A/N: Once again, thank you for all the feedback and support on this fic. I know I haven't been good about responding lately, and I apologize for that. But here's the next chapter. Hope you enjoy, and as always, thanks to JaydenBell for the beta and encouragement!!

"Breathe," Jess murmured as she and Adam walked up the path to her parents' house.

He gave her a nervous small. "Trying."

She squeezed his hand. "You've got nothing to be afraid of. My family already thinks you're a great guy."

"They don't even know me."

"Not yet," she admitted. "But they do know that you were there for me. And my mother knows what I tried to do that night I was drunk, and she knows that you were the perfect gentleman. So you've already got major points."

He didn't have time to respond to that as Jess knocked on the door and her mother let them in. Adam had been trying to work out what he was going to say when he met her family, but everything flew out of his head as Patricia Angell reached forward and hugged him tightly. Next thing he knew, he was being introduced to Jess' three remaining brothers – David, Jacob and Nathan – and then to her father, Allan Angell. He shook all of their hands, unsure of the words that were coming out of his mouth. Finally, Patricia stepped in and saved him.

"C'mon, boys. Let the poor man sit down and breathe."

They all moved toward the table, but Adam hesitated. "Do you need any help, Mrs. Angell?"

She smiled kindly at him. "Call me Patricia. And thank you for the offer, but Jessica and I can manage. You go sit down."

"His mother raised him right," she murmured as she and Jess moved into the kitchen.

Her daughter winced. "Actually, she didn't. His mom died when he was really young."

Patricia paused, her gaze sliding back into the dining room as she looked at Adam with newfound respect.

"Then we'll just have to make sure he knows he's a part of our family," she said firmly.

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"So you're a CSI?" David asked as they all began to eat.

Adam nodded, trying to swallow the food in his mouth. "Yeah."

"Do you go out in the field?"

"I, uh…I'm starting to now. But for the most part, I'm in the lab."

"Where did you grow up?" Jacob interjected.

"Phoenix."

"You still got family there?"

Jess could see the deer-in-headlights look in Adam's eyes. He was handling the questions alright, but she knew he was nervous and uncomfortable with all the attention being on him. She opened her mouth to change the subject, but her father beat her to it.

"Alright, boys, settle down. I'm sure Adam would rather eat than play twenty questions."

Adam gave him a relieved smile. "Thanks."

Allan shrugged. "You're my daughter's friend, and you've helped her through a difficult time. That's enough for me. You're always welcome at our table, Adam. Don't forget that."

Jess thought she saw a tear in his eye as Adam nodded and said thank you.

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"So you survived," Jess said as they walked up to her apartment.

"Yeah," he said, a smile on his face. "I had a good time, Jess."

"I'm glad." She paused as they reached her door. "You're invited anytime. I mean, you don't have to go again –"

"I'd really like to." She stopped when he cut her off, and Adam shrugged sheepishly. "They were really nice. It…it was almost like having…a family."

"You do have a family," she said firmly. "And don't you forget it, okay?"

His smile widened. "I won't."

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"It's nice to see you sittin' in that desk again."

Jess looked up and smiled at her partner. "It's nice to be back. I've missed this."

"And we've missed you," he said seriously, sitting across from her. "I'm glad you're back."

"Watch it, Flack. You're gettin' all mushy on me."

"Sorry. I'll make sure to watch that. Hey, I gotta go question a witness. You wanna come? I can bring ya up to speed in the car."

"Sure." They both got up and walked out of the precinct, heading for the car. "So…" Flack said as they climbed into the SUV.

Angell raised an eyebrow at him. "So…what?"

He shrugged. "You and Ross."

"Me and Ross what? Just spit it out, Flack. You suck at subtlety."

He laughed at that and nodded. "Alright. What's goin' on between you two?"

She frowned. "Nothing. He's my friend."

"And you two have been spendin' an awful lot of time with each other, and you blushed as soon as I mentioned his name."

The blush deepened. "I did not."

"You did so."

Angell sighed, glaring at him. "So what if I did?"

"I'm just askin', is all. Enquiring minds want to know."

"Isn't this weird?" she asked after a moment. "I mean, you and I…"

"We had one date, Jess. And besides, I told you about being interested in…someone."

She rolled her eyes. "You still have trouble saying it, don't you? She can't hear you from here. She's in her office. At the lab."

"Yeah, yeah. I think we were talkin' about you and Ross here, not me an'…" She looked over at him and he sighed. "Not me and Stell."

"Finally," she muttered. When he just kept glancing over at him, she sighed as well. "I don't know."

"Huh?"

"You asked what was going on between me and Adam. And the answer is that I don't know."

"But you've got feelings for him."

"I think so. I just…He was there for me during the worst time of my life, Flack. I need to make sure that my feelings for him aren't just…gratitude. Does that make sense?"

He nodded. "Yeah, it makes sense. Just…don't take too long thinkin' about it, Jess. You don't wanna miss out on somethin' great, you know?"

She gave him a small smile and then looked out the window. "I know."

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It was two hours before they got back to their desks. Their "witness" had turned into a suspect pretty quickly, and then he had decided to bolt. As much as she hated it when they ran, Jess couldn't deny that it felt good to be back in the swing of things.

"What's that?" Don asked, pointing at her desk.

She frowned and looked down at the white bag. Her frown quickly faded though as she found a card inside, along with a double chocolate chip cookie.

Jess –

Hope your first day back is going well.

Adam

"Jess?"

She looked up to find Flack staring at her. Shaking her head, she handed him the note and then reached in for her cookie. Don read the note and then nodded approvingly.

"Looks like those feelings might be mutual, Jess," he said pointedly.

She just blushed and ate her cookie.