"No, I'm not doing anything with you this weekend, Lucas. I wish you would stop pestering me. I'm not going to take you to the club again. You'll have to get your freak on without me," Henry said with a little bit of annoyance at the younger man's insistence.

"But…" Lucas stammered in protest.

"He's taking me to the Policeman's Ball," Joanna Reece said.

Henry popped up from the cadaver he was working on like a jack-in-the-box, and Lucas stared at Lieutenant Reece in wonder.

"How did you get in here so quietly? That was really creepy," he told her with a sound of awe coloring his voice.

"Lieutenant?" Henry asked. He had been vaguely aware of the Policeman's Ball, but it was for people in the precinct other than him or Lucas.

"Dr. Morgan, may we speak in your office?" Reece asked. Her polite request was only a formality because one did not say no to the lieutenant.

He put down his tools and gave Lucas instructions to finish the work. Then he extended his hand toward his office. "Right this way."

Before Henry could address her, Reece got to the point with the succinct grace of someone used to being in charge. "It seems that you are without plans this weekend, and I am without a date to the Policeman's Ball. While I would not normally worry about such things, I will be honored at the ball. To save myself the discomfort of unwanted advances, I have decided to enlist you."

"Unwanted advances you say?" Henry asked perplexed. Was this an unwanted advance from her to him? He could not consider it further as she was not done talking.

"You are a gentleman, and you are handsome. You are also not in my direct line of authority. I am sure you understand that I could not ask someone else from the precinct. It would be…" she paused searching for the perfect word, "unseemly."

Henry nodded his understanding of that point. A woman in authority walked a very fine line.

"There is also the fact that this award I will receive is in part because of you," Reece continued. "Without your invaluable assistance to detectives Martinez and Hanson, we would not have closed as many cases this year. The recognition is for all of us, but at the ball, I will get the spotlight."

Henry swallowed hard. Had she just asked him out on a date? He always appreciated Reece's directness, but she enjoyed the use of technicalities and nuance that he sometimes was slow to understand. Surely she wasn't asking him out on a date.

"Could you not go to the ball with your tennis partner?" he asked as the idea came to him.

Reece gave him a cat-like smile. "My tennis partner is female, and I am interested in men. If she and I were involved, I would not be ashamed. One of the lieutenants at another precinct brings his husband to all his functions. Unfortunately, I am not gay."

"That's very good to know," Henry answered, feeling a little hotter under the collar.

Reece had been sitting across the table from him. She stood to go and made her final remarks. "Your alternative, Dr. Morgan, is to share your weekend with Lucas or at least his pressure to go clubbing with him. I think it depends on which experience you'd like to have more, doesn't it?"

Henry looked around her to his assistant who was completing the tasks Henry had given to him. The thing was that he had already been to the club with Lucas before. Going to the ball with Joanna Reece would be an entirely new experience. What was the fun of being an immortal if one couldn't try new things from time to time?

"Yes, you've convinced me," he declared. "I'll go with you."

"Good. Pick me up at my house no later than six. I'll be wearing a royal blue dress. I am sure you can find an appropriate corsage to go with that," she said.

Henry's eyes widened at the mention of flowers, and then they narrowed as he thought about the implication that he might not know how to behave on a date. He certainly did know how to behave on a date! He was most suave. The thing Henry Morgan wasn't, though, was sure. He had no idea if the lieutenant thought this was a date or a practical business arrangement between colleagues.

"I look forward to seeing you then," he said.

"Good," she said, giving him a knowing smirk. "Goodbye, Henry."

Joanna Reece walked toward the exit as quietly as she had when she entered the morgue.

When Henry was getting ready for his date the next day, Abe teased him, especially after he learned that he was escorting Lieutenant Reece to the ball. "She's your boss, pops!"

"She asked me because it's not direct oversight. We'll be fine, Abraham."

"Ah, so she finds you appealing then? Does she know how much you 'appreciate' her, too?" Abe asked astutely

"I thought that was just you who appreciates many different women," Henry deflected as he put his hair into place.

Abe looked at him and shrugged innocently. "I get it honestly."

"How do I look?" Henry asked as he turned to his son with a flourish.

Abe nodded. "Good, good, but you should wear the royal blue scarf to match her dress."

"Ah, yes!" Henry said as he went to search his scarf collection.

After he found his blue scarf, Abe handed him the corsage. "Go get her, tiger!"

Henry strode forth with a wide smile, holding the corsage box up like it was a prize.

Henry stood in front of Reece's brownstone feeling as nervous as a teen with his first date. The idea was absurd. Both he and the lieutenant were mature adults. He shouldn't feel nervous even though he did.

"Hello, Henry," she said melodiously as she came to the door in her blue dress.

"J-Joanna," he replied, staring at her in great surprise.

The dress was cut to compliment her ample curvy figure in all the right ways. The heels she was wearing did amazing things to her legs, and Henry wondered why he'd never looked at her legs before. Joanna Reece had legs that deserved sonnets. They needed to be on display just so they could be looked at with appropriate reverence.

Henry mentally shook himself out of where his mind had wandered. Then he guiltily noticed her watching him like a hawk, an expression she usually wore around him.

"Your corsage," he said dryly, holding up the small arrangement. "Would you like me to pin it to your dress?"

"Please do," she said, lifting her chin to give him access.

Henry felt his hand tremble slightly as he neared her chest. He didn't want to paw her like an inexperienced boy. It was just hard not to notice her other womanly attributes when both his hands were in groping range. He mentally steadied himself and pinned the flower without poking Reece or drawing blood. It was a small victory.

Letting out a sigh of relief, he said, "Shall we go? Your chariot—actually a taxi—awaits."

Reece took his arm graciously as they descended the steps. Henry glanced at her quickly a few times before telling her that she looked lovely.

"Thank you, Henry," she said as she sat in the taxi but not without a brief flash of those lovely legs.

At the Policeman's Ball, most of the officers were dressed in their finery that made them look like military officers. The mayor and commissioner were discussing something the felt was important while the council members schmoozed with each other. All around the liquor flowed. A few people got tipsy, but Joanna Reece kept her composure the entire time.

Henry stared at one of the lieutenants getting sloshed with one of his colleagues from a different precinct. Dr. Morgan shook his head as he thought of the woman beside him. He'd never seen her anything less than composed.

"Do you ever let loose, Lieutenant?" Henry asked.

She blinked at him with slow amusement. "I could ask the same of you doctor, but I know you often like to let loose. Usually it's your clothing. But it has been a while since the last skinny dipping incident, hasn't it?"

"Ah, yes," Henry said with a vague blush.

"And I know everything that happens in my precinct," she said with a self-satisfied smile that challenged him to ask just what she thought she knew. "So I would know if you'd been sleep walking again and if there were photos to prove it."

"Photos?" he asked guiltily.

"Hypothetical photos," Reece said, and Henry wasn't sure how imaginary these photos were.

"I see," Henry said, resigned to the fact that she had the upper hand for the moment. "Could I at least invite you to dance? I am a very capable partner."

"Yes," she agreed as she put her hand into his so he could walk her to the dance floor.

The chamber orchestra began playing a waltz, and Henry easily guided Joanna around the floor as if they had been dance partners for much longer than one evening. She smiled as she eased into the dancing, and when the ensemble began the next dance, they stayed on the dance floor.

"It is good that I wore comfortable shoes," Reece said as Henry continued to lead her.

"They certainly make your legs look fantastic," he answered with the type of confidence he usually had when he was working a body in the morgue. This time, though, he had a very live body of Joanna Reece.

"Oh?" she said on a teasing purr that he was not used to hearing. "Do you think so?"

"I do," he admitted and stared into her eyes wondering whether it was acceptable or if he might have a talk with Human Resources in his future.

"Good," she said as she guided his hand back to her hip, placing it a little lower than he expected.

He could feel the roundness of her bottom, and it was so close to her impressive gams. It was a temptation not to let his hand slip or pretend so as they were jostled by another set of dancers. When the other pair returned and bumped into their space, it wasn't Henry's fault if he steadied himself by holding her closer.

Before the activities on the dance floor could get too randy, the police commissioner took his turn at the microphone to make his remarks. As they listened to him speak, Henry stood with Reece's hand firmly tucked in his arm. The speech started to become over long, but before Reece could regret standing instead of sitting, she was called to the podium to receive her award.

Henry inwardly groaned as she flashed her legs yet again. That bit of sensuality didn't distract from the woman's command and charisma.

"I would like to thank everyone in my precinct. This progress wouldn't happen without solid detective work and professionalism from everyone in their respective roles. Our patrol officers and detectives are excellent. Our medical examiners are meticulous," she said with a nod to Henry where he stood. "I would not be receiving this recognition this evening without the true strength of the team behind me. I acknowledge them, and I thank you."

Joanna Reece walked off the stage to the sound of polite applause. She stood beside Henry long enough for him to escort her to a seat where they listened to the rest of the awards.

In the cab ride on the way to Reece's home, Henry said, "That was a lovely time. Thank you for inviting me."

"My pleasure, doctor," she said.

"Lieutenant, I would never have guessed you were such a good dancer," he also complimented.

"Henry, I think you can be allowed to call me Joanna," she said. "As for dancing, you shouldn't be surprised. You knew I played tennis. I know how to move."

"Yes, you do," Henry said with an appreciative tone that a better man might have tried to keep hidden.

She chuckled at him but did not comment. He had that moment of mind scrambling panic. Had he crossed the line in expression his appreciation for the lieutenant?

When they were at last in front of her door, Reece invited Henry in for a cup of tea, but he hesitated.

"What about the cab?"

"This is New York. We can always call another one," she said very logically.

"Yes, that is true, Joanna," he said, not yet used to her first name on his tongue.

"Then come up, and we will see what happens," she said with one of her elusive smiles, and Henry followed.