Wow folks - thanks for the feedback. I am so thrilled you loved it - the preious two chapters were two of my favourites of the story. OK, we have been starved of Evan a little recently so here's an entire Stef and Evan chapter. Probably the last one - so enjoy it! Hope you like what I've done with it.

As always I'm very keen to hear your views and appreciate them to no end. The story is coming to an end soon so I'd love to hear from you as much as you are willing!

Thanks to TheTBone for doing some last minute beta-ing when I had a panic about whether this worked or not. She's been a major support throughout this story and I'm immensely grateful.

"Buckle up." Stef ordered turning the key in the ignition.

"Where are we going?" he asked nervously.

"We're going to pick your stuff up." she explained pulling out and driving on.

He peeked round to her from a slightly guarded pose.

"The motel is the other way..."

"Well we're taking a detour first."

Evan gawped, slightly biting his lip. "This isn't some kind of mafia thing is it?" he asked anxiously as Stef laughed.

"Will you calm down - I'm not going to hurt you. This is a journey of discovery."

Evan screwed up his face. "We're not gonna go bang drums and shit are we?" he moaned.

"Evan, I'm not Lena. And don't swear! Just because I'm not Lena doesn't mean you can get sloppy with language."

Evan folded his arms and looked for signs out of the window.

"I already know about myself. I've been travelling alone for years."

"You do - but this is so you can discover more about me."

Evan's eyes bulged with a panic. "Like what you do to people who don't stay in the car?"

"Evan - we just signed you up for a mentor scheme. Do you really think I would waste my time with all that organisation if I was going to harm you? I said we were gonna talk and that's exactly what we're going to do. I want you to understand what I've been trying to drill into that stubborn head of yours. You like stories so I'm going to tell you some." he took a deep breath feeling only slightly reassured. He was convinced this was the calm before the storm, and he was mostly right.

The car fell silent as they reached their first destination.

"OK - get out, Superman." Stef ordered hopping out the car with Evan following suit.

He shrugged as she stood waiting for him on the sidewalk.

"It's a neighbourhood." he commented cynically.

"Yep. Normal neighbourhood - not the best, not the worst."

"So..."

"So a few years ago a guy was beaten within an inch of his life right here where you're standing."

"Did he hang up on you?" Evan asked with a blank expression as Stef slapped his arm.

"Focus!" she commanded.

"OK - let me guess. He got on the wrong side of a drug dealer."

"Wrong. He was a rapist." she corrected. "Attacker was the husband of the rape victim."

Evan screwed up his face in confusion as to how this related.

"OK - so why the pity party?" sounds like he had it coming."

"Maybe he did - but then he died. And not just that, but he died before any kind of conviction."

Evan shrugged still not seeing the link.

"Know what you're left with there? One dead rapist, one loving husband in prison and a woman with no husband or justice."

Evan stuttered. "OK - but I'm hardly going round picking fights..."

"Maybe not...but the first thing you asked today was if you killed Carl. And you weren't asking because you were proud. You were scared because you knew that if you had then immediately the law is against you - regardless of what he had done."

"Well not just that - I never wanted to kill him...this guy probably did."

"No - this guy was probably wanting him to hurt and his anger took over. Now his wife has to visit him in prison and there was no-one there for her to look after her after her trauma."

Evan bit his lip. "OK - I get it. I'm sorry..."

"I'm not looking for an apology - I'm looking for some understanding."

"I do..."

"No you don't. Get back in the car." she cut him off, emotionless and returned to the car leaving him lagging behind in confusion. They climbed back in as he gave it another shot.

"So being a vigilante has consequences...you can underestimate your physical strength and overestimate your emotional. I do get that - " he tried again, buckling his belt.

"And when you hit Porter - and now I know I complied - but what if he had pressed charges?"

"He...well...I guess I could have been done for assault."

"And a conviction would help you get a start after college by..." Stef left the question hanging waiting for an answer.

"It wouldn't...obviously."

"No it wouldn't. And you'd lose your ability to work with children, to get certain jobs, you'd have a permanent record - the list goes on..."

"OK - I get it."

"No you don't." she replied with that's same tone, beginning to grate on him. He realised it was pointless trying to do anything other than comply. He wasn't going until she had finished.

The car stopped again. "Get out, Superman." she repeated, still with a placid tone.

He sighed and unbuckled his belt once again. "Down here - this alley. Stay at the top there..."

Stef walked down the alley and turned back to him as he stood, hands in pockets waiting for an explanation.

"Right where you were a guy was walking back from work. Turned his head and saw a guy being mugged coming through this passway right where I am." She stretched her arms out to indicate the area.

"He'd heard the commotion and heard they guy yelling 'Help! Help! I'm being mugged!'"

"Was it a setup?" Evan replied.

"Nope - he was genuinely being attacked."

Evan shrugged. "I've never gone chasing anyone down alleys "

"Maybe not...but this guy did. Come at me. Try and floor me."

"What?" Evan exclaimed horrified. "I'm not gonna floor you!"

"You may not be able to, true, but try it. Come at me and wrestle me down. You can take me, big strong man like you."

"No way! You'll go for my crotch or something..."

"I have no desire to go near your crotch - and it wasn't a request. Do it! Come on - split second decision, I'm mugging this guy - I'd have got away by now. Do it!"

Evan stuttered and looked around as if for hidden cameras. He began to trudge towards Stef.

"You're gonna have to have more pace than that, Superman, come on!"

He began to sprint and thrust himself towards her going to grab her. She let him control her for a few moments before she swooped round and swung his arm behind him with a gasp and dug her keys into his stomach.

"You just got stabbed." she said as he winced. "Which is exactly what happened to our Good Samaritan."

"OK." he gasped through the pain on his arm. "But if I wanted to hurt you I could have - this isn't a fair comparison."

"Maybe so, but not if I stabbed you before you had the chance. Pretty sure Carl and his Merry Men weren't expecting Kasey to be able to break his nose. I also bet there's plenty of boys less strong than you who would see me walking down the street and think they could take me."

"I wish one of them would come and take you now..." He struggled as she wrenched him in return.

"What was that?"

"OK, OK - joking. It's easy to underestimate someone by appearance. Got it. Can you let go of me?"

Stef freed him from his struggling.

"Know what the worst thing is?" she asked him crossing her arms. "The guy he was saving was a junkie who owed the attacker - a dealer, incidentally - a lot of money. The junkie he got stabbed for runs off without even a second thought. Didn't even check if he survived."

Evan's head drooped as he rubbed his aching arm.

"Mrs F - I appreciate what you're trying to show me here...sometimes people aren't worth saving and you don't know the full situation - but I haven't gone after anyone that I didn't know who they were. I'm not running round the city trying to rescue damsels."

"Oh no?" she asked folding her arms. "Tell me, how much did you know about the kid you threatened to not give drugs to Jesus?"

"Well...I mean...he was a high school kid...and I threatened him with the police not violence."

"Oh OK - so that ended well did it?"

Evan looked down guiltily. "He didn't fight me..."

"He didn't need to - his brother threatened you, spiked you - which by the way could have ended up killing you in itself - and got you kicked out of the house. He probably would have done worse had Michelle not had a shred of humanity in her."

"Well would you rather that kid kept bothering Jesus?" Evan protested getting slightly agitated.

"That kid was being contracted - you threatening him would have had no bearing on it whatsoever. Besides, if we're going into specifics then what I'd rather is that you had let us deal with it but that's not the issue here."

"Ok - I get it."

"No you don't. Get in the car, Superman." Stef repeated her familiar taunt as Evan's frustration grew.

"Ugh! How much more of this is there? I get your point!" he shot back as angrily as he dared. Stef looked at him with a raised eyebrow but stayed mockingly calm.

"Why? Are you getting frustrated? Confused?" She asked as he licked his lips furiously.

"Yes."

"Good. Then it's working." She opened her car door and turned back to him as he began to stand his ground.

"Look I know you're trying to punish be for making rash decisions and that's fair enough - but I have never done anything that wasn't to protect people from a situation I didn't create. I'm not looking for trouble. These things don't apply to me - not really."

"Glad to hear it." she replied indifferently.

"But guess what?"

Evan clenched his fists. "Get in the car?" he asked, mellowed.

"You know it." she climbed back in, Evan slumping behind.

The car stopped in a unexpectedly nice area. Evan looked out of the window confused before they got out.

"What about this one then? Who did this guy piss off to get scrambled? Did he not take down his Christmas lights?" he commented with a hint of resentment.

"OK - I know you're frustrated, but have some respect. These are real people." she scolded as Evan looked down guiltily, snapping out of his bitterness for a moment.

"Remember our friend who got stabbed?" she asked as Evan nodded reluctantly.

"His brother lived here in this neighbourhood."

"And?"

She held her fingers up to his head in a gun formation.

"Drive by bullet to the head." She poked his temple with her middle finger. "Picked off in front of his wife and kids."

Evan looked across horrified. "Here? Why?!"

"Because he got frustrated with the police and began to look into things himself. He got some half-assed information from a lazy officer and started snooping around. I said to you the guys who stabbed his brother were dealers - well these weren't just any dealers. They were part of a major network with underground links. They are not the kind of people to investigate. The reason the police were taking so long is you don't just find guys like that..."

"Well isn't that the job of the police? 'Protect and Serve'. No wonder he took matters into his own hands." Evan replied sloppily.

"What part of shot in the head do you not understand?" Stef's voice began to raise for the first time in the experiment. "You wanna second guess the expertise and caution of the people who are trained to deal with these situations? You explain that to the family who lost their father."

Evan bit his bottom lip guiltily.

"OK - you're right. I'm sorry! Again. It's just - look this still doesn't apply..."

"You just spent the last week acting as a private investigator in one of the most notorious bars in the city - not to mention they knew you and already had a vendetta! You can wear a fake moustache and hide behind a newspaper as much as you want but you wanna know what happens when the wrong person catches your eye? That!" she pointed to the house as Evan dared to take another look. These people give everything to protect themselves. Lorimer had been grooming a school girl for years. You don't think they would dispose of a problem without a second thought? You went into their territory, you went to one of their parties - God knows what else you did that you didn't get caught doing..."

"OK - but what do you want from me? A promise to never do anything like this again?"

Stef took a breath and looked at his sorrowful face.

"No. I want you to get in the car." her voice dropped back down to her insistent tone only echoing her previous frustrations mildly. She turned as Evan swung his arms down. "How many more times? What do you want me to say?" he whinged.

Stef looked at him silently before opening the door without giving a response. He punched his fist down onto the roof of the car as he got in. He couldn't understand why this was bothering him so much. Stef looked across to him as he threw his head against the headrest.

"You mad at me?" she asked as he looked across to her from the side.

"I just don't get why you are doing this. I get your point." He folded his arms angrily.

"Then why did you just ask why I'm doing it?" she replied calmly, revving the engine up again. He stuttered slightly. He knew this was all to make him think and that's exactly what he hated doing.

"And don't hit my car." she added before driving off once more.

They proceeded in silence until they reached what would turn out to be the final stop.

"The hospital?" Evan asked gripping his seatbelt.

"What are you gonna take me to a guy who got beaten up at Broncos?"

"Just follow me, Superman."

She hadn't been kidding when she said she was going to drum that name into him. He'd already begun to resent it and was keen to never hear it again.

He lagged behind anxiously as Stef strode to the elevator.

"Push to floor 2." She put her hands in her pockets as he obeyed.

The door opened to a waiting room as she guided him in. She noticed his face drain in colour.

"You OK?" she asked slightly concerned.

"I just...I hate hospitals." he responded as his voice dropped. She remembered the situation with his Mom and the memories he must have. She felt for him but it wouldn't change her determination. If anything that would help him even more.

"So come on...why are we here?" he asked wincing as a doctor passed him.

"You know what all three of those cases have in common?" she replied.

Evan shrugged. "They all ended up in hospital?"

Stef slapped his chest. "OK - I may not be Lena but I can do deeper than that!" she hoped the tiny glimpse of a playful reprimand may calm him slightly. She wanted to make her point but didn't want him to suffer.

He shrugged again.

"They all happened within the weeks before me ending up in here." she said calmly as Evan looked around.

"When you got shot...?" he asked as she nodded looking round. She pointed across to a closed door.

"Right there is the room where Lena came in to tell me my babies were waiting outside - not knowing if I was gonna live or die."

Evan dropped his head.

"Follow me." she said gently. He no longer was angry but simply subdued.

He followed her up into another waiting room and they found a quiet corner where they sat down.

"How much has Kasey told you about that day?" she asked as he slumped his shoulders down and looked at the floor.

"A lot - I guess. I dunno - it was a while ago."

"Did she tell you how long they were sat in this room? Or that when they eventually found out I was stable they visited me with a tube down my throat? Or that they then had to wait hours to see if I'd be permanently paralysed - if I even survived that is."

His voice dropped down lower to almost a whisper as he looked firmly at the floor.. "She told me how scared she was."

"And how does it make you feel to think of her going through that?" She positioned her head to force his eye contact.

"You know how it makes me feel." he rubbed his arm nervously with his hand sitting back up.

"I see things like this every day, Evan. I see the mistakes and the careless decisions people make all the time...and yet within a week of hearing some of these most horrific consequences I run into a crackhouse with nothing but my gun and my badge. I wouldn't have even had Mike with me had Lena not called him."

She stared hard at him again.

"You don't "get it" Evan - because not even I did...and I have seen a hell of a lot more and hell of a lot worse cases than I gave you on our whistle stop tour. You don't "get it" until you are lying in a hospital bed with no thoughts except the chilling one of your family sitting out here going through that kind of pain and not being able to tell them that its going to be OK."

Her voice was soft now and Evan began to feel his eyes begin to prickle at the thought of Kasey in that situation. She gave him a moment to process.

"Why did you get angry just now?" She asked as he sighed in response.

"I dunno...because you were taunting me."

"I taunt you all the time, I've never seen you get angry with me."

He shrugged again. "I dunno...I guess I don't like being forced to think too much about stuff."

"You're a lone ranger. You have never had to think about the impact of what you do and I don't think you like the fact that you know you're being forced to change that."

He shrugged again but she could tell this time it was an acknowledgement.

She grabbed his chin and pointed his face towards her.

"You listen to me. Whether you like it or not - you have a family now and you wanna protect them? You protect them from having to wait for you in a hospital waiting room or from having to visit you in a jail cell. I'm not expecting you to get this right straight away - maybe even ever - I just want to make sure that you understand as best you can the reality of what you are risking. It's not a story off TV or some crime novel. This is reality. It was my reality - and my friend you are one step away from making it yours."

"But how do you stop that? How do you suppress it?" he asked rubbing his hair.

Stef put her hand on his knee. "You don't. You try and train it. You try and learn to use other people - better trained people - and to take your time. Like today when we went to get my vest first."

"But if we'd have had that text saying they were in Broncos then would you really have gone to the station first?" he challenged.

"That's a good question - and I'm not going to pretend it would be an easy choice, but what good would it have done Brandon and Kasey for me to run in and get shot right in front of them? Not to mention I wouldn't have even had my gun. I would hope that I would have called back up and got in the people who could make a difference."

"And if they wouldn't go because we didn't know for sure there was any danger? You can't pretend to have the police at your command - it doesn't work like that."

"Well if I know I can't handle it but they won't believe me I'm not gonna go in just to spite them. If you're forced to deal with a situation by yourself you try and keep a cool head and be as prepared as possible. I'm not saying this is black and white or that it's not OK to make mistakes when you're pushed to your limit - but you weren't. Evan, you were surrounded by cops. You went in unarmed against a man you knew had a gun. You can tell me and Kasey and yourself that you knew you could take him as much as you want...but you know that you were lucky. You threw the dice and won but do you have any idea how scared we were when we heard those gunshots?"

He nodded. "I know - I just...I couldn't get the image of him threatening her out of my head - and I know what you said before but it doesn't stop me from letting my instinct take over."

She squeezed his knee.

"Well how about this. How did you feel when Jesus turned up at that bar?" she raised her eyebrow.

"Terrified." he answered after a pause. "Of you mainly..." he joked as she pinched his knee. His face dropped again as his distraction wore off. "But terrified."

"Well, whether you are happy to accept people who care about you or not - you have to accept that there are people who look up to you and will copy you."

Evan looked round to her.

"Next time you are about to do something you know is dangerous - don't think about whether you can cope or not with it, but think about how you would feel about your kid or one of your school kids or Jesus doing the same thing - because they will. Whether you like it or not they will try and be like you and if you can't think of it before you do it I can promise you this - if they do the same and they get hurt you will think about it every day after. It will haunt you. Take it from someone whose kids did what mine did this morning." once again Stef's face dropped into a guilty sigh. "If they had gotten hurt in there because of doing something I taught them - by example or genes - I would never have forgiven myself. Ever." Her voice dropped.

Evan picked up on it this time and put his arm around her.

"It's not your fault we're all idiots, you know." he said as she broke into a laugh. "I guess you are right though...you can't alter their actions but you can alter yours. I hadn't ever really thought about it with you too much though - I mean...I guess I never even imagined that you could be as stupid as us."

She laughed again through a shocked look. "Did you just call me stupid?"

"Well now I know you don't want the family to have to mourn me I guess I feel less scared..." he responded with a sheepish smile as she rolled her eyes. She looked at him menacingly for a moment before his face dropped again.

"Seriously though. I know you're right - and you're right about me not wanting to change. It's the only thing I know - so I can't promise anything more than what I have. I'll always fight for Kasey and I'll always protect her as long as she wants me in her life - maybe even longer...I just will maybe try and think of better ways to do it - like you say. Protect her from myself too."

She squeezed his leg tightly with a smile.

"Good. Cause if you end up in here and put us through hell I'll wait till your out just to put you back in."

He nodded as they paused to reflect for a few moments.

"OK. Come on. Let's go." she broke the silence, slapping his leg getting off the chair.

"We going home?" he asked.

"Nope." she replied striding off.

He scurried behind her. "But..."

"Get in the car." she said with a smile as he cocked his head slowly to the side, his mouth opening slowly in fear.

"We need to pick your stuff up from the motel, Dummy. Remember...?"

She stuck her tongue out over her bottom lip and slapped his cheek playfully. He twitched out a small smile at the return of his familiar nickname but quickly flipped back to his over-tired frustration at the momentary fear.

"When we do have kids I'm gonna hop them up on sugar every time you babysit." He threatened crossing his arms.

"Was that a threat?" She turned back to him, shocked as he shrugged.

"So you're not a complete idiot..." she teased "at least you're smart enough to only threaten me when we're already in the hospital." she slapped his chest one more time as he shook his head.

Mini-request - I have one more planned chapter and the one after will be the last (except for an epilogue) - I am going to make Chapter 63 pretty much family fluff and reaction from any of the other characters by request. I only intend to do one chapter of this to round off but if anyone has any requests at all for pairings or interactions this is your last chance to tell me!

In other words - is there anything you want to see before the story ends? I will fit in as many as I can.

Chapter 62 Preview: Evan and Kasey reconcile as Stef and Lena emphasise some new rules and Evan has an apology for Jude.

In the last couple of hours she had returned to normality, pushing it back aside but this was a glaring reminder of the hardest thing about it - the fact she had been forced to go through it all without the one person she wanted to comfort her the most.

"I've missed you so much." Kasey squeaked out unable to suppress the waterfall of tears that came as if from nowhere.

Immediately Evan swooped over her body and pulled her into his arms as she collapsed willingly.