Fascination.

It was the first word that came to Kylo Ren's mind as he watched the lady cop before him devour a half foot steak and cheese sandwich.

Kylo could not help but be intrigued how Officer Kenobi managed to look happy and giddy with food. For him, food is food, there's no need to be ecstatic about it. But here she is looking like it was her first time seeing a sandwich.

Ren sipped his coffee as he continued to observe. From what he can deduce, the woman would be happy with almost anything. It was almost as if she was a puppy dog, wiggling its tail upon the sight of a stick.

He was curious about her but did not know what to say. Conversations aren't really his forte because one, people are boring, two, people are stupid, and three, they are just annoying altogether. But so far as his checklist goes, the officer was neither boring nor stupid, but borderline annoying. And maybe he could tolerate that... maybe.

Ren dismissed his thoughts as he took out a cigarette pack from his pocket. He remained quiet as he blew the smoke away from the woman across him, finally removing his gaze to look at the busy street.

The tortuous silence made Rey uncomfortable and the fact that she was the only one eating did not help ease the unsettling environment. He was the one who invited her out, yet he's not eating. But Kylo Ren seems to be enjoying himself with just coffee and his cigarette.

Rey glanced at the man sitting across her. He sat straight up, his long legs crossed. Even when he's doing almost nothing, he still looked pompous and snobbish. His domineering aura radiated throughout their table, making Rey tense up whenever he moves.

"Aren't you going to eat?" She finally said, trying to diffuse the tension that's been building up on their table.

His eyes slowly moved to glance at Rey, who looked at him intriguingly. She had mayonnaise stains below her lip, a sight that made Kylo grimace. What a messy eater, he thought. But he did not bother to tell her, thinking that she will figure it out on her own.

"I'm not hungry." He said flatly, almost unenthusiastic while his cheek made a small bulge as he pushed his tongue to the side.

Well, so much for trying to start a conversation, Rey told herself as she pouted. Since Kylo wasn't in the mood for either eating or talking, Rey continued to bite onto her sandwich until she saw him take another cigarette stick from his pocket and light it.

"You know those things will kill you." She warned before the stick could reach his mouth.

He paused for a while, looking at his cigarette before puffing it defiantly before her, his eyes challenging her to stop him.

Rey rolled her eyes. "I was talking about the coffee."

This time, Kylo faced her. His body leaning towards the table. She got his attention. Again. He wasn't expecting to be called out for the dark drink in front of him because if there's anything that's a certain death machine, it was the thin stick he held in between his fingers.

Rey grinned, before she wiped her face with a table napkin but still missing the persistent white stain on her chin. "You shouldn't be drinking more than four cups a day. And that's probably your fifth." She said as the tension around them temporarily disappeared.

"It's my third." He corrected her, calmly, as his dark eyes looked straight to hers. But his mouth did something else. Rey could see it, his little mannerism: how he pushes his tongue on the insides of his cheek, making a small bulge on his face.

She smiled.

"You know for a lawyer, you're really bad at lying." She said as she noticed his unique quirk.

"How so?" He placed his cigarette over his lip, his broad hands almost covering the lower part of his face. He was awestricken again, and did his best to hide it. Truth is, he already had six cups of coffee.

"Let's see..." Rey inhaled deeply. "I'm guessing... you had coffee for breakfast, another before going to court, one after court, and another when you got to your office, and one now. So that's five." She grinned.

"And your evidence?" His voice was low and filled with skepticism. She was close, but not quite.

Rey dismissed his question. "Not only that you're lying about your coffee, I also know that you were lying when you said you weren't hungry."

The lawyer looked away, his cheeks slightly red. She could see how his lips expand into a smile, but he immediately shut it tight as if he was not allowed to do so.

He was, indeed, fucking starving.

Kylo put out the cigarette and carefully placed its butt on the ashtray, his focus now centered at the woman in front of him, waiting for her to talk.

"Your tongue..." Rey started, her eyebrows twitching, thinking how to properly explain her observations.

"You place it on your cheek when you lie." She finally said as she mimicked Kylo Ren's mannerisms.

She caught that? Kylo thought. There were only two people who knew about that annoying habit of his: his mother and their managing partner, Snoke. And after Snoke berated him about it, he got rid of the mannerism once and for all. Or so he thought.

Rey waited for him to say something. But he didn't talk. Instead, he extended his hand and reached for her face. She was taken aback by the sudden movement, her head cocking away. But he continued to reach out until his long fingers landed on her chin.

Rey froze. Her eyes glanced at Kylo whose eyes were focused on the white stain underneath her lip and brushing it off of her face.

"You're annoying." Kylo whispered. Not that she was genuinely irritating, but in astonishment at her observational skills. It was the first time a stranger took time to discern him and not treat him as some haughty monster of the court, and for the first time in a long time, he was happily annoyed with someone.

Rey could feel the heat on her cheeks as the gentle pressure from Kylo Ren's finger lingered on her skin. She glanced at him wondering what happened to his dark terrifying expression he always had. It was gone now, and all she could see was the tenderness and gentleness in his eyes.

"S..So are you." She spat.

In panic. Without thinking.

She was surprised by the serenity of his features, that she did not know how to react. She looked at Kylo thinking that he would say something back but he stayed silent, leaning back to his chair and his gaze back to the street.

The rest of lunch was shrouded in comfortable silence. Rey ate, while he, finally ordered something to satisfy his hunger.

At the back of their heads, both wondered if they are now friends.

—

There are calm days when the officers of 89th precinct would spend their mornings drinking coffee and preparing paper work, not thinking of any cases that needed to be solved; enjoying the otherwise mundane day,... but this is not one of those days.

Rose Tico scrambled and ran, tugging every detective present in the precinct, disturbing the Christmas spirit.

"Briefing room!" She shouted in both excitement and panic. "Now!"

Rey was more than happy to oblige with Rose's request. Doing paper work is boring. She thought when she made detective, she would spend most of her time in the street solving homicide cases, but this is not the movies. Most days are spent her desk engulfed on loads and loads of paper work, and she hated it.

"Listen up! I've got good news and some bad news." The Forensics Officer of the 89th precinct of the NYPD began as everybody began to settle inside the rather large room.

Rey found a seat in the front, being the enthusiastic rookie that she is. Detective Windu followed close, his face frowning as he removed his fake white beard and make shift Santa hat.

"This better be good." Finn Windu sat beside Rey as he cowered in disappointment at their job practically ruining his most favorite holiday.

By the door stood their Sergeant, Detective Poe Dameron. He leaned on the door opening, his tousled hair flattening as his head touched the wooden frames. He crossed his arms, his face smoldering, showing a mixture of both curiosity and just plain sex appeal.

"Okay! Good news first." Rose exhaled sharply as she began. "Autopsy results of our boy Frankenstein is out."

Frankenstein? Her monicker earned confused glances from her audience.

Rose sighed in irritation, her brain was already thwarting towards the technological age while her colleagues were still stuck at stone age. As calmly as she could, she explained: The stitched up head of the body they found yesterday, looked like Frankenstein's monster in Mary Shelly's novel?

The explanation earned several 'oohhs' and 'aahhs' while she shook her head in utter dismay. After they were satisfied with the noise they made, Rose continued her report and flashed a photo on the large television in the center of the room.

The screen showed a close-up picture of the back of the head of the victim. His black curly hair had been shaved to show the small puncture wound that dug into his skull.

"Based on the wound, the suspect used a 2.5 inches twisted drill bit to crack our victim's skull. From that hole, he went off slicing the rest of the man's scalp off using something sharp, a scalpel perhaps..." Rose trailed off.

"Nothing special about the drill bit?" Finn interrupted.

Rose shook her head in the negative. "It was steel, based on the filings recovered around the wound but other than that, nothing."

Rey could hear the detective beside him sigh. Steel bits are the most common kind of attachments to electric drills.

"So the puncture wound was the cause of death?" Detective Dameron croaked, his body now away from the door frame.

Rose cocked her head towards the young sergeant's direction, her pointing finger flailing in the air. "At first, I thought so too." But —"

"But there were no signs of external trauma." Rey finished Rose's sentence.

"Exactly!" Rose reacted with so much eagerness with Rey's answer. "You see, the drill wound was ante mortem," as Rose pointed on the television screen, "so he was alive when his scalp go ripped off from his head. This means that blood should be spilling all over his head when we found him. But there was nothing, nothing on the outside at least."

"Our criminal took time in cleaning the body after he mutilated him." Rose continued.

"Premeditated." Rey could hear Poe whisper under his breath.

Rose nodded in affirmation. "But that's not the only weird thing about it." She gulped, almost in disgust.

Rey could see the distress in the small woman's eyes. Rose was used to the gruesome sight that came with her job. If anything else, she was always excited examining corpses. But for the first time since Rey's transfer six months ago, Rose was uncomfortable.

"He was harvested." The expert finally said, choking on her words.

The full attention of the detectives was finally on her. Finn leaned towards the table while Poe's eyes squinted in revulsion. Rey, on the other hand listened intently.

"His brain was removed from his body... that was his cause of death." Rose began again.

"He was also missing his tongue..."

Rey's stomach churned violently in utter discomfort at what she heard.

Only a sick human would do such a thing.

—

"Merry Christmas, Rey." Rose greeted nonchalantly as she recognized an old pair of black boots stop in front of her.

Rey smiled, reciprocating on the greeting although she knew Rose wasn't paying attention as she was too busy examining the dead body on the ground. 'Yeah, Merry-fucking-Christmas.' She told herself.

The sun hasn't even shown itself, yet the detectives were greeted with death for Christmas. The morning was freezing. Temperature dropped magnanimously for the past few days which made outdoor life a living hell. Rey shuddered as the wind bit her face. She huddled her coat and wished she brought her and Rose some hot drink.

"'Sup?" Rey crouched to where she was, her breath condensing as she talked.

Rose sighed, "Cindy Cole, 29, fell from the 32nd floor." She recited as she took a cotton bud and swiped it underneath the victims fingernails.

Rey squinted as she silently glanced at the building where the body originated. It was a high end condominium situated in the heart of the city. It would be an understatement to say that it was the home of the the rich and famous.

Rey reverted her eyes back to the body. Caucasian, blonde, wearing a now blood stained old rose night gown, her hair bundled with cylindrical rollers. Judging from the position of her body, she fell to the ground face first, arms broken and twisted away from her torso. Her legs on the other hand was more gruesome than the rest of her upper body combined. Her right fibula detached from its joint, exposing it while puncturing her skin.

What a horrible way to die, Rey thought as she wore her own blue gloves.

"Suicide?" She asked, basing the educated guess on the position of the body and surrounding circumstances.

"As of now, yes." Rose replied as she stood up to get her camera from the kit beside her.

"Anybody upstairs?" She asked Rose who was now taking photos.

Light flashed from the camera as Rose pressed the shutter button. She shrugged at Rey before shifting to a different angle to photograph. "Patrol." She groaned as she found it difficult to move because of the cold.

It was just the two of them now. The rest of the detectives of the 89th precinct were on leaves, spending the holiday with their families. Rose had somewhere else to go too, her sister Paige would be in town in the afternoon. But she had time to spare during the morning, and so here she is, exploring the dead woman on the ground. As for Rey, she had been alone all her life so having no one for Christmas was nothing. It's like any other day.

"I'll check upstairs." She cried to her colleague before hopping towards the stairs of the building, craving for indoor heat.

Rey started with the front desk, interviewing the concierge and management was more than cooperative with giving information. Says that the victim was always with different men.

"Rumors say she's high class..." The concierge whispered as she placed his hand on the side of her mouth.

"A sex worker?" Rey inquired.

Her question earned several fast nods from the woman behind the table. "How else could she afford such unit.. I mean, really?" The desk worker looked at Rey, expecting her to agree with her condescending tone.

Rey merely replied with a forced smirk. She's not here to judge. Whatever the victim's occupation, she's now dead. A little respect for the deceased would be great. The woman cleared her throat, frowning at the detective for not responding with her hot gossip.

"Was the victim with a client last night?" Rey continued.

The woman shrugged. "I wouldn't know. We had a Christmas party last night, and I just clocked in this morning. I could provide for the footages from last night..."

Rey nodded before the woman could finish, jotting down notes on her pad. "That would be really helpful. Thank you."

Rey called an officer who was outside, telling him to assist the front desk in obtaining the CCTV footages. Not long after, she found herself on the elevator heading to the 32nd floor. She was giving an access card by the concierge, saying that the elevator wouldn't operate without it.

'A high class prostitute committing suicide' Rey thought as she looked right through the numbers changing upon reaching different floors. It was a possibility. But suicide can be ruled out once she has seen more of her unit.

The elevator made a loud 'ding' sound, signaling that Rey reached her floor. She walked quietly towards the victim's unit: 3204, at the same time observing the wide hallways she stepped in. You could practically fit a large car in it. She sighed as she continued to keep her eyes on her surroundings. There were only four rooms on the entire floor. She can only imagine how large each unit was. Even the hallway was wider than her apartment kitchen.

Detective Kenobi began talking with the officers first on the scene. They pretty much finished the initial investigation so there was almost nothing to do. All they did was to report to her what they found.

"Residents of rooms 3201 and 3203 are out of town." One of the officers said.

"And this one?" Rey pointed at the room across the victim's place.

"Not yet. We thought we'll leave it to you." They said.

"Any sign of a possible homicide?" She peeked at the victim's door.

The officers merely shrugged. "No signs of struggle. Everything was kept into place, just a broken window."

Rey nodded, analyzing the situation and jotting down the information on her pad. Since patrol had begun their initial investigation, she thought of asking the neighbor across the room first. Dealing with possible witnesses was more difficult than investigating a crime scene.

Rey pressed the doorbell of unit, while looking at the large metallic numbers of 3202 on the side. The doors were automated, based on the electronic lock attached to it.

'An access card for the elevator and electronic locks.' She whispered to herself. If there was a killer, then he would have had access to those. But then again, the victim had clients entering in and out of her residence so she might know her killer. But there were no signs of struggle. She had now been leaning to a conclusion that the victim might have committed suicide.

Rey was too drowned in her thoughts that she didn't notice that nobody was answering the door. She pressed the door bell again, this time longer.

Still, nothing.

"Sir, this is the NYPD, we would like to ask you some questions." Now, she's trying a different approach. She shouted, while she banged the door with her fists.

She sighed, heavily, this time. Uncooperative witnesses are not her thing. If there was one detective who could bring out the best (and worst) answers from people, it was their Sergeant, Poe Dameron. The Latino cop could charm his way to almost anybody, which was a useful skill Rey admired.

Anyway, there was still no one answering the door. So Rey repeated everything she had done a few minutes before: pressing the door bell longer than she should, and banging the door with her curled up fist, feeling a slight irritation crawling up her skin.

She stopped when she heard a muffled shout from inside the room. 'Finally.' She rolled her eyes until her gaze landed on her untied shoe laces. Rey bent down, placing her notepad and pen on the floor to attend on her undid laces.

"What?!" The door of unit 3202 busted wide open, it's owner snarling in anger for the disturbance she caused.

Rey cringed, her body still bent down on the floor. She swore she felt the entire floor tremble at the man's voice. At her eye level, Rey could see his muscular legs, followed by the hem of a light blue boxer shorts. Her gaze slowly moved up towards the man that was literally towering over her, but she was greeted by something even the both of them did not expect.

Rey wanted to scream, but her voice box only did an inaudible squeak followed by her jaw slowly dropping down, her mouth gaping wide open. She should have stood up but she literally froze on her position, her muscles and her brain fully disoriented; she should have taken away her gaze away from it, but gravity was pulling her eyes towards it. It... it was big.

"The hell are you looking at, Kenobi?" The man said. He looked down to where Rey's eyes were transfixed, not realizing that he had a bulge underneath his trousers.

Surprised by the man knowing her identity, Rey cocked her head towards the man's face who was looking down over her head.

"Kylo?" She choked. Rey did not recognize his voice as it was hoarse and raw from sleep. Realizing the awkward situation they're in, Rey immediately scrambled to get up, not minding the unfinished tying of her shoe laces.

It was Kylo Ren.

It was Kylo Ren's dick. It was.. it was...

Rey's thoughts trailed off she tried to compose herself, acting like the police detective that she is. But she was clearly embarrassed, shaken, her face red as an overripe tomato.

"Calm down, it's just a penis." He crossed his arms and leaned at his open door to prevent it from closing, looking down at his own organ which refused to return to its flaccid state.

"It's a nocturnal penile tumescence. It's normal." He explained.

"A spontaneous erection of the penis during sleep or when waking up." Kylo continued.

He thought of a way to look unaffected with the embarrassing situation, his face, calm and collected just like in court, but on the inside, his heart was thumping hard on his chest as if it would fall out from his ribs. He wanted to draw Rey's attention away from his bodily organ by talking about it? Great, talk about something else! He thought. But his mouth had been spitting words more than his mind could think. His word vomit was making everything worse for the both of them.

"All men without physiological erectile dysfunction experience experience nocturnal penile tumescence, usually three to five times during the night and is believed to contribute to penile —" Kylo wasn't stopping.

Rey grimaced and shook her head vigorously, trying to shake the information from reaching her ears. She knows what she saw, and Kylo speaking like a goddamn Wikipedia page made the situation more awkward than it already was. And as for Rey, Rey had enough of hearing about penises.

Without thinking, Rey lunged towards him, tiptoeing, to the point of almost jumping, so just she can cover his mouth and make him stop talking. "Shut up!" She hissed, leaning onto him, hand on his mouth; chests and noses almost touching.

Kylo did not know which was more surprising, the sudden bodily contact with Rey or her being too close to his face. Either way, his initial reaction was to take a step back, retracting his whole body away from her. It wasn't a good idea to say the least. The abrupt change in Kylo's stance made Rey lose her footing when she boots reached the ground. She slipped, and not in the most elegant way. Rey supported her weight using her hand that was on Kylo's face, pushing it hard for her to regain her balance. On his side, Kylo took a step back before his foot got tangled with his other foot. Both were trying to keep a state of total equilibrium which they failed to maintain. Finally, Kylo fell to the floor accidentally pulling Rey with him; while subconsciously wrapping his arms around the small female frame that came down with him, he landed on his back making a loud squawking sound as it hit the marbled floor. He groaned in pain at both the impact on his back and Rey's body thudding on his chest, all while Rey squealed like a distressed mouse.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" He roared angrily at her, his arms still wrapped around her waist and head for protection, at the same time his eyes roamed around her body checking Rey for any injuries.

Kylo sighed. He didn't know what was more irritating, the fact that she almost hit her head on the floor or the fact that he was feeling guilty lashing out on her like that. She was the first person that did not annoy him, and for some reason he did not want to push her away by being grumpy and all the time. He thought of her as a friend, his first friend.

"You were talking too much about penises!" Rey uttered defensively, cheeks still pressed on his chest.

Kylo rolled his eyes wanting to take back his thoughts on friendship. "You were the one staring!" He spat back.

"Of course I'll be staring. It's fucking ginormous, what do you expect?" She got up, wriggling herself free from his protective hug.

Rey gasped, her hazel eyes widening more than ever as soon as she realized what she had said. Did she just confess that Kylo's junk was big and that she was checking it out?

She had a Freudian slip. Fucking textbook freudian slip.

Then there was silence. A very awkward and torturous silence. Rey averted her eyes from Kylo, who was now blushing from ear to ear. She bit her lip, her mind thinking of an excuse or anything to cover her statement but her mind went blank.

"A..Are you hurt?" Kylo cleared his throat and changed the topic. It was for both their sakes. Both or for her sake? Truth be told, this was not him. Since when did he ever care about anyone else's feelings?

Rey shook her head, calming down. Her hazel eyes grew larger and shone brightly as she was thankful to him for not humiliating her any further.

"Thank you." She whispered shyly, eyes staring at him like a lost puppy as she removed herself from him.

Stop looking at me like that. Kylo wanted to tell her. It made his heart beat faster and his stomach flutter in nervousness.

"I.. uhh.." Rey finally began, "Can we start over?" She smiled brightly at him as she tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

Stop smiling like that. He wanted to say but instead he nodded in affirmation at the officer.

"Your neighbor," she pointed at the room across his. "Do you know her?"

"No, I don't." He answered.

"...she jumped to her death a couple of hours ago. Did you hear or see anything unusual last night or this morning?"

"No. I... I didn't even know I had a neighbor." Kylo's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

Typical Kylo. Rey thought as she play bit her thumb. She should have expected that he didn't know anything.

"So the neighbors don't know anything." She was now talking to herself. "So that leaves us with the CCTV footages..."

"Any sign of struggle?" Kylo asked. He was observing her, her concentration and dedication, it was remarkable. She was remarkable. Wait, has his feelings of platonic friendship developed into adoration?

"Not yet, I haven't really..." Rey said as her eyes followed Kylo who was now walking towards the crime scene.

"Wait!" She shouted in panic as he casually ducked to avoid the yellow police tapes plastered on the victim's door.

"Kylo, you're not allowed there!" She scrambled to get up and chased him.

Thankfully, he did stop even before his bare feet touch the carpeted floor and contaminate any possible evidence. He placed his fingers on his chin, observing the surroundings.

"So she jumped from the building?" He glanced to his side as Rey stood beside her.

"Apparently yes." She replied nonchalantly, her eyes moving from furniture to furniture to observe her surroundings.

"But if you're going to commit suicide..." Kylo started.

"Why is the glass window broken?" She looked at him, eyes glinting with her eureka moment.

Kylo grinned at her. "Do you want to find the killer?"

"Fuck yeah, I do." She grinned back, crossing her arms.

"But first please put a fucking shirt on."