A/N: Anything remotely recognizable belongs to Someone Else. Everything else belongs to me.

She stood up and stretched, blinking the acrid fumes and salty moisture from her eyes. For the fifth time, she measured the liquid. The proportions had to be just right if this was to work. Standing up, she cracked her shoulder and arm joints and sat back down again, this time focusing on untwisting just enough of the cord in front of her to be effective.

"That's it, easy now. You're doing good. You're such a good friend to him. You're doing so well." At the words, she beamed in pride. But her smile turned into a scowl at the warning that followed. "Go easy now. You just want him to suffer as he suffered, to suffer as he wanted him to suffer. Just like him, no physical injuries so nobody can see his suffering. That's what you want."

Oh, how she hated people patronising her. Before she lost her temper and said something she would regret, she decided to do a spot of housework. Readjusting her rolled up sleeves, she went to the cleaning cupboard and pulled out the vacuum cleaner. She plugged it in and turned it on. As always, the gentle hum of the machine relaxed her. Today, she thought. Today is the day I start extricating him from his doom. She'd deliberately chosen today because both of them were rostered off, so he would be easy to find.

Within a short time she had gathered all the debris she needed. Returning to her project, she emptied the vacuum cleaner bag into a shallow bin. Sifting through it, she picked out all the pieces of household rubbish she felt she could use. She packed them into a modified plastic container. When she was satisfied with the weight of it, she packed the rag around it. She placed the whole thing inside a small metal rectangular case. She added a couple of extra items. Just for safety's sake, she thought. Picking up the package, she realised she was unsure of the shape of it. It felt like it would quite unwieldy and maybe wouldn't be the best for accuracy. Accuracy was vital. She'd have only one shot at this when she decided the time was right to attack her victim. She picked at the casing as she thought. Finally she discarded the metal box in favour of a glass cylinder. That would cause even more carnage, she thought with glee. She put the plastic container into it and filled the gaps with strips of rag that had been intertwined with the cord she'd unravelled the end of. She filled the bottle with the liquid and taped it up leaving only enough space for the end of the cord to hang out. Finally, she tested out a cigarette lighter. It worked so she taped it in a position where the flame would ignite the cord.

Upon close inspection, she was satisfied that it would work as planned; injurious but not fatal. She went over her strategy point by point, and decided she was ready to begin. She nodded and muttered, "He won't know where to turn or who to trust. He'll be isolated and alone, just as you were. I will show him his wrong and afterwards you will be free of him."

BB - BB - BB

Jamie Reagan sat alone in his apartment, staring at his kitchen table while toying with his breakfast and pretending to sip his coffee. I'm not looking forward to today's shift at all, he thought. Tiredly, he stood up and dumped his cup and bowl, both still almost full, into the sink.

The Psycho Paper Incident had happened more than a month before. He had been both physically and psychologically cleared to come back to work by an independent medical team, and had been found to be not guilty of any professional misconduct by the Internal Affairs Bureau, yet he still sensed an underlying feeling of mistrust and unease flowing from his fellow officers towards him.

I can count the number of friends I've got down at the Precinct right now on the fingers of one hand. Edie, Mason, Renzulli, Erik, Troy, Julian, he counted under his breath. Okay, two hands, but only just. I wonder who's going to be saddled with me today? Whoever it is, it's going to be one really long day. Thank goodness it's Friday and I've got the weekend off. That's a cause for celebration, I suppose.

Suddenly his face brightened. A celebration! That's just what I need to cheer me up. And if it shows everyone that I've moved on, maybe things will start getting back to normal. Finally.

Leaning against the kitchen bench, he pulled his cell phone out of his jeans pocket and dialled.

"Hey, Danny. How's it going?"

"Really? You called just to check up on me? How nice of you!"

"I know. I can't help it, I was born that way."

"Very funny," Danny said sarcastically.

"I know. I can't help it, I was born that way," Jamie repeated. "Anyway - it's your day off, right?"

"Yeah," Danny confirmed glumly.

"They wouldn't let you swap it so you could go to Sean's shindig, huh?" Jamie said sympathetically.

"So?" Danny snapped.

Jamie bit back a sharp retort. This is supposed to be a celebration and a public display of us moving on from what happened, he reminded himself. "Got any plans for lunch?"

"Well, I was thinking of having fish and chips in New Zealand."

Jamie laughed. "Think you can put it off long enough for a pub meal with your favourite brother?"

"I wasn't aware there were any pubs in the cemetery," Danny quipped.

Jamie snorted. "Ha ha. So, do you want to meet up for lunch or not? I'm paying."

"Are you sure you want to be seen with me? I'm pretty sure that around your Precinct, I'm still seen as not much better than the dirt on your shoe."

"Hey, I don't have any dirt on my shoes," Jamie protested. "So, what do you say?"

"Sure, why not?" Jamie could hear the shrug in his brother's voice. "Just let me know where and when, and I'll be there."

"Okay. I'll text you, so plug your phone in." Jamie refilled his bowl and cup, and hummed as he carried them to the table. A good breakfast was suddenly very desirable. Now that he knew he'd be seeing at least one friendly face in his day, was feeling considerably more cheerful and celebratory.

Danny's mood, however, didn't match Jamie's at all. In fact, even as he put away the phone he let out a groan. On the one hand he was going out to lunch with his baby brother, and he always enjoyed that – especially on his days off. The opportunities for brotherly teasing were just that much more abundant when Jamie was working and he wasn't. And he was getting a free lunch and drinks to boot. Bonus!

On the other hand, he should really stay home. There was so much he should be doing – mowing the lawns, repairing a couple of broken door knobs, and other minor house repairs were at the top of his priority list according to his wife Linda. Not only that, he was beginning to think he was starting to seriously lose his marbles.

The day before yesterday, he'd found his car one space to the left from where he would've sworn on his life that he'd parked it. A few days before that, he'd been forced to use his credit card – a luxury his family could definitely not afford – when he found that he only had four dollars in his wallet, not five. He'd put a twenty dollar bill in his wallet before he left home that morning and, for once in his life, he'd kept a meticulous record of his day's spending. Yet he still came up short. Then last week his coffee cup had teleported from one side of his desk to the other and his pens had done the same. Those three incidents, and more, had taken place at work. Now it was affecting his home life, too.

First of all, he'd written down the wrong date for his son Sean's end of year assembly, or "shindig" as Jamie had flippantly labelled it, and was going to be stuck working a late shift while Sean was receiving a top academic award, his last at this school. Danny still hadn't given up hope of being there, but the odds were looking slimmer by the day. Yesterday morning, he'd found his work car unlocked, something he'd never do, considering the area he lived in and the family he belonged to. It was just too risky. Just now, he'd found his lawnmower out of gas even though he had the receipt to prove he'd filled it up after the last time he'd mown his lawn.

He shook his head. He'd do what repairs he could before Jamie summoned him away. The rest could wait. A beer and a game of darts might be exactly what he needed.