Pike ran late this morning, pushing himself hard like a man who had something to prove. It was a cold spring dawn when he reached the pier. He pulled up short when he noticed movement on the normally empty pier. He moved in slowly from the far side, watching as the agitated woman paced back and forth. She stopped to shake the railing, testing its strength. He froze when she turned suddenly in his direction peering into dark and fog that shrouded him. She turned back just as quickly and stared into the blackness of the water. Pike moved in silently like the coyotes that roamed the city unseen and unnoticed; wondering at her intentions. He opened his mouth to speak but the woman spun around pepper spray in hand. Pike grabbed her arm and twisted it behind her back trying hard not to hurt her. He could on occasion be surprised but rarely caught off guard. Most people never heard him coming. The fact she knew he was there bothered him. After being shot twice and nearly killed last year Pike wasn't sure if he was one hundred percent or if he ever would be again.

"The wind would have blown it back in your face," he said hoping she realized he meant her no harm. When she looked up at him he saw no fear in her eyes; only a fierce determination that seemed perplexing.

She let out a sigh and stopped struggling. "Look," she said nodding over his shoulder. He slowly moved her around in front of him keeping control of her. Sometimes those who seem harmless do the most harm. She stepped back into him making him bring her arms forward. His mouth twitched. She just had manipulated his movements. Now he was standing on the pier holding a woman he didn't know and for whatever reason he didn't mind. The sun was rising; a bright orange and red fireball. The sky around it glowed and reflected in the stillness of the water. Their breath mingled in the cold morning air until it was blown away by the ocean breeze. She tried to pull from his arms and move away but Pike turned her around to face him. He took his glasses off, looked into her eyes and saw the pain there.

"Do you want to die?" He asked.

The woman gave a small pained smile and touched his cheek. "Not today," she said. She turned and walked down the pier. Pike wasn't afraid of death but he didn't seek it out either. What pain could make her want to end her own life? He stood and pondered her words for a minute and then hurried down the pier after her but she was already gone. He scanned the area and listened but there had been no car or bike to carry her away so quickly. He shrugged and headed back to the house before the commuters invaded the roadway like thousands of busy ants.

Pike stripped off his clothes and let the warm water beat down soothing his aching muscles. He stepped out of the shower and looked at himself in the mirror wondering if she had seen his pain as clearly as he had seen hers.

Pike went out again late the next day and found her at the pier. She smiled when she saw him and they stood side by side watching the sunrise until she once again disappeared. He liked the way her eyes crinkled at the corners when she smiled and they way the sunlight brought out the auburn highlights in her hair. They met three more times that week watching the sunrise never even bothering to exchange names. Somehow it didn't seem important. The fifth day she didn't protest when he wrapped her in his arms as she shivered in the cold morning breeze. Each stood eyes closed not noticing or caring the sunrise was veiled in thick angry clouds. On the sixth and seventh day he found the pier empty. He showered and went to Cole's wondering if she'd be a blurb in the paper; another sad, lonely person who left this planet too soon.