Jack sat out on the back deck working on his syllabus for the fall. Hunter stood in the yard practicing his slap shot talking to himself.

"Hunter Thornton skates high along the boards, flying past the defenders. He can't be stopped! He shoots, he scores! Hunter Thornton scores the tie breaker at the last second, winning the cup for the Flyers and the crowd goes wild!"

He couldn't help but smile at his happy little boy.

They both stopped at the sound of Tom's motorcycle pulling into the driveway.

"Uncle Tommy!" Hunter dropped his stick and ran to the fence gate.

"Hey! There's my favorite nephew!"

"You're silly! I'm your only nephew."

"Lucky you then! You get to stay my favorite." He messed the kids hair up a bit. "Huh, nice hair cut, bud."

"I did it."

"You did?"

"Yeah, Mom fixed it through." They all laughed. "Play some hockey with me?"

"Sure. Just let me talk to your dad for a sec alright?"

"Okay!" With that Hunter went back to playing his championship end of buzzer games as Tom climbed the steps toward his brother.

"That's some kid you got there."

"He's the best. So what brings you here?"

"A couple things. Where's Elizabeth?"

"Work. Isn't that where you should be?" he teased.

"Give me a break, I wanted to talk to my brother." He took a seat next to Jack.

"Alright." Jack pushed his books aside, turning his focus to Tom. "Lets have it."

Clearing his throat he blurted, "Julie and I are something now."

Jack grinned. "About time. Elizabeth and I were wondering what game you two were playing at."

Tom smiled, shaking his head. "I'm playing for keeps this time, bro. She's the real deal." Tom watched Hunter down in the yard. "You like this life? The wife and kid thing?"

Jack nodded, a big boyish grin across his face. "Nothing better in the world. Elizabeth is beyond amazing, and with Hunter in the mix, its all perfect."

"I'm happy for you. Heck, I've been jealous watching you two lovebirds ever since I got back." They laughed. "Julie's really something. It's my time now. I know it."

"Congrats, Tom. You deserve to be happy. So does she." Jack smacked his brother hard on the back. "What was the other thing you wanted to talk about?" Tom pulled out his phone, showing Jack the picture he took of Nate the night before. Jack's eyes grew wide. "How'd you get this?"

"I happened to be at the same club as him last night. He was with some guy. I didn't catch much, but I know where he'll be tonight. This old Irish bar downtown called O'Neal's."

Jack took the phone from Tom. "I want to ring this guy's neck. Messing with my family like this."

"I was thinking maybe we should pay him a visit tonight." Jack looked up at him. Half angry, half shocked. "What? Maybe we can end this. Maybe he just doesn't realize who he's messing with."

They both stopped and listened to Hunter playing outside. Jack wanted nothing more than to put an end to this once and for all.

….

Elizabeth got home from work in time to cook dinner but was surprised to find out that instead of Jack eating dinner with her and Hunter, he was going out to an Irish pub with Tom.

"I don't understand."

"I don't go out with Tom often, babe. Well, rarely. He asked so I accepted."

"How late will you be?"

"I'm not sure. Not too late."

She nodded, trying to be understanding but failing. He had always wanted to be with her and Hunter. She hadn't had to share him before.

"Beth, I love you."

"I know." She put the chicken back in the refrigerator and sighed. "Hunt! Lets go to Abigail's."

"Awesome! I want chicken fingers and extra fries and ketchup and vanilla ice cream for dessert."

"You're going out?" Jack asked, suddenly wanting to be with them instead.

"Yep. You're going out, so why should we stay home?"

"You're gonna change, right, Mom? Not that your uniform isn't cool and all…"

"Yes, love. I'm going to change. I'll be right back."

Hunter laid on the couch while she and Jack headed upstairs. "You mad?" Jack wondered.

"Nope." She took her gun out of its holster, emptied the bullets from the chamber, then reloaded one back in. Then she walked into the closet and locked it in the safe up on the shelf, spinning the lock.

"Expecting something to happen?" he wondered, watching.

"You never know, Jack." She unbuttoned her shirt and untucked it from her pants, revealing her lead vest.

"Beth."

"What?"

"What bothers you about me going out with Tom?"

She took off her vest and hung it in the closet and then slipped a t-shirt over her head. Next she slipped on her beloved yoga pants and hung her work pants in the closet too. "You won't be with us. That's what bothers me. Tolliver is out there somewhere and you could be in danger too." She went to the dresser, removed her yoga pants and put her stretchy jeans on. Then she went back in the closet, attached her holster under her pants and secured her smaller gun inside the back of her jeans.

"You think that's necessary?"

"Yes." That was the last thing she said to him. "Come on, Hunt. Let's go."

…..

"I don't think this is a good idea anymore, Tom," Jack told him as they drove to O'Neal's.

"Because Beth is freaked or because you are?"

"Both. We should at least let Lee in on this. This guy is dangerous and, more than likely, so is the guy he's meeting with."

"The guy will freak if he sees a cop anywhere near this place and then we lose our chance. Don't you want to get this guy, bro? I do."

"Of course I do but if he seems dangerous at all, we back off. Immediately. Got it?"

"Sure."

Because Jack wasn't sure, at all, he quickly typed a text to Lee. "Going 2 O'Neal's pub. Tolliver will be 2." Then he quickly shoved the phone in his pocket.

Twenty minutes later, Tom and Jack walked in the door to the pub. It was smoky and dark and surprisingly busy for a week night. Then Jack recognized why. Free beer when you purchase an entrée.

"Lets sit at the bar," Tom suggested. Jack followed him, sitting in one of the two vacant stools.

"What can I get ya?" the bartender, a very tall, muscular man asked.

"Fish and chips, and whatever you have on tap," Tom ordered. The man looked at Jack.

"Same, but I'll take a soda."

Tom let his eyes wander to see if Tolliver and his buddy were there. "I don't see them yet."

"Its early."

Jack kept checking his phone and the door getting Tom's attention. "Who's are you hoping to hear from? Since Beth is mad, I'm guessing it's not her."

"I texted Lee."

"Jack, I'm telling you, I don't think that was a good idea."

As they started eating, Jack saw Lee walk in, thankfully in plain clothes. Lee met his eyes and then sat in a booth where he could watch the whole room.

Then a minute later, two spots cleared next to Tom and Tolliver and his friend snatched them up. Jack couldn't believe their fortune. Now they could hear everything the guys said and they wouldn't need to strain. Jack and Tom listened as the men chatted about beer and other random things. Then suddenly the tone switched and it caught Jack's ear.

"Look, man. I think the only way you're going to get him back is to take him." Jack's back stiffened.

"What makes you think kidnapping my son is what I want, or what she wants?"

"Why else have you watch him? She obviously wants him with one of his biological parents, not some wannabes."

Tom could sense Jack's tension. He touched his arm to calm him.

Jack took his phone out of his pocket and texted Lee. "Get over here!"

"It would be good to have him with me but I'm gonna wait until she gives me more instruction. What if that's not what she wants at all? Besides he seems happy. That cop he has for a Mama, wwwooooeee. Hot."

That was it. Jack wasn't going to let him do this. "You can't take my son!" Jack yelled across Tom, almost knocking him off the stool. Before Jack knew what was happening, Tolliver had thrown a punch, hitting Tom in the nose, and Lee had come up behind Jack and grabbed his arms, holding him back.

"Stop it! Break it up!" Lee told them.

"Get out of my bar!" the behemoth bartender told them, including Tolliver and his friend.

Then it was over. All five of the men were out on the sidewalk, Tolliver and TJ walking away laughing. "Good to see you again, Thornton," he said with a wave.

"What is happening!? What on earth possessed you to do this, Jack?" Lee asked him.

Tom punched his nose to stop the bleeding. "I saw them last night. He had a picture of Hunter on his phone. I heard Tolliver say he was going to be here so I mentioned it to Jack."

"Not smart. This guy is dangerous. You are both lucky that he didn't pull out a gun or a knife."

"He has been stalking my family, Lee. I need it to stop. Its freaking Beth out and me. Tonight, he was talking about kidnapping Hunter!"

"For now, it's only talk. It's not evidence. We can't do anything but question him without evidence."

"So question him!"

"We are working on that. I'll call in to the Chief about putting an unmarked car outside your house, but you need to let us do our job. Promise me that both of you will stop trying to get this guy yourselves." He looked from Tom to Jack and then back. "Promise."

"Fine."

"Now go home!"

…

Elizabeth sat on the deck and chatted with Tom Sr. on the phone.

"Those boys of mine don't always have the best judgement, or at least they didn't when they were kids. I figured they had grown out of it," he said with a chuckle.

"With all due respect, sir, this isn't a funny situation."

"It depends on what side you're on. I can see the humor in it but I also understand why you can't."

"Sir, this whole situation with Tolliver….I feel like I'm in the middle between being a police officer and a mother and wife. I have the need to keep Hunter safe at all costs, but I also am not the one in charge of this investigation. I'm just the mother."

"That is the most important job you can do right now," Tom said, wisely. "He needs you to be there and make him feel loved and safe. A boy always needs his mother. Heck, I'm old and I need my Mama sometimes," he said with another chuckle. This time, Elizabeth joined him.

"Thank you for listening, sir."

"Ok, three things, Beth. One, I will always listen to you because I love you. Two, you are doing a great job balancing everything, but remember to let your fellow officers solve this one. Three, remember Ephesians 4:26."

"I'll try. Goodnight, Tom."

"Goodnight, dear."

…..

"Dude, I'm sorry I got us into this," Tom said from the passenger seat while Jack drove.

"Nothing to do about it now. Should you go to the hospital?"

"No, I just need to ice it. Nothing that hasn't happened before."

Jack took him back to his and Elizabeth's house, hoping that since it was past Hunter's bedtime that he and Elizabeth would be upstairs.

They walked in the door and all was quiet, so Jack told Tom to sit on the barstool and he would get him ice and a towel.

When Jack flipped the light switch on, Elizabeth walked down the stairs. "So? What do you two have to say for yourselves?"

"What do you mean?" Tom asked as if his nose wasn't throbbing and there wasn't blood all over his shirt.

Elizabeth stood, staring, hands on her hips, looking every bit the tough cop even though she was wearing a tank top and yoga pants.

"Lee told you," Jack said.

"He ratted us out?" Tom asked.

"Seriously? We aren't twelve, Tom Thornton!" Elizabeth told him, her voice approaching yelling. She lowered her voice and glared. "We are adults that should know better than to go looking for dangerous men in pubs! What if he had a gun, Jack? Do you want me to lose you too? I can't even believe you did this!"

"Beth."

"No. Why don't you just sleep down here tonight?" She turned the lights off, leaving them in the dark.

….

A few minutes later, Jack walked into their bedroom. Elizabeth was laying on her side, her back facing the door.

"Beth, we need to talk about this. We can't let the night go by with you angry. My parents never did and we can't either."

Jack sat next to her on the bed and waited. "That's what your dad said too."

"You talked to my dad?"

"Yes. I was so angry and scared." She sat up and brushed her curls behind her ears. "I was so scared I was going to lose you," she told him, her voice breaking. "I cannot go through that again."

"Honey, I'm so sorry. I don't ever want that to happen."

"You can't keep things from me, Jack. We have to tell each other things that affect all of us."

"Yeah. I'm sorry about that. I won't keep anything from you again."

Elizabeth leaned forward and wrapped her arms around him, sighing with relief. He was fine. He wasn't hurt and he was alive. "Jack? I love you."

He nodded and kissed her forehead, then her nose and then slowly, his mouth found hers, taking her breath in a steamy kiss. "Don't make me sleep downstairs with Tom," he told her quietly.

"Lock the door. You're not going anywhere, husband."

.….

The next morning Hunter woke up and climbed out of his bed, his favorite stuffed bear in hand. He poked his head out into the quiet hallway. His parents door was open, which meant at least one of them was probably awake.

"Come on, Bruce. Let's go downstairs."

Once downstairs, Hunter headed straight for the couch for an early morning cartoon. To his surprise, the couch was already occupied. The little boy tilted his head to the side and watched as his uncle snored.

"Uncle Tom? Hey." Hunter poked his shoulder causing Tom to stir. "Uncle Tom, what are you doing here?"

"Hey, little man." Tom sat up with a stretch. "I spent the night here."

"Oh." Hunter scratched his head through his curls. "What'd you do to your face?"

"What?" Hunter touched his finger to Tom's swollen nose. "Ouch. I almost forgot about that for a sec."

"What happened?"

"Uh… it was an accident."

"What kind of accident? Like you accidently ran into something or someone accidently hit you?"

"Boy, you sure have a lot of questions for this early in the morning," Tom chuckled.

"Mom and Dad say I'm inquisitive. Whatever that means."

"Well, they aren't wrong." He smiled at the little boy, silently praying his stunt the night before didn't make things worse for Hunter. He just wanted to protect him.

Hunter took a seat on the couch next to Tom and turned on the TV.

"What are you up to, Hunt?"

"It's summer. I wake up and watch cartoons before breakfast in the mornings. You're in my spot so you get to watch too."

"Lucky me." Tom relaxed back into the couch and placed his arm around the boy.

Unbeknownst to them, Elizabeth watched from the kitchen. She'd come down not long before to start on breakfast. She reached into the pantry and grabbed everything she needed for French toast, something she'd gotten very good at making over the past few months. She looked at the wedding ring gracing her finger. This life she had now was so special. She closed her eyes tight, trying to ignore the fear that kept creeping up after last night's disaster, telling herself again and again that they were all safe and sound.

Later with the French toast on the griddle and the bacon on the stove, there was a light knock on the back door. She turned the heat low on the stove and went to see who was there, not surprised at all by who she saw.

"Hey you!" She hugged her sister Julie as she stepped inside.

"Is he still here?"

"Yup. On the couch with Hunt." The two women walked towards the living room together. "So you two are dating, huh?"

"Yeah. I don't know whether to be furious at him or proud of him right now."

Elizabeth smiled. "A little bit of both is okay. Their hearts were in the right place, but it was a real stupid idea."

"Clearly." She sighed. "I maybe should have asked before. Are you okay with Tom and I together?"

"Do you care about him?"

"Deeply."

"Then you have my blessing." They reached the living room and both Tom and Hunter were engrossed in the episode of Justice League. "Tom, someone's here to see you."

Tom looked up and immediately his stomach dropped. Julie stood there looking as beautiful as ever, but with a face that came close to matching Elizabeth's from the night before.

"Hey, Jules."

"Don't you 'Hey Jules' me, mister. We need to talk."

He nodded. "Let's go out to the front porch."

"Okay."

Hunter watched carefully as they walked outside. Very curious about all that was going on, he paused his TV show to listen.

"Julie, first let me say I'm sorry."

"What are you sorry for exactly?" She stood there with her hands on her hips, looking every bit like her sister with the mean cop face.

"I'm sorry that I didn't tell you what I was up to. That I put myself and Jack in danger."

"You should be. Tom, do you have any idea what could have happened? What if… what if she lost Jack? I don't think she can survive another loss like that. She loved Trevor but I think losing Jack would be ten times worse! She's his wife after all!"

"I know, it was stupid."

"And what about me? I watched her grieve before. I don't want that, Tom! I'm not strong like her! I won't make it!"

"Hey, hey…" He pulled her close, as she let her tears fall freely. "I'm sorry, Jules. It was a stupid idea."

"Yes, it was." She sniffled as she pulled back to look into his eyes. "It was… kind of hot though."

"Yeah?" Tom grinned.

"Yes. The thought of you being big and brave trying to stand up for your, I mean our, nephew." Tom laughed. "But don't you dare do anything like this again!"

"I'll do my best. Can I kiss you now?"

"Please do."

…..

"Gross." Hunter groaned from the window. He'd tried his best to listen but caught very little of what was said. He was still very confused. Since spying wasn't working, he left the living room and went into the kitchen. He climbed up on the bar stool and stared at Elizabeth.

"Mom, can I ask you a question?"

"Of course, love."

"Do Aunt Julie and Uncle Tom love each other?"

"Why do you ask that?"

"Because I just saw them kissing outside." Hunter made a face. "But before that, Aunt Julie looked at Uncle Tom like you look at Dad when he's in trouble. That's my other question. Did he do something bad? Is that why his face got hurt?"

"So many questions…" Elizabeth sighed as she removed the French toast from the heat.

Hunter shrugged, "A lot happened when I was sleeping. I'm just trying to catch up."

Leaning forward on the counter facing her son, Elizabeth tried to figure out how best to explain the situation.

"It's adult stuff, bud. But I promise you that Uncle Tom is a good man. Sometimes good people get into tough situations. Aunt Julie cares about him a lot and she doesn't like that he got hurt. That's all you need to know, okay?"

He gave her a questioning look. "Is everything okay?"

"Yes, sweetie. Everything will be okay." She would make sure of it.

"Okay! Can we eat now?"

Elizabeth laughed. "Not without your father."

"Ugh." Hunter groaned. "Can I go wake him? I'm hungry."

"Of course." With a fist pump in the air he jumped off the stool and ran off. "Gently, love!"

"I'll try!"

Elizabeth walked to the bottom of the stairs just in time to hear Hunter yell, "Yeehaw!" as he leapt through the air.

"Arrgh!" Jack yelled as Hunter laughed.

Elizabeth shook her head as she walked back to the kitchen, "Well, he's up now."