Hello, another story from me and back (after a very long break) to come back to this wonderful fandom with a new story.

I wanted to write this because I recently rewatched the entire series and It didn't sit right with me that episode in Season 5 Burning Bridges then I watched more of the series and realised how few episodes and characters are LGTBQIA+ I understand that not every show has these characters but I always thought with the introduction of Joe Hill there was a great opportunity for the Catholic Commissioner to have a LGTBQIA+ grandson and instead Joe is hardly used and in odd little plot devices. He is such a good character and he needs his own storyline pronto and so this is my little remedy.

I hope I have done this justice and that I have gotten things correct. If not then please let me know and I will take steps to rectify. Please be respectful in reviews as well if you choose to leave one. I plan for this little story to be six chapters and just to take us between the end of Season 10 and the start of Season 11.

I don't know when I will be able to update, it used to be weekly but that was before I got a job so...I will try and update when I can. I predict this little story will be seventeen (ish) chapters.

Disclaimer-Nothing here is mine just the characters of Sebastian and Lacey.

Please Read and Review and let me know what you think when you get a chance!

Spelling and Grammar are never my strongest points and so please keep that in mind as you read.

So I hope you enjoy this.

A Man Walks Into A Bar

Chapter 5-How The Other Half Lives

The penultimate chapter-Frank goes to meet the source head on and meets Sebastian when Joe ends up in hospital. Meanwhile the secret is out-bit of a time jump with this one.

"Your mad at me?"

"I was mad when secret came out, I was mad when you told me you had an undercover assignment three days afterwards, I was mad when you disappeared for five months…no…you know right now I am not mad. I am furious"

His husband stared at him. Sebastian stared back.

"Seb—"

"You said it would be a month"

"I know"

"Six months later I have to explain to a six year old that you are still working to put the bad guys away and you really haven't just…LEFT!"

Joe flinched. Sebastian didn't give a crap.

"Seb"

"I am so fucking sick of this…and before you say anything the commissioner didn't know! So before you say that at least I had your family, it turns out I actually didn't. I had Jamie…who knew where you were all the time and his wife who I admit is a very good babysitter and I had Danny who to be honest I am amazed raised two kids and I had your Mom. I didn't have the rest of them Joe. I had small phone calls from you and…what the fuck were you THINKING? YOU HAVE A FAMILY, YOU HAVE ME AND YOU HAVE A DAUGHTER AND YOU GIVE ME ONE GOOD REASON WHY I SHOUDLNT FILE FOR DIVORCE RIGHT NOW AND FULL CUSTODY AND MOVE TO ENGLAND!"

"You don't like English food—"

And with that Sebastian walked out the room slamming the door shut.

He was so fucking angry it was hard to think, it was hard to breathe. He knew that when he had married a cop he was in for this long ride. This was not the first time that Joe had gone undercover, this was not the first time that he had done it even when they had, had Lacey. He was used to it, he was used to being alone, six months had been long but in the grand scheme…he shook his head. He was not going to allow the rational side of him to wreck this. He was angry. He needed to be angry just a little bit longer. He needed it because if he wasn't angry then he was going to break and if he broke it was going to be humiliating. Sebastian didn't do humiliating, call it the last little bit of pride he had left he thought scowling as he saw Frank Reagan come down the hallway. His two sons were following but it was the youngest he had eyes for. The blonde one who skidded to a stop in front of him.

"Hey Seb…they said that Joe—"

He never got to finish that sentence because prison be damned or not Sebastian had just punched him clean in the mouth. He was not what one would call violent but the fact that Jamie Reagan had known where his husband was, what he was facing and how dangerous it had been all the while he had been playing nice with him and his daughter was enough to make his blood boil.

Jamie Reagan fell back on his ass.

"Damn that's hot"

Of course his husband had to be out of bed for that one didn't he?

And he was going to cry.

"Okay" Commissioner Reagan said with a nod. "Joe back in bed, Jamie go get some ice on that Danny go with stop grinning. Sebastian in the family room with me now. Go"

There was a pause and then.

"NOW!"

Sebastian let himself be pulled into a room away from Joe, away from the mess that was the outside ward and he was pushed into a room where he was alone with his husband's grandfather. He scrubbed a hand down his eyes and face trying to pretend that he wasn't crying when he felt the door slam shut and the blinds go down.

"You wanna feel something son you go right ahead. I can stare at my emails for a bit if you need the privacy"

He turned his hands on his hips and…

"You're not mad I punched out your son?"

"Nah he's a big boy he can take it. You got your free shot in and that's the one that you get though you understand me?"

He jerked his head and then.

"Did you know? When I was round at your house when your father came that one time to badger me about mushroom sauce, when your son was babysitting did you know?"

"No. Believe me I'd have found a way to tell you. The first I heard of it was two days ago and then there was the car explosion—"

"THE WHAT?"

Frank Reagan stared flatly at him. "I know your not happy"

"HA!"

"But you're doing nothing that many a spouse of a cop before you has done. You can be terrified with me if you want"

"I don't do terror"

"Aha"

"You never knew my father Commissioner with respect I don't do terror. Not since I left his house"

For a second he thought he saw the Commissioner do a double take and then nod as if some great mystery had been solved but before he could turn around and ask what the hell was going on his…his what? Grandfather in law? Was speaking again.

"Do you want me to have Lacey picked up from school?"

"Seriously?"

"I meant by Pops?"

"He drives?"

"Well…I…I can have Sean do it he needs the miles but Pops is generally…" he trailed off when he saw Sebastian's face.

"Look I'd have Danny do it but Danny would take your daughter on a detour down all the nasty streets and then take her to a drunk tank which—"

"Do you have any normal people in your department?"

"There's Baker"

"I love how you had to think about that one there. No I'll call Paula and she will take her."

"I see"

He sat on the bed in the hospital room for lack of anything to do and then…

"Where were you 9/11?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"I mean it's a question we ask as New Yorkers isn't it? It's a question that we ask and we ask it or at least I do. I remember that day like it was the back of my hand, I know you were young at the time but I know where each one of my family was. I know Jamie was at school until his mother came to get him, I know Erin was at Jack's and that was the first time I knew there was a Jack, I know where Danny was, and your father in law. Me…I was at the pile, I went into the South Tower you know, I got all the way to floor 22 and then I was ordered back because the firefighters wanted to go up and we were setting up a command. I was up in the ranks at that point and they needed me so I got out and then I was…I saw the South Tower collapse. I came back out and I knew that my men were dead, I knew hundreds of firefighters were dead to say nothing of the people still trapped…I…and then the North one went down and I ran. I hit an alley and I hide there with another rookie for ten minutes as the smoke hit me. Hot thick ash and then I peered round the edge and the world was never the same again. This rookie…he went straight for the pile screaming that he had to help all those people but I knew…he blew his brains out six months after that. Couldn't take it."

Sebastian stared. He wanted to ask why on Earth he was being told this but at the same time he also knew that nothing was going to interrupt him now.

"I tell you this" Frank Reagan said quietly as if he was reading his thoughts. "Because I wanted you to know that you are not alone in what you are thinking. I didn't get home that day until two in the morning on September 12 and that was only because I was ordered too. Mary was in the kitchen and she came running in the hallway when she heard me. I didn't even drop my keys before she was on me. She hugged me and then she hit me, told me I was never going to go out again in uniform. She cried then and it took me a moment to realise that it was because she was so scared. She knew that I was going to go out again, knew that I was going to stay being a cop, knew that Joe certainly was going to follow in my footsteps, maybe Danny, perhaps even Jamie. She knew that any options of me giving up the job died that day. She knew I was a cop until they forced me out or I died"

There was a pause as Sebastian stared at him and then.

"What do you want me to do with this?"

"Nothing, nothing son, there is nothing that you can do with this is there? I just…I know what you are thinking right now, I saw it in my wife's face more than once and I saw it in her eyes more than once as well…what I am saying is…don't give up on your marriage."

Sebastian stared at him again and then. "I didn't plan too" he said finally. "I love him you know"

"I know."

"Doesn't mean I don't want to strangle him with my bare hands"

Frank laughed.

"Ah son. I know. I know. Believe me…when I heard…I don't know…but he's a career cop just like me."

"So what? I hope that I don't have a reckoning at three in the morning when something so terrible it stops the world happen?"

"No. But you married a cop, and stuff like this is going to happen, and Jamie is Jamie and Danny is Danny and Joe is Joe—"

"He's not your Joe he's mine"

"I know that son"

"Do you?"

Frank Reagan levelled him with a long look.

"I do know that he is not my son" he said finally. "I have known that the moment he walked into my office. Please do not minimise my loss Sebastian"

"That wasn't what I was doing"

"No…but…but my point is…if you want…there is a family here that will do it's best for you and Lacey. I know Jamie and you are…were…friends I know Eddie put her foot down and I know that Danny, God bless him has tried but…but there is a family here for the both of you"

Sebastian ran a hand through his hair and then.

"I love him. So much"

"I know"

"He doesn't…"

"He loves you more than he loves his own life. Trust me he's too much like his father in that regard."

"I know that. But…he's…letting you people in…he's done that and that's great. And I love that you want him I just…I don't know…I don't know how this works for me and I don't now how this works for us. We were fine you know. And I don't blame Sean in the slightest but we were fine before—"

"Did you ever consider" Frank said slowly. "That we were fine before?"

There was a pause as Sebastian considered that. No if he was being truthful. No he had not considered that. He had not considered what the Reagan's life had been like when they had crashed into it.

"No" he said finally. "No I did not consider that"

"You married a career cop" Frank said finally. "And there's a price you pay for that."

"Don't patronise me"

"I'm not. It's the truth"

There was a pause and then.

"I am still mad at him"

Frank Reagan chuckled. He honest to God chuckled.

"Ah son" he said quietly. "I know you are. But I also know that while your mother in law goes and gets your daughter you are going to march your ass in there and make it up with him"

"How do you know that?"

"Because you love him." Frank Regan said simply. "And he loves you. And so you survive and you move on."

Sebastian snorted and then.

"Put him on any more undercover—"

"Oh don't worry, the paperwork to ban him from that has already been drawn up."

"Okay"

"And in return…I want that cheesy bread recipe"

"Do you?"

"Well…Pops does. I just want a quiet life"

Sebastian snorted and almost sobbed. He dropped his head into his lap for a second getting himself under control and Frank Reagan patted him on the shoulder.

"And my name is Frank" he said quietly. "Stop calling me Commissioner. Seriously…you and that girl and Joe…your family. Your always family. No matter what happens."

He nodded dragging his head up and wiping his eyes.

"Thanks Frank"

The older man's smile…well…that said it all.

So perhaps one of the most moving episodes for me is the 9/11 Episode with Frank and I was watching some of the News coverage at that time and so this little bit was born. I Felt like it was such an important thing to get across for this story when you talk about what it is to be married to a first responder all of whom deserve our thanks and praise.

And yes there was a time jump in this. The final chapter will be up soon and will follow a little until we get to the end of Season 11.

Also...I am not opposed to writing more of this so let me know.

Next Chapter-THE FINAL CHAPTER-Sebastian and Joe share a moment with their daughter and their extended family as they look at what their family now looks like post the revelation.