Epilogue
Written ages ago, as it just came to me while messing around trying to get Word to work.
I hope you've enjoyed Flack and Bec's little journey. Please let me know if you want me to develop anything else…
Disclaimer: Aside from the Rhodes family (and a few new extras), Alliance/CBS/Jerry own everything else, except the music, which is owned by the owners (and not me)
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Five years later
Driving back to the precinct, Flack looked over at his wife, who was staring out the window. Silence was not really her thing.
She must still be in shock, he thought.
"Babe?" he asked.
Rebecca Rhodes Flack's head turned to look at her husband. She was glaring at him.
"You OK?" he asked, knowing he was in trouble and exactly what for.
"Would you remind me," she said, slowly, "Just how I, sorry we, got in this position again?"
Flack smirked. The trip to the doctor's office had been, well interesting.
"Now honey," he said, "You're not seriously going to tell me you need me to explain the whole birds and the bees thing to you now this late in life?" he said jokingly, quickly regretting the words.
He winced as Rebecca thumped him on the arm.
"Babe," he said soothingly, "Can I help it if you find me just so goddamn irresistible?"
He flashed his devastating smile at his wife, who, slightly mollified, smiled back slightly. Flack knew he wasn't out of the woods with her. Roses, dinner and premium tickets at the next Rangers game, he thought, should sort that one out.
"I suppose not," she replied, "Although our getting carried away is getting out of hand!"
Flack grinned. Thanks to the trust fund Rebecca had inherited from her grandmother, it wasn't as though they had any money issues. They both had their careers, although Rebecca did more lecturing on forensic anthropology these days than time in the Crime Lab. They had a nice house, a happy family, WASP in-laws at safe fall-out distance in D.C. and money in the bank, not that they lived ostentatiously. And now, he felt that life was pretty much perfect, although he still got a bit of a rush when he raced after and took down a perp, just like he always had. He still got his man, he thought; correction - The Flacks still got their men.
And Rebecca did find him irresistible. As did he, she. She knew exactly how to wind him up, just as she always knew what the wicked glint in his eyes meant when he got in after a stressful day at work. Just like she knew what her wandering around the house after the kids were in bed, just in his old NYPD t-shirt and tiny shorts did to his state of mind. Flack also had to admit that the sight of his wife after a quick round of hitting the daylights out of her punch-bag (which now hung in their bedroom) pretty much did it for him too, as the combination of a light sheen of sweat, labored breathing and the latent aggression (for both of them) usually had them locking their door and having some "mommy and daddy time" pretty much the minute he realized what she was up to. The Flacks' insanely happy and passionate marriage was a source of envy and wonder to many of the CSI and NYPD officers, many of whom had had relationships and marriages break up due to the toll the job took on inter-personal relations.
Flack was pretty sure he knew exactly when they'd conceived this time. Rebecca had been up in D.C. paying a dual visit – duty visit to her family and personal (and real reason for the) visit to Dr Temperance Brennan, a.k.a. Bones, who had finally managed to convince her partner, FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth, that they should have a baby. Or, as Booth had told Rebecca over the phone, he'd been so blinded by science and Bones' typical genetics arguments, plus nature versus nurture, not to mention the guilt trip she'd piled on him over the hours they worked together (so she never met any potential baby fathers), that he'd given in. Mind you, Rebecca had suspected that it was really because he adored Bones and plus, Parker had been agitating for a little brother or sister and now he had a little brother; Zachary Brennan Booth. Rebecca had assured Flack that Bones had pretty quickly figured out which way was up, plus Booth was an experienced and doting father. Rebecca thought that odd couple was kind of sweet, thought Flack. He just felt sorry for the poor kid, who would probably learn to count by counting bones from one of his mother's cases, but hey – chemistry and logic were funny things. Bones just had a funny way of putting things, but was very determined and liked getting her own way. He wasn't sure that Bones had realized the babies had minds of their own though and didn't read the baby manuals. Flack, prepared for once for her return and stressed out over playing Mr. Mom for 5 days, had managed to pack the kids off to the Messers' house so he could have some "alone time" with his beautiful wife. Danny, typically, had quite understood, but not without a few wise cracks on the side.
Not a day went by that he didn't thank god Rebecca Rhodes had decided to move into the apartment down the hall. And not a day went by when he didn't think of with pride the way Rebecca had stood up to her mother in the middle of the Crime Lab after they had arrested the man who had been plotting to kill her for so long and told her she would not be moving back to Washington to take up a position as society sweetheart and marry some trust or hedge fund jerk her mother thought was acceptable. Oh no, Rebecca had announced she was staying in New York. With her handsome detective.
Of course, the events, of just a couple of hours later, when Rebecca had found out her mother had stupidly tried to buy him off (which Rebecca, budding ace detective and CSI that she was then had instantly sniffed out), had kinda knocked him for six. Rebecca had insisted on publicly embarrassing her mother by dragging her down to the precinct on charges of attempting to bribe a police officer. Flack had gone along with it – after all the woman was a nightmare and needed taking down a few pegs – besides, he had to admit, watching a stormy and angry Rebecca taking on the bitch from hell was quite a turn on.
Till Rebecca had explained just what part of the reason she was staying in NYC was. The surprise she had told him she would be telling him over dinner had turned out to be blurted out in one of the 3-5's interrogation rooms. With an audience of the CSI's finest (including one D. Messer) and a crowd of his NYPD colleagues watching from behind the mirrored window.
He, Donald Flack Jr, was going to be a daddy. Not quite how he wanted to find out about impending fatherhood though and he'd been in a state of shock for quite a while. It had taken several minutes of the captain waving his hand before his face, before a sharp slap from Jess Angell had brought him back to the land of the conscious, to see a sheepish Rebecca blushing and smiling shyly, right before he had grabbed her in the biggest hug of her life for making him one happy man. Engagement and wedding had followed pretty quickly after that and Aisling Caoimhe Flack had arrived eight months later, spitting image of her mother, with her father's eyes, hair and coloring, quickly wrapping her proud daddy right round her tiny fingers.
Grandma hadn't been charged, but she knew when she was beat. Rebecca had become a catholic, to Grandma Flack's delight, although Flack always suspected that was largely to annoy her Presbyterian parents as well as helping forge stronger family bonds. Flack was a man who went to church with his family every Sunday, when he wasn't called to a scene. And he was a man who came home to a family dinner as often as possible, as he wouldn't let his team down, a fact Rebecca respected. If she was honest, his dedication to his career and fellow officers was one of the things she loved about him.
Eventually, they pulled up to the precinct and got in the elevator, taking it to the 35th floor. They stepped out and headed to the break room, where Aisling was coloring a book, alongside her best friend, Louise Messer, who had paler hair, but matching blue eyes, just like her daddy. Aisling looked up at the approach of her beloved parents, unnoticed by Lindsey, who was wiping something that looked like chocolate off her daughter's face. Lindsey was also pregnant again, around six months. Aisling shot off her chair and launched herself at her father, who grabbed her and swung her up in the air, to her delighted giggles. She rubbed noses, an Eskimo kiss, with him. Lindsey looked up at the group of three.
"So," she asked, "How did the doctor's visit go?"
Rebecca sighed heavily. "Well my OB-GYN is going to get some repeat business again," she said. Lindsey shrieked and grabbed her friend in a big hug. Rebecca returned the embrace, by now smiling.
"That's fantastic!" said Lindsey, "Now that's three of us!" referring to Stella Bonasera-Taylor, who had recently announced she was expecting as well.
And then she asked the million dollar question, just as Danny walked in to see what all the noise was about.
"So how many are in there this time?" she asked.
Rebecca took a deep breath and held up two fingers.
"Again?" squeaked Lindsey.
"Man," said Danny, quickly catching on, "Flack, what are you producing – super sperm or something?"
They were both referring to the unexpected arrival of DJ and Joe Flack barely a year after Aisling, which had surprised Rebecca and Flack. Now, three years later, another set of twins was set to take the Flack tribe up to five.
"Well, I'm working on the hockey team," said Flack, "All I need is for the boys to be drafted to the Rangers and Rebecca and I can retire to Bermuda!"
Rebecca glared at her husband.
"Honey," she said, "I am not going for the whole hockey team. This time is absolutely the last."
Flack patted his wife on her butt, once he had put their daughter down to run back to her friend Louise. He kissed her on the cheek.
"That's what you said the last time," he said, right before he was swatted across the back of the head by his rapidly irritated wife, for his idiotic comment.
"Uh Flack," said Danny, clearly recognizing a man in need of rescue from the hormonal women gathering, "You wanna come check out the DNA from that case me and Mac have been working on?"
"Sure," said Flack, grateful from the opportunity to escape from the women, who were now clearly planning their baby showers and another expensive pre-baby shopping trip. The two men walked down the corridor to Trace, where Adam and Mac were putting the final stages on their report for the DA. Mac spent a lot more time in Trace than his office these days. In his office, he was a great deal more visible to Stella, than hiding behind monitors in Trace, not that anyone would ever suggest that to the boss, mused Flack. While Stella and Mac were insanely happy at their unexpected miracle pregnancy, Stella's hormones had caused her to become one slightly crazy woman at times, running from tears, to joy, to rage quicker than Sid could come up with some crazy-assed comment.
True to form, while the men were talking, said light of Mac Taylor's life stormed into Trace, demanding to know why she had been restricted (on doctor's orders), to the lab. Flack had retreated, leaving Mac to face the wrath of his lovely, but pregnant, wife. Going back to collect his wife and daughter from the break room, he saw Chief Sinclair bearing down the corridor towards him. The chief stopped in front of him and fixed him with a look.
"I hear double congratulations are in order again, detective," he said.
Flack grinned. "That they are, sir" he replied. The chief shook his hand.
"There's getting to be too many damn kids around this place," he grumbled, but Flack knew he didn't mean it. Aisling and Louise had the man pretty much eating out of their pretty little hands. The man NYPD's finest were terrified of had a major soft spot for the two future CSIs. He'd even agreed to open a crèche, although that had been at Stella's, uh, request. Bonasera-Taylor was the only person Sinclair was scared of, but her reasoning had been sound; it did get some of the most talented people on the force back to work that much quicker when they knew they could go cuddle their babies any time they wanted. And that was just talking about the men. Walking into the break room, he walked up to his wife and put his arm around her shoulder. He kissed her forehead.
"Let's go get the other two rug-rats from the crèche and head home," he said. Rebecca put her arms around her husband's waist and turned her face up to his, softly kissing his lips.
"That sounds perfect," she said, smiling, all the shock of the morning giving way to a rush of love for her husband.
And the five Flacks headed home.
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Later that night, as he held his sleeping wife in his arms, Flack couldn't resist thinking about the day he'd met her.
Yeah, he thought, things had definitely looked up the day she'd moved into 3D.
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And that's it folks! Thanks for staying along for the ride. I really hope you enjoyed. Yeah, I know MrAprilFoolsWatanuki – I'm a closet SMACK'd shipper,m even though Flack's my man, with his blue eyes and fugly ties .
And Spanky, Tinks, everyone who has stayed along for the ride – I simply couldn't bear to do any re-writing and add any more smut to the epilogue. Nooooo – we have to have our Hallmark fromage moments as well LOL!
I've got a lot of school work on at the moment, but if anyone wants to know how Stella and Mac get together in my world…..
….drop me a line and I'll see what I can do!
And in the words of Danny Messer. BOOM. Done.