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snorted.
    "James." CC stated bluntly.
    "James?" Stevie yawned not quite comprehending. Her eyes widen suddenly. "James? As in Jamie the love of your life?"
    "She's not . . ." CC began to argue.
    "Oh please Caitlin." Stevie scoffed. "Who are you trying to convince here me or you? Did you tell her?"
    "Tell her what?" CC whined not happy with the path this little chat was taking.
    "You know what." Stevie responded defiantly. "The truth. Did you tell her what happened?"
    "No." CC grumbled simply wishing to rewind the clock and make all of this disappear. The real question was just how far back she wanted to go. Back to tonight where she unrepentantly ran into Jamie or back to twelve years ago when everything changed. "The woman hates me and she no longer wants to hear why I walked out on her."
    "But you didn't walk out on her." Stevie argued. "You think she might want to know that?"
    "Well she doesn't so just drop it." CC growled.
    "No." Stevie fumed. "I watched you lying in that hospital bed calling out her name day after day. I watched you shut out everything and everyone, except for Emma and me. Never getting close to another woman all because of what happened. Tell me the truth here Sis, don't you think she has the right to know?"
    "Stevie drop it." CC pleaded. "Please. Jamie hates me and maybe it's for the best."
    "Is it?" Stevie pushed.
    "Please let it go." CC sighed heavily. "I did."
    "Did you?" Stevie asked quietly as she placed a comforting arm around her older sister's shoulder.
    "Stevie please." CC pleaded one last time. "I'm tired, I'm cranky and I simply want to see the peanut and go to bed."
    Stevie simply raised her hands in defeat and returned to her own bedroom. CC breathed a sigh of relief as she removed her coat and went about her nightly ritual of putting her gun in the lock box in her closet. She showered and changed into a beat up old T-shirt and a pair of flannel boxer shorts. She wrapped a towel around her wet hair and put the kettle on. Then she made her way into Stevie's room where her sister was sleeping soundly. Peeking over the crib she found her little peanut. Emma her niece was sleeping just as soundly as her mother. The sight of her niece never failed to melt her heart.
    Knowing that she shouldn't she lifted the infant out of her crib. She could never resist spending time with the precious little angel. Sometimes CC found it unbelievable that her brat kid sister was someone's mother. Bright blue eyes stared back at CC. "Oh yeah that's my girl." Emma gurgled softly as her aunt cradled her into her arms and carried her out into the kitchen. Stevie had long since given up on trying to stop CC from kidnapping her daughter in the middle of the night.
    CC prepared her hot chocolate while cradling her niece carefully in her arms. The sun was just beginning to rise gently kissing the morning sky. CC inhaled the scent of her niece. "Why is it you smell so good? Huh?" She asked the little bundle in her arms. This was their time together. CC sighed deeply as she settled down on the couch in the living room. "You know your Momma gave me a hard time this morning." CC explained as Emma kicked her legs. "Don't tell her this but this time I think she might be right."
    CC sipped her hot chocolate careful to keep it out of Emma's inquiring grasp. "Life is funny, Emma. A long time ago I met the most beautiful woman in the world. Everything was perfect until . . ." CC grimaced slightly as Emma tugged on her hair and then gently removed her raven tresses from Emma's small fist. "I take it you want to hear the story?" She cooed towards little Emma. "Man the guys on the force would drop dead if they could see me now." But she told little Emma everything during their morning ritual. Emma after all was a very good listener.
    She shifted and sank into the sofa resting her niece on her chest as she began to tell her story. She had left Jamie's dorm room and went home happier than she had ever been in her life. The only