Hello everyone! I know the Wolves have been gone for while but the next installment is finally ready! Thanks to my awesome beta carolinagirl919 for all her help getting this ready to share. Enjoy!

As usual if you recognize it from the show I don't own it. I'm just doing this for fun.

Chapter 1 - Return from the Past

"Hey, Carter you got a call on line 2!"

"Thanks, Yuri!" Detective Jocelyn Carter of the NYPD Homicide Task Force reached over and grabbed the handset of her desk phone and punched the button for the second line.

"This is Carter," she said briskly, secretly hoping this was a tip on the Duffy case. She would really like to wrap that one up.

"Joss?" The voice was male, tentative and familiar. Joss froze; not believing this was who she thought it was.

"Paul?" she gasped.

Her partner, Lionel Fusco, looked up sharply when he heard her gasp of surprise with a shocked look on his face. Your ex? He mouthed, his eyes wide with surprise. She nodded back at him, just as wide-eyed.

"Yeah, baby. It's me. Bet you never thought you would hear my voice again." Paul was attempting to keep things light, but Joss could hear the hesitation in his voice just the same

"Um no, actually. You were pretty clear when you left that I wouldn't."

Joss replayed the scene in her head. She could see the lamp smashing against the wall, missing her by mere inches. She could hear Taylor's screams of terror as his father raged at his mother. She could see the hate that contorted the face of the man who had once sworn to love and cherish her as he called her vile names in front of their child. She could hear the final slam of the door as he stormed out, swearing he would never return.

The line got quiet and after a minute, Paul finally responded. "I'm sorry about that. I said a lot of things that I didn't mean back then." His voice was soft and regretful.

"Yeah, you were pretty angry back then. Why are you calling now?" Joss realized her hands were shaking. She thought she had put it all behind her, but the memories of that awful time were almost overwhelming and she was struggling to keep herself under control. She had calmly faced down religious jihadists, corrupt cops, and Mafia Dons, but the sound of her ex-husband's voice threatened to destroy her calm façade within seconds.

"I'm getting my life back on track, finally. I'm sober, been sober for over a year now. I'm doing the whole 12 step thing. I went to the VA and got counseling."

"Glad to hear it," Joss said softly. She truly was.

Paul was never a bad man, but ugly demons had followed him home from his three tours of duty in Iraq, and he had been too proud and angry to seek help in vanquishing them. He had tried to drown them in alcohol, with predicable results. With a heavy heart, she had been forced for the good of their child to let him go.

She could hear Paul swallow hard. "Yeah, I won't lie to you, it's been tough. I've had a few relapses."

"Everyone trying to get sober has a few problems," Joss said kindly.

"Thanks for understanding. How are you? How's Taylor?"

"You'd be proud of him, Paul. He's on academic scholarship to a good private school. He plays basketball. He's on the debate team too."

"That's good. How about you? You ever remarry?"

Joss paused and looked down on the plain gold band she wore at work in an often futile attempt to keep the men she dealt with in the course of her job from hitting on her. "Yeah, um, a couple of years ago." She decided that now was not the time to tell him that she had been turned into a Wolf and mated with the handsome Alpha who had saved her life.

"That's great," Joss heard the sadness in her ex-husband's voice. "Is he a good man?"

Joss smiled a bit. "Yes. He's a very good man. He's good to Taylor, treats him like his own."

"Good, glad to hear it." There was a slight pause before Paul continued. "Listen, I'm in back in New York now, living with my mom. I'm looking for my own place. I was wondering if maybe we could meet up. I'd like to see you and Taylor."

Joss thought for a second. "I could meet you for coffee tomorrow if you would like. There's a lot to tell you."

Paul blew out a breath that Joss surmised he had been holding as he waited for her answer. "That would be great."

They set a time and a place and said their good-byes.

Fusco looked at her with compassion. "So, your ex is back?"

Joss leaned back in her chair with a shell shocked look on her face. "Yeah, first time I've heard from him in ten years. Says he's getting sober and putting his life together."

"Think he's legit? Lots of people say that…" Fusco said, his voice trailing off. He had to tread very carefully. He didn't want to offend his partner by hinting the father of her oldest child was a liar, but as a cop, he had heard this story far too many times to count. Joss was his friend, his partner, his Alpha and his pack mate; he had an obligation to her, even if she would prefer he butt out.

"…but don't want to do the work," Joss finished for him. "Yeah I know. Don't worry, I've been to this dance a few times. I'm meeting him tomorrow to make sure he's on the up and up before I let him anywhere near Taylor." Joss gave him a little smile to let him know it was OK.

Fusco took his reading glasses off so he could see her better. "Good plan. Does Taylor ever ask about him?"

Joss nodded while she rubbed her forehead like she had a headache. "He did a few times when he was little, but we split up when Taylor was seven. He hasn't asked about Paul in very long time. I think he accepted that Paul didn't want to be a part of our lives."

"You gonna tell John?"

"Yeah, I'm going to call him right now. Cover for me will ya?"

"No prob." Fusco watched as Joss got up from her desk and walked towards the exit. He frowned; Joss was in a good place right now, both professionally and personally. He could only hope that the reemergence of her ex-husband wouldn't upset the delicate balance she had finally been able to achieve.

Joss decided to make the call from her car in the parking garage underneath the precinct. She took the elevator down, grateful she had the elevator car to herself. She climbed in her vehicle and shut the door. She took a deep breath to calm her nerves before she pulled out the burner phone John had given her and punched the first preset.

"Hello Detective," John answered instantly. In the background Joss heard his partner Shaw yell something unintelligible and then a couple of gunshots.

Joss blinked in surprise. "Should I call back?"

"Nope, Shaw has it covered."

Joss sighed and leaned her head back against the head rest. "Not another folder in my in basket?"

"More like another folder in Dr. Tillman's in basket." Joss could not help the smile that crept across her face when she heard the smirk in John's voice. She was also relived to know that Shaw was finally learning not to shoot for center mass all the time.

"Does Megan really need your help in getting patients?" she asked with a smile. Megan Tillman was a doctor at the local emergency room and a former number. She had patched up various members of Team Machine off the books over the past couple of years. Joss was friendly with the young woman, but she was pretty sure Tillman harbored a crush on her mate.

"Just doing our part to keep the local doctors gainfully employed." John's tone was light and teasing; the case must be going well. Joss took another deep breath. John felt her tension through their mating bond and was immediately wary. "What's wrong?" he growled.

"I just got a phone call from Paul."

"Paul? As in Taylor's father and your ex-husband Paul?" John could not hide the surprise in his voice.

He knew the whole story, of course. Both Joss and Taylor had told him about Paul's PTSD and his drinking as a result. He had heard about Paul's anger issues and his paranoia, which made him carry a gun at all times, even while asleep. Joss had told him how Paul had fallen asleep on the kitchen floor, drunk and cradling a gun, while Taylor had slept just on the other side of the wall. He knew that Paul had been asked to leave by Joss and he had left them slightly over ten years ago in a towering rage, vowing never to return. Even though he was in his human form, John could feel his hackles rise.

"What does he want?'' John growled low and deadly in his throat.

Joss closed her eyes and blew out another deep calming breath as she felt John's ire crackling like electricity through their bond. "Stand down, Alpha. It's okay, really. He just wants to see us. He's getting his life back on track. I'm having coffee with him tomorrow to check him out."

"Keep your phone with you and on at all times," John snapped.

"Why? So you can listen in to our private conversation?" Joss huffed.

"So I can keep my mate safe from a man who drinks and carries a gun." John's voice had that quiet, steely quality Joss had come to associate with bullets in knees and other more vital body parts.

Joss leaned her head against her steering wheel. Of course John would be John. She was pretty sure Finch would be hacking Paul's file at the VA within the hour. She knew who she had mated with; she knew what she was getting into. It was too late to complain about Captain Protective now.

"John, I'll be fine, it's just coffee at the Lyric," Joss sighed before a thought occurred to her. "Don't tell me you'll be lurking a couple of booths down."

"You can bet on it," John said in that quiet but deadly tone.

The next day at the appointed time, Joss arrived at the Lyric to find Paul already waiting for her. Paul drummed his fingers against the table top and kept looking out the window, clearly nervous. A quick scan of the diner revealed John a few booths down, his silver blue eyes locked on her. Joss couldn't help it, before Paul spotted her; she stuck her tongue out at him. She was rewarded with a smirk back.

Paul saw her at that instant. He jumped up from his seat in a booth by the window to hug her and kiss her on the cheek. John frowned at the kiss, but Joss's eyes pinned him to his seat.

They sat down and Joss ordered a cup of coffee and a slice of pie. Paul stared at her as if he expected her to bolt the diner at any second. Joss smiled at him in her most reassuring manner. There were a lot of unpleasant memories between them, but she wanted this meeting to go well. While she had stopped loving Paul a long time ago, he was Taylor's father and she wished him no ill will. He'd been a good man once and she wanted to give that good man a second chance. Her eyes flickered over Paul's shoulder to John. She always did believe in second chances.

Paul was visibly nervous as he played with his coffee cup. "You look great Joss. I swear you haven't aged a day since I last saw you."

"Thank you, Paul. You're looking pretty good too." She meant it, last time she had seen him he had the alcoholic bloated look about him and huge bags under his eyes. The bags were gone, along with the haunted, angry look. His hair held a touch of gray and there were a few lines on face that had not been there before, but overall he looked healthy and content. Joss was glad to see it.

He smiled and relaxed a bit. "I hear you're a detective now. Congratulations."

"Thanks, what are you doing these days?"

Paul pulled back his jacket a bit so she could see the uniform for a local delivery service underneath. "I'm a driver for Speedy Express. Pay is pretty good."

Joss nodded her head, "I hear they hire a lot of veterans."

"Yeah they do." There was a brief, awkward lull in the conversation. Joss decided to let Paul direct the conversation, he asked for this meeting so it was up to him to let her know what he wanted.

After a couple quiet minutes, Paul cleared his throat. "Do you have a picture of Taylor I could see? It's been over ten years; I probably wouldn't recognize him on the street."

Joss nodded and pulled up a recent picture of Taylor on her phone and handed it over.

Paul stared at it for a minute, blinking back tears. "He's grown; he looks like your dad."

"Yeah he kinda does. He's a good kid."

"Does he ever ask about me? About us?"

Joss put her coffee cup down and leaned back in her seat. "He did, when he was younger."

Paul handed her phone back to her, not looking her in the eyes. "What did you tell him?"

"I told him that you saw bad things in the war and it hurt you and made you angry. Sometimes you didn't know what to do with that anger. I told him I didn't know if you would come back."

"All true, I guess. Thank you for not talking me down." Paul rubbed his temples looking down at the table.

Joss tilted her head to one side, regarding the man across the table from her steadily. "You're still his father, Paul."

Paul stared out the window for a minute and Joss knew he was regretting a lot things right then. She sat quietly and waited for him. Finally, he looked at her again and touched the ring on her finger. Today instead of just the plain gold band she wore most days, she was wearing the rather large emerald engagement ring that had once belonged to John's mother.** She felt she needed to make a statement to Paul that they were through, even if she let him back into her and Taylor's lives. Paul would have to deal with the fact that John was there too.

"Looks like your new man is doing well," Paul commented sadly. "What does he do?"

"He's a… security expert," she responded. "We, um, met on a case. He's a veteran too."

"You said he was good to Taylor?"

Joss smiled fondly thinking of John and Taylor's rather intense one on one basketball games. "Yeah, he loves Taylor like his own. He's a good man." Joss paused and moistened her lips; she might as well get it all out now. "And he's a good Wolf."

Paul looked at her sharply. "He's Wolf?" Paul had never liked Wolves; he didn't hate them, but he didn't trust them either.

Joss carefully nodded her head. She had been worried about his reaction to this bit of news.

Paul looked shocked and upset. "Did he… turn you?"

Joss nodded. "I was dying, Paul. Bleeding out from a gut wound. He turned me to save my life."

Paul shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Is Taylor…?"

Joss shook her head. "No, he's not eligible to be turned until he's at least 18. We don't turn minors unless it's life or death."

Paul nodded tightly. Joss thought he was handling the news rather well.

"Can I see Taylor?"

"Soon. Gimme a few days. I haven't told him you were back in town yet, I wanted to meet with you first."

Paul gave a sad smile. "My counselor said it might go down that way."

"He sounds like a good counselor."

"Yeah he's helped me a lot."

"I'm glad Paul." Joss checked her watch. "I'm sorry, but I need to get back to the precinct."

Paul and Joss stood up. He reached over and grabbed her arm as she reached for her wallet. "I'll get the check, Joss."

Joss was about to argue, but she saw that he needed to do this, he was eager to prove himself to her. She nodded. "Thanks."

Paul pecked her on the cheek again in good bye, "I'll be waiting for your phone call."

Joss gave him a smile and left. She started walking slowly back to precinct. After about a block John fell into step next to her. She didn't even look over at him. "I take it Paul left right after I did?"

"He also left a generous tip." John's voice sounded like he approved, Joss smiled. They had something in common, John always tipped generously.

"What do you think?" Joss asked quietly. While they both knew the final decision as to whether or not Paul could see Taylor was up to her, Joss did value her mate's opinion.

"I think he's legit." John glanced over at Joss. "What do you think?"

Joss nodded. "I agree. I think he's ready. Will you be home tonight? I want to tell Taylor."

"Of course I'll be there," John said quietly. "Whatever it takes to support you and Taylor, you know that."

Joss smiled up at her mate. "Yes, I know."

Yup, Paul is back in their lives, for better or for worse. The next chapter introduces John and Shaw's new number and Joss and Fusco's latest homicide case.