DISCLAIMER - I own nothing but my over active imagination, just borrowing the characters to have a little fun.


Chapter 2:

The three agents worked away trying to find out as much as possible before Pride got called down to see Loretta. The autopsy results showed that the PO was very drunk when he died from a blow to the back of the head.

" Let's check out the bars, maybe see where he was and who he was with " LaSalle said, looking over at Brody.

Pride told them he was away to visit the family to see what information he could gain from them and they would meet back here later when they were down bar hoppen. Brody and LaSalle grabbed their weapons and their badges and headed out to the car.

"Lets see what we can find out and hope it doesn't take every bar in town to do it" Brody said as she climbed in to the passenger seat of the car, leaving LaSalle to drive as he knew both the town and the bars best.

Several bars later and they still had no leads so they kept on looking. The bars were filling up as evening turned in to night. The more bars they checked, the more they got to thinking... Maybe liquor stores would have been better as no one had seen or heard from there PO. They only had a handful of bars left to check. Good thing as Brody was really starting to loose her patients with the rather drunk men in some of them.

"If one more bloke makes a pass at me or even worse, grabs my ass I swear I will shoot them"! Brody ground out through gritted teeth as they went to enter yet another bar.

LaSalle was not helping her mood as he couldn't help but laugh and say,

"Maybe the last one was your secret admirer... He did seem to be getting very friendly with your ass and all" .

"Chris i swear, if you don't shut up and stop laughing I will just shoot you instead"! which only made him laugh even more.

"You wouldn't shoot me, you would miss me to much"

Merri just looked at Chris then thought to herself, maybe he's right...

They walked into the bar and headed straight over to the counter to see if the bartender had seen their PO. They flashed the bartender the picture they had and he nodded towards a stall at the back of the bar where three men were sat drinking.

"He was in here last night with them guys and as far as I remember, they all left together at closing "

Both agents nodded there thanks and walked over to where the three men sat. As they got closer they realized they had been spotted by the trio who looked there way. Without a second glance one the man sitting near the door was suddenly on his feet, and running towards the exit.

"I got these two" Brody shouted after LaSalle as he gave chase to the suspect trying to flea.

She trained her weapon on the two men and waited, knowing that one or both men would start talking. Sure enough they both started to babble about a card game, a girl, a wager and a fight between the man trying to flea and the dead PO.

"That's all I need to hear, come on, up you both get. Lets get you both a ride to get statements taken". As both men stood up and walked towards the exit, they met up with their friend who tried, yet failed to escape, who was now cuffed and sporting a very fat cut lip.

"That's what happens when you mess with a set of dumpsters" LaSalle said to the now cuffed suspect.

"Transport is on the way to give our guests a lift" LaSalle stated turning to face Brody.

"Chris; your hurt" Brody said taking a step towards him to have a look at the cut that was just above his right eye.

"It's nothing, just a scratch" he shrugged just as the van arrived to pick up there new guests.

Once the three men were handed over and were on their way to the station, Brody stepped right up to Chris and turned his head to face her so she could get a good look at the cut.

"There's a med kit in the car, lets clean that up and see if it is just a scratch or if it needs looking at by a doctor".

They walked over to the car to which Brody opened the boot to retrieve the med kit before ordering Chris to sit on the open tail gate. Chris sat down as Brody fished in the med kit for some gauze and antiseptic spray. She found what she wanted and quickly set about cleaning the blood from around the cut. When she came to clean the actual cut, she leaned up and placed the gauze gently over the cut trying not to press to hard. When the gauze touched the cut, Chris swore and jumped slightly as the antiseptic sting.

"Sorry, should have warned you first"... Brody said giving him an apologetic smile.

"No problem, I know you didn't mean it" he replied, flashing his most dazzling smile to show there was no hard feeling.

After cleaning the cut she applied a dressing to keep it clean and dry.

"All done. You up to driving or want me to? ".

"I'm good, it doesn't hurt so that's a good sign right"?

They climbed in the car and drove back with an awkward silence filling the atmosphere. Both agents wanting a coffee and food before they did anything else. On arriving back, they both headed straight for the kitchen to where they fought over the coffee pot, both needing a caffeine boost. After finally giving in and letting Chris pour the coffee, Merri made her way to the fridge to find something for them both to eat. There wasn't much choice so she just got out a big plate of left over pasta salad for them both to share.

They sat close to each other so it was easier to share the left overs, which they ate in silence for a few moments, enjoying the fact there was coffee, food and it was quiet and peaceful as the rest of the city were wrapped up for the night. As Merri looked up at Chris she noticed his head had started to bleed again. Standing up from the table, she walked over to the cupboard and got the med kit out and brought it to the table. Chris looked at the med kit then at her, asking quietly what it was for.

"Your heads bleeding, so I'm going to check it, make sure the bleeding is calming down. Cant have you bleeding everywhere, I just got used to having you around and I don't fancy explaining to Pride why I didn't take better care of my partner".

Chris stopped eating and turned his head slightly so she could get to the wound. She gently peeled the gauze off and found it had stopped bleeding, so she applied a clean dressing and pushed the kit to one side, then sat back down to finish her coffee.

"Thank you for this". Chris said leaning his head towards Merri and bumping her shoulder with his.

Just then Pride strode through the door and saw the 2 agents sitting looking at each other. They were silent so he wasn't sure if he had interrupted anything. They both looked over at him while he spoke.

"Good job tonight guys. What happened to you head Chris? You look a little like the guy who fessed up to the killing".

"Had a run in with a dumpster trying to take him down, dumpster won. Merri's checked it and cleaned it so all's good."

"Speaking of all's good, there was a delivery for you when you were out earlier on Brody, its on your desk" Pride told the two agents sitting at the table.

"This I have to see"! Chris said excitedly as he tried to get up from the table and make it to Merri's desk before she did.

He kind of succeed as they both made it to the desk at the same time, so they both got to see together. There on the desk was a bunch of pink and red roses. Eight roses in total, four pink and four red, sat wrapped with a red bow and a card attached to the front. Merri reached down and picked out the card, reading it not once but twice to make sure she had read it right the first time.

"To the most beautiful women in New Orleans. I am so happy you came here and gave this town and its people a chance. I will put my heart on the line here and say that every time I see you my heart skips a beat. You have no idea the affect you have on me and how you make me feel. You don't know who I am yet (at least I don't think you do), so I get two more days to shower you with gifts and try to woo you and win you over. All will be revealed in just 2 days and I hope you wont be disappointed.

Love

XXXX


A/N Sorry about having a case in the story, had to wrap it up quick and catch the bad guy so I could get back on track with all the fluffy, sloppy stuff.