If Not for You

Part 3

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As the sun began to set, Emily set the bucket down and blew at her bangs.

Her stomach grumbled; it had been more than five hours since she last ate and it was protesting angrily.

Luckily, they were finished with the housecleaning. Flack was in the bedroom folding his clothes, fresh from the dryer.

Emily walked to the bedroom and was happy to see that he, too, was done.

"I'm done. And my belly is angry at me." She leaned against the door frame.

Flack grinned at her as he set the empty laundry basket down and nodded, "Yeah, I was about to see if you're done with the windows. I'm starving too!"

"I'm going to wash up real quick and change." She reached for her go bag.

"I'll wait for you out there." He pointed towards the living room, now sparkling clean.

An hour later, they were seated at one of their favorite diner, Giana's.

It was a mom-and-pop restaurant situated in 'Little Italy'. It was busy by the time they arrived but they didn't have long to wait as they sat down by the big window looking out into the street.

Mamma Giana recognized Flack and greeted him warmly and was pleasantly surprised to see Emily as it had been quite some years since she was last there.

"Emily! It is so nice to see you! What have you been doing?" She asked as she gave Emily a big hug.

Quickly, Emily gave her a very short and concise version of her life since she left New York when she was a teen.

After a few more minutes of catching up, Giana left them to their beer as she told them that she would have their dinner ready. Giana knew what they liked whenever they came and made generous portions for them.

To no one's surprise, Emily's dinner was her favorite; spaghetti and meatballs.

Emily laughed, "After all these years, she still remembers." She happily dug into the pasta and meatballs.

Flack grinned, "You made a good impression on her by finishing her meatballs, of course she's not going to forget you!" He laughed.

"Thank goodness she does. This is so delicious!" She said with her mouthful.

Flack watched her, smiling. And something about her he had not seen. Sometimes the laughter was not reaching her eyes.

"So Em," He had to know.

Her mouth full she looked at him, "Hmm?"

"Why are you here?"

Emily frowned, "What do you mean? I came for you."

"Yeah, but really, usually you'll be talking about your work and what a great team you have and that hard ass boss of yours but so far, you have not mention anything at all."

Emily put her fork down, "Don, I just want to take some time off from work. And you need me. I know you're not going to admit it but you do so I'm here."

"Em, I admit it. I'm glad you're here and I'm thankful because you're my wake-up call. I don't know what would happen if another day had gone by as I continued that path before you came along. Last night, for the first time, I slept without dreaming of Je…Jess when I got to her, lying on the floor in her own blood. I dreamed of our happy times. I felt peaceful. And I thank you for being here."

Emily smiled, "I'm glad. You needed to be at peace. Those last couple of years, it must be hard for you. And after three years, it's time to move on."

"I know. At that time, I was not ready. Not a day goes by I don't think of her. When I walk the streets, I see her. When I'm at the precinct, I see her. She is everywhere. But this morning, when I was jogging, I was expecting to see her but she wasn't there. She was not anywhere anymore. I felt sad but I knew that I'd finally let her go."

Emily nodded and held his hand. "That's a good start. And when you go back to work next week, you'll not see her anymore as well. She's at peace and she would not want you to feel like that. I would like my best buddy back."

Flack squeezed her hand, his eyes teared, "You do have your buddy back. And I couldn't have done it without you."

"You know I'm here when you need me."

As she spoke, she heard a scream. They both looked out the window; a man was kicking another man who was lying on the ground, a woman was screaming hysterically.

Flack and Emily took one look at each other before they scrambled out of their seats and rushed out, their weapons drawn.

Luckily, traffic was scarce as they ran across the street and towards the commotion.

"NYPD! Get your hands up!" Flack pointed his gun at the aggressor.

"Please!" the screaming woman pointed to the victim who was lying down, his face was bloody. "Call the ambulance! He's been stabbed!"

Flack looked down and saw the hilt of a knife sticking out of his abdomen.

As Flack was distracted, the aggressor shoved Flack down and ran.

Emily took off after him.

Flack wanted to give chase as well but the victim was breathing laboriously, his blood oozing out of the knife wound.

"Oh my god! Oh my god! Steve! Someone call the police!" the hysterical woman continued screaming.

Tired of her high decibels, Flack glanced up and yelled at her, "Shut up lady! I'm a cop!" he figured she didn't hear when he identified himself to the aggressor just now; she had not stopped screaming since it happened.

As soon as he was able, he called into the PD and for an ambulance. And waited. He was not entirely worried about Emily but then, the man was aggressive.

Keeping his mind off her, Flack began to question the woman who had thankfully stopped screaming.

In the meantime, Emily was closing in on the aggressor.

"Stop! FBI!" She called out.

The man didn't stop, in fact, he picked up speed when he heard her identified her agency.

"Oh no you don't!" She followed suit; picking up speed as well.

The chase ended less than a minute later when the man tripped on his own feet.

Dumb ass! Emily thought as she grabbed his arm trying to restrain him.

"God damn it, bitch! Get the fuck off me!" the man struggled against her.

"I will when you stop squirming!" she elbowed his lower back hard.

"Ow! I'm suing you for abuse, bitch!" he hollered.

Once she had her handcuffs on his hands, she hauled him up and smacked him against the wall of a building. She searched his body for any weapons or items of potential harm.

All she found was a little pack of white substance.

"Been visiting the dust fairy? Wilbur?" She was reading his driver's license. "Wilbur? Dang! No wonder you have a complex issue. Your mom must've been drunk or high to give you this name, Wilbur!" She chuckled as she began to catch her breath.

"Look bitch! I ain't got no mamma! That bitch got her fucking ass shot by her fuckboy!"

"Aw! I'm so touched," she said sarcastically. "Come on, let's go see about some new accommodations for you." She grabbed his collar and his cuffed hands back to where the accident was.

"Fuck you, bitch!" he cussed at her.

Emily tightened his collar and laughed when he gasped for air. "You sure like it rough, don't you? And keep calling me bitch and you'll wish that you didn't come out of your playpen today."

When they arrived at the scene, Flack came to them, "I see you caught a little fish!"

Emily nodded, "How's the victim?" She was watching two paramedics attending to the man who was still down.

Flack sobered, "I don't think he's going to make it. There was a lot of blood." He waved his hands; they were bloody.

"Fucker deserves that!" Wilbur spat. "Ain't no brother play on my ho."

Flack shook his head, "No wonder she ditched you, you don't call your girlfriend a ho."

"Our friend, Wilbur Thompson, here has a present from the fairy." She held the packet out for him."

Flack chuckled, "Wilbur? Your mamma must love you very much!"

Emily shook her head, "Oh Don…don't talk about his mother, he's a little touchy and emotional about that."

"Fuck you bitch! And fuck your boyfriend!" Wilbur yelled.

"No thank you, Wilbur." Flack said as he took Wilbur in custody from Emily. "But I have some really nice friends in your new home. I'm sure you guys are going to bond very well!" He took him to the LEO who had been standing near Flack.

The paramedics finally stood up, their facial expression told them the news; the victim had died.

Then a familiar voice came from their left, "For someone who's supposed to be on leave, you sure took the meaning of rest to a new level!"

Flack turned around and smiled, "Hey Mac, fancy seeing you here too."

Mac gave him a look, "So, I was told the two of you are witnesses to this crime?"

"Kinda. We were at Giana over there," Flack pointed across the street. The front of the restaurant was now crowded with onlookers; some busy trying to take shots of the crime scene with their cell phones.

"And heard Miss Tonya Williams screaming very loudly," he continued. "We saw the dead guy on the ground as our friend Wilbur kicked him, and a knife sticking out of his abdomen."

Flack continued to brief Mac on the situation: Tonya Williams' current live-in boyfriend was Wilbur. He had caught her with the now deceased LaMonte Bowes. When confronted, Bowes taunted Thompson as Tonya, in the middle, told Wilbur that they were through. Angry at her, and angrier at her new boyfriend who began laughing at him, he pulled out his knife and lunged into new boyfriend's stomach and began kicking him. Girlfriend stood next to downed new boyfriend, screaming. That was when Flack and Emily heard her and came running. Jilted boyfriend resisted arrest and ran; Emily gave chase and caught up with him. After a brief struggle, she was able to cuff him.

The last part from Emily.

Mac nodded as he listened to them, and saw how Emily's eyes sparkled. Mac found that he liked her eyes. They were nothing like Claire's whose eyes were blue. He usually watched women with blues more and he would compare those with Claire. But not this time, Emily's brown eyes were bright, exciting and lively.

"Mac?" Flack called to him. "Mac?"

Snapping to the present, Mac looked at Flack.

"You okay?" It didn't escaped Flack from the way Mac was looking at Emily. Flack saw Mac's looks lingered on Emily and began to wonder.

Hmm…Mac? Emily? Flack thought but then he shook his head. No, Emily had said that Mac wasn't her type.

Mac nodded, "Yeah. I'll take a look at the vic. This looks like a cut and dry case."

"Yeah it looks that way. We're going to the precinct and give our statements."

"Okay. I'll see you around. And probably you too, Agent Prentiss. Flack doesn't seem to be able to stay away from his job."

Emily smiled, "From what Don had told me, you are just as bad as he, if not worse."

Mac found himself liking her smile and smiled back, "Don't believe what he tells you about me. He loves to exaggerate."

"We are leaving, Emily!" An embarrassed Flack dragged Emily from the scene.

They crossed the street to get to the restaurant as they still had to pay for their food and Flack's car was parked on the other side of the restaurant.

Giana refused their money, saying that they had done a good deed this evening, apprehending the killer and drew a big crowd. Many of the on-lookers came into the restaurant and had a meal while they looked over the crime scene. It was a very good and profitable night for her business so dinner was on the house.

Flack and Emily thanked her and got on their way to the precinct.

"Pretty exciting evening, isn't it?" Flack remarked as he drove out of the parking lot of Giana's.

Emily nodded.

"How about, after our reports, we go get a beer or two?"

Emily turned to him and nodded; she was pleased to hear that he wanted to be out and about instead of moping around the house. Granted, he would be downing more beer but at least he was out of the apartment for a while.

"That is a great idea, Don. Let's go!" Emily agreed enthusiastically.

Then she remembered what he had said about being at work, 'seeing' Jessica Angell. She hoped that he meant what he had said earlier, that he was at peace and had willingly let Jess go.

At the same time, Flack was thinking along the same lines. He had not 'seen' Jess at all the whole day. Would he 'see' her when he arrived at the precinct?

Well Jess, we had a talk last night and so far I'm still doing good. Will you be there at the PD? Or are you really gone? If you are, you know I love you forever.

…End of Part 3…