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Police Headquarters - Noon
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JC had known that there was a chance he might run into Justin when he whet to get Janine Fatone from the Fatone house. They had originally entered Justin into Steven's circle of friends. It was assumed that if had survived the initial attack and those that followed; he would be in Pearlman?s hands now with Steven. There was a chance; however, that he could have stayed with Fatone and JC had to acknowledge that before he headed to the Fatone house.

A flash of his detective badge got his admittance to the house. Handing the guard his warrant paperwork got him shown to a sitting room. It was who showed up next that shocked him. Two men came around the corner. The one with dark hair had a distinctly Italian cast to him and with the red dye highlights in his hair, JC recognized him as Joseph Fatone Jr. With him came a younger man with blue eyes and curly blondish hair. JC had no problems recognizing him; it was his partner Justin. His eyes widened in shock, Justin?s mirroring them. Joey took one quick glance between the two of them and JC forced his face to return to a neutral expression. Justin was alive and now they knew where he was.

One of the first things that JC did upon returning to the station was to share his new information with the Captain and to secure permission to call Justin's mother and tell her that he was indeed all right. Lynn was happy to hear from JC and wondered when he would be able to come back home. In truth JC wondered the same thing, it had to be so much more unstable in the Fatone Family then before and he would have felt better with his partner back at his side rather than inside and undercover. Not that it really mattered, they had lost the their way of giving Justin the emergency withdrawal message. Their guy at the lower end of the organization had been one of the first ones killed. With him as close to the head of the Fatone family as he now was, he would be allowed to stay until the evidence was gathered to pull the family down from the top. They all knew it could take years.

He had talked to the Captain, Lynn, and Janine Fatone in less than two and half-hours. She had refused to give any answers until her lawyer was present and he was taking his time getting to the building. JC figured they would get down to business sometime after lunch. Meanwhile he was ready to grab something to eat from the Diner down the street.

On his way out of the front lobby, JC ran into Chris. The young officer was on his way out the door also.

"Chris," JC called out to get his friend's attention. Chris turned and walked to where JC was waiting. "It's lunch time and I am hungry. If you're headed out too do you want to grab something to eat together?"

"Sorry Jace. I've gotta couple of errands to run and some paperwork to drop off to one of the precincts." He waived a manila envelope. "How about tomorrow?"

"Isn't that what your runners are for?" JC asked pointing to the paperwork.

"Yeah, but I want to go and do some visiting. I know some of the people out there and this is a good excuse."

"Ok then. Lunch tomorrow sounds good. I'll see how we are doing on the Fatone case and then let you know for sure." With a wave both men headed in their own direction.

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Fatone Compound - 12:45 PM
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Lance's informant from the police station was met at the door by Wes and escorted into the mansion's sitting room. If he had any unease at the presence of the fresh bloodstain near the wall he kept it well hidden. He was instructed to wait here, Mr. Bass would be with his as soon as he was free.

Chris wondered if things would have been different if his father hadn't left him and his mother. Five years ago he had been a beat cop who was struggling. He and his mother couldn't make ends met and the owners of the apartment were asking for an unfair amount of what Chris was making. One afternoon Chris came home to find his mother beat within an inch of her life; even though he couldn't afford it he took her to the hospital. It was there that he met James Bass.

The blond haired kid was seventeen at the time, but his eyes made him look so much older. His green eyes reflected knowledge of how harsh reality could be. He was there visiting a friend when he over heard Chris telling his mother what he assumed to have happened and heard her confirm it. If he hadn't been wearing his uniform, he never would have gotten into this mess; but he might not be alive now anymore too. James Bass appeared a man in control of some power. He offered Chris the help of the family with the promise that he would give back when the family needed his help. With no other foreseeable option, Chris accepted.

Mysteriously the building's owners disappeared and the building came under new management. All their future rent checks were returned uncashed and his mother's medical bills were paid. Chris had pangs of guilt about helping the mob, but he had never been asked to give information that lead directly to the death of another person, nor had he been asked to kill anyone. It made his betrayal to the station and his brothers there seem less of a betrayal.

The door opened to reveal that same young blond haired man, now five years older and looking by far more stressed than he ever had before. Following closely at his elbow was a man that Chris recognized from pictures, the new head of the Fatone Family. Lance was very pale and moved slowly across the room to shake Chris?s hand and to inquire as to the health of his mother and his young wife Dani. Noticing that Lance was favoring his right shoulder, Chris then returned the favor and inquired about Lance's health. He knew he wouldn't get a strait answer, but he was surprised Lance didn't deny he was having a time of things.

"I've had better days. What do you have?"

"A copy of her record. Copies of the evidence that she is being held on. A list of what she had on her when she came in. Finally, photo copies of the doodles that she has been making in the interrogation room all morning." Lance flipped through the paper work, a large smile spreading over his face.

"What?" asked Joey.

"I know what she is going to do." He called to Wes, who slipped into the room. "I need you to call Stacie and tell he to come to house as soon as she can get here. I need to talk to her." Lance turned back to Chris. "Thank you, Christopher."

Chris looked at all the people in the room. Turning back to Lance he asked, "James can I talk to you alone for a moment?" Wes and Joey left the room laughing about the picture of a pig Janine had labeled as the Detective who picked her up this morning. "You've done so much for us?"

"But you want out." Lance cut in. His eyes darkened. "It's doesn't work like that and you knew it when you took my offer up. I take care of you and you take care of us." Chris lowered his eyes and Lance sighed. "I'll cut you a deal. If you answer this one question, I'll leave you be for, let's say three months." There was a pause. "This morning a detective came to the door to pick up Janine. According to Joseph he and Justin Timberlake, a young family associate, shared a 'knowing' look and then proceeded to ignore each other for the rest of the detective's stay. All I want to know is what that look was about." Chris could feel Lance watching him out of the corner of his eye. He had heard that Justin had been spotted in the presence of Joseph Fatone, but he didn't know that Chasez had been the one to do the spotting. This was asking too much of him, this was a direct betrayal of a brother. If he didn't say anything the intuitive Bass would know, if he did say something Bass would have all the more reason to kill Justin. Chris couldn?t live with that, he kept silent. "I think we're done here then. I will need whatever new information may develop in the next twenty-four hours. I think lunch at Christina's Diner would be wonderful. Let's say tomorrow at one thirty?"

"Are you signing your own death warrant? That place is so close to the station that there are cops there all the time. They may not know who you are, but someone might just remember seeing you with Joseph at one point or another." Chris was loosing what was left of his composure fast.

"No one knows me. I am very careful about that." Lance advanced on Chris, pulling his gun from his belt. "Unless you've been telling people more than you should."

"No, no! I haven't. It's just a matter of betrayal with my coworkers so close by."

"It's still betrayal, location doesn't matter. Just remember that different people will punish betrayal in different manners. I'm sure that you'd rather spend time in jail then never see your family again. One thirty. Tomorrow." Lance left Chris. Things had changed in the past few months. Gone was the nice young man who had saved Chris's future and only asked a few favors in return. He was replaced by a man who had faced betrayal on all levels and hadn't come away unaffected. Chris knew that he was just going to be digging himself in deeper, he had better get his shovel.

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Fatone Compound - Gardens - 5 PM
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Lance had spent the rest of the afternoon in the gardens. He felt betrayal all over again. He had helped Christopher when he needed it out of the kindness of his heart. He had often wondered what it would be like to have a mother. His sister could hardly remember theirs at all and he had no memories of her. He didn't know for sure that Chris had meant his words as a threat to Lance and the Fatone Family, but they had sounded that way to Lance's ears. Right now he had to deal with the big question and the current big question was Justin.

"Mr. Bass?" A deep voice reached his ears from the other end of the garden. After a moment Wes came into view. "Miss Bass is here. She is waiting in the house with Mr. Fatone and Mr. Timberlake. They are preparing to eat." Lance walked towards the house.

"Sir?" Lance turned to see Wes wrinkle his forehead. "You'd do everyone better with a little bit of rest Sir."

Lance smiled lightly, "I'll keep that in mind."

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