A/N: Ok, so...I think I definitely know where things are going to go from here on out, but thar remains subject to change. Until such change happens, that is all.

The house on Staten Island had become their second home. It was there that the two of them stayed, even after everyone else was gone, passing their baby brother back and forth as needed, and otherwise staying quiet. It was stupid, really, Kathleen thought, lying on her back in one of the spare bedrooms. They were finally free; they were home again, and there was no need for them to worry. And yet they were still worried. Afraid to close their eyes at night for fear of what would come out of the shadows, knowing now the true dark side of life, and neither of them liking it.

Eli had fallen asleep again, a few minutes after she'd given him a bottle, and was now downstairs with Elizabeth, who'd taken up her sketchbook again. Their father had brought a few things over from the house in Queens, obviously meant to make them feel more comfortable where they were, but it hadn't yet worked. The black case that stood up next to the nightstand held her violin, but in the days that she'd been home, Kathleen had made no move to open it up, see if it was still tuned properly, and play a song or two. She stared at it for a moment, and pushed herself into a sitting position as the door to the room opened.

"Oh...sorry, love. You weren't asleep, were you?" Erin asked, absently. She was holding a bag of something that Kathleen couldn't see from where she was, but before she said anything, Erin went on. "I picked these up at the store, thought you might like them."

She held the bag up, and Kathleen was unable to hold back a smile. "Gummy coke bottles?" she asked. Erin nodded.

"You're the only person I know besides Jimmy who likes them, and I haven't pissed him off yet this week, so he can get his own," she said, amused. "Try not to eat them all at once, kid, your father will have my head."

She threw the bag over and Kathleen caught it. "Thanks," she said. "I'll try not to. Is Lizzie still downstairs?"

"Yeah, she's in the kitchen; the baby's asleep in that car seat. I've got to head back to the precinct, but if you need anything, just call me, all right?"

"We'll do that. Thanks again for the candy."

Erin offered up a faint smile of her own, but said nothing, instead leaving the room and pulling the door closed again behind her. Kathleen remained in her sitting position, still looking towards her violin case. It had been so long since she'd last played, really played that she wasn't sure she still remembered how to. Even so, she mused, it was still worth a shot. And so carrying the bag of candy with one hand and the case with the other, she headed downstairs. Sure enough, Elizabeth was there, drawing with one hand and absentmindedly rocking the car seat holding Eli with the other.

"He's sleeping, Liz," Kathleen said, and Elizabeth jumped, before turning to glare at her older sister over her shoulder.

"Don't sneak up on me like that," she said, her other hand leaving the car seat to swat in Kathleen's general direction. "Seriously, Kat, you scared the hell out of me."

"You didn't even hear Aunt Erin leave again, did you?" Kathleen asked, and Elizabeth gave her a startled look.

"I didn't even hear her come in," she admitted. I've been too busy drawing...trying to keep my mind off everything, y'know?"

"Yeah, I know." Kathleen tore the bag of candy open with her teeth and poured a few into her hand. "You want some?"

Elizabeth looked to see what her sister had, and shook her head. "Nah. You're like the only person I know who likes those things."

"They taste like Coca-Cola; I don't know why you don't like 'em, heaven only knows you and Dickie down the actual soda like nobody's business."

"Very true. While we're on that subject, you wanna grab me a can out of the fridge?"

"How many have you had?"

"Not nearly enough. I've been deprived for over a month, Kat, cut me a break, will you?"

Kathleen laughed. The sound was almost strange, to both of them; it had already been so long since they'd had any reason to laugh that for a while, she'd almost started to think they'd forgotten how. From the half-amused look that had crossed Elizabeth's face, Kathleen could tell that her younger sister had been thinking the same thing. She pulled open the refrigerator and pulled out two cans, handing one to Elizabeth and keeping the other for herself.

"So, what was it like in Maryland?" she asked. "Or do you not want to talk about it?"

Elizabeth sighed, and looked back down at her sketchbook. "It was Maryland," she said, shrugging. "What am I supposed to say? I got dropped off in some little town called Rising Sun and then the state troopers found me, took me to Baltimore the next morning, and then Dad and John came down to get me."

"You told 'em you knew someone in Baltimore, didn't you?" Kathleen asked, and Elizabeth nodded.

"I do know someone in Baltimore," she said. "We both do. Kai's a cop down there now, remember?"

"Oh, yeah...I keep forgetting she moved back down there, it seems like she's up here every other weekend." Kathleen trailed off and sighed. "So you went to Baltimore and then what?"

"Met a few of the murder police. Actually, I met two cops from the Arson squad first, but they were all right, too. It wasn't much. Dad didn't want to drive back up to New York that late at night, so we just stayed with Munch and two of his old friends from high school. Kai was there, too."

"And then you guys just came back here? Did Dad take you by the house in Queens or did he just bring you straight here?"

"Brought me straight here. You must've been gone." Elizabeth looked up from the sketchbook and went on. "Somehow, I get the feeling Dad doesn't want to go back out to Queens until everyone else is home."

"Same here." Kathleen glanced over at the violin case she'd put on the table. "I was thinking about maybe playing a song or two."

"Really? That'd be awesome. I haven't heard you play in ages, and who knows? Maybe it might help."

Both of them seriously doubted this, but it was still worth a try. Kathleen opened the case and looked down at the violin inside, a faint smile crossing her face.

"I remember when I started learning how to play," she remarked. "You needed earplugs just to walk into the house."

Elizabeth laughed. "I'll bet. I feel sorry for Mom and Dad, having to put up with it."

"They got used to it. I did get better, y'know, it's not like I stayed awful forever. You know those CD's I got...that classical techno stuff?"

"The ones I uploaded onto the computer?"

"Yeah, those ones. I can play a few of those songs, just without the techno stuff. Taught myself."

"Dad always said you were better at playing by ear than anything else. Can you read music?"

"Yeah, I can read music, but I don't particularly enjoy it. You sure you don't mind if I play?"

"Nah. Go ahead. Might even keep the little one over there asleep."

"Oh, nice, Liz. Let him sleep now and then keep Dad awake all night. I'm sure he'll be thrilled." But Kathleen lifted the violin anyway, and positioned it at her shoulder before reaching for the bow. "Anything you want to hear?"

By the time the Major Case Squad found Tony Martin, it had become increasingly obvious to them that SVU was closer to an answer in Baltimore than they were in New York, but it didn't really matter. As long as they got the answers they were looking for in New York, what happened in Baltimore didn't particularly matter. Now that they had Tony Martin in an interrogation room, they were about to get somewhat closer to the answer that both units had been chasing after.

"Look at him. He really thinks he's done nothing wrong." Standing in the observation room, Mike shook his head, an annoyed expression crossing his face. "He has no idea Kathleen gave him up."

"He probably thinks he's got no reason to believe she'd give him up," Jimmy remarked. "She did tell him that she didn't want anything to do with him anymore."

"Most likely because she recognized the signs that said he was gonna start getting abusive," said Mike. He trailed off and shook his head again. "This idiot knows she's a cop's daughter. He had to have known that wasn't going to fly with her."

"Even if he did, he probably didn't care. If he thinks he had no reason to believe she'd give him up, then he knew she was afraid of him. He'd have expected that she'd keep it to herself."

"As far as we know, she did. I mean, there aren't any police reports, no record that anything happened...I'm not saying nothing did, but Kathleen didn't exactly tell us why she left him in the first place."

"Well, then, maybe he'll tell us. I'm sure he didn't take too well to being broken up with." Jimmy turned and walked towards the observation room door, pulling it open and walking halfway out before he realized Mike wasn't coming after him. "If you don't want to do this..."

"No, I can handle it." said Mike, following him out. The observation room door closed, the sound echoing somewhat, and he went on. "It's just a lot to swallow."

"I know the feeling." Jimmy pushed open the interrogation room door open, and motioned inside. "After you."

Mike cast a half-amused look in his commanding officer's direction before walking into the interrogation room. Tony Martin was leaning back in his chair, looking like he was fast asleep, but as soon as the door slammed again behind Jimmy, he leaned forward with his eyes open.

"Guess you two think you're something, walkin' around here in Major Case," he said, with thinly veiled sarcasm. "My mom's a cop. I know my rights. I ain't gotta tell you nothing."

"Contrary to whatever it is that you believe, Tony, you're not actually under arrest...yet. We just want to talk to you," Mike replied. He pulled out a chair and sat down as he continued. "Any idea what we might want to talk to you about?"

Tony glared. "I got better things to do than sit around talkin' to the five-oh," he said. "Like I told you, I don't have anything to tell you."

"Actually, you said you didn't have to tell us anything," Jimmy said dryly. "Which is, actually, true, but the fact remains that if you don't talk to us, we're liable to think you might have done something."

"Or that you're planning on doing something," said Mike. "Tell me, Tony, have you seen Kathleen Stabler lately?"

"Define lately," Tony replied, still with the same note of sarcasm. Mike gave him a look.

"About a month and a half ago today," he said. "Ring any bells?"

Tony shook his head, smirking. "Nope," he said. "Not one. Ain't had nothing to do with her since I broke up with her."

"Really? That's not what she told us. She says that you came around her place a few times, begging her to take you back. What happened, Tony? You finally hit her one time too many?"

"Never laid a hand on her, and she's a damn lying bitch if she told you I did," Tony retorted. "What'd she say to you?"

"Nothing that you need to worry about...yet." Jimmy opened a manila folder that he was holding onto and continued. "You've been busy over the past couple of years, haven't you?"

"Nothing that I can't handle. What's it to you, anyway?" Tony asked.

"That actually depends on what you've done," said Mike. "See, over here, we investigate whatever the brass tells us to do...high profile murders, kidnappings, the sort of cases you see on the news, y'know?"

Tony nodded; Mike bit back a smirk and went on. "Anyway, my captain and I, before we came over here to screw around in Major Case, he was Narcotics, I was Homicide. The stuff you don't hear about, right?"

"Yeah, right, whatever."

"Well, see, now that you're here in the Major Case interrogation rooms rather than say, Vice or Narcotics, or even SVU, it means we think you've done something that's probably going to get you a long while in prison. Twenty-five years, maybe life, but hey, that's nothing for a guy like you, right?"

"Shouldn't do the crime if you can't do the time."

"Think you can do the time, Tony? Or do you wanna help yourself out and maybe end up with ten or fifteen?"

Silence. No answer came, not that Mike had really expected one. Near the door, Jimmy looked up from the record he held.

"Says here you've been locked up on assault charges," he said. "What'd your girlfriend to do piss you off?"

"She didn't know her place. Thought she could walk around telling me what the hell to do. Don't think so," Tony replied, looking over at him with a defiant expression. "And before you ask, I left Kathleen because she was getting too damn annoying."

"That's not what she told us," said Mike. "She told us that she broke up with you and that you came around to get back together with her, but she told you to go screw yourself."

"Now, what could you have done that's bad enough to warrant that?" Jimmy asked. Tony looked over at him.

"I never went over to her place, so whatever she told you, she's lying her ass off. Probably got herself in some kind of trouble and now she's trying to put it all on me."

"So, if we were to ask her siblings whether or not they saw you on the day their home was invaded, then what?" Mike asked, serious now. "Would they tell us that you weren't there?"

"How the hell am I supposed to know? I don't know what they saw, and I don't really care. They can't prove nothing, 'cause there ain't nothing for them to prove."

"So if we put you in a lineup, Kathleen's siblings wouldn't be able to identify you, then," said Jimmy.

"No," Tony said flatly. "They wouldn't, 'cause I never went by her place, and besides her and that crazy father of hers, no one's seen me."

"Trust me, kid," said Jimmy, glaring now as he yanked the interrogation room door open to leave, "You haven't seen crazy yet."

"I still can't believe you actually had the nerve to request time off. Do you have any idea what the Feds are gonna do if they decide they want to arrest you and you're not there for them to arrest?"

"Two can play that game, Kay. If they want to hold back the evidence they supposedly have against me and make me wait, then they can damn well wait until I go back to New York to arrest me."

"Playing games with the Feds isn't the best way to go about getting out of trouble with them, John." Kay cast her former colleague a half-exasperated look and shook her head. "I'm surprised Detective Stabler agreed to leave without you."

"Elliot is about as pissed off at the Feds as I am," John said dryly. "If they wanted to arrest me, don't you think they'd have done it a long time ago?"

Kay narrowed her eyes at him. "Don't you start playing those games with me, Munch, you'll lose," she said. "They had to have something for you to be in trouble with them."

"They do. Or at least, they think they do. My dear partner in New York called me last night with the news that that CSU turned up evidence that someone broke into my apartment. Didn't take anything, but apparently, they left something behind to put the Feds onto me as a suspect."

"What does your unit have to say about it?"

"They think it's a load of crap, thank God. I don't know what I'd do if they'd decided not to back me up."

"They have any reason not to?"

"You wound me, Captain Howard. I hate to think you have such little faith in me."

"I've known you for too long. Over the years, my faith in you has either disappeared or become misplaced; I haven't figured out which one is which yet."

"I'll keep that in mind. In the meantime, I also got a call this morning from Detective Stabler's partner informing me that our Major Case Squad has picked up a potential suspect in the home invasion part of this."

"Have they?" Kay leaned forward in her seat and continued. "You get anything else?"

"Not yet. Apparently, this kid has so pissed off Mike Logan and his captain that they left the interrogation room and told two uniforms to take him down to Central Booking."

"Are they going to arraign him on anything?"

"Assault with intent on a police officer. Apparently he fired a few shots when he saw Logan and his partner coming after him. Luckily, they weren't hit."

"Well, thank God for that," said Kay, and then, "We still haven't found your old radio car partner. It might help us out if we did even if he only remembers as much as you did."

"Somehow, I doubt that," said John. "The night we found Katherine Annello in that alley, he was three sheets to the wind. I don't think he remembers anything."

"He was drunk and you didn't say anything?"

"Believe me, I thought about it, but at that moment, there were more important things to worry about. By the time it was over, I'd forgotten about it. And before you ask, no, I didn't let him drive."

Kay smirked. "Well, at least being a cop managed to teach you some responsibility," she said. "Have you had a chance to talk to Whitmore and Kellerman yet?"

"Not yet. I was going to head over to their squad room, but I overheard the brass on the stairs while I was coming up here...They're curious as to why two Arson detectives are working on a cold case that technically belongs to Homicide."

"It involves a fire; it's a joint unit thing," said a new voice, and then, "I wasn't interrupting anything, was I?"

"Quoting Frank now, are we?" John asked, and then, "No, you weren't interrupting anything. I was just leaving, but now that you're here, I suppose I can stick around a while longer."

"I'm honored," Tim said, smirking. "To what exactly do we owe your extended presence in our fair headquarters building, anyway?"

"He doesn't want to go back to New York and deal with the Feds, though at the rate he's going, they're gonna come down here after him anyway," said Kay. "What've you got for me?"

"Another appearance," said Tim. "Munch, even if the Feds don't have anything against you, they have a reason to stick with this."

"Enlighten us, then," John replied. "What reason do those idiots have to keep their nose in our cases?"

"The Stabler family's officially crossed state lines," Tim told him. "Beyond the state troopers picking Elizabeth up in Rising Sun, I mean."

"You said something about another appearance," said Kay. "Who did this guy leave behind this time?"