'Javi, your phone is ringing.'

Esposito groaned, reached past Meredeth to the night stand where his Blackberry was buzzing away. He and Meredeth had fallen asleep crossways in the bed the previous night after making love, and this morning the extra distance only made him crankier.

'Espo.'

'It's Beckett.'

'What time is it?'

'Almost five. Get your ass to the precinct.'

He groaned, rolled to his back. 'Why do you want me there at the ass-crack of oh-dawn-hundred?'

'Because we have a whole lot to go over today and I think I've figured out how to bring all of these cases together.'

'Oh, you are a bitch, Kate. Fine, I'll be there in twenty.'

'Make it fifteen.'

Esposito clicked off, then went to reach for Meredeth and found she'd already left the bed. Looking over he saw she'd slid out to put on her kimono. 'Where are you going?' he asked her.

'If you're starting this early, that means a long day ahead, and I have waffle batter in the fridge. You and you coworkers need a solid breakfast.'

'I love you so fucking much, Mere.'

Meredeth leaned down, took his face in her hands. 'I love you so fucking much Javi. Go get a shower.'

Fifteen minutes later, Esposito was dressed and ready to head out to learn just why Beckett sounded like she'd downed a dozen triple espresso so early in the bloody morning. In his haze of thought, he tripped over one of Arturo's massive rope toys which had him cursing under his breath.

'Damn dog, you should learn to pick up your toys,' he grumbled, then glanced up when he saw his daughter's door open and Tessi came out, bleary-eyed and smacking her gums. 'Princess, why are you up?'

'I have to wizz, Daddy.' She blinked hard, looked at her father. 'You have to go to work?'

'Yes, I do, Tessi.'

'Oh. You're going to catch the bad guys, the ones who bought the killer that hurt Kate's mami, right?'

'That's right, princess.'

Esposito watched her disappear into her room, then come back with a little scrap of paper. 'What's this?' he asked, unfolding it.

'It's a turtle, Daddy. Dell told me they are great protectors.'

'That they are.' He looked at his little girl. 'Tessi, are you worried the bad guys might get me?'

'A little.'

'Well, they won't now that I've got this. Come here.' He crouched down, and Tessi gave her father a hug and a kiss. 'I love you so much, princess.'

'I love you too, Daddy. Now I really gotta wizz!'

Tessi darted into the bathroom while he folded up the picture, and tucked it into his wallet, next to the first picture he ever took of Meredeth and himself together. He headed for the stairs and when he came up behind Meredeth, who was putting the lid on a container and popping into the thermal bag.

'Gimme one for good luck.'

Meredeth turned around and laid her lips on his. 'Always, baby. Make sure Kate eats.'

It surprised Adam a little that Beckett was calling him in so early, but then again, that he'd been tagged at all for this case when he was a civilian had thrown him off his game. Obviously she needed him doing more paper work again; if there was one thing most cops hated, it was paperwork, but Homicide cops seemed to doubly hate it.

He'd stepped onto the elevator from the underground parking garage and saw a hand keep the door open so he could squeeze on, and Adam grinned when he saw it was the lady herself.

'Morning, boss,' he greeted her.

'Morning Adam. Nice to see you're at least half-awake, unlike the other members of my team.'

Adam shrugged. 'Being on a lot of night shifts while I was on patrol means

'You're like Rick that way. You ready for the interview this morning?'

'I think so, though mostly, I just want to know why we're all here so early.'

The doors dinged open onto Homicide and before either of them set foot out of the lift car, they could smell it, clearly as sharks scenting blood in the water. They literally followed their noses to the conference room and Adam felt his eyes pop like daisies out of his head.

'Oh, wow.'

The conference table had had one end entirely covered with Meredeth treats - not just the waffles she'd made, with the option of lingonberry jam, whipped cream or butter for toppings but also small tupperware container filled with cubed cheese, another one with fresh fruit; on top of that there were two two-quart bottles of ginger-mint lemonade, and a few smaller bottles of her signature red-raspberry iced tea.

Esposito and Ryan, and oddly enough the captain, were all there, filling picnic reusable plastic picnic plates, and Esposito looked up with a grin. 'That's what Meredeth said the first time she saw me naked,' he replied with a wink as he handed Beckett a plate.

'Dude, this looks really good, and I want to not throw it up,' Ryan said, stealing a piece of Swiss from his friend's plate. 'But as much fun as the treats are, it still doesn't explain why we're all here at barely five-thirty in the morning.'

'Food first,' his partner insisted, and handed Beckett a plate with a waffled already on it. 'Meredeth's orders.'

'You are one lucky bastard,' Montgomery comment as he sipped the bottle of iced tea he'd snagged for himself. 'And I am curious as well, Detective.'

'Okay, I was thinking on this last night,' she replied with her mouthful; manners be damned, once she'd smelled Meredeth's home-cooking, she was powerless to ignore it. 'It's got two parts, before my mother's murder and afterward. We've gotten all the before and that's all nice and organized, but we need to dig into the before, and I believe we'll find it by looking into the murder of Officer Matthew Montrose out of the seven-two.'

'How do you figure, that?' Montgomery asked.

'His case was the one that got Roman Moore arrested, right? What if we look into the records on his murder and see if we can move back a step in time there as well, to figure out the why of why someone wanted Matthew Montrose dead. We figure out why someone wanted him dead, we have our conspirators and that gets the dominos bumping into place.'

'We need more to go on than a hunch, Beckett.'

'Okay, then how about this? Mike Doran and John Raglan were seen going to Records together, but one was narco, one was Homicide. The potential this is about a case they had overlapping isn't entirely a bluff. So why not follow through and get those records, see what we're dealing with over Montrose's case, which links to Moore, which links to my mother and her colleagues, which pulls in Adam's father.' Beckett gestured with her hand like a ball was bumping down the stairs. 'We need to find what set that chain off and I'm willing to bet Meredeth's very fine waffles it's whatever Montrose figured out that got him killed and Moore was just a sucker for them.'

As it was the theory that made the most sense of all the information they'd culled, they chewed and nodded along with her reasoning. 'So what's the move this morning,' Esposito asked as he gulped down pastry and strawberries.

'You and Ryan are going to the seven-two for the records, while Adam and I take Cowlan in interview. Not that kind of interview,' she said hastily before the boys could get their dander up. 'It's a bluff of sorts as well.'

'That's a dangerous line, Kate,' Ryan observed.

'All I'm doing is asking some carefully worded newsletter questions,' Adam said. 'If he gets stressed out over those, then we have bigger fish to fry than getting into records at the seven-two.'

'Right now, we're going to finish this delicious meal,' Montgomery told them, 'then Ryan and Esposito, you two are going over to the seven-two to pull any records you can on Montrose. If the officer on the desk gives you static, go back with a warrant. You know Fuqua will give you one. Beckett you are going to look out for Adam in case things get sticky with Cowlan.'

Beckett shook her head. 'I have every faith in Adam that he can do this, sir.'

'Glad to hear it.' Montgomery gave her plate an avaricious stare. 'Kate, you haven't eaten enough.'

'Sir, I-'

'I'm your captain but I'm also a father, and you're a mother. Would you let RJ and Jojo play if they'd skipped their breakfast like that?'

'No, sir.'

Beckett looked down at her plate, then added, 'If any of you gets the bright idea that this is a joke for others to hear, you're sorely mistaken.'

'Eat your breakfast, Kate,' was all Esposito said.