"Life isn't always easy, but I don't think it was meant to be. Even if the storm is raging, when the howling of the wind and rain feel like it will never end, there will always come a time when it stops and the winds die down. Even if it is just for a moment. It is in those times, when the sun shines through, when you are able to find happiness. Hold on to those feelings, because I believe that sometimes you need to experience the hardship to truly appreciate the moments of peace." – S. deSoto, 2020

:) :) :) :)

Chapter 1

NYPD, 23rd Precinct

It was a relatively slow night, and Elisa couldn't remember the last time that she'd been so thankful for that.

Most of the time, quiet nights were a cause for alarm in such a large city. It was the proverbial quiet before the storm, almost as if the island itself was holding its breath, just waiting for something big to happen.

Of course, there were always exceptions.

There was a distinct bite in the air that held the warning of snow. In the North East, that was cause for most people to shut themselves in and wait to see if it came to fruition or not.

That seemed to be the case as the phone calls, emails, and even the usually raucous chatter at the station gradually quieted to a tolerable level.

It was only 8:00 though, and they all knew that things could turn on a dime.

Not that it should have mattered to them. After working on such a large project that had required overtime and actual in-the-line-of-duty danger, the department had given them a few days off before coming back to resume their normal duties.

Matt and Elisa weren't there on an official capacity that night. They were taking advantage of the slow and quiet, working on what they hoped was the last of the reports from their most recent assignment. Who knew that working with so many different agencies would cause so much extra paperwork? For every report they filled out, there were two government required ones that needed to be completed as well.

To top it all off, Elisa was working one-handed. She'd been struck by a bullet during the raid on the Humans First warehouse a few days ago. Thankfully, she'd not only been wearing her Kevlar vest, but the bullet had been slowed enough that it hadn't gone through. It had, however, been a ricocheted high caliber bullet that had been shot from a high powered military rifle.

It may not have gone through, but it had hit her hard enough to actually deeply bruise her scapula. A bruised bone could hurt as much as a broken one, so for the time being, she was in an immobilizing sling to aid in recovery and pain relief.

Now, if only it could aid in stress relief, Elisa thought as she once more turned the paper so that the paperweight holding it still allowed her to keep writing.

Elisa was in the midst of filling out one of the Armed Forces forms, when a raised voice caught her attention.

"Yo, Travis," The voice called out, "When did you get out?"

Elisa and Matt turned toward the door and spotted Stephen Travis walking toward them, a huge grin on his face. He was dressed comfortably in a pair of jeans, a solid gray tee, and his familiar worn black leather jacket.

The only addition to his look was the sling that mirrored Elisa's own.

"Early release for good behavior," he called over his shoulder in response to the greeting.

Elisa gratefully shoved the paperwork away from her, happy for any excuse to be rid of it.

"Well, well," Elisa called out. "Here comes the walking wounded."

Matt got to his feet and exchanged an awkward handshake with Travis's free hand. "Glad to see you on your feet," he said. "We've been getting updates from Beth, but it's still nice to see you in person."

"Believe me," he said heavily. "It's nice to be here in person."

"Does Beth know you're out?" Elisa asked, suspiciously. "She didn't say anything."

"No, she doesn't know," Travis said with a mischievous grin. "I was hoping to surprise her."

"Oh, I think you will," Elisa said slowly. "Especially since she just sent me a message about half an hour ago saying that she was going to stop by the hospital to see you before visiting hours are over."

His eyes went wide. "Craaaaaap," he drew out.

Elisa laughed. "Where would you like to meet her?"

"I was thinking that maybe I could take her out to dinner," he said sheepishly.

Elisa thought for a moment. "Do you know that place off of Lexington Avenue called The Lexington Social?"

"Yeah," Travis said, looking puzzled.

"Beth loves that place," Elisa said, leaning forward to grab her desk phone. She punched in some numbers and waited for an answer. "Hey Beth," Elisa said. "Closing up shop?" There was a lengthy pause before Elisa continued. "Well, I was wondering if you'd like to meet me for a late dinner. I'm about to go grab something to eat, and I thought going to the Lex Social for one of their burgers sounded really good." Another pause. "Can you meet me there in, say, fifteen minutes?" Pause. "Come eat with me. You can always grab a burger to take up to him. You know how nasty hospital food is." Elisa sent a look Travis's way. "He'd probably love some real food."

Elisa nodded, and grinned. "Okay. See you in fifteen."

"There," she said, replacing the receiver. She grabbed a notepad and scribbled directions on it. When done, she handed it to Travis. "Here's the address. She said she'll be there in fifteen, but it will probably be closer to twenty minutes."

"Uh," Travis blinked at her. "Thanks?"

Elisa waved him off. "Go. Have fun while we're here filling out these damn Army forms."

Travis leaned in and looked at the forms and frowned. "Why are they having you fill out a DD214 form?"

"A what?"

"It's for a medical discharge from the army," He said, still confused. "Why are they having you fill it out?"

"They sent it to us," Matt said.

"We don't need it," Elisa said slowly, mildly irritated at seeing Matt's expression. "Do we?"

"No," he said. He leaned over, and briefly scanned the forms. Some were complete, some hadn't been started yet. Efficiently, he sorted the stack and pulled three forms out. Two were done, and one partially. "Here. These three are the only ones you will need to fill out. These are the incident related reports."

Matt let out a deep sigh. "Thanks," he said.

Elisa threw her pen down in disgust, looking at all of the papers that she'd filled out and hadn't needed to.

"Thanks," Elisa said, then waved him off. "You now have thirteen minutes to make it there. Go. Have a good time," then she sent him a look. "Maybe not TOO good of a time, huh?"

"Yes ma'am," he said, then turned to go and paused. "Crap. I actually came here to talk to Captain Chavez."

Elisa glanced towards the Captain's office. "Door's closed," she observed. "That's usually a big, flashing Do Not Disturb sign."

"Damn," Travis muttered.

"Look. The captain will be here all night," Matt said. "She'll probably be free by the time you both are done eating."

"That restaurant is only open until 11:00," Elisa pointed out. "You can catch the captain later."

"Good point," Travis said, and hurried away.

Matt looked at his desk in disgust. "Damn. Well," he started gathering the unneeded papers together. "I'm going to happily shred these and, now that I know this won't take me all night, I'm going to take my three forms home to finish them there."

"That sounds like a fantastic idea," Elisa said, and began to do the same.

"Here," Matt said, holding his hand out for Elisa's discard-able forms. "I'll take care of those."

Elisa handed over the papers and wished whoever had sent them the extra forms straight to purgatory.

"Need a ride home?" Matt asked.

"No," Elisa shook her head. "I'm still at the castle for the time being."

Matt frowned. "Why?"

"Because," Elisa answered heavily, "The Wing found out that Beth was knocked unconscious and abducted from my front door. They threw a fit, saying that their main job is to keep Nayeli and I safe, and how could they do that when security at our home is so lax that someone could assault and kidnap my sister? They're trying to come up with a good plan to make sure that doesn't happen to anyone again, and then we can go back home."

"Oh," he said shortly.

"Yeah," Elisa said, shifting to try to adjust her posture to ease the ache in her shoulder. "Oh."

"Need a ride to the castle?" he asked.

Elisa shook her head. "Goliath is on the roof here, waiting for me to be done so he can take me home."

Matt nodded, and turned toward the shredder. As he was about to take a step, a familiar man came through the door with a small wrapped grouping of mixed flowers in his hands.

"Is that…?" Matt trailed off.

"It's Eagle," Elisa said, watching as the tough-as-nails former SWAT now ATF agent navigated the bullpen with ease and went straight to Maria Chavez's office door. "You think…?" Elisa drifted off.

"Maybe," Matt said.

Elisa couldn't help her grin. Maria deserved a good guy like Eagle.

Maria had been married once upon a time to another police officer. He had been fresh out of the academy, and joined the NYPD at the same time that Maria had. When Maria had rapidly worked up the ranks and had far outdistanced her husband in rank, he didn't handle things well. He had begun to resent her success, and had ended up leaving her for someone a little less… "ball busting" was the phrase Elisa had always heard that he'd used in relation to the story.

If she had dated anyone since then, she'd managed to keep a tight lid on it. Given where she worked, it had to be an air-tight lid, because no one gossiped like cops.

Eagle gave a soft knock to Maria's office door, opened it and disappeared inside.

"Huh," Matt said, looking at the door.

"Way to go, Cap," Elisa said softly and chuckled.

"I'll see you in a few days," Matt called over his shoulder as he went to dispose of the unnecessary forms.

"Have a good night," Elisa called, tucking her forms in her desk. She didn't have a way to carry them safely at the moment, and with only the one form left, she'd get it done later.

She walked outside, put the small communicator in her ear, and let her husband know that she was more than ready to go home.