A/N: All I can say is, GhostWhispererFangirl legit wrote one chapter featuring Scott and I swear I was already half in love with him. Writing this chapter just made me love him more.

It was funny how time's passage could change, well, everything. Scott walked up the stairs in his apartment complex, pulling his tie from his neck. He had to see Mackenzie Clancy again, that was a given.

As it turned out, Katie and Ned had the same idea he did. They invited him for dinner with a surprise guest who turned out to be Mackenzie. The two spent the whole meal stealing glances at each other and then her sister made them wash the dishes while she and Ned went out to 'buy ice cream' for dessert.

Scott put the dishes in the soapy water, washing while Mackenzie dried. "So," he began. "It's good to see you again."

"It's good to see you, too," Mackenzie said. "I, uh, guess we'll see each other at the wedding too, but that's still a few months off."

"Yes," Scott said. "You look nice tonight." He wasn't sure what made him say that, but maybe it was because it was true. The night was hot; she wore cutoffs and her blonde hair was in a thick braid. She had amazing hair.

"Thanks," she said, smiling at him.

More silence, and then Scott was done, drying his hands off, wondering why Katie and Ned weren't back yet.

"I have a feeling they're getting more sugar than just ice cream," Mackenzie scoffed, looking at the clock. "God, those two. If I didn't love them so much, they'd make me sick."

"They make me sick anyway," Scott joked, and then they were suddenly standing closer together.

The ceiling fan above them was quickly turning, blowing air on them. Mackenzie blinked up at him, and he felt an incredible draw to her. Like this moment...was all they had. The Banks would be back soon.

He leaned forward, cupped his hand on her neck and kissed her. It was slow and easy. Mackenzie returned the motion immediately, but it stayed just a kiss, no more and definitely no less, until Scott pulled away, hearing a car in the driveway.

Mackenzie looked up at him, a smile on her face. "I don't think you have my number yet," she said. "How are we supposed to go on a date if you don't?"

Feeling surprisingly bold, Scott shrugged. "You could try calling me," he said.

"Men," Mackenzie scoffed and opened the door for her sister.

Somehow, some way, they ended up going to an Italian restaurant on their first date. Scott ordered spaghetti and Mackenzie got gnocchi, and they had a nice, quiet date. Scott talked to her more than he would with other girls, but he definitely didn't talk as much as she did.

She was overflowing with hilarious stories about Ned and Katie; about growing up a Clancy and what that meant for her.

He noticed that, halfway through the meal, she got distracted, staring over his shoulder at something he couldn't see, changing her words as though she was talking to someone else, but then it was gone and she was back to normal.

"I don't usually talk this much," she said on the way home. "You're bringing me out of my shell. I...I feel like I can talk to you. Which is rare."

"I don't mind it," he said, smiling down at her. "It's nice to just sit back and listen sometimes."

She started to reply, but then there was a frown on her face. "What are you still doing here?" She burst out, and he startled.

"Me?" He asked, looking around himself.

"No, that...mosquito," she said. "I swear, this mosquito followed me all the way home from Lento's."

Her cheeks were red; it wasn't a mosquito.

They'd reached the steps to her parents' house, and Scott smiled at her again. "This was a good time," he said.

"We should do it again," Mackenzie smiled, and then she was the one to lean in, standing two steps above him, easily his height now. The kiss went like fire from his lips to his veins and he placed his hands on her shoulders, bringing her closer, melding their lips together, deepening the kiss, until he'd pulled the tiniest gasp from her mouth, something that only made him want her more.

"Ahem," came the sound of Jim Clancy clearing his throat.

Scott and Mackenzie bolted away from each other like lightning.

"Scott," Jim greeted. "Kenz. Nice night, was it?"

"Very nice night," Mackenzie replied.

"It's getting kind of late though," Jim said easily. "Sleep well, Scott."

Scott saw Mackenzie roll her eyes, but she patted Scott on the shoulder. "Call me," she whispered. "It was a good date. Thank you."

He walked away in a bit of a daze, dancing on air all the way home.

They didn't have a second date. There was a hostage situation at the Grandview First National Bank. Scott and Ned were nearby and ended up on the scene, waiting for a hostage negotiator to arrive.

"I can't stand this," Scott said. "We have to go in soon."

"We have to wait," Ned growled at him, pulling him back.

"I know the people in there," Scott said, anguish in his voice. "I went to school with Hadley and Pete. They're good people."

"I know they are," Ned said, holding him back. "But we have to wait."

The robber was mentally unstable; he started to waver about what he wanted in exchange for the people's lives. There was no time to wait any longer. A team was assembled to go inside and Scott followed Ned, heartsick, gun out, praying to god that they wouldn't lose anyone by doing this.

They snuck in the back; the robber was being distracted by their makeshift hostage negotiator and they were ready; they were going to take him down. And then everything happened at once. Scott saw Hadley and she was lying on the ground, face bloody. They hadn't known that she'd been injured. She was six months pregnant. He bit back a curse; the robber turned around and saw them.

"You said you wouldn't come in!" The man screamed, turning his gun towards them.

Scott dived forward, ready to do anything and everything to cover his partner and Hadley, but Ned pulled him back, knocking him to the ground. He could never remember quite what happened then. All he knew was that Ned ended up with a bullet in the leg and Hadley died because of him.

Mackenzie called. She called and called and called. He didn't know how to speak to her again. He didn't know how to speak to anyone. He closed himself off and threw himself back into work just as soon as he passed the psych evaluation. His life was never the same. Ned and Katie tried, so hard, to bring him back to them. But he didn't know how to let them.

He couldn't look at Ned, knowing that the bullet in his leg was his fault. His fault for being an idiot rookie. Ned forgave him almost too easily, and maybe that was the hardest to swallow. Who knew what could happen with a simple gunshot wound? He knew that people could be fine and then just suffer a pulmonary embolism and be gone, just like that. Anything could go wrong and Ned was just acting like it was no big deal, trying to protect Scott as always even though that was the reason everything was wrong in the first place.

It was hard enough facing Ned as his partner. He couldn't face Katie, the woman Ned almost hadn't been able to go home to. And he definitely couldn't face Mackenzie. Because he knew that being with her, he'd eventually just open up, tell her everything. And he couldn't even imagine doing that.

Mackenzie got busy with school; she stopped calling. She got a boyfriend; Chase, and Scott forced himself to be happy for her.

He started going to dinner at the Banks' house again. Mackenzie was never again a guest.

Years passed. Whole years. Mackenzie graduated; became a TA to make some money before she went to med school to become a nurse. Life was going really, really well for her. She was in a healthy relationship and she was on the fast track to becoming the best nurse Grandview had ever seen.

And then one night changed everything.

He was working dispatch when he got the call, about a two car collision over by the tree line. He began directing squad cars and listening to the calls when he caught something on the radio from one of the ambulances, and his heart froze, and he grabbed the radio and turned it up as loud as it could go.

"We're bringing in two adults, male and female, married couple. They're Ned and Katherine Banks. Ned has superficial cuts and Katie has a broken tibia and femur; she has a head wound and probably a concussion. And she's pregnant. One of the Clancy's other daughters were also involved in the crash. She was thrown from the vehicle an has crashed three times. In route now."

Scott wasn't sure which stopped his heart most thoroughly...that the Banks were in critical condition and oh, god, he knew that they were having trouble conceiving, and he really hoped that she didn't lose the baby; or that two of Jim's daughters had been involved and fucking hell he couldn't imagine what the man must be feeling right now, let alone Melinda; or that Mackenzie was there too. Thrown from the car.

He stood up, needing to get out of there, needing to get down to the hospital. There was nothing that could stop him. LeTrai startled, trying to stop him, but Scott managed to get the words out; it's a struggle.

"Ned and Katie were in a car accident," he said, and LeTrai's eyes widen. "It sounds bad. Jim's other daughter Mackenzie was also involved, I need to get down to the hospital."

Ned, and Katie, were beloved on the force. Ned was the kind of guy who made everyone on the force proud that he was one of them, and Katie was a very familiar face around the station, the kind of wife that made every cop want to get married.

"I'll find someone to take over here," LeTrai said immediately. Everyone knew Melinda too, as the antiques store owner with the biggest heart in town, who had...a strange ability to help those who were grieving. Scott wasn't quite sure what was up with that, but everyone had a story about Melinda. And Jim had been a surgeon at Rockland Memorial Hospital for, well, forever. The whole town would come around the Clancy's in this moment, Scott hoped, knew, and he charged past LeTrai. "Hey, man, you should have someone else drive, there's no way you can keep a level head right now."

"You need to stay with the radio," Scott shot back, knowing that he'd get in trouble for this later and unable to bring himself to care. He had to get over there and he didn't trust anyone else to drive fast enough. "Can I use my emergency lights, Cap?" Scott called back. "Because that is all I want to know."

Hesitation. "Yes," LeTrai said, giving in. "But just this once."

Scott didn't look back once, and he burned rubber, throwing the siren on and running every light, flooring it, reaching the hospital just after an ambulance pulled in.

He left the door open, running over. Jim was jumping out, and Mackenzie was on the stretcher.

"Scott!" Jim gasped. "Katie and Ned are have already been brought in, and Mel and the rest of the family should be coming. I have to get to surgery, can you wait for them?"

"Yes," Scott said immediately and then he saw Melinda's jeep pull.

Jim and Mackenzie were already gone, disappeared inside, adrenaline changing the whole game.

Scott paced back and forth until Melinda was there, and when she saw him, her legs seemed to give out. He reached her just as she swayed to the side and caught her before she fell. "It's too real," Melinda said, voice raw. "Thank god you're here, Scott, I need someone to lean on. Aaron won't be here until later and Delia's a wreck. Lana and Emma are too young to be worrying about me."

"You've got me," he said, voice soft. Scott had never spoken more than two words at a time to Melinda Clancy, but that all changed tonight. She knew him as Ned's partner, as someone, perhaps, that he'd hoped she wanted for her second daughter to marry. He's always admired her. "Let's go inside. Do you need some coffee?"

They wait together forever, exchanging hopes and fears as the night wears on. Melinda was so frightened, and at more than point he has to hold her up again, support her through this night before Aaron came in and Jim came out with an update about Katie. A whole support system. And then Scott's just Scott again. On the outskirts. But as long as Mackenzie made it through the night...as long as Katie and Ned are fine and don't lose the baby...he doesn't care what he was.