Spoilers for: The Killer in the Crosshairs

I'd been avoiding this side of town. The truth was, I was afraid of running into him. It's not that I thought things would go badly if I saw him, I was just hedging my bets so to speak. I would get to the point where we could forget that evening and go back to what we had. Temperance didn't think so, but she had her reasons for thinking that, and I had mine. It was a beautiful day, though, my roommate, a fluff piece writer for the local section of the Washington Post, was listening to some strange new age-y music that I thought sounded like a dying duck, and I could either stay and listen or head out and enjoy the sunshine. I thought that maybe if I hovered around the various parks that border the Mall I might get me a bit of juicy information to turn into a story for my editor.

I'd left before dawn, wandering from park to park, and it was just after six when I saw her. She was jogging the track, oblivious to almost everything around her. She ran with a practiced ease, heading right toward me. I started to step out and stop her, maybe invite her to coffee or something and make this day worth something. He came around the corner a moment later, a leopard loping through the Washington jungle. She didn't see him, just continued on, he paced her obviously considering interupting her, but then thinking better of it. I cut across the green behind them , curious and jealous. Oh, he'd run with me, here in fact. That jungle stride of his tearing through the crowds. I'd always felt like he was holding back for me though, like he felt I wouldn't be able to keep up. Watching him now, watching him watch her, I felt like a nature show host watching a big cat about to feed.

He finally came up behind her, and then stopped. They smiled at each other, content in each other. It was sickening. I'd just worked up the nerve to go down to them when he shot off like a bolt of lightening. Laughing, she followed, and I cut through the park to keep them in sight.

I'm not a voyeur by nature. I like to be in the action, and to be known to be there. Sitting in a dark corner, hidden by shadows or shifting crowds was not my way of doing things, and I felt dirty for watching them. Like I was looking in on them having sex, and I knew how Seeley made love, and all that energy he used to beat her was no less focused in bed. I'm not a stalker, I hadn't intended to see them, I hadn't intended to be here at all, but now that I was I couldn't pull myself away. I felt sick.

They came to a stop at the coffee cart, and then touched each other with a familiarity that belied what Seeley had ever told me of their relationship. Deep down I knew the truth, but watching them, anyone watching them, would think they'd woken up that morning together, and gone for a run. There was a comfortableness between them that even I hadn't shared with Seeley. He bought them coffee, and they walked away, shoulders brushing occasionally, Temperance talking about something that she obviously found incredibly interesting, and he was obviously trying very hard to feign interest. I'd seen enough.

I would confront them, confront Seeley. And whatever his answers, I'd have him back. I was crossing over to them, out of sight but in ear shot, about to yell when he grabbed at his cell phone. Three clipped sentences later and the phone was back in his pocket. Her's had run while he was on the phone, but was away before he was off.

"Cam?" He asked her, and she nodded.

"I'll meet you there?" She asked, already heading across the path toward the main road.

He said nothing, just raised his coffee cup and headed in the opposite direction. That was it. I'd almost expected him to hug her, kiss her goodbye. Just a friendly wave and they were separated and on their way to poke at some dead guy. I ran through what I'd seen again, trying to pick anything out that told me definitively that I'd lost my chance with him. There had been nothing, just a friendly run at the local park, and a cup of coffee.

There was a spring in my step as I decided to forgo the parks for the rest of the day and see what was happening on Capital Hill.

He'd be mine, it hadn't even been two months, he'd be mine.

I had hope.

Author's note on chapter: This, and the next chapter, were originally written to be read backwards. the first thing I got from my beta reader this morning was "but BitB came after KitC", at which point i checked, and sure enough, I had originally watched them in the wrong order. Blame my DVR. So, I did a quick rewrite. The next part survived the edit better. don't flame me too much for this one, I just couldn't seem to make it work if it came before the blizzard.