Author's Note: Thank you once again to the Body of Proof actors and writers for creating these unbelievably addicting characters. As we eagerly await Season Three, I thought I'd try something a little different—but I believe totally plausible—for Kate and Megan. There is another woman involved here, but alas, no worries. It is a Kegan fic after all. Also, tried to include much more action, ala the reports for Season Three. Thank you to my tumblr friends for inspiring me big time on this one, and thank you to my Beta for your endless support and love. Hope you enjoy. Please, please, please, review. Your feedback and enthusiasm keep me writing more!

Megan stormed into the office Monday morning, a little more fire in her than usual. The night before, one of Lacey's fellow classmates, Sabrina, had been found dead in her room of an apparent drug overdose. She was only fifteen years old.

There had been suspicions for quite some time that the supposedly "safe" private school had its own ring of juvenile drug dealers. Lacey told her mom she didn't know anything, but that she would never be tempted to try drugs anyway. What troubled Megan was that the girl who was now deceased was also a straight-A student with no record of disciplinary action at school and no reported problems at home. Megan was afraid someone slipped the drugs to Sabrina without her knowing. Of course, she had nothing to go on yet, but these were the ideas turning the wheels in her head as she entered the board room for their morning briefing.

Kate leaned with her palms against the table in her green chiffon top and tweed skirt as she waited for the rest of the team to file in. It had been a particularly stressful morning as she fielded calls from the media and dealt with Sabrina Tucker's obviously distraught parents. She hated cases like this more than anything.

Megan was, not surprisingly, the first to arrive. She sat near the head of the table and sighed a greeting to her boss.

"Any leads from Bud yet?" she asked as she removed her burgundy trench, clearly wanting to jump right in.

"Not yet," Kate was sorry to inform her.

"The school's not that big," Megan noted. "I'm sure if we sent someone in undercover, we could…"

"This isn't Twenty One Jump Street, Megan," Kate huffed, though she was sympathetic. "Things are a little more complicated when it's a private school, as I'm sure you know. There are rules."

"Yeah, well, it's times like this 'the rules' need to be reexamined," Megan shot back.

"Look, I know this hits close to home," Kate tried to calm her, knowing it was a futile cause. "I'm worried too. But let's get the details first."

Megan took a deep breath and nodded. She and Kate still didn't see eye to eye on a lot of things, but over time, they'd been able to put many of their differences aside. Since helping each other through Kate's run in with the Marburg virus nearly a year ago and Megan's terrifying encounter with Wilson Polley, they'd certainly gotten a lot closer. Kate could anticipate when Megan's emotions needed to be assuaged, and Megan was more understanding of the regulations Kate needed to follow. They respected each other, and that respect manifested itself in interesting ways. Some days, they were strictly business, only speaking when necessary as they worked elbow to elbow in the lab. Other days, they'd end up sitting in Kate's office well into the evening talking about Lacey's latest school project or Ethan's amusing attempts at dating. Still, there was an almost palpable line, a level of professionalism neither of them seemed to know if or when they should cross as their friendship grew deeper. It was an anomaly how quickly they'd gone from being at each other's throats to being someone they knew they could rely on, but neither of them tried to analyze or discuss it. At least not with each other.

Soon the rest of the seats around the table were filled and they got started with the meeting. Curtis was on call the night before, so he'd done the preliminary autopsy.

"Looks like it was a homemade chemical substance ingested through the stomach. Probably some kind of food she ate with the drugs inside," Curtis reported.

Just what I thought, Megan mused to herself.

"I'll head over to the school, see what I can weasel out of the kids," Bud offered.

"What we really need is the supplier," Sam continued. "I'll hang back at the station and hit up the database."

"Sounds a little like Twenty One Jump Street to me," Megan mused, eyeing Kate across the table. Kate glared, but couldn't stop the tiniest smirk from gracing her lips.

By noon, Kate, Megan and Bud were at the school, interviewing students, teachers, administrators, trying to gather any information they could on what parties had taken place that weekend, who the popular kids were, where the troublemakers hung out. No one seemed to have answers for them. The longer they went without any leads, the more anxious and persistent Megan became. Bud finally insisted she wait in the hallway while he wrapped up his interview with the headmaster. Megan scoffed, as usual, but knew better than to challenge him with Kate there as well. She made her way out to the courtyard between the cafeteria and the gymnasium, where she spotted Lacey sitting with some of her friends at a picnic table.

"What are you doing?" Lacey grumbled. Since she'd started high school, she was even more adamant that her mother stay out of her social life, which of course made Megan all the more concerned.

"What do you think I'm doing?" she smiled, looking around the table at Lacey's new friends, none of whose names she knew yet.

"Guys, this is…"

"Megan Hunt," she introduced herself to the teens. "Lacey's mom. And medical examiner for the county."

"Did you do Sabrina's autopsy?" one of the young women, Ashley, asked curiously, though she appeared to be in mourning.

"I wasn't working last night," she shook her head. "One of my colleagues did the initial autopsy, but I'll be working the case as well."

Most of the girls looked riveted. Lacey just looked annoyed.

"Were any of you with Sabrina last night?" Megan continued.

"No," one of the other girls reported. "She went to a party with her boyfriend."

"Boyfriend?" Megan's eyebrow rose. "Her parents didn't mention anything about a boyfriend."

"They didn't know," another girl, Courtney, confirmed.

"Any of you know who he was?"

"Justin Thomas," Ashley spoke up again. "He went to Central."

"I see. So it was a Central High party then?"

Everyone shook their heads, except Lacey, who was staring at the sun, wishing she'd burst into flames.

"Alright, ladies. Thanks for your help. Lace, I'll see you tonight."

"Yup," she mumbled. "Bye, mom."

Megan grabbed her daughter by the shoulders and kissed her on the forehead. She didn't care how much shit she'd get for it later. After everything she'd seen and heard this morning, there was no way she was letting her out of her sight without a proper goodbye.

Megan finally met back up with Bud and Kate in front of the school.

"Three hundred and seventy students and not one of them does drugs. Imagine that?" Bud quipped sarcastically.

"Most of them don't have to get it illegally," Kate added. "Their parents' medicine cabinets are stocked. And if their kids do get caught, they're happy to pay for the records to be expunged."

Bud turned his attention towards Megan. "Why do you send Lacey here again?"

"As opposed to the alternative?" Megan defended herself. "Like Central? Which, by the way, is where Sabrina got the drugs. Not here."

"How do you know that?" Bud asked.

"While you were in there I talked to a group of Lacey's friends. They told me Sabrina had a boyfriend, Justin, who went to Central and took her to a party last night. She must have snuck out."

"Unbelievable," Bud threw his arms up. "They won't talk to me, but they just pour their hearts right out to you."

"You should be used to it by now," she smirked.

"Better head over to Central then," Kate cut in. "Chances are the dealer's already trying to cover his tracks."

Bud drove himself while the two women rode together. When they arrived at Central a few minutes before him, Megan started giving Kate orders, something she was not keen on but was also getting used to by now.

"Slow down," Megan whispered.

"Why are you whispering?" Kate asked.

"Just…park right there. Trust me, okay?"

She directed her to a space at the back of the lot, where Kate stopped and shut off the engine. Kate watched as Megan lowered her shades over her freckled nose, scanning the parking lot, apparently knowing exactly what to look for.

"I grew up near this neighborhood," Megan explained. "My mother sent me to Highland Academy, of course, but I always wanted to go here. I'd drive by sometimes and check out what 'the cool kids' were doing."

Finally, she pointed to a few students sitting on the back of a red pick-up, obviously skipping class. They slowly got up from their post and headed towards the abandoned racket ball courts on the other side of the parking lot.

"There," Megan breathed.

Without another word, she jumped out of the car and took off in their direction, sprinting as quietly as she could in six inch heels, ducking behind cars as she made her way towards them.

"Megan!" Kate groaned through her teeth, exiting the car and following her, trying to be stealthy but feeling absolutely ridiculous as she clunked over the gravel in her own heels and a skirt too tight to let her run.

"Meg…"

Megan abruptly grabbed Kate's arm and dragged them both behind the nearest SUV.

"Shh!" she stressed, leaning close to Kate's ear, still whispering. "They can't know we're following them."

"We should wait till Bud gets here," Kate tried to reason.

"That could be too late," Megan groaned.

Kate rolled her eyes, though she almost appeared apologetic.

"My investigative skills are a little rusty," she admitted. "Unlike you, I tend to stick within my job description."

"No wonder you miss out on all the fun," Megan smirked.

Kate was a little out of breath and felt herself beginning to sweat just from the effort she'd made to catch up with Megan. As annoyed as she was at how outlandish the redhead's tactics were, she felt herself being pulled along with it against her better judgment. Something about Megan's protectiveness—of Lacey and every other student who was in danger—made her feel like she needed to give her a little room to stretch the rules on this one. Besides, she did feel out of the loop at times. There was something to be said for being more hands on.

Megan seemed to pay no mind to the fact that Kate's back was pressed up against the car door. She practically squatted between Kate's legs, arms planted on either side, as she very slowly peered around the hood of the car. Kate's breath picked up a little as she realized how close Dr. Hunt was. Megan's forearm brushed against her chest, ruffling her blazer. Kate was sure she was completely oblivious to their proximity. As usual, the redhead was fully immersed in her work, missing everything else going on right in front of her.

Finally, Kate cleared her throat. Megan glared at her for a moment before realizing just how close she was. Her cheeks turned a little pink and Kate felt the slightest exhalation of breath against her chin before she stepped back.

"Sorry," Megan mumbled.

"What are they doing?" Kate answered, changing the subject.

"They're too far away for me to see anything," Megan shook her head. "But at least we know their hangout spot. That's something. When Bud gets here, he can take a closer look."

Kate tilted her head to the side, acknowledging Megan's point. It hadn't been a crazy idea after all. Still, she couldn't let her off the hook so easily.

"You know, you and I weren't trained for this sort of thing," Kate swallowed. "You could really get yourself in trouble one of these days."

Megan raised an eyebrow.

"I'm serious," Kate huffed. "You could easily get hurt, or worse, if…"

"You worry too much about 'ifs,'" Megan teased.

"Can't help it. That's my job," Kate shrugged, smiling a little sadly. "I think we've had enough close calls."

Megan looked at her pensively for a moment before motioning for Kate to follow her back through the maze of vehicles.

"Anyway," the redhead sighed when they were back in the car, still keeping an eye on where the kids had gathered as they waited for Bud to show up. "Thanks for the concern. I'll be careful. I promise."

Kate didn't respond. Instead, she continued to sit next to Megan in silence, contemplating why she did in fact worry so much about the woman who drove her absolutely crazy, in more ways than one.

When Bud arrived, they led him to where the kids were congregating. At the first sight of the three adults approaching, the two young boys and one girl that was with them took off back towards the school. Bud ran after them and caught one of the boys by the collar. The other two stopped running, unwilling to leave their friend behind.

"Why you running tough guy?"

The boy actually didn't look very tough. His glasses started to slide off his face as he struggled to free himself from Bud's grip, clinging to the backpack in his hands for dear life. Megan stepped forward. Kate moved to hold her back for a second before letting her proceed. The redhead grabbed the bag from the kid.

"Wanna tell us what's in there, or should we see for ourselves?" Bud asked.

"No!" the young man whined. "It's just…stuff…there's nothing…"

Megan unzipped the bag and pulled out a comic book and a deck of colorful playing cards. Besides a couple tissues and a barely used notebook, there didn't appear to be anything else inside the pockets.

"If that's all you have, why were you running?" Megan questioned.

"We're skipping," the girl finally spoke up. "We thought you guys were truancy officers."

"We can still report you," Kate cut in.

"Please," the young woman begged. "My parents will kill me if they find out."

"Go to class," Bud told them, releasing his grip on the boy. "And write something down in that notebook for a change."

The three nodded their heads furiously and darted back into the school.

"So much for that theory," Kate smirked at Megan.

"Hey!" she bit back. She hated to be wrong more than anything. "Just because these kids weren't dealing drugs doesn't mean there aren't others who use this space for it."

"Let's just find this Justin kid," Bud interrupted them. "I've got a feeling he's into more than 'Magic: The Gathering.'"

Not surprisingly, Justin claimed there were no drugs at the party.

"Who told you about me and Sabrina?" he asked angrily.

"One of her friends," Megan responded.

"It was Ashley Wilson, wasn't it?" Justin scoffed. "I should've known she'd try to blame this on me."

"Why's that?" Kate asked.

"Jealousy," he answered, leaning back in his chair with a cocky grin across his face. "Wanted this all to herself."

Kate rolled her eyes. She had tried her best to forget how utterly disgusting teenage boys could be, though she was all too familiar with the equally immature grown men they tended to become.

"Was she at the party last night?" Bud asked.

"Yeah, she was there. Couple of the other girls too."

Megan cursed under her breath. So Lacey's new friends are a bunch of liars, she thought. Great.

"Did they come with Sabrina, or…" Kate continued to question.

"Nah, they weren't invited. They just showed up with these cupcakes, thinking that would give them a pass."

"What kind of cupcakes?" Megan remembered Curtis saying the drugs had likely been hidden in some kind of food.

"I don't know, frosted, sprinkled, girly-ass cupcakes. You know, cupcakes!" Justin was getting impatient. "Can I go now, please? I told you everything I know. I took her home, helped her climb back through the window, and that was it."

"Your girlfriend is dead," Bud barked at him. "Don't you want to help us find out why?"

"Does it matter?" he started to crack a little, showing he did have a vulnerable side. "She's gone. Nothing's gonna bring her back."

"These cupcakes," Megan continued. "Did Sabrina have one?"

He shook his head no. "She didn't like to eat in front of people."

Megan sighed. Teenage self-consciousness.

After they wrapped up with Justin, she and Kate tried to put the pieces together on their way back to the private school.

"If there were drugs in the cupcakes, why didn't anyone else OD?"

"Maybe there weren't drugs in all of them," Megan suggested.

When they arrived back at the school, Ashley, Allison, and Courtney were pulled into the headmaster's office. Megan asked for Lacey to be brought in as well. Even though she hated to make her feel like a suspect—especially since she had been at home the night before, not at the party with the others—she wanted to scare her a little, get her to think twice about which circles she ran in.

"Did you really think we wouldn't find out you were there last night?" Megan asked.

Silence.

"Whose idea was it to put drugs in the cupcakes?" Bud continued.

"What?" Courtney did a poor job of looking shocked.

"Why would you think…" Allison shook her head.

"Enough lying!" Megan jumped in. "Someone did it, and now one of your friends is dead. The question is, why is no one else dead with her?"

"Ashley..." Allison whispered to her friend.

Ashley looked back at her viciously, trying to get her to keep her mouth shut.

"Ashley," Megan began again. "What happened?"

"I…" she couldn't seem to find the words.

"Ashley gave Sabrina a cupcake," Courtney blurted out.

"I didn't think it would be enough to…" Ashley fumbled. "I just wanted her to go home, so I could…"

"Be with Justin?"

The young woman turned bright red as tears began to fall down her cheeks and she shook.

"How does a girl your age become the kind of person who drugs her friend in order to steal her boyfriend?" Bud paced back and forth.

"We'd been doing it for weeks," Allison told them. "It's just supposed to be a…pick-me-up."

"What is?" Kate asked.

"This," she reached into her purse and handed them a small bag of a purple, sparkly powder.

"Allison, Jesus Christ!" Ashley continued to fall apart.

"We're already in trouble!" Allison argued. "Might as well help them stop someone else from getting killed."

"Who gave this to you?" Bud asked.

"Tommy Zepher," Courtney caved. "It's supposed to be like cocaine, only not as strong. And it tastes sweet."

Megan couldn't help but stare at Lacey, wondering if she'd known about this, or even tried the drugs herself. She breathed heavily through her nose and pulled herself together, knowing she'd have time to question her daughter later after grounding her for life.

"So you put it in the cupcakes and brought them to the party," Kate continued. "Did everyone know what was in there?"

"Only a few people," Allison said. "We didn't give them to everyone, just Tommy, and the other guy whose house it was."

"Had Sabrina done it before?" Bud asked.

"No," Courtney explained. "She was afraid. But Ashley made her come outside, told her if she didn't do it, she'd tell her parents about her and Justin."

"She made her eat it in front of us," Allison said. "And then we all went back into the party. After a while, Sabrina said she didn't feel good and Justin took her home."

"And none of you felt the slightest bit of remorse the next day?" Megan spat. "You just went on with your lives, like nothing happened?"

They all looked guilty now, of course. Unfortunately, it was too late for Sabrina.

Ashley and the other girls, with the exception of Lacey, were taken into custody. Bud called in the squad to head over to Central and arrest Tommy Zephyr, the other boy who had been at the racket ball courts earlier, who they had failed to question. Megan was too upset to gloat about her instincts being right. She was just glad they'd stopped another drug deal before it went down.

"Mom," Lacey spoke softly. "I swear I didn't know."

"Your grandmother will pick you up this afternoon," she told her, almost numbly. "I have to work late. We'll talk about it when I get home."

"I'm sorry," Lacey started to cry. "I liked Sabrina. She and I were new to the group. Now I don't have any friends left here."

"That's just as well," Megan breathed. "Public school might be a better place for you after all."

Lacey nodded, throwing her arms around her mother uncharacteristically. Megan hugged her back before ushering her to class.

Back in the car, Kate looked at Megan, who sat silently for a few minutes, trying to recover from an already exhausting day.

"Sometimes…" Kate tried. "Teenage girls are just…"

"I can't talk about it," Megan shook her head. "Not now."

Kate nodded.

"I think I need a beer," Megan laughed a little as she sighed, running her finger along the car window before looking back at Kate. "Care to join me?"

Kate thought about it for a moment. She still didn't know how she felt about socializing with her employees, especially during work hours, but things with Megan were…different. She figured they'd earned it after today.

"Where to?"

They ended up at a tiny little bar Megan picked, far from the office. Kate couldn't understand why the redhead liked this place. It reminded her of the dives her father used to drag her to when she wasn't nearly old enough. She'd sit on a barstool when she was no more than twelve, playing darts while he drank round after round, enduring her fair share of ogling and the occasional cigarette burn.

"So what's your love life look like these days?" Megan asked boldly.

"Really?" Kate huffed. "That's what you want to talk about?"

"Why not?" Megan smirked. They'd certainly discussed it before.

Kate rolled her eyes.

"It's not nearly as interesting as yours."

"Aiden's been gone for months," Megan reminded her. "Trust me, mine's not exactly thriving."

"I guess I haven't really been looking," Kate admitted. "At least not actively."

Megan commiserated. They were both too busy to put themselves out there.

"Well," Megan took another swig of her beer. "It's nice having someone to share things with, be able to vent a little. Even if you are my superior."

Kate's cheeks turned pink.

"Can't exactly complain about your boss, huh?"

Megan smiled back.

"I don't have much to complain about."

The blonde's blush spread down her neck. She looked away for a moment and ran her hand through her hair, trying to play it off.

"That's a lie, but thanks."

"No, really," Megan insisted. "I know you have your way of doing things, and I have mine. But it works. I think we learn from each other."

Kate licked her bottom lip nervously and finally locked eyes with Megan. It was true. They made a great team. She could admit that much. What she couldn't admit was how much more she had grown to appreciate Megan, beyond the realm of their professional relationship.

She watched the redhead tip her head back and sip from the bottle again, the muscles in her neck working as she drank, her soft, gorgeously layered locks flowing down her shoulders and over her breasts, barely contained by her red cashmere sweater. When she turned her green eyes back to Kate, so full of sparks and tenacity, Kate realized all the things that made her job so much more difficult for the past few years were exactly the things that turned her stomach in knots when they were together. At work, everything about Megan was too much, too intense, and yet somehow on a personal level it was just enough.

Kate tried not to give anything away by staring at her for too long. She had decided these feelings were just something she'd have to deal with on her own, since there was no way she'd compromise her position by going after an employee. She'd fought way too hard to get away from her past to jeopardize her livelihood now, even if it meant denying some of the most powerful urges she'd ever experienced.

"You okay?" Megan finally asked.

"I was just… thinking…about today."

"You're not supposed to be thinking about that right now," Megan scolded playfully.

If she only knew.

"Look, you've already got me drinking on the clock, which I don't know why I agreed to," Kate started to feel like she needed to put some walls back up.

"I don't know either," Megan mused. "First you let me drag you into running all over the place today, now we're here. I really must be rubbing off on you."

"Yeah, well," Kate rose from the stool. "I think I've had enough 'fun' for one day."

Megan wasn't completely oblivious. She knew there was some kind of tension between the two of them, even if she couldn't put her finger on exactly what it was. All she knew was that she liked spending time with her boss outside of work and appreciated the moments when they were laughing rather than yelling at each other.

"You're right," Megan sighed. "Guess we should head back to the office and finish up. I have to get home to Lacey at a reasonable enough time to deal with this craziness."

"I'm sure she didn't know anything," Kate assured her. "Lacey may be going through her angsty phase, but she's a good girl."

Megan smiled sadly. "I hope you're right."

Back at the office, Megan helped Curtis with the final autopsy reports on Sabrina before notifying her parents of the exact cause of death and releasing her body. Kate sat at her desk long after everyone else left, contemplating her conversation with Megan earlier in the day. She was lonely. She couldn't deny that. And her feelings for Megan seemed to get stronger every time they spoke.

She figured she had two options: either cut off all extracurricular contact with the redhead, or else, find someone to take her mind off what she knew could never happen, like she had done with Todd. She didn't want to completely shut Megan out, so she decided that a good balance of the two should work. She wasn't exactly ready to head out to a lesbian bar, but figured if the opportunity presented itself, she would take it.