Thanks for the feedback guys! Love that you loved it. Here is today's chapter. May have to hold off posting tomorrow as I'm just not writing fast enough but I will have something for you Tuesday at the latest. Any complaints, forward them to TheTBone who decided to get me into SVU this weekend.

Hope you enjoy - as always, would love to know what you think.

"Who do you think she's talking to?" Kasey whispered to Brandon as they sat on the bench at the station. They were watching Stef pace up and down, her arms waving as she spoke on the phone.

"She's already told Lena - it can't be her."

"Oh God, it must be Dad. He's due back in a week...Mom will have just about stopped yelling at us and then he'll come home with a new wave."

"You think Mom will have stopped after a week?" Brandon looked across at Kasey who shrugged.

"She's bound to have gone on to patronising digs by then, surely?"

"Lena will still be giving us disappointed looks." Brandon responded seriously as Kasey smirked at the joke in it but thought it best to remove it in case Stef caught her. The two of them felt awful but the surrealness of what had just happened was protecting them from the reality of how much trouble they were about to be in - more so how much danger they had been in and how wrong it could have gone.

Brandon looked up at Kasey as silence descended.

"Thank you, by the way. I'm sorry I got you in so much trouble - and for the danger I put you in. Obviously I'll tell Mom it was all my fault."

She gave a half smile. "Good. Because it was." she replied nudging him playfully. "But I didn't exactly stop you. And thank you for trying to protect me from Carl...even though we both know you fight like a girl." she teased.

Brandon furrowed his brow offended. "Hey! Though I can't exactly see that as an insult when you're a girl and you kicked ass." he knocked her knee with his.

"I'm glad you don't have any demon spawn." she added affectionately as Brandon sighed. "I hope you're OK." Brandon shrugged.

"I'll get through it all. I have a great family to support me..." he looked across at her. "and I'm sorry I put my girlfriend above them - even if she hadn't turned out to be a drug dealer anyway... Next time I'll respect your feelings a little more."

Kasey gave him a smile.

"And by the way, next time I see Jamie Cranston I'm going to punch him in all of my girl-like punching glory. Hell, I can't be in much more trouble anyway." He joked as Kasey laughed.

"Oh don't worry - I kicked him in the balls the next day at school. I don't think he would have been able to screw anyone for a while after that." The two of them both smiled before Stef entered and they wiped their faces clean of them. She had her arms folded and strode towards them.

"How was grandpa?" Kasey asked innocently.

Stef continued to glare, deciding to humour her.

"He was fine. I advised him to change his will seeing as you're determined he should outlive you."

"And Dad?" she gulped.

"Mad. And by mad I mean I had to persuade him against driving two hours home right now purely to kick your asses."

"Is he coming home early?" Brandon asked looking up at the towering Stef.

She took a deep breath. "No. I told him we'd handle it for now and he could have his turn next week."

Both twins looked at the floor.

"But he did ask me to take whatever punishment we're thinking of and double it."

"And what did you say?"

Stef's voice turned more agitated. "I said how about triple - seeing as apparently fear of fatal danger isn't even a deterrent for you two idiots."

Kasey looked down to avoid further eye contact.

"Do you know when we'll be making our statements?" Brandon asked cautiously trying to change the subject.

"Why? You got somewhere to be?" She retorted as he dipped his head again before she took a breath.

"After Evan has made his probably. They're interviewing Michelle first too on my recommendation. If she confesses before they interview Carl she may clear you two from any legal issues."

Kasey sunk her eyebrows in confusion.

"What legal issues could we have? You know we didn't have anything to do with this..."

Stef bent down to her with her arms folded, her voice husky and quiet.

"I know that and you know that - but Lorimer knows that his best plea for leniency would be to try and imply that he had as little to do with the money as possible." Her voice got louder. "You two geniuses transported it from where he stored it - in other words tampered with evidence making it unreliable. You have a mother who's a cop but instead of doing the smart thing when you find a mysterious stash of money and telling her, you decide to pack the money up and drive it elsewhere. Any half decent lawyer knows they can twist that to make it look like you were in with Michelle. Now I doubt any jury would believe the word of a known drug dealer against 2 high school kids, but you can bet that he'll try. You can bet that if he does it will cause a hell of a headache - and not just because I will be hitting you on the head to remind you every day that it wastes my time." She flicked Kasey's forehead with her middle finger before standing back up.

"I told you." Kasey whispered to Brandon rubbing her head.

"So not the time." Stef scolded as Kasey slumped down. She rarely knew when it was best to be quiet but now was definitely one of those times.

"It was me that brought the bear Mom, not Kasey. When we left the house she didn't even know it was there. She wanted to call you straight away." Brandon admitted in her defense.

"But she didn't, did she." Stef continued to chastise, arms still folded. "But don't worry - I have no intention of not blaming you for this. I'm just waiting until we're no longer in public." Kasey and Brandon exchanged another look of fear. Stef turned as she saw Lena finally arrive and float down the corridor like an air hockey puck.

"What the heck do you two think you were playing at?" She gasped hauling both of them off the bench into her arms. She then forced them harshly back down.

"Have they been in yet? Where's Evan? Is he still here? What were you thinking! Your Mom is a cop for crying out loud! A cop who was shot two years ago for going into a lesser situation than this - and not even with that in mind did you think for two seconds about what could have happened to you! Why didn't you call her straight away? Seriously! What in the world possessed you to think that you could handle something like this on your own?" Lena's questions merged into a furiously whispered rant as she didn't bother trying to hold back her anger. Kasey and Brandon sat there drinking it in, both heads low.

"Not to mention going AWOL and ignoring my calls when you knew we were worried - and don't think I've not forgotten that you hung up on me!" Stef chimed in. Kasey exhaled deeply. She had hoped that at least had been overshadowed by the later events, but clearly Stef wasn't letting go of any details. Brandon rubbed his temples. The two of them were relieved to see Evan and Roberts emerging, almost looking forward to the relief they would get from the grilling in the police interrogation. - they knew it would be a picnic compared to this.

"Oh Evan!" Lena gasped pulling him into a confused hug as he approached. Stef had filled her in on all of the details earlier. He hugged her back before she pushed him off her and slapped his arm. "An armed drug dealer? Really?!"

He shrugged. "I thought he'd threatened them with his gun...plus the text had come through on Stef's phone but she had gone and I knew someone had to stop him."

"Like one of the 5 armed police maybe?" Stef quipped.

"You were busy..." his voice trailed off as he blushed.

"Stef, would you mind if I take Brandon next? Feel free to keep ripping into the others as long as none of my witnesses get killed before the end of the interrogations." Roberts asked holding he arm out to guide Brandon towards the door.

Stef slapped his arm to get him off the bench. "I'm not sure we can make any promises." Lena responded, slightly to everyone's surprise.

Brandon followed Roberts down the hallway, slipping nervously past Stef's glaring scrutiny of his every movement.

"Today must be a pretty bad day to have three parents - let alone two cops and a teacher." She commented with her eyebrow raised. He blushed.

"After you." She flicked her head towards the room and followed him in.

The others watched him disappear but also noticed Michelle emerge shortly after from the next room along. Lena, having yet to hear any more details than what Stef had informed her, flew forward but it was Kasey that leapt up to grab her shoulder. Lena turned to her, her eyebrows low.

"She's as much of a puppet of Carl's as Brandon was to her. He beats her, threatens her - but nobody showed her any affection except him and he used it to imprison her mind. I know. I saw it happen. She's practically an orphan without even the support of the system to screw her over. This isn't her doing - she just got us involved..."

Lena bit her lip and looked at Stef who took a deep breath.

"She's right. This is Lorimer - not Michelle. Culpable as she is for involving you guys. She is responsible for her actions but she's not pulling the strings." Evan added. "She's an accomplice at most, but there's no part of her that's a partner. That would imply she had some control."

"She genuinely thought it was her only way at a better life. How screwed up is that?" Kasey added shaking slightly. "I felt his hand around my neck. I saw him smash those glasses down. I just can't imagine what it must be like to live with that as the only constant in your life - no matter how mad I am at her." She hadn't processed much of the emotional weight of her confrontation. Evan began to feel it heavy in his heart too. This was more graphic than he wanted to know. He suddenly couldn't get the image of Carl threatening him out of his mind, not because of him being scared, but seeing it from the eyes of Kasey or Brandon or even Michelle. He felt his anger bubbling and tears prickled his eyes. He breathed heavily trying to suppress them and paced a few times before thumping the wall.

"You should never have been with him Kasey. Never! I should have..." He whispered, his voice trailing as the others looked to him. "He could have..." his voice dropped to complete silence before he let out a yell and he wiped a tear before thumping the wall with his fist again.

"I just... I'm gonna go get some air." he mumbled before striding out the door.

Kasey stood up to go after him but Stef grabbed her arm and swung her back round.

"Not in a million years. You sit or I handcuff." Stef warned softly. "He'll be fine. I'll go."

She flicked her head at Kasey looking at Lena who took the seat next to her.

Kasey put her head in her palms as Lena took a deep breath.

"I can't believe how much we screwed up." she whispered through her hands. Lena sighed.

"Well I can't argue with that." she commented but could tell that Evan's outburst had impacted Kasey more than any anger she could inflict on her.

"Evan is protective. He always will be. He has to understand that he can't always keep you safe. It wouldn't hurt you to remember that your actions impact others though - I just hope you remember how much this affected all of us Kasey. I don't mean the anger or what happens now, but how many people care about you and why you have a responsibility not to be reckless."

Kasey nodded. "It was never meant to go that far...it just all happened so fast, and Brandon. He was so desperate and hurt." Lena put her arm around Kasey's shoulder as the stress of it finally replaced the arrogance and bravery she had used to face it all. Lena rubbed her arm, she was still so angry but there would be time for that later.

Evan sat on a bench outside the police station. His mind buzzed with what Kasey had described. He wished he hadn't heard it. He rubbed the sides of his forehead furiously as if it would erase the images in his head.

Stef wandered over to him and sat down, in silence to begin with.

"He can't hurt anyone now, Evan."

Evan rocked slightly as he sucked at his top lip.

"What kind of a man does that. Threatens kids. Practically anyway." He whispered.

Stef took a deep breath.

"A desperate one." she finally replied. "And I may not know Carl or Michelle that well but I know Kasey...and my guess is she wasn't acting like much of a kid. You and I may not like to admit it but by God she can take care of herself."

Evan looked across at her as she stared into the distance.

"He could have really hurt her. I should never have let it get that far."

Stef took another deep breath. "If Kasey is insisting this isn't Michelle's fault then it sure as hell isn't yours. Should you have told us? Yes...but Kasey and Brandon making that decision had nothing to do with you. Everything you did you thought was best to protect them. You were doing your best. Too much if you ask me - as you well know." she poked him on the side.

"If he had hurt her..." Evan blinked back more tears as Stef put an arm on his back.

"But he didn't. And you are going to have to learn that controlling, and indeed protecting Kasey is like controlling the weather. She's a force unto her own. The best you can do is try and learn the signals as best you can but ultimately be prepared for anything. Lord knows I can never predict what she's going to do next. Just remember that she is a fighter, for all of the trouble it brings. " he nodded timidly.

"And..." Stef's tone took a more playful tune. "what's even worse for you is that you will probably end up being a dad one day. Possibly to Kasey's children - and I tell you what, I will sit back and enjoy watching you two try and wrangle that genetic combination."

Evan let out a small laugh, wiping a tear.

"And you wanna know protective - just wait till you have kids...you need to harden yourself in preparation for that my friend. You need to be able to face that sometimes you can't protect everyone, you just have to try and be calm and be smart and not blame yourself if bad things happen that are out o fyour control. If you don't learn that you will drive yourself mad, and probably end up in even more trouble." She squeezed his arm.

"And you are going to be a wonderful father one day. As long as it's not anytime soon...because if it is..."

"I won't live to be a father?" he sniffed with a chuckle as she put her arm around him.

"You got that right." she growled with a smile and rubbed his arm. She pulled him into a hug and kissed his head softly.

He looked forward and his voice dropped low.

"Some people don't deserve to be fathers." he mumbled as he saw Porter emerge in front of them.

He wandered over to them both as Evan stood up to square up to him. Stef tugged on his arm sensing trouble.

"What the hell is this about? I should have known your lot were involved. Knockin' at my door all week."

"This is about the fact that you're too self-absorbed to know your daughter is."

"Evan." Stef warned quietly.

"Do you know who she's been spending her time with? What she has been driven to do to try and a feel like she has some safety in this world?"

"What the hell are you talking about, kid?"

"The fact that you've drunk away your daughter's childhood and reduced her to nothing more than an accessory to a psychopath." His lip quivered.

"Evan..." Stef warned harsher.

Evan bit his bottom lip to stop it shaking, his breathing growing heavier.

Porter's eyes squinted.

"If my girl's in trouble it's probably because of that no good family she's been spending all of her time with recently." Porter flicked his head towards Stef.

"Freaks, the lot of them. You can't invent a family unit. It doesn't work."

"And what the hell would you know about family? These are the best people I know! Do you care about anyone but yourself? If you did Michelle never would have got mixed up with him and Kasey never would have been in danger!" Evan spat back. "You've brainwashed your daughter into thinking she's worth no more than dog shit on your shoes. That's what you do! You make people feel shit about themselves so that your life has a glimmer of superiority. No wonder your wife left you!"

"OK, that's enough. Take a walk Evan!" Stef ordered pulling him away as Porter stepped forward.

"You try and judge my life?" Porter whispered. "What were the girls doing with this man exactly that you're talking about? Was he screwing them? Is that why you're all upset? What? Was he pimping them? That was it, wasn't it. Hardly surprising the way girls dress these days - it must be. Does it bother you more if they're whoring themselves out for money rather than just to college boys they meet while they're cutting class?" Evan jumped back towards him but Stef grabbed his sleeve.

"He's not worth it." she whispered.

"That's right - son. Do what the dyke tells you." Stef shook her head gently. He would have to do better than that to rattle her. She gripped slightly tighter on Evan's sleeve.

Evan took a deep breath. "You know what, you're not worth it." Porter raised an eyebrow. "But every kid you've ever beaten down is." before Stef could get a better hold he ripped his arm away from her grasp and punched him squarely in the cheek.

Porter stumbled back.

"That's assault!" he yelled grabbing his cheek.

Evan swung his body around and paced away.

"Only if there was a witness who saw it." Stef added coolly. "Go be there for your daughter for once in your life."

Porter snarled and stormed inside. He knew when he wasn't going to win.

Evan shook his hand down and looked across at a sighing Stef.

"I know. We need to talk about this." He responded wincing slightly with pain as he grasped his fist.

"I think we need to get you signed up for karate and get you focussing that aggression." she folded her arms.

"You gonna slap me upside the head again?" Stef shook her head gently and sighed.

"Come on, Superman. Let's get some coffee." she put her arm across his back and guided him to the door.

"You keep calling me that. Have I like been promoted from Dummy?"

"Nope. Demoted. I'm gonna drive this so hard into the ground you're gonna be longing for me to go back to calling you Dummy."

The two of them returned back inside.

Chapter 55 Preview: Lena tries to understand Kasey's decisions and Stef uncovers more about Michelle's past and Brandon's actions.

Kasey took a deep breath and looked across at Lena. She looked stern but not angry. They had joked before about her disappointing looks but right now it was no joke for Kasey.

"I'm sorry I missed the SATs." She whispered throwing Lena a look from the side before looking back down at her feet.

Lena looked round at her and bit her bottom lip. "That's not really my primary concern right now."

"But it will be when things calm down...and I want you to know that I'm sorry...all the work you put in..."