Olivia is sitting on her front steps watching her ten year old brother, Luis shoot baskets in the front yard. Their mother was inside grading term papers, and their father was giving a lecture at the college. Both parents were college professors at BCU and had a demanding work schedule, so Olivia was often asked to keep an eye on her little brother. Luis was also adopted. When Olivia was seven, her parents adopted him from Puerto Rico as a baby. Everyone in the house was of a different ethnicity, but the differences between them never mattered, they were still a family.

When Luis was outside playing, Olivia liked to keep an eye on things. They lived down the street from the Ames home, and their reputation scared Olivia. She's heard about Camren's fights and harassing people, and she wasn't going to let anything happen to her brother. So far everything was okay until Luis decided he wanted to ride his bike around, and then Olivia was concerned.

"Hey where are you going?"

"Tell Mommy I'm riding my bike to Drew's house."

Luis's friend Drew lived in between their house and the Ames home, so it made Olivia nervous when the boys would ride their bikes around with nobody constantly watching him. She tried to make a suggestion to deter him from going that way.

"Why doesn't Drew come over here instead?"

" Cause I wanna go to his house. What's the big deal, Livi?" Inside Olivia knew the reason, but she didn't want to tell him why. He was a little boy who didn't need to deal with all this drama, and she didn't want to have him face such hateful people. She mustered up the best excuse she could think of.

" Cause...cause I miss you." Olivia told him.

" Liar."

" What, you're my little brother, you don't think I miss you. We're both at school all day, and we hardly get to hang out."

" Yeah I know. I just wanna hang out with my friend. I wanna be outside." Olivia sighed, and bit her lip. She was out of excuses at this point, and didn't know what else to say.

" Okay, I'll walk with you."

" Whatever." Luis just shrugged his shoulders and started peddling toward Drew's house. Olivia walked along, but the only thing she could pay attention to was the front door to the Ames home. She watched for any movement or anyone that might be watching. About half way there, the front door popped open, and Olivia's heart jumped into her throat. It was only their father quickly throwing a bag of trash outside, but it was enough to rattle her. Olivia tried to calm herself as Luis made it up the Drew's driveway, and she said goodbye.

" Okay Luis, be careful and have fun."

" Bye Livi." Olivia headed home still nervous, but at least Luis was safe inside his friend's house. It was nerve wrecking living down the street from the Ames kids. School was bad enough, but around the neighborhood was certainly a lot of pressure with a little boy to worry about.

Jane and Korsak were talking to a man named Marco Chavez, who was the owner of a Havana in town that had fallen victim to one of the arsons that happened six weeks ago. He explained how it took a long time to get the place restored, and how they've been victim to robbery committed by gang members before the fire. The case file from the arson stated that at 12:15am on a Thursday, a black Chevy Blazer with the license plate covered, pulled up to the store. A cloaked person tossed a brick through the glass door, and lit a road flare, then threw it inside before speeding away from the scene. A resident from the apartment building across the street saw the flames and called 911. Luckily the fire department arrived on time before any neighboring buildings caught fire, and no one was in the store at the time. Mr. Chavez was beside himself when he got the news that his store was on fire, and couldn't imagine what would motivate someone to do this to him. At first the arson didn't appear to be motivated by hate until two weeks later when an Indian restaurant in 3rd street was burned down, and the same type of black SUV with covered plates was seen fleeing the scene. The cases seemed too similar to be considered isolated incidents. Upon leaving both fires, those in the SUV drove off chanting "Rahowa!" which was later confirmed to be part of this hate group's mantra. Now with the shooting, this group wasn't only guilty of destroying private property, they were murderers, and now homicide units were involved. Since no prints were left on the road flares at either store, and all they had at this point was a few shoe prints and some recovered bullets, their next stop was to try to find out where a significant amount of road flares were purchased, and see if they could get a positive ID.

It's early afternoon in the Rizzoli - Isles home. Nikki is hanging out in the living room watching her little sister, Gracie play on her baby blanket. She wasn't in the mood for going out or being around people. She just wanted a quiet day at home with her family. Gracie is ten months old, and just starting to walk, and a part of Nikki envied that her life was so simple. There was no anxiety, no confrontation with other people for her to deal with, and she was happy to just play and receive hugs and kisses from the family. However Gracie won't be a baby forever. She will someday grow up, and go to school with other kids that may not readily accept her family, which worried NIkki. She hoped for her baby sister to make friends with good kids, and that Gracie won't have to face the same adversity that Nikki is facing now. Jane soon comes in from her run, and greets her daughters.

" Hey, how are my girls doing?" Jane asked while grabbing a water from the fridge, and flopping down on the couch.

" We're doing good." Nikki answered. Gracie crawled over to the coffee table and propped herself up, before making her way over to her mother. Jane scooped Gracie up on her lap, and kissed her cheek.

" How are you my little one? Are you hanging out with your big sister?"

" I remember when she was like a weeble. I can't believe she's walking already." Nikki told her. She tried to keep the conversation light and about Gracie. The weekend was going well for Nikki so far. She's been able to relax and not focus on her stress, and her homework was minimal which she was able to be finished in study hall. Still she was frustrated that she didn't have the courage to talk to her mom about her troubles at school. Nikki always went to her mom with problems, and knew she'd do whatever she could to help her. With this problem, what could Jane really do besides talk to the principal? It would likely not stop these kids from harassing Nikki, but only increase the problem. Jane noticed Nikki lost in her thoughts, and tried to encourage her to talk.

" You look like you have a lot on your mind. Is there anything you want to talk about?"

Nikki sat up not wanting to look at her mom, and she just stared at the floor fussing with the hem of her jeans. "Uhm..I'm fine, Mom. Just, ya know...long week I guess."

Nikki wanted to be able to explain herself, but she could do nothing but stammer and continue to back pedal when her mother called attention to her recently changed demeanor. She knew Jane could sense that there was something wrong, and Nikki didn't suspect her mother knew she was lying when claiming she'd just had a long week, but she didn't know how to say it.

" Are you sure that's all that's bothering you, Sweetie? If there's something I can help you with, honey you know I will."

Nikki took a deep breath, and she was almost in tears. She knew her mother cared about her so much, and that what she said was true. She would do anything to help Nikki, which is what worried her.

" I..I'm just..." Nikki sighed before she continued. " I guess I'm just ready for a school holiday or something. I need a breather. It's really okay though, Mom. I think I've just been working too hard."

Jane wrapped an arm around her daughter, and Nikki let a few tears go before quickly wiping them away.

" You know I love you, right?" Nikki didn't answer, she just nodded.

" If you ever feel overwhelmed you can always ask for help. That's what we're here for, okay."

" Okay." Nikki answered quietly. Jane patted Nikki's knee, and sat Gracie next to her.

" Why don't we have lunch, and just put this week behind us, huh?"

Nikki nodded while Gracie scooted closer to her big sister laying her head on her shoulder. It was as if Gracie knew Nikki needed a hug, and Nikki wrapped an arm around her little sister. Even though this ten month old baby could never understand all the problems Nikki was facing, somehow the affection made her feel better.

Jane is sitting alone in the Division One Cafe, Angela comes over and brings her daughter a bowl of oatmeal with some toast and a side of mixed fruit. Jane idly picks up her spoon, and is quietly stirring her oatmeal. Angela is concerned that something is bothering her.

" What's the matter, you don't like your oatmeal?" Angela asked her.

" No, it's not that. It's Nikki, she doesn't seem like herself lately." Jane told her. Angela takes a seat across from her daughter.

" Has she talked to you about whatever's bothering her?"

" She doesn't seem to want to talk much to anybody. I want to help her, but I can't if I don't know what's wrong." Angela stands up, walks behind Jane and rubs her back.

" Sounds like someone else I know." Jane mustered a half smile as she sighed.

" Yeah..I just wish in this case, she didn't take after me. I just love her so much, and I want her to be happy."

Angela felt bad seeing Jane so frustrated. She wanted to be able to help her fix this, but the truth is neither of them knew how since Nikki wasn't talking to anyone. For now all Angela could do was offer some words of encouragement.

" You know, another way she is like you, Jane is that she's strong. I'm sure whatever it is, she'll be able to get through is, and she knows her mothers love her."

" I hope so." Jane said turning to her food trying to get a quick bite to eat before heading off to work. On top of her problems at home, Jane had a tough case to solve, and admittedly the detective was beginning to feel out of control.

TBC. Thanks for reading.