Author's Note: Okay, well, I was surprised. My step sibling fic received a far warmer reception, although many of you are stoked about RotK. I'm very pleased with the response and decided to go ahead and give you guys chapter 2, mostly because chapter 1 was almost too intense for most readers and didn't hint to any of the subplot. Chapter 2 is going to be a bit more like what we should suspect from the remainder of the story. This will have a major focus on the investigation with a few romantic subplots, several of which are hinted here. I hope you enjoy. I have another partial chapter written, but I'm not sure exactly when it will fit in as of yet. This will be your last update for quite a little while.

For the purpose of assisting in visualization, I totally modeled the lab like that of the Smithsonian in Bones. I know it's not your typical setup, in the least, but I'm in love with that show and borrow most heavily from it for this story. Just thought I'd share that :)

Thanks to my beta, AgoodWITCH for her beta work.

The ride back to the lab was not a pleasant one, as I was the one who had to call and wake the bosses up at two in the morning to inform them that a copycat of our most heinous captured serial killer was on the loose. To say that they were unhappy was an understatement, and the term shooting the messenger never hit so close to home. I closed my phone and rubbed my forehead, wondering how Carlisle did this for thirty years.

The rain was falling hard as Edward pulled my car in front of the lab, reaching over to squeeze my hand gently as a show of support before we exited the car. My stomach dropped as I saw two figures standing under the overhang, obviously in a heated debate. I ran through the pouring rain to join them as my former boss stood arguing with my star medical examiner. At least he took the brunt of that blow for me, because I had already mentally prepared myself for delivering that news next.

"Rosalie, you know you can't work on this case. This is linked to Royce King and you were King's very first assault victim. Your further involvement in this case gives his lawyers grounds to throw out all of the collected evidence. Not only that, it is entirely probable that you are a focus of this copycat. We need to put you into protective custody as soon as possible."

Rosalie shook her head in a halo of whipping blonde hair as her arms crossed tighter across her chest. "No, Carlisle!"

Edward and I reached them at that moment, just as McCarty walked up behind us, taking a protective stance behind Rosalie. I reached my hand out to rest on her arm.

"Rose, sweetie, Carlisle is right. You can't be part of this as much as we all might want you to be. Do you want to risk him getting out on a technicality?"

The fury melted from Rose as a tear fell from her right eye and her shoulders slumped. "Of course not," she whispered, "I just hate feeling helpless. I want to help figure this out."

I stepped forward pulling her into a hug. "I know, sweetie, but this time you can't. Please go home and try to get some rest. I'd send McCarty, but I need him here. He's my best investigator. Who do you think you'd feel most comfortable going with you tonight?"

Rose turned to look sadly at McCarty with a sigh before turning back to look at me. "Is Sam available? I really trust Sam."

I nodded with a smile before glancing over her shoulder to McCarty who frowned, but nodded gravely before disappearing into the building. "Uley's team will be on your detail until further notice. Okay, sweetie?"

Rose let out a defeated sigh before turning to follow McCarty into the building, leaving Carlisle, Edward, and me standing in the damp, cool night air. Carlisle looked at Edward with a small smile and a nod.

"How are you doing tonight, son?"

Edward shrugged with a confused frown. "Okay. Um, what are you doing here, Dad? I thought you and Mom were going to Europe."

Carlisle looked at the ground sadly with a shrug. "She understands. I…I can't leave with this out there. Not until I know King's case is secure."

Edward's frown deepened as he gazed at his father, crossing his arms. "You have to put your foot down somewhere, Dad. There will always be something if you let it. Mom's been waiting for years and years for this."

Carlisle sighed, looking properly abashed. "I know, son. I know."

When their conversation died, I turned to Carlisle in confusion. "So, um, what are you exactly doing here? I mean, are you stepping back into my shoes or…"

Carlisle smiled apologetically at me, placing a hand on my shoulder. "I would never do that to you, Bella. You are doing a very good job here. I would never presume to come in here and try to take over. I'm strictly a consultant during this case. I do what you ask of me and I help as much as I can. That's it."

I nodded with a small smile and a long sigh of relief. "To be honest, Carlisle, I'm glad that you're here. I can use all the help I can get."

I glanced at Edward, who sighed, before moving to hold the door open for me. Carlisle followed me with Edward bringing up the rear. As we reached the elevator banks, we found Rosalie standing between McCarty and Uley as they talked intently, Rose pouting between then. She sent me a sad smile as we passed before returning her attention to the men before her.

We climbed into the elevator before riding in silence to the twelfth floor where we slid our ID's through the reader in order to gain access to the floor. The doors slid open slowly revealing the lab and offices beyond, my in-house team already busily at work cataloguing the evidence uncovered from the crime scene, while Brandon and Whitlock were already beginning examining the evidence placed into the system.

On the elevated platform, the two bodies were already situated on the exam tables, one long body bag to the left and a child sized one with a tiny lump inside to the right. I swallowed deeply and looked away as I led Carlisle to the room that had once been his office but had transformed quite significantly since his departure three months before.

I walked straight to the door, scanning my card through the reader and pushing the door open as I flicked on the lights. I gestured inside with a smile as Edward and Carlisle stepped past me into what we now affectionately called the War Room.

Carlisle's eyes widened in surprise as he saw how his once dignified and daintily decorated office had been transformed in his absence. I was always a visual person, and I found that the more a case was laid out before me, the quicker I was able to piece together the puzzle. After Carlisle left, I placed the ridiculous requisition that led to the current setup of my office, and was stunned when, after a short phone call from my boss asking why I was asking for such an outlandish purchase, the request was approved.

I moved across the room to settle into my chair behind my desk in front of the windows at the far end of the room, as Edward sat across from me with a crooked smile, plopping into one of the two black leather sofas situated so that it would allow the other walls to be seen as well as facilitate conversations within the team. Carlisle looked around the room in shock before plopping down on the couch across from Edward and looked my way for answers.

I chuckled, gesturing to the three walls covered in nothing but white boards from floor to ceiling, including both sides of the doorway into my office and even the two feet between the top of the door and the ceiling.

"I always told you that I thought we needed more white board space to plot out all of the information so we could see it as a whole. This was my first requisition once I was put in here and I was pleasantly surprised when it was granted. I know I work better this way and the rest of the team seems to as well. We organize every piece of information into sections on the boards and when we're done, we have a comprehensive timeline, evidence roster, and list of suspects, witnesses, victim bios, and so on. We've only used it twice since I took over, but it seems to be a really good system."

Carlisle looked over at me with a beaming smile that oozed a sort of fatherly pride. He took me under his wing straight out of the academy and has been like a father to me ever since. Thanks to this familiarity, I was also very close to his wife and was more than excited to get Edward on our team when he applied. Thanks to his work on the opposite end of the nation throughout my friendship with the Cullen's, I hadn't actually met him before he started working for me, but I sure felt like I had.

"I'm so pleased with how you have made this position your own, Bella. I knew you were the perfect person for this job, and Edward has done nothing but sing your praises ever since he started working for you."

My eyes instantly jumped toward Edward in surprise as his fell to the floor, his cheeks flushing pink. I smothered a smile and ignored the little flutter in my chest as I looked back to Carlisle with a smile.

"Well that is high praise from your son, Carlisle. He is the most brilliant profiler I have ever met. He certainly didn't fall far from the tree."

Carlisle chuckled as he glanced at Edward who blushed a shade deeper before grabbing the file from in front of him and flipping through the pages to examine his own notes.

Carlisle smirked his way before looking back at me with a wink. "So when do I see the magic start happening in here? I have a feeling it's going to be poetry in motion."

I smiled proudly. "With my team, it certainly is, but we don't really have a whole lot to go off of now. We need to get the crime scene photos processed and the evidence reviewed before we can really start making much progress here. I'll probably start by having your son over there, with the photographic memory, sketch out the crime scene on the board on the left wall. Then I'll add the numbered points where the evidence was gathered. As we were walking out, I looked back and noticed that the evidence flags formed a perfect flower design around the bodies. That was no mistake and I want to know exactly where every piece was laid out, because I'm guessing there's a pretty big clue waiting right there."

Carlisle nodded, shifting in his seat as he leaned back with his head resting against the back of the couch. "Mind telling me where you moved the coffee pot? I have a feeling I'm going to be needing a pot an hour to keep up with you kids. I'm getting too old for this."

I scoffed and rolled my eyes before reaching under my desk and grabbing a Red Bull out of the small fridge I had tucked there. I whistled before tossing it in his direction. "Start with that, old timer. That will give you the head start you need in order to only need a half pot an hour from here on out."

Carlisle chuckled, shaking his head as he examined the can curiously.

"Trust me, Dad," Edward said without looking up from the file in his hand. "If you want to keep up with her, you're going to need it."

Carlisle looked at his son smirking down at his papers before darting his eyes back at me, mirth dancing behind the sky blue irises. He took a deep breath before popping the top and taking a sip, pulling the can away with a cringe. He smacked his lips a few times while reading the nutritional information before taking another hesitant sip and looking back at me.

"So who are you calling in to take over for Rose?"

I sighed a deep breath, chewing on the inside of my cheek as I grumbled down at the desk top before me. "I called in Jane Paynor on the way here. She should be here in the next hour or so."

I didn't look up, but I could hear Carlisle's attempts to stifle his chuckling as he took another sip of the overly sweet liquid I had given him to help him stay awake. Carlisle knew better than anyone the less than ideal history I had with 'Jane the Pain.'