Again thank you to YaleAceBella12, decadenceofmysoul, ItsJustBecca, Daisyangel, and seleneplaysgames. I'm, as always, grateful that you guys are loving this and thanks to everyone else who continues to read even if they don't comment.

Scenes from and references to 4x11 and 4x12.

Christmas came and went, Mickey and his family disappeared into Witness Protection and Anna continued working hard to pad her college fund. Not long after New Year's, Nicky was asking Anna to go to a party with her. Her mom was beginning to stress her out with all the college talk and Nicky just wanted to destress. Apparently hearing about Anna applying to college had spurred Erin to pushing Nicky to start looking. A friend of a friend invited them and it was supposed to be a big blow out. Anna waffled a bit since it was a Friday night and that was usually a big tip night at the diner but Nicky got her by asking when the last time she did anything fun was, so Anna made a deal to be super good for her parents and that she'd be home before curfew and they let her go.

For the first hour or so, Anna stuck near Nicky and barely sipped at her water but then one of Nicky's friends handed Nicky a beer. The girls had a short, silent conversation but in the end, despite Anna's tries to convince the younger girl otherwise, Nicky took the beer and sipped at it. It was about half an hour later when Nicky's friend Jane poured shots of tequila and tried to get both girls to lighten up.

"You are going to draw attention to us," Jane complained.

"And if you want a ride home you won't force me. The last thing I need as two arrests in one year for same thing," Anna answered.

"Lighten up," Jane complained. "You two just need to relax for once. I thought you said your cousin was cool," she huffed at Nicky.

The brunette sighed then glared at her cousin. "She is."

Anna rolled her eyes not caring what they thought but didn't say any more about the underage drinking. As everyone took their shots, Anna kept a close eye on her cousin who indeed picked a shot glass up off the tray. Once everyone had downed their shots and was distracted, Anna slipped the glass from Nicky's hand and dropped it into her plastic cup. Suddenly there was a call for help downstairs then a boy yelling for them to scram and it became a flurry of movement. Anna gripped her cousin's hand and pulled her towards the door but the call for help was heard again and it too strong to be ignored. "Go!" she urged her cousin and friend. "I'll find you at the car, now go." Anna turned and bolted down the stairs to find a boy and girl passed out and another couple trying to deal with it. The girl was cleaning up the scene and the boy was kneeling over the other boy, on the phone. Then she heard Nicky behind her.

"Is that 911?" Nicky asked.

Anna shot her a glare but the boy answered. "No, my dad's a doctor."

"What is this?" Nicky pressed.

"They OD'ed," he answered. The girl snapped at him to shut up and Anna lurched forward to check the other boy's pulse. It was weak and thread but he wasn't breathing. The conversation continued as Anna tried to figure out what to do. Next thing she knew Nicky was on the phone with 911 calling for a bus. Then Anna spotted a slip of paper by the boy's foot. She palmed it and stood up.

"Nick, we have to go, now," Anna urged when the brunette hung up. "Now!" She dragged her cousin up and out of the apartment.

"We are in so much trouble," Nicky fretted as she followed her cousin.

"Call your friend, make sure she got home," Anna said as they reached Anna's car.

Nicky got a text the minute she pulled her phone from her pocket. "She's taking the subway. Says she'll see me if she's not grounded."

"Good. Now, get in the car," Anna told her. The girls climbed in. Instead of heading due northwest towards Nicky's and Erin's Park Slope apartment, Anna headed north. Nicky didn't question it until they reached the Brooklyn Bridge.

"Uh, Anna?" Nicky asked.

"There are mints in the glove box; we have a stop to make. If Dad smells alcohol on your breath, we're both dead."

"Uncle Danny ...? No, we can't." Nicky glared at her cousin and Anna stared out the front window.

"He's got friends in Narcotics. Maybe he can explain what this is." Anna pulled the package out of her pocket.

"Where'd you get that?"

"On the floor. I've never heard of it before. I told you I didn't want to go to that party."

"I'm sorry, okay?" Nicky pulled the mints from the glove box and crunched down on two or three of them before pulling out the bag of sour candy from Anna's bag. By the time they reached the 54th Precinct House, Nicky's breath no longer smelled of alcohol and they were as calm as they could get considering the situation. Both girls showed their detective curtesy cards to the desk sergeant and were let upstairs. Both girls could tell that some kind of meeting was going on. Sergeant Gormley was going on about something so Anna pulled Nicky down towards three plastic chairs in an alcove and plopped down in one of them. Nicky took a couple steps back towards the bullpen area and waited for the briefing to wrap up. When Anna looked up again, Nicky and Danny were both in front of her; Nicky facing away, Danny towards her but he was focused on Nicky.

"—where two kids OD'ed? What kind of party you at, Nicky? Anna, you know about this?" Danny snapped. Anna looked up from the paper in her hands and swallowed.

"I called it in to 9-1-1," Nicky protested. "It's not her fault, Uncle Danny."

"I'm sorry, Dad," Anna said, her elbows still resting on her knees.

"You did the right thing, calling it in," Danny said. "So how are you in trouble?"

Anna looked at him confused but his eyes were back on Nicky. "I gave my name as Jane Doe," Nicky admitted softly.

"Why would you do that?" Danny asked.

"Why? 'Cause of my real name? Because "Reagan" and "Heroin Overdose" go together like ... like ..."

"Like a cat in bath water?" Anna suggested.

"Okay," Danny sighed. "Fair enough. Do you have any idea what these kids were taking?"

"No," Nicky admitted.

"I think it was this, but I've never heard of it before." Anna walked over to her dad and handed him the wrapper.

He sighed heavily. "You found the bogeyman. It's brand new and deadly. Nice job. You did good. Risky but good," Danny said. Then he turned back to Nicky. "I need the names and addresses of all your friends at that party."

"Like I said, it was a friend of a friend."

"Whatever you can remember, okay?" Danny said. Then he looked at Anna as Nicky looked down.

"She invited me," Anna said. "The only thing I got was the address of the party." Anna put her hand out and Danny gave her his notepad. She scribbled down the address then drew a happy face. Danny smirked when he saw it. Then he turned serious again.

"Do your moms know you're here?" he asked. Both girls shook their heads. "Does your mom at least know you were at a party?" Danny asked Nicky.

"She knows that I was at a party and that Anna was with me," Nicky answered softly.

"Alright. Look, I'm going to drive you home—" Danny started.

"I dove here," Anna said quickly, unintentionally cutting him off.

"Of course." Danny looked at his daughter as she stood just out of arm's reach. "You take her straight home, make sure she gets inside, then you go home. No stopping after you drop her off. And both of you are to tell your moms everything we talked about okay?"

"Yes, sir," Anna answered automatically.

"Nicky?" he prompted when she didn't answer. "You understand?"

"Yeah, I understand," she answered sadly.

Then seeing how sad and scared they both looked he took a step forward and pulled Anna into a one armed hug and rested a hand on Nicky's shoulder. Anna gratefully returned the hug. "I'm glad you are both safe," Danny told them. "And you did the right thing." He pressed a kiss to the top of Anna's head then let them go. "Stay here a minute, I'll be right back." Danny went back to his desk and Anna looked at Nicky.

"You going to tell your mom about the alcohol at the party?" Anna asked.

"I do that and I'm dead," Nicky answered.

"You're already dead for not telling her what kind of party it was."

Nicky looked her cousin over then asked. "What about you?"

"Dad already knows everything, how much deader can I get? Besides I wasn't drinking underage." Anna shrugged.

"Please don't tell anyone I did that. I'm already that Reagan."

"I won't tell my mom you were drinking but I won't lie to her either."

"Just don't bring it up."

"Fine, I'll call you tomorrow if I'm not grounded."

"I'll answer," Nicky said.

Then Danny came back. "Come on, I'll see you out," Danny said.

"We'll be fine," Anna said but Danny's look stopped her from protesting any further. Anna followed her father and Nicky out to her red car parked next to an RMP. "Dad, I'm sorry," she apologized again. Taking ownership of what went wrong especially so soon after it went so wrong, typically lessened the punishment.

Danny looked her over in the low light, though Anna wasn't sure if he was biding his time to give an answer he would be happy with or if he was reassuring himself the girls were fine. "You did the right thing. Calling a bus, coming to see me, all the right thing. I wish you would have talked to the detectives or officers on the scene, but I understand why you didn't. Just maybe next time, call me first. I'm really glad you both are safe," Danny said. He hugged them both tightly, glad nothing had happened to them. After another few moments of reassuring himself the girls were fine, he ushered them into the car and waited until they were out of sight before going back inside.

"Everything alright, Reagan?" Baez asked. Danny told her what had happened with the girls and asked what she had found out about the party they had been at.

Meanwhile, after making sure Nicky got inside safe, Anna made her way home despite how bad she just wanted to stop at Jamie's. She finally got home to find her mom on the couch and the boys in bed.

"So," she dragged out the word as she dropped down on the couch, "we need to talk." She made herself comfortable on the couch opposite her mother and tucked her feet up beside her.

"Okay, are you in trouble?" Linda asked. She could tell her daughter was worried about something but wasn't sure how hard to push to get it out.

"No, not exactly. About the party tonight ..."

"Why did it end so early? It's only 9:45, I said you could be out until midnight."

"Something happened tonight. Not to me or Nicky, I'd never let that happen, but never-the-less."

"Tell me what happened. I can't respond until I know."

"I want to preface this by saying, had I known it was this kind of party, I never would have gone and I would have talked Nicky out of going in the first place. I know I should have made her leave when the booze came out but she's already "that Reagan" and I didn't want to make it worse." Anna took a deep breath. "We were enjoying the party and it's a high school party so of course there's going to be alcohol, but I stayed away from that and enjoyed the party and Nicky's friends." Anna went on to explain the overdose that sent everyone scrambling and her and Nicky's response, leaving out the part about Nicky not giving her name to the 9-1-1 operator.

"You fled from a crime scene, knowing it was a crime scene, without talking to the cops?" Linda asked disappointedly.

"I know, Mama," Anna said, cutting her mom off before she got in too deep with her scolding. "May I point out that I've already been arrested once in the past year? Should I really have chanced more than that? I did go talk to Dad though, so technically we talked to the cops. And I'm here now. I'm fine and I'd never do drugs. I promise. You're not going to lose me, Mama."

"You only call me "Mama" when you're scared," Linda noted. She watched her daughter for a moment then slid over and took her daughter into her arms. Anna rested her head against her mother's shoulder as she wrapped her arms around her. "You're here, you're safe, and you did the right thing. I'm a little disappointed that you didn't pull Nicky out when people started drinking but as much as I don't like your reasons, I'm grateful that you did your best to save two lives. Next time though, care a little less about what other people think and a little more about what's right." Linda said.

"Yes, Mama. Am I in trouble with you? Or is Nicky?"

"I'm not Nicky's mom but I'm sure that Erin will have words with her daughter. I'm grateful that you're home and that you're safe and that you didn't do anything stupid. I know what high schoolers are like, that they push the very edge of the envelope and I am disappointed that the two of you stayed at the party with alcohol involved, but you didn't lie to me. You didn't lie to me, did you?" Linda asked, watching her daughter carefully. Though, she was only about a quarter of the detective her husband was, being married to him for 19 years gave her a better insight to the job, she had been the girl's mother for 18 years and knew her daughter.

"I would never flat out lie to you. I didn't know that alcohol would be at the party and I didn't have any," Anna said. She stopped there to keep from spilling anything else and hoped her mother would let it go. Linda narrowed her eyes as something wasn't adding up but she didn't push. Anna was grateful for that.

"Okay. Drink a glass of water and get to bed. I need your help tomorrow," Linda said. "I'm really glad you're okay."

"Love you, Mama," Anna answered. Linda hugged her daughter close for a few more seconds then let her go. Anna smiled, got the glass of water, and went to bed.

The following afternoon, Anna finally got a break from her brothers and Mom and called Nicky. The younger girl picked up right away but sounded stressed. "Hello," Nicky answered.

"Tell me what's wrong," Anna said.

"My mom, she's just ... ugh."

"She's being a mother, Nicky. You're her only child and she doesn't want to lose you."

"Yeah, but does she really think I'm going to get hooked on drugs and wreck my entire life?"

"No, but she saw the situation and all that was running through her mind was 'I could have lost my baby' and 'have I told her I love her enough?' and 'what if that happened to Nicky?'. All parents want to do is wrap their child up safe in their arms and keep them from going through and experiencing all the horrors this world has to offer. It's what parents do. They say we'll understand it one day. A parent is never supposed to bury a child but they know it happens so they worry. It's not that she doesn't trust you or that she doesn't have faith in you to do the right thing, she's just your mother."

"I know that. I didn't answer the phone to get a lecture."

"If it helps, my mom hasn't let me out of her sight all day except for five minutes ago when she had to go get ready for work."

"A little."

"Just don't be too hard on her okay? She's your mom and she loves you."

"I know. I'm just not feeling the trust."

"Yeah, it hurts. I have to go. Mom's back," Nicky told her.

They said their goodbyes and Anna looked up at her mom. "Hi," she said.

"Keep an eye on your brothers and no leaving the house. There are burgers in the fridge just toss them in the microwave. Uh ... the boys—"

"Momma, it's Saturday. The boys know the routine by now. It's also not the first time I've watched them on a Saturday. We'll be fine." Linda gave her a look but left knowing Anna had it covered.

"Where are we on the college search," Frank asked Sunday at dinner. "Or not," he corrected after a moment and the looks shot his way.

"We're going in different directions," Nicky admitted.

"I wouldn't say that," Erin protested.

Nicky explained how her top choices were Stanford, Duke, and Vanderbilt a.k.a. California, North Carolina, and Tennessee. Henry was a bit upset that they were all a plane ride away despite Frank reminding him they were all good schools. Nicky admitted that them being so far away was only coincidence and Jamie asked about Harvard which Nicky thought wouldn't accept her.

"You got a better chance at getting in than I do," Anna said. Nicky smiled. Jamie also disagreed since Stanford was on Nicky's list.

"She wants to be away," Erin said.

"Mom," Nicky complained.

"Well, I think it's great, Nicky," Linda said. "I mean, we're going to miss you, not just your mom, but all of us."

"And I'm going to miss all of you," Nicky said.

"That apply to me too, Mama? I mean you don't seem all too happy for me going to college," Anna asked.

"Of course it applies to you, sweetheart, it's a bit bittersweet though. You're my daughter." Linda took Danny's hand. "Whatever school you decide to go to, your dad and I will always support you all the way. Even if I will miss you a whole lot and don't want you to go."

Anna flashed a smile. "Besides, Nicky, you still got 18 months before you have to be sure of anything."

"That is true, which is why nothing's definite, obviously," Nicky sighed, "but I ... can we please change the subject before I start crying?"

Erin nodded. "Nicky wants to go someplace big and new and far enough away that she can feel like she's truly on her own," she explained. Danny chimed in that he remembered that feeling and that's why he ended up in Iraq though he didn't recommend that option. Then Erin added that she was having trouble dealing with it. For her, Columbia had fulfilled all three criteria but she recognized Nicky wasn't her. Frank added that Nicky wasn't like him either since he still lived in the house he grew up in and had the same job his dad had before him.

Then Nicky explained how she knew it was the right way to go, she felt excited but also kinda like throwing up. Jamie and Danny both agreed that was a good answer. "Smart kid you've got there," Frank said. Everyone smiled. It was quiet at the table for a few moments. Frank turned to Anna. "Made any further decisions on where you're going?"

"When I know, you'll know," Anna said.

"If you need anything you let me or Pop know," Frank said.

"Of course," Anna agreed. She didn't plan on taking them up on it but the thought counted.

So in an effort to see if anyone reads the bottom author's note I want to see how many of you will tell me what your favorite or least favorite part of this chapter was. Thanks to everyone who continues to read.