Mac looked at Rebecca who looked sincere in her answer. "You mean that? That you can't understand why I see you as my own?" She nodded and he looked at her shocked as she looked at him with dead serious eyes and he sighed.

"I'll explain more on Friday. I don't feel like pouring my soul out like Bourbon in my work environment. I have a job to do. Sir," she dismissed before walking out and Stella looked at Mac as she had come back to see if he had plans to return home that evening.

"Well?" Stella walked in and sat on Mac's couch looking at him. "I know Rebecca came in here on her own will. So what happened in here? I can tell Mac Taylor went from CSI boss to strict dad of Rebecca Conrad-Taylor for the sake of a mission in a heartbeat."

Mac looked at her and smiled sadly. "Even after spending time undercover, she didn't realize how real my feelings were. Rebecca Manx may be her legal name, but I always have viewed her as Rebecca Conrad-Taylor. If Claire could see her now, she'd agree. Claire clearly has influenced her. Her heart is as big as her attitude. We got to see the soft child underneath all the attitude she presents to her colleagues. So I wanted her to feel safe to return to that."

"Well if you two chat again maybe be who you were undercover. Daddy Mac. The one that clearly cared about Rebecca even before you knew her here at the lab." Stella and Mac both agreed on the fact that Rebecca clearly needed someone to help her yet she wouldn't ask.

By the next morning, Rebecca was out on the streets. She hadn't called it in to anyone but she was tailing a lead on her brother. She had finally made her case and saw her brother and she called Flack. "Hey can I talk to you off grid? No paper write ups?"

"What's up?"

"I'm tailing Talon. I'm on 34th and Main. I'll probably be heading to West 42nd," she informed and Flack made a sound. "Look I know I should have called in and all that but I couldn't risk it. I wanted to make sure before I called for backup. Can you get a set of squad cars heading my way?"

"Already on it. Hey, Becka?" She made a small sound as Flack sounded worried and he chuckled. "I just wanted to thank you for telling me the truth about what you were up to. Mac knew too but he knew it was up to you to say something. I'm glad you trusted me."

"Hey we're big brother little sister right?" He chuckled at that. "Hey hate to cut this short but he's running. I gotta pursue." Flack didn't hesitate to get in his cruiser and saw Mac's Avalanche park a block away and they both could spot one thing. Rebecca's car was parked too.

"She must have renewed her license."

"She got that done a day after she confessed it was expired. But my concern is what happens if the defense attorney gets word about what she's up to. We could lose the case," Mac answered and Flack looked at him. "Talon Manx is legally Rebecca's big brother. That's asking for trouble with the legal aids," he began looking at Flack. "You know as well as I do, once they learn of that connection."

"Mac," Flack began handing over the papers and a memo book. "Rebecca left these on my desk in my drawer. It's all her notes and it has everything including her documentation of resignation from the case due to her knowing a suspect. She's protecting the lab."

"Did she know the victim?"

"Doesn't say but I have a feeling she's clueing in to what's going to be a long case. But I didn't hand them in. She's not being taken off the case. She doesn't know the victim. She just knows a suspect meaning she can't be present for interrogation of him. At least in the room. She can view it from the glass" Flack answered.

"She," Mac began looking at Flack.

"She cares more about the lab than her personal relations to her brother. Even though this could be her chance to get answers, she wants to protect where she works. She wants to protect what you've built for the lab," Flack assured looking at him. "She cares about you and what you make of the lab."

"I never knew she paid that much attention," he began before seeing Flack pull out 4 sets of resignation papers from his glove box. "Are these all resignation papers of Rebecca's?"

"The copies. Rebecca pulled herself from a case 4 different times because she knew what would happen if she didn't. She cares about getting people behind bars that need to pay for what they've done to the good people of New York." Mac looked at them shocked before he heard it at the same time as Flack. 5 gunshots and Flack began running as he knew that some of the bullets could have easily come from Rebecca's gun as she was in pursuit. "10-13! We have shots fired at 42nd West and an officer in civilian clothes in pursuit of a suspect. Detective Manx was in pursuit of a suspect in regards to a homicide the Crime Lab was investigating and openly reported to me she was in pursuit."

"Copy that Detective Flack. Do you want EMS on the scene?"

"Yes. I want heavy EMS presence," Flack answered as he and Mac were running. When they slipped through an alley as they saw blood they could not believe their eyes as they saw the scene. Rebecca was down and she was still trying to help others. "Dispatch put a rush on EMS. We have an officer down with gunshot wounds and 3 civilians injured," Flack reported before he and Mac watched Rebecca lean against the wall and as she fell backward she banged her head against the wall. "Rebecca," Flack began as he took off his jacket and pressed it against her stomach and she groaned in pain.

"Rebecca, what happened?"

"He knew he was being followed," she ground out.

"Mac she's the best witness we have. We have to figure out what happened."

"I agree. Rebecca, how many shots were fired?"

"6 from his gun and 3 from mine. My bullets impaled that pipe," she ground out pointing to the air pipe that clearly was damaged and Flack watched as she began coughing and Mac helped her hold her arm to her mouth and as they saw her arm move away, Flack looked worried. She had blood slipping out of her mouth corners and she looked like she was struggling to talk.

"Rebecca, you hang in there. You're going to have something to tell Hawkes when this is over. You're going to pull through," he answered before he saw EMS arrive ad begin patching up the victims that had bullets in less severe areas. "HEY! We have a cop that's severely wounded," he snapped and the medics rushed over as Hawkes helped them and laid her down.

"She's starting to not respond to us," Flack warned and Hawkes smiled in relief as medics arrived with a gurney and they helped move her onto it. Mac climbed into the ambulance with her and Hawkes and watched as they worked over her.

"She's not going to crash on us, Mac. What Flack did? It saved her," Hawkes promised as they arrived. He hurriedly walked with them and made sure Rebecca could see him until she was wheeled away into emergency surgery. Stella and Jo walked over and Stella leaned against Mac as they could see her being rushed off and she looked out of it.

"Why did this have to happen? She just got back to work," Stella answered.

"Now I'm not taking no for an answer. She openly said that Talon was the shooter. She's getting counseling. Whether or not she wants it. But I can't believe this. She was shot. Talon will be viewed as a cop killer and there's nothing she can do to stop it. Talon's her brother and tried to kill her."

"All her bullets were accounted for at the scene. I ran all the bullets through IBIS and they all matched the police-issued gun that matches up with Detective Manx," Lindsay promised after a few more hours. Mac looked at her relieved. "None of her bullets had blood. Meaning she missed. When she comes to, we'll need to talk to her again."

Mac after another hour saw her lying unconscious in her room and he had his hand holding her's. "I always called you irresponsible away from you. Even before we did the undercover thing. But I guess I was wrong. I know I should be saying this while you're awake, but it's the only time I can get it out straight. Much like you. You cared so much about the lab that the days I said you were just shrugging responsibilities, you really were caring about my lab. You pulled yourself away from the case to protect the evidence." He looked at her face and saw she was asleep still. "Please wake up," he whispered. 4

Stella came in after another hour and had a cot rolled in so then they could lay down and be right there when Rebecca woke up. As they laid down though they saw Flack walk in and he sat beside her bed and Danny walked in with the other one and sat with his hand holding her IV hand as well. "The doctors say we should be lucky to see her eyes open in the morning. Apparently she has two different color eyes."

"We knew. Mac didn't. She asked me to get strings pulled so she could wear her colored prescription contacts. She is a beautiful and smart child," Flack answered and over the night nobody was able to leave. They stayed with her until the morning. Mac had handed Lucy a jello cup as Lindsay was sitting with Danny and Flack as well.

"Since when does Little Lu-Lu eat jello with no complaints?" Everyone turned to the bed to see a green eye and blue eye looking at them.

"Hey Becka," Flack greeted smiling in relief as he saw her looking around. "We got him. We got Talon."

"Flack? Since I can't talk to him? Give him hell."