Titania Falling
Epilogue - You shall know all, that you are like to know

AN: I've been saying to myself since Saturday that 'I'll get the last chapter up before Tuesday' because Chapter 16 was so short. This was always intended to be an epilogue and the way the chapters fell out, that one ended up short since I didn't want to add any unnecessary stuff to it. Well, it's Tuesday and I didn't get this up before now, so it's going up earlier on Tuesday instead of when I get home from work. ;)

I want to give a huge Thank You to the Diamond Sorceress for the wonderful beta job on this and helping to keep my commas in line (among other things). And a big thanks to everyone who has commented and reviewed Titania Falling. You guys have made this a lot of fun and I can't wait to share my next fic with you. :X

::

It was nearly noon by the time Flack had gotten Coleman through booking. He had broken down and confessed everything: how he had drugged Ariana, why - even how - he had calculated the amount of herb in the drink he'd offered her. Don might have been a little more convinced that he hadn't intended to kill her if he didn't seem more remorseful over how upset Vivienne was than he was over Ariana's death. Coleman had all but begged them to explain to Miss Harlow that he had done this for her.

The first thing he noticed when he entered the squad room was Angell at her desk, speaking with a woman holding a squirming infant. He frowned, certain it was her day off. Then he noticed the person waiting at his desk, her face a mixture of sadness and apprehension.

"Miss Harlow," he said as he approached her. "How may I help you?"

"I got a message from Mark this morning, that you had more questions for him?" She looked around the room as her comment turned into to a question, obviously looking for her boyfriend. "I-I hadn't heard from him since and just--"

"Ma'am," he said gently, wishing he wasn't the one to break the news to her. "Mr. Coleman has confessed to the murder of Ariana Hawthorne."

"Wha--?" She sat heavily in the chair next to the side of his desk. He pulled his chair out and over to sit opposite her,waiting for her to continue. Her eyes were closed, and she shook her head slightly as she processed his words. Finally, she looked back at him. "Mark? D-did he really do it? Or did he confess to try to protect me? I didn't do it; I didn't kill Ariana, but I don't want him going to prison because he thinks I did--"

"He had the knowledge necessary, Miss Harlow. And the motive."

"Motive? Why?"

"The promotion that both you and Miss Hawthorne were up for. He wanted you to have it instead of her."

"But Ari and I had that agreement. It wouldn't have mattered if she got it - the job would have been mine when she left. To kill her over that... How could he?" Her voice grew louder, concern quickly bleeding over to anger.

"Mr. Coleman didn't intend to kill Miss Hawthorne, he just wanted to make her sick and frighten her."

"Frighten her?" Her eyes flashed in anger as everything her boyfriend had done set in. "He was going to frighten her? Why that scum-sucking--"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." He put his hands out, preventing her from standing. "He's made a full confession and will be going to prison. There isn't any need to be making any threats against him, okay?"

She took a deep breath and nodded. "Okay. I'm sorry. I just--" She sniffled, pulling a tissue from her purse and wiping her eyes. "It's hard not having her around. I keep expecting her to come help with dinner or suggest we stay up all night watching movies or something. It's not right that she's gone. And all because of that damned job. If I had known it would lead to this, I never would have applied for it."

"I'm sorry for your loss."

"So am I." She sighed deeply, then stood. "Thank you, Detective, for finding out what happened to her."

They shook hands and she left, arms wrapped around her body as if for support. He kicked his chair back over to his desk and sat down, running his hands down his face. He hated talking with bereaved friends and family, and the circumstances of this case just made it even worse.

There was movement nearby, and he looked up as Angell approached and sat on the side of his desk. "What happened to your day off?"

"You didn't hear? Thacker shattered his ankle this morning chasing after a perp."

"Ouch."

"Tell me about it. The Captain called me in to finish his shift, though from what I've heard from the resident medical experts, we're all going to be covering his shifts for a while."

"That bad?"

"Apparently it was a pretty epic break. Hammerback's trying to get his hands on copies of the x-rays to display in autopsy."

Don wrinkled his nose. "I don't even want to know."

"Then I probably shouldn't warn you that Messer's already planning the crutches races for when Thacker gets back? Or that he and Cooper are running a pool on just when that'll be?"

He had pulled his keyboard over and opened his email as she talked, so he wasn't surprised to see a message with the subject of POOL in his inbox.

"How epic was the break?"

"Two plates," she said, ticking details off on her fingers as she reeled through them, "six pins, and fourteen screws."

"Definitely four months at the earliest. Thacker'll be going crazy." He quickly shot an email back to Messer with his bet, then turned back to Jess. "Who was that you were talking to?"

"The suicide we closed yesterday - his ex-girlfriend. He doesn't have any family, so she's the one who came to claim the body."

"She doing okay?"

"About as okay as she can be. She said she has some family in Jersey she's going to go stay with." She shoved her hands down into her pockets as she spoke. "She was pretty shook up over it. She'd been hoping he'd get cleaned up."

"Instead, her baby's never going to know her father."

"Yeah." She pushed off from his desk, pushing thoughts of the case out of her mind. It was closed; they'd figured out what happened, and dwelling on it would only serve to distract her from her other cases. She changed the subject. "You had lunch yet?"

"Nah, just closed my case." He glanced up at her. "Sandwiches at O'Malleys?"

"Sounds great," she said as the squad room doors opened behind them. Hawkes and Messer burst through, animatedly discussing something, with Monroe not far behind and looking highly amused. She tipped her head at the incoming CSIs. "Up for company?"

"Yo, guys," Don called out, logging out of his computer as he stood. "We're hitting O'Malleys for lunch. You coming?"

"Sure," Hawkes said, joining them by the desk. "I haven't eaten yet. You two?"

"Yeah," Lindsay said, pulling out her phone. "I'll see if Stella and Mac want to meet us there."

"Tell 'em to hurry," Danny said, bouncing on his toes. "Otherwise we won't beat the lunch crowd."

Lindsay nodded as they started for the doors, quickly explaining the plan to whoever answered. They were out on the sidewalk when she hung up. "Stella said they'll meet us there. She's going to try to drag Adam out of the lab, too."

The others were about five minutes behind them, joining them at the large table they'd grabbed just as the waitress was coming for their order. After a quick round of everyone getting their usual sandwich, the conversation quickly turned to Thacker, his injury, his caseload - both he and Jess agreed that they didn't want to end up with a few he'd been working - and how soon he'd be back.

As the conversation turned into a friendly argument between Messer and Hawkes as to just how quickly broken bones healed, Flack leaned back in his chair shaking his head. He caught Angell's eye - Lindsay and Stella had cornered her at the other end of the table and were quizzing her about something, and he had a pretty good idea what - and shared an amused grin.

Around them the lunch rush raged on, cops, bankers, lawyers, and shop clerks trying to get their food and go go go. But for the next hour they were going to take advantage of their time off, with a slice of laughter and a side of camaraderie. The next case could wait until they got back to the station.