Peggy and I were the last ones in the office. Chief never liked the women being there later than the men, not even Chief Dooley according to Peggy, but we were working hard. I had to dot all my I's and cross the T's on some reports before I could fully dive into our new case. I figured Peggy was doing the same.

Once all of that was finished, I would live and breathe this case. Although, I was starting to suspect Chief Thompson, my boss, and Jack, my boyfriend, would have other things to say about that.

I heard shuffling behind me, and turned to see Peggy standing and collecting her things. "I'm all ready to focus on your new case tomorrow," she said once she saw me looking back.

We smiled at each other. "Thank you, Peg. I really appreciate your help with this."

She came over to my desk and placed a hand on my shoulder, and I put my own on top. "Of course I'm here for you, Tiff. I mean, you were there for me before we even really got to know each other with that Stark case. I'd do anything to help you, especially now that we're friends."

I looked over to the Chief's office, where Jack was finishing up some work. He was the reason I was staying late, along with finishing files. "Then help me convince Jack I need to be on this."

Peggy squeezed my shoulder, and when I looked back at her she was already looking at me. "You know it'll be hard for him. He cares about you a lot, Tiffany. You're a fantastic agent, and don't let him forget that, but also understand how he wants to keep you safe."

As she spoke, a smile grew on my face. "I plan to talk to him about it tonight. Hopefully we can be civil."

Peggy raised a mischievous eyebrow at me. "Do tell me more," she said, and I had to stop myself from laughing too loud, and settled for just playfully shoving Peggy.

"Peggy, you dog! I'll tell you all about it later, but I'm sure you'll be disappointed. We'll have lunch tomorrow, we haven't really caught up in a while since we've been so focused on finding Dottie."

We said our goodbyes, and Peggy went home. A minute later, Jack came out of his office and smiled when he saw me patiently sitting, overlooking the Miami file.

"I'm all done," he said, grabbing my attention away. I looked at him and smiled, then closed the file and put it away in my desk drawer. Taking work out of the office back home was something I rarely ever did, even for something as important as this. I enjoyed keeping the two places separate as much as I could.

"Wonderful news," I said, standing up with everything in hand.

Jack and I walked side by side, our arms brushing as we went for the exit. "Would you like a ride back to the Griffith?" he asked. One reason Jack never wanted me or Peggy here late was walking in the streets at night. Again, we could handle ourselves no problem.

Now, however, with my stalker crossing state lines to find me, I knew Jack would take no chances. I wouldn't, either. Not by myself anymore.

"Actually, I was wondering..." I trailed off, hoping Jack would fill in the blanks. I felt so silly being so nervous.

He raised an eyebrow, reminding me again of what Peggy had done not long ago, and smirked. "What were you wondering?" he asked. He knew where I was going, but he wanted to hear me ask.

I sighed and spat it out. "If I could come to yours. I want to talk with you and it's not a conversation that can happen in the Griffith lobby," I said, adding on the second sentence quickly so he wouldn't get any funny ideas.

He turned his mischievous smirk into a genuine smile. "Of course, Tiff. I should be able to whip something up as well, come on."

We drove to his place in a comfortable silence. Every now and then one of us would see something or remember something that we'd talk about, but then we'd relax into quiet again.

I've been to Jack's apartment a handful of times, only spending the night a few times for one reason or another. He was a gentleman (even though he sometimes acted like he was raised by wolves). I never could have asked for a better, more respectful boyfriend.

When we got back to his, Jack started working on something for dinner. I helped wherever he'd let me.

"I already know what you want to talk about, Tiff," Jack said suddenly, just after we had finished laughing about me accidentally launching a tomato across the counter.

I turned to him. "Then you already know what I'm going to say, so we should just quit while we're ahead." Jack smiled and chuckled. "Jack, nothing's going to stop me from working on this and you know that. Everyone knows that. Well, everyone involved does."

"Oh, I know. And of course I also know you're one of the better agents in that bullpen, so of course I want your help catching this guy and getting to the bottom of everything..."

"I sense a 'but' coming," I said, then handed over the freshly cut tomatoes.

"But I can't help but want to keep you away from the very person trying to take you. You said he was going to take you alive? But he was allowed to ding you up first? That scares me, doll," Jack said, and I saw how he lost the concentration for cooking and focused on me.

Initially I wanted to tell him that it scared me, too. I have never been personally targeted before in this line of work, not even when I was a socialite. It never occurred to me that people might care that much about hurting one person. And yet, here I was.

I couldn't say all of that to Jack, though. If he knew I was scared then he would never let me work on this. So, instead, I pushed it back and pulled him into a hug.

"I know. Now that I have actual backup, Peters will never get the chance. I promise," I whispered.

Jack's arms wrapped around me tight, and we stayed like that for a while. I briefly thought about the look I had seen in his eyes during the meeting earlier in the day. When he looked mad at me. I didn't want to ruin this moment, though, so I decided not to say anything. We could talk about it later. Or, even better, I'd talk to Peggy. See if I was just making things up.

"All right, let's finish dinner so we don't starve before tomorrow," Jack said, and we separated. We continued to work on cooking and I could tell Jack wanted to ask me something.

"Spit it out." I said, giving him a look.

He playfully rolled his eyes, but did listen. "I was wondering if you think you'll try and reach out to your parents again." I grimaced and he kept on. "I know lunch was awful, and hearing about it made me feel horrible for you. I just... I can tell you still have some love for them and I wonder if this is the time to try and rectify the relationship. Even just a bit."

"Of course I wish they would respect me and my choices. My father, however, would rather completely cut ties with me than allow me to not only keep working whenever I get married, but to work the job that I do."

I was worked up, now, remembering how angry I was at lunch, and moved around the kitchen. "And really, is it so terrible for me to be independent? Is it really the worst thing in the world? At least I'm alive!"

I sucked in a breath. I wasn't expecting that one to come out. Clearly, neither was Jack, because he had once again chosen to focus on me instead of the food cooking on the stove.

"That came out of nowhere..." he said gently, scared I'd dart away from it. And I wanted to, oh believe me. I didn't want to dig into that at all. Never again did I want to think about Will. It was too painful.

I didn't even realize I had spaced out until Jack was right in front of me looking me in my tear-filled eyes. "Honey...?" he asked.

"I mentioned Will when I was at lunch with my parents and... when I think about the lunch I think about that as well." I sniffed and Jack gave me a handkerchief to wipe my eyes. "He was the only person who I felt really knew me and understood me. If he were here today, he would have been telling my parents off at that lunch, not me. He would be supporting me all the way. And it's hard to realize that that's gone."

Jack pulled me into the hug this time, and I allowed myself to let my emotions go, even for just a few seconds. He planted a soft kiss on top of my head. It reminded me that Jack was here now, supporting me in Will's place.

"I wish you could've met Will. I think he would've liked you. Maybe threatened to fight you if you ever hurt me," I said, laughing through the end.

As Jack laughed, I felt the vibrations as I leaned on his chest. In that moment, I felt so safe. In that moment, I was glad I had brought Jack in on this and told him about what had happened.

"Well, luckily he doesn't have to worry. I have no intentions of hurting you, just of keeping you safe. Plus, you do have support, Tiff. From me, Peggy, Sousa... Stark... you have people in your corner."

I stifled a laugh at his reluctance to mention Howard. I pulled back, not out of his arms but far enough to look him in the eyes, and smiled lightly. "I know that hurt, but I appreciate it."

He shook his head and leaned down to kiss me softly. My eyelids fluttered shut and I savored the moment. Then I sniffed and smelt something starting to burn.

I pulled away fully and nearly yelled, "Shit, the stove's still on!" Jack and I hurried to the stove in a laughing mess as we turned it off and looked to see what was salvageable. I couldn't stop laughing and was barely able to keep myself upright, so I leaned into Jack as he worked on scraping stuff out.

"I'm sure it'll be fine, but it's certainly not my best work," he said, but he didn't sound annoyed or anything. He was happy, and I knew it was because I was feeling better. We both were. This night was certainly a good move.

After the food was served and eaten, we worked on cleaning the dishes. I was finishing up drying the last dish and Jack came up and hugged me from behind. Once again, I smiled, and I leaned back into Jack.

"Tonight was nice," I said, and placed the dish down on the counter with the towel on top.

Jack hummed and just held me for a minute. "Does that mean it's over?" he asked.

I smirked and turned to face him. "Well where's the fun in that?"

A/n: I'm like, such a gremlin writing this chapter because it is FREEZING in my apartment so I've got my hoodie on with the hood up. I feel creepy. Anyway, I hope you liked!

I've also decided to change my posting schedule, because I just put Chapter 17 in here (crazy right) and that was going to come out in March, and I didn't like that, so I'm doing Wednesdays and Fridays! Woohoo! Hope you guys are okay with this change :)