Author Note: Thank you for all of the comments, etc. from the last chapter. When I was writing this next one I didn't realise where we were in the story, but apparently we've reached the end. This is the penultimate chapter, which means there's only one more left. I'm not sure I'm ready to say goodbye, but we are where we are.

"Are you sure this is the best place?" Jane asked, her hand on the base of Maura's spine as they walked into Maura's office. "A work environment isn't exactly suitable for such a big conversation."

"I don't know where else to do this," Maura said, placing her purse on the coffee table. "I need somewhere where I feel comfortable, but it also needs to appear neutral enough that Gregory feels comfortable. Besides, I'd rather be here where I have people around me than at home, alone, all afternoon."

"You sure you don't mind Luke helping us out upstairs?"

Perching on the edge of the couch, Maura took Jane's hand. "I don't want him anywhere near Gregory right now. If he's willing to pick him up and carry him out of my house when I'm not even there, I fear what he could attempt to do."

"I can be here if you want," Jane said, sitting down beside her. "I don't want you doing this alone."

Sitting up a little taller, Maura placed her hand on Jane's thigh and gave it a squeeze. "Thank you. But I need to do this myself. I need to stand up to him, and show him that he can't hurt me anymore."

"I could wait in the lab."

"You have work to do," Maura said, slipping her hand across Jane's back and edging closer. "I need you to watch Luke, so I only have to worry about one thing at a time."

"Okay." Kissing Maura's head, Jane wrapped her arms around her tightly. "I'm here if you need me."

She stood. Maura felt colder without Jane beside he. She stood up next to her and gave her another hug. "I appreciate it."

"Dinner at the Robber?"

"That would be nice."

x

Entering Maura's office, an hour later, Greg banged his balled-up fist down on the desk in front of her. She lifted her gaze, taken aback by his outwardly aggressive action. She shut the lid of her laptop. "What the hell are you playing at Maura? Where is my son?"

"He's with Jane."

Shaking his head, Greg's nostrils flared, his voice raised. "This is not okay. You have no right to him. You should have called me the second he was found. I have custody, for God's sake."

"Do you?" Maura stood up, keeping a semblance of calm in her voice. She ignored the shake in her hand and passed a document across to him. "If I'm not mistaken the custody agreement, as outlined here, states that you have physical custody. I have the right to visitation, and I also have the right to joint legal custody."

"So?"

"You broke the law."

"I did what was best for Lucas."

"You did what was best for yourself."

"You don't honestly believe this, do you?"

"That I have a right to see my son?" Maura asked. "Yes. I do. I've had my lawyer verify the documents and they're correct. You had no right to remove Lucas from Connecticut after the court case."

"I have physical custody," he shouted, leaning against the desk. "I can do what the hell I like, and there's nothing you can do about it."

"I beg to differ, Gregory." Maura walked around her desk. Gregory's temple pulsed, his hands still balled up. Breathing slowly, deeply, Maura maintained her composure. "You kept Lucas from me for twelve years. I had the right to see him, I had the right to make decisions for his future and you took that away from me."

"Because you weren't fit to be his mother!"

"I was ill, Gregory," Maura shouted, anger getting the better of her. "I was under pressure and I was stressed and that affected my judgment."

"So, you admit it," he said, smirking.

"I admit that I was not in a position to care for Lucas on my own," she said. She edged closer to him, cautious of his level of anger. She pushed through any sense of fear. "But the fault was not my own."

"Not your own?" He shook his head. "You can't talk to people, Maura, you're so…autistic…"

Taken aback, Maura scoffed. "I am nothing of the sort, and neither is our son."

"Luke? What's he got to do with it?"

"You told him you thought he was autistic, you told him he was too like me."

"He is borderline." Gregory turned around and ran his hand through his hair. His breathing grew more laboured with every passing second. He turned again, facing Maura, his teeth gritted tightly together. "You should see the way he obsesses over things. Just look at how he's been since he came to you. He's like a dog with a bone, he won't give up this stupid obsession with wanting to be with you."

"He wants to know me. He wants to know where he comes from."

Maura stalked across the room to her bookshelf and scanned the titles. Her best line of defence was to show how unaffected she was, she knew that now. He played on her weaknesses and she wasn't willing to show them.

"Then he can go to his grandparents," Gregory said, marching up behind her. "He doesn't need you."

"But I understand him," she said, twisting her head to look at him.

"Understand him? You barely understand yourself."

"You don't know me anymore, Gregory. You have no concept of the changes I have made to my life, or the personal development I have made."

"I don't need to. You and Luke are scientifically defective."

"I beg your pardon." Maura stared at him, her mouth agape. She turned back to the books, shaking her head as she crouched down to the bottom rows.

"I read up about autism," Gregory said. "It's all about DNA. This is your fault my son has turned out like this. You ruined everything."

"No." Maura stood, lifting a book up. She held her finger out in front of her and faced him. "No. I will not let you speak to me like this."

"You are different," he said, narrowing his eyes.

"Because I won't lie down and let you bully me like you did throughout our marriage?" Maura asked, shoving the book into his hands. She walked across the room and settled down on the couch.

"What?" He watched her, confusion etched on his face. "Why have you…?"

Maura jumped in. The stronger she was with him, the stronger she felt, and all of the memories of her past dissipated into how she was now. She was in a managerial position; she spoke to people in high positions frequently, and she negotiated with people who weren't willing to compromise. She could deal with people like Gregory easily, it what she did.

"The causes of autism are uncertain, and are likely from multiple sources. Yes, genes are believed to play a part, but there are any number of outside factors that could contribute to such a diagnosis. Regardless, while Luke may exhibit some traits of autistic children, that doesn't mean he has autism. Maybe you should pick up a book now and again."

He turned the book over and scanned the cover. He tossed it onto the chair beside Maura. "I don't need your smarts, Maura, it's the only explanation for his behaviour."

Crossing one leg over the other, Maura didn't speak. She clasped her hands over her knee. The man in front of her was not the man she married. She watched his confusion, tried to understand the expression on his face.

"What happened to you, Gregory?" she asked, her tone softer. "You're the man who argued militantly for nurture when we would debate nature versus nurture. You were the person who insisted that the parent of a child is the sole cause of many of their adult problems. Does that all go through the window now that you realise that the sole cause of Luke's problems could be yourself?"

"Out the window." Maura rolled her eyes. "That is a lie, Maura!"

"Is it?"

"I gave Lucas everything he needed," he said, stepping forward. He towered over her as he inched closer.

Maura sat back, exuding calm. "You ignore him."

"I gave him the best education money could buy and he's throwing that away. I gave him a roof over his head, the clothes on his back."

"And you never listen to a word that he says," Maura said, leaning forward. "You do not pay attention to your child."

"I listen."

"Do you?"

"Yes."

"What does he think of his school?"

"He hates it."

"Why?"

"Because he's ungrateful for the opportunity I have given him, and his impairments make it difficult for him to create meaningful social interactions."

Laughing, Maura stood up. She stared at him, holding his gaze until he finally looked away. "So, it's nothing to do with the decision you made without him. Or the children who are immature, who he doesn't get along with because he sees the world differently than they do. It's nothing to do with his high level of intelligence making studying for levels below him boring and lacking in stimulation."

"He's not a genius, Maura, he's a kid who has an attitude problem."

"Why are you so insistent that he be tested for autism, but you won't even consider testing his intelligence?"

"He's a smart kid," Gregory said. "But he isn't anything special."

"What kind of a father says that about their own child?" Maura asked, stepping back.

"The kind who isn't delusional."

"I am not delusional."

"Did you ever tell your parents about Luke?"

"Pardon?" Maura frowned.

"It's a simple question. Did you?"

"N…no."

"Why not?"

"I have my reasons, and they are none of your business."

"You don't know how to be a parent, because you were never parented. Those people, they harmed you in ways you can't even see and now you're trying to tell me you have your reasons for keeping Luke's existence from them?"

"If you think they harmed me so much, then you would support that decision."

"They made you a terrible parent, they taught you to be socially isolated and care more about facts than people."

"Are you trying to accuse me of caring more about facts than my son?" Maura asked. She shook her head, aghast. "You are the person who insists that he has a mental disorder. You have treated Lucas in the same way my parents treated me, like he's wrong or defective for merely being different."

"That is not fair."

"Isn't it? Luke told me how you see him, how you ignore what he has to say. When was the last time you spoke to him like a father? Like someone who actually cares about him."

Stoicism replaced the anger etched on his face, he lowered his tone. "How I raise Luke is of no concern of yours."

"It is." Maura stared him down, desperate to hold him there, in that moment. She felt a fire burn inside, pushing her on, forcing her to continue her fight. "You stole him from me, you sought custody by using my insecurities against me. I didn't see it then because it was too hard, but every day since I walked out of the clinic after you took him. Every single day I have reflected upon the life we had together. You abused me. You abused your position, and you used that to push me out of Lucas's life."

"What are you talking about?" He asked, turning away. "You're talking nonsense."

"I see through it," Maura said. "You've been doing it all along, since you got back, you continue to treat me like I'm the problem. Look at you, you're telling me I'm autistic as though that would make me incapable of being a parent. But I'm not the problem. You are."

Spinning around quickly, Gregory's face reddened, the pulse on his temple grew larger. He stepped toward her, his eyes burning with rage. "I am a good father."

"You were a good father," Maura said, pushing down the fear that threatened to consume her. She couldn't break now. She sighed. "Now I'm not so sure."

Holding up his fingers, inches from Maura's chest, he stabbed the air. "You can't prove anything. I have physical custody and I am taking Lucas home."

"No. You can't."

"I told you, I warned you."

Maura stepped out from the space between the couch and Gregory. She walked across the room and picked up another piece of paper. Thrusting it into Gregory's hands, she smiled. "I have an injunction, stopping you from taking him out of Massachusetts."

"You can't do that."

"Yes, I can."

"Home state rules," he said, not even glancing at the paper. He lowered it to his side.

"Home state rules do not apply when Luke hasn't been living with either of us for six months. You moved him away from the state of our custody arrangements. Had you been living in Vermont with him then maybe it would be different, but you don't. You live half the world away."

"I had to go for work. Lucas is in a boarding school. It doesn't matter where I live. I come home for the holidays, that's what's important."

"No, it's not." Maura clasped her hands together in front of her. She felt a sense of power that she'd never felt with Gregory before, it coursed through her veins making her feel so much stronger. "Our custody agreement is over a decade old. Luke is old enough to make a choice, and he chooses me."

"That's not enough to win custody."

"No, I know. But if Luke constantly runs away from you, and comes to me, that is another reason to seek a change in circumstances. He's not adjusted to his school; he doesn't fit into the local community. He has no friends."

"None of that matters!"

"Yes, it does." Maura sighed. "Gregory, can't you see? He's happy here. He has friends, he has family."

"Your girlfriend?" Gregory scoffed. He held the injunction document up in front of them and screwed it into a ball, tossing it across the room. "I don't think she counts."

"There are people here who care about him," Maura said. "It doesn't matter if you think Jane counts, or not, he can have a stable life in Boston."

"It's still not enough."

"Not for you maybe, but my lawyer disagrees. You lied about the custody arrangements, and you illegally took him out of Connecticut."

"I've already told you…"

Maura cut him off. The harder Gregory fought against her, the angrier she became. "If I was to take Lucas to a physician who specialises in mental health conditions, I'm certain I could gain expert evidence testimony to the effects your living arrangements have had on Luke."

"Now you're accusing me of damaging my son?" He stepped back, his mouth open. "You can't win this. You can't take him away from me."

"Gregory, he will always be your son. I wouldn't dream of stopping all contact between you two, if that is what Lucas wants. But you need to realise that I'm not the push over you think I am. I know I've been weak recently. Seeing you again brought up a lot of painful feelings, and memories, and I let them get the better of me. I need you to realise that I am serious right now. You can consult with your lawyer, if you'd like, but your benign neglect of our son puts you at a disadvantage."

"Benign neglect?" He ran a hand through his hair and turned back and forth. "This is ridiculous. It's transference, Maura, this is about you and your inadequacies."

"No. It's about Luke and the damage you have done by treating him the way you've treated him since you took him away from me. I advise you to make an agreement with me now, for Luke's sake, that ensures that Lucas has a chance to rebuild his life."

"This is completely out of line, Maura."

"I want him living with me in Boston."

"I do not want him living with your girlfriend," he said, interrupting her.

Ignoring his attempts at thwarting her, Maura continued. "Jane doesn't live with me, but if she did, I doubt Luke would have a problem with that."

"I do not want him living with your girlfriend."

"I want Lucas living with me in my home, whether my girlfriend is there or not. He will go to school in the city."

"He is going back to Fairmont."

"In the holidays, you may come and visit, and if Luke wants, he can visit you in China."

"If he does not go back to Fairmont, then he will come with me to China."

"This arrangement will stand until he is eighteen, and finished with high school. He will go to the college of his choosing."

"He will go to Colombia."

"If you don't agree to the new arrangement, then I will take this further, and be assured, you will not win."

"You haven't been in his life for over ten years, who would give you custody?"

"Where have you been for the last twelve years?" Maura asked. "Luke told me about his life with you. How you would spend the summer in New York while he was in Maine. You've spent the last year in another country while your son is being cared for by his school. Why would you think you would get custody over me?"

"You can't do this," Gregory said, turning away. His voice grew weaker. He wiped at his face, his shoulders hunched.

For a moment, she felt sorry for him. "What's going on?"

"You can't take him away," Gregory shouted, but his shaken voice lacked conviction.

"Are you crying?" she asked, stepping around to face him. He looked away, sniffling. "Why/ Because you know you've lost?"

"He's my son," he said, tears laced his words, flowing down his cheeks. He cleared his throat and ran his palm across his cheek.

"He's my son, too," Maura said, feeling her emotions take over. "And you kept him from me for twelve years. I'm not taking him away from you."

"Yes, you are."

"Gregory, please," Maura said, reaching out to his face. He pushed her hands away, but she persisted, cupping his cheek. She brushed tears from his chin. "You're not happy. Luke isn't happy. I know you don't want to feel like you've lost, but this isn't about winning or losing. The longer you force Luke to go to Fairmont, the harder it's going to be to control him. If you take him to China, it'll only get worse. I know you love him, even if you don't tell him that. I've always known that you care about our boy."

"Then why are you doing this?"

Tilting her head to the side, Maura swiped a couple of tears from her own face. "Because he needs me to fight for him like I couldn't all those ago. He needs me to give him something you've not been able to."

"I tried," he said, leaning forward, his shoulders hunched. Great, gasping sobs escaped his lips.

Maura reached out, wrapping her arms around him. "I know."

"He's so much like you," he said. "I didn't know how to handle you either."

"I know." She held him close, her mouth against his ear. "We see the world differently than most people, and it can make it difficult to get to know us. The best way you can help Luke now, is to let him go, before it destroys you both."

x

"What's cooking good looking?" Jane asked, entering the office. Maura sat on the couch, staring at the table in front of her. Tears lingered in her eyes. She looked up at Jane. In an instant, Jane's face changed from cheerful to angry. "What did he do?"

Heaving a sigh, Maura held up a document. "He signed it, the agreement that Luke would stay with me."

"He did?" Jane asked, snatching it out of her hand and scanning the document. Open mouthed, she stared at Maura. "And you got witnesses and everything?"

"Kent and the Senior Forensic Technician."

Standing up, Maura stepped back as Jane wrapped her arms around her. Settling into Jane's arms, Maura pushed her face against the crook of her neck and allowed the tears in her eyes to skirt along her face. Her heightened adrenaline had finally settled down, and she couldn't quite believe what had happened.

"He can stay," Maura whispered, her tears quickly turned to sobs.

"Hey," Jane whispered, pulling back. "What's wrong? Why the tears?"

"I didn't…I didn't think I'd ever get custody of my son back."