Right chucks, here is the next chapter which will lay the mystery to rest. Hopefully not too anti-climactic as I don't imagine the reactions will be.

I am considering stopping writing this before we get to the wedding as I have no intention to go beyond I Do and Vigil is rounding things off quite neatly. I will however do some of I Do/time in between if people do want to see storylines from that, namely I guess stuff around Callie's court case. Does anyone have any strong feelings about what they want from episode 10? Otherwise I may just do a rounding off chapter or two from it. If people want to see more I will do more, but I reckon it will probably only be if people request as I think I'll be having an indefinite hiatus pretty soon.

Anyhow, here is this little contribution:

Stef got into work the next morning to find Mike already sat at his desk. He was looking glum and dishevelled, typing away at his keyboard with dark circles around his eyes.

"I hope you're happy." he mumbled.

Stef bit her lip and counted to three. She had fully intended to keep their personal issues personal but his baiting, compounded with the anger she was feeling after her talk with Kasey, stirred her every impulse to smack him upside the head.

"There is nothing about this situation that is happy, Mike. Look at yourself." She threw some papers on her desk and looked him up and down.

He shook his head and tapped away, not looking up. "I'd agree, if this wasn't a complete over-reaction."

She tried to walk away but felt herself being wound into his web. She turned to him, folding her arms.

"If it's an over-reaction why was our daughter crying last night? You know our daughter? The one whose been trying to protect you."

"Protect me?" He screwed up his face, the tapping ceasing. "From what? Getting a moment's peace? You're all making such an issue about this! She was probably crying because you told her what you told the captain." He was trying to keep his voice to a quiet conversation but both of them were now stating to turn a couple of the more curious heads.

"You really are oblivious aren't you -"

"Foster." A sharp command came from the Captain's doorway. She was about to continue before snapping her mouth shut and turning towards the towering woman.

Stef walked calmly past her stare into her office.

"Stef..."

"I know, I'm sorry Captain. I just can't -"

"Well you have to. I'm already Mike down and I need you to play cover for Andrews while he's sick. I don't need household drama in my station. Understand?"

"Yes Ma'am." Stef nodded.

"I know this is going to be tough, but we'll support Mike if it comes to it. Probably with a foot in the ass. I don't need to lose you too."

"Yes, Ma'am, I understand."

"Good. Now, I'm putting you on patrol with Wong today but I need you back at 4 for a meeting about more permanent arrangements, OK?"

Stef nodded again, despite still being sidetracked.

"OK, get on it. Wong's a rookie so you need to be at your best." Stef turned to leave, still buzzing but at least with a focus. "And officer -"

She turned back.

"We got him through it last time. You help your kids, we'll help Mike." she paused thinking about her babies, but glad of the support.

"Thank you, Captain."

She completed her stride out only throwing a look to a distracted Mike who barely had time to glare back. They had got through it before, he just needed the right wake up call, and it would come.

"Hey, Benny!" Kasey waved over to the senior, trying not to show her desperation after having waited all day before she managed to find him. Solving this mystery had been all she could focus on to distract her from the bigger things going on the obsession was consuming. Generally, she hardly talked with Benny at school but as one of the employees at Scurro's their out of school friendship had blossomed.

"Hey Kase." He replied nervously. "I hear you were at the cafe last night?"

"Well yeah, for all of five minutes. What the hell is going on?" She crossed her arms as he flicked his eyebrows up.

"I'm assuming you've not spoken to your Dad then."

Kasey's whole body vibrated with dread. She swallowed hard barely wanting to ask the next question. Apparently this would no longer be a distraction from the bigger picture but a piece of it.

"My Dad?" She asked through gritted teeth.

"Yeah. Other night after you left with your little bro dude, he comes in not too happy and well, seeming a little drunk to be honest. He was bitching and whining to Jim about how you shouldn't have been in there and stuff. Jim tries to calm him down because he's causing a scene - next thing badge is flashed and well, I'm not sure bossman wants the hassle."

Kasey gawped in shock and humiliation. She shook her head open mouthed trying to process what he was saying. "So what? Like...I'm barred because my Dad...he, what he pissed off Jim or something?" She clasped a hand over her forehead, squinting through the confusion.

"Well yeah but far as I could gather he told him not to serve you or there'd be trouble. You don't mess with a cop dude - not if you're trying to run a business."

"This is insane!" Kasey blurted out swinging her head around. She could feel the anger pulsing through her temple. All of the confusion and obsessing - she had even dismissed the idea it could have been Mike, but this was a step even further beyond her already broken opinion. He now wasn't even attempting to communicate - going over her head as if it was his God given right. She didn't even have the patience to thank Benny for the information. She spun around and paced away, clenching her fists.

She headed towards the school doors, ready to march straight to the station and give him a piece of her mind. She no longer cared about getting caught, she didn't care about anything, she just wanted to scream at him.

"Kasey..." she was snapped out of her daze by Lena's familiar voice.

"What?" She fired back to a startled look.

"You forgetting something? Other than apparently who you're talking to..."

Kasey bit down on her tongue trying not to explode. She still had to sit through detention. She was a step away from storming out, but even with the anger she knew that would only compromise her.

"Right. I forgot." She managed to mumble out, changing direction to stew in the classroom for a further hour. It did nothing more than stir her resentment further.

"Uhuh. Uhuh. And when exactly did she disappear? OK, ma'am I'm going to have to ask you to calm down. how old did you say your daughter was? Your dog? Ma'am, let me confirm. Your missing report is about your dog?" Mike rubbed his forehead in frustration. He wasn't sure if this was as bad as it seemed or if it was the pounding in his head. After his confrontation from Stef followed by the cold shoulder, it hadn't been his best day.

The next figure to come in the room didn't make it any better. He quickly passed the call over to another department as his daughter came storming towards him.

"You have some freaking nerve." She whispered harshly as he sprang up from his chair.

"Kasey..." He put a hand on her shoulder but she lurched it away.

"Don't touch me!" She spat. "How could you? How could you? What? You see me in the café and you don't even say hi? You just wait till I leave and go and make a scene?"

"Kasey, come with me to another room."

"Oh, so now you don't want me making a scene? Funny that!"

"You wanna have a slinging match in the station, fine, but you're Mom's on the other side of that door and you may not care what I think right now but I'm pretty sure you care what she does." He threatened her, leaving Kasey huffing towards the closed blinds of the Captain's office. She weighed it up but decided she didn't want the issue diluted by getting herself into trouble.

She tore away to the hallway, Mike scurrying behind. She stormed to one of the interview rooms that she had often been pulled into when her parents had needed to take them aside or when they needed them distracted while they finished.

She shook her head furiously as she turned to him. "I can't believe you would do something like this behind my back! You couldn't call, you couldn't even talk it over with Moms? Let alone me! I have to turn up and get kicked out to find out!"

Mike stuttered. "Kasey I don't..." She preempted the next words and her face fell, tears in her eyes.

"You don't even remember it do you?" She asked, disgusted.

"No, I do. I mean, I remember seeing you and well, talking to them...I guess I just forgot to..."

"Forgot to what?" He voice broke composure again, screeching above her tone.

"Tell me? You know the thing about parenting, Dad is it only works if your kid actually knows you're doing it!" Mike took the hit but his day had already gone too badly to be framed as the bad guy completely.

"You know you're being pretty damn high and mighty considering which of us is in trouble here. You should never have been there in the first place that day!"

"You think what? That I kidnapped Jude and hopped the fence? Moms let me! Something you would have known had you bothered to ask me!"

"So you're mad at me for doing this alone but they can un-ground you without telling me?"

The accusation riled Kasey even further, especially with Mike's tone now matching hers.

"And how did you know I went round there then? You just said you went round again and got kicked out - I'm pretty sure you didn't have permission for that!"

Kasey shook her head, fighting angry tears. "You just don't get it, do you? God. I hope you're happy - but hey you know if you're not I guess you could just crack open another bottle and numb it away instead!"

She shoved the chair in the room towards the table and stormed out, her face red and temperature rising.

Mike strode out after as she ran off towards the door.

"Foster!" The captain shouted behind him, Stef close behind.

"Was that Kasey?" she asked, trying to get a better look.

"What was all the yelling about?" Roberts asked, Mike still consumed with Kasey's disappearing figure.

"Look, I'm sorry, she came in - she was mad. I got her out the main part of the station".

"What was she doing here? What did you do now?" Stef asked sternly, Mike's embarrassment the least of her concerns.

"Our daughter continues to act out and you're assuming it's my fault?"

"It's not exactly like she doesn't have reason to be mad with you - "

"You know what, I've already made it pretty clear - no domestics." Roberts cut them both off before Mike could respond. "You're in hot water as it is." She stared hard at Mike. "As your friend and boss I care about the well being of you both, but I don't want dirty laundry being aired in this work place. I don't care which of you talks to her, but one of you needs to make sure this doesn't happen again. Fix it." She ordered before striding off.

"What the hell just happened?" Stef whispered, once Roberts was out of earshot.

"Maybe you should ask your daughter, you may be interested to know what she's been getting up to this week, seeing as you're supposedly in control." he replied before spinning back towards the main desks. Stef sighed heavily and checked her watch. She was now looking forward to the tension this evening even less.

Jesus had thought it over and over. He knew he wasn't going to get any help from Mariana and he had bottled his attempts to get advice from Kasey, but he knew he had to do something. He couldn't just sit by and wait for Ana to fall into oblivion. Whatever she had done, he wouldn't be here if it hadn't have been for her and he couldn't just wait for the inevitable.

He clutched his backpack knowing the information that was within it and once again made the trek to the house they had visited the day before. He banged on the grill and waited, hoping that Ana would be the one to answer. He was immediately disappointed.

The man grunted as he reached the door.

Jesus bit down his distaste. "Hey. Is Ana here?" He asked firmly, as the man looked him up and down. He didn't want to seem weak. This guy was a bully and he needed to know that there were people who could and would stand up to him.

"No." Was his reply, his eyes staring a deadly face off.

Jesus shuffled with his bag strap as he saw a glimpse of Ana just behind.

"Who's at the door?" He heard the small croak come from behind and the man looked behind with a groan.

Ana pushed her way to the door, moving faster as she saw Jesus. A sad smile filled her face and once again Jesus felt the tug at his heart.

"You came back..." She smiled, almost tearing up.

"Can I talk to...my Mom." Jesus asked reluctantly, looking at the dominant of the two druggies. The man looked at Ana and slumped off into another room.

As soon as he was out of the way Ana jumped forward, opening the grill and pulled Jesus into her arms. He still couldn't face giving in to the emotions completely but it was definitely easier the second time, especially now he had the vague hope he may actually be able to help her. Mariana had warned him, but he wouldn't be as reckless as her. He had figured out a way to make this work.

"I have found a place for you, if you're interested?" He asked. "You say you want to get clean..."

"I do, I do!" She nodded clasping her fingers together awkwardly. "Do you have the money to get in?" Was her immediate response. Jesus sighed, seeing her first instinct. "It's not like that...but they can help you." Her face dropped momentarily before she pushed out a smile. "Right." She nodded. "Right!" She said even more enthusiastically, running her hands up and down her thighs.

"So I need to sort a few things...but I'll meet you there. Here is the information." He passed her a piece of paper with the details which she skimmed over and shoved into her pocket, her hands quickly after.

"Meet me there later?" He suggested. "I have a few things to sort out. I mean, and you need to get stuff together." He remembered Mariana's warning about the kind of ways she could ask for money.

She paused for a moment, her eyes out of focus, before he urged her with his eyes.

"Right." She agreed again rubbing her face with the back of her hand before another awkward pause. Everything about her body language was showing reluctance but it didn't stop Jesus from hanging onto that vague hope. That vague possibility that this could be the way out.

"OK, then." He nodded, the silence too much. He turned to go, unsure of how else to leave. She nodded with tears in her eyes and sloppily wiped her nose. He kept walking, desperately trying not to look back.

This would work, he convinced himself. This would work.

Stef made her now familiar trek to the basement and knocked gently on Kasey's door. Lifting her head slightly from the page, she greeted her and stared back down. She still had the conversation with Mike plaguing her mind and being called up to dinner to make pleasantries wasn't top of her list.

"We need to talk about this afternoon."

Kasey's heart wrenched slightly. She hadn't spoken to her Mom about anything of importance today, so they only thing she could mean would be that Mike had spoken to her, or even worse, that she had heard her. That was something she needed even less.

"What happened this afternoon?" Kasey asked defiantly, not looking up from her page.

"At the station." Stef clarified, her voice was calm but it didn't stop Kasey from feeling ambushed. Her eyes flickered momentarily but her anger was stopping her from wanting to co-operate. She was so tired of having to dissect her feelings - playing ignorance wouldn't work but it would maybe at least delay it or distract from it.

"I dunno what you mean." Was her response. Stef hadn't come in particularly angry, but the denial was doing a good job of awakening it.

She strode over to Kasey and closed her book over, forcing Kasey to look up. She wasn't going to humour her in the same way she had the night before. Tonight she wanted answers.

"Are you deliberately trying to provoke me this week?" she asked. "I saw you at the station with your Dad. I may be no great time keeper, but I'm pretty sure that if you were at the station at 4.15 it means you weren't at home or school."

"And you're not even a detective." She rolled off her stomach to sit up against the wall. "How do you know I didn't get permission from Lena?" She shrugged.

Stef stared at her hard, she had a dinner party to host and the brewing fight was not something she wanted to have to schedule in.

"Lena didn't give you permission, and don't get smart with me."

"So I'm not allowed to go and talk to my dad?" Kasey clarified trying to remain emotionless. Stef wasn't being fooled.

"When we don't know where you are? No."

"I thought the whole point of this was you did know where I was." Kasey challenged, her confidence outwardly growing but inwardly making her heart pound.

Stef folded her arms, trying to keep herself together. Firing right now would cause Kasey to do the same, and if possible she wanted to keep this civil.

"You know, young lady, for someone whose punishment depends on her attitude, you're really making a play for the long haul. You're only getting yourself more worked up so I'm gonna ask you one more time. Your dad said you would explain, so I wanna know what it is. What happened?"

Kasey shook her head in disbelief. Naturally he would have made her out to be the bad guy in this. Narcing on her instead of talking to her once again.

"Right. Of course he did, he doesn't have the balls to tell you himself. I wanted to speak to him because he decided to act alone in punishing me without even telling me and I didn't think that was fair." She sucked her tongue through her teeth trying to hold it together.

Stef took a deep breath, widening her eyes. She really could strangle Mike sometimes. Realising damage control was inevitable she broke into her familiar chant.

"Love, I don't know what your father did, but I'm sure that he had his reasons. Should he have discussed then with us? Always. But there are better ways to handle -"

"Yeah! There are also better ways to handle your daughter than getting drunk, flashing your badge and overreacting without having the full story!" Kasey cut Stef off, swinging her palm into the air to make her point. She was fed up of excusing him. At the mention of the alcohol and seeing how volatile Kasey's mood was, Stef let the outburst slide and slowly sat down next to her daughter on the bed.

"OK. Then give me the full story. What exactly did he do?"

"He saw me out with Jude after the whole Sanchez office thing, figured I was sneaking out or was un-grounded or something so decided to take it into his own hands and ban me from Scurro's by threatening the staff with his badge."

Stef exhaled again frustrated. Why did the last few weeks seem like endless cleaning up after Mike? She rubbed her forehead and turned to face Kasey again, Kasey firmly looking away.

"OK, well that was wrong for him to act alone but you could have mentioned it to us and we could have talked about it. Why didn't you tell me on Tuesday night? You didn't even mention you'd seen your dad."

"Because I didn't see him!" Kasey snapped, the anger re-surfacing. "I only found out yesterday when I tried to go -" Kasey halted as Stef's eyed flared, her head dipping down.

It was clear her calm approach had rapidly just evaporated.

Next Chapter Preview: Kasey and Stef have a stand off as the house prepare for Gretchen to come round to dinner.

"Kasey, love! When will you understand that I'm not going to back up every stupid decision you make?" Stef's voice cracked with frustration. "I don't understand where this latest wave of infallibility has come from. It's not like you've never been grounded before! I think you know the system!"

"Look I know. And I'm sorry, I guess I just figured you were going through the motions and that it wouldn't matter. We were gonna be studying and it's not like you go out all that much..."

"That is so not an excuse!" Stef laughed in disbelief as Kasey's arms flew out in front of her.