Again, sorry for the lack of updates lately! Other than writer's block, school has started up again and things have been super crazy without a car for a couple of weeks. Things are all fixed and I'm trying my hardest to update everything. So, here's the next chapter. Please review!

Later that morning, Maggie was still working on her report for Ecklie. The sun had already risen, another hot day in Vegas on the way, and it was almost eleven o'clock. Ecklie had allowed her until her next shift to finish up and already, the night's events – only hours before, she noticed with weariness – had exhausted her. Only the reassuring love Nick seemed to still have for her was still and it cheered her up slightly.

But, what can I do with it? We can't work together and be dating. Look where it got us last time! Dammit, what can I do? I love my job, but now, it's starting to fall apart again. I can't go back to library work, like my mother did when she needed something to do or we needed money. It bores me now. I need something new, something that will keep me on my toes and also keep me from expecting something that was unexpected. Michael's been doing that for me sometimes, but I don't spend too much time with him because of this damned career and working all the time.

Oh, people were right. I love being a C.S.I., but I used it to solve too many puzzles, things I wanted to personally solve, like my parents' murder. However, it also helped to catch Jason Napolitano…and then it had him killed…and then the career went totally downhill and came back up when I moved back here. Most people had forgotten about the shooting a few years back unless they squint and ask. And usually, I have to deny it. I don't want any attention.

Jesus, I'm thirty-four years old now. I have a child from my parents' murderer, the love of somebody I thought I'd never see again, the admiration of my brother, nephew and new sister-in-law and a friend who is now dead and was playing with me all along, but loved me to death like the friends we were. Dammit…Ursula's funeral is next week and her sister-in-law is meeting up with me tomorrow, when she flies in from Montana. Why does she want to meet up with me anyway?

As Maggie worked in her office – Ursula's belongings still there, as if she was still alive and coming in for her shift – Ecklie had come to the door. Watching her work like that, with so much on her mind, almost made him pity her…almost being the key word. Grissom had more faith in her than he did and always asked for her back, even after she left Vas Vegas. However, Ecklie wouldn't listen to the supervisor and stood his ground, citing several reasons until Grissom wore him down with the request. So, after it was heard about the lab that Maggie O'Keefe had come back to town, Ecklie allowed Grissom to extend an invitation to work at the crime lab again…and one for Ursula Kearns also, who everybody had been looking at since she was fired in New York.

Ecklie, politely enough, knocked on the door after watching Maggie for a few minutes more. "There's somebody who wants to see you," he only said as Maggie looked up when noticing his shadow out of the corner of her eye. Then, stepping aside and disappearing into the crowds in the hallways, a small figure ran into the office with obvious glee.

"Mommy!" Michael yelled as he ran to Maggie and jumped into her lap as she rolled her chair back.

Grabbing her child before he fell off of her lap, Maggie hugged Michael tightly, smelling his hair and feeling a sense of calm descend upon her, despite another shadow coming into the sunny office. Maggie paid no attention to the other person, but was soon laughing without feeling it, without really knowing why, her sole attention on her son.

This is my life. I can't exchange anything else for this.

"Ahem," the other person almost yelled as mother and son bonded, startling the pair in the chair. "I think we need to talk, Maggie, before you get sucked into your child."

Maggie looked up, seeing her brother Eddie staring at her, studying her, as if she was some animal in the zoo and not his younger sister. "What do you want, Eddie? I thought that you were done with me. I thought you and Grace did not want to see my face anymore."

"What is that all for? What, I can't come visit you in your office and bring your son with me? Besides which, Maggie, you have a penchant for leaving our family in protective custody. Chris, Rachael and Robbie were not the only ones who were watched all the damned time."

"And this is my fault why?" Maggie snapped as she picked up Michael and set him on the floor, taking a large rubber ball out of her desk drawer for him to play with. Then, getting up and closing the door, she stared back at her brother. "This is just another case of revenge. It was not Ursula's fault that she was caught up in this. Christ, I don't know what else went on in his life, Eddie, but I thought that she was my friend. I thought she was truly a friend."

"And she could still be, if you remember it that way instead of how she died," Eddie insisted.

"Since when are you on my side and giving me advice? Last time I saw you and your wife, majority ruled and I was kicked out of the house. It took me ages to get my furniture out of the house and still try not to fight with everybody. Hell, and we used to get along, Eddie. You took care of me when you saw me and kept me protected."

"Yeah, and I thought that we were safe until Mom and Dad were murdered by that freak."

"Be careful of what you say in front of my son, Eddie, unless you want to start paying your hospital bills and another year of therapy for him."

"Wow, aren't we feisty as always? Geez, who taught you self-defense?" Eddie laughed. "Come on, Maggie, I'm here to apologize. It's just my strange way to tell you that. I wanted to see you, too…to see how you were doing. I missed you. Grace, well, she doesn't really, but she can deal with it if I say so."

"I take it she doesn't have much to keep herself busy with?" Maggie asked, crossing her arms stubbornly, still wanting to hear those two words instead of explanations and stories that took them off the subject.

"No kids yet, so I'm thinking about adapting or something."

"I bet she doesn't like that."

"Neither does her mother!" Eddie blurted out. "She wants her own children, carried for nine months and popped out the traditional way. I keep thinking that we're at the age when we're done with kids biologically, but Grace doesn't like to give up so easily. She isn't a stickler for other ways to getting kids."

"So I've figured." Maggie was quiet for a moment. "But, aren't you –?"

"Going to say that I'm sorry? Sure, I'll say it. I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything. I feel really bad that I kicked out you. It was quiet without you. No adventure or danger or anything."

"Haha, very funny."

"No, not quite funny, Maggie, but serious. I know what happened. I know what went on from Point A to Point B to Point C as soon as you left Las Vegas a few years back. Don't deny it either. People talk, you know."

"Care to enlighten me as to who is sending you these bulletins about me?"

"No, I'm not, just in case you decide to run off again. However, all I'm going to say is that you should stay here. I don't know about your career choice still, but I'm pretty sure that you'll find something new to explore. I don't think crime investigating is your thing anymore."

Maggie was about to deny it, but kept her mouth shut. She knew that it was true and that her career – back at the top of her game once more – was going downhill again. She was bored and needed something new to do.

"Furthermore," Eddie continued, "I think you should reevaluate everything. I mean, you're still hanging around Nick, which I think is a good thing because you both kissed and made up. If you two work out everything, then you'll have a happier relationship."

"Are you suggesting that I get back together with him?"

"I'm not a relationship therapist, but I can still see that you two still have an attraction to each other."

"Oh, please, Eddie, get a life!"

"Mommy, are you coming home?" Michael then asked. He had long ago stopped playing with the ball and was listening to the conversation above his head.

"Today, yes," Maggie reassured her son. Then, turning back to Eddie, she said, "I don't know, Eddie. I really don't. I want to and I don't want to. There are pros and cons to this."

"Well, what does your heart tell you?" Eddie asked her, the noise outside the office suddenly becoming louder.

Without hesitating, as if she knew from the start, Maggie replied, "I want to be with him. I want to be with Nick."

"Can't this wait until later?" Brass asked as he suddenly opened the door noisily without preamble. "We have a serious problem here."

"What now?" Maggie asked frantically, going over to her son and picking him up and setting him upright, ball still in his hands, still listening to the adults above his head.

"Tanner has escaped," Brass replied, out of breath.

"Which one escaped?"

"Quentin escaped. He was being transferred out of here when he overpowered the guards and made his getaway. It was all planned. He's nowhere to be found right now."

"Dammit!" Eddie then swore under his breath, aware of what had happened beforehand.

"What should we do now?" Maggie asked frantically.

"Keep on your guard," Brass answered. "We've already posted that he's a person of interest and wanted for arrest…again. The states of California, Montana and New Mexico are also looking for his ass and want to have him prosecuted as soon as we catch him…or somebody else does."

"Great, just great," Maggie replied quietly, sighing as she put her hands on her son's shoulder to steady him. "Next thing I know, we'll next hear about him murdering another innocent person because he or she was close to Jason Napolitano."

"My Daddy?" Michael asked out of the blue, tugging on his dirty mother's shirt, aware that she had not changed and showered in a day.

"Your father, but not your 'Daddy' in any sense," Maggie only said to him, thinking.