Thank's to all my lovely reviewers, your encouragement keeps me going :0)

Tom spun round and saw the woman marching her way towards the building. She was nothing like he pictured her. She was the total opposite to his mother in every way. She was taller, her hair was so blonde it was almost white and her skin was very pale. But judging by the dark circles under her eyes, stress and lack of sleep probably had a lot to do with that, and by the look on her face Tom was pretty sure where he'd got his temper from. She looked like she was ready to tear someone apart.

"What's she doing here?" Doug said, pretty much giving voice to what the rest were thinking.

"That's what!" Tom said as he saw a familiar figure leaving the building.

"Oh great!" Penhall sighed as they watched the woman march up to Father Mackenzie, her eyes blazing.

"Don't just stand there and watch!" Kelly yelled in frustration. "Do something."

"Oh great!" Doug and Tom cried in unison as they saw the older woman smack the priest full force in the face. Police instinct kicked in and they both rushed towards the gathering crowd.

"What did you do to my baby girl?" Alison Stokely yelled as she approached the middle aged priest, who was looking startled and just a little bit nervous.

"I'm sorry, I don't ..." he began. He was cut off when Alison landed a slap with such force it nearly knocked him off his feet. A whole crowd was gathered round, some of them stood jaws gaping in shock while others stood there with a look of slight satisfaction on their faces.

"The police told me what you did you bastard! She was only 18." she continued to yell. "You twisted, evil son of a bitch!" each yell punctuated with yet another blow to the head. Trying to defend himself from the final blow MacKenzie lost his footing, sending him tumbling down to the bottom of the stairs. She followed him down were she continued her assault.

"We trusted you! Nikki trusted you! How dare you abuse that trust. You murdering, sick, evil..." She raised her hand to land another blow when it was grabbed firmly from behind. She tried to struggle free but the persons grip was too strong. She spun round to vent her anger, but when she saw who had hold of her she gasped and stopped dead. Her eyes grew so wide they almost filled her entire face as they studied the dark curly hair, huge chocolate brown eyes and high cheekbones. Her face went as white as a sheet. Realising what he'd done, Tom let go of her wrist like it was burning as his stomach twisted in knots. Her arm now free, Alison raised a trembling hand to Toms face and stared so hard her eyes could have burnt a hole right through him. Tom looked back at her, a mess of thoughts rushing through his mind. This was his aunt, his mother's sister. The woman that had nearly torn his family to pieces. The woman who had just lost her daughter, whose death just happened to be the one he was investigating. The daughter who he also happened to have more than just a slight resemblance to. He nervously met her eyes wondering to himself how the hell this got so complicated. His gaze was slightly distracted as Father MacKenzie picked himself up saying "Class is over go home" to the gathered crowd as he headed back inside, trying to maintain as much dignity as possible in front of his students.

"Nikki?" Alsion said in barely a whisper and grabbing Tom's hand bringing his attention back to her. Tom silently shook his head, not trusting himself to answer her vocally. As she looked him right in the eyes a puzzled look passed over her face. She knew those eyes, but they weren't Nikki's, she could tell that now. Where had she seen them before? She looked at him that way for what seemed like hours before she spoke again.

"Who are you?" she whispered. Hanson opened his mouth to answer her but to his relief Kelly got in first.

"This is Tamara, you remember me asking you about her?" she said kindly. Mrs Stokely nodded her head still looking Tom up and down, the look of confusion still etched on her face.

"You said she was my niece" she replied as if from thousands of miles away.

"You were right though." she said taking Alison's arm and prying her hand away from Tom's. "I was upset and I made a mistake." she said as she led her away. Tom looked on dumbstruck at their retreating forms. How could he have been so stupid? Hadn't the poor woman suffered enough?

"She looks just like my Nikki" she said, walking as if in a daze. "Just like my Nikki"

"But she isn't is she?" Kelly said softly. "Come on Mrs Stokely, I think we should take you home."

"But you can't leave her here by herself, not with him around. I won't let him hurt her again." she said nearing hysterics and turning to try and run back to her 'daughter'. Kelly kept tight hold of her arm and turned pleading eyes on the two young police officers standing behind her.

"It's ok!" Doug mouthed to her and then pushed Sam firmly in their direction, who then rushed over to help Kelly get the distraught woman home.

"You can't leave her with him!" Alison said again, more distressed now.

"It's ok Mrs Stokely" Sam said softly, "He can't hurt Nikki anymore. She's at peace, he can't get to her there." he said placing his hands on her shoulders and looking her square in the eyes.

"You." she said glaring at Sam as her anger began to rise again. "You got her into all this. You gave her those drugs, you're as bad as he is." she said as she feeblely lashed out with her balled up hands. "She was just a child." she sobbed.

"Alison!" came a mans voice. As they looked in the direction it was coming from they saw a man with greying and balding hair heading as quickly as he could in Alison Stokely's direction. As Greg Stokely reached his wife and the two teenagers a mixture of anger and concern crossed his face.

"Get away from her!" he yelled as he pushed Sam away from his wife. "Don't you think you've done enough?" Sam stood dead still, pain etched on his young features as he watched the scene before him. Alison was sobbing uncontrollably in her husbands arms.

"What do you think you were doing?" he asked looking into her face, his anger subsiding as he saw how distraught she was.

"I had to do something" she sobbed "You've got to get Nikki away from here" she said desperately clutching his coat. He looked back at her his face blank and puzzled.

"Nikki's gone Alison." he said. He threw a questioning glance at Kelly and as he did so he saw Tom standing frozen behind her. Gregs eyes widened and he looked like he'd been punched in the guts.

"I think you should get her out of here" Kelly said softly. He nodded his head and wrapped his arms around his distraught wife.

"Come on, lets get you home." he said leading her away. As they passed Kelly, Alison stopped in her tracks and looked sadly at her.

"That's not Nikki is it?" she said, her voice sounding like that of a lost child.

Kelly shook her head. "I'm sorry" she said before Alison broke down and allowed her husband to lead her away.

Once they had gone Kelly went over to Sam, who was stood with unshed tears swimming in his eyes.

"They're just upset Sam. They didn't mean it."

"Yeah I know." he said with a deep sigh.

"I guess Fuller told her about Sam getting those drugs from Brookes huh?" Doug said.

"Hmm" Hanson replied as if from a dream. He and Hanson had watched the scene before them in stunned silence. Realising he had just watched half of Hanson's family grieving very publicly for their daughter Doug looked over at him and grew worried when he noticed that Tom looked like he was about to be sick.

"You ok?" Doug asked as placed a hand on Toms shoulder.

"This is all wrong" Hanson said thoughtfully

"What?"

"This, man!" Tom exclaimed gesturing wildly with his arms. "Just get me outta here will you?" he said as he marched towards the gates.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fuller was in his office just hanging up the phone as his door burst open and Tom stormed in the room quickly followed by Doug who was obviously trying his best to calm his partner down. As Fuller looked up Doug looked back at him apologetically, shrugging his shoulders while Hanson stared straight at him, his eyes burning.

"Hanson did you forget how to knock?" Fuller snapped.

"I want you to pull me out." Tom said calmly.

"What?"

"You heard! I want off this case"

"Do you want to tell me why?" Fuller asked looking intently at the young officer. When Hanson gave no reply Doug jumped in, eager to help out his friend. He had seen the exchange between Tom and Alison Stokely. It had been difficult for him to watch, and judging from the look on Tom's face as he had watched Kelly comforting Sam, while Alison sobbed as her husband escorted her home he figured it must have been worse for his partner.

"Nikki Stokely's mom showed up to talk to MacKenzie this afternoon." he told his captain. Fuller then shifted his shocked eyes to the smaller man beside him.

"What was she doing there?"

"I think she had things she wanted to say." Tom said dully.

"Meaning?" Fuller asked.

"Meaning we now know where Hanson here got his right hook from" Doug said looking over at this best friend who was unable to suppress a slight smile.

"She attacked him?" Fuller asked impatiently.

"Don't you think he deserved it?" Tom snapped his eyes flashing with anger.

"Maybe he does, but it doesn't mean she can go round attacking the only suspect we have in this case."

"So pull me out and arrest him. Kelly Morris and Sam Taylor have already told us he was the baby's father, that's enough to put him away for statutory rape. Emily Carter has said she'll testify to him assaulting her. What more do we need?" he asked angrily.

"You know as well as I do that we have to wait for the DNA results to come back to prove that the baby was Mackenzie's."

"So how long will that take?"

"I don't know."

"Great!"

"What's going on Hanson?" Fuller said his eyes now filled with concern.

"I'm not playing these people anymore Captain. It's not right."

"What do you mean?"

"How do you think Nikki's mom felt seeing me there?"

"She saw you?"

"She'd lost it Captain, we had to do something." Doug said.

"I'm not angry Doug." Fuller said. "What happened?"

"What do you think happened?" Tom snapped. "How would you react if you saw your dead child stood in front of you?"

"She really freaked out!" Doug added.

"Did she guess who you are?"

"No."

"Good. Look Tom, this was always going to be difficult..."

"Difficult?" Hanson said in disbelief, "You didn't see her face Captain. This woman is going through hell right now and I refuse to make it worse. I don't remember psychological torture being part of the job description"

"Don't you think its worse for her not knowing what happened to her child? I thought you wanted to help them"

"That wasn't helping, Coach. Those people are in pieces."

"So help put them back together." Fuller said bluntly.

"No."

"Why?" Fuller asked impatiently

"Maybe I changed my mind." Tom yelled making Fuller flinch slighty while Doug looked extremely uncomfortable.

"Do you want to tell me why?"

"Not really."

"It might help."

"Ok then. You tell me why I should put up with ritual humilitation and play on the issues of vunerable kids who have been through hell to help someone like her. She used us and then left me and my mom to deal with loosing Dad alone. I had no idea what I was doing, they should have been there to help."

"Maybe you don't know the whole story there Tom."

"Maybe not. What I do know is that I was only a kid, my dad had just died, my mom was in pieces and they just left me to cope on my own. You have no idea how hard that was. They weren't there for us so why should I do this for them? Tell me that"

"Because you're better than that" Fuller said calmly. "And whatever happened was not Nikki's fault." Hanson held his gaze for a while before he sighed and slumped down on the chair in front of Fullers desk. "So what did Kelly and Sam tell you?"

"That MacKenzie was the baby's father." Tom said impatiently, tired of going over the same ground.

"Were they seeing each other?" Fuller asked with raised eyebrows.

"They both say Nikki told them he raped her." Doug replied. "And they're both willing to testify. So with that and Emily Carter agreeing to tell what she knows we should be able to get him right?"

"Emily said he pretty much raped her right there in his office and there have been others." Tom said sadly.

"How many?" Fuller asked

"She didn't say. But he's been getting away with this for years, Coach".

"How did you get her to agree to talk?" Doug asked form his place by the filing cabinet.

"By playing her like a fiddle. How do you think?" Tom said bitterly. "She thinks I'm some poor little girl traumatised by the nasty priest. Definitely wasn't one of my better moments"

"You got the job done didn't you?" Fuller said

"By making her experiences seem trivial. What happened to these girls was serious, and we're just using them to get what we want."

"That's the way it works Hanson". Fuller said bluntly.

"Yeah? Well it's wrong." Tom said sadly. This brought a small smile to Fullers face. There was never any room for grey areas in Tom Hanson's black and white world. He also knew that deep down Hanson needed to do this. Not just for Nikki and her family, not even for his mother, but for himself. So he wouldn't feel like he had abandonned them like he felt they abandonned him and he wasn't about to let him back out.

"Look, Tom. I hear what you're saying and I understand your feelings. But if we don't nail this guy he's just going to carry on getting away with this. Is that what you want?"

" No. Whether he killed Nikki or not, they should lock him up and throw away the key."

"I'm glad you've started to take this seriously." Fuller said. This caused yet another flare up.

"I have taken this seriously from day one Captain." Tom said angrily. "We all have. This situation may be ridiculous and sure we joke around about it, it's how we get by. But a girl has died here, my cousin Captain, so don't for one moment think I don't take this seriously."

"Ok. So why do want to blow the case by pulling out and sending someone else in?"

"Seeing Nikki's mom just made it seem real I guess. I knew I would have to see her sometime, I just didn't think it would be like this, and I didn't expect to feel so angry. I just don't want to make this situation any worse" he answered quietly.

"I know Tom, but I can't send someone else in now. They'd get suspicious and it would blow the whole case. I'm sorry." Fuller began. "When's he next having one of his little gatherings?"

"Tomorrow night" Hanson replied.

"Ok. I'll have Harry and a couple of uniforms bring him in for questioning. If he doesn't give Harry enough you get yourself invited along and be very friendly to him when you get there. He tries anything you bust him." Tom sighed and stood to follow Doug from the room when Fuller called out behind him.

"Tom?"

"Yes Coach."

"Anger doesn't solve anything. She's probably hurting more than you can imagine right now."

"I know" he replied quietly, not sure whether to be angry or ashamed. The two seemed to be in constant conflict recently.

"Hey, I said I trusted you on this. I still do."

"Thanks" he said before leaving the room.