The boxes of evidence amounted to seven and a half, just from one room. That didn't count the computers that were being taken from the residence or the thousands of photos that had been taken of the crime scene. A double murder where the house was trashed, which was very abnormal according to the family who had found the bodies. That initial bit of information meant that the pieces of evidence increased exponentially. Had it initially been a robbery? If so, what was missing and why were there two dead bodies? Or had it been made to look like a robbery in order to cover something else up?

Hefting the last box into the back of the SUV, Lindsay tossed the keys to Danny and climbed into the passenger seat, squeezing the bridge of her nose to make the headache go away. The call for the crime scene had come in just as she stepped through the door to work and now twelve hours later her lack of sleep from the night before was catching up to her. She was glad that her uncle had agreed to take Levi for a sleepover so she didn't have to worry about how late it was getting.

"Want to stop for food?" Danny asked, starting up the car and heading back to the lab.

"I'm not hungry but I'll stop if you are."

"Did you eat today?"

"Yeah, I took a break a few hours ago. I'm good."

"Where's the kiddo tonight?"

"With my uncle. He'll probably load her up with junk food and she'll sugar crash around midnight and be cranky all day tomorrow but at least I don't have to worry about her."

"When are you planning on getting out of here tonight?"

"I want to at least get everything catalogued before I go. A few hours."

"Anyone ever tell you it's okay to pass things along to the next shift?"

"I don't like to leave things undone."

"I'll make sure to mention that to the loony bin when we're filling out your paperwork."

"Hilarious."

He chuckled and turned the car down a side street, stopping across from a taco truck.

"You sure you don't want anything?"

"I'm sure, thanks."

He nodded and got out of the car, heading over to stand in line while she found her phone and called her uncle. It took him a moment to calm Levi down enough to take the and when she finally spoke she was out of breath.

"Hi mama what are you doing? I am playing with the dog and we are running around the table. Freddy told me to slow down Turbo but it is hard to do that when you are playing. Are you going to get me in the morning? Freddy said if he gets me all day tomorrow then he will take me to Coney Island and I really want to go there so would that be okay for you not to get me in the morning?"

"We'll see. And if Freddy told you to slow down, you need to listen to him. He's allowed to put you in time-out you know."

"He would never do that mama but I will slow down anyway. Are you having fun at work?"

"Not a whole lot of fun today."

"Did you see Adam?"

"Not yet but I might when I get back to the lab. Why?"

"Oh just tell him that I said hi. I miss him. He has not come over a lot."

"I know. We've worked a lot of different shifts so we're never off at the same time. It'll change eventually and then he'll be over again. I'm sure he misses you too."

"I made him a drawing before. Will you give it to him sometime?"

"Sure, baby."

"I gotta go, our popcorn and movie are ready."

"Alright, I'll talk to you tomorrow. You be a good girl and no more sugar tonight, okay? I want you to go to bed when your movie is over."

"Yes ma'am. I love you."

"I love you too. Sleep good."

"Bye mama!"

They hung up and Lindsay smiled to herself, wanting to be with her daughter instead of here in a hot car with piles of evidence to go through and no end in sight.

"I got you somethin'," Danny said, returning to the car and handing her the bag so he could get in.

"But-"

"Hey, partners take care of each other."

"Danny-"

"I'm just thinking about your mental acuity if you don't have something to run on."

"Okay, thanks."

"Back to the lab we go, huh?"

"Only three more boxes to go," Lindsay said, securing yet another in the safe. "Aren't you excited?"

Adam grunted in acknowledgement and kept working seemingly not in the mood to talk. Lindsay frowned and fell silent, not sure what had brought on his bad mood. He'd been quiet all evening but so had she. He'd greeted her normally enough but she realized now that he'd seemed lost in his own world ever since. She let him be for a few minutes but couldn't take it after a while, sighing loudly enough that he looked up.

"What's the matter, Adam?"

"Hmm? Nothing."

"Nothing, oh silent one?"

"Just a lot on my mind."

"You want to tell me about it? There's no one else here."

He shook his head and she chewed on her bottom lip, cataloguing a ripped file folder as having no fluids or fingerprints.

"You sure you don't want to talk about it?"

"Not here."

"Okay. Then secure that and let's go."

"Linds-"

"It should be time for your ten by now right? Secure that and let's go."

He obeyed and they put everything into the safe before getting rid of their gloves and lab coats and heading to the elevator. He was quiet when she pushed the button for the roof, quiet until they got out into the fresh air and leaned against the rail on the edge of the building.

"Today is my sisters birthday. Or would have been her birthday, I guess. Makes me think about her. What she would have been like. What she might have done with her life."

Lindsay nodded and placed her hand over his. She didn't understand exactly how he felt but she was no stranger to the wonderings of what could have been.

"I know it's been a long time but her birthday and the anniversary of the day it happened put me in a funk."

"It doesn't matter how long it's been since something terrible happened. Those days still bring back the memories."

"Maybe. I just wish it didn't make me feel like this. Act like this."

"It's a part of grief, Adam. It's okay."

He sighed and she pulled at his hand, sliding her fingers through his.

"I'll be fine tomorrow."

"Right, but today is not tomorrow."

"I can't just forget about it."

"I would never imply that you should."

He nodded and she moved to face him, reaching up to run her free hand down his cheek.

"Come over after work tonight. We'll talk or not talk, but it means you don't have to go home alone and keep thinking about it."

"Okay."

"Hey."

"Hmm."

"I love you. Know that?"

"I know."

"I'm going to go back in, but why don't you stay out here for a bit? Get some fresh air."

"Yeah. Thanks Linds."

She gave his shoulder a squeeze and headed back downstairs, taking the evidence out again and starting in on it while Mac walked into the room.

"Hey, so I'm about halfway done cataloguing everything that came in and so far I haven't found much of anything. I'm beginning to think that it was a staged robbery."

"I'm thinking the same thing. Where's Adam, I though he was helping you?"

"He's taking a break."

"A break sounds like something you need. You've been here since what, 8 this morning?"

"Well yeah, but that scene took a long time-"

"Go home."

"Mac, I'm not done yet."

"I know you're not, but you've worked 14 hours. As soon as Adam comes back you pass everything off to him and head home."

"I don't want him to stay too late."

"He's here until midnight, that's two more hours for him to finish up. He'll get it done. But you're useless to me if you start running on fumes."

"Alright, I'll go. After I finish this box."

"Anyone ever tell you you're stubborn?"

"Not if they knew what was good for them."

"I'll refrain then. I don't want to see you coming back here on your day off either."

"How'd you know I-"

"Because you're stubborn."

"Yeah, well so are you."

He chuckled and left the room while she continued with the evidence, wanting to get through as much as she could before she had to leave.

"Hey."

"Hey Adam. Better?"

"A little."

"I'm under strict orders to leave everything else for you and go home and get some sleep, but I'm going to ignore the last half of that and stay up, okay?"

"I'll be over."

"You baked."

"When in doubt, achieve culinary perfection."

"What is it?"

"I don't know. I just made it up as I went along. Try some."

He took the pastry from her and looked it over while she rolled her eyes.

"Just eat it. There's milk in the fridge."

"You're going to make me fat."

"Of course. It's harder for you to run away then."

"You're funny."

"I know."

She took his free hand and pulled him back out to the couch where they sat comfortably for a few minutes, both taking a breather after a long day.

"So. You okay?"

"A little better."

"You want to talk about it? Tell me about her?"

"About Hope?"

"Yeah. What was she like?"

"Used to drive me crazy. Always following me around begging to play with my friends. I always pretended I didn't like her, in front of my friends, you know? Called her annoying told her to go away. But when they weren't around, it was different. She was fun, always imagining something. She was tough too, always skinning her knees and elbows but she never cried. She'd just spit on it and rub the blood away. Even at three years old. I realize now that it was because she was used to getting hurt. Because of my dad. I always said that when I got old enough, when I had some money, Hope and I would run away and never get hurt again."

"You loved her a lot."

"I did. I don't know if she knew that, actually. I never told her. I guess kids don't really think about that, but I still wish I had made sure she knew I loved her. After I accepted the truth of what happened, I used to spend hours wondering why she left the house that night. Why she suddenly woke up and wanted to play outside, in the street. It wasn't something she would have done during the day. I guess it could have been one of her adventures. But I'll never know for sure. That part hurts a lot. They say she died instantly and I like to think that her last moments were good. But I can't help wondering why."

"Why is probably the hardest question to answer in life. There's never anything concrete. Everything else can be found out and even if the why is answered there's always room for speculation. There's no harm in wondering why."

"Do you still wonder why?"

She took a deep breath; they had only spoken once about the things that had happened to her back in Montana and as easy as it had been to tell him at that point, it was seemingly harder now.

"I'll always wonder why. Some days I've accepted that and other days I haven't. But I definitely know what it's like."

He sighed softly and leaned back on the couch and she curled into his side, running her fingers lightly over his arm.

"It's okay to have days like this."

"I know."

"You want to stay here tonight? Sometimes not being alone helps."

"For a while at least."

She suppressed a yawn and he toed his shoes off, letting them fall under the coffee table, then brushed her hair back from her face.

"Thanks Linds."

"Love you."

"Love you too."

They sat that way in silence for a while until her eyelids started to droop. He had no desire to leave just yet so he carefully readjusted them on the couch, sliding his arms around her and kissing her forehead.

"Gonna fall 'sleep on you."

"It's okay."

"Didn't know I was so tired. I'm sorry."

"It's okay. I've watched you sleep before."

"You still wanna talk?"

"Nah. This is good too."

"Don't let me keep you here."

"I don't feel like leaving. Go to sleep."

Near hysterical laughter erupted from Levi's room and Lindsay looked up from her stack of bills, wondering what could possibly be so funny. Levi and Adam had been playing in there with much laughter for the last hour but there had been nothing quite as loud as this. Tiptoeing down the hallway she peeked in the doorway and found them both laying on the messy floor, laughing so hard they had tears running down their cheeks.

"What on earth is so funny?"

Adam tried to explain but another bout of laughter came out instead.

"Are you laughing at how messy this room is?"

"No mama. I am laughing because Adam is laughing. I do not know why though. Isn't it hilarious?"

Lindsay nodded and joined them on the floor, waiting patiently until Adam caught his breath again.

"She was making her Barbies dance," he started, turning over and wiping his eyes. "But they don't have joints so it looked funny and then she made Ken talk but her voice was so deep."

He burst into laughter again.

"So you were laughing at me?"

"No Doodle, I wasn't laughing at you," he clarified. "I was laughing because of you."

"Oh, well that's different. I didn't mean to make Ken funny."

"Are you sure? You made him say "Wanna dance with me, Sugar Petunia?" That's pretty silly."

Lindsay snorted a laugh and Levi shrugged her shoulder.

"Mama always calls me silly names. I thought everyone did."

"People probably do. That was just an extra silly one."

"Oh, okay," she sighed. "Now where was I?"

"Ken and Barbie were going to a dance. They'd just been white water rafting and Barbie was mad that her dress was wet."

"Oh yes. She is going to the bathroom to stand under the hand dryer. Ken will wait for her. Hold him standing up, Adam."

"Yes ma'am."

Lindsay smiled and rested her head on Adam's shoulder, tracing over the design on his t-shirt gently.

"You seem better."

"I feel better. Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"Alright Ken, I am ready to dance. Can you do the Robot?"

"Maybe," Adam answered. "Why don't you show me?"

"Okay. I am a robot, I am a robot, cha-cha-cha! Now you try."

"I think that I can only waltz, Babs."

"Babs?"

"That's a nickname for Barbie!"

"Oh, okay. Well let's waltz then. Do we need some funky music?"

"Sure, can you play some?"

"Yes, it is harmonica music. There, now we dance."

Levi took both dolls and danced them around the room for a moment, then returned, out of breath.

"They got into a fight because Ken stepped on Barbie's toes. They are not speaking."

"Sounds rough."

"It is," she sighed, kneeling on the floor. "Do you really have to go to work, Adam? You can't stay here and play with me?"

"I really have to go. I would much rather stay here."

"Can't you tell Mr. Mac that you just need to stay here with your girls today?"

"I wish I could, Doodle."

"I wish you could too. Mama and I do not do anything fun when you're not here."

"Hey, that's not true! I was going to take you out to buy new school clothes."

"Oh."

"But I guess I won't do that since I'm no fun."

"No, I take it back, you are fun mama! I want new clothes!"

"Okay, we'll go. But first you have to clean up the ones on your floor."

"I knew there was a catch," she muttered. "Wanna help me, Adam?"

"I can't, I need to get going."

"Aw man!"

"I'll see you again in a few days," he promised, sitting up and pulling her into his lap. "Is that okay?"

"Yes, that is okay. I am going to hug you really, really tight so it lasts until then."

He smiled and she threw her arms around him, burying her face in his neck.

"I love you."

"I love you too sweetie."

"Thanks for playing today."

"You're welcome. Be a good girl."

"I will."

She slid out of his lap then turned around and helped him up.

"Well if you gotta go to work, really gotta go to work, then you had better not be late."

"I know," he said, reaching down to help Lindsay up.

"I'll walk you out."

She kept a hold on his hand until they got to the door, then hugged him tightly.

"I love you."

"I love you too. Thanks for being there."

"Absolutely. You call me if you feel the need to come back over tonight okay?"

"Alright. Be safe."

"You too."

She knew if she looked him in the eye she wouldn't be able to stop herself from kissing him so she gave his hand a squeeze and let him out the door.