You have to be kidding Cheryl, this guy is obviously stalking her!" Matt insisted as he, Emily, Frank, Duff, and the woman he was nearly shouting out stumbled out of the creaking elevator into the CNU.

"He waved Flannery. That's hardly threatening."

"Really Matt, it isn't a big deal. Besides, we're together most nights, it's not as if he can do anything." Emily tried to reassure him, but was beginning to feel very uncomfortable.

"Oh Matt you're so sweet!" Lia ran up gushing, surprising them all, and receiving blank looks from the group.

"Oh?" He was very confused, what had he done?

"Emily, look at your desk, it was just dropped off." She dragged her friend over to the cubicle the couple shared, and pointed at a heart-shaped box with a rose and card on the lid. Emily turned to Matt in surprise, had he really sent her chocolates?

"Oh, I didn't send that." He shrugged, and watched Emily pull out the card, curiously.

"Then who sent it?" Lia wondered allowed to the group that was watching Emily read the card.

"Stan sent it." She made the statement bluntly and without feeling, decidedly uncomfortable, but trying to hide it. In the same disinterested manner, she handed off the card to Cheryl.

"When I eat on of these I can almost imagine what it would be like to taste you, so sweet, so intense, like sex and candy," Cheryl read the card out loud, growing uncomfortable. Matt shifted beside her, growing more tense as she read, resisting the urge to wrap an arm around Emily.

"Okay, now this guy is freaking me out," Frank commented, straightening himself, adopting his protective stance. Lia slid closer to Duff, worry and fear in her eyes, which were focused Emily.

"This is getting bad, Cheryl. Can I open a file on him now?" Matt practically whined.

"No, Temple and Binder can. You're too close Matt."

"As long as somebody does."

"Okay, here's what we're going to do. Emily, go with Temple down to the see the sketch

artists and get us a picture of Stan. Frank go with Binder to track down where the package came from and find out what the shop knows about Stan, Duff visit the coffee shop and do the same. Lia search property listings near the coffee shop for any Stans or Stanleys. He probably rents, but if nothing else at least will narrow the search." She trailed off, before waving them away to do as they were told.

"What about me?" She hadn't given Matt anything to do.

"For now you do your paperwork. But, when Emily leaves this building, stick to her like glue." Cheryl began to walk away, wondering exactly how to word the situation to her bosses. She called over her shoulder, "and toss that box and card into evidence storage!"

Emily didn't need to read those words again, didn't need to be reminded that this man was watching her, and imagining sex with her.


"His eyes are a little rounder." Emily was not in the mood to play victim. This guy had her freaked out and she was pissed that he could do that.

"Okay, so tell me about the flowers and card today." Temple launched his next question. They had covered, in extreme detail, the first two times Emily encountered Stan, and seeing him in the crowd today.

"Lia appeared, acting hyper and told Matt he was really sweet or something to that effect. He was confused, I was confused, Cheryl was confused, so she told me to come and look at my desk. We got there and found the box and card. I looked at Matt, I was surprised, and he obviously was too. I looked at the card," she shifted, though her body still remained tense. "It said, well, you have it, you know what it said. Then Matt got upset and asked to open a file on the guy, and you know the rest, Jim."

"That's all you remember of everything? Think one more time, nothing is coming back on any of the other encounters?" He coaxed her gently. He could tell she wasn't happy about this from the beginning, and was trying his best to keep her comfortable.

Emily looked up a minute, thinking, "No, nothing."

"Alright," he turned to the sketch artist, who held up the picture. "This is our guy?"

"Yes, that's Stan."

"I'm going to send Lia down to you, don't show her that until after you drew one from her description." He rose, as Emily did the same, both tired from hours at this.

Together the two negotiators headed out the door heading toward the elevators. Emily went to veer off to the door to the stairs when an arm stopped her.

"No using abandoned stairwells when you're being stalked."

"We're two floors down, you'll be with me, what's the big deal?" She was losing her patience very quickly.

"No exceptions at all. Flannery would kill me if something happened to you."

"Since when are you afraid of Matt?" She asked skeptically as they climbed into the elevator.

"I'm not, generally, but when it comes to you he gets a little crazy."

"What are you talking about?"

"Duff called you a bitch once, trying to get Matt's goat, so Matt lays down his gun down, ready to fist fight him. Frank held him off, assuring him that Duff could kill him in a fight, and Matt says 'so'." He looked over at her, shrugging.

Emily rolled her eyes, and commented, "men."

Temple shrugged again as the elevator spit them out into the CNU, where they ran into Frank, who was on his way to the basement, his personal territory.

"Did you guys find anything?" Emily asked hopefully.

"Found a gift store- florist that carries this, but he doesn't remember the specific purchase. Sorry."

"Thanks anyway Frank."

"Anytime Lehman." He winked playfully, and dove into the elevator.

"Where's my sketch?" Cheryl greeted them, passing by the office full of cubicles.

"Malone still has it, I told him I'd send Lia down to him to, maybe tweak it some."

Cheryl thought a minute, "No, she's only seen the guy once, Emily saw him three times, we aren't going to get it more accurate from a photo."

"You sound tense." Temple watched his boss act fidgety, very unlike Cheryl.

"Of course I'm tense, this all gives me a very bad feeling."

"You think he'll actually try to hurt her?"

"Hello, I'm right here," Emily reminded them loudly of her presence, her annoyance growing by the minute.

Cheryl turned toward her in acknowledgement, and then back to Temple. "I don't know, but I don't want to take any chances."

"You're not thinking protective custody yet, are you?" He seemed surprised by the idea.

"I'm not doing that," Emily insisted before Cheryl could answer.

"I wasn't going to suggest it, but I'm still contemplating a detail."

"I thought that was what Matt was for?"

"It might be difficult for him to play bodyguard when he's spooning you." Though it was said in part for comic relief, Cheryl was completely deadpan.

Emily stared at her boss long enough for her companions to wonder if that comment offended her, before a small smile graced her face and she shot back, "easier than sexual tension."

"Touché." Temple applauded laughing.

"Agreed, but I still might want to send that detail home with you."

"He hasn't threatened me, he's just some squirmy little creep."

"Yes, and squirmy little creeps don't handle rejection well."

"She has a point, Lehman. When this guy realizes you have no intention of dumping Flannery for him, he might try something."

"Then I'll shoot him, or Matt will."

"Something is just telling me to be very cautious with this. I mean, he made it pretty clear he wants to have sex with you," Cheryl explained honestly.

"Yeah, I get that. There's something about this that feels wrong," Temple agreed.

Emily rolled her eyes at them. "A lot of men have wanted to have sex with me, Cheryl, as I'm sure you can relate, and did all of them get to?"

"Of course not, but this is different. He's a stalker, he's clearly unhinged, he probably won't want to take no for an answer."

"And that's where a gun and an armed boyfriend are useful." She tried to joke, but it fell flat. She was scared after today, but refused to admit it.

"So are you thinking of sending Frank and Duff to watch her apartment- or Matt's?" Temple quickly amended his statement, realizing that it was entirely possible she spent more time at her partner's apartment.

"I don't know yet…do you have those statements? I want to go over them."

Emily watched them go back to their status of talking about her like she wasn't there or some child that incapable of speaking for and protecting herself. Shaking her head in annoyance, she turned around and walked out of the CNU back toward the elevators. She hit the button multiple times, willing it to come by pounding on the keys, and waited impatiently. When it took too long she turned to go to the stairs, but was stopped by the sound of Temple's voice in her head. Way beyond just annoyed or even aggravated at this point, she hit the roof button on the elevator after it finally came, eager for the quiet sanctuary.


Two Hours Later

"Here, stack of paperwork, correction completed paperwork," Matt announced dumping the stack on Cheryl's desk.

"You actually did it for once?" Temple asked in amused disbelief. He and Cheryl were combing through everything Emily said, and the statement they'd gotten from Lia an hour ago.

"Yeah…where's Emily?" Matt wasn't surprised to see Temple in the office, but was surprised to not find Emily in it.

"What do you mean? She's not at her desk?" Both had assumed Emily had returned there when she disappeared from their conversation.

"No, I haven't seen her since before you took her to the sketch artist."

"I'm sure everything is fine," Cheryl tried to convince herself and them, as she picked up her phone and dialed the negotiator's cell.

There was no answer. She dialed another.

"Mathers."

"Lia, is Emily with you?"

"No, why? What happened?"

"Nothing that I know of yet, I'll let you know." She distractedly hung up the phone.

Matt was already dialing another on his phone, while Temple stepped into the CNU floor.

"Has anyone seen Lehamn in the last two hours?" He bellowed, startling his coworkers, who offered nothing but headshakes and shrugs.

"Thanks Frank, call me when you know." Matt snapped his phone closed and stared at Cheryl.

"She isn't with HRT then?"

"No, but Frank's sending one of his guys to check the parking lot, see if her car is there."

Cheryl dialed a fourth number, hoping to get some reassurance.

"Security Office," a gruff voice answered.

"Hey, Ben it's Cheryl, listen can you radio your men and see if any of them has seen Agent Lehman leave?"

"No problem. Is she okay?"

"Yeah, I'm sure, just being cautious."

"Right hang on." The FBI's cheesy music came on, ringing in Cheryl's ears for several minutes until Ben came back on the line.

"Sorry, my guys haven't seen her."

"Ok, thanks Ben." She hung up. "None of the guards saw her leave."

"So either she's still in the building…"

"Or somebody got her out undetected. Great." Matt ran a hand through his hair.

"Don't start panicking Matt," Cheryl warned him, once again dialing Lia, just as Duff appeared at her office.

"Mathers."

"Hang on a minute Lia." She placed a hand over the phone.

"Her car's still there."

"Okay, go find Frank. I need him to get HRT ready move. We may have a missing agent."

"What!" Lia squawked through the phone.

Cheryl went back on with her as Duff left. "We can't find Emily. Listen Lia, I need you to pull up her phone records, anything incoming or outgoing within the last two hours. And have some people start plowing though the security footage."

"Sure of course. Do you think he…do you think she…?" Lia's voice became thick with worry.

"I don't know and I'm not going to speculate." She hung up before Lia could ask her anymore questions she couldn't answer.

"Come on Em, pick up," Matt pled, waiting for the phone to ring.

She didn't. The call went right to her voice mail.

"Alright, Matt keep calling her, Temple put out word in the building that we have an agent missing." Cheryl instructed them as Matt hung up and dialed again and Temple left the office.


An Hour and a half Later

Matt was on the verge of panic, Cheryl was trying to have a conversation with her boss, who was horrendously pissed that they managed to lose on of the Bureau's best agents, Frank was perched at the door, waiting for instruction, Lia was making her coworkers nervous, watching them search tapes for traces of Emily, and Temple and Binder were sitting at their cubicle, feeling quite useless.

Just as Matt was about to start pacing yet again, a familiar figure wandered into the CNU, wondering why everyone was still there, and why they all looked so tense. It was after six by then, they should have all been home, enjoying the absence of any crisis to solve. Then they noticed her, and it became clear that something was very wrong.

"Emily! You're alright!" Temple exclaimed, relieved, his voice carrying to Cheryl office, sending four more people stumbling out hurriedly.

"Lehman where the hell have you been?" Frank demanded.

She stared in shock at them, before Matt said to hell with Cheryl's PDA in the office rule, and swept her up into his arms. She was alive and unharmed, for the next five minutes that's all that mattered. When he finally released her, she was once again faced with something that looked oddly like an inquisition.

"What the hell happened here?" She wondered.

"What do you mean? You disappeared for damn near four hours, Emily." Cheryl went from looking relieved to ready to kill her unless she had one damned good excuse.

"I got stuck up on the roof. They decided to keep it locked about a month ago, I haven't been up there in awhile and forgot." She kind of shrugged, trying to reassure her friends and coworkers that it wasn't a big deal.

"How about answering your phone?" She was not impressed with her subordinate's excuse.

"Uh, there's no reception up there, or I would have called Matt to let me in. Tony Baker from the OC Unit let me in."

"What were you doing up on the roof? Wait, why would you ever go up there alone with Sinister Stan sending 'I want to taste you' letters?" Frank asked.

"It's really not a big deal, I'm sorry I worried all of you."

There was silence a minute as everyone began to wind down from their state of hyper-vigilance and expecting the worst.

"Well then, here is how this is going to go. Everybody can go home now, thank you for staying. You, Emily aren't to go anywhere without telling at least two people, unless you go with someone, then you only have to tell one. Don't argue, it's only until Stan is caught or gets the hint that you're not interested. I have to go and explain to my boss how you managed to get yourself stuck on a roof and why I felt the need to send the alert that you were missing." Cheryl walked back to her office shaking her head in exasperation, while everyone else managed to disperse.

"Well, this was embarrassing." Emily commented, picking up her badge and stowing her things in it.

"That's it?" Matt hadn't spoke the whole time, but now he did.

"What?"

"That's all you have to say?"

"What am I supposed to say? I said I was sorry."

"Yeah, for making us worry. But how about for going up on that roof, and for not telling anyone?" They were beginning to grow louder and draw the attention of their coworkers.

"I'm not going to apologize for going to the roof, and I wasn't aware I needed permission to go anywhere." Her tone was chilled, and growing icy.

"Don't be a smart-ass." Matt sounded just as angry.

"No really, why not just stick a GPS locator in my bra?"

"Not funny."

"Do you see me laughing?" She had her hands on her hips now, and Matt looked around at their coworkers, before grabbing one of her arms, and leading her off, inside interrogation 2.

"Don't you get what's going on Emily?"

"Evidently not."

"You. Are. Being. Stalked. You just disappeared damn it! What do you think we thought happened to you?!" He let it all out now that they were alone.

"I know that Matt! I know he's watching me! But I can't do this! I don't want to play the victim! Okay? It's not my part, I can take care of myself!"

"I know that! But, it's never stopped me from wanting to protect you though and it never will!"

"Matt, I was the roof of a building packed with Feds. What was he going to do hang-glide onto the building?"

"Don't turn this into a joke Emily, I thought he finally got a hold of you. He could have been doing anything to you, beating you, killing you, raping you-"

"Matt! I really don't need to hear that!"

"No, I think that's exactly what you need to hear! You need to be scared right now, because at least then you'll be careful." He began to quiet down a bit.

"I am scared Matt, and I hate that he has me freaked out. And I hate that he has everyone else freaked out. More than that I hate that you all suddenly think I can't take care of myself. You treat me like some defenseless child."

"We don't think that Em. We just worry."

"I know that, and it's sweet, but-"

"No, don't do that. Don't talk like this is some high school crush between us. It's not sweet Em; it's primal. You protect the people that mean everything to you, and you…you're everything and then some." He brushed her hair behind her ear, looking intently into her eyes.

"I just feel smothered with all this, Matt. Stan's watching me, and now you're all watching me and keeping track of my movements. I can't pretend it doesn't make me want to just bolt."

"Alright, there isn't much more we can do on this anyway. Come home with me, and everybody will relax a little bit." He took her hands in his, trying to reassure her.

"I had planned on doing that anyway," she teased him, smiling and wrapping her arms around him.

"Great, then let's get the hell out of here." Instead of moving he reciprocated the hug, holding her tightly.

That evening they went home together, after both assured Cheryl and company that they'd be fine without a protective detail. They agreed without much of a fight, everyone feeling kind of silly after the panic when she disappeared.

Their evening was quiet and slightly dampened by tension. Matt was still worried that Emily wasn't taking Stan seriously enough, though he wasn't about to say it. Emily knew he was worried, and still felt smothered, but didn't say anything, because she knew if some woman was stalking Matt, she'd act much the same way he was. Needless to say, they turned in early, but didn't fail to wrap snugly around each other, tension be damned.

Emily jolted awake two hours and thirteen minutes later, hearing of cell phone screaming it's happy tune. Who the hell? Had to be Cheryl with a case, nobody else would call at this hour.

"Lehman?" She whispered groggily.

"Hello Emily," a smooth baritone answered.

"Who is this?" Her demand broke the whisper barrier.

"A friend. Did you enjoy the chocolates?"

"No, and I didn't appreciate the card either. Who are you?"

"I told you, a friend," his smooth, calm tone never wavered.

"Friends don't send cards like that." She wasn't going to back down, even as she heard Matt stir beside her.

"I just wanted to hear your voice Emily, I can almost picture you in my mind." He seemed enthralled by the image he spoke about.

"Em, is that Cheryl?" Matt asked hoarsely, his voice not working properly yet.

She shook her head, and went to say something.

"You're still with him. That's disappointing, you could do better. Goodnight Emily." He whispered goodnight like a lover would, before she heard a click over the line.

"Em? Who was that?" Matt watched her stare into the dark of the bedroom, as she click her phone closed.

"Stan."

Matt's mouth opened and closed a minute, before he asked, "What did he say?"

"The usual, he's a friend, did I like the chocolates, that he wanted to hear my voice so he could visualize me, that he was disappointed that I'm with you. He seems to think I could do better."

"We better call Cheryl."

"Not at a quarter to three we aren't, this can wait until tomorrow."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. What is she going to do now anyway?"

"Good point, alright, back to bed, we'll go in early tomorrow." He slid back down, and lifted his arm so she could slide in against him.

"Glad we agree," she answered as she copied his action, shimmying against him.


I'm trying to go quick with this one so I can get back to the other two, which will probably be on hold until next week. Thanks for all the reviews, I was suprised (very happily so) to see so many.