It's a cold, winter morning in Chicago. Evelyn Halstead has just finished unpacking and decorating her new apartment. After six years of traveling around the states, she has decided to make a permanent move back to Chicago to be closer to her brothers, Jay and Will. There's only one problem, she hasn't been close with them since she was twenty and has only been in contact with them a handful of times over the years. She's standing in the middle of the lounge making sure everything is where she wants it when a young man stands beside her.

'I've just finished unpacking.' He says, Evelyn turns and sees her best friend, Max Ward. 'It looks really good.' He compliments, glancing at the furniture and how Evelyn had positioned them. Evelyn just shrugs. 'I'm being serious, you're damn good at interior design.'

'I did study interior design and worked as an interior designer.' Evelyn raises an eyebrow, laughing. Her expression turns serious. 'Thank you.' She adds. 'For doing this. You dropped everything back home to do this so thank you.'

'Anything for my pretend wife.' He smiles, putting a hand on her back. 'Are you going to let your brothers know that you're here?' 

'I'll try,' Evelyn sighs, 'but they'll probably just ignore my calls and texts.' 

'Which is why,' Max starts, taking out a sheet of paper, 'I found out where they usually go.' He hands her the paper. Evelyn just stares at him. 'Hey, I'm a hacker for the FBI, I can't help it.' He raises his hands defending himself. 

'I'll find them when I'm more settled.' Evelyn folds the paper up. 'I want to make sure that Marcus can't find me.' 

'He won't find you here.' Max reassures her. 'This is the last place he'll think to look and given how everything went down when he last saw Jay and Will, I don't think he'll even attempt to step foot in Chicago. You're safe here and Ivy is safe with my mom. He can't hurt you anymore.' Evelyn wipes a few tears away. 'Hey! Don't cry because if you cry, I will cry and we both know how that will end.' He laughs, causing Evelyn to also laugh. 'I mean it, Evie,' he says more seriously, 'I won't let him hurt you again. He's taken far too much from you.'

'Enough talk of him.' Evelyn dismisses the conversation. 'I have an appointment at the hospital tomorrow, will you come with me?' 

'Of course.' Max nods. 'What's this one for?' He asks.

'I'm not sure.' Evelyn shrugs 'I assume it will just be for the doctors to make sure that they have all the information they need and nothing was missed when my files were faxed over.' 

'Are you planning on telling Will and Jay when you see them?' Max queries.

'Not yet.' Evelyn shakes her head. 'If I tell them, I have to tell them how I was diagnosed and I can't do that. Not when there's so much bad blood between us.' They both move to sit on the couch. 'If I tell them, they'll be mad at me for hiding everything, pissed at Marcus and they will hate themselves for not recognizing anything. I've got to find the right time to tell them.' There are a few moments of silence. 'Anyways,' Evelyn breaks the silence, 'what's the first thing you want to do as fake newly-weds?' 

.

It's the next day, Evelyn and Max are walking out of Lake Shore Hospital. Evelyn has just had her appointment with her new doctor and they got some news that they didn't expect to hear. 

'I did not expect that.' Evelyn laughs slightly as they get into Max's car. 

'How do you feel?' Max asks her.

'Ask me that in a few weeks.' Evelyn laughs. 'I still can't decide if it's bad news or good news.' 

'Your records are completely sealed and Marcus' name has been removed. He won't be able to access anything. I made sure of that.' Max replies. 'You're allowed to be happy.' 

'I just hate myself for getting myself into this position.' Evelyn looks down. 'Again.' 

'Hey.' She looks back up at him. 'You are not allowed to hate yourself. Ever. Understand?' 

'Yes sir.' Evelyn nods laughing. She looks at the time on her watch. 'Do you have time for a coffee before you go and speak to the director?' Max starts scratching his nose. 'Max?' She drags out. 'What aren't you telling me?' 

'I may have already spoken to them.' Max states, lifting his shoulders preparing for what's to come. Evelyn slaps him playfully around the back of his head.

'Why the fuck didn't you tell me?!' Evelyn exclaims. 

'I wanted these first few days to be about making sure you and making sure you were safe and comfortable.' Max says. Evelyn slaps him on his upper arm. 'Ow.' He rubs where she hit. 'You're really violent today.'

'Stop worrying about me.' Evelyn laughs. 'As you said, I'm safe here.' She continues. 'Remember our agreement was that we pretend to be husband and wife so long as we do our own things and don't overly worry about each other.'

'Dude, I'm FBI, I'm going to be worrying about you every moment of every day and you're going to worry about me every moment of every day.' Max raises an eyebrow. 'We'll just have to tone it down a bit.' He adds with a slight laugh. 'So,' he turns his attention to the sat nav, 'where are you thinking of going for coffee?' 

'Just drive and we'll go to the first coffee shop we see.' Evelyn says. 'You know me, as long as the coffee's good, I don't care.' They put their seatbelts on and Max starts driving.

Not long later, they find a coffee shop. They park, get out and Max pays for the parking whilst Evelyn walks into the coffee shop, orders their drinks. When he walks in, he sees Evelyn standing at a table arguing with Will. He cautiously walks over to them, reaching them just in time for Evelyn to have the last words.

'You know what?' Evelyn scoffs at her brother. 'Go fuck yourself.' 

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This is just more of an introductory chapter to sort of set the scene of the story! There will be more Will and Jay will appear in the next chapter! I hope you enjoy this story!!

Let me know what you think and leave any predictions in the comments! I always love seeing your reactions and predictions!

Much love