Lasalle offered Lopez a crooked smile as he returned his phone to his pocket, "It looks like your time is up."

Lopez grunted sullenly, "I'm still waiting for that lawyer."

"That was Pride," Lasalle went on, nodding at Gregorio, "They found more than enough evidence in Hamilton's office to arrest him. Pride and Rita are on their way back. Apparently, Hamilton is already here."

"What?" Lopez gasped, slamming his fist into the table, "I don't believe it! He knows better than to leave anything—"

"Anything you say, can and will be used against you," Gregorio smirked.

"In a court of law," Lasalle finished, "It's about time that he saw one of those, isn't it?"

"I'll say."

"Lawyer!" Lopez barked, "What is this? The third time that I've asked and you guys just keep running your mouths? This is a gross violation of my rights!"

"Yada, yada, yada," Gregorio brushed aside his fury, looking bored, "From what I've heard, we're not the ones running our mouth." Standing up, she asked Lasalle, "What's your guy want us to do?"

"He didn't say," he considered, waving to the officer in the observation room, "Let's let NOPD take care of this guy and you and I can go find out where his-not-so-honorable is being held."

"Lead the way!"

Percy was almost gleeful as she put Pride on speaker phone and called Linda and Laurel to listen in.

"We got em, girls!" he said, his voice catching briefly, "All of em!"

Linda sagged with relief and wrapped Laurel into a grateful hug, taking a few minutes to find her voice,

"You don't know how relieved I am," she finally croaked out, pulling Percy in for a group hug.

"Oh," his voice caught for a moment, "I don't know about that."

"Are you coming here now?" Laurel asked, anxiously.

"Noo, no" Pride winced, wanting to see them just as much as they wanted to see him, "I-i've got a few loose ends to wrap up here before you guys can come out." He sighed, "But you better pack because we'll meet up in a couple hours."

"We can't wait!" Linda replied, feeling a thrill at the thought of seeing him again.

~*0*~

"Well?" Pride turned to Rita as they pulled into the parking lot, "Let's go wrap this up."

"I'd like nothing better," she nodded, feeling a twang of remorse that things hadn't worked out for them, "You're good, Dwayne."

"You too, Rita."

"Hey, hey!" Pride grinned as they stepped through the doorway, almost running into Lasalle and Gregorio; he embraced his partner and shook the FBI agent's hand, "Nice job, you two."

"Hamilton is still being questioned in the same room that we had Lopez in," Lasalle quickly turned to business, "Lopez is cooling his heels until they get everything they can out of the mayor."

"Sounds good." Pride nodded.

"They said we could listen in," Gregorio added, nodding down the hall. She glanced at Rita, seeing her hesitation as Pride struck off down the hall, "You too."

"Alright, fine, I did it!" Hamilton raged an hour and a half later, just as Pride was beginning to think that he might never crack, "But I did it for the great city of New Orleans! Everything that I've ever done has been for this great city!"

Pride lunged to his feet, unable to keep his temper in check any longer.

"Dwayne, Dwayne," Rita caught his arm, reasoning with him, "They've got him. It's over. Sit down. There's more than enough evidence for a conviction. He isn't getting out. Sit down."

"Whoa, King, whoa," Lasalle jumped in front of him and braced, "Hold on. See, they're taking him back to lockup. It's alright. It's over. We've won."

"Everything alright, there?" Gregorio asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Yeah." Pride looked at the floor and bit his lip to smother his fury, remembering that there was an outsider in the room. He shook himself and sighed.

Rita put a hand on his shoulder, "Isn't it time you met your family?"

Pride nodded, his spirits rising at the mention of them, "Yeah." He turned to Gregorio, "Thanks again—if you ever get tired of the FBI…"

"I'll make sure to run as fast and far away from here as possible." she assured him, choosing to ignore the comment about his closeness to the case. Shrugging, she added, "I'm not exactly a fan of the south."

"Ah, well, I'd better go tell Brody the good news and call Patton to bring the party goods to the hospital." Lasalle said, after an awkward pause, "You want to come, New York?"

"Nah, I gotta report in," she waved goodbye and turned to leave, "Y'all have fun celebrating, ya hear?"

"You know, you're invited? We won't hold your, ah, preference against you." Pride asked, as she put her hand on the doorknob.

"Well, not too much anyway," Lasalle grinned.

"We couldn't have caught them without you." Pride added.

"Thanks again, but no thanks," she shook her head, "I gotta report in and catch a plane."

"Well, alright," he sighed, not wanting to push anymore, and turned to Rita, "You're invited too, you know?"

"Oh, no...you need to be with your family tonight."

"You could meet Laurel," he coaxed, opting to press a bit.

"Dwayne-" she fought herself, unsure of what Linda would think.

"Pretty please?" he tried again, "You're an old friend and you played a big part too."

"Noooo," she found her resolve and gave him a look, crossing her arms over her chest for emphasis.

"Dad!" Laurel raced to embrace him as he stepped through the bar's door, almost tackling him.

"Hey," he grinned with pleasure, catching his balance before he toppled over, "Careful."

"Old man," she mouthed silently, stepping back with a bright smile.

"Watch it," he answered with a grin.

"Dwayne…" Linda came forward, wrapping him in a warm embrace.

Gently rubbing her back, he struggled for words, but when she caught his chin between her thumb and forefinger and started to lean in for a kiss, his mind went blank.

"I-I don't know what to-" she murmured, pulling back at the last second.

"Don't say anything right now," he croaked, swallowing his disappointment with difficulty, "Really, Linda. You girls have been through a lot in the last few months and I'm just glad it's over."

"Dwayne," she tried again, "You can't just ignore—"

"I'm not ignoring anything," he insisted, giving her a meaningful look, "But we all need to just chill tonight. Trust me, I've seen this before."

"He's right, you know," Percy spoke up, reading Linda's frustration, "Give it at least tonight."

"Alright," she bit her lip hard, "Alright."

"We'll talk tomorrow," Pride assured her, "I'm not going anywhere."

Later that evening, Pride, Linda, Laurel, and Loretta entered Brody's hospital room to a round of applause.

"There they are!" Lasalle raised his fist with a grin and came forward to embrace them, "All safe and sound."

"Me thinks we did a good job today," Sebastian added, giving Linda and Laurel a quick hug.

"That's the truth!" Brody pumped her fist from her bed, "I just wish that I could've helped more."

"You kicked butt, Merri," Laurel assured, hurrying to give her a high-five and a hug.

"She did that," Sebastian agreed, his face glowing with fondness.

"And you'll be back on your feet soon," Pride added.

"She better!" Percy grinned, "Where would I be without her?"

Grinning, she changed the subject, "Say, how would you conquering heroes like a drink? The hospital wouldn't let us bring the good stuff, but we've got coke, dr. pepper, sprite, and—"

"Nice cold icy water from the tap," Patton finished, laughing as a broad grin spread across his face, "Mmm."

"Patton!" Everyone laughed together.

"Well," Laurel answered, "I, for one, think that some nice cold icy water would hit the spot."

"One icy water coming right up. Linda? Pride? Whatcha want?

"Sprite," Linda said.

"Coke for me," Pride added.

And when they had filled their cups and toasted each other, he couldn't help but wonder what the future held.

Author's Notes: First off, I want to thank everyone who read, reviewed, and/or enjoyed this story! It was great to have you along! I'm sorry about not keeping up with the anonymous reviews better than I did. I guess it would just slip my mind because I didn't update very regularly.

I know I've mentioned this before, but it's so hard to write Gregorio as she was at the beginning. I love how much she has grown. It's also weird to be writing about Brody; I miss her. I wonder where they would've gone with the Sebastian crush if she had stayed. Do you remember that? It was also weird to write about Rita not being Pride's girlfriend; I've really gotten to enjoy the Prita relationship and she better guest star again soon!

Say, are there any thoughts out there about Percy's departure? I couldn't help but remember how upset she was when Brody left and now she leaves.