"Nikki."

"And then he had the nerve to-"

"Nikki."

"Right in Eric's restaurant!"

"Nikki!" Erica shouted, cutting off the boy's rant. Her hazel eyes slipped to over to Marcy, who was watching with quiet amusement as Erica tried to spare her feelings. Of course, Nikki's crazed, insensitive rant was fun too. A small smile rested on the side of her mouth as the pair stared at her. Putting his head down in shame, Nikki gestured behind him.

"I'm gonna go, shower or something." He said lowly, leaving the room as Erica stood. Or at least attempted to. Standing, Marcy pulled the small woman from the couch. A grunt came from her as the anthropologist hulled her to a standing position. Letting out a deep breath, she smiled. "Thanks, Marce."

"No problem," She smiled as she went on. "You need to stop worrying about me. And don't fret over Adam."

"Why not?" Erica quirked a brow as her friend's smile saddened slightly, but did not drop.

"Because I'm the one who told him to go for it with Kendall."

Wide eyes stared back at the tall woman. "What?!" Erica snapped, "why the hell would you do something like that?!"

Marcy shot her an exasperated look. "You know why."

The woman's bottom lip quivered a moment before she shook her head, "no, you can't be serious."

"I am." Marcy sighed, wrapping her sweater a little closer to her lanky form. "I know what Adam wants," She shrugged, ignoring her friend's glare, "and I can't give it to him."

"Have you told him about all this or are you just doing that ominous, he'll figure it out eventually, thing you do sometimes?"

"Oh, the latter."

Erica let out a humorless chuckle as she got her jacket from the closet. "That's not very fair."

"What the fuck do you know about fair, Erica!?" That was it. Marcy had finally snapped. She loved Erica, she was happy for Erica, but that did not give Erica the right to tell her about what was fair. Nothing was fair. Tears welled up in her eyes as she shook her head, "I'm trying to do something nice for him and you think I'm being unfair?! I'm trying to do what's best for him and whenever I tell someone that they look at me like-" She was panting now, and tears were rushing down her face, catching in the scars. "Like I'm some cruel bitch, but I'm not! I want him to have what he wants, and I can't give it to him!"

Erica watched helplessly as the woman began to sob. Raking her hands roughly over her pale face, Marcy turned away from her. Taking a moment to compose herself she let out a deep sigh, as Doctor Sweets had told her to do. "I can't give him what he wants." She repeated. "And…that's just something I'll have to deal with in my own time. But it's not fair to ask him to…"

She shook her head as she scratched her neck. Erica pulled her into a hug, kissing the top of her head as she tried to compose herself. "It's okay to let it out, sweetie."

"I know." She sighed, closing her eyes a moment, "I just don't want to."

-

Kendall and Adam were still there when Erica made it back to Puffs. His eyes widened at the sight of her before he grinned. "Well, look at you!"

The pregnant woman smiled softly and accepted the hug that was offered. "I know."

"Congrats, Eric didn't mention how…" He could tell he was going in the wrong direction so he changed the original word, "radiant, you are."

"Nice save." Kendall muttered. Her brown eyes drifted to Erica, who looked suspiciously like Eric. It was kind of eerie. Replace the boobs and blonde hair(and the pregnant belly) with male features and bam! Eric. She held out her hand. "I'm Kendall."

"I know who you are." Erica drawled, giving her a once over. She was pretty, tall, blonde. Barbie-ish, even. Instant dislike. "Marcy said you work at the crime lab. She says you're hot and awesome."

Adam stared at the petite woman. Surprised Marcy had told her that. Surprised Marcy had told her anything. Her russet eyes went back to his blue ones as she spoke, "Danny was over there tonight. Marcy was rather receptive of him."

The couple, well, pair, really, watched as she undid her coat. Adam with shame and slight jealousy, Kendall with fear. She knew Adam would go back to her. It was only a matter of time. She was just a distraction until that happened.

"Oh?" Adam said, clearing his throat, "what for?"

"Dunno. Just visiting I guess."

Eric stepped back into the store. "Fuck it's getting colder every goddamn-hey babe." Planting a sloppy kiss on his girlfriend's cheek he gave her swollen stomach a rub. "How ya doin'?"
"Good." The woman grinned up at him a moment before remembering there were others in the room. "Harper go home already?"

"Yep. Finished her shift half hour ago." Eric leaned on the counter. Smirking at Adam, he said, "Ya know I think there must just be something about the Allerdyces 'cause that girl's head over friggin' heels for Nikki."

"The lanky kid?" Kendall quirked a brow, he was cute, she supposed but…over dramatic.

"Yeah," Adam nodded, clearing his throat, slightly bitter about Eric's situation. Lucky bastard. "Nikki's her younger brother."

"Wait, doesn't she have a younger sister? Ella?"

"Yeah, she does." Eric said, helping Erica sit in a booth.

Adam watched, trying to ignore the lingering conversation he had with Marcy before she had left the first time. He spoke quickly, raising his eyes to the clock on the wall. "I thought Nikki was only sticking around a few days?"

"He was, but then along came Harper and well," Erica smiled, "you know. He's smitten is all."

The adults smiled at each other a moment.

-

She looked so much different. Marcy stared at her a moment before dropping to her knees. "Oh my god, look at you! You're, you're-" Her eyes widened, "oh my god, you're a little adult now!"

Cara grinned at her. "I know! Isn't it great!?"

"Oh, and look at you're little bag and jacket and everything!" Marcy took hold of the young woman's lapels as she looked up at Helen, who beamed down at her, "Where'd you get this!? And do they sell it in adult sizes?!"

"No, Marce, they don't." Helen said, rolling her eyes.

"Oh." Marcy put her arms around the girl as Cara threw her arms around her. Looking over her shoulders, she continued, "Well, they should."

Helen shook her head, but the smile didn't leave her painted lips as she watched Marcy brush her daughter's hair back. Cara had been devastated by the news, and Helen and Marcy had agreed that the girl wouldn't see her until she was well enough. For Marcy that meant the scars on her face had healed up enough so it wouldn't scare the child. For Helen that meant the skittish attitude would be gone. And most of it was, so they had decided Cara could stay the night, as long as Nikki was near by, and Cara called her mom before she went to bed. Or if anything went wrong. Which mean the little one got to hold onto Helen's cell phone. Oh, yes, there would be long distance calls tonight.

But all that could be dealt with later. For Marcy knew the moment Helen stepped out that door, it was her duty to pump the child full of sugar and introduce her to movies she was most likely not mature enough to deal with. Welcome to Jurassic Park indeed.

Helen had been gone about half an hour when it started. One; the dvd player didn't work. Well, it wasn't so much as it didn't work as neither of them knew how to work it, and Nikki (who had just returned from a date with Harper) had decided taking it apart was the only thing that would fix it. Two, Helen had dropped Cara off with little warning, so the junk food was limited to a box of Twinkies and maple syrup. Three, some where between all this happening, Cara had brought it up. She wanted details, she wanted times and dates, she wanted when it happened, why it happened, and where the 'fucker' was. At first, Marcy was a little shocked by the cuss, but she let it go. It would've been rather hypocritical to correct her, seeing as the woman had dropped the 'f' bomb in front of her on numerous occasions. Shrugging, she rolled the Twinkie in the maple syrup.

"Well?" Cara looked up at her, an angry curiosity burning in her big green eyes, "did they get him?"

"Yes." Marcy replied stiffly, before dropping the Twinkie into the frying pan. This experiment was hopefully going to go well.

"And he's never coming back, right?"

Giving the girl a reassuring pat on the head, Marcy nodded, "of course, dear. The evidence is overwhelming, so it's safe to say he won't be seeing the light of day for a long time."

"Well, who found you?"

The woman's hands shook slightly as she turned the Twinkie, but Cara paid it no mind. "Well," Marcy inhaled deeply, "actually it was Adam."

"Adam? Like my Adam?" She asked, a grin springing to her face. "That's so…what's that word that's like love but not?"

"Infatuation?"

"No, it's rome…row-"

"Romantic?"

Cara pointed an index finger at her, "that's it!"

Blue eyes rolled, but a smile snuck onto Marcy's pale features regardless. Plucking the Twinkie from the steaming frying pan, she plopped it onto the girl's awaiting plate. "I think there's whip cream in the fridge."

A shriek from the living room was heard, but went ignored as the two sat down at Kira's fancy kitchen table. Of course the topic was not changed.

"Did you thank him? Mom says you're supposed to thank some one when they do something nice for you."

Blinking, Marcy tilted her head, eyes drifting upwards in thought. She had thanked him, right? No. "Uh, not exactly."

"What?! Well," Cara looked positively aghast. It was cute. In a horrifyingly uptight kind of was. She crossed her arms, "you have to call him."

"Excuse me?" There was no way in hell Marcy was going to obey the wistful commands of a nine year old. She had a doctorate for god's sakes!

-

"Hello?"

"Hi, Adam." She sighed. God damn it.

Shocked into silence, Adam sat up from his couch. "Marcy?"

"Yeah, hey, what's up?" Trying to remain calm, the woman was content to glare at the girl's triumphant smirk. Adam opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by her rushed continuance. "That's great, look, I just wanted to call and thank you," Marcy sighed again, agitated, "for ya know, finding me in a serial killer's basement before he, ya know…hacked me up into pieces and sent my discarded body parts back to the Jeffersonian."

"Um." Adam cleared his throat; he hadn't read that part of the case file yet. Dry mouthed and a little stunned he nodded to himself. "Uh, well, no problem, Marce."

"Well. Thanks." Bending her knees up and down, she groaned as Nikki entered the room, "oh, come on, you promised you wouldn't destroy it."

"What?"

She glanced at the phone as Nikki set the mutilated device down and picked her Twinkie up, "not you, look, I gotta go. Cara sends her acknowledgements."

"Okay. Bye." He muttered.

Looking at the ground she dropped her voice as well. "Goodbye."

There was a soft click, and Adam couldn't stop the grin that was settling on his lips. It didn't come off for the rest of the night.