AN: Sorry for the wait, I had exam and all my free time went studying for it. I still have one exam to left, which is at the end next week, so there is chance I won't be able to update till like the very end of last week.

Hope you enjoy :)

Stef POV

November 23rd - Sunday

When I walked out of the bathroom, Lena was still sitting on the bed, with her laptop on her legs. Her fingers were swiftly moving over the keyboard and she was concentrating on the screen. For a brief moment she paused and quickly reached for the file that was by her left side, on the bed. Lena looked through some of the pages and then returned back to the laptop, to add whatever she just looked up.

She was writing some sort of paper for the school, which Monte asked her to write. I have no idea what the paper was about. Something about some grant or something along the lines of it. The thing I do know is that it is super urgent and she needs it done by tomorrow. Lena was working on it the whole day. Everyone could tell how stressed out she about it. She barely even left this room today. The only time the kids actually saw her and talked to her, was at the breakfast and dinner. After that she hurried back to keep on working on this paperwork.

"How's it going?" I ask her as I turn off the bathroom light

"It's not," Lena replied as she once again reached for the file by her left side

"That bad?" I ask, when I walk around the bed to my side

"Worse," Lena says, her voice clearly showed me just how stressed she was. She took a deep sight, turned another page on the file and scratched her forehead "I don't even know if I can finish this tonight"

"Can't you finish it tomorrow morning?" I suggest to her as I settle under the blanket

"No. We need this done by tomorrow!" Lena said frustrated and again returned to typing

"We?" I raise eyebrow at her "I don't see Monte working on this paper. I see only you working your butt off!"

"She's writing the other document" She replies without looking up to me

"There's another document?" Lena only nodded back

"Well, if anyone can do it, it's you" I smile to her "I won't bother you while you work, love" I leaned a bit closer to her "Just remember to go to bed as well, you can't function without sleep, my love"

Lena stopped working for a moment and gestured to the laptop "I know..I just, I need to finish this"

"And you will," I try to encourage her, but I don't know if it helped "I love you, good night!" Lena leaned towards me and we shared a tender kiss goodnight, before I lowered myself down to the bed

"Love you too," Lena replied when I reached to turn off the lamp on my nightstand. Tonight I drift asleep to the sound of Lena typing on the keyboard, of the sound of Lena flipping through the pages in the file and Lena sighting time after time.

Amy POV

November 24th

Putting on the uniform again, felt strange. It has been almost 4 months since the shooting. It feels like it has been a year. The feelings I have right now are similar to the ones I felt when I put on a uniform for the very first time. I was partly excited, but also partly scared of what the day would bring.

After I have buttoned up shirt and tucked it my pants, I head over to the mirror to have a look at myself. To see how it looks on me and to see if everything is in order. As I see my reflection, I instantly straighten my stance.

There are so little people, who know what this uniform now hides underneath it. Only my family and closest friends know of the scars, that I have to wear now for the rest of my life. Two completely different kind of scars – the ones who almost killed me and the one that saved my life.

I snap out of my thoughts, when I hear a knock on the doors. Looking over my shoulder I see Callie standing in the doorway.

"Morning!" I greet her when I turn to face her

Things between us have been a little better, since I officially met Gavin the last Friday. Sure we still have this slight tension between us, because of the intense and argument filled last 3 weeks, but we are slowly working to get back to the place we were before. The arguing, door slamming and snapping was slowly subduing. I can't say I am okay with them dating, but it's not like I can do anything about it. I can't lock Callie in the house forever.

"Morning," Callie reply's quietly without moving from her spot. She stands in the doorway and watches me closely. The first thing I saw, when I looked at her, was the worry in her eyes.

"How do I look?" I ask her raising my hands up a little. All she gave me was a little shoulder shrug.

"What is it, honey?" I ask her walking up to her. It was obvious she wouldn't be walking up to me, so I had to go to her. Callie wasn't looking to my eyes, her look was stuck on my uniform.

"Cal," I move my right hand under her chin to lift her head up just a bit "You can talk to me. Something is obviously bothering you. What is it?" I had a feeling what this was about. To me it seemed like she was worried and maybe even a little bit scared of me going back to work.

"Could you still work the desk today?" Callie asks warily once our eyes met

"What do you mean – still?"

She shrugged her shoulders as her head dipped down again "It's just...we haven't exactly seen eye to eye these last 3 weeks, you know, because of me and Gavin...and I just, wanted to ask, if you could please work the desk...at least for today"

"Callie," I place my hand on her upper arm and run it down to her palm, to hold her hand "Just because we haven't been on the best terms and have had few arguments these last couple of days, doesn't change anything. This whole week, I'm working the desk. Just like you asked me to, just like I promised to you 3 weeks ago!" I reassure her. The worry in her eyes slowly disappeared. Not completely though. Some of it still lingered in her eyes.

"Please be careful, mom" Callie pleaded to me next, her voice very soft

"Honey, I'm working the desk. The worst that can happen is paper-cut" I say back to her with a little laugh

"Then, please, don't get a paper-cut" Callie said back, holding back a little smirk

"I will be careful, love" I say to her, when I place my hand on her cheek. Softly I move my thumb over her cheek caressing it gently, while I am looking to her big brown eyes

"I just...I don't think I can take you getting hurt again" Callie admits quietly. It felt to me, like she really just needed for me to hug her. So do just that. I kiss her temple at first, but then I pull her in a tight hug. She tightened the grip on me, when she pressed her head to my shoulder. And for a while, we stand in the doorway, just hugging.

When we were sitting at the kitchen table, having our breakfast, the front doors opened. Callie and I share a look over the kitchen table, wondering who it could be. There weren't many options. My bet was on Cooper.

"Amy! Callie?" Cooper called out the next moment. He did have a key, so it was okay for him to just walk in. Callie relaxed at once and took another bite out of her sandwich.

But I lower the sandwich back down to my plate and call back "In the kitchen!"

I reach for the cup of coffee by my right side and take a quick sip. When Cooper walks in the kitchen, Callie and him greeted casually, like always.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" I ask him when I got up from my seat to walk up to him. We share a quick kiss. Just a small peck on the lips, because we know Callie would call out something along the lines of - Ew, that's gross, I'm eating here - if we shared a longer kiss. And yes, it has happened before.

"I wanted to see you before your first shift back," he says to me, when he rested his right hand on my hip "You looks surprised to see me"

"Oh, I...you didn't mention yesterday that you would be coming over this early. I wasn't..." I looked over my shoulder to Callie, who was sitting at the kitchen table, now sipping her coffee "We weren't expecting you."

"Yeah...yesterday I thought I wouldn't be coming over as well. But this morning, I realized I wanted to see you and wish you - good first day back and tell you to please, be careful" Cooper said looking down to my eyes. Not for one second he took his eyes off me.

"In that case," I smile up to him "Thank you! And, just so you know, I'm working the desk this first week so" I cross my left hand index and middle finger "Let's hope I won't get one of the nasty paper-cut!"

"And no stapler accidents!" Callie added quickly with a small chuckle

"Almost forgot about them," I smiled at Callie, when I quickly looked back at her

Cooper laughed back "No coffee spills?"

"Oh, yes, wouldn't want to smear my uniform!" I grin back at him before I head back to the table, to continue on with the breakfast. Cooper join us at the table and sits down for company.

"You want something to eat?" I ask him before I take a bite out of my sandwich

"No, already ate at home," Cooper replied pressing his elbows on the table looking between me and Callie

"What about when the wheels of your chair jam or completely fall of?" Callie said with full mouth

"Please chew first, then swallow, then talk...no one wants to see your half chewed food in your mouth" I point out to her after I had swallowed the food in my mouth

"Gross!" Cooper and I both call out together when Callie opens her mouth wide open, showing her chewed up food, like a little kid would do to annoy or irritate their siblings

"That's nasty! You are nasty!" Cooper comments with a smirk

"You're nasty" Callie shows him her tongue

"Amy! Callie is not being nice to me!" Cooper says like a 5 year old kid

"Big baby!" Callie instantly comments from the other side of the table, with a smirk on her lips

"You're the only baby here!" Cooper shows back tongue to her

"Kids behave or I will ground you both!" I tell them both before I take another bite of the sandwich. But then I paused for a moment and looked between Cooper and Callie. This moment right here felt very…normal. It felt like we are an actual family – the three of us. I could get used to the three of us in the morning. It felt natural, it felt good.

Lena POV

Just few seconds after I walked in my office, Monte walks in my office as well. I was still just standing by my desk, with my bag still over my shoulder and the thermos of coffee in my right hand.

"Morning, did you write it?" She walks straight to my desk. Monte looked just as exhausted as I did. She probably worked the while night as well.

"Yes I did," I say when I place my bag and the thermos of coffee on my desk "Took me the whole day and night. I think I only got like 4 hours of sleep."

"Tell me about it. I only slept for some 3 hours" Monte said back understanding how I felt this morning "The only reason I am awake right now is because I have had 3 coffee's already"

I unzipped my bag to take out the papers "Oh, my gosh!" I breathed out frustrated as I threw my head back, when I don't see the file in my bag

"What is it?" Monte asks instantly

"I printed it out, but left the papers on the island table" I covered my eyes with my hand "I forgot to take the papers with me!"

"Lena, we need those documents!" Monte said to me worried, like I don't know it already

"Yes, I know!" I said frustrated with myself for forgetting them at home. I take my wallet and keys out of my purse "I will go get them. 30 minutes!"

"Please hurry" Monte reminded me when I walked out of the office

Stef POV

I started this day, by finishing the paperwork form last Friday. Right now, I was sitting at my desk, waiting till my partner, Roy, to finish his paperwork. It usually takes him 5 minutes longer than me. But I don't mind waiting. I better wait few minutes, than him hurrying with his paperwork and messing things up. That can happen and a lot of rookies have messed stuff up because they are in hurry or if they don't pay enough attention to it. As much as I hate it, paperwork and these reports are important part of our job.

Roy looked up from his paperwork, when we both heard some commotion and people clapping in the hallway.

"What's going on?" Roy asks looking to me

"Probably nothing. Finish the report" I tell him and lean back in my chair

The noise and lot of voices stopped for a moment. I was kind of curious myself, but I knew we don't have time for whatever was going on. I was just waiting for Roy to finish his paperwork so we could head out to patrol.

But a moment later I heard Hernandez call out from somewhere in the hall "Hey! Look who's back! First day back and you are already late!"

"Shut up. I'm right on time!" Amy said back with a chuckle to Hernandez, when she appeared out of the hallway

"Amy! Good to see you back!" Diaz called from his desk. Amy waves back at him and flashed a smile as well.

"Well, look who's back" I said getting up from my chair and walking up to her "Why didn't you tell me you were coming back today?"

"Thanks, I wanted to surprise you!" Amy grins back at me and then adds more seriously "I'm not really back"

"You aren't?" I looked at her uniform, she looked fully back to me

"Well, I am...but not for 100%. I will be working the desk this first week" Amy explained to me

"Can I ask why?" I ask curiously as I cross my hand on my chest

"Callie," She said simply. That reason doesn't need explanation for me. I know how traumatic the shooting was for Callie. It was the same to my kids, everyone was kind of scared and wary of me going back to work. I bet, Callie was the same "She asked me to, so..."

"Ah!" I breath out "Scared?"

"Definitely," She replies briefly looking down to the floor "Callie looked so worried this morning, when she saw me in the uniform. I think it will be good that I work the desk the first week. Not just for Callie, but for me as well. I don't think, it would be wise for me to just...jump back in the action"

"You do what you got to do. Glad that you are back!" I smile to her and pat her shoulder

Amy smiles back at me first and then nods to Roy "Who's that?"

"Rookie," I tell her and nod her to follow me, so I could introduce them

"Roy! Meet Officer Scott" I walk up to his desk. Roy instantly jumps up to his feet "Amy, meet one of our newest rookies – Roy Evans"

"Pleasure!" Roy extends his arm to Amy

Amy shook his hand back "Nice to meet you as well. Who's your training officer?"

"Um" Roy glances to me

"Oh really!" Amy smirks at me, when she looks at me in surprise and slight disbelief "I never imagined you as a training officer"

"Well, I needed a partner till you finally got your ass back to work!"

"How's she treating you, Roy?" Amy asks curiously tuning back to Roy

"She let's me drive so..." he shrugs his shoulder back "That's good" Roy says joking, but then adds to make it clear "No, but really...she's great! Can't ask for a better training officer"

"Amy!" I hear Captains voice. Amy instantly looks over my shoulder to our Captain. Glancing over my shoulder, I see Captain standing in the doorway "Come in my office, please!" Captain Roberts tells Amy and then disappears back in her office

"I'm gonna, go have a chat with out Captain" Amy says to me, when I turn to look back at her

"Yeah, go ahead!" I answer and then watch Amy walk to Captains office

"Did you finish the report?" I ask Roy as he was still standing by his desk

"Yes, finished right before you came up to me" he says closing the file and placing it on the top of the pile on his desk

"Okay, let's go!" I tell him and set my course to the doors to the parking lot. Roy follows me on my six.

We were in the car for some 20 minutes, when he finally asked me what he wanted to ask me for a while now "So, was that your partner before me?"

"Yes," I say glancing out the side window. Roy was at the wheel once again.

"Was she…" Roy chocked on his words

"Shot like me?" I say what he couldn't bring to say himself

Roy knew that I was out for few weeks after a shooting. I had told him that like the third day working him with. He had heard some rumor and I just confirmed it.

Roy nod back warily and then time by time glances to me, waiting for me to answer "Yeah, she was. Amy got the worst of it. One bullet in her leg, other in her chest. She barely made it to the hospital. I honestly don't know how she made it out alive." I say remembering the horrible ordeal we both went through

"I'm so sorry to hear that," Roy said quietly and sincerely

"Not your fault" I took a deep breath in "It's in the past. It's all just a memory now, a bad dream"

"Still...I'm sorry that happened to both of you," Roy said when my phone started to ring

When I reach for it, I don't recognize the number "Hello?"

"Is this, Stef Adams Foster?"

"It is. Who's calling?"

"I'm Monte. I work at the Anchor Beach, with your wife, Lena." Why was Lena's boss calling me? This made no sense to me.

"Yeah, I know who you are. Lena has mentioned you few times" I sand glancing to Roy, who was peaking a look to me time by time, while he drove

"I'm actually calling you about her"

"About Lena?" I ask back confused

"Yes. Well, I saw and talked to her this morning. She forgot to take the paperwork, which we needed today. Lena said she only forgot to take the file, so she went back to the house to grab the file. She said it will take her like 30 minutes. But she is not back yet, it has been an hour already"

"Have you tried calling her?" I ask sitting straighter in the seat. Now I started to get worried. I saw Lena print those documents out. This morning, I left the house first, so I had no idea she forgot them. Besides that, it only takes 15 minutes to drive to home from Anchor beach. Back and forth - 40 minutes tops, if there is a lot of traffic.

"I did. Like 5 times, she is not picking up. I really need Lena and those papers. I don't know what happened to her..." Lena and not picking up – that doesn't sound like my wife. I started to have a bad feeling about it. Call it a gut feeling if you like.

"Okay, I will...try calling her myself and go check the house" I said and tapped on Roy's hand, to get his attention "I will get back to you!"

I hang up and tell Roy at once to turn around and head to my home address. Meanwhile I try to call Lena's phone. It keeps ringing, but there is no answer.

In 5 minutes, Roy and I are at our house. There is another car parked on the street besides Lena's. I glanced to the house and noticed the front doors open. Lena would only do that, if she would just run in and out. She probably planned to do just that, run in, grab the file and run back out. But something must have happened.

"Eye's open! Let's go" I tell Roy before getting out of the car. I look to the other car that was parked after Lena's car and quickly take a photo of the car, to get the number. When I place the phone back in my phone case, I gesture Roy to move towards the house.

With my hand on the gun, Roy and I get closer to my home. The moment I stepped on the porch, we both hear running footsteps and then the back doors slamming shut loudly. Someone was running and it definitely wasn't Lena.

"BACK! GO AROUND BACK!" I call out to Roy at once. He does not hesitate. Roy runs around the house to the back, while I pull out my gun and push the front doors open wider.

As I step inside my house, the sight in front of me shocked me. Lena was lying on the ground, in the hall by the stairs, face down. It looked like she was unconscious. The file that she came after, was in the hallways on the ground, the pages were scatted throughout the hallway, all the way to kitchen.

"Lena!" I call out to her concerned, but I don't run to her. I needed to check the house first, to see if there wasn't anyone else there. There was no response from her. Lena was not moving. My heart started to beat faster, as I worried what happened to her, if she was even alive. Once again, adrenaline was pumping through my veins.

When I cleared out the living room and dinner room, I reached for my radio to call in back up and ambulance. I moved through the dinning room to the nook area and then from kitchen I headed upstairs to clear the second floor.

Once I was sure, there was no one else in the house, I hurried back down to Lena. I dropped to my knees when I was up to her. She was breathing, I saw her chest raise and fall. There was no visible wounds on her, for now.

"Lena, love...please wake up...Lena" I say softly, reaching for her hair, that was covering her face

I gasped in shock, when I moved her hair out of her face and saw what it uncovered. Her right eye was completely swollen and black. Lena's nose was all bloody and her lip was split. The blood for the nose was still dripping down her face and was forming a little pool of blood on the wooden floor. Someone had done a number on her.

My heat broke when I saw my wife in this condition. I had a hard time keeping the tears in my eyes.

Who would do this?