This is my first Cold Case story, and I'm pretty nervous about it. Hopefully it's up to par.

Disclaimer: As desperately as I want to own something, anything, of Cold Case, it hasn't happened yet.

ONE

Lilly got off the elevator and headed into the bullpen, stopping only to park her gun in her locker and take off her coat. She paused quizzically when she saw the state of the office, though, which was surprisingly…empty.

The usual hustle and bustle of the bullpen was absent, as were most of the detectives that worked there. She didn't see hide or tail of the Cold Case squad anywhere, which was a surprise; it was early morning Monday, after all, and since she hadn't been told there was a case, her coworkers couldn't all be out on interviews.

"Lil!"

Turning, she found Stillman waving to her. "Hey, Boss, where is everyone?"

"Break room," he explained. "Come on."

Lilly slowly took off her gloves and followed him. "Yeah, but where's everyone else? Not just the Cold Case squad?"

Stillman gave her an amused look. "Haven't you had a look around the office recently? It's Christmas week."

"They all went home?" Lilly asked, surprised. "For the entire week?"

"It is an important holiday," Stillman reminded her, grinning. "Of course, there're a few detectives stuck with desk duty for a few days, and they're rotating that, but it's been pretty quiet in Philly so far. No need to have all the detectives in."

"Oh." She brushed some hair out of her face and asked, "And why are we all in the break room?"

The door popped open, and Scotty came stumbling out into the hall, an indignant look on his face. "Damn it, man, I told you this shirt was new!"

Vera's laugh echoed from the break room. "Hey, you snooze, you lose, Valens."

Scotty cursed again and glanced aghast at the chocolate stain smeared down the entire front of his shirt. "Damn him!" He looked up and noticed them for the first time, his expression suddenly sheepish. "Hey, Boss…Lil. Didn't, uh, didn't see you there."

"Clearly," Lilly replied, grinning a little at his distraught expression. "What's going on?"

"Christmas celebration," Stillman explained, eyes twinkling. "I figured I'd give the squad some fun since we haven't gotten any cases."

"And that entails…?" Lilly prompted, glancing into the break room.

Well. It seemed like they'd already put in a real effort to make it a true Christmas celebration. Sure, for a few days, the break room had been decorated half-heartedly in faded streamers and a sad-looking Christmas tree, but between Vera, Scotty, and Miller, the three of them seemed to have brightened up the place. It was now festooned with brightly colored banners and confetti. On the table, three boxes of donuts were open and half-devoured. A glazed donut with its icing wiped off explained what had happened to Scotty's shirt.

"Wow," Lilly said. "Who's cleaning this up?"

"Don't you know how to have fun, Rush?" Vera grumped. "Just got here, and you're already making me think about who's got to clean all this crap up."

"We're drawin' straws," Scotty muttered from behind Lilly. "At least, that's what Boss says, but I sure as hell ain't cleanin' up this stuff. Half the mess is Vera's fault anyway."

Vera shrugged. "What? I'm getting into the Christmas spirit." He picked up a donut and took a huge bite to demonstrate just how into the Christmas spirit he was.

"That was mine," Miller snapped, her expression quickly morphing from a little smile to fury.

Vera stopped munching on it long enough to make a show of looking at it. "What? It doesn't have your name on it, as far as I can see."

"It's chocolate twirl," Miller growled, as if that explained everything.

"Yeah," Vera chuckled, taking another bite, "and I'm gonna enjoy it."

Watching Miller shoot daggers at Vera and mutter under her breath about how she was going to have her revenge one way or another, Lilly leaned back and asked, "So, what happened to your shirt?"

Scotty glanced down and groaned. "That dumbass happened."

"Let me guess," Lilly said slowly, "you fought. Over a donut."

Scotty glanced at her a little sheepishly. "Yeah. We might've."

Lilly grinned. "Of all the stupid things to fight over, you went for a donut?"

Scotty just shrugged instead of arguing. "Yeah, I know better than that now. Those two are a buncha vultures over donuts. I wouldn't touch 'em if I were you."

Lilly's grin widened. Maybe it was because of the Christmas spirit supposedly going around, but she was feeling unusually flippant. "I learned that lesson a long time ago, Valens."

"Hey, Lil," Kat greeted, shooting a last glare at Vera before nodding to her friend. "You seen Jeffries out there?"

"He's not in yet?" Lilly asked.

"He's not coming," Stillman said from behind them all. "He's come down with something and decided to stay home. Didn't want to spread it around."

"Flu sucks," Vera said, licking his fingers.

"You would know," Kat griped, shooting him a fierce glare again. "Who was the dumbass who gave me the virus a couple of weeks back?"

"Hey, it was an accident," Vera protested. "How was I supposed to know I was sick?"

"Oh, besides the fact that you looked like Rudolph and you could barely walk straight?" Scotty put in, pouring himself some coffee. He took Lilly's mug from her and poured her some too.

"Oh right," Kat mocked, "that's what you're like everyday. Sorry."

"Calm down, guys," Stillman said, snagging himself a donut from the box. "It's Christmas week. Since we haven't got any cases, I want you all to take the week off." Shooting Lilly a stern look, he added, "And before you ask, I'm not budging on that. You all deserve the rest. We did good this year, solved a lot of cases, and you should all be with whoever on Christmas. So that's final."

Vera grinned, thinking of the TV and sleep he'd have in the week to come. Not to mention the boxes of donuts that would be all his. No fighting over them, no more of that. Not for a whole, blessed week.

Kat could hardly contain her smile, looking forward to the time she'd get to spend with Veronica, uninterrupted time if she was reading Boss right. He probably wouldn't call them on any cases, which meant she wouldn't have to go rushing off in the night to corner some stupid suspect dumb enough to get himself caught on Christmas week, for crying out loud. Grinning, she took another donut from the box, glaring at Vera when she remembered that he'd taken one of her precious chocolate twirls.

"Finally," Vera muttered. "I'm gonna eat donuts 'til I'm fat."

"Too late for that," Kat said dryly.

"Hey, least I got plans," Vera shot back.

"Veronica and I have plans too," Miller said. "I think I'm gonna take her on a trip or somethin' now that we have the whole week off."

"Don't go too far," Stillman warned. "I said you get the week off, but I'm not promising anything. We might have a case, we might not."

His words did little to dampen Miller's spirit, though, as she went off about maybe visiting some ski places in Colorado. Vera rolled his eyes and interjected his snarky comments here and there, still chewing on his donut. In the midst of it all, Lilly sighed. A whole week off. She should probably be grateful, even happy. Seven whole days of not dealing with murder and heartbreak and the scum of the earth. Seven days to just rest. But like every other time Boss gave them time off, she found that she had nothing to do. No plans, nobody to meet, no one to spend time with. She sighed.

"What're you gonna do?"

"What?" It took her a moment to refocus on Scotty. He was glancing over at her, sipping coffee from his mug.

"I asked you what you were gonna do for Christmas break."

"Oh." She shrugged. "I don't have any plans."

"No one to see?"

Lilly leveled a deadpan look at him. Really? He'd known her for years, and he could still ask her that?

He caught the ice in her eyes immediately. "Sorry," he said, chagrined, "I didn't mean that. I mean, any relatives? You've got to have a cousin here or somethin'."

"No one," Lilly answered quietly. Of course. As usual. She hadn't expected to spend Christmas with anyone anyway. It had been that way for years upon years now. So why did she feel a little disappointed every time?

"Oh. Sorry."

He didn't understand. She knew he wouldn't. He'd never understood what she meant by having no one. Somewhere in there, she knew he thought that she was exaggerating, that she had some distant relatives that she just didn't keep up with much. He thought that even though she'd stressed just how bad she'd had it as a kid, there would still be someone out there she could share with. Spend time with. Be open with. With that big Cuban family of his that spent time together practically every week, he probably never imagined that when she said she had no one, she meant she had no one.

Turning the conversation on him, Lilly asked lightly, "How about you? You got any big plans, Valens?"

He shrugged. "Nothin' big. Just spendin' time with my family like every other year."

"Big family?" Lilly asked, wondering why she was even prying. For the sake of conversation, she guessed.

He grinned. "You have no idea. Cousins, aunts, uncles, nephews…it's a nightmare."

"That's…nice." She hoped he wouldn't catch the wistfulness that was barely there in her voice. By the way he turned away slightly at whatever the hell Miller and Vera were up to, he didn't.

They continued to joke around for a while until Scotty's phone rang. Flipping it open, he answered, the trace of a grin still on his lips.

"So you got any plans, Boss?" Lilly asked, crossing her arms and leaning into the counter.

"Like anyone else, I think," Stillman answered. "I'm going to spend it with my daughter."

Lilly nodded, smiling. "Say hello for me."

Stillman nodded. "I know. I will." He hesitated before asking, "Nothing to do this year either, Lil?"

She'd known him long enough that she didn't have to answer. He sighed. "I know you think you don't need time off, but it's good for you, Lil. It is. I'm ordering you to stay away from the office, understand?"

Sighing, Lilly nodded. She'd agreed, but that didn't mean she had to like it. She thought of the empty days ahead and blew out a breath.

She glanced over at Scotty, about to ask him something, but the expression on his face choked back her words. All the color had bled out of his face, and he was clutching the phone with a half-incredulous, half-panicked look on his face.

"Scotty?" she asked lowly, stepping toward him. "Something wrong?"

He held up an impatient hand, clearly listening hard to whoever was on the other side. "Yeah…yeah, I heard you. Yeah, I'm free. I'll be there in ten."

He snapped the phone closed and hurried for the door.

"What's wrong, Scotty?" Stillman asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Family emergency," Scotty answered tightly, running a hand through his hair in agitation. He took a breath before letting it out in a whoosh. "My cousin's been shot."

That sucked all the festivity out of the room in a split second. All of them started up and toward him quickly, questions bubbling on their lips.

Scotty shook his head impatiently and held up a hand. "Not now. I gotta get to the hospital."

He swept out of the bullpen quickly and was gone before any of them could do more than gape after him.

"Well," Miller said eventually, her half-eaten donut forgotten in her hands. "I think it's a moot point to try to celebrate anymore. I'm goin' home to Veronica."

"I'm headin' home too," Vera muttered. "There's nothin' to do here anyway."

They both headed for the elevator, but Stillman's voice caught them. "Hey you two, you really aren't going to leave the break room looking like that, are you?"

Both of them froze, and Vera griped, "Crap. Boss…"

They were obviously eager to go catch up on whatever holiday cheer they could find at home. Lilly sighed. "You two go on. I'll clean it up."

Kat shot her a grateful look. "You sure, Lil? I mean, you didn't even do anythin' in there."

Lilly smiled and shrugged. "It's fine. I don't have anything to do anyway."

"If you're sure," Kat said, sounding reluctant. She turned to catch the elevator with Vera, who'd already bolted when Lilly volunteered.

"Well, that isn't fair," Stillman observed.

Lilly smiled at him. "I don't have anything to do, Boss. This will take up some time."

Stillman nodded to her. "If you don't mind, Lil, I think I'll be heading off too. I've got to see my daughter."

"Sure thing, Boss."

"Good." He smiled gratefully and touched her shoulder. "Merry Christmas. Take the time off, okay?"

"I know." For a moment, Lilly allowed herself to lean into his touch, his affection, but the moment was over almost instantly. He pulled away, pulled on his coat, and left the bullpen. With a sigh, Lilly headed back into the break room.

It took her a little over an hour to clean up the mess the squad had left. She cleaned up the confetti and a few of the low-hanging banners but left the other streamers and the Christmas tree where they were. When she was done, she collected her gun and coat before stepping into the elevator.

Outside, she slipped on her gloves and wrapped the scarf around her neck. Despite the coat, she was still shivering a little when she stepped out onto the snow-covered streets of Philadelphia.

For a long moment, she debated her options. The most obvious one was to head home, maybe spend a few hours surfing the channels on her mostly-unused TV, cuddle with her cats. For some reason, though, she wasn't that interested in going home. More than anything, it would remind her that she had no one to spend her Christmas with, no one to come home to. She could head back inside, of course, maybe dig up a case or two, finish up paperwork. But the thought of sitting in the empty bullpen filling out reports in silence was a little too lonely.

Well, she could always wander the streets. Philadelphia's streets were well-coated in snow and decorations here and there made it truly festive. Maybe a walk would do her some good—and take up some time.

Leaving her car locked, she tucked her hands in her pockets and strode off down the street. It was cold, but walking warmed her up, and soon, she was glancing in a few shops along the way. Christmas decorations were inescapable, and sometimes, she felt almost festive. More often than not, however, she watched all the celebrations and felt a wave of bitterness wash through her. Christmas. A tree, a couple of presents, hot chocolate…was that so hard? So hard that her mother couldn't stay sober for more than a couple days to fix up for her girls?

With a sigh, Lilly brushed away the feelings and the memories, just content to slog along through the snow. At least it gave her something to do.

Eventually, she stopped, tired of wandering. She glanced up to get her bearings and was surprised to find that she'd stopped in front of the hospital.

The hospital. She wondered if Scotty was still inside. Of course he must have been. It had been only two hours since he'd gotten the call, and if there was anything Lilly had learned about her partner, it was that he didn't leave someone in the hospital without being forced to. She figured he'd be even more adamant to stay if it was family.

For a long moment, Lilly toyed with the idea of going inside to check up on him. She wasn't related—hell, she didn't even know the name of the patient—so she probably wouldn't be able to get to his room anyway. But she didn't have anything better to do. She remembered Scotty's deathly pale face from that morning and felt a sudden urge to make sure he was alright.

She crossed the street and entered the warmth of the hospital. It was all a flurry of activity in the building, even this close to the holidays. Probably because of the holidays, even. She reached the receptionist and hesitated.

"Can I help you?" the woman behind the desk asked, sounding bored.

"Yes, I was looking for…" For who? Valens? What if his last name wasn't even Valens? Lilly gave the receptionist a slightly helpless look. "Well, this morning my friend came in and…well, his cousin's here."

"Name?" the receptionist asked impatiently.

"I…uh…well…"

The woman sighed. "Listen, ma'am, I'm gonna need a name to tell you where to go. I'm kind of in a hurry, so if you could tell me?"

This was a bad idea. She had no idea what she was doing here, really. Lilly nodded her head, tried a smile, and backed away. "Never mind. It's okay. I'll just—"

"Lil?"

She whirled at the familiar voice. "Scotty! Thank God."

He closed the distance between them quickly. "What are you doin' here?"

"I was just…" Well, what was she doing here? She had no idea what his cousin's name was, let alone who he was. She should be home, feeding her cats and maybe curling up with some old case files. But a look at Scotty's haggard expression reminded her of why she'd come.

"I wanted to see if everything was okay," she said hesitantly. "If it's trouble, I'll just go."

But he didn't seem bothered. He seemed relieved almost, maybe even grateful. "Thanks, Lil. Means a lot that you're here."

"How's your cousin?" she asked, taking off her gloves.

A shadow crossed Scotty's face. "He's…doin' alright. I'll walk you to his room."

Lilly fell in step next to him. "What happened?"

Scotty shrugged. "They don't know. He hasn't woken up yet, and he was alone when it happened. Pamela—his wife—found him in their house, just barely alive." His jaw clenched, and muscles twitched.

They walked the rest of the way in silence. They went up a couple of flights of stairs and stopped outside room 414.

At the sound of talking and movement inside, Lilly paused, suddenly alarmed. She'd assumed that Scotty had come alone, but it was obvious that he hadn't. She really didn't want to meet his family, especially if there were as many of them as he'd implied. What would she say? That she was his partner from work? His friend? She'd always dreaded meeting the families of her friends or even her boyfriends. She'd only ever met with Ray and Patrick's families. Ray, because she'd practically grown up with him. Patrick, because how could she get married to someone without meeting the parents first?

"Lil?" Scotty said by her side, his hand on the doorknob. "You comin'?"

Lilly hesitated. "I think I might stay out here."

Scotty's brow furrowed in confusion. "You came all the way to the hospital to sit outside my cousin's room?"

"Yeah," she said, stepping back. "I just wanted to see if you needed anything." Her eyes darted to the door and back to his face.

Somehow, he knew exactly what she was backing away from. He released the doorknob and sighed. "Lil, if this is about everyone inside…"

Damn. How did he do that? Granted, they'd been partners for years, but how could he guess her fears so easily?

Lilly waved a dismissive hand. "It's not that. It's okay, I'll just sit out here."

Scotty snorted. "That's bull. Come inside. I promise they don't bite."

"I…" How could she explain her hesitance? She wasn't afraid of them biting; how could a family that raised Scotty be cruel? She was just nervous. Worried she wouldn't be liked. Worried she wouldn't know how to act. How did one act with family? The only way she'd ever known how to act was to clean up after any mess that was made. She'd only very rarely actually talked with her mother, or with Christina for that matter.

Scotty didn't give her much choice, in the end. He grabbed her elbow and pushed her in front of him. "There's nothin' to be scared of. Come on."

"Scotty—" she protested, but it was too late. He'd slid the door open, revealing a roomful of relatives. It was so packed in there that Lilly felt claustrophobic instantly. There must have been twenty people at least in the small hospital room, which made breathing a little difficult. Or maybe that was just the small panic attack she was going through.

"Hey, guys," Scotty said quietly, closing the door behind them.

All of them quieted as they eyed the new arrivals. Lilly shifted uncomfortably under their scrutinizing stares, and she backed up unconsciously, stepping into Scotty. His hands were on her shoulders, steadying her, and she felt marginally better.

"Quien es ella?" someone asked. The Spanish escalated Lilly's alarm. Good God, if she couldn't converse with a family in English, how the hell was she going to do it in another language?

"Una amiga," Scotty replied, his hands still on Lilly's shoulders.

"What?" Lilly whispered, feeling more and more lost.

"She asked who you were," Scotty explained. "I told her you were a friend."

One of the women came forward and took Lilly's hands. She was so surprised that she froze, wondering what the hell she was supposed to do and if the woman spoke any English at all.

"This is Patricia, my cousin," Scotty said helpfully from behind her.

"I can introduce myself," Patricia said, scowling at him. She spoke English near perfectly, with only the trace of an accent. Thank God for that.

"Nice to meet you," Lilly said weakly. "My name is Lilly Rush." By force of habit, she almost added homicide but caught herself in time.

"So why are you here, Lilly?" Patricia asked. "Are you Scotty's novia?"

Lilly glanced helplessly back at Scotty, only to find that he was hiding a smile. Puzzled, she turned back to Patricia. "Excuse me?"

"She likes to tease," Scotty cut in. "It's nothing."

Was she imagining it, or was that a tinge of pink on Scotty's cheeks? Holy crap, what the hell had this Patricia said?

"I said—" Patricia started, but Scotty lunged forward to grab her arm. Lilly glanced at him in confusion, but he didn't look at her.

"How's Enrique?" he interrupted.

Another woman came forward, a sad smile on her face. Lilly was surprised to find that she was Caucasian and blond, like she was. In the room of tanned faces, she clearly stood out. "He hasn't woken up. The doctors don't know when that may happen."

"This is Pamela," Scotty introduced. "Enrique's wife."

"Wife?" Lilly repeated.

Pamela nodded, taking Lilly's hands in her trembling ones. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Pam, this is Lilly Rush, my partner," Scotty said.

"Partner," Lilly reemphasized, beginning to realize that some of his family might misunderstand if he suddenly showed up with an unknown woman. "At work."

"Only?" Patricia purred from behind them.

"Patricia," another voice said sternly. The man stepped forward, his back bent by age and his face wrinkled but proud. "Now is not the time for that." His English was heavily accented but understandable. Slowly, he shuffled forward and extended his large hand. "My name is Ramiro. I am Scotty's father."

Ramiro. Right. She'd heard Scotty mention him in passing maybe once. Lilly took his hand a bit shyly, noticing the heavy calluses on the man's palm.

Scotty's father stepped past her and shot off a question to Scotty in Spanish. Her partner answered in Spanish just as rapid, and Lilly gave up trying to figure out whatever they were saying. Instead, she took a step closer to the hospital bed, trying to get a good look at Scotty's cousin. Enrique was tucked carefully under the covers, breathing steadily. The heartbeat monitor beeped steadily and healthily, but he looked anything but alright. His face was pale, probably from loss of blood, and he was frowning. When she looked closer, Lilly could see many of Scotty's features in his cousin's face, from the high brow to the dark, dark hair.

"Doctors say he's better than he looks."

Lilly turned to find Pam beside her. The rest of the family were either reclining nearby or talking quietly amongst themselves, and Scotty was still whispering something to his father. It didn't look like she'd be getting any help on what to say.

"I'm sure he is," Lilly said eventually. She didn't sound very convincing, though, even to her own ears.

Pam managed a brave smile. "He's been through a lot. I'm sure he'll be fine."

After a moment of hesitation, Lilly asked quietly, "If you don't mind me asking, where was he shot?"

"In the house," Pam said.

Lilly smiled a little. "I meant, where on his body?"

"Oh. His left chest, a few inches above his heart." She shuddered a little when she said it, and her eyes were glued onto his chest.

Lilly didn't know what else to say. She'd never been much good at addressing grief from someone else; she was much more used to addressing grief from within herself. Some pain that she was feeling, she simply shut it off, walled it away. But someone else? She had no idea what to say or do. After a moment, she took a step back from the bedside and shot a helpless look at Scotty.

He came forward, a small smile tugging at his lips. "I'm glad you're here."

"You didn't warn me it would be a family reunion," Lilly griped at him, but with his cousin lying a couple of feet away in the hospital bed, she didn't have the heart to put much venom into her words.

His smile widened. "Sorry. Didn't think it would matter."

"He's going to be okay?" Lilly asked, glancing at the bed. "He looks awful."

The smile faded instantly. "Yeah, doctors have a pretty optimistic prognosis." He clenched his jaw and then relaxed it with a sigh. "They'd better catch the bastards who did this."

Lilly grinned slightly. "Didn't think you'd take this one lying down. You're going to let someone else deal with this?"

Scotty snorted. "Like hell. I'll look into it. But we're homicide, so I gotta do it on my own time."

There was pain in his eyes, pain that was deep and probably long-lasting. Lilly searched his gaze, wondering where all the anguish was coming from. This was a different pain than grief—she'd know. It was more like the pain she'd seen in Scotty's eyes those weeks after Elisa had been found in the river. More like the pain she'd sometimes seen in his gaze when he looked at her in the weeks after she'd been shot. His own pain.

Slowly, hesitantly, she reached out and touched his arm. Lilly could name all the times she'd touched her partner in under ten seconds, so it was awkward feeling his warm skin beneath her fingers. But after her mother had died and after she'd been shot, his light touch had brought some measure of comfort. She hoped it did the same for him, even if she had little idea of what he was hurting from.

He shot her a surprised but grateful glance before reaching up and grabbing her hand. Lilly froze instantly, but he pulled her closer, holding their hands between them.

"Scotty?" she asked softly.

"It's nothin'," he answered roughly. "It's just…I need to catch these bastards."

After a long moment, Lilly offered, still highly conscious of their touching hands, "I haven't got anything to do this week. Boss said he won't let me come back to the office. So…if you want, I'll take a look at the case for you."

Judging by the way he looked at her in surprise and squeezed her fingers with a slight, pained grin, it was the right thing to say.

"You don't mind?" he asked.

"Of course not," she answered lightly. "I wouldn't be doing anything anyway."

She'd expected that to make his grin a little brighter. Instead, it had the opposite effect, and his lips slipped into a frown.

"Scotty?" she asked, genuine concern bleeding into her voice.

He turned away, letting go of her hand. "Nah, it's nothin'."

She didn't believe him. After saying "I'm fine" so many times when she wasn't, she could tell when someone was lying about it. But just like Scotty had never pressed her when she said that, she decided to let it slide.

"When you need something," she said instead, grinning at the memories, "just say hey."

His lips turned up in the ghost of a smile at that. "Ain't that my line, Lil?"

"I'm serious," she answered, but her smile didn't support her words.

Before he could answer, a thin, Hispanic woman stepped up next to Lilly. She had dark hair like the rest of Scotty's family, and her eyes were like his, dark and mysterious. Her build was slight and lithe. She looked around Scotty's age, maybe a little younger. She was beautiful.

"Another cousin?" Lilly asked wryly, wondering how many of them they'd crammed into the room.

Scotty shook his head, his eyes lighting up a little. "No, this is Andrea, a family friend. She was Elisa's friend."

There was that telltale flicker of pain in his eyes when he mentioned Elisa, but it was gone almost as instantly as it appeared. Instead, he put on a smile and said something in rapid-fire Spanish. Andrea smiled widely and answered. Feeling out of the loop and intrusive, Lilly took a step back.

The two of them continued their conversation before Andrea, to Lilly's shock, threw her arms around Scotty in a close embrace. She was breathing something into his ear now, and Lilly could only stare, wondering if there was a story she didn't know about.

Scotty glanced over and read her stare. He chuckled before clarifying, "There's nothin' goin' on here."

"I didn't ask," Lilly replied, sounding thoroughly unconvinced.

"But you're lookin' at me like that," Scotty said, grinning. "I'm tellin' you, she's a friend. She's also kinda…touchy." He unwound Andrea's arms from his neck and held them in front of him.

Lilly glanced at Andrea for clarification, but Scotty's grin only widened. "She doesn't speak a word of English."

"Wonderful," Lilly muttered. She wondered why on earth she was still in the room. Sure, she'd come to make sure Scotty was alright, and that mission had been accomplished. Now she was ready to get out of the uncomfortable room and home to her cats and to English.

"Go ahead," Scotty said softly, noticing her glance toward the door. "I'll send you the case file and any information I get."

Lilly smiled at him gratefully and, emboldened by the success of her touch earlier, laid a hand on his shoulder. Releasing Andrea's arm, he touched it briefly before nodding toward the door.

"Tell everyone I said bye," Lilly said. "And that I hope Enrique gets better soon."

"Will do," Scotty replied.

With one last look at the man lying still in the bed, Lilly slipped out of the room and left.

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