When he walked into the diner about a half hour ago, she guessed from her vantage point that he stood a few inches above six feet. He was broad shouldered and, although he was hunched over reading a newspaper, from what she could see under his leather jacket he was fit. Not in a body-building type of way; if she had to guess, she would say he worked out for his health and not his appearance. That was good; in her opinion there wasn't much to be done to make his appearance any more desirable. His black hair was wavy, just borderline on being called curly, and fell below his ears. She was happy to see it wasn't gelled back as she had seen so many guys do, but actually trimmed in a way where it stayed out of his eyes naturally. It would probably be a disservice to call him unkempt, but she wouldn't be surprised to learn he had slept in those clothes, or possible hadn't slept at all, if the five o'clock shadow on his cheek was any indication. Every time the diner door opened he looked up from his coffee and newspaper and away from her, then right back down again. It was when he was turning that the florescent light hit his face just right and she noticed a scar about an inch long right underneath his right eye. There was also just something about him and his easy, methodical movements that exuded an alpha male demeanor. All and all, his appearance hit her just right and she couldn't help thinking he was probably the hottest guy she had seen in a while, and certainly way out of her league. She had also been staring way, way too long.

"Liz." A clunk to her left let her know something had been set down on the table. After a beat, Lizzy tore her gaze away from the hottie at the counter to look up at her best friend. She was looking down at Lizzy with a knowing look, but was silent so far. It was times like these, when Charlotte had that look in her eye, that she reminded Lizzy most of her brother. They were fraternal twins, but shared strikingly similar features. They both kept their hair short, both stood several inches above Lizzy's 5'7 frame, and both had impossibly light brown eyes that shone especially bright against their dark skin. Jeremiah was brawn where Charlotte could be described as wispy, but that was really their biggest difference.

"Char?" Lizzy raised her eyebrow in question at the ice water. "It's forty degrees outside. I asked for coffee."

"I know." Charlotte smirked and Lizzy leaned back in her chair, waiting for it. "But you seemed a little flushed." Charlotte glanced at the guy Lizzy had been staring at for the past half hour. Unlike Lizzy, Charlotte managed to look away after a brief moment. "I wasn't sure whether to throw it on you or have you drink it."

"Don't be dramatic." Lizzy rolled her eyes but couldn't help but smile and glance back at the guy.

"Been awhile?" Charlotte asked, chuckling low.

"You're my roommate. You know the answer to that." Lizzy replied, mentally calculating exactly how long it had been. "Anyway. It's not a crime to look. You're telling me you don't think the view is worth it?" Liz looked back up at Charlotte, a challenge in her eye. Charlotte glanced at man in question once more but returned her gaze to her friend after a brief moment.

"He's hot." Charlotte allowed. "But he's no Shemar Moore."

"Shemar Moore?" Lizzy feigned confusion. "Who?"

"Don't even." Charlotte pointed a finger at her in warning until Lizzy cracked a smile. Charlotte didn't have much free time between the business side of the diner and the waitressing side, but what little spare time she did have was spent parked in front of the couch on Wednesday nights watching Criminal Minds, featuring the love of her life Shemar Moore.

"You know him or something?" Charlotte questioned, turning the conversation back to the man in question. Lizzy scoffed, daring to look at the Adonis at the counter once more.

"No. Do you?" She questioned hopefully.

"Nope. Never seen him in here before." Charlotte replied. Lizzy had to admit she was disappointed.

"Miss?" A customer called for her attention and Lizzy's friend walked off without comment. She liked spending her mornings in Charlotte's dingy diner. In truth, Charlotte didn't own it yet, but she had been making payments to the current owner, who was glad to be rid of it, for a number of years and was very close to being able to call it her own. She envied Charlotte sometimes, for knowing exactly what she wanted in life and going after it. Lizzy was in school earning a degree, but she didn't feel passionate about anything the way Charlotte loved her diner.

Lizzy's eyes were drawn back to the Adonis as he glanced once more at the door, then back at his paper. She sighed, mumbled "screw it" to herself, grabbed her water and made her way over to the counter. She set her glass down and took the seat to the left of him, leaving a space between them for her own dignity. This close to him, she could smell his cologne and was grateful she was keeping her distance, sort to speak. He glanced at her as she sat down and she gave him a smile and a cheerful "Morning." He looked her up and down, actually looked her up and down, and then let out a breath that could have been a laugh before shaking his head and looking back at his paper.

"Wow. Excuse me for breathing." She couldn't help but laugh at his audacity. She turned her head and took a sip of her water, immediately regretting her decision to come over here. He could have been her ideal man, a perfect 'what if?' story in her mind; but then she had to ruin everything by actually engaging him and thus shattering the image.

"Forgive me for not being more open to a woman who has been staring at me the entire time I've been sitting here." He said, his voice low and bored, without even looking at her.

"What? I have not. Dream on loser." She scoffed, blushing and protesting way too much. He looked at her once more, barely inclining his head towards her as he did so. He raised his eyebrow, the right one that housed a scar underneath it. She rolled her eyes. "So you're observant. Congratulations." He smiled, or looked as close to smiling as possible, and then looked down to his paper once more. "But, you know" she added, gazing at her glass of water as she stirred her straw aimlessly, a smug smile already on her face. "I'm pretty observant myself."

"Oh?" he asked, still not looking at her. The door opened once more and once more he glanced at it and then back at his paper.

"You're waiting for someone." She pointed out. He didn't acknowledge her. "Girlfriend?" Still he was silent. "Boyfriend?" he looked at her, and she turned to see a scoffing look on his face for an instant before he looked back down. "Hmm." A man pulled up on a motorcycle across the street. He took his helmet off, but stayed on his bike to smoke a cigarette. Lizzy stood and pulled out a few bills from her pocket, laying it down next to her still full water glass. "I noticed something else, too."

"Really?" he asked, letting a breath out in what was clearly an exasperated manor.

"Yeah. You've never been here before, you're clearly waiting for someone, and, most importantly…" here she paused to reach over and poke him in the side. Her hand met something solid "You're wearing a gun." He grabbed her arm, twisting it away from him. She winced and he immediately let it go. "Nice reflexes, cop" she said loudly, shaking her wrist. Two men looked up from a booth in the back, then immediately got up and left through the backdoor.

He gave her a surprised look before scowling, turning at once back to his newspaper. "In my experience, only two kinds of people recognize cops. Other cops, and…"

"Criminals." She finished for him, smiling and tilting her head. "So which one am I?" He looked her up and down again and picked up his paper, shaking it out and hunching over it once more; clearly letting her surmise his answer.

"So," she walked around him so she was between him and the door. Charlotte was back behind the counter and refilling the officers coffee cup. Lizzy gave her a look, which Charlotte returned with one of her own, but handed her a backpack from behind the counter. "You must be staking the place out. Looking for a dangerous criminal."

"Ma'am. I am simply trying to enjoy my coffee." He growled at her. That was the only way to describe the tone he used. She rolled her eyes once more, taking a moment to mourn the loss of what could have been.

"Too bad." She shouldered her backpack, tied her hair back in a messy ponytail and took once last look before backing out the door. "Start the bike up, Ray." The cop at the counter glanced up, surprise once more clearly written on his face as he looked from Lizzy's grin to the man on the bike across the street who was doing what she told him. Officer Adonis jumped up, reacting faster than Lizzy thought he would. She had to sprint to the man on the motorcycle and practically jump onto the back of his bike. "Liz what the hell?"

"Cop, cop, cop!" Lizzy hit his shoulder in an effort to hurry him, but at her words he took off so fast she had to grab onto him so she didn't fall off the back of the bike. Lizzy looked back at the cop who was now chasing them, calling out "Stop! Police!" She grinned, daringly blowing him a kiss. He followed them on foot for a few seconds, but quickly turned, jogging instead to an unmarked black sedan parked on the side of the road.

"Lose him now or we are busted." Lizzy said Ray's ear. Her heart pounded in her ear as the adrenaline rushed through her body.

"I got it. Don't back seat drive girl." Ray called back, taking a sharp right turn down an alleyway. Lizzy held on tighter. "Where the hell did he come from?"

"He was waiting for you at Char's." Liz said, feeling proud of herself. "You owe me."

"Yeah, yeah." A few more sharp turns, and they were pulling up to a house Lizzy vaguely recognized.

"Ugh, really?" Lizzy asked, sliding off the bike. "This guy?"

"He's not so bad." Ray grinned at her. "I'm stashing this in the back. You coming?"

"You were supposed to take me to school." She crossed her arms. "I don't think you know what owing someone one means."

"Come on, I told you those cops have been sniffing around for me for some reason, I can't help it that they have terrible timing." Ray shrugged. He was probably her best friend, after Charlotte and her sister Jane, but she was never delusional enough to think of his as exactly dependable. Even for a ride to school, she asked him to be an hour early, just in case.

"Forget it. I'll walk." Lizzy sighed.

"Don't be like that Liz, maybe George will-" Ray started but she cut him off.

"No way. I know that guy well enough to know I don't want to owe him a favor." Liz replied, looking up at the house. The curtain was pulled back and someone, she couldn't tell who, was watching them. She gave a smile and a wave, because she had always found it was better to be friendly and open around paranoid drug addicts.

"He's not that bad." Ray gave her a disapproving look.

"Still. I'll catch you later." Lizzy said with a wave, heading up the walk wasn't so bad, as cold as it was. Her heart sped up anything she heard a car approaching, assuming it was the cop still looking for her and Ray, but he never showed. For this added incentive, she made good time- only ten minutes late to class.

The rest of the day passed pretty normally, considering the excitement of that morning. Lizzy had two classes that day, physics and developmental psychology. College had just started, so there wasn't that much to be done yet. She had already read over the chapter they were covering in class, or more accurately skimmed it for the important details, so the lecture portion was just a matter of keeping up and taking notes. Both classes were interesting, in their own way; her Psychology class more so than physics, but that also had to do with the teachers. Developmental psych was taught by a man who had been in the field for thirty years and had been teaching for ten. He knew his stuff and knew the best way to deliver the material. For physics, her teacher was a younger man who had only been teaching for a few years, and who was used to teaching chemistry more than physics. He knew the material, but tended to throw in things that they would be covering in a higher level physics course, and most of the time it ended up losing half the class. She was keeping up, for the most part, but worried about being prepared for upcoming tests.

Afterwards she took the bus to a doctor's office where she was temping for the last day. She was supposed to have stopped before classes started but the girl who she had been filling in for decided not to come back, for whatever reason, and the head nurse begged her to stay on for one more week until they found a replacement. She couldn't refuse, and the money was pretty good, so she spent five hours, from one to six, sorting and alphabetizing patient files, answering phones, and sending faxes, all while mentally memorizing the formulas they had gone over in physics that morning. She had been up late the night before finishing all her homework so she could have tonight free; by the time she was making her way home, all she wanted was to veg out in front of their crappy TV set on their crappy couch and eat some crappy food.

She was rounding the corner, dreaming of warm pajamas and hot chocolate, when she spotted the cop from the diner that morning leaning up against the fence next to her building. She felt a thrill go through her at the sight of him before reality came crashing down on why he was there. She considered backtracking and slipping in through the back way, but ultimately knew he had nothing on her. She had no idea how he found her, but she was sure all he wanted from her was to question where Ray was.

"Officer." She said as she walked up. She already had his attention; he had been scowling at her since she started walking towards him.

"I could arrest you, you know." He frowned at her, arms crossed and looking very menacing. She laughed despite being a little bit afraid he just might do it.

"For what? Pissing you off?" she asked, mirroring his stance.

"Obstruction of justice." he replied, pausing just long enough so that it sunk in. "Are you familiar with this man?" he asked, pulling a picture out of his inside jacket pocket. She took it from him, angling it towards a streetlight. It was a mugshot of Ray sporting a black eye. She placed it as his arrest a few years ago. They had been drinking at a bar together and Ray, who was essentially brother she never had, had gotten into it with some random guy who wouldn't leave her alone. The man decked him, but took off before Ray could have retribution. Ray had found out who he was the next day; he paid the guy a visit and trashed his car, boosting the stereo for kicks. The police caught him on the way to pawning it. Just as she had suspected, all he wanted from her was to find Ray.

"Yes." Lizzy sighed, shifting her bag higher up on her shoulder. Officer Adonis looked surprised at her honesty.

"And… his whereabouts?" He asked, pulling out a hand sized notebook and clicking a pen.

"No idea." Lizzy replied.

"Of course." He sighed, tapping his pen against the back of the notebook. "Listen, miss-"

"Officer." She interrupted him. "If this going to take any longer, can we at least go inside? I'm going numb." He considered her for a minute. "It was a long walk home." She added, giving him a pitiful look. He finally gave a short nod. "How did you find me anyway?"

"It wasn't difficult" was all he would say as they made their way up the three floor walk up to the apartment she shared with Charlotte. She unlocked the door, tossing her bag just inside but turning to him before heading in.

"I should probably see a badge before I let some strange man into my apartment." She grinned up at him, leaning against the door frame. He frowned at her, a dubious look on his face. "Hey man. All I know is you have a gun and you followed me home."

He sighed, reaching into his back pocket and pulling out a black wallet sized badge. She took it from him gleefully, flipping it open to see a gold shield on one side and his identification on the other. "Wow. Excuse me- detective Darcy." He took the badge back from her and gestured to the open doorway. She backed up so he could enter, and then closed the door behind him, shedding her overcoat and messenger bag that held her books from school.

"Do you want something to drink? Water, coffee, hot chocolate?" she offered, heading right for the kitchen.

"No. Any idea where Alester 'Ray' Reynolds would be tonight?" He asked, thumbing his notebook.

"I already said I didn't." She filled a saucepan with milk and put it on the stove. It wasn't strictly true. She could probably name about three possibilities of where her friend would be tonight and know he could be found at one of them, but Ray was her friend after all, and this detective was keeping her from the veg out she so richly deserved. "The last I saw him he dropped me off at Grove and Bell." She added this information to seem helpful, she knew for certainty that he wouldn't be back there tonight.

"Grove and Bell?" He perked up. "Any chance you know this man?" he pulled another picture out of his pocket and handed to her. She sighed, looking it over, and then grimaced. This picture was a lot more worn and a lot more recent.

"Unfortunately." She said. "George Wickham. Kind of a sleazebag, but harmless."

"Not as harmless as you might think." He commented with a dark look, then asked "Did you come in contact with him today?"

"No." she said, turning back to her hot chocolate mix.

"You got dropped off at his house but didn't come in contact with him?" he asked, clearly skeptical. She poured the milk into the mix, stirring and blowing on it as she came around the counter to sink gratefully into the couch.

"Look, detective. Ray picked me up from the diner and was supposed to give me a ride to school-"

"School?" he questioned, writing in his notebook.

"Yes." She replied, looking up at him. He stared back, silent. "I go to the community college." He wrote something down, but still stared at her, silent. "Geez, I'm taking classes to get my bachelors, okay? Is that really relevant?" Apparently so. He wrote it down.

"So after tipping Reynolds off that I was waiting to question him and fleeing from a police officer, Reynolds takes you to Wickham's place, where you don't actually see Wickham? Am I correct so far?" Darcy questioned. He was tapping his pen on his notebook again; it seemed like an impatient and unconscious gesture.

"I might have seen him, actually." She squinted into her cup, remembering that morning. "We pulled up to his place and there was someone in the window looking out, but I couldn't tell who it was." Lizzy sat back, sipping her hot chocolate. It wasn't ideal, but she was finally where she wanted to be all day. If only this cop would get lost, so she could change into something more comfortable. She thought of what the look on his face might be if she told him that she just wanted to slip into something a little more comfortable and almost snorted into her cup.

"This is very important." The detective crouched down close to her, a grave look on his face. The amusement drained out of her by his seriousness. "Did you see George Wickham today?"

"I told you I haven't." She replied emphatically. "Like I said, the guy isn't my favorite, so any chance I have to avoid him I take it." Lizzy explained. He nodded, looking down in thought, but didn't back off. "He's Ray's friend." She shrugged. Why did she feel the need to say that?

"And you're Ray's friend." He commented, looking back up at her.

"So?" she questioned, affronted. He flipped through his notebook, glancing at what was written there.

"No arrest record, but you sure do pop up on the radar in connection to a lot of dirt bags." He said, standing up and began surveying her crappy apartment.

"Dirt bags?" She echoed, insulted. "Nice."

"How well do you know George Wickham?" he questioned. She signed, swirling the dregs of her not so hot chocolate and wondering why she didn't sneak in the back way after all.

"I don't know. I've met him a few times." She replied.

"Listen, Miss Bennet…" Darcy started. Lizzy groaned, looking at the ceiling in irritation.

"Look, detective. I know you want me to be his bff so I could give you whatever dirt you want on him, but-" Lizzy started, but fell silent when he stepped in front of her once more.

"Two women are missing in connection with Wickham." he stared her down, letting the words sink in. "Do you understand what I mean when I tell you this is not a man you want to be friends with?"

"Yes." She murmured, keeping eye contact. "I understand." It wasn't the first time she found out someone she had hung out with turned out to be a dangerous criminal, but for some reason this felt different; maybe it was the detective standing in her living room talking about two missing girls, but Lizzy couldn't help a shudder run through her at his serious mien.

"That's good." He nodded once, then paused. "Now this other friend of yours, Ray-"

"Ok, Ray may not be the smartest guy in the world but he is like a brother to me. So yeah, I tipped him off because that's what friends do. I don't know where he is now, and I probably wouldn't tell you if I did." She told him. Maybe she was being too honest, too confrontational, but he had thrown her off coming in her talking about Wickham.

"I understand all of that Miss Bennet. For the record, I am only interested in Mr. Reynolds in connection with Wickham. I need to pin down some details. I would appreciate it," here he paused, taking out a card from his pocket, "If you could pass the message along to your friend. "

She set her empty mug down and exchanged it for his card, looking it over. "I can do that." She stood, following him to the door. "But I wouldn't get your hopes up."

"If you happen to come in contact with him for any reason…" Darcy started and she plucked another card from his hand.

"I'll call." She winked at him and he gave a little laugh, shaking his head. "Goodnight detective."

"Goodnight, Miss Bennet. Stay safe." He said, heading off towards the stairs. She listened as he made his way down to the bottom floor, and then watched from her window as he entered his car and drove off. Only then did she pick up the phone and dial a number.

"Yo." Ray answered after the third ring, sounding mercifully sober despite a lot of background noise that made it sound like he was at a party.

"Ray. That cop came by my place looking for you." She told him, jumping right to the point. He cursed, then sounded like he was walking somewhere. All of a sudden the background noises she had been hearing were cut silent.

"What did he want?" he asked. Lizzy gave him a summary, explaining everything about Wickham. Ray cursed again.

"He can't know you talked to some cop about him." Ray warned. Lizzy frowned at his wording.

"I didn't talk to some cop about him." She corrected. "I told you everything he said. He wants to talk to you about Wickham anyway. I don't know anything to tell even if I wanted to."

"I'm not talking to the cops." Ray said sternly. Lizzy rolled her eyes, though he couldn't see her. "I'll tell Wickham some cop is hassling you looking for me, but neither of us is saying anything about Wickham being the real target, got it?"

"Yeah, yeah." Lizzy sighed.

"Get rid of those cards." Ray warned, and then he was gone.

Lizzy took them back out of her pocket, tearing up one of the cards the detective had given her to give to Ray and then throwing it away, but looked thoughtfully down at the other one. She had done what Ray asked with his card, but the detective had given this one to her, and for some reason she was reluctant to destroy it. Lizzy laughed at herself; it was probably because he was so hot. Did she really have a school girl crush on this guy? Shrugging, she hid the card in a book on her bookshelf before heading into her room to finally get into her comfy pajamas.