's been here."

"You can't know that, Peck." Christian was sounding dismissive. He always called her Peck when he was annoyed by her. "You're not Bear Grylls." She paused at the top of the snowbank and looked around. "You know, this is miles from his school."

She glanced back. "Wait in the car, if you want," she bit off at him. Vivian rubbed her hands together and took a deep breath. She could feel the slight twinge from where C had elbowed her. Holly had given it a good look and informed her she'd just had a winner of a bruise.

Down the hill below her, Christian grumbled.

Vivian stared at the snow. She had a working theory. It really wasn't much of a theory. In fact, it was a really simple theory. Christian had been kidnapped as a toddler by his biological father, whom he'd known as his soccer coach. Kids went off with people they trusted. Kids weren't stupid. They were just naive. So who would be able to convince a kid to go with them someplace? To ditch school.

They'd ruled out the father, they were hunting down the mother, the school was being cleared. So what was left? She'd floated the idea off Dov when they'd headed out for patrol that morning. Why not check the things the kid did outside of school.

Of course, the baseball field was under an absurd amount of snow for this time of year. "Stupid global warming," she grumbled.

"Shouldn't it be, I dunno, warmer?" Christian went on. "Besides, we stopped that years ago. Woo, science, right?"

Vivian sighed. "Actually global warming caused higher than predicted evaporation, increasing at a rate that's a little more logarithmic than exponential. But ... after all the years of unchecked behavior, the increased evaporation caused the drought in California and Texas, which were resolved by catastrophic downpours and El Niño type weather patterns." She paused and looked down at her confused partner.

"What the hell?"

She shook her head and dumbed it down. "More evaporation puts more water in the air which makes more rain and more snow."

Christian snorted. "You are such a nerd."

"You've met my mom," smiled Vivian, climbing down her snowbank.

"And yet you're not in science."

"Too depressing." She shook snow off her pant leg. The real answer was more complex and fraught with drama. Even though she knew Christian would understand, especially since it was similar to his own.

As she walked back to their cruiser, Christian asked, "Why aren't you in science?"

"I told you, it's depressing. Dead people all day." She shook her head,

"There's other science. You used to be into Mythbusters kinda stuff."

Admittedly she'd known Christian for fifteen years or so, but it was easy to forget people knew that about her. "That was Leo's fault," she said and smiled. "He loved programming that crap for me."

Her cousin Leo was into playing with computers. It was his job now, of course, but he loved it deeply. When she'd been a pre-teen, he'd helped her build a balloon that was launched into the edge of space. Any time she needed computer help, he'd been there. And now he was getting ready to move to Texas in the summer and start a new business doing something she didn't understand at all.

"I remember when you told me about the time Sue took you to the bomb range," he remarked, getting into the car.

"Oh that. Yeah, blowing things up is still cool," Vivian laughed. She blew on her hands. "C... Can I ask a question?"

"Sure." He started the car and cranked up the heat.

Absently, Vivian turned it back down, remembering the words of the service guys, not to run it too hard. "Why did you go with Gene?"

Her partner froze, reaching to turn the heat back up. "What?"

"Gene. Mackenzie. The, uh, the man-"

"I know who he is," said Christian acidly, putting the car into gear. "Why the hell are you asking about him?"

Vivian leaned back, weighing her options. Would it be worse to say it outright or not? "Because I only know a couple people who were kidnapped. And Traci and Gail aren't the same."

The other officer stared down the road. "Why would you say his name?" Christian's knuckles were white on the steering wheel.

"C..." She swallowed. "Why does a kid go with a grownup? They go with people they trust."

He glanced at her. "And what, you think I remember what it was like to be two and kidnapped? I have some deep insight into why kids run off with strange adults?"

Damn it, he always took things to the worst end. "No," she grimaced. "I'm ... I'm telling you my thoughts. If the mom didn't take him, and the teachers didn't, maybe a coach. A trusted adult. And I can guess all I want, but you're the one who would actually know."

The other cop fumed silently as he drove. "You suck with people, V."

"Don't call me that," she frowned.

"You can't just say that and expect me to think in my right mind." He waved a hand by the side of his head. "God. You're an idiot."

"Sorry." She leaned back against the seat and looked out the window as they drove slowly.

Finally Christian spoke, "You're buying lunch."

She smiled but didn't turn to look. "Fine. But not burgers."

They ended up at a burger joint anyway, for lack of anything else in the area that was open. While Christian ordered, holding the tomatoes for Vivian, she walked around from store to store flashing the photo of the missing kid. Her last stop was a drug store.

"Officer! You look like you've had a day." The man grinned broadly.

It was always easier to be friendly to people in uniform. The fears Vivian had of them knowing her went away, because they just wanted to see there was a person behind the badge. Nothing more. "Been a weird week. Actually... Are you the pharmacist?"

"And owner. I'm one of the last mom and pop shops out here," he sighed.

She pulled the photo out. "We're looking for this boy. He went missing from school."

Putting on a pair of reading glasses that looked like Gail's, the man frowned. "I'm sorry, I don't know him."

"He might have come in a sports outfit? He plays baseball at the park."

"Wrong season... Oh the Eagles? I sponsor them!" He reached around and tapped the photos on the wall. "My son played. 2020. That was a good year. They came in third in the city. You play?" He looked her up and down. "You look athletic."

Vivian smiled. "Soccer. And hockey. My mom's a hockey fanatic," she shrugged and winced. Damn it.

The owner shook his head. "And hurt. What's that from? This case?"

"Oh, no, I caught an elbow playing one-on-one with my friend. He's a tank."

With an audible tsk, the owner walked around back and collected a bottle and a tube. "These. Rub this on, it'll help now. The pills are just naproxen."

"Those I've got," she admitted and pulled the pill bottle out from her jacket. Holly had pressed the bottle on her the minute she got home. Fishing out her wallet, she paid for the rub, though. Holly had a lot for muscle aches, her normal ailment from sports. Gail rarely got banged up anymore, and when she did it was all ice and heating pads anyway. The Salonpas hadn't helped much at all, though maybe this would.

"Good. Rub that in, it'll help." He hesitated. "Can I see the photo again?"

"Sure." Vivian handed it over and watch him match it up to the wall. He was comparing the school photo to the ones from the team. The Eagles. Huh. Vivian took her phone out and made a note to check if the coach was cleared. But something else stuck in her head, nibbling the edges of a memory.

"No, I'm sorry, I wish I knew this year's team better," sighed the owner at length, handing the photo back.

"It's alright, sir. I really appreciate you looking. If you remember anything, would you please call?" She handed over the black and white photo with the number printed up.

Nodding, he stuck the photo to the register. "Of course. I just think, if it was my boy, I'd be a lunatic."

The father really had been, mused Vivian. "My parents would too," she agreed. Holly would probably be sitting on Gail, making her wait, while Gail ranted that she wasn't just any other parent. It was probably for the best that Vivian had waited until adulthood to start stressing her moms out. Vivian looked around the store as she got ready to leave. "It's a cool building."

"Thank you. My great-grandfather worked here too." The man smiled. "Of course, it was a church then."

Church. Eagles. Vivian fought to keep her voice calm and even. "Oh? It doesn't look like one."

"It was a secret Catholic Church. Started in the 1700s around the Quebec Act," he shrugged. "It's a historical landmark now."

Spider sense tingling! Vivian widened her eyes. "Really? I didn't know there were any still left in Toronto!" She tried to smile like Chloe always told her made people smile back.

It worked. The owner grinned. "You're interested? Oh, wait, I know!" Reaching under the till, he pulled out a pamphlet. "Here. The history. I wrote it up when I was converting it. I had to, since I was changing it from a church, you see. We needed to prove it would keep its landmark status." The owner babbled on a little and Vivian skimmed the pamphlet.

This building was built by Richard Reynolds in the late 1800s, after the original was burnt down multiple times during the Orange Order's rise to influence. The church's founders had run away from persecution in Quebec but hadn't found Toronto to be the bastion of safety they'd hoped for. The last priest, Nathan Zanaro, had closed up following a gang shooting during Sunday Mass, back when Gail had been a rookie with a tie.

Zanaro.

Holy fuck.

"This," said Vivian slowly, "This is amazing. Can I keep this?"

"Sure," beamed the owner. "There's a website too."

She flipped the pamphlet over and grinned at the URL there. "Awesome. You've made my day, sir."


Daughter or not, Gail did not step in when the detective running the kidnapping laid into Vivian until it got personal. "You're not working a gang case! I don't care who your mommy is, but you're looking for a lost kid! Wasting time like this is why kids end up dead."

Gail sighed. She could see the rare anger coloring Vivian's neck. "Chloe," she muttered to the woman beside her.

"Yeah, I'm on it," nodded the head of UC ops. "Hey, Archer? She's got it. Give it a rest." Chloe smiled her sweet, innocent, grin and put a hand on Vivian's shoulder.

The man scowled. "She thinks she can get away with it because of that name." He stabbed a finger at Vivian, not touching her, but still emphasizing the name tag.

Vivian's posture changed. That had happened a few times in Gail's experience, but Vivian did have her triggers. Men still tended to bother her and when they got in her face like that, it upped Vivian's ire. Badly.

And Gail had to stand back and do nothing. Because this was Viv's life, and her career and her future. She had to figure out how she was going to work with people like Archer.

"I didn't," snapped Vivian. "Sir." Well at least she remembered that. "I was asking around and I found one of the baseball sponsors."

"And got distracted by a case that isn't any of your damn business! Find the kid! That's your job, rookie!" Archer stabbed with his finger again, this time thudding it on Vivian's vest. "You're not a detective, and you won't be one if you keep this shit up. Do you understand?" When Vivian nodded, he added, "Just because you're a damn Peck, don't think you can get away with things. Okay? You're nothing but a rookie."

Gail expected her kid to lash out. Instead, Vivian did what Gail still tended to do. She sucked it back in. Even from this far away, Gail could see the anger making her daughter practically vibrate. She just swallowed everything and bit out, "Yes, sir."

It was Chloe who snapped. "Hey! Archer!" Grabbing the detective's hand, Chloe pulled it away. "Take a walk." He opened his mouth and Chloe lowered her voice. "That's an order."

There was a moment of tension and Archer turned and stalked off. Vivian was still shaking with suppressed... Well. Anger probably. "Thank you, ma'am," Viv muttered, barely audible from the gallery.

"He has a point," Chloe said more gently. "Go wash your face, get back out there and find the kid. That's what we need you to do, Peck." Somehow the way Chloe said the name made it sound like less of an insult.

Nodding, Vivian walked off towards the locker room. Gail sighed and leaned on the railing. "Thanks, Chloe," she said as soon as the detective rejoined her.

"Does he hate Pecks or something?"

"Not last I heard." Gail shrugged. "Doesn't mean anything, though. You know that."

Chloe scowled. The tiny thing had heard people swear Gail only had rank because she was a Peck. It had been one of the few times Gail had seen Chloe rip into someone at the Penny. "Archer's an ass. Why is he in charge of this case?"

"Missing Persons isn't usually my purview unless it's something big," shrugged Gail. "Besides, he's bucking for a promotion. If this ends badly, it's his last real shot."

"Not a good reason for him to act like an ass to an over eager rook."

Gail smiled. "God, that kid," she laughed under her breath. "Her brain is a strange place."

The tiny detective laughed back. "Puh-lease. Pot? Kettle." Then she asked, "What did she find?"

"A lead on the Rivers stuff. She found a drug store that was a church, and they sponsor a little league team called the Eagles."

Chloe's eyes went wide. "Holy crow."

"I know, right? If she'd actually been assigned to work on it, she'd be golden." Gail shook her head. Her staffers were running the information now. "Do you have anyone over in the Don River area? Upper?"

The red-haired woman looked thoughtful. "A couple CIs. What do you need?"

"I need someone to see how deep it goes. And I have a new player. The Reynolds family."

Nodding, Chloe straightened up. "I'll see what I can get you."

Gail nodded back. She wanted to ask if Dov was going to take the promotion to Inspector and move to the big building, but it was hard to voice that. Things were starting to change and move on. They weren't kids anymore, after all, and having children they'd know as toddlers be the rookies was ... Well it was horrifying.

Guilt and fear. Every single day Gail worried she'd not prepared Vivian enough for the job. She worried she hadn't given her daughter the tools to deal with these things. There was built in pain still in that child. Darkness. Things Gail was used to shouldering on her own.

Cases with kids always made Gail doubt her parenting skills more. There were some cases, back when Vivian had been small, that Gail wanted nothing more than to spend her night on the couch with Holly on one side and Vivian on the other, holding her family close. Then there were the days like today that gave Gail a knife-in-the-gut stab of agony. She knew, she felt in her bones, that this case was not going to end well.

"This is why I don't work in children's crimes," Gail muttered as she got back to her office.

"Hear here," replied John, standing at her computer whiteboard.

"Why are you in my office?"

He shook a pamphlet. "Your child seems to have inherited your mother's luck. Did you see this?"

"No, I was busy watching her get reamed out by Archer. I got the overview. Church. Eagles."

"You should read this."

Gail took the pamphlet and started to read. "Are you fucking joking?"

John looked over his shoulder. "I know, right?" He grinned. "It's like someone filled in Mad Libs for us."

Smiling, Gail sat at her desk and fired up her computer. "I bet half the rookies from the last four years don't know what Mad Libs are, John."

He scowled. "Fuck you, boss." He circled more places on the map. "Lawson and Co. Used to be and Sons, but the current owner is a woman. Jacqueline. Used to be construction. Turned into money stuff after the crash."

"Seems backwards," muttered Gail, putting that in. "You're giving them the third territory?"

"I am." He tapped it. "Because Jackie Reynolds' grandmother was Gloria Zanaro."

Gail threw her hands up and laughed. "How the hell did we miss that?"

"Came at it the wrong way. We were trying to find the lost kids. I started assuming one of the married ins had to be a Z and boom." He grinned ear to ear. "Why was Archer yelling at her? Kid has a knack for finding shit."

Looking up from the computer, Gail sighed. "She's supposed to be finding that missing kid, John."

Her sergeant nodded, cringing a little. "Bad feel," he agreed. "This is not a happy ending."

That was part of why Gail liked him so. He wasn't afraid to speak from his gut. "Yeah," she agreed.

It was a really bad feel.


Unlike her peers, Vivian was familiar with death in a different way. She'd seen it, smelled it, felt it in her bones. She'd cried over graves, glared over others, and held her mother's hand when Holly had to identify the body of her aunt who died suddenly up in Barrie. She'd been to funerals and unveilings and she knew the weird pressure a dead body put on the soul.

She'd never felt it over a child before and she hoped it would be a very long time before she did again.

"Is he…" Lara hadn't come any closer from the trail.

"Yeah." Vivian pulled her glove off and touched her radio. "Dispatch, 4727, we found Gabe Rodriguez. 10-45."

Her radio crackled. "4247, confirm 10-45."

"Dispatch, confirmed." She relayed their location and sat back on her heels. "I'm sorry, kid," she said to the body.

The crunch of a footstep in snow alerted her to Lara finally braving the situation. "Is it easier? Saying 10-45?"

Vivian looked up. "Easier than saying he's dead? I don't know." She slowly stood up, wincing as her rib protested. Three days and it still hurt. The muscle rub was helping. "The odds are against finding anyone at all, the longer it takes."

Shuddering, Lara hunched in her jacket as if that was why she felt cold. "I'm not going into juvenile crimes."

"Skip Missing Persons too," suggested Vivian. The cold was weirdly helping her calm down. Her entire body felt too hot, just seeing the dead boy. She'd been upset since being (rightly) called out for getting distracted by the case she wasn't even working on.

At home last night, Gail had said she understood both sides, but Vivian was not and would not be assigned to the case. It wasn't fair to ask her mom to mediate the issue, and Vivian knew it. The problem was one of her own creation, and Gail was simply letting her work it out. Which was beyond fair. If she'd asked, Gail and Holly would both offer advice and help.

The fix was really simple. Do her job, don't get distracted. It wasn't Vivian's fault she'd walked into that, though. She'd been trying to do the right thing, flash the photo around. Okay maybe she'd suggested they try the little league area because it was the Don River and she had a bug up her ass about it.

Stupid Archer. She didn't want to be a detective either. That was kind of why she hadn't stuck with the science stuff Holly loved. Solving puzzles like that with people was just not interesting. She liked patrol. It was fun and different and she got to see things in a new way. She got to be there to help people on their worst days and try to make them better.

Except today. Today she was going to be the person who had to deliver the worst news.

Lara cleared her throat. "Do we have to tell the parents?"

"Not first. Det. Archer will do that. But they may want to talk to us."

Hunching more into her jacket, Lara shook her head. "I'm never having kids."

"There are worse things." Vivian shoved her hands in her pockets to warm them up. Like leaving the kids abandoned. At least now, as an adult, she understood why people died. The memory and understanding of why her parents were dead had taken years to come to terms with.

Actually she was pretty sure she hadn't yet. Not totally.

What she did understand was that being left behind was hard. There was an emptiness to things, a hollowness that never really filled. Not even with Holly and Gail did it heal itself, not for her. She loved her moms and they loved her, but she would probably always feel a hole in her heart from before, just like Gail still felt one from her own father. But, as Gail had told her once, when the scars stuck around, it was best to put them to good use.

Vivian was still contemplating that when their backup showed up. She told Duncan how they'd found the body and then repeated the story for Archer. They'd followed the leads from where someone had reported seeing the boy while an adult bought clothes. They'd checked various yards of abandoned houses in the area. They'd knocked on the doors of occupied houses.

Finally they found him when a ten year old boy asked if his friend wanted to see a dead body, and his friend flagged down their car. The boys were with Andy and their parents, quiet and a little scared. Vivian couldn't blame them at all. The parents were a little more shell shocked than the kids. It wasn't real yet for them.

It became real when Holly showed up. "Dude, your mom..." Lara elbowed her.

Her mother, Dr. Holly Stewart, was bundled in a warm, puffy, jacket. It was the one Gail had bought for her last year when Holly had complained she was too old to be cold. The hat was one of Gail's old patrol watch caps. Sorrel snow boots, tied up snug, crunched the snow as Holly walked to the crime scene tape. After conferring with the techs, Holly turned to the two rookies. "Which one of you examined the body?"

Raising her hand, Vivian walked closer and Lara followed. "Checked his pulse on his neck, ma'am."

Once Lara had asked if it was weird calling her mothers 'ma'am' all the time. The truth was that it was not. Her moms, in uniform and at work, were her superiors. There was no question they got the titles they deserved. In fact, it was a relief to call them that.

"Don't worry, you didn't pull a Gerald," offered Holly, the smile faint and distant. "Rigor set in a while ago. Did you see any other footprints?"

They both shook their heads. "We checked all the way back to the tree line," explained Lara.

"Last snow was... This morning," mused Holly, looking at the child. "He's not covered." With a sigh, Holly turned back to the rookies. "Did you give your statements?" They nodded silently. "Good. Meet us back at the lab."

It wasn't until they were at their cruiser that Lara dared ask. "Is she going to make us watch the autopsy?"

Make was the wrong word. It wasn't punishment. It was a lesson. It was a hurdle they had to pass. "She's going to do the autopsy." Vivian sat down and buckled in. "You know why."

"Doesn't mean I like it."

"No one likes it." But this was something they had to get used to.

Lara sighed as Vivian pulled out and started down the road. "Do you think it ever gets easier?"

"Not kids, no." This was the kind of case where Holly would be quiet when she got home. When Vivian had been younger, and not quite understood what was going on, Holly would come home and sit and watch Vivian. The worse days she'd look like she wanted to hug Vivian every ten minutes, and usually would be holding herself back from that because Holly knew Vivian wasn't a hugger. The worst of all, though, were the days that Holly could barely stand to look at her.

As she'd gotten older, Vivian came to see those days for what they were. The bad ones were when a child died. The worse were abuse or neglect, like what she had survived, and as a teen Vivian would hug Holly close on those days. The worst though... That thank god had never happened to her, not at her birth parents hands nor in foster homes, but it wasn't uncommon enough.

Lara broke into her thoughts. "Who's Gerald?"

Holding back a laugh, Vivian shook her head. "Someone who thought a guy was dead when he wasn't." It was a kindness to protect Duncan's identity. He'd grown up a lot, after all. It also wasn't funny at all that day. Today was not a day for laughter, even if the morbidity of it all did make her find the absurdity in life.

As Gail often liked to point out, she came that way. The dark humor and the inappropriate laughter was something Vivian had always had. For the first time, though, this autopsy knocked it out of her. Now she really understood why her parents had those days they were just wiped clean of emotion. They had to shut down so much of themselves just to deal with the horror of what they'd seen.

She beat her parents home that night and went to her bedroom, propping her feet on the headboard. It was a retreat. But she needed the quiet and the peace just then. She needed a break to deal with what seemed to be the accidental death of a kidnapped child.

Allergic reaction. Death. Severe anaphylaxis. What a hell of a way to go. They were still waiting on the labs to find out exactly what had killed the boy, but Holly showed them what the signs were for the allergy. There were lesions and discolorations in the boy's throat, indicating it had been ingested. Probably the kidnapper gave him something mundane, like a pb&j sandwich.

The floorboard outside her room creaked. Gail never managed to avoid that one. "Hey, kid," said Gail. "Your mom's on her way home."

"She okay?"

"Eh. She asked how you were."

Vivian leaned her head back to look at Gail. "I love you, Mom."

Blinking, Gail walked in and sat on the bed. "Okay?"

"You and Mom. I just feel really lucky."

Gail made an aha noise and leaned on Vivian's legs. "I feel that way too," she admitted.

Vivian sighed. "It won't get easier, will it?"

"It will," mused Gail. "Weirdly, it got easier when we had you. Holly says it's because we found out what we could lose and it makes it more ... Understanding. We get how important it is, and we'd want that with you."

"I'm not having kids any time soon," muttered Vivian.

"Not with the kinda dates you're going on, kiddo," Gail agreed. She patted Vivian's leg. "You need some time to process or you want to come downstairs and fine something to shut up the voices in your head with?"

"You mean cooking or video games, huh?"

"Shooting range? If you really want to play softball, I can do that."

For a moment, Vivian thought about taking her up on it. And then she thought about her other mother. "Cooking. Mom will want to stay home." Vivian got up and pushed her hair back. "Think Mom would cut my hair?"

"No," smile Gail. "That was a one time thing."

"Probably best. You had the stupidest bangs."

Gail looked affronted but laughed as she followed Vivian out into the hallway.


"I just feel bad going out to a concert in the middle of a case," sighed Holly, threading an earring through her ear.

"It's always the middle of a case." Gail was looking at her face in the mirror over her sink, fixing her eye makeup. "It's not my case. And it's not yours anymore." Holly frowned and put in her other earring. "Stop frowning, Holly, you'll get a wrinkle." Reaching over, Gail ran her thumb over the crease between Holly's eyebrows.

She leaned into Gail and let her wife put a necklace around her. "I wish I'd found something useful."

"Besides cause of death?" Gail kissed her neck. "You helped more than anyone else." Hands wrapped around her waist. "I need to relax. I'd like to listen to beautiful music with my beautiful wife in a beautiful place."

It sounded nice. And a night listening to music with Gail usually relaxed her too. "You're right." She covered Gail's hands with her own. "You're right," repeated Holly. She patted the hands and Gail let go. "You are right."

"Come on, plus one. We need a date night. The kid is working tonight. Which means ..." Gail trailed off and put in her earrings and fixed her lipstick.

Holly rolled her eyes but put in her contacts and admired Gail as she swung a winter wrap around her shoulders. "Can we skip to that part?"

The groan from the doorway to their bedroom reminded Holly that Vivian had not left for the night shift yet. "You are so annoying, Moms." Her daughter was in jeans and a sweater, holding her jacket.

"You want to borrow my car?" Holly started down the stairs. "I worry about you driving that bike in winter."

"I'm fine, Mom," promised Vivian. "Go have fun with Mom and look at pretty things."

"Listen to pretty things," corrected Gail, ruffling Vivian's hair. "Go make the world safer, Officer Peck." Vivian's face lit up as she went to the kitchen for some coffee.

Holly smiled and pulled on her coat. "You always know what to say to make her smile," she told Gail quietly.

Her wife glanced at their daughter. "It's easy at this point. God help me if she asks us to help her with her dates."

"Easy now, Peck." Holly shook her head and opened the garage door. "Be safe, Viv."

"It's just night patrol, Mom. In winter. Mom, tell her how boring winter is."

Gail just smiled. "Watch your ribs, sweetheart." Hustling into the car, Gail rubbed her arms. "Why didn't we insulate the garage?"

"You could put on a jacket," teased Holly as Gail started her car.

"It's warm in the car. It's warm at the concert. I'm paying for valet parking. When will I be cold?"

"Waiting on the car," she smiled at her wife. "I'm the one with pants. And a coat."

"And you will happily wrap that wool coat around me to cuddle me and keep me warm."

Damn it, Gail was right about that, too.

It did take until halfway through the first part of the concert for the worrying about cases and children on patrol to stop. At that point, the music and company eased the doubts out of Holly's mind. She'd never been one for classical music before Gail, preferring the loud, thumping, pounding rock that got your blood moving and heart racing.

After twenty-one years with Gail, nineteen as her wife, Holly had come to appreciate the wash of calm that came from a concert like this. The artistry of the entire affair, from the work put in to looking beautiful down to the quiet moment when a solo violinist drew out a long, pure, note from a piece of wood and bone and metal, was soul restoring. It reminded her that, among all the pain and loss, there was wonder and perfection in more than the tiny bubble of life created for oneself.

Hope.

Peace.

Wonderment.

All the things Holly had carried with her as a child, the curious nature that drove her to poke at dead bodies, came from those moments and feelings. The music played and the feelings came back, dancing around her, reminding her of who she was and what she was. No fear. No doubt. Just Holly.

She squeezed Gail's knee and leaned in to her shoulder, smiling. Gail smiled back and signed slowly, asking if Holly felt better. Bobbing her hand to sign a yes, Holly snuggled closer and Gail's arm wrapped around her shoulders.

At intermission, Holly sipped a glass of white wine and watched Gail talk to a young girl at her first grownup concert. The child was struggling to understand everything about the music and why the adults were so fascinated. And Gail explained the meaning and the story. The explanation got animated as Gail gestured about the drums and the woodwinds, her hands swooping around.

"Your friend is very excited about the music," said a young woman, not too much older than Vivian.

"My wife," corrected Holly. "She loves this stuff. She can make anyone interested."

The woman blushed. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have assumed... My daughter," she gestured at the child was was eagerly asking Gail a question. "Everyone says I should have taken her to Peter and the Wolf. They explain it to them."

Holly shook her head. "Oh that's so boring, though. Kids understand complicated stories. They follow along the basic simplicity, and as they get older they start to see the layers behind it all. The music grows with them."

"You're making me feel like a genius parent," laughed the woman.

"Don't worry, we all feel like we're guessing," Holly said conspiratorially. "Our daughter is almost 24 and we still feel like we have no idea what we're doing."

"Twenty-four? Is she here?"

"No, she's at work. And a little annoyed at her schedule. She loves this stuff too."

"How old was she when you started bringing her?"

"Eight, but we played a lot of it at home beforehand." Gail wanted to bring Vivian earlier, but with everything else that had happened, they waited until she was a little more mature. None of that was a stranger's business.

The lights flickered and the girl pointed at them, asking something of Gail. Gail nodded and gestured over to Holly. They both walked over, the girl excitedly telling her mother about how there was a cool story in the music and did she know? The mother took her hand. "Say thank you, sweetie." And then to prove the point, she smiled at Holly. "Thank you."

The girl bobbled her head. "Thank you! That was cool!"

Gail smirked at Holly. "Kids think I'm cool."

"You're 50 going on 10," teased Holly, kissing Gail's cheek. "Thank you for this."

"The music? Always." Gail threaded her fingers through Holly's and gently tugged her towards their seats.

"The music. The break. The house. The kid. The marriage. The haircut."

That last one made Gail erupt in a brief moment of laughter. "You just gave me a haircut you think is sexy on women."

Holly beamed. "I did. I do. And you do look incredibly divine." The hair was swept into gentle curls that had taken Gail an hour to set properly. Her makeup was subtle and yet striking. The dress hugged every curve. Even now, at 50, Gail's body refused to succumb to her appalling dietary habits. Gail claimed it was the yoga.

"You're one to talk," smiled Gail. "I've never met anyone who makes pants look that inspiring."

Smiling, Holly leaned against Gail's shoulder and looked down at the musicians. She didn't have to reply to Gail's comment. Even in the noise of the audience before the performance, even in the cacophony of the music, and even in those moments of silence in between, Holly knew that she was happy to be there with Gail. And she knew Gail was happy to be there with her.


It was not their first time on the night shift by far, but it still wasn't something Vivian was fond of. The night shift felt weird. Maybe it was because she'd finally gotten a finger on the pulse of the city in daylight, but it was a different beast at night. The rhythm was off.

"You're lost in thought," remarked Lara, sitting in the passenger seat of their cruiser.

"I don't like the night shift." Vivian frowned and slowed at the light.

Her partner nodded. "It feels different, right? Like... When you were a kid, and things were scarier at night?"

Vivian gripped the wheel and sighed. It was normal for kids to be afraid of the dark? She had been for years, but so had Gail. "Yeah," she muttered.

"I had a nightlight until I was sixteen." Lara shook her head. "I know, it's totally childish, right?"

Glancing over, Vivian smiled a little. "I was ten. I get it." There. That was okay to talk about.

"Whoa!" Lara laughed. "Did Peck just tell me something personal? Alert the news! Hashtag princesspeck!"

Vivian slapped Lara's arm and grinned. "Shut up." She checked the traffic before turning. "You're such a bitch. Why do I tell you anything?"

"Better than thinking about this kid…" Lara slouched in the seat. "I can't sleep. I mean, what kind of cold-hearted son of a bitch does that?"

Tiling her head, Vivian wondered what to say. She hadn't slept any differently than usual. But. She wondered what Gabe's sisters felt right now. Did they miss their baby brother? Did they wonder why him and not them? That was one of the questions she'd never get answered.

And that told her what to say to Lara. "At the end of the day, we can give them some answers. Maybe not all of them, maybe not everything, but ... If they can have some closure, it's the best we can do."

Her partner didn't say anything after that, not for a long time. Lara was quiet and looked out the window. Finally, as they pulled up to an all night coffee shop, she sighed. "Okay. Closure. We can do that. We have a dead kid and no trace."

"Nothing out of the ordinary," corrected Vivian. Holly had been very precise about that. "The problem with the trace is that it was all from places he normally went. His brothers had the same kind of stuff, school and home."

"Which means," Lara looked enlightened. "Whoever took him was someone he knew and someone he was around often!"

Vivian nodded. That's what she'd heard the Ds saying. "Except they checked out all the neighbors, the mom, and even the sports team coaches."

"Yeah, why did they get all up in your face about that one?"

Making a face, Vivian admitted, "It's the other case. The one with the drugs and the gangs? I can't get it out of my head."

Lara seemed to understand. "You think it's related?"

"No, just... You know, streams that cross and all that." She popped her door. "Come on, I need some java juice to keep going." Locking the car, they headed inside. Even the brief jaunt outside was bracing.

The seedy late night/early morning crowd grew even more silent and insular as two cops walked in. Vivian had to admit there was a little thrill of power when you could do that to a room. She knew her mother reveled in it. She knew Dov was a bit addicted to it. Hell, even Andy the idealist McNally enjoyed it. That was some of what went into a cop. You had to be a little messed up to want this gig.

Lara ordered their coffees while Vivian looked around. Even for a mostly hipster coffee shop, the clientele at this hour was the sort of person most people's parents told them to stay away from. Not her parents. Gail had taught her to identify the people based on subtle or not so subtle cues: a biker, a probably homeless guy, a drug dealer... A familiar gang-member-slash-dealer.

"Hey, Jordan," smiled Vivian, sitting down at the table. "Long time no see. Keeping out of trouble?"

Jordan Lewis was her mother's CI. Technically Vivian only knew her because the woman had been picked up for dealing once when she'd been visiting the station. Back then, at thirteen, she'd been attached to Gail's hip and not allowed to wander about. When Jordan had been tossed in lockup and Gail had to go collect her, Vivian got her first look at the cells and the skel her mother relied on.

Looking at Vivian for a long moment, Jordan's eyes landed on the name tag and she laughed. "Damn. Didn't expect that. Probably shoulda."

"Eh, it surprised my Mom too." Vivian grinned.

Jordan frowned. "Yeah, you know you don't look like her."

"Not the first time I've heard that." Vivian shrugged.

That got her a familiar look, but not the one of sympathy and 'you poor thing.' It was the look that someone else who'd been in the system shared with a fellow survivor. "How long?"

"Half a year. Drop in the bucket."

"Yeah, but you have the look." Jordan sighed. "You're like me. You've seen it. Lived it." Vivian shrugged again, not able to deny it. "She plucked you off the street and raised you like her own... Huh. Maybe I should have kept her card."

But that hadn't been Jordan's path. "Well. We're not really in charge of anything, are we?"

Jordan quietly nodded. "No. We're not. We're what they made us. But. You look like you worked out."

"Power trippin' cop? Sure, take back control somehow," she snorted.

"Used to run a gang, same idea."

They shared a look of understanding. In a way, Vivian suspected she would understand Jordan better than Gail did. And in that moment, she wondered what her life might have been like... What if Jordan had called Gail, relied on her like a big sister? And if Gail had adopted Sophie and Vivian? What strange family might that have made?

Instead of voicing any of that, she just glanced around and remarked, "Hell of a late night."

"I'm waiting for someone."

Vivian paused. "Am I blowing it for you?"

"Nah, just a friend. Works third shift."

"Which is a bitch of a shift," grimaced the cop.

The CI smirked. "You piss off folks?"

Vivian rolled her eyes. "They don't assign us night work for that."

"Oh, that's a yes."

"Eh, detective on the case is a dick. He's mad I got chased the wrong rabbit."

Jordan nodded. "Yeah, I know that one. Your old lady had that before too. What're you supposed to chase?"

Hesitating a moment, Vivian pulled the worn photo of the dead boy out of her jacket pocket. "Missing kid ended up dead."

The criminal's face changed. "You can't find the ransomer?"

Vivian blinked. The what? Ransom? "Uh. I'm not a D. They don't tell me that shit."

But of course Jordan knew. She caught it. "You didn't know... They would have told you. I mean, you handle those differently. Right?"

"Uh. I assume. I haven't been on one yet. This is my first year."

Jordan looked thoughtful. "You're going to owe me one. Pen." Handing over the pen Holly had given her for graduation. She watched Jordan write down a name. "He's the guy to haul in. Works for a crew I wouldn't touch. Rumor was they were running a ransom scam that went tits up."

Taking the napkin, Vivian read it and frowned. "He died before they could send the ransom note."

"That's all over the under," nodded Jordan.

They shared a look. "This plays out, I do owe you." Jordan smirked and dismissed Vivian with a flick of her eyes.

Lara, bless her soul, had done nothing to interrupt their tête-à-tête. When Vivian walked over and took her coffee, the other officer only arched her eyebrows. It waited until they were back in the car and Vivian handed her the paper. "Who's Nathan Sterling?"

"A dangerous, dangerous man. Look him up, will you?"

The other woman frowned and tapped into the computer. "Suspected accomplice for kidnapping. Ransom... Shit. He lives in the same area the kid did. Do you think he's the guy?"

"Maybe. That woman in there is one of the Department CIs. She's my mom's spy for gangs." Vivian frowned. No. Wait. "Kid gangs. Has Sterling ever been processed?"

"Only like a hundred times. Why?"

"Identifying marks. Look for a cigarette burn on the inside of a wrist." Jordan had a burn scar. It wasn't an accident and it was in a specific location.

"Okay, now you're creeping me out."

Vivian grinned a feral smile, baring her teeth. "He's 38 to 40 years old. Known associates, Curtis Pane." Vivian put the car into gear. "We've got a lead."

Marveling, Lara buckled up. "I can't tell if you're good luck or bad luck, Peck."

Neither could Vivian, but ransom and kidnapping and a lead? That would get her back in the good books for the detectives.


Generally Gail didn't plan to go into work after a night out with Holly. She was rarely in the right frame of mind to do serious policing following good music. Even less so when she'd been wrapped in the amorous arms of her wife. Holly and mornings. They were worth waking up for. As it turned out, Holly was just as horny when she woke up early as she was if she was still awake at 3am. It had been a very good early morning. Or late night. Take your pick.

But the phone call from her squad around four AM had caught her interest, more so when the name 'Curtis Pane' was dropped. Untangling herself from the sleepy brunette, Gail called Steve and picked him up on the way in to the station.

"Nice hickey."

"Bite me, butt face," she snarled at her brother.

"No need, Holly did it for me." But he handed over a cup of coffee and settled into the car. "Did your kid really find a lead?"

Gail sucked down half in one go. "I know, right? She's got Mom's luck."

Her brother sighted dramatically. "Someone had to." They'd both had to fight tooth and nail for every opportunity. Of course everyone assumed their lives were handed to them, even now, because Peck. "Is she getting shit about that?"

"Not like we did," mused Gail. "Universe had to start giving her something good back."

"She got you guys."

Gail glanced at Steve and smiled. There was that. The kid had lived through enough ups and downs, but she had come through pretty well. "True." She pulled up at the station.

Inside, a sleepy Chloe had brought in a familiar face from ThirtyFour. "Jesus, Pecks," snarled Frankie Anderson. "Someone owes me a million for tapping my CIs all night."

"The universe can do without the best sex ever for one day, Anderson," grinned Gail, feeling feral.

"Didn't stop you. Nice hickey."

"Try being married. Ball and chain is worth it." But the time for friendly bantering was done. They had a job. "Your guys got eyes on Nathan Sterling?"

"Not for a couple days," yawned Chloe. "But ho boy, we got details."

"Round up in my office," Gail said. "Who's the night sarge right now?" They all looked over at, of all people, Andy McNally. Still not a sergeant technically. Yet. "Right... McNally! My office. Bring coffee."

Andy frowned. "I'm not your minion!"

Turning to the stairs, Gail replied, "Are too!"

They all did reconvene in Gail's office, Andy included. The woman finally wanted her stripes and, unlike Dov who had busted her ass for it, or Traci who had natural luck, Andy was a mixed bag of success and shit. A case like this might give her the kick she needed to get that promotion, and Andy knew it.

"Nathan Sterling. Mid or late forties, depending who you ask. Accomplice for kidnapping kids of rival gang members." Frankie tapped the photo projected on Gail's wall. "Never managed to make anything stick on him, though. Last four years, he's taken over that dirty work. Grabbing kids from the system, turning them into runners. Best we can do is charge him as a kidnapper, but you know those kids."

Gail nodded, propping her feet up on the desk. "They'll die by their gangs. Frankie, who died and why are you here? Sterling's guns and gangs, or vice. What would he kidnap Gabe for? The kid doesn't have anything to do with drugs."

From the couch, Chloe chimed in, "Mom does." Everyone turned to look at her. "You are gonna love this," she said to Steve. "She used to be a runner for Spikes."

Steve stood up from the desk. "Spikes. Are you shitting me?" He stared at Frankie. "Do you have any idea who the hell Spikes is?"

The acerbic detective snorted. "What do I look like, a rookie? Her name lit up the checks."

"Checks?" Gail arched her eyebrows. "Why were you checking on her?"

"I wasn't. I was running prints on the dick of a dead guy." Frankie shook her head. "My life is so damn glamorous. I saw Price had her name all over this shit, so I called her. She's the boss after all."

Chloe beamed. "You love me, Frankie."

Barring her teeth at Chloe, Frankie snarled. Technically Chloe wasn't Frankie's boss but was the undercover supervisor for the same three divisions Gail monitored. When Blackstone had retired, Chloe took over that role. Anything undercover went through her. Gail had never regretted recommending her for the job. But Frankie- sorry, Detective Sgt. Anderson, Homicide, was part of Gail's unofficial cadre of minors who didn't actually work for her but were willing to come at the drop of a hat.

There were quite a lot of people who were willing to follow Gail's lead, actually. It was strange how things worked out. This was the universe her parents had tried to make her create in their own insane way. Gail's version was way better.

"You two stop flirting," Gail warned Price and Anderson, smirking. "Spikes. So Rodriguez's mom was a drug runner. And that's why she left the kids?"

"That's my theory," agreed Chloe. "Hooking and drugs."

Frankie lifted her coffee cup. "Dead guy was a rich John. Heart attack in his car after a sexual encounter. DNA swabs matched."

"Seedy," muttered Steve.

Chloe grinned. "Isn't it? Frankie has her CIs looking out for her right now. I've got mine looking for Sterling, but Steve..."

The man nodded. "I'll get mine out on him too. Send uniforms looking for her, though. Sterling's got to be looking for her for ... Whatever?"

"Theft," drawled Frankie. Everyone winced. "Yeah, I know, brilliance there. Steal from your dealer. Who've you got in Vice, Peck?"

Steve frowned. "No one... Oh. Sorry."

Gail rolled her eyes. Ten years and Steve still had trouble with the fact that the default Peck in their world was her. "Luck's in vice. Swarek. Not that he listens to me, but ..." She looked at Andy cautiously.

"Anton Hill," mused McNally. "He'll do anything if you let him back on this one." At Frankie's questioning look, Andy added, "It's his white whale."

The homicide detective snorted. "I'm impressed Basset Hound Swarek's read that."

"Apparently he reads when he's undercover," shrugged Andy. "Read. Whatever. You better have someone else ask him, though."

"Yeah, Frankie, you take that one. Pull in anyone you trust."

Chloe pursed her lips. "Wes?"

"He's reliable," shrugged Gail. "Okay. Marching orders. I want Anna Sophia Maria Rodriguez and I want Nathan Sterling. Alive. I'll talk to the lab, get exactly what killed him besides 'peanut butter,' and Andy you brief Dov for the morning shift. Only the reliable ones on this, so please keep Gerald out of it."

There was general laughter. Gerald wasn't a bad cop, but he was rarely inventive in the right ways.


The morning, Vivian's end of shift, had come with a surprise. Gail was parked in the lot. At six. Gail was never at the station early. And sure as hell not on a night she'd been out late (and up late, be honest) with Holly.

But her mother's presence explained the change in orders last night. Instead of a normal patrol, she and Lara had been sent to look specifically for dealers and hookers. Always fun. But they were looking for folks who plied the hard stuff, like crystal meth, because they were looking for a junkie who stole from her dealer.

Anna Sophia Maria Rodriguez.

And if they didn't find her, they were to help look for Nathan Sterling. But the odds were he was in TwentySeven's territory. So it was hookers for the rest of the night. Which was a sentence Vivian never thought she'd say before. At least they hadn't had to go undercover as hookers themselves. Yet. Gail seemed to feel everyone would do it at least once in their careers.

Undercover work struck Vivian as something hard and uncomfortable. She'd not really looked forward to it in the Academy as a child, and not at all after Gail had gone to ground when she was twelve. Half her life ago. Huh. Did Gail feel like it was a long time away or a short time? Probably both. Her mothers still smiled at her like she was the seven year old who hated bathing. When she'd gotten home, Holly was still there but heading out, complaining about a case. Vivian had gotten a kiss to the forehead and a reminder to shower. Eight hours of sleep and her mothers were still not home when she came back to the station.

"Earth to Peck. You in there?"

Vivian yawned. "I don't like night shifts." She'd been lying on the bench in front of her locker for a while, trying to convince her brain it was a normal hour to be up and about.

With a grunt, Lara sat in the empty space above Vivian's head. "No shit. My mom is the worst roommate. How are yours?"

"Not so bad. I mean, Gail's a cop, so she knows how annoying it is to not get any sleep."

"And Holly's a doctor, so she had ER crap, huh?"

To be honest, Vivian had never thought about that. "Probably. Way before my time." Vivian got up and tucked her uniform shirt in.

Lara looked thoughtful as she changed into her uniform. "Is that weird? My folks are only like 25 years old than I am. Yours are…"

"Gail's 50. Watch it," smiled Vivian. Gail was 25ish years older, but yes, Holly was over 30 years older. "I don't know. They've always been grownups to me. I think it's pretty normal, though. Lots of people our age have parents who are in their 50s and 60s. Look at Inspector Williams. Her younger daughter's my age."

Snorting, Lara kicked her locker closed. A fast change artist. "It's still weird. Your parents still working, where you're working? Man. Why didn't you go to another division?"

Good question. "Find me a Division without a Peck and we'll charge 'em a flat of donuts a week until they fix it," she drawled.

"Okay, you know you suck, Peck!" But Lara elbowed her friendlily as they left the locker rooms.

She tried not to wince, but her ribs were still sore. It wouldn't have been a problem if Christian had only elbowed her once. He's nailed her four times, twice hard, and his elbows were damn pointy. The asshole. "Please," she told Lara. "I'm the luckiest bitch in this joint, and you know it."

Lara scowled. "How are you so lucky?"

"I inherited it from my grandmother. The most arrests in her rookie year, in Fifteen's history." They dry fired their guns and went to the Parade room.

Andy was already standing up front, reading from her phone. When Vivian walked in, she pointed. "Peck. You know the Don Triad area?"

"Uh. Yes." She glanced at Lara, confused.

"Good. You're lead. Take Volk. Fox and Davis, report to Peck about locations to search."

Vivian blinked. "To search for ... Uh, Rodriguez?"

"Sterling." Andy gestured at a table. "Okay, folks, here's the deal. Nathan Sterling is after Anna Rodriguez for stealing drugs. He killed her son, accidental, which she doesn't know yet but probably suspects. You need to find him before he finds her and kills her. Peck knows the area. Any questions, you ping her first."

Fox, who was far older than Vivian, raised a hand. "Sorry, but why aren't we using dispatch for this?"

"Because I said so," sighed Andy. She put her phone down. "Rodriguez is into drugs and is hooking to make the money. Head out to the seedy underbelly. Serve, protect, watch each other's backs."

Vivian scratched the back of her head as she headed back out, Lara at her heels. "Hookers and drugs. Remind me why I thought this life was glamorous," she sighed.

"Cause you're an idealist, like your mom," growled a familiar, if grouchy, voice.

Turning, Vivian grinned. "Hey, Sgt. Anderson. Long time." She knew Frankie mostly from the LGBT crap Gail had to do, but the detective was well known in homicide for her closure rates. And maybe, just maybe, Vivian had a crush on Frankie once, back when she'd been fourteen. She'd also had a crush on Lt. Tran. Why did her parents have to know a bunch of hot women?

"Long enough I didn't know you'd been cut loose. Congrats. Who you riding with?"

Pointing at Lara, Vivian introduced. "Lara Volk, this is Sgt. Frankie Anderson, Homicide at ThirtyFour."

Frankie looked Lara up and down. "She good?" Vivian nodded. "You know what I mean, Peck."

If Lara had been a Peck, she'd have been sat down at told the rules just then. Frankie was asking if Vivian trusted Lara with a secret. "She's good, Frankie," said Vivian quietly.

Studying them both, Frankie nodded. "Right, both of you come with me for a minute. Office."

Andy was waiting for them. "You're going to tell them?"

"Peck could find out anyway. Volk's need to know." Frankie sat down and started with a question. "Why aren't we using dispatch?"

The two rookies exchanged a look. Fox had asked that and Andy blew it off. This was a good question. "Dispatch is compromised?" That was Lara's guess.

But Vivian knew you didn't ask. "Dispatch has public channels anyone with a radio and a brain can listen in on, and since its cross division, we have to use some of them."

At Frankie's nod, Lara scowled. "Why not use private channels?"

Vivian shook her head. "We'd be alerting them to the fact we're on to them."

"Who's them," asked Lara, confused. And then. "Oh. Sterling! He's using us to find Rodriguez?!"

Frankie grinned. "They're smart, see?" She pointed at Lara. "Tell me why I'm here."

The other officer blinked and looked at Vivian, lost. Vivian mouthed 'work it out' and tried to look encouraging. She was pretty sure she knew. "Why is Sgt. Anderson, from Homicide, here?" Lara swallowed. "Um. Well Rodriguez can't be dead or you wouldn't have us looking for her, Ma'am," she said to Andy. "Hookers and drugs and... Dead John?"

Even Andy looked impressed. "Well hell," muttered McNally. "How'd you get that?"

"We've been looking at druggies and streetwalkers for two days. So obviously Rodriguez already nicked Sterling's drugs, which suggests she's not selling but using. She's probably feeding her habit with money she made on the street."

"You better apply for that detective spot in the next year or two, Volk," McNally scowled. "You get that too, Peck?"

Vivian nodded. "Yes, ma'am. And putting me up front makes it look like its nothing but some Peck conspiracy to push me ahead, which keeps the others from looking too deep into motive... That way no one pulls a Gerald and trips us all up."

That made Andy smile. Frankie rolled her eyes. "I can't believe he's still here. Yes, Rodriguez's prints came up on a dead John. Heart attack driving home after sex. Here is her last known. Send the others to these locations," she added, texting Vivian. "Got it?"

Reading the addresses, Vivian frowned until she pulled up a map. "Oh, you're bracketing her with public police presence... Wow. That looks hella random, ma'am."

The detective smirked. "Took me all fucking day to lay this out right. Price and Peck are bitches about this shit." She paused. "Not Gail, Steve."

Vivian smiled. "I won't - we won't fuck this up, ma'am."

After giving out locations to look for Rodriguez, Vivian buckled in and drove to the spot Frankie had given her for them. Lara was quiet, mostly making sure everyone was where they were supposed to be. "This is big, Peck," she said softly.

"Yep," agreed Vivian.

"Is that... Does being a Peck give you an all access pass like that?"

Vivian hesitated. You weren't supposed to talk about it. But she could say some things "No. Not the way you're thinking." She drummed her fingers on the wheel and frowned. "It's not a free pass. It's a ... Double edged sword."

Thankfully, Lara was smart. "You had to earn it?"

"Yeah, yeah I did. And I had to pay for it." She exhaled. "Look. Almost my whole life, since I was ten, I knew this was what I wanted to be. I worked my ass off for this."

"I should be pissed," noted Lara. "You get a lot more things handed to you. But they expect a hell of a lot more. And you have a lot more to lose, don't you?"

"Everything." She stopped at a four-way stop. "Okay. Look. Anderson said she was last seen over by the bridge, right? She won't be back there two nights in row, not if she knows Sterling is after her."

"Which she has to know," agreed Lara. "She stole the drugs. Someone would have to be a moron to think they won't come after her."

Vivian snorted. "Well she stole 'em in the first place. She's no Rhodes scholar."

Her partner smiled. "Truth. Okay. Where would you go if you were hiding from evil bosses?"

"Afghanistan," sighed Vivian. The long arm of the law would always find her, though. "But. Assuming I can't leave the country-"

"No," Lara interrupted. "Three kids. She doesn't want to leave the country. She doesn't want to leave them. So she's gonna stick around haunts she knows. Places she trusts." Lara tapped on the computer. "Okay. So here's all her arrest points. Here's here known locations. She's not very..." The officer trailed off.

Vivian understood. "She's predictable. Is there any order? Does she hit 'em in a pattern?"

Her partner studied the list. "No. But... She hasn't hit up this area in a few years."

Right. Vivian turned the car to the location Lara had indicated. "Thank god she's not a seasoned professional, right?"

Lara concentrated on the road. "Yeah, that's what worries me. Sterling is a professional."

That was a good thing to worry about, realized Vivian. "You think he's thinking this?"

"Yeah. See.. I can't think like a coked out hooker. But I can think like an idiot mad enough to do anything to find someone." Lara was so damn serious, it was shocking. There was something about her tone that implied a story.

Everyone was entitled to their secrets. Following the idea of where Sterling might be was a better idea than guessing where someone scared might hide. "Think like a kidnapper and drug dealer who's trying to think like a druggie... Who was double dipping moron with two gangs, on of whom is engaged in a city takeover of the trade." She drummed her thumbs on the wheel. "I'd want to stay out of Three Rivers' territory. Show up, a known dealer, and they'll knock me off. But I want this crazy bitch bad, so I'll play on the fringes. And I figure if she scrumped from me, she's got to have pissed them off too. Which means... Her fucking apartment?"

Lara grinned. "And they say you can't go home again."

Vivian turned the car. "Jesus, that's so stupid."

"I know. But a brain trust wouldn't steal from her own dealers in the first place." Lara shook her head. "That's the most I have ever heard you say in one go, Vivian!"

This felt like one of those moments Holly always said would happen, when someone was offering to get you out of a tree, or hang out with you. Oh. Oh that's what Gail's tree thing meant! This was a friendship offering. Okay, it was time to get out there. "Viv," she sighed absently. "My friends call me Viv."

"Not Vivi?"

"Never twice," she smiled awkwardly. "Hey... Coming up on the apartment. You got a clear view?"

"I do... Bathroom light is on."

Killing the engine and the lights, Vivian coasted to a stop at the end of the block. They eased the doors open and stepped out into the biting cold of the night. "Back door is ajar," noted Vivian. She pulled her hat snug on her head and looked around the area. It was dead.

Down at the other end of the block, a crappy car pulled up, engine off. Same as they'd done. "Non descript," muttered Lara. "You don't think he followed us."

Vivian shook her head. "No way, I would have noticed." Elaine and Gail would give her hell for years if that had happened. "He's just thinking like we are."

They hung back and watched as only Sterling got out of the car. "No backup. He's confident."

"Calling it in," muttered Vivian. She texted Andy and Frankie, saying they had eyes on Sterling. Right away, Andy redirected a unit, Fox and Latimer, to act as backup. They waited, watching Sterling case the joint but not try to get in. "He's listening, isn't he?"

Lara nodded. "Give my arm for a damn parabolic listening."

That would be nice. "We don't know if Rodriguez is in there."

"She's in there. Probably shooting up or coming down from a high. She's scared, so she needed to relive the pressure."

That was a knowing voice, realized Vivian. Lara lived with a single mother and grandmother. Everyone had secrets. Her phone vibrated. "Fox is in position. Okay. Now we just herd Sterling over to them without spooking Rodriguez-"

Lara cursed. "She's coming out the window." And Lara took off running.

With a follow up curse, Vivian took off after her. Damn it. Their footsteps caused Sterling to stop at the door and turn. Slapping her radio, Vivian huffed, "4727! Sterling's on the move and Rodriguez is headed out the window. Fox, Latimer, pick up Rodriguez. We're on Sterling."

Her radio crackled. "Peck! Backup is on the way!" That was McNally. "Can you get him?"

Vivian watched Sterling vault a fence and grinned. "Yes, ma'am." Then to Lara. "He's headed down the alley. Go right, I'll send him your way."

"Right!" Lara skidded off.

It wasn't until Vivian had gathered herself up for the jump that she realized the horrible flaw in her plan. As she jumped, catching the lip of the fence, Vivian felt her ribs pull. This was going to hurt. A lot. Gritting her teeth, she used momentum and hauled herself up and over, landing hard. "Crap," she winced. She wasn't going to be able to catch Sterling. Plan B. "Freeze! Police!"

Sterling's head snapped around, gun in his hand, as he saw her, he raised it and skidded to a stop. It was weird. Vivian wasn't scared. Her world narrowed in to this moment. There was a man with a gun. Vivian was a cop. She had a job. Vivian drew her gun, bringing it up and centering on his body. "I said freeze, Sterling," she shouted.

He was concentrating on her. "You won't shoot me!"

"You have a gun, Sterling! Put it down, kick it away, keep your hands up, or I will shoot." Later on, days later, Vivian would have to process if she would have shot. At the time, at this moment, she knew one thing. She had a partner.

Lara flew out of the alley and tackled Sterling like a linebacker. He hit the ground hard, the gun skittering down the alley. "She said put the gun down," growled Lara, clearly angry, as she forced his face down and cuffed.

Fox brought Rodriguez in safely. Lara took the collar for Sterling. Frankie swore at them all, loudly, and complained about how she'd be up another damn 24 hours. But they'd done a good job.

They ended up at the only place in the area open at three AM. Lakeview Restaurant. Which did not have the view of a lake. But it did have an Irish milkshake, which Andy told them to try. As soon as Vivian took a sip, she burst out laughing and ended up telling Lara the story of Kevin Ford, because the only way to explain why Andy knew this place was to explain about that.

"They stopped a robbery here?"

"Yep, Dov and Andy did." She took a bite of her burger and sighed happily. "God that's good."

Lara looked around. "Fifteen has such a history. That's wild."

"Yeah?" Vivian leaned back. "It's us now too."

The look on Lara's face changed to one of fear. "How can we... God, do you always feel this incredible pressure not to fuck up? I mean, what if they find out how screwed up we are?"

Vivian twirled a french fry between her fingers. Her moms were two of the most accomplished women in law enforcement. Married almost twenty years. Her grandmother had been a Superintendent. Her aunt and uncle were Inspectors. So was her not-known asshat grandfather. "They know we're messed up, Lara," sighed Vivian slowly. "They know we screw up and make mistakes. God, Andy's first rookie, Gerald, nearly got her killed."

"Seriously? What happened to him?"

"Eventually he got better. I mean, Mom nearly ripped his ass a new one when he declared a guy dead who was alive. But he learned. Became a TO even," she smiled. The legend of Gerald, without naming his name, could be useful. Gail always said that Duncan wasn't Gerald anymore, after all.

Smiling back, Lara looked relieved. And then she did that weird thing people did that Vivian never understood. She told something deep. "My mom, my real mom, died when I was ten. OD'd." Vivian blinked and opened her mouth. "I live with my step-mom, her husband, and my dad's mom. Dad died of cancer when I was eighteen."

Vivian nodded slowly. "So you took this a little... Closer to home?"

Her friend and partner nodded back. "I don't mean to but... My mom blew me off, dumped me on my dad. I see Rodriguez and her kid died because she was an idiot."

Yeah. Vivian got that. "It's not you. Like... That kid last month? He's not me. The things that happened to us, we just have to stop it. We protect people like us."

"You make it sound easy."

Shaking her head, Vivian sucked her milkshake. "No. No, it's hard as hell. But we keep trying."

Lara tilted her head. "Yeah. We do." She reached over with her shake and Vivian tapped her own to it. "You know, even though you're hard to know, Peck, you're a good person."

Slowly, Vivian swirled her shake, dipping a fry in and munching it. "Everyone has secrets, Lara. It's allowed."

"Yeah," smiled Lara. "Everyone does... How much shit did you go through to get that smart, Viv?"

"Lots." Lots and lots. "But you, you're going to be a D. You're smart too."

"Think your mom would teach me tricks?"

Vivian laughed. "No, but I know a couple Ds who would be awesome mentors."

So this was making friends. It was kind of nice.


And they inch closer and closer on the case. In two weeks, part one of the thrilling season finale!

Christmas happens off camera, by the way. Vivian stays home and works and absolutely nothing happens except a fratboy's car sinks in a pond.