Three years earlier…

Eli Loker was walking down the street when he saw a certain car with a certain someone whom he hadn't seen in a certain amount of time. He stopped his walking to observe the certain someone, bobbing their blonde head to AC/DC's Shook Me All Night Long that was blaring through the closed windows. That certain someone that was his best friend growing up, that one someone who always gave him the courage to never give in, but of course with that certain someone gone, so was that courage.

It was a traffic jam, a body had been discovered down the street, Cal Lightman and Gillian Foster had already gone down the street. He looked in their direction before turning his head to the blonde in the old Mustang car. He considered going up and saying "Hi." But that didn't seem right.

He kept his head down and kept walking, or at least he would have had Cal Lightman not yelled his name to get him to hurry up. It caused some people's heads to turn but what he really saw was the certain someone's grey-blue eyes widen when they saw him.

"Hey." The blonde got out of the black Mustang and looked him straight in the eyes.

"Hey." He half smiled but couldn't seem to smile truthfully. The blonde looked at him and then looked at the short British man that was walking over towards Eli.

"Loker, what are you doing?" he stopped and looked at Eli than over to the blonde head. "Old friend of yours?"

"Umm-" Eli started but was interrupted by his childhood friend.

"Amelia Peters." The blonde held out her hand. "I am an old friend of his." She laughed; Eli had missed that laugh, so he couldn't help but smile.

"More than a friend?" the British man inquired after seeing the slight smile appear on his employee.

"No, a childhood friend. We haven't seen each other in…" she looked at Eli. "What is it, a year?"

"Yeah, that seems about right." He said, he wanted to catch up with her later, tell her about his new job, tell her about everything that's happened to him, tell her that it's alright now, but he had to wait until later, he couldn't tell her in front of his boss.

"Well, I was heading to my place. Do you know why everything's so backed up?" he pointed at the sea of cars wanting to move but not being able to find any room to do so.

"They found a body. It'll open up in a little while." Cal said. "Do you want to come with us?"

Eli looked at his boss. Inviting a newbie was one thing, but inviting someone they didn't even know was another, well, he knew her but they didn't.

"Are you sure?" She looked at him curiously. Eli knew she would accept, anything to get out of boredom was fine by her.

"Yeah, come on." Cal started walking down the street with Eli and Amelia behind him.

"So how have you been?" he asked to break the silence.

"Fine, you?" she looked over to him.

"Fine." That went nowhere fast. He stole a glance at her, seeing her long blonde hair in a high pony tail. She was bundled up in grey furry boots with little pom-poms hanging off of them, dark skinny jeans tucked into her boots and a grey, oversized jacket over a red novelty T-Shirt.

"So, I assume you work with some kind of detective agency seeing as we're walking to a dead body right now." She grinned at him.

"Yeah, the Lightman Group, we…uh…I'm not sure how I would describe it." He paused for a second. "We can tell if you're lying, or if you have a secret or…if you killed someone."

"Aren't those all the same thing?" she asked, while continuing to grin.

"Maybe." He shrugged as they reached the middle of the road, right there in the middle of chaos was a young girl, but it was all wrong. She was dead, definitely, but shouldn't she have had some blood on her clothes? Or at least had something bruised or torn? She was too clean, her clothes seemed brand new, her hair was spread out like a halo of ginger, and her face was like a porcelain doll, it was all wrong.

"Well?" Cal looked at Amelia. "What'dya think?"

"There's something wrong, it's all too clean, like she's just sleeping." She drew her brows together but Cal could see it wasn't in disgust or sadness, it was in confusion, fascination, things he might see in an FBI Agent, or maybe a CIA, but not an average twenty year old girl.

"Good." He praised her observation. "This is Gillian Foster, I'm Cal Lightman." He said as Gillian came into view.

"Cal, what's going on?" she said with a worried expression.

"This is Peters; she's an old friend of Loker's." Gillian shook Amelia's hand.

"It's nice to meet you." She said sincerely, but then turned to Cal with anger in her voice. "It was a stretch to bring Loker, but for you to bring a random girl? The Agents are not going to like this." She said lowly so Amelia couldn't hear her.

"Yeah, well the Agents should let me do it how I want to, and if that means bringing a girl I met five minutes ago then let me do it my way."

"Dr. Lightman?" a man in a suit walked over to them. "How many of you are coming?" he took into account the young girl and untidy looking guy.

"Just us." He said and walked over to the people surrounding the body.

"Isn't he supposed to, I don't know; take a look at the body?" Amelia whispered to Loker.

"It's the people that are alive that really matter, their facial expressions. The FBI will handle the body." Amelia nodded and looked over to the "Too Clean" girl; she was wearing a long black dress that was like it was ironed for the occasion of her death.

They never did find out who killed her, or why. But Cal was impressed by Amelia's observation skills and the impression she left on people, it could be useful. So he offered her a job in the Lightman Group which she gladly accepted, Loker was happy he would be able to work beside his childhood friend once more.

"I guess you'll never get rid of me, eh, Joker?" he grinned at his old nickname.

"I guess you're right." They laughed with each other, never aware of the lurking man with a camera in the shadows, stalking their every move.

Now (Three years later)…

A blonde head sat by her desk, listening to Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon in her ear buds. She was taking down the facial expressions of a senator from South Dakota; he was obviously having an affair with his secretary, even someone with little training like her could see that. But she had to think about whether or not that was important. Cal had wanted everything she could find, but she was pretty sure this was just another test. Maybe she would play a trick on Cal?

Some voices from the hallways drew her out of her thoughts. She slowly pulled her ear buds off. Cal and Gillian were walking, talking about something she couldn't quite catch.

"Hey," her best friend and co-worker jogged into the room. He looked like he hadn't slept last night. "Did I leave the Blinking experiment thing with you?" he panted, he had probably had to run.

"Uh, yeah…" she searched her cluttered desk for the folder.

"You should clear off your desk." He said.

"You should stop getting drunk all night." She grinned.

"Touché." He smiled. She was really coming along with the whole observing thing.

"Found it!" she cheered and handed him a folder. He started to walk out of the room. "Ah, wait!"

"What?"

"You're giving that to Lightman, right?" she took the paper she just finished about the senator. "Well I should bring him this."

They walked out of the room and up to Cal and Gillian. "Here's the analysis for the Blinking experiment." Loker said as he handed Gillian the folder.

"You just getting in, Loker?" Gillian took into account the untidy mess he was.

"Yeah, I got piss-drunk last night with my roommate, and I was just lying in bed this morning thinking about how nasty hot Nancy Grace is, and just trying to decide if I was gonna come in at all 'cause it's not like there's anyone here to fantasize about." He admitted.

"No offense taken." She said sarcastically.

"Have to disagree with you there, Foster." Peters looked up at her friend. "I'm a little offended."

"I don't go for married women…" then looked over to the short blonde glaring up at him. "Or childhood friends."

Peters just scoffed. They walked off as Gillian entered Cal's office. "I'm still hot, you know?"

"I'm surprised you want me to fantasize about you." He said in an amused voice as he sat down beside her desk.

"It's not that, I just think that if you have no hot girls to fantasize about, I should at least come to mind."

"I didn't say you didn't come to mind, I just don't really go for little girls." He shrugged.

"I'm not a little girl; I'm only a couple years younger than you!" she sounded offended, which made Loker that much more amused.

"You certainly look like your twelve."

"How dare you!" she huffed and plopped down into her chair, turning her head so she wouldn't have to look at him.

"Oh come on." Loker laughed and looked at her. "You know I was kidding."

"What about your radical honesty?" she mumbled.

"I never said I couldn't make a joke."

"And that's why I call you Joker." She grinned. Then her head bent down to look at the papers in front of her.

"I'm going to the case at the school; can you guys watch everything here?" Gillian asked when she came into the room.

"Sure, I guess." Peters said.

It was awhile until they got back, the school counselor called and Loker had picked up. They saw Gillian get back and walked towards her, Peters followed Loker because she was completely bored. Having been cramped up inside the office all day, she was a little tired.

"I just had a long conversation with the school guidance counselor. The girl whose breathing you said was fast and shallow; Jacquelyn Mathis has had three appointments with the school nurse in the past two weeks. Guidance counselor said typically that could be about drugs or an STD. You know, gonorrhea, clap, crabs, uh..." Loker figured Gillian got the picture.

"Find out if Jacquelyn Mathis had any connection to James Cole outside of school. And follow up with the nurse."

"Okay." Peters said as her and Loker walked off to a separate room to do what she asked.

"Well I'm bored." Peters said when they sat down in the break room after completing their task.

"What do you mean?" he sat across from her and she bent her head as far back as it could go without snapping. Loker looked up at her, only to see her neck. He swallowed and quickly looked away.

"I mean I'm bored! There's nothing to do here, and this case is obviously going to be boring. Why can't they hire someone who has fun?" she whined.

"None taken..." Loker looked at the book in his hands.

"Hmm?" she said and pulled her head back up.

"Sorry, I assumed you would say 'No offense' my bad." he glanced up at her and a smile suddenly appeared on her face. Oh how he wished she wouldn't smile at him like that when he was already trying to get the thought of her neck out of his mind.

"Fine, you're probably the most fun here." She laughed and then laid her head down on the table.

"You really are bored, aren't you?" he raised an eyebrow.

She only nodded when a girl walked in with Cal. "Oh, hello." She said when she looked back and forth between the girl and Cal, hoping he would introduce them.

"I would like to sleep with you." Loker said seriously to the Hispanic girl. Peters' head slunk down as she barely contained her laughter.

"Eli Loker and Amelia Peters, Ria Torres. Loker's harmless. Just always speaks the truth about what's on his mind. What do you call it again?"

"Radical honesty." Eli explained.

"You'll get used to it." Peters said. "Maybe…" she said doubtfully, earning a look from Loker.

"Well, they'll get you started on learning our facial coding system." Cal said before walking out.

"I have no chance with you. No…uh…Do I have a chance with you?" Loker asked Ria.

Peters wished she could tell herself" "I can't believe he's talking like that when I'm right here, has he no shame?" But then again, it was Loker; of course he had no shame.

"You always tell the truth?" Ria asked him.

"Always." He replied.

"How good are you in bed?"

"Fair."

"Fair is better than most." Loker smiled at her. Peters just rolled her eyes.

"Well…" Peters drew them back into reality. "Let's get started." She bit back a smirk and didn't make eye contact; of course Loker and Ria both knew she was trying her hardest not to laugh.

"Yep." Loker got up and walked over to the machine. They ran everything pasts her and Ria kept making some kind of look between Peters and Loker.

After they were done, Loker went to the other room to get something, leaving Ria and Peters in a room alone together.

"So, are you two going out, or something?" Ria asked. Her face was filled with concern, probably because it might have seemed like her and Loker flirted right in front of his girlfriend.

"Oh, God no!" Peters laughed. "No...No… no, we're just friends. We grew up together, and it is so not like that." She did a nervous laugh and tried to stress that Ria was free to date anyone she pleased.

"Because I didn't mean to…"

"Its fine, you guys can go out, or whatever. Like I said, just friends." She looked Ria straight in the eyes so Ria could read her face and know she wasn't lying to her.

"Alright…because I would have felt awful if I had said something like that in front of you, if you were dating."

"Nope, totally single…" she paused. Ria could see the bit of sadness. "I mean, it's not like I'm searching or anything, I just haven't really gone on a date in months and it's kind of pissing me off."

"I have some friends." Ria offered.

"Oh, no, really it's fine, I'll just go to a bar or something and get hit on by idiots that are drunk enough to think they have a chance, that always cheers me up."

"That actually sounds kind of fun." Ria sounded surprised.

"Want to come?" Peters grinned.

"Sure."

"Alright, I'll text you when." They exchanged phone numbers and Loker came back.

"Hey, Lightman wants us."

"Okay." Peters nodded.

They made their way to Cal's office. When they walked in, the wall always comes as a shock to you. "Have I ever mentioned that your office looks like it belongs to a serial killer?" Eli said when he looked at the faces on the wall.

"Several times." Cal told him.

"PD is running background checks on both the parents and trying to confirm their whereabouts the night of the murder. As for the girl that was so anxious- Jacquelyn Mathis, no connection to James Cole outside of school." Peters explained

"But we do know why she might have been anxious. School nurse insinuated that Jacquelyn is pregnant." Loker finished.

"Pregnant. Not what a father in my shoes wants to hear. I got to go. I have Emily, and her boyfriend's coming over." He got up.

"You worry too much. You do. You worry. You're a worrier. You don't even know if they talked about having sex." Gillian tried to reason with him.

"He's taking her to a fancy restaurant."

"Emily's a smart girl, you should trust her."

"Her mother's a smart girl too, I trusted her." Peters sighed, there was so much going on but she still had that nagging feeling of boredom.

Loker saw Peters walking out the door, he jogged over to her. "What are you doing?"

"What does it look like?" she said and breathed in the fresh air.

"It looks like you're leaving early."

"No, I just need something to do, I'll come back."

"If you're leaving then it's not fair for me to still be here." He walked beside her.

"Alright." That was all she said before she closed her eyes. "I'm blind so you have to be my eyes, okay?" she opened one eye to look at his face.

"Okay…" he said hesitantly. "But you're such a klutz with your eyes open, I can't imagine what you would be like if you went blind."

"Shut up." She said with a smile. She closed her eyes again and continued walking. "I'm relying on you so you better not let me down." she knitted her brows without opening her eyes. There was silence which led her to believe he had left. "Joker?"

"Still here." A relieved feeling went through her; she really didn't want to run into anything.

Loker sighed. He looked at his childish childhood friend and smiled. After everything that's happened to her, she could still act like a kid and rely on someone for something. Even if that someone was him, he's let her down before. Her face was straight, she wasn't letting him read her, that had become her special little talent, not letting people know what she was thinking, not letting even Cal see what she felt. But then, she only used that talent if she really had to, so she must be thinking something she really didn't want him knowing. That thought irritated him and he decided not to let her know she was about to walk into a fire hydrant.

Peters hit her shin on the red fire hydrant and a sudden jolt of pain went through her. She yelled curse words, mostly directed at the guilty but also amused Loker, others at the inanimate object she had just hit with her shin, then she tried to kick it but that just made things worse and she stubbed her toe.

Loker tried, but failed at holding back his laugh. He stood there laughing like a maniac as she hopped around on one foot, screaming bloody murder and attracting the attention of pedestrians. She eventually smacked Loker over the head, which he could have not let her seeing as he was six inches taller, but he did feel he deserved it and welcomed the burning sensation on the side of his head.

"I can't believe you." She muttered as they walked down the street.

"What were you thinking?" he said.

"What?"

"When you don't want me to know what you're thinking, you put on a straight face. You keep it up really well, so props. But what were you thinking?"

"If I didn't want you to know, why would I tell you now?" she looked at him, her light eyes seemed to know everything, no matter how hard he tried to hide it. That worried him, she might find out that he checks her out and hit him again.

"Because I'm your friend and you tell me everything." He looked away from her so her gaze didn't pierce him anymore, but he still felt her eyes on him.

"I don't tell you everything." She muttered, causing his head to whip around.

"What don't you tell me?"

"Why would I tell you now?" she smiled and he looked back down to the ground.

They walked in silence for a little while until she said she was hungry and they stopped at a hot dog vendor.

How do you like it? Is it good? Bad? Maybe a bit of both? please review and tell me what you think! Also, if you see any typos or mistakes please tell me! (: Thank you.