The following morning, Brody awoke to the sound of the shower. Opening her eyes, she glanced at the clock. It was little after 6 a.m. The last thing she wanted was to be awake. Being awake meant that her mind would wander with things she only wanted to forget. For several moments she laid there allowing the sounds of the shower remind her of falling water. Fod's men had held a rag over her face while they took turns dousing her with buckets of water.

Unable to stand the sound any longer, she tossed back the covers and padded into the living room where she was greeted by a large Great Dane. The gentle beast jumped up, placing his paws on her shoulders. Happily, he started lapping her face.

"Get down!" she squealed as the dog's large pink tongue ran up the side of her face.

"LaSalle!"

A moment later, the sound of Plexiglas clanging against the wall could be heard as LaSalle fumbled his way out of the shower. Clad in nothing but a towel, Chris appeared in the living room, water still glistening from his shoulders.

"I see you've met Rufus."

"Rufus? Since when do you have dog?" Brody swiped at her face as the dog dropped to all fours at the sound of Chris's voice.

"He's Cade's emotional companion." LaSalle crossed over to the patio door motioning to the dog.

"So why didn't he bark last night when we came in?" Brody asked as he let Rufus outside.

"I never said he was a guard dog," LaSalle crossed back over to her examining the dark circles that had formed under her eyes. Now that morning was here, she looked like a vampire needing to crawl back into a coffin to escape the light.

"You need some aspirin or anything?" After all those shots, last night she was bound to have one hell of a headache.

"Um…that would be great," What she really needed however was nice glass of wine to help chase it down. Not that she would verbalize those thoughts to her partner. Knowing, Chris he would haul her ass off to an AA meeting. Group therapy, share time was the last thing she wanted.

"I could also make you, LaSalle's instant cure for a hangover if you'd like," Chris added watching her face twitch into a tight smile.

"No thanks," she replied in a cynical tone. She shuddered to think what would be in it.

Ah, so it was going to be angry Brody today. Working with angry Brody was going to be a lot of fun, compared to depressed and drunken Brody. LaSalle thought as he headed off to fetch the aspirin and some water.

He had just returned with the aspirin and handed it to Brody when the front door swung open and Cade appeared.

The older LaSalle's eyes widened. This was the first time since his arrival that Chris had a lady friend as an overnight guest. "Whoa, you should have put sock or something over the doorknob so I'd know that we had company."

"It isn't what you think!" Both LaSalle and Brody replied in unison.

"It's exactly what I think," Cade muttered quietly noting that Brody was wearing Chris's Roll Tide sweatshirt. No one wore the Roll Tide, ever. As far as Cade knew the sweatshirt ranked among his little brother's most prized processions.

Moving into the kitchen, Cade set a box of warm beignets on the counter. "Don't worry, I brought plenty. After the night the two of you had, you must be famished."

Chris felt his ears burn as a smile of embarrassment spread across his face. But given the fact that he was wearing nothing but a towel and Merri was dressed in a pair of his boxer shorts, he could hardly blame Cade for assuming that he had hooked up with his partner.

"Don't mind him, none." He said quietly. "I'm gonna get dressed and then we'll swing by your place before heading into work."

Ugh. Merri thought, knowing that she could expect another day of manning the phones and paperwork. As far she was concerned, Pride had written her off as the office secretary and full time gopher. All the good cases now went to Abigail.

Secretly, she knew why that was however. Pride didn't think she was ready to go back into the field. Given her history with the Moultrie, he was afraid she was going to balk again and mess up.

Maybe he was right she thought as Cade turned on the water at the kitchen sink and reached for the coffee pot.

"Somethin' botherin' ya?" Cade asked noting the panic stricken look that had taken the pretty smile from her face.

"No…I just had a little too much to drink last night," she rebounded quickly pressing her hand to her stomach.

"Sorry about that," Cade said as he poured the water into the coffee maker. "But for the record, you must be somethin' really special to Chris"

"Why is that?"

"The Roll Tide," Cade quipped. "He doesn't let just anybody wear that."

For the first time in months, a genuine smile spread across Brody's face as she looked down at the big red letters splayed across her chest.