INT. GABRIEL'S HOUSE - AFTERNOON, NOVEMBER 2ND, 2025, 5:15 P.M.
Gabriel's parents stared at him as if waiting for him to say something. "So are you going to let us in, son?" His dad, Mike, spoke up.
Gabriel heard that knocked himself out of his thoughts as he quickly spoke up. "R.right, come in"
Gabriel stepped to the side, opening the door all the way up so they could come in. His dad raised his eyebrow as he stepped through the door. "Did we have a bad time?" His mother, Tasha, asked with worry as she looked at Gabriel's flustered face.
"Hey, Gabs, did you solve who was….", Nadia trailed off as she stepped out into the living room, words failing as she looked in shock as seeing Gabriel's parents walking through the door. Nadia quickly tried to brush down her wild hair. "Hi Mr. and Mrs. Owens we, ugh we weren't expecting you today."
Tasha looked between Gabriel's flustered expression, and Nadia's messed up hair. A strange expression came over her face as she started to smile. "You didn't tell us you would be having lady company over today."
"Right, right, I forgot everything.". Gabriel admitted before turning his towards Nadia. "I totally forgot that on Sundays we always have family dinner. With the case and all, it slipped my mind."
Nadia's face blushed red, in embarrassment. "If I kew that they were coming over I would've made myself more presentable."
"It's okay, darling, you look fabulous," Tash said with a wink at Nadia.
Nadia looked down at her outfit, which consisted of an overly enormous shirt with shorts. Compared to Tasha, who was wearing a beautiful black jacket. Underneath it was a white top and white paints that had a beautiful green, brown, black interconnecting pattern. "Compared to you I feel very, underdressed", She admitted.
Tasha turned and put her jacket on the coat rack before back around towards Nadia. "Nonsense, you look beautiful just the way you are my future daughter in law." Approaching Nadia she quickly grabbed her hand, dragging her towards the kitchen. "We'll be in the kitchen if you men would like to join us, and help when you're ready." she called out over her shoulder.
Gabriel watched Nadia turn red, as his mother dragged her into the kitchen. Gabriel let out a loud sigh as she rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry I forgot pops, just been a very stressful case.", he explained, turning to face his father.
Mike didn't say anything, hanging his jacket up on the coat rock next to his wife's before turning to face Gabriel. "Son, you know if there is anything you and mother can do you help you out at all." he told Gabriel, putting his hand on his shoulder.
Gabriel nodded in return. "I know it's just been a lot, and every lead we have found so far hasn't gone anywhere."
"Just remember what I taught."
"Don't other emotions affect how I think?"Gussed Gabriel.
Mike let out a deep sigh, "We'll work on it." Removing his hand from Gabriel's shoulder, make his way into the kitchen.
With a shrug, Gabriel followed, assuming that it would be best for him if he just followed his father into the kitchen. Seeing his mom and Nadia cutting vegetables, he went to clean off the table that was covered with case files. He carefully began to stack the files together along with any other sheets of papers. Bending down under the table he picked up a file storage box. When he stood back up and saw his father looking at the letter Grace left for them before she left.
"Sorry, again I wasn't expecting anyone to be stopping by.", Gabriel said again as he watched his father study the letter.
Mike looked up from the letter, "No need to be sorry, we get you're busy with your job son. I'm just wondering why you have coordinates just laying around."
Gabriel cocked his head in confusion as he looked down at the letter. "What do you mean by coordinates?"
"I don't know where these lead, but I'm sure if you plugged this into one of those map apps you could find the location this is leading too.", Mike explained.
"Ugh, I'm so dumb I don't know why I didn't think of that.", Nadia groaned as she dropped the knife mid-cut and wiped her hands clean before walking towards the table. Gently bumping Gabriel out the way as she opened back up her laptop. "Thanks!" She told Mike, who handed her the letter as she got to work. Hands flying quickly across the keyboard as she quickly started typing in the numbers.
Mike let out a loud whistle, impressed with how fast her hands were typing. "Does she always work like this?" he asked, turning his head to look at Gabriel.
"More or less", Gabriel shrugged before adding. "If you think this is impressive, then you should see how awesome she is at fighting."
"Oh, she can fight, and she is so pretty,when are you finally going to purpose?"Tasha gushed as she was busy cutting vegetables.
Nadia's face turned a bright pink as she continued typing on her computer. Gabriel groaned in annoyance. "Why does everyone think we're dating, we barely know each other past being coworkers.", He inquired as he looked around at his parents.
The room went quiet, with the only sound being Nadia's typing on the keyboard. Letting out a sigh, Gabriel sat down in the chair next to Nadia, his father going to help his mother with prepping for dinner. He saw the screen loading before finding a location outside the city. It was located near the woods and seemed very ominous, at least from the type of view they could see. He quickly pulled out his cell phone, sending a text over to Blake. Hopefully, he'll check it soon and get back to them later about the information.
Nadia nudged Gabriel with her shoulder. "I'll start looking up to see if there is a cabin or land owned by people around there."
Gabriel up a small smile. "Thanks, hopefully there is some information there we can find that will help close out the case."
"At this point I don't even know what this case is about anymore.", Nadia sighed. All Gabriel could do is nod his head in agreement.
INT. AVA'S HOUSE - EVENING, NOVEMBER 2ND, 2025, 6:45 P.M.
"Oh, Ava, you outdid yourself once again."Blake cheered, leaning back in the chair, patting his stomach in comfort. Lizzie was busy taking the dishes off the table, taking them to the sink.
Ava let out a small smile, a glass of wine in her hand as she sat at the table across from Blake. "Hmm, surprisingly I still know how to cook", She joked.
"Come on, Mom, we both know you're probably one of the better cooks we know, especially compared to Dad, Lizzie added as she grabbed the plate in front of Blake.
Blake put his hand over his chest, exclaiming, "Ouch, Lizzie, that was low!" Lizzie just stuck her tongue out in response before leaving out of the room, the sound of dishwater running. "She gets all of her sass from you, I swear."
Ava let out a loud chuckle. "She's just excited that her father has been around more to see her."
"Yeah, I know I haven't been the best parent over the years.", Blake admitted.
"That's an understatement", Ava muttered, swirling the wine in her glass as she stared at him. "Be real with me Blake, why did you come by."
Blake raised eyebrows in confusion. "What man doesn't want to stop by to see his family?"
"This stopped being your family when you divorced me.", Ava growled as tears glistened in her eyes. "You stopped coming around, started colder towards me, towards Liz. Now you expect me to just believe you wanted to see us. I'm not dumb, Blake!"
Blake sat there for a moment, fiddling with the cup of water in his hand. His thoughts raced as he did his best to try to form the words in his mind. "You're right Ava, I should've been more upfront about my intentions, and I'm sorry."
"Then just be honest Blake, what the hell did you come here for?"Ava questioned, setting the glass of wine down as she stared wide-eyed at Blake.
"Right, there is no easy way to say this.", Blake sighed.
"Will you just spit it out already!"
Blake let out another heavy sigh, his eyes lowering towards the table as he gathered his thoughts. "During the new case we finally found information about what happened to Cain."
Ava let out a loud gasp, her mouth closing and opening quickly as she heard the news. "I.i..is he okay?"She stuttered her words, forming slowly as she tried her best to not cry. Blake shock his head no. "You mean he really…"
"Yeah, there is a grave for him and everything I went there to confirm it myself.", Blake replied, his tone melancholy. Doing this to not be angry as he clenched and unclenched his fist repeatedly. "I found an official death record for him as well, they found his body with his throat slit. And was only identifiable because of his military Id."
Ava didn't say anything, just the sound of sobs filling the room as her chest was rising up and down. After a moment, she lifted her head and stared at Blake. Tears running down her face as she glared. "You better find out who killed Cain, and you better make sure that nothing happens to Chole's other child."
"I promise..", began Blake.
Ava slammed the table in anger, causing the glass of wine to spill over. "I don't give a damn about your promises.", She demanded, her tone low, angry. "I allowed those boys to be split apart when we should've raised them. You better make sure that nothing happens because I promise you, laws be damned. I release any and all information I have about the Church to the public."
"Look, we both know…", Blake trailed off, realizing Ava's serious face, which means no matter what he says, she'll do what she believes is right. Letting out a sigh, Blake continued talking. "I'll do my best to protect him, even if I have to die to do it."
Ava held Blake's gaze, both unwavering as they looked at each other. A deep understanding comes between the both of them. "I don't want you to die either, Blake.", she spoke up, anger in her tone left. Deep tiredness, which she couldn't describe, replaced it. "I still love you Blake, after all these years, I would never want anything to happen to you."
"I know Ava, I just wish things could've been different.", Blake whispered, his tone low but Ava could still hear it.
"Things could still be different Blake, you just have to be willing to be the man you want to be. At least you originally set out to be before things happened.", She disagreed, her hand reaching across the table to grasp his.
Her hand was offering a sense of warmth and hope that he's been missing inside. "Awww hand holding, now be honest when is dad finally moving back in.", Lizzie spoke coming into the room.
Blake removed his hand from Ava's grasp as he stood up from the table. "No, we were just having a serious talk about things.", he explained, looking down at his daughter as she looked at him with hopeful eyes. "Plus, I wouldn't want you to be affected by all the criminals I catch."
"Ugh lame dad, so lame you know miss having you hearing"
"And I miss being here", He replied, ruffling her hair.
Lizzie swiped at his hand a small pout on her face. "Do you always have to mess with my hair every time you see me?"
Blake just shrugged. "Once you have kids, you'll understand." He ruffled Lizzie's hair again before taking his trench coat off the back of the chair. Making his way towards the door before opening he said one last thing. "I'll be by next Sunday, I'll even bring Rook over for a visit."
"Ugh, Rook, he's so lame!"Lizzie immediately replied.
"Elizabeth, be nice", Ava scolded, before turning towards Blake. "It'll be nice to have him visit it's been so long."
"It hasn't been a while since we've been together.", Blake thought out loud. Lizzie cocked her to head to the side, not understanding what he meant. "Anyway, till next guys I gotta get going Rook has been texting me all night, so I assume he and Nadia have been fighting." He closed the door behind himself.
"Who is Nadia?", he heard Lizzie as Ava as he made his way towards his car.