Song: In my veins- Andrew Belle

It was hard picking out a song for this chapter but these lyrics sold me on this one.

Nothing goes as planned

Everything will break

People say goodbye

In their own special

All that you rely on

And all that you could fake

Will leave you in the morning... 

"And you were just in the right place at the right time?" Michael asked, eyes narrowed at Natasha in suspicion. Nathan had gone to get her from his mother's house, so they could question her about the information she'd given him. Much to her dismay, they were in the interrogation room again.

"If you think about it, it's plausible," Nathan said before Natasha could reply. "We went there because we wanted somewhere discreet so Natasha wouldn't have any more run ins with people she knows, due to her reputation. It's not a stretch to consider that Margaret and the Chief went there for the same reason."

Michael glared at Nathan but moved on to his next question. "How can you be sure of what you heard? You said yourself that you were drunk and throwing up at the time. I find it hard to believe that you could even remember your name, let alone a whole conversation."

"I have a very good memory," Natasha replied. Michael raised an eyebrow at her. "Even when I'm shitfaced," she added.

Nathan stifled a laugh as Michael's eyes narrowed to slits and Natasha stared at him, looking absolutely unfazed.

"You want proof?" she asked, thinking. "There are two photo frames on your desk. One plain brown with a picture of a young couple. The man is wearing a police officer's uniform and he has his hand over the dark haired woman's shoulder. She's wearing a long brown dress with black polka dots. Both of them are looking at the little boy in the woman's arms. The second frame, a silver edged one, has a picture of you graduating from the police academy."

"You've been at my desk? She's been at my desk?" Michael asked, frowning as he turned to Nathan.

"She's been in the office a couple of times," Nathan shrugged.

"Your memory of what's on my desk while impressive and slightly creepy, doesn't prove anything to me but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and hear you out for the sake of progress," Michael said.

Natasha shared everything she could remember of the conversation and Michael and Nathan agreed that a lot of it did fit in with the events of the past 24 hours. If the Chief indeed was Max's biological father, it would explain the motive behind his actions.

"Max was your boyfriend once, right?" Michael asked when she'd finished.

"Where are you going with this?" Nathan asked, noticing Natasha stiffen and worrying that Michael's line of questioning would trigger her memories of his abuse.

"Well Max really wanted to talk to Natasha. Maybe he'll try to contact her again now that he's out," Michael explained.

Natasha looked confused. "How did you know that Max wanted to talk to me?"

"Better question is, how did you know that Max wanted to talk to you? I never told you about his request," Nathan said.

"Huh?" Natasha asked again.

"Huh?" Nathan asked too.

"Hold on," Michael said. "Natasha, when did you talk to Max?"

"The day I overhead you and Nathan talking in the office about trapping my mother. I was waiting for Nathan, then I went to the ladies room and on my way from there, I met Max being escorted by an officer.  He went crazy and asked me to tell the police to let him go and that his family needed him. He even said he'd tell me who she is if I did. Then I overheard you guys and all that stuff happened so I forgot to mention it," Natasha replied.

"I thought you said you had a very good memory," Michael smirked.

Natasha balled her hands into fists, fighting the urge to throw something at his head.

"By she, did he mean whoever killed his father?" Nathan intervened before war broke out.

"Maybe," Natasha shrugged.

"This is brilliant!" Michael exclaimed, excitedly. "He asked to see you yesterday which means he still wants to talk to you. You need to call him and convince him to tell you."

"One problem. He's out of jail now. He doesn't need Natasha for anything," Nathan argued.

"She could use any residual feelings he might have for her. Draw him out," Michael suggested.

"You want to use her as bait?" Nathan asked in disbelief.

"We catch him and he gives us the killer. It's a win-win," Michael said.

"No. No way," Nathan said stubbornly.

"Well, what do you propose then? We sit on our thumbs and wish for the tooth fairy to bring us the killer?" Michael was starting to get angry now.

"Anything but baiting Natasha," Nathan said firmly. "Also, the tooth fairy, Michael. Really?"

"All she has to do is call him, ask him if he wants to talk. If he says no, she can say something like she needs to talk to him for closure or whatever. Maybe even throw in a couple of tears. If he agrees to meet her, we'll be with her the whole time. Nothing will happen to her, you have my word," Michael said, attempting to negotiate calmly instead.

"The answer's no, Michael."

"Stop thinking with your damn heart, Henderson! If this was any other person, you'd have agreed to this without question."

Before Nathan could respond to Michael's thinly veiled accusation, Natasha finally spoke up, calling the men's attention to her presence.

"Can I speak to Nathan alone for a minute?" she asked in a low voice. From the look on her face, both men could tell what she had decided, so Michael left willingly, knowing she needed the space to convince Nathan.

"I know what you're going to say and I'm not going to agree to it Natasha," Nathan said the minute Michael shut the door.

"Look," Natasha said taking a deep breath. "You know better than anyone how much it terrifies me to even think of being anywhere near Max but I'm not going to be at peace knowing he's out there somewhere. At least if I do this, we'll catch him and stop a killer. I won't be able to live with myself if she kills someone else, knowing that I could have prevented it. Max is probably out of town by now but it won't hurt to try."

"Are you sure you can handle this? We can get someone to dress up like you so it'll look convincing from a distance, enough to fool him until we catch him," Nathan suggested.

Natasha reached for his hand across the table and held it between hers, giving him a reassuring smile. "I need to do this. I think it might be therapeutic, facing my fears and all."

"You're very brave," Nathan commended her.

"I'd wait until I've talked to Max before you say that. Funny thing is, I'm not as afraid to face Max as I am to see Kelsey. She was right and I didn't bother hearing her out. I can't postpone seeing her any longer, we need my phone from her to call Max," Natasha said, finally releasing his hand to run hers through her hair.

"You don't know his number?"

"Don't be a Michael," she warned him. "I do know his number but I think he's more likely to answer my call than a call from a number he doesn't know."

"Good thinking," Nathan said, checking the time on his phone. "It's almost time for the funeral. I'll take you to Kelsey's for your phone and Michael will go to the funeral with a couple of cops, although I don't think Margaret or Max would risk surfacing there."

They left the interrogation room and Nathan told a delighted Michael about the plan. Soon after, Michael headed to the funeral with three other policemen while Nathan drove Natasha to Kelsey's house. She was quiet the whole way, nervously picking at her fingers until they arrived.

"I think you should wait here. There might be some bloodshed," Natasha said, laughing nervously.

Nathan gave her a reassuring smile and turned his attention to his phone as she went up to the Harris's front door and rang the bell.

Kelsey answered the door and Natasha seriously considered making a run for it.

"I'm an idiot," she said, apologetically. A smile finally broke out on Kelsey's face and she hugged Natasha tightly, right there on the doorstep. Keisha came up behind them and squeezed into the middle of their hug forcing the two older girls to separate.

As she looked over Natasha's shoulder, Kelsey noticed Nathan's car parked by the curb.

"Is that...?" she trailed off, looking back at Natasha but her face no longer held the smile from a minute ago.

"Nathan, yeah," Natasha replied.

"I guess I'm the bigger idiot then," Kelsey said.

"What?" Natasha asked, distracted by Keisha pulling at her t-shirt.

"I was worried about you and you were shacking up with the detective," Kelsey said. Her whole demeanor had changed now. She seemed upset.

"Whoa, okay. That's a little uncalled for considering you threw me out of your house," Natasha retorted, finally giving in to Keisha's demands and lifting her into her arms.

"I didn't throw you out! You ran away."

Natasha took a breath, counted to ten in her head and composed herself before responding. "I love you Kelsey and I came to apologize and tell you that you were right. Yesterday I got really drunk and when I woke up today with a killer headache, I panicked for a second because I thought I was at your house and that Keisha had seen me in that state. That's when I realized you were right. I'm not safe to be around right now, especially for a child. There's a killer with some vendetta against me and I'm one tailspin away from spiraling out of control. I'm going to make sure this ends today and the killer is put behind bars, for Keisha and for you because I love you and I don't want anyone to hurt you because of me. I just came to get my phone and house keys then I'll be out of your hair."

Kelsey's features softened but she remained silent and went upstairs to get Natasha's things. Natasha hugged Keisha and kissed her all over her face until she was a giggling mess then when Kelsey came back with her phone and keys, Natasha put Keisha down and took them. She had walked a few steps away when Kelsey called out to her.

"Don't do anything crazy," Kelsey said when Natasha turned back to face her.

"No promises," Natasha replied with a smile before turning back and getting into Nathan's car.

***

"Maybe we should go to my house. If Max agrees to meet me, he might be more comfortable going there," Natasha suggested as she went through her phone while Nathan drove back to the station.

"I doubt it. I have a feeling he'll ask you to meet him somewhere discreet where he can be sure there won't be any cops," Nathan said. "And I think it's best to have you in a location he doesn't know, in case he goes to your house to try and scope the place out and he ends up spotting me with you."

"Is that just an excuse to get me to spend the night at your place again?" Natasha teased.

Nathan kept his focus on the road, smiling slightly before he cleared his throat and said, "So...Detective McHotpants?"

"Just shut up and drive," Natasha said, cheeks burning.

At the station they waited in Nathan's office for Michael to get back from the funeral while Natasha made calls to David, Danielle, Stacey and her mother who had left her messages on her phone. Nathan's ears perked up when he heard her leaving a message for her mother but he didn't comment on it.

When Michael came back later in the afternoon, he told them the funeral had gone on without incident and nothing out of the ordinary happened. Once Natasha's phone had been set up so they could track Max's phone once she made the call, she dialed his number. The call went straight to voicemail and after trying a few more times over the next hour, Natasha finally left a message asking him to call her back to discuss an urgent issue. There was no luck tracing Max's phone too as it seemed to be off and the same applied for Margaret's and Chief Langdon's phones.

"I'm beat. We've been here since 2 a.m. and going to a funeral didn't help matters at all," Michael said wiping his hand over his face. "I think we should call it a day. Natasha, keep trying Max and if he calls, let me know immediately."

"Does Lydia have anything from Natasha's car and the knife that killed Mac?" Nathan asked.

"You want me to talk to the crazy lady with thousands of sharp objects at her disposal about doing her job faster?" Michael scoffed.

Nathan rolled his eyes and called Lydia himself who told him that she would have something for him the next day. Afterwards, he and Natasha bought takeaways for dinner and drove back to his apartment.

"We need to catch this killer soon before I get fat or get a heart attack from all these takeaways," Natasha complained when they were done eating.

"I'll just be happy for a week free of dead bodies," Nathan sighed, moving to the couch.

"Go to bed, I'll clean up," Natasha said, clearing the table and dumping the take away boxes in the trashcan.

"Don't worry about that, I'm sure you're tired," Nathan said sitting up and patting the space beside him.

"I'm too nervous to sleep," Natasha admitted.

"How about we talk for a while instead?" he suggested.

"What do you want to talk about?" Natasha asked, joining him.

"I don't really know much about you," Nathan pointed out.

Natasha feigned shock. "After two arrests and two nights of sharing a bed?"

Nathan chuckled in response and leaned back against the couch. "I don't know a lot but I feel like I know you. Like we met before."

"In a past life?" Natasha laughed.

"You don't believe in re-incarnation?" Nathan asked.

"Seems a bit far-fetched," she shrugged. "How would we have met in a past life?"

"Certainly not over a murder." Nathan paused, stretching his legs. "Maybe I would have been a doctor."

"And me?"

"A school teacher," Nathan said without missing a beat.

"What, why?" Natasha asked surprised.

Nathan turned to sit facing her and propped his head up against his arm. "I saw how you were with that little girl at Kelsey's house. I think you'd be great with kids."

Natasha laughed but didn't argue. "So how would a doctor and a school teacher meet?"

"Maybe one of the children you teach would fall and hurt themselves and you'd have to come to the hospital where I'd attend to them while I talk to you."

"I don't know whether to be impressed by how you already have this figured out or sad that it isn't our reality," Natasha said ruefully.

"The reality isn't ideal but we still met," Nathan smiled.

A moment of silence passed between them, interrupted only by voices from the television.

"Is law something you've always wanted to study or are you following in the footsteps of your mother and uncle?" he asked.

Natasha thought about his question before she replied. "I'm a bit ashamed that it's not because of something honorable like defending the innocent or something, although that's definitely part of my motivation to be a lawyer. My career choice has mostly been influenced by my mum. When she was still a lawyer, she used to take me with her to work for the less traumatizing cases since I was only ten at the time. Then she became a judge and later a state judge. It was amazing seeing her up there, in control of the entire court house. The first time I saw her in the state court house, I wanted to be her. I wanted that power. I guess that's when I fell in love with the idea of being a lawyer."

"I've seen her at work. She's really something," Nathan commented.

Natasha nodded and smiled. "Okay, my turn. Were you stalking me the day you found me sitting outside my house?"

"Stalking? No," Nathan said, quirking an eyebrow. "I wanted to apologize."

"Why?"

He paused. "I took advantage of you when you were at your lowest point and I'll always be sorry for that. But I don't entirely regret it because that whole incident made me come to terms with the fact that this isn't just about the case anymore."

Natasha frowned in confusion but Nathan smiled and waved it off, not explaining his cryptic statement, so she asked him something else.

"What was your lowest point?" she asked, although she had a good idea what his answer would be.

"It wasn't Carey's death," he replied, surprising her. "That was the leading cause though. I didn't know how to deal with the loss so I drank. Excessively. My mother had to drag me out of different bars every other night and nurse me through my hangover."

"That's why you took me to her last night?"

"Yeah. One of those nights, I went too far. I didn't want to live anymore. The guilt was just too much. I was outside, at the back of a bar, barely conscious and about to swallow a whole bottle of pills when I saw her. But then, before I could, I saw her right in front of me and it felt so real," Nathan replied.

"Carey?"

Nathan nodded, staring off into the distance. "She told me she didn't blame me for what happened and I shouldn't punish myself and it was breaking her heart to see me the way I was. Because of that, I cleaned up my act and joined the police force, hoping to get justice for her but I could never find the person who killed her."

Natasha fought away the tears trying to creep from her eyes and taking a chance, she slid closer to him and laid her head on his chest, wrapping her arms around his waist as she listened to the sound of his heartbeat. "I think the more likely scenario would have been me getting injured while rescuing one of my students from a failed attempt to fly."

"Hmm?" Nathan asked, trailing his fingers lightly through her hair before holding her in his arms.

"Our first meeting in the other life."

Nathan smiled, grateful for the change of subject and placed a lingering kiss on her forehead, only breaking it when his phone rang. He reached over for it, keeping one arm still on Natasha's back and answered it.

"Any news?" he said when he answered.

"Is your girlfriend with you?" Michael asked. Nathan bit back his usual objection and glanced down at Natasha who was looking up at him expectantly.

"Yes she is, why?" he replied.

"Her neighbors reported a disturbance at her house and when some officers went there, they found the radio going full blast," Michael said.

"So someone broke in to play the radio?" Nathan asked confused.

Natasha sat up, mouthing, "What's happening?"

"I wish that was all they'd done," Michael sighed. "There was no sign of breaking and entering but there were signs of a struggle in the living room and a bloody smudge on the wall near the staircase. When they went upstairs they found Max Bandieer and a female; black, mid-twenties, identified as Kelsey Harris."

***

I'm wicked, I know.

This next week is going to be a busy one with Easter coming up and all so I'll only post the next chapter the week after that. I'll take this time to reply to the lovely comments that I haven't had time to respond to so I apologize in advance for the spamming to come. You guys can take the time to recover from the last line of this chapter (Muhahaha!).

 Also going to be catching up on reading (Yaay!)

Happy Easter!