Six people under one roof all trying to get out the door before eight in the morning was much easier said than done. Breakfast and coffee sat out on the counter untouched as everyone scrambled around, grabbing last minute things. Colton had refused to get out of bed until the last minute and now he was panicked and stuffing things into his backpack, swearing under his breath when he lost his schedule. Ben was his normal self, happily exclaiming about all the good things the day would bring, while Avery sat apprehensively on the couch, worried about returning to "normal" school. Hannah had tried giving her a pep talk, but was running late for her first class herself, and could only give her a hug and kiss before jetting out the door.

"Who's taking which kids?" Lindsay asked, pulling her shoes on while Adam fought with his tie in the hallway mirror.

"I'll take Colton, he's closer to the courthouse, the little kids are closer to the lab."

"I'm not a little kid!" Ben reminded from the kitchen, where he was busy packing three lunches.

They ignored him and Lindsay grabbed Adam's shoulder, turning him around so she could fix his tie. She could tell he was preoccupied with everything else he had to do today and she bit her lip, trying to think of a way to relax him. The summer had flown by, and while he still had just as many responsibilities then as now, they had been able to leave the kids mostly to their own devices. Now everything needed to be shoved into a routine again and switching gears was not easy.

"Hey, I was thinking we should all go out for dinner tonight. I know it's your night to cook, but I don't want to do dishes after so let's just go somewhere. You can pick."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. And we'll get dessert and not let the kids have any."

"You're the best wife of all time," he chuckled, leaning down to kiss her. "Think you can help Colton wrangle his stuff while I riddle out what's wrong with the baby?"

She smiled.

"Thanks for remembering that the first day of school is hard on my heart."

He laughed and they separated, her venturing upstairs to help Colton while he joined Avery on the couch.

"Hey Tink. Want to tell your old dad what's bothering you?"

"Well," she started, eyes misting over. "I very most enjoyed doing school at home. It was wonderful to be with you and mama, and to learn at my own speed. I am ready to go back and do school with other kids and a teacher. I got all my confidence back. But you see, I am not quite sure I will make friends. I thought I would be in the same class as Nicholas, but I am not! So I am a teensy bit scared of this."

"I know how you feel. It's always so scary starting something new or doing something you're not sure about. That's how I feel this morning about going to court. And nothing will make that scariness go away unless you just go ahead and get it over with."

"I just gotta be brave, huh?"

"You already are brave, baby. You just have to show everyone else that you're brave."

"I think I can do that. But… if it is really, really bad, will you or mama come rescue me?"

"No can do, kiddo. We'll always be there for you, but sometimes you have to face things, find the good parts, even if it feels bad. You're my little warrior, you know."

"I am?"

"Yes. You make me so proud and I love you very much."

"Okay daddy. I feel a little better. I will go and do this and at the end of it, even if I do not make friends, I get to come home to my family who loves me so very most."

"Absolutely."

"Then let's go! Before all my brave runs out!"

She hopped off the couch and went into the kitchen, collecting her lunch from Ben and giving him a hug when he informed her that he had packed her an extra piece of cheese.

"That will give me strength for today. And bright hope for tomorrow," she declared dramatically. "That is in a old song, but it is relevant to my life."

"That's great sissy. I'm glad you're going to my school again. It will be nice to see you sometimes in the day."

"Yes! I almost forgot you and Daniel will be there! That makes me feel so most better."

"It's gonna be a good day, just wait and see."

She nodded and slipped her shoes on while Colton came down the stairs, hair a mess.

"It's fine mama, this is how people wear it now," he grumped, looking at her over his shoulder and glaring at the comb she held.

"I understand the messy look, but this is a disaster. Will you just let me-"

"It's fine," he repeated, running his hand through the mess. "There is that better?"

"I guess that'll do until I cut it."

"No."

"Alright, it looks fine. Let's go."

The late summer heat was stifling in the courtroom, and Adam loosened his tie and cuffs nervously right before he was called to the stand. Normally court wasn't so bad, he rarely was even cross examined as just a forensic investigator. But today he would testify as the lead on the case, and the acidic nerves had been sitting in his stomach for days. No amount of preparation could calm him, all he could do was follow his advice to Avery and go ahead and get it over with.

The chair squeaked under him as he took his place, zoning in entirely on the prosecutor, making sure he was explaining things as thoroughly as possible in order to give the defense attorney less to pick apart. He highlighted all they had done to clear suspects of Delia Robert's murder, how they had kept people under their umbrella of suspicion even if they were almost certain they were not guilty. He talked about how the case had been put on hold for over a month, until a home invasion case in New Jersey had given them a breakthrough. The owner of the house had used a gun to defend herself, and when that bullet had been added to the databases, the New York lab had pinged with a match. Of course, that hadn't come with any context and because the home invasion had happened out of jurisdiction, there had been a lot of red tape to get through before the bullet actually arrived at the lab, where it had been tested and matched again. In the end, they had been able to connect the gun owner, Liza Prewit, as having an affair with Delia's fiancé. Once they figured that out, everything snapped together like Lego pieces, and short of a confession, they had all they needed for an airtight case. It seemed very cut and dry to him, but when the defense attorney took over questioning, he seriously started to question how well they'd done their jobs.

"So the idea that Ms. Prewit was not in possession of the gun at the time of the murder did not make any difference to your investigators, is that correct?"

"She couldn't prove that the gun was not in her possession."

"Regardless, it was not a lead that you followed."

"We follow tangible leads, sir. The idea that her gun was stolen, used in a murder, returned to her home undetected and then used in her own defense months later is a little thin. Not to mention the fact of her association with the victim's fiancé and the nature of that relationship."

"And can you base a case on speculation then Mr. Ross?"

"If the evidence backs it up, absolutely."

"Now answer me this question. When the bullet was retrieved from the Jersey crime lab, how was that bullet transferred?"

"Through a secure, vetted courier, just like always."

"Did it occur to you that the courier could have been involved in a conspiracy?"

"Even if the courier had planted a matching bullet, it wouldn't have mattered. We already had confirmation of a match from the Jersey crime lab."

"So evidence tampering doesn't matter in the middle of the chain of evidence?"

"I didn't say that. Why would someone tamper with something that already matched?"

"Moving along, when you confirmed the match from the Jersey lab, is it not true that your detectives marched into her place of work and arrested her in front of her co-workers? A woman who is already traumatized from her run in with three masked men a month beforehand?"

"You're going to have to ask the lead detective on that one, but I can assure you, Ms. Prewit was given no treatment different than any other suspect in any other case."

"So you weren't there when she was arrested?"

"No. Once our case is built on the forensic end, it is completely taken over by the detectives. We can be brought in to assist in asking the appropriate questions during interrogation, but we're there to make the case, not the arrest."

"Thank you for educating me on the finer points of criminal forensics."

"You're welcome," he couldn't help saying, garnering a tittering of laughter from the jury.

"We've established that Ms. Prewit was indeed having an affair with the victim's fiancée, thought it was never investigated whether or not Ms. Prewit's boyfriend could have been involved in the murder?"

"Of course we thought of that. Like I stated before, we exhausted every avenue of possibility. In fact, Mr. Sandoval was the prime suspect until the evidence didn't match up. He was cleared of the fatal shot on the basis that at his height, the placement and trajectory of the bullet would didn't match up. Ms. Prewit, however, is a perfect match. We had no evidence of Mr. Sandoval being anywhere near the crime scene nor having any knowledge of Ms. Prewit's extracurricular activities, murder or… uh, otherwise."

"And if Ms. Prewit was not caught in her indiscretions, what would be her motive for murdering Ms. Roberts?"

"Ms. Robert's fiancé had broken off the affair, and Ms. Prewit wasn't happy about that. We would like to assume that murder was not the intent of Ms. Prewit's visit to the home, but the fact that she took her gun with her made motive pretty plain to us."

"I'm glad it's plain to you, but to me, using jealousy as a motive seems pretty sexist. I'm surprised at the fact that the New York crime lab entertained no other possibilities in this case."

"Excuse me, but we did, just as I told you a moment ago."

"The fact that the victim's fiancé was not even brought in for questioning-"

"He was!"

"And was never a suspect-"

"He was out of town at the time of the murder and we questioned him anyway."

"It leaves a wide hole in your case, sir. Your witness."

Left floundering on the stand, Adam worried that the defense was correct, and they'd totally screwed up the entire case.

"Dad's home!" Colton called from his spot on the couch. "Can we go to dinner now, I'm starving!"

"I am so hungry, I could eat something very large!" Avery agreed, jumping off the couch and laughing when Hannah caught her and tossed her back to the cushions.

"I get to hug daddy first!" Ben shouted over the laughter, running to the front door and swinging it open. "Yo pops!"

"How's life Ben?"

"I got a good story for ya! C'mon let's go to the restaurant and I'll tell ya there!"

"Sure. Where's that mama of yours?"

"She's upstairs changing her clothes because she went and ruined a shirt with some iodine. She only just got home. We've all been waiting to eat for hours!"

"I'm sure," Adam chuckled, heading up the stairs. "We'll be right down."

He found Lindsay in the bedroom, dressed up a little more than she had been that morning, making the bed and humming gently to herself.

"Hey babe," she greeted. "How was court?"

"We lost the case. Jury deliberated two hours, came back stating they had reasonable doubt. It's all because that defense attorney kept throwing out conspiracy theories instead of trying the case in front of him. It was ridiculous and they ate it up! It was even worse when I got off the stand and he started questioning witnesses."

"Honey, I'm so sorry."

"We can't try her again."

"I know."

"We failed."

"No, you just had a jury that couldn't separate fact from fiction. That's not on you."

He sighed and she crossed the room to wrap her arms around him.

"You have to let it go, babe. You have other things you have to worry about and you can't change this."

"I know. Let me change and we'll get out of here."

She smiled and slid his tie off, tossing it on the bed.

"There, you're all ready to go, and the kids are starving."

"Well we can't have that."

Joining hands they made their way down the stairs to find the kids ready to go and Hannah curled up on the couch with her homework.

"Hey, aren't you coming with us?" Lindsay asked, sliding her shoes on.

"Oh. I didn't… I mean, I just thought…"

"You are a part of our family, Auntie Hannah," Avery started, arms crossed over her chest. "So you must come to dinner too. It won't be the same without you. 'Sides, who will color my menu with me?"

"Okay, I'll come."

Avery smiled and pulled her off the couch, then out the front door. They were soon on their way to a small Italian restaurant, kids chattering happily about their first day back at school.

"Hey dad, could I bring some WD-40 to school tomorrow? My locker sticks."

"They probably won't like it if you bring it with you, son, but I'm sure you can ask anyone on the maintenance crew to take care of it."

"Kinda wanted to fix it myself, but I guess that's fine."

"Boy, I am glad I just have a cubby and not a locker," Avery mused, staring out the window. "I would not like remembering all those numbers and the tricky way you must open it."

"I'll teach you how to do it before you have to do it, okay Aves?"

"Thanks Coley."

"I can already smell the breadsticks," Ben announced as the car stopped outside the restaurant. "This is great. C'mon sissy, let's go in and choose our seats."

They walked into the restaurant and seated themselves, while Ben cleared his throat.

"I have a story to tell and it's hilarious so listen up."

Hannah giggled at his proclamation, then covered her mouth.

"Today when we went into class, the teacher told us that we could go ahead and pick our seats. In a stroke of genius, I said "Hey everybody I'm pickin' my seat!" and I acted like I was pickin' a wedgie! Everyone thought it was hilarious and even my teacher tried not to laugh. So today was a success! Anyone else got a story that good?"

"Mine is not funny," Avery started. "But I made some friends. And it is a miracle because they are not boys! That is right, I finally am friends with girls. One girl that is named Sophie is much like me it is almost scary! She has two brothers and a dog and cat AND to top it off, she loves the exact same music I like! So she will be my best school friend I think. I barely had to use any bravery today daddy! Speaking of that, did you do well in court?"

"It didn't go how I wanted but I did the best I could."

"That means you were still victorious, daddy. And I am so proud of you."

"Aw, thanks Tink," he laughed, pulling her over from her spot in the booth and kissing her cheeks.

"You are welcome."

Lindsay grimaced as Adam popped another antacid, probably his sixth since they'd returned from dinner. It wasn't totally abnormal for him to take one or two after a big dinner, but this was a little excessive. She watched as he continued to fold the laundry, then looked up at her, puzzlement on his face.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Do you feel alright?"

He sighed and put the socks away, then sat down on the side of the bed.

"I'm getting old babe. I can feel it."

"You can feel it?" she chuckled, running a hand down his back. "How's that?"

"I think I have an ulcer. Headaches all the time."

"You've been stressed out," she reasoned, pressing a kiss to his shoulder. "And not without reason."

"Yeah. It'll go away, but… I don't know, guess I just used to deal with things better."

"Maybe. But you you've never had this much going on before."

"Guess not."

"You're going to have to put some of it down," she continued, scratching her fingers through his hair. "The kids are happy and they're going to have a good school year. I'm pretty happy myself and our marriage is better than it's ever been. Hannah seems like she's finding her groove and herself again. And yeah, work might be discouraging but you're not getting fired. And you're almost done with school, so you won't have to worry about it anymore. It's time to stop worrying so much."

He chuckled and nodded as she squeezed the back of his neck.

"And as for getting old, babe, you know how I feel about older men."

He leaned back into her and she ran her hand over his chest, kissing his temple softly.

"Let's go to bed. You need rest and you know I love nothing more than laying next to you every night."

"Two birds with one stone, is that what you're saying?"

She laughed and nodded, giving him another squeeze before letting him go.

"Check on the kids one last time while I put the laundry away, then come to bed."

He nodded and stood up, making his way downstairs. Avery was sleeping hard and he fixed the blankets around her, leaning down to kiss her cheek and brush her hair back. She smiled and snuggled deeper into the blankets, pulling a flimsy stuffed animal with her. He smiled and crossed the hallway, finding Ben asleep with his glasses on while Colton sat up with a book.

"Hey son, time to go to sleep."

"Can I finish this chapter?"

"That's what you said when we told you an hour ago. Lights out."

"Please dad?"

"Not tonight. I know it's at a good part, but the next chapter will end at a good part too. Bookmark it, son."

Grimacing, Colton obeyed, reaching over to turn off his bedside lamp.

"I love you."

"I know. Love you too dad."

He left the room and went back upstairs where Lindsay was curled up on his side of the bed, a little grin on her face.

"You're on my side," he noted, turning the light off.

"What's yours is mine."

He rolled his eyes and managed to settle on the bed in the small space she'd left for him.

"Could I have a little more room?"

"I like you."

He chuckled and pulled her into his arms, kissing the top of her head while she secured her arms around him.

"Thanks for taking care of me babe."

"Of course. I just want you to be alright. I need you to be alright."

"I am. I will be. Things will settle down."

"I'll still be here if they don't."

"I know. Couldn't do it without you."

"Same here. Stuck together forever."