He'd no sooner closed the door behind him when the employees of the 12th Precinct rose from their chairs. They all spoke at once, their questions and concerns overlapping.

But the jumble of words had one name in common; Chano. Question after question was thrown at the Captain and as a Captain and a leader it was his duty to inform them of

the state of their friend and fellow comrade.

Barney held up his hands, taking only a moment to write his name on the nearby chalkboard and move the magnet to the right, indicating that he was, in fact, at work.

Ignoring the shouted questions, he held his hands up in mock surrender and made his way to his office. Couldn't a man get a moment's peace once he walked in the door?

The unspoken question was one of annoyance but one that had but one answer;

No.

There was no peace and there would be no peace in the office until he'd reassured them that Chano would (eventually) be okay.

Taking only a moment to settle himself in his chair, he took a deep breath and walked back into the squad room, grateful that no one had decided to follow him.

Wojo, Fish, Harris and Yemana stood like soldiers at attention, falling silent the moment that Barney walked into the room.

Barney looked at them all. Such brave, brave men. Chano was the only one who had done the unthinkable; killed two people in an armed robbery, but these men, each in

their own way, were braver than they'd ever know. It wasn't easy protecting a city the size of New York. It wasn't easy protecting any city at all. He vowed to let each of his

men know how much he appreciated and valued them.

But first he had a duty to perform.

They stood staring at them, their fragile questions gone as though they had fallen and shattered onto the floor like glass.

Harris spoke first, as Barney knew he would.

"Barney?"

Next was Wojo; "How is he?"

Barney nodded and smiled. "All right. I know you're all worried. Well, I'm worried too."

His choice of words did not sit well with his men and the familiar questions were shouted at once, growing louder and louder until he was forced to intervene.

"Hey, listen, take it easy! Take it easy, all right? He's fine. Chano is fine."

The room was so quiet that he could hear their sighs of relief."

"Really Barn?"

"Okay, he's not fine. Not at all. But he will be. I can promise you that. It's going to take some time for him to recover from this. And if it happens to you, I'm sure that your

emotions will be the same. Let's hope to God that it never does. We all agree that Chano was extremely brave. And you may be thinking that you want to be brave too. Well

stop wishing! You are brave! All of you! Just because you didn't have to take extreme measures and kill two people to save the lives of others, you're all brave and I want you

to know that I appreciate each and every one of you. That being said, I went to see Chano yesterday."

"How did he look? I mean, was he okay?"

Harris rolled his eyes. "Hey man, Barney just said that Chano is not okay! Weren't you paying attention?"

Wojo crossed the room until he met Harris face to face. "Yeah I was paying attention. You want to step outside and make something of it?"

Harris held up his hands in surrender. "Hey look, I was just-."

"Well knock it off, okay? He could have been killed. Or worse!"

Yemana's eyebrows rose. "What's worse than being killed?"

"Aw come on, you know what I mean!" Wojo yelled.

A shouting match ensued among the three men and when Fish tried to intervene, he was figuratively pushed to the side. "Barney-"

"ENOUGH!" Barney yelled, bringing the squad room to silence. "Enough of this! Now look, I know that these past few days have been extremely tense."

"To say the least."

"Can it, Yemana!"

"Sorry, Barn."

"Look, when I said that I was worried about Chano… Well, I am. We all are. Having to take one life is bad enough, but two? I've never taken any lives so far, but we should all

be grateful that Chano was willing to do whatever was necessary to protect the victims in that robbery. He should be commended."

"What, like with a party?" Wojo laughed, but then fell silent.

"That's not funny, Wojo. What Chano needs is to know that everyone here cares about him and we're all behind him one hundred percent."

"Barney, when is Chano returning to work?"

"I honestly don't know, Fish. It could be days, it could be weeks. But what I do know is-."

The door opened and they all turned to find Chano in the doorway, wearing a sheepish grin. He waved tentatively, and those who didn't know him might think that it was his

first day on the job. And in a way it was.

"Hi guys. I'm back."

Barney approached him and extended his hand. "Welcome back, Chano. We're glad to see you."

The others approached cautiously, giving Chano as warm a welcome as possible. No one mentioned the shootings, even though the incident weighed heavily on everyone's

minds.

"I guess you're wondering why I came back so soon." Chano began. "Well, it's no fun being at home, hearing your name over and over on the television, having too much

time to think about what happened. I'm a cop. And a damn good one. Yes, I killed those two people and I'll have to live with that for the rest of my life. But from now on I'm

going to try to focus on the good. The fact that lives were saved because of what I did."

"Amen." Harris said, slapping Chano lightly on the arm. "Welcome back, Chano."

Chano welcomed Harris' tentative embrace and the others followed suit.

"We're glad you're back. The place wasn't the same without you."

"Boy if that isn't the truth." Nick said. "Whenever a Spanish person came in we had no idea what they were saying!"

To everyone's surprise, Chano laughed out loud. "You should have called me man! Put me on the phone! I could have talked to them. You know me, I can talk all night!"

"I'll so that next time." Yemana said. At his somewhat poor choice of words, he grimaced. "Sorry, I-."

"I knew what you meant. And I mean it when I say to call me. If I'm not here and someone comes in speaking Spanish."

"Thanks." Yemana said.

"Now, let's get to work! There's so much crime in this city! There's always work to be done."

Barney gave Chano a look of concern. "Are you sure? You're more than welcome to stay of course, but if you don't feel comfortable-."

"I'll never feel comfortable here." Chano said. "I mean, I love you guys and everything, but our jobs are unpredictable. Our lives are unpredictable. Anything can happen and

it always does. But we make the best of it, right?"

"Yes." came the scattered replies.

"Well, then let's get to work! But first I have some business to take care of."

"You know where the business room is." Fish replied, bringing a fit of much-needed laughter around the room.

When Chano was gone, Wojo smiled. "You know when we asked if Chano was okay, we were worried about him, but now…"

"Don't worry, Barney." Harris said. "Chano is going to be just fine."

Wordlessly they all resumed their work, and when Chano returned to the squad room, he took his seat, working as though his life hadn't been changed forever by one act of

bravery.

Barney smiled at his men and paused for a moment before returning to his office. He had the bravest group of men in all of New York. And that was something they should all

be proud of.

~Fin~