Goodman Grey sooo has a thing for Harry. At least, according to my theory. And this is basically playing out my theory on Grey, in part.

P.S. I only have Skin Game in audiobook form so far. If I misspell something Dresden-y, that might be why.

(-)

I was staying at the Carpenters' place until I could find myself suitable lodgings in Chicago. Living with the Carpenters and Maggie was the closest home to heaven I could imagine. Micheal seemed to know how much I envied his home life, and he had assured me that I was part of his family as much as Maggie was by now.

It was the early afternoon and I was home alone (barring the angel guardians) due to my injuries from Nicodemus' heist still healing and lack of gainful employment. I needed to work on getting my detective business back on track. As I was moving through the living room, headed upstairs to lie on Mouse's bed and wait for my family to come home, I glanced out the window and had to do a double take.

Goodman Grey was leaning against the light post outside the Carpenters' picket fence. He seemed to sense my gaze because his eyes went from wandering aimlessly to meeting mine through the front window. This just couldn't be good. I sort of liked Grey since he had really pulled through as a mercenary when I hired him, but the revelation of his true nature unsettled me somewhat. And he had only asked a dollar for everything he did for me, which made me curious as to what else he got out of that deal if not diamonds or lots of cash.

I went out the front door after grabbing my staff and putting on my duster, locking the door behind me with my very own house key, and strolled leisurely towards the fence. Grey stood up straight and smiled at me. Those eyes were gleaming and I didn't feel entirely comfortable with the look he was giving me. Something akin to a predatory look while somehow managing to seem genial. It was weird.

"Hi, Grey. Something I can help you with?" I asked, trying to be polite. I'd rather be on good terms with Grey until I had him figured out, if I could help it.

"Just dropped by for a chat. Take a walk with me?" Grey asked in that amiable southern accent.

Since Grey had so far shown no hostile intentions towards me, I decided to risk it. "Sure. Parkour!" I shouted, vaulting easily across the fence. I started walking as I landed, and Grey was in step with me within seconds. "Besides," I said, "I've got a question or two for you."

"Shoot. I was intending to get to know you better on our walk; only fair that you have the same opportunity. Although I'm not sure how you'll feel about me once you know more about me." If I didn't know what a badass he was, I would swear that Grey looked uncertain or nervous.

"Okay. Here's one that's been bugging me since our last adventure: how did you know where Micheal's house was? I never told you; you just took me there."

Grey sighed. "Already we're at the part where it would be much easier if I would just lie to you and tell you that it was in Nicodemus' file on you; I do extensive background on all clients after they hire me. But I came here to tell you the truth."

"And the truth is...?" I prompted.

"Don't freak out, but I was already keeping track of you for quite some time before you hired me."

I felt my eyes bug out of my skull and nervous tension rose in me as fight-or-flight kicked in. A shapeshifting predator, friendly though he may seem, had been keeping tabs on me. That just couldn't be good.

"I knew you'd get upset. Just let me explain." Grey probably easily sensed my change in posture, in heart rate, in perspiration, or a million other little things that could tell him how much that disturbed me.

"Okay. Explain why you would keep tabs on me," I said, trying to make it sound like an invitation rather than a challenge.

"I assume you mean reasons other than you being a notorious troublemaker and Robin-Hood-meets-Rambo figure in the supernatural community and your significance in many power struggles in the Chicago area?"

"Rambo? But, yes, other than that," I said, not sure how to take his comments on me.

"I already told you I knew your mother," Grey began, and I nodded at him. "Well, after you fought my father and not only lived to tell the tale but also gave him a sound whupping if the stories are true, I gained fresh interest in Margaret Le Fay's son. I'd heard about you, of course- who hadn't?- but now you were a whole new kind of interesting."

I stopped in my tracks as he finished speaking. I tried to keep any tremor from my voice as I asked, "So, you're saying that Shagnasty is your dad?"

Grey let out a bark of laughter that rolled into rich chuckles that somehow put me more at ease. "Is that what you call him? Oh that's beautiful. Wish I could have seen his face..."

"Glad I never saw his face ever again. But Senior Council Member Listens-to-Wind is the one who delivered the real smack-down."

Grey nodded, not perturbed at all by my dislike of his father. "I heard that too, but he's a genuine Native American Medicine Man, trained and equipped to handle a Naagloshii like my pa. You were nowhere near powerful enough to challenge him, but you did it anyway, and managed to bloody his nose, so to speak. It's more than most people who are that outclassed manage to do. Hell, surviving is impressive all on its own."

"So you liked that I violently dislike your dad, and this made you keep detailed tabs on me? Because knowing where one of my best friends lives is not in a standard generic file on me. That's a file on Micheal as one of my friends and allies." This talk was proceeding well enough but I was still uneasy; what did all this add up to? What was it that Grey had gotten from our last encounter? And what was he back for now?

"True enough. I guess you might say I've become a dedicated fan."

"Not a stalker?" I asked before I could stop myself.

Far from upsetting him, his lips curved into a half-smirk. "Nope. That would involve following you physically, and I've never done that, barring following you into Hell, I mean, the Underworld."

When I gave him a skeptical look he sighed and rolled those brown-golden eyes before turning them to meet mine. "Look, Dresden, I hate my father with a murderous passion. If I could, I would have killed him centuries ago. He raped my mother and left her to die giving birth to me. He didn't care about me or raise me or even tell me what I was! When I found him, confronted him, and tried to kill him, he laughed and slapped me down like a rambunctious puppy. Told me to come find him in a few centuries once I'd grown up some. And I'm going to hold him to that."

My eyebrows shot up. "Wait, you want my help to kill your dad? Because while I think I'd do better now than when I last met him, I still doubt I'm any match for him. Shagnasty is the kind of monster that monsters have nightmares about."

Grey grinned at my nickname and said, "No, not necessarily here for your help. But I've become convinced that you're someone I would be beyond pleased to call my friend. I can count the number of people I consider friends on two fingers. So I want to get to know you better in person, not rely on some impersonal information in a file."

I stopped walking again to stare at him. His smile now seemed shy, and didn't that look incredibly weird. "Um...that sounds...interesting. I suppose it couldn't hurt to see each other a bit...probably. Do you always do heavy surveillance or information gathering on your potential 'friends' before you approach them?"

That earned me another chuckle and I found that I enjoyed making Grey laugh. Even his laugh was tinged with that southern accent and it somehow made him less threatening and more appealing. "No, you're all kinds of special, Dresden. And technically you approached me first."

"Because Kringle said you were the man for both jobs," I said as a disclaimer. "And I suppose you know that anyone I call 'friend' usually ends up on someone's hit list to threaten me with, right?"

The grin that spread across Grey's face was positively vulpine. "I look forward to the challenge. Even as a mercenary, sometimes life gets too dull."

I laughed at that, and told him, "Be careful what you wish for; I never make that complaint. Stick with me and you'll have plenty of new and sometimes unprecedented opportunities."

"See? All kinds of reasons to like you, Dresden. And I'm not a bad friend to have."

"Sometimes I am, for the aforementioned reasons. But if that's what you're looking for in life, I'm awesome."

"You are what I'm looking for in life," Grey said quietly as his head was turned away from me, watching birds flying overhead. I don't think he really meant me to hear that but I tried to stay calm and not give off physical signals that would alert him to the mental panic his words had set me into. I'm pretty sure I failed since he shot me a questioning look complete with raised eyebrow. "Shoot, I'm talking too much. It isn't usually a problem for me to say what I decide to say and leave it at that. Spending time with you seems to loosen my lips like too much whiskey."

So I hadn't misheard him. That sounded like a more romantic sentiment than friendly one, especially with the low gruff tone it was said in. And my head just wasn't sure what to do with that information. I didn't often get sincere suitors from the non-human side of the street, and I'd never had a male take real interest in me. My intuition told me that Grey wasn't playing an angle or trying to deceive me. I had learned over many dangerous years of my career as a professional wizard to trust my instinct, and hard as I tried to stay on my guard, my instincts didn't peg Grey as a threat anymore. A dangerous predator, yes. But not a danger to me.

We had gone almost around the whole block and I saw that there was the slightest pink tinge to Grey's cheeks. He really hadn't intended me to hear that. "I almost always put people on their guard rather than put them at ease. It's kind of nice to have that opposite effect on someone who doesn't already know me. Although you do know a lot about me. Does it count then?" I wondered aloud. I didn't want Grey feeling uncomfortable with me because I had heard him. I didn't know what the hell to do with that information so there was no use in fretting over it. For now.

"I'd say so. A lot of people who hear relatively accurate accounts of your adventures find you terrifying. Some think you're a benevolent lunatic. Both are technically true but they would be more wary of you than they would warm up to you."

The somewhat hasty defense made me laugh a bit. "You just like being special. Like you need anything from me to have that, ha!"

Grey cocked his head inquiringly at me as we stopped in front of Micheal's house. "How do you mean?"

To my intense dismay, my face felt warm as I replied, "You're a half-Naagloshii who is centuries old, a mercenary that is willing to work an enormous amount for one dollar, and you play nice with mortal wizards who aren't a significant fraction of your age. It's not like people like you are really thick on the ground, Grey."

That brought a genuine grin to Grey's face, toothy and bright with contentment and cheer. It transformed his face and made me forget what he was for a moment. He was just a person.

But then the front door opened and Micheal came out onto the porch, cane in hand. I hadn't noticed his truck in the driveway. "Harry?"

The question was asking if I was alright, if Grey was coercing me, if he needed to intervene. I smiled and waved to him, showing him I was fine and said, "One minute, Micheal!"

Grey smiled at him and turned back to me. "Well, I'd walk you to your door but that would end badly. And I've apparently had you out too late because your father doesn't look pleased with me."

I laughed at that, full-body rolling laughter that made me feel warmer inside. Such a southern gentleman. "So it would seem. But, golly, you aren't supposed to kiss on the first date anyway." It was out of my mouth before I realized how it sounded; I just had my knee-jerk smart-ass reply to the joke.

Grey's face went blank for a moment before he looked vaguely curious, doing the questioning head-tilt that Mouse did so well. When he said nothing, I told him, "That was a joke to reply to your...joke and I wasn't...I'm going to go inside now. I'm pretty sure you know how and where to get in contact with me."

And I hurried into the house without saying anything else. As I approached the porch, Micheal said, "What happened; are you okay? And...Harry, are you blushing?"

"I most certainly am not," I snapped, feeling my face grow warmer. But I was not turning to look back at Gay, I mean Grey, that was for damn sure.

'This is ridiculous,' I thought. 'One walk, one seemingly accidental confession from a man and I turn into a blushing school girl! I am the mighty wizard of the White Council and Knight of Winter Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden!'

'Who used a sweeping spell to fight evil magic scorpions, who saved a building full of cops using a Snoopy doll, who started a war while wearing ducky boxers and covered in his own dried vomit, who killed the Summer Lady because he knew the number to Pizza Spress, who went on the Larry Fowler show and broke all his equipment, who saved a box of puppies from a burning building and ran from flying purple pyromaniac gorillas hurling incendiary poo, who gave pep-talks on how Polka will never die, who fights things like the Bucky-the-Murder-Doll fetch, who took cues in battle from dolphins in the Shedd Aquarium, who put Silly-String on his ear for a spell, who was a drug-dealer to tiny fairies, who as the living spirit of his comatose body impersonated his own ghost, who had a surprise birthday party thrown for him by hordes of monsters, who gets his head real pregnant and doesn't realize until the baby is about due, shall I go on?' rattled off a sarcastic voice in my head.

My inner voice is such a dick. No wonder I piss people off and make them want to kill me. He had a point though; I wasn't all that serious to begin with. Blushing like a schoolgirl should be something I could handle, if not precisely like.

"Harry, what was that about; why was he here?" Micheal asked, closing the front door behind him.

Hell's Bells, what was I supposed to tell Micheal? 'A half-Naagloshii has been pseudo-stalking me and decided he fancies me because I beat up his dad?' That'd go over swell.

"Grey wanted to secure a better working relationship with me. We went on a walk round the block to have a friendly chat," I lied, praying I was skillful enough for Micheal to not ask anymore questions.

"It looked a bit more...intimate than that from where I was standing," Micheal said, one eyebrow raised.

"Pshaw, you must have been watching from the wrong angle then. Grey was just networking for future jobs. My instincts tell me that he's not a threat to me, so I decided to hear him out," I said, affecting a casual shrug and hoping my face wasn't very red anymore.

"Please be careful, Harry. Whatever that creature wants from you, I'm fairly certain it isn't just a 'working relationship.' You told me that he knew where I lived without you telling him," Micheal said gravely.

I did not audibly gulp. "Yeah, I asked him about that. Apparently Nicodemus' file on me had a subsection on you. Makes sense, you being his old enemy and my best friend."

Micheal frowned. "So Nicodemus suspected that I would become involved in his affairs?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. But what he said makes sense to me, though."

Micheal didn't look convinced but he didn't keep pushing. He went into the kitchen and I went into Maggie's room, sitting on Mouse's bed which he had so graciously lent to me for my stay here, provided he could still sleep in it too. Silly dog. I really needed to find my own place. Even if it would mean leaving behind the home I'd always dreamed of, I couldn't inconvenience everyone here for forever.

I wondered where Grey lived. Did he live in Chicago? This thing with him was going to bug me until I could really wrap my mind around it, which I still couldn't at the moment. And I suspected I was going to develop a paranoia of animals who seemed too interested in me. I was actually hoping Grey got in touch soon so I didn't go crazy. Crazier. Whatever.

I decided that Grey was right, he wasn't a bad friend to have. Especially when you've made as many enemies as I have and get into as many fights as I do. If we could even be friends, that would be pretty cool. I hoped my instincts were right about him. I wouldn't want to fight him.

I'm not sure when I drifted off to sleep, but I think my dreams ended up being kind of strange...

(-)

So Grey may be OOC, hard to tell since he's been in one book and pretending to be a bad guy against Harry for a lot of it, but what else is fanfiction for? But let me know what you think about my theories and back story for Grey. Or the story. I plan to do smut later but this is stand-alone for now.