A/N: I can't kill Jessica Angell. No power on earth can make me. WAY easier to send Stella to Nawlins.

She chewed on the pen cap thoughtfully, her feet propped up on the side of the desk. Late afternoon sunlight poured through the window and she sighed, checking off another box on the paperwork before she stuffed it into the manila folder and put it in the basket for the courier.

"Lindsay."

"Mac, about how many times a week do you lose all faith in humanity?" she asked, not turning around.

"Probably twice."

"Guess I'm normal then."

"You're basing normalcy off of me?"

"You're the most stable person I know," she said turning around and finding Mac standing in the office doorway with a woman she had never seen before.

"Lindsay, this is Jo Danville. She's going to be joining the team."

"Hi, it's nice to meet you," Lindsay said, standing up and offering her hand and a smile. She wasn't sure exactly how she felt about a new member of the team, but she knew Stella would want her to be nice, and she would have hated if everyone had treated her badly when she had first arrived.

"Nice to meet you too," Jo replied, a tinge of Southern accent in her voice. "I've heard about your demonstrations."

"My reputation proceeds me."

"Not always a bad thing," Mac chuckled. "Why are you still here?"

"It's a long story. Basically my shift overlapped with Adam's and he was just going to bring Colton here so we could swap parenting duties, but then there was an incident with a jar of molasses and the cat, so he's running a little late."

"A jar of molasses and the cat. Can I ask how many things your son has dumped on the cats now?"

"There was shampoo, some flour, applesauce, a cup of milk and now the molasses."

"All the same cat?"

"Fluffy isn't so Fluffy anymore. I don't know why she walks anywhere near him."

"Your son is turning out just like his father."

"Hey, I heard that," Adam said, coming into the office with Colton on his hip. "And if you're talking about our rugged good looks, then okay."

"Yeah hon, that's exactly it. Mac was commenting on your rugged good looks."

"Never know," he said with a shrug, setting Colton on the floor.

"Hi mama."

"Hey monster. Did you cause some destruction today?"

"Whoops."

"Did daddy leave a mess? Am I going to have a meltdown when we get home?"

"Uh-oh."

"Don't believe him Linds. I really did clean it up. As best I could. Really. I called my mom and your mom for tips but they both just laughed at me. Dude, I even went online and I couldn't find anything."

"I appreciate your efforts. Maybe we can just cut that chunk out of the carpet."

"The dent in the wall, the hole in the carpet, that burn mark in the linoleum from the ill-fated midnight macaroni; I don't think we're ever going to get our deposit back."

"I told you we can fill the dent in the wall with toothpaste."

"Oh that's right."

"You'll get used to this," Mac said to Jo, chuckling a little. She just nodded.

"Hey Linds, are you leavin'?" Danny asked, poking his head into the room.

"You just got here, of course I'm leavin'."

"Nice. Hey if you and Austin do that thing were you watch a movie together over the phone then you'll probably do that thing where you both order a pizza and whoever's pizza gets there last has to pay the other one five bucks, right?"

"Probably."

"Could you tell her to get anchovies on ours and save some for me?"

"Why you want to ruin a perfectly good slice of Rays with anchovies is beyond me, but I'll pass along the message anyway."

"Thanks, Rocky Mountain Oysters."

"No problem."

Jo was looking at them with raised eyebrows and an uncertain smirk.

"You really will get used to it, I swear," Mac assured.

"I think I'm going to have to," she muttered amusedly.

"Okay Colton, let's get out of here."

"Go play?"

"Sure, we can go play, or we can talk about the finer points of not terrorizing your pets."

"No mama, play," he said seriously as she picked him up.

"Alright. Say bye."

"Bye daddy."

"Later dude."

"Layler do," he repeated with a smile.

"By the way, did you see Flack's hair recently?" Lindsay asked licking the last little bit of ice-cream off of her spoon.

"Yeah and ew. I am duct taping him to a chair and fixing those hideous bangs soon. And by soon I mean tomorrow because I don't think I can stand it much longer," Austin replied on the other end of the phone.

"The gray's not bad."

"No, it's really not."

"Hmm."

"Kind of a Clooney thing he's got going on."

"How long do you think it would take us to convince him to wear a Batman suit?"

"It would be a long process Linds, but if we could get Jess on board, he'll be fighting the Joker by Wednesday."

"Today is Wednesday toots."

"A toddler and an infant. I'm surprised I remembered what Wednesday was called."

"You did mess up the year the other day."

"Just wait until you reproduce again. You'll lose your mind too and then I'll be the one cackling with evil… evillity or something."

"Huh?"

"Shut up."

"So you wanna know something really sad?"

"No."

"How about really pathetic?"

"Sure."

"I ate half that extra large pizza myself. And some ice-cream."

"Gross."

"I really want a spoonful of peanut butter."

"Mmm, peanut butter."

"I know right? It sounds good. Of course Adam apparently used all our peanut butter to make cookies and then didn't write it on the list."

"So eat a cookie."

"He burned them."

"Why do you let him in the kitchen?"

"Sometimes he wears an apron and it makes me laugh."

"You guys are so very, very strange."

"Austin, I haven't even begun to tell you the strange stuff."

"It gets worse?"

"I'm gonna shield you from it."

"Bless you Sister Mary Margaret."

"Ah-men."

There was a moment of silence and Lindsay yawned, looking down at Colton who was sleeping with his head in her lap. She smiled and tucked a stray curl behind his ear as he cuddled his sock monkey closer.

"So I met Stella's replacement today."

"Replacement?"

"Whatever you would call the person that is now doing her job."

"Ponyboy?"

"She's nice."

"Nice? That's it?"

"She's from the south maybe. Like more of the northern part of the south. One of the Carolina's or West Virginia or something."

"Great. More country music."

"And she's… I dunno. She's nice."

"I'll probably meet her tomorrow."

"Yeah. Adam and Danny are working with her tonight I think. We'll have to grill them for details."

"Yeah, I guess."

"You alright?"

"I'm fine."

"I know you miss Stella. That's okay."

"I don't miss people, Linds. Danny is the only person I've ever missed in my life. I mean I've missed you when you're out of town or the girls when I'm at work, or sometimes Andy, but I've never missed someone to the point where I actually get sad thinking about it."

"Just because you haven't done it before doesn't mean it's bad."

"I know."

"She's always been there for you, Aust. For years. It would be weird if you didn't miss her."

"If anyone else moves away, I swear, Danny's going to have to put me on Lithium or something."

"Well that's cheery."

"Promise me you guys won't take off to Cornfield Indiana or Flatland Kansas or Sunblock Florida."

"I am one hundred percent certain that we will never, ever move to any of those specific places."

"And no going back to Montana or Arizona or anything like that."

"I will do my best."

"I feel like I should call Stella. Just see how she's doing."

"Yeah, I haven't heard from her in a week or so."

"Think she's forgotten about us?"

"I think she's busy. I bet you catch her at work."

"I wonder if she's going to start sleeping in her office like Mac."

"Probably. We should send her some really good coffee or something."

"Yeah we should."

"I've gotta go put Colton to bed before he falls off the couch. Talk to you later?"

"Yeah. Are you working tomorrow?"

"I pulled graves."

"Gross. I'll see you in a couple days then I guess."

"Alright. Let me know if you need me to take the girls when you're in court next week."

"I will. Night Linds."

"Night."

She set the phone next to her on the couch and picked Colton up, taking him into his bedroom and cuddling him for a little while before putting him down. He grunted and rolled over onto his stomach and she covered him with his quilt. It was almost time to get him a real bed. He hadn't started climbing out of his crib yet, but she knew he could do it if he wanted to, and he was getting too big to sleep in a crib anyway. Just another bit of his babyness gone.

She sighed and went back out to the other room, cleaning up her mess and taking a few minutes to straighten the pillows on the couch and make the room more presentable. It always seemed to go to the dogs when they were working too much. Adam did his fair share of cleaning up and with the earlier mess she couldn't be upset that there were toys all over the floor.

The phone rang and she grabbed it, half expecting it to be Austin again, but getting Adam instead.

"Hey babe."

"Yo word up home skillet."

"Adam, what are you smoking?"

"Danny made the coffee tonight. Yowza."

"No wonder Austin's always bouncing off the walls. What's up?"

"Nothing, just sitting here watching the computer work. Thought I would call you."

"So you think of me when you're bored."

"I do."

"Thanks. How's work?"

"Not a lot going on."

"Is Jo working tonight?"

"Yeah."

"Is she um… is she going to fit in?"

"She already knocked Flack down a peg. She's going to fit in just fine."

"Wonderful. He needs to be knocked down a peg every once in a while."

"What are you up to?"

"Cleaning up. Wondering if it's too late to run the vacuum."

"Probably. You going to bed or are you going to wait up for me?"

"I think I'm going to go crash for a while, but wake me up when you get here."

"Alright. I'd better go. I love you."

"I love you too."

"I can't tell you exactly what it is yet," Jo said as she ran the unidentified substance through the mass spec. "But I can tell you that it stinks."

"Well that's a good starting place," Lindsay agreed from her microscope. "Whatever I've got here is certainly interesting also. Doesn't stink but it looks cool. I have no idea what it is."

"First thoughts?"

"Horton Hears a Who."

"'Scuse me?"

"That was my first thought. You know, teeny tiny trace."

"Okay, I'm with you now. Maybe I should have asked for first impressions."

"It's pretty unremarkable. It's like I'm staring at nothing."

"Are you on the highest magnification?"

"Yeah. Maybe I'm looking too hard," she sighed, leaning back in her chair and rubbing her eyes. "I hate the graveyard shift."

"Probably doesn't help keeping up with the rugrat later in the day does it?"

"I get home just after he wakes up and then he's awake until sometime in the afternoon."

"So when do you sleep?"

"Between Sid the Science Kid and The Wiggles."

"The joys of motherhood."

"That's what they say. Speaking of, I need some coffee. Want a cup?"

"Sure."

She stood up and went into the breakroom, taking a minute to glance out the window. It was dark and calm, but nowhere near quitting time and she yawned, rolling her neck until it popped. She poured two cups of coffee and took them back into the lab, setting them on the table by the door where they were allowed to keep drinks.

"Plain black okay?"

"Perfect. Does the mass spec normally take this long?"

"Only when you're in a hurry."

Jo chuckled and scooted her chair over to grab the warm mug of coffee.

"Is everyone around this place paired up with someone else from around this place?"

Lindsay snorted and almost spit out her coffee at the bluntness of the question.

"What?"

"I've been here two days and I already know that you and Adam are married, Danny's married to a cop, Flack's datin' another cop, and Pete in ballistics is in the midst of a divorce with Gloria from the morgue."

"Well when you say it like that."

"Is it like a New York crime lab curse?"

"I wouldn't call it a curse. If they all start ending in divorce, I'm hightailin' it outta here."

"And you guys all just met at the lab?"

"Danny and Austin grew up together. All the rest of us… just kind of found each other."

"What about Mac?"

"Mac… he is his own storyteller."

"He's a tough read."

"That he is. Just wait a while, you'll get the hang of it."

"I feel like I'm running in fast motion just to keep up."

"I know exactly how you feel."

"How do you keep up?"

"Face the fact that you're always going to be running."

"Encouraging. Thanks."

"We don't mince words around here."

"Good to know."

"You'll find your rhythm. It doesn't take long."

"How long did it take you?"

"I found my rhythm in about three weeks. Stopped being homesick a while after that."

"I definitely haven't been homesick yet. But Montana to New York is a much bigger change than DC to New York."

"I'll give you that," she said with a nod as they went back to work.

"Does it normally make this noise?" Jo asked over the rapid beeping of the machine.

"Not normally, it's just temperamental."

"How do I fix it?"

"Kick it. Right where that scuff mark is at."

"You've done this a time or two?" Jo asked, chucking and giving the machine a gentle kick.

"You gotta give it some gusto, Danville!" Lindsay answered, walking over and giving the machine a swift kick. "There's just somethin' loose in there."

"Ever thought of taking it apart to figure out what it is?"

"Nah. It's something in the heating system, so it doesn't mess with the test results at all. It's like the backup fan or something. I might think about fixin' it if I could ever find a screwdriver in this place."

"Lemme guess… you can fix a tractor so they think you can fix anything."

"That and I spent a lot of time fixing the machines in Montana. I am apparently a good trouble shooter."

"If duct tape can't fix it, it ain't broke?"

"You're going to fit in just fine here, Jo. Just fine."