OK - Slight variation from the preview as I wrote it before I had written the chapter and I didn't know how much I'd write for the earlier bits so I have bumped the Stef/Michelle scene to tomorrow's chapter! You wanted the full psychological Monty though so you're getting it! :P Thanks for all the feedback! Love all the Stef/Evan love as always. Still a couple more of scenes for them planned.

Quick tally - I have one final exchange with Porter planned where one of the Moms will basically make him go and be there for his daughter. Do we want it to be Lena, Stef or both? I'm swaying for Lena as I've been very Stef centric recently, but if you have any strong feelings either way drop me the name and I will do the one with the most.

OK - hope you enjoy - very dialogue-y (as was requested) but either way I figured a lot of questions have to be answered before I can proceed...one more chapter after this at the station then we'll be back at the charming craftsman. The fluff may start to seep in a bit again once we're back home and the story winds up.

"How long do you think he's gonna be in there." Kasey rolled her head back against the wall. Lena sat next to her, arms folded.

"As long as it takes I guess."

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 unexpectedly while 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..."

"OK." Lena nodded. "Though you know it's not me that's going to be most upset about that - not that that means I'm not of course."

Kasey breathed out a hopeless laugh.

"I know...but I'm going to be apologising for a lot of things so I may as well start ticking them off."

Lena raised her eyebrows in acknowledgement. She paused for a few moments thinking over everything she had heard.

"One thing I don't get..." She began as Kasey looked round to her again.

"Why didn't you call Stef? Neither of you would have been in trouble. You clearly heard what we had said the night before...I get that Brandon had the allegiance, he was probably hurt, upset...confused. But not you. Angry maybe...but all the more reason to call in the cops." Kasey looked down at the ground. Brandon hadn't told them about the pregnancy scare yet and Kasey didn't want it to come from her.

She shrugged. "I told you, I don't blame Michelle for this anymore. Not really."

"But you didn't know about that yet."

Kasey stuttered. "I don't know, I was mad at Mom for wanting to hide it from me."

"Don't lie to me Kasey. Your relationship with your Mom is beyond petty grudges when something like this is at stake." Lena's voice was stern and unyielding. Kasey held her eye-lock for a few moments before exhaling deeply.

"Look - I wanted to support Brandon. He had been through a lot. He really wanted to talk to Michelle and I told him that I'd give him two hours."

"He must have been pretty convincing..."

"He had his reasons." Kasey cut her off harshly as Lena raised her eyebrow.

"I'm sorry, Mom, I just..." she took a breath again. "It's not my reasons to tell - but you know as well as I do the moment we called Mom she would have been in there before she'd barely put the phone down - she got shot the last time she did that."

Lena's eyebrows dropped. "And you think that she was likely to put herself in less danger rescuing you than just going in for the arrest?" The pitch of Lena's voice raised slightly seeing straight through the flaw in her argument.

"No - obviously I...look Brandon needed time to talk to Michelle and we knew he wouldn't be able to if Mom knew. I wasn't happy about it but like it or not Mom...we're not kids." Kasey's look dropped but she continued before Lena could interrupt.

"Now I'm not saying that I'm not expecting to be punished - or that we don't deserve everything you throw at us. We made a bad decision, there's no denying that...but we are old enough to make the decision - even if it was the wrong one. I wanted to go with Brandon because I knew he was emotional and that he may end up in trouble. I know I should have weighed up the potential consequences more before we went in but it all happened so fast. As soon as we knew we were out of our depth we called for help - and before you say it, I know we were out of our depth right from the start...but it just seemed like Brandon had suffered enough. I wanted to give him a chance. He needed the closure."

Lena sighed. She hated to admit it but all of her knowledge and experience was in agreement with Kasey. She wasn't trying to justify what they did, but simply that her and Stef were kidding themselves if they believed that they could take away their desire, and more so their right, to control their own decisions. Brandon had been in a serious relationship and it was natural that he would want to have the chance to understand what had happened to it before his Mother stormed in and robbed him of that opportunity. It was the same struggle they had been having with them all year. It didn't condone what they had done but it explained it.

"OK." Lena said quietly.

"Really?" Kasey replied, slightly shocked. "You're OK with that?" Lena raised her eyebrow and tilted her head to the side.

"With that explanation for your stupidity. Yes. With the fact you still did something so stupid? No. You're still going to be in the doghouse for a very long time." She scolded as Kasey's momentary excitement faded.

"But I'm glad that through all of this you two at least stuck by each other. It's nice to see that again, after so many weeks of fighting." Kasey twitched out a small smile as the spotted Evan and Stef returning simultaneously with Brandon and Roberts.

The 4 of them merged paths at the bench.

"Kasey." Roberts called as she looked round at Lena who nodded. Stef gave her a look too and indicated Brandon sit down on the bench. "Wait for me in that room there. Hernandez is already waiting." Roberts instructed before looking at Stef.

"Stef. A word?" She flicked her head to the side as Stef followed, handing Evan he coffee.

"Good or bad?" Stef asked quietly.

Roberts nodded her head.

"Good. Michelle confessed everything. It seems pretty in line with what Evan indicated. An abused girl gets dragged down the wrong path...though usually it would be a lot harder to get the confession in the face of a conviction. Someone must have got through to her in there." Stef shook her head slightly with a small laugh through her nose and looked over at the room Kasey was in.

"If Kasey's story matches up with Brandon's - and I'm assuming there's no reason it won't - then they'll not be under any investigation. Michelle's confession is all key. She's accepting accountability and it fits with everything else we have on Lorimer. We've got so much on this guys that any lawyer would be an idiot to think they can try and claim anything to do with your kids. They could have faced trouble for not reporting the evidence and moving it but there's nothing to suggest they weren't just trying to go to get her to hand herself in, taking the money with them. Michelle did suggest they reunite Carl with the money but it was clear that was for the police intervention and based on the fact all 3 were captive there's no case there for conspiracy. Lucky for them we can't prosecute for stupidity and recklesseness."

Stef nodded. "That's good." she breathed out with relief before looking nervously at Roberts. "Can I talk to Michelle - now everything is recorded?"

Roberts looked back and forth to the room Michelle was in.

"Possibly - but I'll need a reason. We can't have it seem like you are intimidating her - if your kids decide to press charges. I know Brandon isn't but Kasey..."

"You can ask her but I doubt she will. I don't think Kasey wants any vengeance from her, not the way she was talking. I just want to try to understand, Captain. I want to try and see exactly who it is we've been dealing with for myself."

Roberts took a deep breath." After I've got the info I need from your daughter I'll see what I can do." She rubbed Stef's arm and pushed herself off the wall to join Kasey.

Stef leaned back against it and exhaled deeply. She couldn't wait for this day to be over.

"Well, the good news is it seems you're out of any trouble - with the police that is. Michelle confessed to everything which gives them enough evidence to use against Carl - along with the mountain of other evidence. Provided your sister doesn't try and do anything stupid like lie for you or anyone else."

"She won't." Brandon replied. "She wouldn't hide anything from the police."

"She's been hiding stuff from me all day." Stef snarked, folding her arms.

Brandon bit his bottom lip down.

"She didn't Mom, I mean - she didn't want to. She wanted to call you as soon as we found the money and again when she found out I brought it with us."

Stef squinted at him, her voice became irritated.

"Then why didn't she, Brandon?"

He stuttered slightly, looking nervously between her and the floor.

"Well..." he gulped down. "I took her phone off her...both times. I wouldn't let her call you." Stef burst out a short and desperate laugh.

"You better be joking me...she called me just before you went to Broncos..."

"Look, she agreed to give me a couple of hours to talk to Michelle before she called you. She was gonna go to the exam and tell you after, I think. She caught me getting in the car on her way out and she didn't want me to go alone so she came with me. She called you when we were at Porter's so you didn't worry and then when we figured out they were at Broncos and that I'd brought the money she wanted to call you but I took the phone off her to use the GPS." Brandon winced slightly, his eyes darting around the room as he clocked Stef's penetrating glare. "She tried to take it off me but we nearly crashed so she stopped. By the time she got it back off me we were already in the bar. She told me not to go in but I thought I heard Michelle in trouble then a guy cornered us in from behind. We had nowhere else to go but inside."

Stef rubbed her forehead as Lena laid her head back against the wall processing this new information.

"Kasey said you had to talk to Michelle but she wouldn't tell me why." She added sitting forward to look at Brandon. "She said you had to talk to her before Stef got involved. So - why?"

He took a deep breath.

"Because I had reason to believe Michelle was pregnant. I needed to know for sure before she got arrested and I didn't know how I could tell you that." He looked at Stef as her shoulders drooped and fear flushed over her face.

Evan shuffled awkwardly with his hands in his pockets.

"She..." Stef's eyes opened wide.

"She isn't. She had just led me to believe she was. It's what happened the night of the party - what we fought about before she went running to Carl. Why I followed her there too." Brandon put his head down once again. Stef and Lena exchanged a look before Stef flicked her head to the side and Lena stood up squeezing Brandon's knee as she did so.

Evan followed them too, unsure of how to proceed, but a damning look from Stef caused him to step back a couple of paces and pretend to study a photo on the wall.

"Well at least this explains why Kasey went along with such a stupid plan." Stef whispered.

"She was talking a lot with me about how this was a decision Brandon had the right to make. They didn't want us to interfere with any rash actions."

"I appreciate the solidarity love, but we both know they mean me." Stef raised her eyebrow. "Well they're probably right - I wouldn't have let him near her as soon as I made the link. If they'd have just told me though...you'd think I was a gun-toting maniac the way they're making this sound."

"Well it's not like they haven't seen the results of you going after someone before Stef."

"Oh come on Lena, they weren't worried about that - if they were they wouldn't have put themselves at risk. They know I'd be much more irrational in that circumstance. "

"But they were worried you'd take matters into your own hands and get Michelle locked up before Brandon could find out if there was a baby. It doesn't excuse it but it explains it." Stef gave a frustrated sigh. It was so much harder for her to be angry.

"This does not get them off the hook." She responded harshly before looking at Brandon. "No matter how desperate he was that shouldn't be a reason for them to put themselves in the line of fire for a drug ring." she paused. "But he has been through a hell of a lot in one morning."

"And Michelle just got a whole lot more complex too if there was potentially a baby involved." Lena added through a sigh of her own.

"On that note..." Stef noticed Roberts emerge from Kasey's interrogation.

She pointed a finger at her and bid she join her. Lena squeezed her arm as she passed.

"Kasey's still talking but she's not gonna be any trouble. She's not pressing charges against Michelle so you're good to go. She's in cell 5."

"Is Porter in with her? Her Father I mean." Stef folded her arms - she didn't want another confrontation.

"I think he was in for about 5 minutes then he disappeared again once he found out what was going down."

Stef shook her head. "Her statement and confession all given right? I'm clear to talk to her without any repercussions?"

"The only thing she hasn't agreed to do is admit she was being abused or intimidated by Carl. She keeps insisting she was a partner."

"Really?" Stef looked shocked.

"You wanna try and talk to her about that I think it's fine, your kids were both willing to testify for it if she makes a case. They're not going to be under investigation so it shouldn't be a conflict of interest."

"They'll have to go to court if they do though..."

"They're probably already going to court as witnesses."

Stef nodded before Roberts opened the door to return to Kasey. Stef closed her eyes for a moment before making her way towards Michelle's cell.

Chapter 57 Preview: Stef probes Michelle, someone tries to get through to Porter and the family return home.

"Michelle." Her voice dropped low and serious. "The night of the play...the night you spiked Evan's drink."

Michelle sniffed a few times before pulling her head back up and looking away at the wall again.

"You had that bruise on your cheek...and I asked you if your Dad had hit you..." Michelle wiped her cheek free of tears to make room for more.

"It was Carl who had done, wasn't it?" Stef bent her head round to try and make eye contact as Michelle closed her eyes. Stef guided her chin round once again softly, causing her to open them.