The Christmas Gift

by Erin

Disclaimer: FX doesn't belong to me, it belongs to Rysher, etc, etc, etc...

CHAPTER 1

... "as far as I'm concerned." Angie got to her feet and slowly walked away. Unshed tears made her eyes shine like diamonds, yet she felt as black as coal. Guilt, confusion and anger all fought for a place as the strongest emotion she was feeling. She felt guilty at shooting Rollie, she had only known the man for what? 13, 14 years? She should have been able to see a difference, she should have known who was who. She felt confused at her emotions for the man she had shot. Did she love him? Did she want a relationship? Did he love her? All the feelings she had buried for years had exploded to the surface as a result of the seduction. How could she face him tomorrow, knowing he knew she had feelings for him? She was angry at what she thought of as her own stupidity - allowing herself to be seduced be Loubar in the first place, not noticing then that he was a fraud.

She was still angry with Loubar, how dare he use her like that! What gave him the right!? Her anger might have peaked when she had shot again and again into the water but had by no means subsided. With a sick feeling in her gut she knew he was still alive, he'd escaped death before and turned up again to torment them. It was just a matter of time, but she couldn't deal with that right now. She had to figure out how to deal with Rollie, how she could face him without fearing it wasn't him. Terrified he would push her away for the pain she had caused him, yet terrified to allow herself to get close to him again for the pain she had felt. She was determined to be as strong as her mother had been but right now she allowed herself a weaker path, she needed to get on top of this first, then she could be strong.

... "Yeah, what now?" Rollie's emotions were in as much turmoil as those of the woman that apparently loved him. How could he have been so blind!?! Now that he fully realised she was a woman, now that he knew that, and he looked back over the past it was so obvious! How could he have missed it?

With the urgency and crisis of Loubar and the Chinese Trade minister over, all the other snippets of information and emotion from the day started filtering to the surface. He shook his head incredulously, how could she say nothing had changed!?! When it was blatantly obvious that it had, he had almost argued with her when she said it. But then he realised that was the way she wanted it - she wanted them to at least behave like nothing had happened while she... they... had a chance to figure out what it had changed to. That was the crux of the matter - everything had changed but what had it changed to?

The injured special effects expert looked up as his Latino friend returned, her police duties for the evening were over, she could now take him home.

The first thing Rollie did when he walked back into his home was to check his messages. He was on autopilot now, too tired to think, too tired to feel anything, it was the obvious thing to do: You've been away for over three days so check your messages... There was just one on the machine.

"Rollie. It's me. I, umm, I need some space, to, you know, think all this out and stuff. Anyway, I'm going away for a while. Don't worry, I'll be back. Bye.

Rollie stopped the message, walked over to the sofa slowly and flopped down with a sigh. Mira followed him and stopped just in front of him. "Well, aren't you going to try and stop her?"

Rollie rolled to his feet again with a groan and put the kettle on for some tea. "No Mira. I'm not. I know her, she will be back after she's had a chance to think things through. She just needs some time."

Mira was uncertain, "You sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure."

CHAPTER 2

It was heading on towards lunchtime and Mira was up to her ears in the paperwork and tasks she had to complete after yesterday's fiasco when she heard a familiar voice. "Hey Partner! What'd I miss?"

She peered over a stack of papers into the smiling countenance of her friend and work partner, Francis Gatti. "Frank! When did you get back?"

His grin widened, "We flew in this morning, I slept on the plane so I figured I might as well come in to work after we heard about the attempt on the Trade minister's life. I guess that's what all your, umm, paperwork is related to?". He chuckled, partly glad he had missed all the fun - paperwork that followed fun usually wasn't.

Her face developed an exasperated expression as she surveyed the piles of paper, "Trade ministers, corrupt delegates, Loubar, Rollie, Angie... Yup, lots of paperwork..."

Francis frowned at the mention of his friends, it looked like they had been in trouble again in his absence. "What do Rollie and Angie have to do with this? And Loubar..."

Mira rolled her eyes, "Let's see... Loubar was the one trying to kill the Chinese Trade Minister, he's disappeared, presumed drowned after Angie shot at him a good dozen times. Although I'm of the opinion that he's still alive despite the remoteness of the possibility. That was after Angie put a bullet in Rollie's shoulder, after she got him confused with Loubar - he was wearing a mask of Rollie's face at the time. Now Angie has taken off, god knows where, and Rollie refuses to go find her. And all of that was at the end of a very long day involving two murders, weapons dealers, Loubar trying to frame Rollie for the hit," she frowned, "and something else that I have promised not to talk about. Clear as mud?" she asked brightly.

Francis scratched his head, "Yeah, as mud..."

Mira explained what had happened a little more fully starting with Rollie's disappearance and ending with her departure from the loft the previous evening. She omitted the rape, muttering something about Loubar hurting Angie but not going into details. Her partner's confusion resolved into concern for his friends. He could tell there was more to it that what Mira had told him. It had to be for Angie to a) try and shoot someone and b) run away, and for Rollie to a) get the guilts and b) not go after her. He realised where Rollie would be if his mind was in turmoil. It was Mira's turn to be confused as she watched Francis nab a couple of blankets from the cells and head out the door muttering something about needing to talk to Rollie.

Rollie was sitting on a snowdrift leaning back again the gravestone of one Detective Leo McCarthy. He looked like he had been there for a while, exposed skin pale from the cold with the exception of the end of his nose, which had gone bright pink. He watched Frank's maroon sedan pull up behind his red truck with detached interest, and as Frank walked over quickly, a couple of blankets under one arm and a couple of takeaway cups of something warm in the other. Both men were silent as the detective wrapped a blanket around his friend and made him drink some of the coffee. He then sat down, wrapping the other blanket around himself and took an initial sip of his own coffee, "So?"

The special effects expert reached into a jacket pocket and retrieved a photo, he handed it to his friend. He stayed silent as Francis looked it over, it was of a 12 year old girl. She had long blonde hair, tied back in two braids that hung down almost to her waist. She wore denim overalls and a red t-shirt. And she stood, grinning, her arms folded and one foot resting possessively on a what looked like some kind of monster, as though she was the triumphant hunter. Francis looked back at his friend, "This is Angie?"

Rollie spoke for the first time, "Yup, that's her. That was the first movie we did after I started full time as her Dad's assistant - Swamp Monsters..." The detective stayed silent, waiting for his friend to continue. "Oh god, you know Frank, that picture is the way I always saw her. That happy kid... I never realised she grew up, and now it's all gone."

Frank curiosity finally got the better of him, "Rollie, Mira said Angie has taken off. Why? I mean she said that Loubar hurt her, what did he do?"

Rollie laughed bitterly, "He noticed something I should have seen years ago. And he used it to try and isolate me, to make her hate me." He paused, looking at his friend, noticing the questioning look on his face he sighed and continued. "He slept with her - wearing my face. He played on her feelings, feelings I should have noticed years ago. She's trying to tough it out but I can tell she's devastated, and I don't know what I should be thinking. I'd never realised she'd grown into a woman, I still saw her as that little girl." He gestured angrily at the picture. "That BASTARD saw it, saw her love and used it against us. And I was too STUPID to see it... to see it before it was too late."

Francis was stunned, of all the possible things that had crossed his mind this was not one of them. He'd seen the way Angie had looked at Rollie occasionally, he didn't think even she knew how she had felt, let alone Rollie noticing it. "Wow, that's pretty big Rollie. Is she coming back?"

Rollie sighed, he was exhausted and cold. "Yeah, the message she left said she would. Frank, I'm freezing and talking to Leo didn't help much. You wanna come back to the loft and listen, pal?" He gave a tired smile at the classic Leo term.

Francis grinned, relieved that his friend wanted to talk, "Sounds like a good plan to me."

CHAPTER 3

One afternoon, a couple of days before Christmas (and two weeks since THAT day) Rollie was up to his ears in dust and old robot parts, cleaning out a little used storage area of the workshop when he heard the front door open and close. He peered over the top of the some boxes to see Angie standing there quietly, watching him. She spoke first, "You look like you've been busy."

"Well, I thought I would make the most of the down time so that we're all set and ready to go for our next movie." He got up and walked over to her, stopping a few feet away, awkwardly.

She smiled tentatively, "Yeah, organised. Hmmm. So, umm, how's your shoulder?" She gestured casually to the arm where she had shot him.

He glanced down at his shoulder absently, "Umm, much better, thanks. How are you doing?" Rollie could see the slight tinge of yellow, all that was left of the bruise over her right cheekbone.

She nodded and shyly smiled again. "Better, thanks, I did a lot of thinking while I was away, no answers yet, but a lot of thinking anyway." She looked up, meeting his gaze for the first time. They stared into each other's eyes for a few moments, looking for the answers. Both of the friends averted their eyes and began speaking at the same time. He with, "Yeah, I've been doing some..." and she with "So, I was wondering what..." They stopped and laughed, it was only for a moment but it was a good sound, just like the old times.

Rollie cleared his throat, "You go first..."

"Oh, Ok, umm. Well, I was wondering what you were doing for Christmas? Seeing as it's in a couple of days and all." She looked uncomfortably at the floor.

It wasn't at the top of the list of questions Rollie had been expecting her to ask, so it took him a few moments to assimilate the appropriate response. "Francis and Sarah invited me around for Christmas dinner."

Angie's shoulders sagged a little, she responded quietly. "Oh"

Rollie spoke up again quickly, "Frank said you were to come too, if you were back in time, and if you wanted to..." He slowed down at the end of the sentence, unsure of what her response was likely to be.

She perked up again, "Oh great. I should phone Sarah to say I'm back and to see if she wants me to make anything." Angie went to walk past Rollie, he gently grabbed her arm, stopping her. She looked up at him, her face questioning.

"It's good to have you back Ange. Give us a hug?"

A look of fear flicked across her face as she remembered the last time 'Rollie Tyler' had asked her for a hug. But then she relaxed and stepped back towards him.

Rollie saw the look that passed quickly over her face before she masked it again. He realised what he said had triggered a memory of that night with Loubar and he almost back-pedalled, withdrawing the request. That was until he saw her relax again and move towards him. As he embraced her, he remember how they used to hug when she was still in school, he remembered he used to pick her up and swing her around until they both erupted into giggles. Manny had called it the Tyler treatment. Rollie went with the impulse and gave Angie a major dose of the Tyler treatment.

Angie squeaked in surprise as she felt him lift her off the ground and then relaxed fully into the embrace as she felt him swing her around, she was now totally confident this was her Rollie, it had been years since he had given her the 'treatment'. She laughed as he lowered her down again. He raised one hand and in a gently rough manner pushed her hair back off her forehead with his full hand and kissed her gently on her forehead.

Brown eyes gazed down into the trusting crystal blue ones. "Like I said Ange, it's good to have you back."

Angie replied softly, "It's good to be back." before she averted her eyes and stepped back out of the embrace. God, it was so easy to drown in those eyes, or eyes she thought were his. Way too easy.

Rollie felt her tense up again as she pulled away from him, "Ange?"

The awkwardness descended again, "Sorry Rol. It's, umm, it's gonna take me a while to, you know... get past what happened." She flicked her head to get a strand of hair out of her eyes and then risked looking up into his eyes again.

"I know Angie. We still need to have that talk. I've been doing a lot of thinking over the past couple of weeks too, but I don't have the answers either. I don't think either of us will until we talk."

She sighed and nodded, agreeing with him but not looking forward to that talk. She turned towards the workstation. "I'm gonna make that phone call now."
 
 

CHAPTER 4

Three days later, Rollie and Angie pulled up outside Francis and Sarah's home. It was a stand alone house out in the suburbs, they had decided that trying to raise 3 growing girls in an apartment wasn't the best idea in the world. It was those same 3 growing girls that flung themselves into the arms of the two chilled special effects experts that stood in their doorway. Sarah had to laugh as she watched Rollie struggle through the doorway, one girl in his arms, and another wrapped around one of his long legs. Angie followed, the third and youngest girl in her arms, along with a bag full of presents.

The resulting confusion finally died down and settled into Kimberley (the eldest) taking her youngest sister Melissa to finish dressing (she had managed to escape her mother's custody after her bath wearing only her underwear). Angie settled in the lounge to read a story with the middle daughter while Rollie and Francis were army volunteered into table setting duty. Sarah made the final preparations to the Christmas dinner.

Angie stared at the cover of the book Anita had requested she read, "How the Grinch stole Christmas." She thought it was appropriate, thinking of how a lot of her Christmas joy had been taken away with the turmoil of the past few weeks. She hadn't even noticed the season approach with all the other things that had been running through her mind. She smiled as she remember the ending, how the "Whos" had celebrated Christmas anyway and it deepened her resolved to get through what had happened, and at least for today forget about it and make the most of Christmas. A small voice and a tugging on her sleeve reminded her that she was supposed to be reading the story instead of contemplating its deeper meaning. She sat down with Anita and together they began reading.

Rollie and Francis watched the blonde and the brunette sitting close together reading, basking in the family and friends aspect of the season. Frank remarked to Rollie, "It looks like Angie is starting to get over what Loubar did to her, doesn't it Rollie? She looks a lot happier."

Rollie responded reflectively, "Yeah, she's starting to... We both have a long way to go though." He trailed off as he looked over at Francis. Thank god Frank had been there in the days following the rape, they had talked for hours. He smiled at his friend, grateful for the friendship.

After Christmas dinner Francis, Rollie and Angie joined the girls for a game of Twister. The twister game dissolved into one big tickling fight and created a ruckus that took a long time to die down. Once it had, Sarah put the girls to bed and the 4 adults sat down to coffee. They exchange a few special presents that remained under the tree, and reminisced about past times - including the last Christmas where there had been 5 of them seated in this same situation talking over coffee.

Later Rollie drove Angie home. When he stopped outside her apartment building, he reached across and pulled a small gift from the glove compartment, then handed it to Angie.

"What's this Rol? You already gave me a sweater for Christmas."

"It's something I found when I was cleaning up the loft, I found it in an old box of stuff of Manny's. I, ummm, I thought it was work stuff but it wasn't." He cleared his throat, "Anyway - open it."

Angie was intrigued and tore the paper open quickly but carefully. She gasped at the contents. It was a small black and white photo, protected by a new looking Pewter frame. The photo was of all three members of the Ramirez family, probably taken only a short time before they were separated based on the age of the little girl in the picture. Tears shone in Angie's eyes. "Oh God, Rol. It's perfect. I've never seen this picture before, and I don't have many of my mother."

"I thought you'd like it. Think of it as a gift from them if you want. There was some other stuff in the box you'll probably want to keep but this was the only photo." Rollie was absolutely thrilled at her reaction, he knew she would love it the instant he saw it hiding amongst all the papers in that box.

Angie tore her eyes away from the image to glance up at Rollie. She leaned across, kissed him gently on the cheek and whispered, "Thank you." before climbing out of the car and walking slowly up the path to her building, her eyes fixed on the photo almost the whole time.

Rollie watched her go, and gave a satisfied smile before departing for the loft.

Just as Angie arrived at the front entrance of her building she heard a noise from the alleyway next door. Her curiosity got the better of her and she pocketed the photo before turning to investigate. Just as she got to the corner she heard the noise again, it was a quiet whimpering cry, and it was coming from the Dumpster.

The young woman's eyes opened wide as she first saw the source of the noise in the Dumpster. It was a baby, probably only a couple of months old. She gently retrieved it from amongst the garbage and made a quick assessment that there was nothing left in the Dumpster that gave any indication as to the source of the child.

After taking her stairs as fast as possible with the bundle in her arms Angie grabbed her phone with one hand while struggling with the whimpering baby with her other arm. Now it was starting to warm up again the whimpering was rapidly threatening to turn into full-blown howling. Luckily Rollie was still in his car when she reached him.

The urgency in her voice was apparent as soon as he answered the phone, "Rol, do a U-turn and get your butt back here a.s.a.p."

Rollie could hear the urgency and was instantly worried, "What is it Ange? You Ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just need your help with something..." It was at that moment the baby decided to go for the trusty howl.

"Angie? Is that a baby I can hear?" Rollie was getting really confused.

"10 outa 10 Rol. Now MOVE it!" And with that she hung up on him, realising that she needed both hands to cope with the struggling child.
 
 

CHAPTER 5

When Rollie arrived at Angie's apartment mere minutes later, he found her pacing the lounge looking exasperated and attempting to comfort the baby as best she could. "Rol! Thank God! I don't know if it's hungry, tired or in need of a change.

The Australian watched his assistant pace back and forth for a few moments, "Not much experience with babies, aye Ange?" he asked amused.

Angie stopped and stared at her boss incredulously. "Of all the inane... Rol, you know all too well I'm an only child! Melissa Gatti would be about the closest to a baby I've had any contact with and at just over 2 she doesn't really count! Now will you please do something intelligent!" She started pacing again.

Rollie attempted to cover his smile as he walked over to Angie and took the baby off her. "All right Ms Inexperienced. Go and find a can of condensed milk, put the contents in a pot on the stove to warm. And then see if you can find some talc, face cloth, an old pillow case we can use as a nappy and..."

Rollie's last request had Angie totally stumped, "A nappy?"

Rollie sighed, "Nappy, Diaper, whatever... oh and we need some safety pins, or duc tape!" he called out to the departing figure. He looked down as the screaming screwed up face, "The smell would indicate you need a change and we might as well sort out the other end with a feed while we're at it."

Angie's mind was a whirl. She could handle almost any technical problem anyone would care to throw at her, and she could deal with most children, but a new born baby - that was a little out of her league.

Between the two of them, the FX experts soon got the baby changed and fed. The little boy (as it turned out to be) was asleep in Angie's arms as she sat on her sofa. Rollie sat across from her watching. She looked up at him, "So Rol, what do we do now?"

He sighed and moved to get up. "You and little Santa there aren't going to move. I'm going back to the loft for an overnight bag and then to the 7-11 for some real diapers and formula."

Angie looked amused, "Santa?"

"Well, we gotta call him something and it does fit the season. We can call Mira or Frank in the morning to figure out what to do beyond tomorrow." Rollie left the apartment, shutting the door quietly behind him.

Rollie returned just over half an hour later, with plenty of baby supplies in hand to find Angie and 'Santa' had done as he suggested and not moved. Only now they were both asleep, he silently wished he had a camera before settling into the chair opposite and joined them in slumber.

Mira looked the baby over, "White, male, somewhat bald and about 2 months old wouldn't you think? And you said you found him in the Dumpster downstairs?"

"Yeah, what are we supposed to do with him?" Angie asked.

"Well, technically he's a ward of the state so he'd be placed in a foster family. It'd save me a lot of paperwork if you two can look after him for a couple of days so we can get through the obvious options before we start looking at foster care." The detective looked at the two effects experts expectantly.

Rollie and Angie looked at each other, the non-verbal question was asked and answered within moments. Rollie replied to Mira's question. "Sure, it's one way to fill in the holidays." Mira could see that the relationship between the two friends was slowly being resurrected. She wanted to talk to Angie about it, but they hadn't had a chance with the holidays and all. She made a mental note to organise a shopping trip or something once this whole baby thing was sorted out.

"Well, thanks yet again, guys. I'll go and see if I can get to the bottom of this and, umm, leave you two to it." Mira turned and left the apartment, receiving "Goodbyes" from the other two as she left.
 
 

CHAPTER 6

Over the next 48 hours Rollie, Angie and (for lack of a better name) 'Santa' played happy families. Francis and Sarah lent them a lot of useful equipment and gave a lot of useful advice. Despite living in close proximity for the two days they still managed to avoid discussing their relationship. Rollie wanted to talk about it, and soon, whereas Angie was avoiding the whole thing, preferring to bury it where she wouldn't have to deal with it again.

Mira searched for answers as to where the baby had come from in the first place. After about a day she was about to give up and get started on the paperwork that would transfer 'Santa' to social services. That was until a buddy over in Boston put her in contact with another detective there who just happened to be working hard on cracking a baby smuggling ring. The next day, Detective Desiree Badler, a fine boned, partly African American woman arrived with Tom and Judy Peterson. The Peterson's baby boy, Patrick, had been kidnapped a few days before Christmas and apparently brought to New York to be 'adopted'. Detective Badler surmised that whomever had wanted the baby, wanted a girl so poor little Patrick was dumped.

Mira brought the Detective and the Petersons around to Angie's apartment. Angie had just finished feeding Patrick and he had fallen asleep in her lap when they arrived. Rollie was sprawled in his usual spot in the chair opposite watching the boy sleep. Judy Peterson was a fragile looking, petite woman with fair skin and dark hair that contrasted with the blond hair and ruddy complexion of her husband Tom. She looked as if she had had a miserable few days, not knowing what had happened to her son. They had gone to an office Christmas party leaving their first born son for the first time, in the care of a new babysitter. They had returned a couple of hours later to find the babysitter and their son gone.

Judy slowly approached Angie, almost unable to believe that the young blonde woman was holding her son. She sat down next to Angie, her eyes focusing only on the baby. Angie shyly smiled as she passed the boy over, "I think he belongs to you."

Tears formed in the eyes of the joyous parents. Tom stood silently in the doorway watching the reunion between his wife and his son. Judy whispered half to herself, "Oh God, it is him. It's our Patrick." She glanced up at Angie, "Thank you. You don't know how much this means to us. Thank you both." She included Rollie in the look of gratitude before looking down at her son again.

"I, umm, I just fed him. And he's got a fresh diaper too, so he should sleep for a while now." Angie was unsure of her parenting skills and whether or not they had been sufficient for Patrick over the last few days. It showed as the slight quiver in her voice.

Judy Peterson noticed the quiver and looked up at the young woman who had apparently found her son, she looked so young and uncertain about whether or not she had looked after him properly, and she was seeking approval for the job she did. "He looks wonderful. You did a good job considering the suddenness of the responsibility."

Angie smiled in relief at the words of praise, "It was fun. I'm just sorry you two had to suffer so much, and at Christmas time too."

Tom spoke up for the first time, "That's all forgotten now that we have our little boy back. Just as long as they find the people responsible, that's all I want now."

Detective Badler interjected, "Speaking of which... Ms Ramirez, Mr Tyler..." She paused as she saw them both wince, wondering what she had done wrong.

Mira made a move as if to clear her throat, muttering "...first names..." as she did.

The visiting detective continued, "Umm... Angie, Rollie. You've helped us so much already, thank you for that. But... Detective Sanchez here commented to me that you both have helped the NYPD quite a lot in the past, and I was wondering if you'd like to help us get the guys that did this?"

Rollie perked up at the opportunity to nail the bad guys, "Go on..."

She continued, "Well, we think we know who all the players are, but we don't have the hard evidence we need. So... we need the process through from the initial kidnapping to the final handover to the adoptive parents. We've got the 'family' and baby set up at the other end but we need a young couple like yourselves to masquerade as the prospective parents?"

Rollie almost reacted at the 'couple' comment, but after glancing at Angie, decided to let it ride. A longer look passed between the two close friends, a whole conversation occurring in a matter of moments without a word being spoken. Angie replied to the detective's query without breaking the look with Rollie, "What do we have to do... and when?"
 

CHAPTER 7

The next night had Angie and Rollie meeting the contact at Shed 5, a restaurant down in the Village with a distinctly nautical theme. They were posing as Peter and Helen Russel, a well off couple, medically unable to have children, but desperately wanting them NOW.

They sat down at a table set for 3 in a discreet corner of the restaurant. Angie was dressed in a dark blue pair of pants, and expensive looking blue/green patterned blouse. Rollie wore a pair of mid grey pants with a dark blue sports jacket over top. Between the two of them, they looked very much like 'old money'.

A middle aged woman arrived about 15 minutes late, just as the special effects team were starting to think the whole deal was a bust. She wasted no time with preliminaries, "You're Peter and Helen Russel?" At Rollie's nod, she continued, "How much do you want to be parents?"

Rollie replied with an upper crust accent covering his Australian one, "We were told $50,000 would get us prompt service."

"You were told correctly, Mr Russel. For that amount, you two can be parents within the week." The woman's gaze shifted between the couple sitting before her, assessing them. Angie smiled a nervous, but happy smile at Rollie as he reached across the table and gave her hand a supportive squeeze.

"We'll be in contact within the next 24 hours, with the details of the exchange. Boy or Girl?" The woman stood again, about to leave.

Rollie and Angie exchanged a quick look before Rollie responded with a slightly desperate note added to the accent, "Either is fine. We just want a baby." The woman turned and left the restaurant without another word.

At the penthouse apartment that had been rented for the sting, the two detectives were going over the next stage of the plan with Rollie and Angie. Back in Boston, at the other end of the smuggling chain a similar ruse had been set up. The 'parents' were going to a New Years Party, and had booked the same babysitter that the Petersons had used for Patrick. The baby was a three month old girl. Angie understood that a real baby had to be used, but she was shocked that people could put their own child at risk in a situation like this.

Detective Badler explained, "The little girl in question is an orphaned, only child so she's currently in foster care. We've got written approval from all the appropriate agencies. Don't worry, we won't let anything happen to her."

Angie wasn't convinced "But still... This baby's life is on the line here."

"Angie, we know every step of this smuggling chain, we just need the physical evidence of catching them in the act to be able to put them away. That's what this is all about. There will be someone following and tracking her every step of the way. She'll be as safe as we can make her." The detective could understand the young woman's fears, this was an unfortunate but necessary part of the plan, and it was better than a random child being kidnapped from another unknowing family.

After going over the remaining details of the plan, both Detective Badler and Mira left for the afternoon. They still have to finalise some details at their respective ends. There was nothing left for Angie and Rollie to do now except wait for the smuggler's phone call - it was going to be a quiet New Years for them.

As Rollie closed the door behind Mira, he turned to Angie, "Fancy a cup of tea?"

Angie sighed, "Sure, I'll go put the kettle on."

Rollie followed her into the kitchen, and as she stood at the counter he stood behind and put his hands on her shoulders. "You're not too happy about this are you, luv?"

Angie smiled at the term of endearment before she turned around. "To be perfectly honest, no, I'm not happy. I mean when we gave Patrick back to his parents, I saw the look on his mother's face and I thought 'Yeah' we should help get these guys. But now, I'm worried about that little girl. She never had the chance to agree to this, they're just using her." Angie turned and walked back towards the living area. "A ward of the state - just 'cause she doesn't have a mother or a father, they think no-one wants her, and they can use her for their own purposes."

"Angie, what's really going on? There's something else bothering you." Rollie could see she was agitated about something, and he knew it was more than just worrying about a baby they'd never seen. Maybe it was finally time for that talk they had both been putting off.

Angie was standing in the middle of the lounge with her back to Rollie, he could see the line of tension across her shoulders. She slowly turned around, there were tears in her eyes. "I dunno Rol, maybe it's cause I can identify with her. I mean to all practical purposed I'm an orphan too. Maybe I'm just tired. Maybe... I dunno."

Rollie started walking towards her, "You could be identifying with her, and you could be tired. But maybe it's something else, maybe it's something..."

She knew where he was going and she interrupted him, beating him to it, "I need answers, Rol. I know I said nothing has changed, but it has... You now know how I felt, what I was willing to do... you know..." Her coherency started to dissolve into tears as everything that had happened over the past month bubbled to the surface.

Rollie hugged her as she cried, he knew the release would do her some good. He guessed it was probably one of the few times she had allowed herself to cry since that night at the lake just after she had shot him. She was the type, the type to bottle things up, to tough it out and to try and beat it on her own. She had a core of steel, he had seen it so strongly in both ambulances that day but the whole thing had shaken her to that core. While he could never fully understand what Loubar had done to her, he couldn't think of anything worse that could have been done.

As she calmed down again, they sat together on the sofa. Rollie looked her in the eyes and spoke from his heart. "Angie, I don't know if we should continue what was started. To be honest I'd never even thought about it before, I guess it was cause I'd never fully realised that you'd grown up." He smiled at a memory. "I always saw you as Manny's little girl - precocious, intelligent and absolutely gorgeous..." The final comment brought a smile to her face which faded again as he became serious, "... but untouchable, the boss' daughter. What I do know is that now is not the time. You need to recover and to heal from what Loubar did to you, and we need to rebuild what we already had." He reached out and with his fingertips brushed aside a stray piece of hair on her forehead. "If we decide to become more than friends... and partners... It needs to happen of it's own accord, something between us, and only us. Not something spawned from what he did. It has to belong to us."

The piece of hair had fallen back into her eyes, and she flicked her head to move it again. She sighed and agreed with him, "You're right, Rol."

He took both of her hands in his, "No Angie, don't just agree with me. Tell me how you feel."

Her eyes had dropped as he spoke, she sighed and looked up meeting his gaze again. "I... I don't know what I want - I'm still confused. Part of me wants it to continue... you know... when I thought it was you... it felt right. Another part is begging for it to go back to the way it was, we were comfortable with each other, that teamwork we had... but that can never happen, not fully anyway. And yet another part of me is terrified, living only in that moment between the moment he hit me, and the moment he took the mask off. Everything I believed in was shattered at that moment Rollie. You are right... I need to deal with that part first, to fix it, somehow... That has to happen first."

She bravely smiled, and they hugged again.

CHAPTER 8

The next morning was New Years Day, and the reconciling friends were woken by the phone ringing. Rollie went to answer it, pausing to compose himself before he lifted the receiver. "Good morning. Peter Russel speaking," he answered, laying on the accent again.

It was the woman from the restaurant, "We have what you ordered. Meet us tonight, 8pm in Brooklyn park with the amount we agreed on." She hung up again.

Rollie put the phone down and answered Angie's unspoken question. "They've got her - we exchange tonight. Let's get to work..."

*****

They spent the rest of the day getting organised. The money had to be counted out and a tracker inserted into the lining of the case that housed it. Both Angie and Rollie would wear wires, with Mira and Detective Badler settled in the FX van monitoring a block from the park. The park was staked out, and a number of police officers were sent in to surround the parking area where the exchange would take place. At 8pm precisely the two FX specialists drove into the park in an expensive looking grey sedan and parked.

Five minutes later a navy sedan pulled into the parking area and parked a short distance away from the nervous friends. Rollie spoke quietly, "Heads up people. We've got company." As he and Angie climbed out of their car, he muttered to himself, "Bloody cold weather."

The woman from the restaurant got out of her car, along with a nervous looking younger man. He walked around to the back door of their vehicle and got the baby from the car seat there. The woman walked up to Rollie (who was holding the case of money) "Mr Russel, you have the money?"

"Yes," and he handed the woman the case as her companion handed the baby over to Angie. The young man looked nervously at the woman before reaching into his pocket and retrieving a small gun, which he proceeded to point in the general direction of Angie and the baby. Rollie reacted first, "Hey, what do you think you're doing!?! Get that gun away from my wife!"

"Relax Mr Russel. This is merely an unpleasant formality while we check you lived up to your part of the deal.

Back in the van both Detectives reacted strongly when they heard Rollie mention the gun. Mira started issuing rapid-fire orders and as a result the police net around the park dramatically tightened. She was worried, the original plan was to allow the baby smugglers to leave the park and to grab them when Rollie and Angie were out of danger, but it looked like they might need to shut this thing down sooner than that.

The woman sat in the front of her car and quickly counted the wads of bills in the case. As she was counting the ones towards the back she noticed a slight bulge in the ling of the case. With a quick yank she tore the lining and pulled out the tracker. "Hey Ricky, we gotta tracker. Do it!!"

The young man, Ricky, turned towards Angie - his expression hardening. As he aimed, preparing to shoot the gun at the baby Angie swung around protecting it with her own body. At that same moment Rollie leaped forward towards the guy, ploughing into him just as the gun fired.

CHAPTER 9

Pandemonium followed the gunshot. Angie cried out as she fell heavily on her side, protecting the baby in her arms even as she fell. The woman leaped out of the car to run away as Rollie wrestled the gun from Ricky's grasp. Police poured into the carpark from all directions taking the two felons into custody.

Rollie scrambled over to Angie just as she was struggling to sit up again, "Ange! Angie! Are you Ok?"

With a pained sigh she replied, "Yeah, I'm fine. Just lost my balance, that's all." By that stage Mira and Detective Badler had arrived in the park. The darker detective took the baby from Angie as Mira and Rollie helped her to her feet and brushed her off. Angie's only concern was for the child, "Is she Ok?"

Desiree Badler put the baby in the back of the car and quickly checked her over, "She's fine Angie. You did a good job protecting her." Angie limped over to check for herself and the Detective turned to look at her. "I've got some other news too. I got a call a couple of hours ago from this little angel's social worker in Boston. We found her a family - one that wants to adopt her for good."

Angie and Mira smiled widely as Rollie came up behind Angie and responded to the Detective's statement. "That's great!"

Several days later Mira was sitting in a coffee bar in the Village. Angie walked in and they both got some coffee.

"So Mira, howz tricks?"

"Same old, same old. I have got some news you might be interested in." She paused, waiting to get Angie's full attention. "Detective Badler gave me a call this morning. Patrick Peterson is doing great, he caught a cold from all that exposure to the weather at Christmas but he's over that now. And the little girl used in the sting... She's with her new family - they named her Angela after hearing about what you and Rollie did to stop the baby smuggling ring. One heck of a Christmas present, aye?"

Mira chucked at the response from Angie. She looked dazed, "They named her what... after me?"

"Yes you, Senorita Ramirez. You guys did good. Now, onto what we met here for in the first place. About you and Rollie... spill it." Mira leaned forward conspiratorially.

Angie leaned forward as well, as if to divulge a secret. She whispered, "None of you beeswax, Detective Sanchez!" She sat back and laughed at Mira's crestfallen expression and then continued at a normal volume, "But if you must know... we're doing the just good friends thing for now, rebuilding what we had before. Now, drink you coffee so we can go shopping!!"

Mira grinned, "Yes, Ma'am."

The End
 
 
 

Footnote: Shed 5 is a resturant in Wellington, New Zealand. My sister is a chef there so I decided to put it in seeing as I've never been to New York... hoping and wishing though *grin*.