Complicated

Chapter Fifty One: Road To Nowhere

I didn't get around to kiss you
Goodbye on the hand
I wish that I could see you again
I know that I can't

Avril Lavigne – Slipped Away

Even as his hands gripped the steering wheel of his SUV Detective Don Flack was still in a state of shock. Their case had taken a bizarre turn in his opinion. After his fight with Stella and Hawkes, he had been so sure that Sam and Nicky were simply victims of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. They were good kids, there wasn't a chance in hell the two of them could have robbed a bank but during the interrogation the whole sordid story had come out and it left Don feeling even more heartbroken for the small family.

The more surprising part was that the two kids had been quite successful in the endeavour. The problem had occurred when convicted career criminal Troy Castro had spotted the two boys robbing the bank that he had spent his week casing. He'd gone after them and taken the money by force resulting in Nicky being shot in abdomen. This story, Don was thankful, had a happy ending.

Troy Castro was dead courtesy of the New York City Bus Service, due to the fact he had run underneath one whilst Don himself had been giving chase. Nicky had woken up from surgery to everyone's relief. The boys were lucky enough that the bank manager and the DA had taken pity on them and decided not to press charges. Money had been pouring in from the public once this story had hit the papers. It would keep a roof over their heads at least for a little while and Don was content with that.

The case had worked him raw over the past few days. He was on his way to pick Grace up now from the Crime Lab as he usually did when they were on similar shifts. Don would be more than happy to sink into bed with his pregnant wife and sleep away the next two days.

At least the pregnancy explained some of Grace's fatigue over the past few weeks, or so the baby books he had purchased back at the hospital book shop had explained. He had been urging his wife to get herself tested for anaemia before they'd found out about the baby.

The baby, the words sent a flutter of excitement pulsing though his body. He was a father, this baby was already very real for him despite the fact they had yet to experience anything about the child. Grace and him had created something so wonderful and perfect, he almost couldn't believe that he was so worthy of this contentment. He had been walking around unable to stop himself from grinning for the past seventy two hours.

They had decided to tell Mac about the pregnancy tonight in order to limit Grace and their child's exposure to anything potentially harmful. He looked forward to holding her hand in Mac's office and telling the other man their news. He couldn't wait to see the expression on Mac's features despite Grace's misgivings about it being bad luck to tell people before the second trimester.

Don pulled up to a traffic light as it turned red. His thumbs were tapping out the tune to a song on the radio on the steering wheel as he waited. It was quiet for this time in the evening, then again these back streets were always less busy than the main roads hence the reason he took them to avoid traffic. He detested getting stuck in lane upon lane of traffic and he wanted to get Grace home as soon as possible.

A van pulled up along side the SUV, Don barely gave it a second glance as he checked his phone sitting in the compartment near the gear stick. Nothing, Don found that almost blissful. He had no responsibilities tonight, he could concentrate on the baby books he had bought residing in the back seat.

Don caught movement out of the corner of his eye. He twisted his head feeling the rush of cool air as his car door was yanked open. His body was already in motion, his right hand was already reaching for his holster, his palm barely had time to touch the grip before he was slammed with what felt like a lightning bolt exploding in his veins. Every single muscle in his body contracted as he went entirely rigid in his car seat. He could feel himself jerking and twitching as fifty five thousand volts coursed underneath his flesh.