A/N: I would like to thank you all for a wonderful time with this story, and please stick around for my new CSI:NY fic, Welcome to the Family, which I plan on restarting ASAP.

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3 weeks later…

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“Jason!”

“Hey, Jase, my man!”

“Sup, Flack!”

“Hi, Jason!”

“Welcome back, Mr. Flack.”

“Dude! Can I see your scar?”

Jason smiled and obligingly lifted the hem of his Oxford to show the round, red circle that marred the skin above his right hip. The group of admirers that had so previously been grinning at the St. Xavier’s miracle boy’s return grew silent at the sight of the angry, puckered flesh. Jason’s smirk shrunk as the white cloth of his shirt dropped back over his wound.

“Alright, nothin’ to see! Just the conquerin’ hero, back from the battlefield!” Mike pushed through the crowd, grinning widely at his best friend. He pulled Jason into a headlock, ruffling his hair affectionately. “Let’s get you out of the hallway, hmm?” He began to shove aside the well-wishers. Jason smirked and tugged fruitlessly at the hold Mike had on his neck. Ignoring the disgruntled mutters of their fellow students, Mike pulled Jason into the closest boy’s bathroom, not releasing the latter’s head until they were out of sight. Finally, Jason was able to pull out of Mike’s arms, with a little punching around his friend’s ribs. Jason rubbed his neck. “Dude, what the hell?”

“How else was I supposed to get you away from all those girls? They would have been hangin’ all over you if I hadn’t used force.” Mike leaned against the wall, crossing his arms.

Jason peered in the long mirror over the sinks, rolling his eyes. “Maybe I liked all the attention. You ever think about that?”

A snort drew his attention to Mike and he held a serious face for a moment before breaking into a brilliant smile. “Where is she?”

Mike jerked his head towards the door. “Homeroom. Erin says you better get in there quick, she’s been biting her nails since she got here.”

A quick pat on the arm and Mike was left standing alone, shaking his head. A young looking freshman came in, yelling, “Watch where you’re going!” He turned to stare at Mike, cocking a thumb over one shoulder. “Who the heck was that guy?”

“That, my juvenile friend,” Mike said, pushing up off the wall, “was Romeo lookin’ for his Juliet.” At the confused look his cryptic answer received, he laughed and sauntered out the bathroom door. “Someday, when you’re older, junior.”

--

Erin stared nervously at the wall clock above the door. School started in approximately ten minutes, and Jason still hadn’t shown up. She had sent Mike out to find the boy, but somehow that didn’t seem to help.

Her blue eyes shifted to where Meghan sat, surrounded by a group of gossiping girls, but not really involved in the conversation. She was staring absentmindedly out the window, nodding once or twice when the rest of the group responded accordingly. Her right hand went up to her mouth as she began chewing fretfully on her nails. Erin rolled her eyes and crossed to her best friend, puling the hand away. “Starting a bit early today, aren’t we?”

Meghan grinned sheepishly. “Yeah. Sorry.” She spun on her desk perch so that her back was to the group. “It’s just-” Meghan blinked rapidly as Erin’s hand went up in front of her face, cutting her off.

“No. No more what-ifs, self-doubts, or worst case scenarios. You and Jason have been commissioned by your parents to take a break from each other this past week while he was being a couch potato at home. Jason has not gotten his Meghan addiction in one week. I think our boy is more than ready to see you again.”

“What about his little welcoming committee at the front-”

“Nope.” Erin clapped a hand over Meghan’s mouth. “He doesn’t care about them. It’s only you.” Something soft and wet slid over Erin palm and she pulled back, disgusted. “Gross. That’s so immature, Meghan.”

“Thanks.” Meghan sighed and swung her legs. She watched her Converse low tops disappear under her uniform skirt and the edge of the desk. So caught up was she in the motion of her legs that she didn’t notice when Erin’s eyes widened in a smile and the room got uncomfortably quiet. In fact, Meghan was oblivious to the world until familiar warm hands covered her eyes and that deep voice breathed into her ear.

“Guess who.”

Meghan couldn’t help the tears that caught in her throat. “You. Suck.”

Jason’s affectionate laugh echoed in her ear as her eyes were released, but strong arms soon enfolded her. “You know, it took forever for me to find you this morning. I had to get kidnapped by Mike. Next time this happens, we’re setting up a signal. Like, a bird call or something, ‘cause I gotta tell you…” he trailed off as Meghan sniffed sadly. “Aw, shit, Meg… I’m sorry.” Jason squeezed his girlfriend gently, wrapping her in a body blanket of comfort.

Shaking her head, Meghan giggled weakly. “It’s not your fault. I just don’t want this to ever happen again.”

“You think I do?” Jason circled the desk, keeping his arms draped around Meghan. “I got a stupid hole in my side.”

Meghan held up her left arm, nearly whacking him in the head in the process. The green gauze of the cast glinted dully in the early morning sunlight and Jason winced apologetically. “And you’ve got a freakin’ brick on your hand.”

“Yup.” Meghan cocked her head to the left, eyebrow raised sarcastically. “You got a week of bed rest and daily treatment. They put me back here two days after I got my cast, and I had to put up with every jealous girl in the school whispering that I got the great Jason Flack shot, and I couldn’t see you for a week, and-”

“And you’re way stronger than I’ll ever be.” Jason cut her off for the second time that morning and Meghan beamed up at him. “Hells yes!”

Loud guffaws of laughter had them both looking over Meghan’s shoulder at Chris and Mike. Mike flicked his wrist while Chris made customary whip cracking noises. Meghan couldn’t help but laugh as Jason’s wounded pride pasted itself all over his handsome face. “Hey, Jason, she gotcha openin’ doors and slickin’ your hair yet?” Mike called over the first bell.

Jason rolled his eyes and pulled Meghan off the desk and into his arms. “I happen to like the collar around my neck, thank you very much.” He grinned toothily and kissed Meghan loudly on the cheek. “Please, please, please tell me Erin has still got Chris wrapped around her little finger,” he muttered in Meghan’s ear and she nodded slowly. “Yup. In fact,” she noticed movement out of the corner of her eye, “she should be reinforcing that relationship any minute now.”

Erin reached up and smacked Chris on the back of the head, stopping his sound effects and scaring him simultaneously. “What the heck is wrong with you two? The poor guy just got out of the hospital. Are you six or sixteen?”

Chris and Mike looked over at each other, the former rubbing his head. Evil grins crossed their lips as they each held up six fingers. “This many!” they yelled into Erin’s face, rendering momentarily motionless. She blinked, stunned, before pure murder crossed her face and she leapt after the duo, threatening death.

Meghan chuckled and leaned back into Jason’s embrace, watching the antics of their friends. Jason rested his chin on his girlfriend’s head, breathing in the scent of her hair. “How’s your hand?” he asked, holding the cast up where he could see it.

The head under his bobbed up and down as Meghan shrugged. “It doesn’t hurt, really. It’s just kind of uncomfortable.”

“I know what you mean,” Jason said, feeling his shirt rub against his scar. He heard Meghan snort under him and he grinned. “We should skip class today.”

“Uh, no. I think we just got out of pretty impressive trouble, I don’t plan on doing so again for a very. Long. Time.” Meghan swung neatly into her chair, leaving Jason to ease himself into the desk behind her.

They went through the whole day together, except for the two classes they had separate. Jason made it a point to see Meghan’s face at least once every passing period, and when they did have class together, he screwed up the seating arrangements to be by her. The teachers didn’t seem to care. In fact, most of them merely smiled and went about with the lesson like nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

At the end of the day, Jason prayed to the proverbial gods of teenage love to let his parents be lenient enough to let him walk home. As his cell phone dialed up Don’s number, Jason hopped around on one foot, than the other, eyes raised to the heavens.

“Detective Don Flack speaking.”

“Pops? It’s your one and only offspring!”

“Jason! Hey, how was school?”

“Not bad, not bad. I think a student teacher offered me her number.”

“Jason…”

“Kidding!” Jason winked at Mike, who was bent over in silent giggles. “Hey, listen. Can I, possibly, on the small chance that you and Mom remember what it was like to be young and innocent, walkMeghanhome?” He crushed the request together quickly, squeezing his eyes shut as he awaited judgment.

On the other end of the line, Don froze. He hadn’t been expecting this so soon. Any smart, normal kid would have been cautious to go out on the streets after an attempt on his life. And Don prided himself on having a first honor roll son. Jason’s behavior was uncustomary with his past experiences. But he thought about the explosion that had turned him inside out, and how he had wanted nothing more than to get back on the job. Even then, Don had known that Flacks were made of stronger stuff than the rest of the world. Or so Don Flack Junior liked to believe.

“Sure, I guess. Just be home before your mom gets off shift, huh? She’ll kill me if you go missin’.”

Jason opened his eyes, one fist shooting into the air victoriously. “Sure, okay, Dad. What time is that?” He began scanning the crowd for any sign of Meghan and located her standing by the front doors with Erin and Chris. He waved Mike over that way, mouthing that he would be there momentarily.

“Five-thirty,” Don’s voice came through the speaker, “and please, be careful, huh, Jase? I really, really, don’t want a repeat of-”

“I know, Dad.” Jason smiled reassuringly, even though Don couldn’t see him. “We’ll be fine, okay? Bye!” He hung up before Don could protest and wound through the crowd to catch up with his friends.

“Ladies and gentlemen!” Jason spread his arms wide as he bounded into the group. “As much as I love your company, me and my girl got somewhere to be. So without further ado,” he offered his arm to Meghan, who took it, crossing her eyes at Erin, “we take our leave.” Jason pulled Meghan out the front doors and into New York sunshine.

“Where are we going?” Meghan giggled, leaning into Jason’s arm. He looked down at her, taking in her eyes glinting in the sunlight and the way her hair shone like warm honey. “I have an idea,” he said, dragging her along as he determinedly wound his way through the city streets.

--

“I haven’t been here in I don’t know how long.” Meghan collapsed into the swing, letting her head fall against the metal chain. Jason stood in front of her, arms crossed, staring over her head at the playground situated in the middle of Central Park. “Yeah, me neither.” He laughed suddenly and flopped down onto woodchips in front of Meghan’s swing. “Do you remember when we were five, and you chipped my tooth on the slide over there?”

“And then you split my lip when we were eight on the jungle gym.” Meghan cocked a crooked grin. “Don’t act like you’re free of guilt, Flack.”

Jason grinned and rose up on his knees, resting his elbows against Meghan’s thighs. “What I’m tryin’ to get at is: you and I have had our fair share of injuries, haven’t we?”

“And they’ve all been induced by each other.” Meghan ran her fingers through his dark hair, mesmerized by Jason’s emerald eyes.

“Yeah.” Jason put his chin in the palms of his hands, grinning easily. “But we’ve never stopped being friends.”

“Nope.” Meghan ran one finger down the side of Jason’s face, tracing an invisible line to his neck.

“Meghan.” Jason’s voice was low and she bit her lip anxiously. “I know I said it in the hospital, but it wasn’t clear enough for me.” He cleared his throat and rose up closer to her face. “I love you, Meghan Marie Messer, with every fiber in my body, natural and otherwise. I’ve been in love with you since we were thirteen years old, and somehow I don’t think that’s going to change for a long, long time.” He let his eyes wander over her stunned face, watching for signs of change, “I know we’ve had some pretty messy moments in these past couple of years, but right here, with you, is magic, and I-”

“Need to shut up and kiss me.” It was Meghan’s turn to cut someone off and she did it quickly, bending her head to press her lips to Jason’s. He jumped to his feet, pulling her up with him, unwilling to break the contact. She squealed into his mouth, but continued kissing him with every ounce of strength she had in her body.

To the old couple sitting on the bench, it looked like had been a wedding proposal gone right. To the little kids playing in the sandbox, it looked icky. To Meghan and Jason, it looked perfect. It looked magic.

It looked right.

The End