Where'd the last month and a half go? Sorry to leave you on a cliff hanger. Thanks to YaleAceBella12, decadenceofmysoul, Daisyangel, Pharmergirl, Mikaela296, roganjalex and the guests snowflake18540 and Shadow97 for your reviews of the last chapter. For all of you asking about the family finding out about her joining the academy (man I feel like it's mob related when I see/write "the family"), let's just put that on the back burner for a while. It'll take some time before they find out about it. Yes, even the commissioner who knows everything. I'm glad that all of you are still enjoying this story, especially since I haven't even figured out how much longer it will go on for and where it will end.

Scenes from and references to 6x11. (Minor side note, both Wikipedia and IMDb have summaries of episodes if you ever want a hint at what's happening next.)

"Hey, Mom, what's up?" Anna asked as she sat on break at the diner late one night in early January. Part of her was missing the snow that she normally saw on the ground this time of year but a bigger part of her was loving not having to bundle up in a big, thick ski jacket. Down here all she needed was her hoodie.

"Just checking in. Wanted to see how you're doing," Linda answered.

"Good. Work's been real steady and exams were good. Got about a week before classes start again."

"Then do you have some time off coming up?"

"I'm sorry I missed Christmas and New Years' but we had two other waitresses on vacation and a third called off all that week. I'm sorry. Plus it's not like you guys couldn't come down here. Nicky said she was going to try for spring break and Uncle Jamie said as soon as he gets some vacation time stored up."

"I know, honey, we just missed you. Your brothers do too."

"Yeah, I know but we've been over this, Mama. If I didn't have to worry about working then you know I'd be home every break but with gas, rent, and college bills I gotta work. I do love you and miss you guys something terrible but I'm fine and I gotta do what I gotta do. You know that." Lately her mom had taken to calling multiple time a week, especially since mid-November when Danny had been working a case of a serial killer. One he hadn't caught. It just compounded on Linda getting shot last year and Anna knew her mom was more worried about her than usual. Frankly, it was driving Anna crazy.

"Anna, five minutes!" her boss called.

"Got it," Anna said. She turned back to her mom on the phone. "I'll talk to my boss, see if I can get the weekend or something. I'll let you know."

"Dad sends his love."

"Yeah, I'm sure."

"Anna," Linda sighed heavily.

"Mom. There's no getting over what happened between us. Maybe we can move on when he admits going to Miami wasn't a bad idea. It's been a year and a half, Mom, and nothing bad has happened and nothing bad is going to happen with this Reagan luck. You trust me don't you?"

"Of course I trust you. And you know your father, he's just—"

Anna didn't want to hear any excuses or reasons for coming home soon, so she cut it off at the pass. "I gotta go, Mom. Tell the boys and the family I love them and I'll see you all as soon as I can," Anna said, trying to keep the frustration out of her voice.

"Love you," Linda told her only daughter.

"Love you, too, bye."

"Bye." Anna hung up and took her empty plate back to the kitchen to wash before going back to work.

As she got off that night and was heading for the car, her phone rang again. She was kinda shocked since it was closing in on 12:30 in the morning, but figured it was just Jim calling after his shift. She was thrown for another loop to see it was her kid brother. "Jack," she said, answering her phone, "it's almost 12:30. What are you still doing up?"

"I need your advice but I had to wait until the 'rents went to bed. Anna, you're always had my back, that's why I'm trusting you with this and you're not going to tell our parents." His voice was rushed and panicked and that told her it was something big, but at the same time, something he wanted to keep quiet so she agreed.

"I swear I won't tell them."

"Thank you. There's this kid, he's been picking on me." Jack's voice was now shy and hesitant. She knew part of it was to avoid waking their parents but wasn't quite sure what the other part was. "He cheats off of me, calls me a nerd, and he takes whatever he wants out of my lunch."

"Have you tried to stop him."

"Anna," he said plainly.

"Ok, I get it."

"What do I do?" There it was, he didn't like admitting this. That he was getting bullied and nothing he had done had put a stop to it. It was starting to make her angry, but if she let Jack know that, he'd shut down and keep it all to himself. Anna mentally warned herself to keep it cool.

"How long has this been going on?"

"All year."

"He a big kid?"

"Yeah, football player."

"And by saying that I have your back I surmise that you haven't told the parentals?"

"You know what they'll say."

That she definitely did. He would not have been the first Reagan to get bullied. "Mom will want to get parents and teachers involved and dad will want you to fight. You can't fight this kid. He'll wipe the dirt with you, no offense. And you can't snitch; it's a label you don't want." Anna took a deep breath as she looked both ways at a stop sign. "Is he in all of your classes?"

"No, just some."

"You're probably not the only kid he picks on but he has to be stopped and not in the 'turn the other cheek' kind of way. As for the cheating ... maybe feed him the wrong answers. C instead of A, B instead of D, Revolutionary War instead of Civil War, stuff like that. As for the lunch stealing, I don't really know what to tell ya. My friend always brought a second lunch when she dealt with bullies. Are they picking on Sean too?"

"Not that I see. He seems okay."

"Jack, I can't be up there until Wednesday so let me know how it goes, okay?"

"Sure."

"Night Jack."

"Night, Anna."

The siblings hung up and Anna found herself eager for Wednesday to return home to find out how it went. She found it hard to sleep that night but eventually fell asleep some time around 2 am. Finally, on Wednesday around 5:30 at night, she pulled into the old familiar neighborhood and made her way through the quiet, cold streets to her parents' home. She pulled in the driveway behind her mom and noticed a bit of a wind blowing through the trees. She grabbed her heavy jacket from the back seat as well as her overnight bag and got out. The instant she got out of the car, she was glad to have remembered to pack her winter gear. She was definitely happy for it in the New York winter. She bolted up the stairs and slipped in the house to see her mom and Jack at the table but Sean nowhere in sight. "She's baaack!" Anna called.

"Hey, Anna," Jack said softly.

When she didn't hear Sean's thudding feet, she knew he was most likely playing video games with his headphones on. Then she looked back at Jack to see he hadn't gotten up from his chair at the dining room table. In fact, he was staring determinedly at the table. "What did I miss?" Anna asked, setting down her bag then striping off her coat before heading to the table. "l haven't gotten a response like this since you and Sean came down with Chickenpox in the same week." Anna hugged her mom then took the seat across the table from her, leaving Jack between them at the head of the table. She tilted her head to the side trying to see her brother's face but he wouldn't look at her. She reached out and lifted his chin. "Damn," she muttered.

"Anna!" Linda snapped.

"Sorry, Mom. How'd it happen?" she asked, refusing to let go of his chin though he tried to pull away.

"It's not your fault. It happened during basketball—"

His eyes darted back and forth as they widened a bit. "Jack," Anna interrupted, "I wrote the book on lying and it appears you skipped the chapter on poker faces and their importance. Tell me the truth." Anna finally let him go. "Also the part about not starting with "it's not your fault." That makes me think that it is my fault because you wouldn't have started with that unless something I told you could be construed as being the cause behind it."

"It's not your fault. Really, it's not. And what makes you think I was lying?" Jack asked, though he did remain looking at her.

"Well, I know you're lying about it happening during basketball because first off—" she took his hand and flipped it so she could see his undamaged palms, "—your hands aren't scratched up. If you fell or had a ball thrown at you, I doubt you wouldn't try to protect yourself. Second, you're too good at basketball to miss a pass. Third, all you have is a shiner, a fall would probably have broken your nose too. I'm sorry, did you not want me to bring this up in front of Mom?" Anna looked at her mother quickly then back at her brother.

"She knows. Says it's from being married to a cop. And the mom of two rowdy boys."

Anna's hands dropped to the table. "Dad working late?" Anna asked, turning back to her mom and not pushing her brother yet, though she did notice he still hadn't told her how it had happened. She wanted to know how much more time she had to push him before Danny got in. Hopefully she'd get the truth out of him and could back him when Danny did get home.

"Should be home in a in a bit," Linda said.

"So do you want to tell me the truth or would you like to practice another lie for when Dad gets home?" Anna asked, turning back to her brother.

"That kid I told you about punched me when he found out that I gave him the wrong answers on a test."

Anna's stomach dropped. He could say it wasn't her fault all he wanted, but that was the exact advice she had given him. If she hadn't, this wouldn't have happened. "Jack, I—"

He looked up at her sharply. "I told you it wasn't your fault."

"But if I hadn't—" she tried to protest.

"It may have been your idea, but I was the one that took the chance," he insisted.

"I guess." Anna looked down at her hands on the table. Maybe she could soften the blow from Danny. He really only needed to be mad at one kid at a time. "I'm going to give you a page out of my book of lying. It might help with Dad. Lesson two: the lie. Stay as close to the truth as possible. It's easier to remember and focusing on the truth part of it is more convincing."

"Really?" Jack asked.

"I am not hearing this," Linda said, standing up from the table. She walked into the kitchen to get started on dinner.

"Yes, really. I mean, you don't have any sort of tells when you're telling the truth and it happened so you don't have to make it up. Then again, maybe you should tell Dad the truth. He may surprise you," Anna admitted.

"Or he'll take me into the garage and prepare me for combat," Jack sighed moodily.

"I don't think so. Either way, he's a detective so he's going to figure it out anyway. It's what he does. Do you remember how he found out which diner I worked at in high school?"

"That was pure luck," Jack argued. "I don't think it's a good idea to tell him though."

"Okay. Work on this homework, I'm going to say hi to Sean," Anna said. Jack nodded and she went upstairs. When she reached his room, she stopped in the doorway to see he was indeed playing some handheld game. She stood and watched for some time until he finally looked up. He dropped his game in shock then pulled off his headphones and rushed over to her. "Hey, baby brother."

"I didn't know you were coming to town this week," Sean said, hugging his sister.

Anna gratefully returned the hug. "I managed to wrangle a couple days off from my boss and school doesn't start up until Monday. How's school for you?" Anna asked, noting that Sean was now nearly as tall as she was.

"Fine. Not as bad as Jack." Sean answered, pulling away and going back to his bed. Anna joined him and sat on the end of the bed.

"He told me about that kid."

"Yeah, I feel so bad for him. Jack is miserable. Wish there was something I could do but if I try—"

"The bully's going to come down hard on you. Yeah, I know. Jack will feel even worse. We'll figure something out Sean."

"Hopefully fast. Mom wants to get the parents involved because of the black eye."

"Jack hated that idea."

"Yeah, and it'll probably make things worse."

"You finished your homework?"

"Most of it, 'cept math."

"Putting it off until last probably wasn't a good idea. Now you won't want to do it."

"Help me?"

"Sure." Soon their mom was calling them down for dinner. As it turned out, she wasn't in the mood for cooking so she had gone out to a new Chinese place for take out. Dinner was a quiet affair with Danny still working but Anna knew that everyone was waiting for him to get home so the other shoe would drop. After dinner, Sean made a beeline for his room claiming he wanted to do a bit of reading and Anna cleared the table as Jack pulled out his leftover homework. Once the table was cleared and Danny's food was in the fridge, Anna sat back down with her mom and brother at the table waiting for her dad. It didn't take much longer for him to get home.

"I'm home!" Danny called as he walked through the front door.

"Hey, how was your day?" Linda answered.

Danny shrugged out of his coat and noticed the overnight bag by the foot of the stairs. "Same as usual. Ridding the city of the forces of evil." Danny tossed his jacket onto the couch and came into the dining room. "What's going on with you guys?"

"Just helping Jack with his homework," Linda answered as Anna looked at the notebook Jack had been writing in. Now though, he was looking up at his dad out of the corner of his eye. "I got you some sesame chicken from the new Chinese place."

"Great. You always order the best." Danny dropped his keys on the credenza then looked at Anna. He almost looked surprised to see her.

"Aw, thanks, babe," Linda said.

"Anna," Danny said.

"Dad," Anna answered as he rested a hand on the back of Jack's chair. She relaxed back in her chair and took a long drink of cocoa.

"Where's Sean?" Danny asked, changing the subject.

"Went up to read," Linda answered.

Anna glanced at her brother and noticed he hadn't written anything since Danny had come in. She wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not and hoped that Danny would take it as Jack was interested in the conversation instead of him being nervous and waiting for Danny to notice the black eye. "Play video games, more like it," Danny answered his wife.

"I think I'm gonna go upstairs too," Jack said.

Internally Anna flinched. Especially when Danny tilted his head to look at his son's face. Jack had just brought attention to himself and there was no doubt their dad would see the eye now. "What happened to your eye?" Danny asked. Anna shifted a bit in her seat to see how it would all unfold. This could make or break the entire story.

"What?" Jack asked as he collected his books, pencil, and calculator. Danny pulled off Jack's glasses as he kept one hand on his hip.

"Your eye," Danny demanded. "You've got a shiner."

Jack looked up at his dad, preventing Anna from seeing the boy's reaction. Her mom however looked a bit nervous. Danny was staring at Jack with his patented poker face but Anna could see a bit of curiosity in his eyes. "Yeah, I got elbowed in the face playing basketball. It's no big deal," Jack answered. Anna still couldn't see Jack's face clearly enough to tell how convincing he was but prayed it was better than the look he had given her when he had tried to lie to her.

"Well, I'm gonna put up your dinner for you. Anna, are you done with that?" Linda asked, standing up a brief moment after Jack had finished his explanation. Anna drained the rest of her hot cocoa then handed her mom the mug. Linda went into the kitchen as Jack stood and gathered his things. He reached for his glasses but Danny pulled them out of reach for a second as he studied his older son's face. Jack reached for his glasses again and Danny handed them over and glanced towards the kitchen before his eyes settled on his daughter. That's when Anna knew he didn't buy the story for a second. She kept her face neutral to keep from furthering the detective's suspicions.

"Did you really expect me to buy that?" Danny asked, sliding into Linda's vacated seat.

"Buy what? The truth?" Anna asked. Unlike her mom and Jack, Anna got her poker skills from her dad and Pops so it didn't seem suspicious at all as she sat back in her chair and watched him. It almost felt like being back at one of the poker tables in a Miami casino.

"That's no more the truth than your hair is purple," Danny answered. The look on his face was just like every time she had played poker against him. He was being careful here, trying to read her and figure her out, while keeping his cards close to his chest.

"You really think your pride and joy would lie to you?" Anna asked simply.

"You did, especially when you were his age." He smirked.

"I never flat out lied to you. I just led you to believe what you wanted to believe or didn't tell you things."

"There a difference?"

"You tell me. You weren't the goodie two shoes you want Jack and Sean to believe you were growing up."

"What are you talking about?"

"You know what? Forget it. I'm going to get ready for bed." Anna got up and followed after her brother through the living room. When she reached the couch she thought better of it and returned to the table where her dad sat staring at her empty seat almost as if he couldn't figure out what had just happened. "You know, if he was lying to you, you shouldn't expect me to tell you since you can't accept the fact that I chose Miami over Hudson over a year and a half ago."

"What's that got to do with anything?" Danny asked.

Anna rolled her eyes and left the room.

Would love to know what you think would be next. Who knows, maybe it will inspire me to update sooner. Anyone else know what serial killer Anna mentioned here?