Maggie, Ursula, Eric and Michael stepped off of the plane when they had reached Las Vegas, their final destination. Stretching and tired out and yawning as they walked (all had napped, but were still tired), the foursome went to the gates, ignoring the crowds (mostly tourists, Maggie knew) around them, and stopped inside of the airport, grabbing a bench near the restaurants. Maggie seated Michael on the end of the bench, standing up with her bag. Ursula and Eric took the other end, draping their own baggage on the end of the bench.

Ursula smiled, looking around. "So, Maggie, you haven't told me about how you lived in Vegas," she squealed, excited to be with her best friend. "Eric was telling me you lived there while you were sleeping on the plane. I mean, as a teenager, it must have been boring a little, but when you got back, it must have been amazing!"

Maggie, trying to get her purse out of her carry-on bag and seeing if she could get Michael some food (Where the hell did I leave my money?), stopped fidgeting. "Huh? Oh, yeah, I've lived here before. It was for a year in high school and then I came back some years ago to get some things settled down. You know the rest." She gave Ursula a look – one that told her to keep quiet, unless she wanted Eric to ask questions – and went back to the task at hand.

"I'm just happy to be here," Eric mumbled, suddenly turning his head to watch Maggie fumble with her purse as she got it out of her carry-on bag. "Maggie, hand the purse over. I'll take the kid out to lunch. Just stay here. I'll bring some food when Michael's done."

Eric got up and grabbed Maggie's purse straight out of her hands, then taking Michael's hand and dragging him to the nearest pizza place, the child whimpering as he was dragged. Maggie just looked at them both, without saying a word, and then sat down next to Ursula, silent.

"Why do you let him do that?" Ursula asked quietly as the couple left.

Maggie felt tears run down her face quickly and without reason. "I don't know," she whispered back. "I don't know, Ursula. I love him. I don't know why."

"You're going to lose your child if it keeps up…" Ursula trailed her statement, but stopped. "Child Services are not nice people. You know that. And since you seem to have a nice record, they're going to use it against you. You have no idea, Maggie. My ex-husband was cruel to me, too. He took my twins away from me because of some incident, when I was four like Michael, and they put it on record. You know, I was jealous of my brother being born and taking my mother away from me that I tried smothering him with a pillow. Luckily, my stepfather sensed something was wrong and caught me in time."

"You've never been a person to share with others. Your father taught you that before you left, huh?" Maggie laughed. Her tears were still on her face. "You don't share well, either."

"Yes, I didn't share my children well with my ex," Ursula replied, trying to laugh as well. "He was an abusive bastard and, when we went to court for custody at the divorce hearings, he used it against me and Child Services took my twins away from me. They thought I was a dangerous mother."

"But you aren't," Maggie remembered, knowing Ursula's twin girls were the only happiness she had before moving to Hartford and meeting Maggie. "Well, I know you're not dangerous."

"Yes, I know, and I know you're not either." Ursula sighed. "Michael looks enough like Eric for him to say that he's his child. And, without a DNA test, the man could take your child away from him and you won't see him again, like I can't see Yvette and Pamela."

"He could." Maggie became quiet, twisting her black hair into knots as she took hold of it. "But we all know he's the son of Jason Napolitano. I mean, little things about his father are there, strange things that I remembered. Like, I don't know, Michael likes shredded cheese on his sandwiches instead of sliced cheese. It was something Jason always complained about in the school cafeteria when they had sandwiches for lunch, like he couldn't think of making his own lunch." Maggie paused, remembering. "He once played a prank on the cafeteria ladies and dumped sliced cheese from the school roof on them when entering to make breakfast. It was like, five in the morning, but they knew who it was."

The other woman giggled, covering her mouth with her hand. Her dark brown hair even shook as she finally let it out, breaking some of the tension.

Maggie smiled too. "I don't know what else to tell Michael. It was hard enough to tell him that his father was dead and that Eric is someone I love and should be a father figure. He doesn't understand why and neither do I. I was thinking, when Michael was older, that I'd tell him everything, but being four years old…almost…is too much. I can't do it to him. It's not fair to him at all."

Ursula entwined her fingers into Maggie's as she scooted closer, taking her friend's thinning figures out of the black hair, already with white strands. "Shhh, Maggie. It'll be ok. Right now, I think you should worry about the funeral and seeing your old co-workers. Plus, you have a new apartment to worry over and a child to put in school after the summer ends. I mean, Michael is starting Pre-School in September and next year, Kindergarten! He's growing up!"

"Yeah, he's growing up too fast," Maggie replied. "It seems like yesterday I was in labor with him, for hours. And then I was fine and Nick was with me and…" She stopped, choking back a sob as she tightened her fingers around Ursula's.

Her friend shuddered for some unknown reason, but continued to comfort Maggie, allowing the tears to wet her shoulder. Ursula herself knew something was wrong with coming here, but she felt no choice. She felt as if it was her destiny.

~00~

Driving to their new apartment – Ursula was going to live with the threesome before she found her own place – out on East Tropicana Avenue, Maggie drove past familiar sites, scenes and smells of Las Vegas, all never changing except the name on the buildings. Casinos, restaurants, hotels and the like graced her eyes once more as she passed them, knowing that her son was intently plastering his face on the rental car's window, practically drinking in everything in the city.

"It looks like Michael's enjoying himself," Ursula commented from the front passenger seat, looking back to Eric, sleeping in the back seat of the care again. He wasn't paying attention. Good for us, especially for Maggie. She needs some privacy, especially to talk to someone.

"Am not," Michael whined, but his glance still was on the casino they passed. "It looks like home, Ursula, but it's busier. I thought it was going to be better for us. Mommy said so."

"It is, sweetie," Maggie replied, trying to concentrate on her driving and not yelling curses out the window at idiot drivers and traffic ahead of them. "This is the city part. We'll be in our new home soon enough. It is fifteen minutes away. And it's nice, Michael, I promise. I used to live here, in a nicer area."

Michael didn't reply but continued looking out the window, allowing Ursula to reply for him. "Oh, Maggie, he'll love it here. I already do. So, are we there yet?"

Laughing like kids again, Maggie answered, "Soon enough, Ursula, soon enough. If we get there in fifteen minutes, I'll be happy. If I had my way, we'd be there in five minutes."

"But, fifteen minutes is too long!" Ursula snickered, trying not to instigate anything with the child in the back seat, but failed when Michael laughed along with them, giggling.

Suddenly, as they laughed, Maggie's cell phone rang, showing Grissom's number on the screen, making all three stop their silliness. Since traffic was not moving (and the law said nothing about talking in traffic), Maggie picked it up immediately. "Hello?"

"Ah, Maggie," Grissom relied quickly, without greeting. "Are you in town yet?"

"Umm, yes, I am." Maggie moved the phone from her right ear to the left and kept her eyes on the road, in case traffic moved again. "What's up, Grissom? Is the…funeral…earlier than I thought? I didn't miss it, did I?" She tried not to break down on the phone – knowing she'll have to let it out somehow – and kept a stony face so nobody knew her emotions.

"No, oh, no," the night shift supervisor replied. "It's in three days. I am wondering if you brought your family with you."

"I brought my boyfriend, son and a friend from the Hartford lab." Maggie felt confused. "Why are you asking? We bought an apartment here in the city and are heading there now. I'm only talking to you because traffic is horrible and we're stuck here."

Grissom was silent for a moment – pausing before talking, Maggie knew – before saying, "If you could, I need to talk to you. Meet me in my office tomorrow or the day after, if you could." With that, he hung up.

Maggie, as well, hung up and put her phone back in her purse as traffic moved in front of her. That was weird. But, thank GOD, traffic is moving again. Come on, come on, you can keep moving! I hate you all, but I have to get to our new apartment and settle down for once. Come on, come on, you all can move faster!

"What was that about?" Ursula finally asked as Maggie found a lane that would get them to their new residential street. The right lane was finally opening up and she took the chance.

The other C.S.I. shrugged her shoulders, sighing. "Oh, I don't know. It was Grissom. He asked me to come talk to him tomorrow or the day after. What it's about, I don't know."

"Well, I guess you'll find out soon enough," Ursula replied as a driver cut Maggie off, finally allowing her to curse, ignoring Michael's complaints in the back seat about how his mother was talking like Eric.

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