Thank you everybody firstly for your reviews and kind words, and secondly for those who mentioned that you like me as an author- always blows me away whe people say that :D

2.

As Gabi interviewed the vulnerable female half of the fighting couple in question, Troy considered what it was that she was referring to when she had said she had enough to think about.

Was it something happening at home? At work? Was it Peter even? Did she still have feelings for him and had he stirred them up with his mentioning her short-lived relationship with the man? Or was it more than that?

He wished he didn't care about the answers because his mind hadn't been on the job all morning and it was beginning to show and she already hated him, so he was reluctant to give her any more reason to pick on him today.

Not that he hadn't started it and not that he didn't deserve anything she threw his way. He did. He just didn't want to face it right now. Not when a bruised and frightened woman cowered in the corner, afraid even of his presence in the same room even though he wasn't the man that had hurt her.

"We have to get her out of here," Gabi told him in a hushed voice.

"I know," he sighed, his face creasing with concern. "But you'll have to take her out and I'll cover you if he comes back."

"No," Gabi shook her head. "She wants me to get something from her room. You take her out, I'll follow."

"No way," he shook his head, instantly. "One, we don't know what she has in there- you're in danger just being here alone. And two, I don't want to risk him coming back while you're here alone. I'm not gonna have you hurt, too."

"I can take care of myself," she told him with her cool brown eyes, her lips pursed stubbornly.

"I don't doubt that. But we don't take chances, remember?"

She closed her eyes at their pact, the one they had made the very first day they had been teamed together- throughout training and trials and practices while she accustomed to the force and he mentored her. They had been encouraged to bond and to trust one another and despite her hatred of him; and his bemusement of her, they had. And each team had their own mantra, their own code to protect each other. Theirs had been 'We don't take chances' and they had stuck to it ever since. It flipped her belly and warmed her heart to hear him say the words because even though they were for work, for the job, they were still caring, they still meant something.

She had said it to him that time he had intended to raid the warehouse of stolen goods alone and now he was saying it back to her, protecting her from her own blind instinct to help.

"I remember," she opened her eyes and nodded. "We leave together."

"Good," he sighed out, flicking another look to the sobbing woman beyond. "Let's go."

Gabi helped up the injured woman, assisting her outside where Troy led the way flicking looks around him, his hand hovering over his baton in readiness for ambush. None came and Gabi seated the woman in the car ready for transportation to hospital. A quiet understanding filled the car as Gabi and Troy sat side by side once more, Gabi pulling her seat belt down to click it into place, her knuckles brushing Troy's as she did so.

"The guy who did that," he looked to her, holding her eyes. "He's the unimaginable bastard," he told her and she blinked, his words hitting home.

"You're right." She accepted.

"I would kill any man I saw doing that…"

"Only you can't. You have an oath," she reminded him.

"If it was someone I knew, someone I loved, I wouldn't care about any oath," he assured with a glitter in his eyes she hadn't seen before.

"I feel the same," she told him in a gentle voice, her eyes softening to his obvious emotion over this case.

They reached the hospital and booked in their victim, offering the details of support she could find once she left medical care and the drive back to town was wrought with silence, each of them in their own thoughts.

"I don't know if I can face a baby who maybe being beaten right now," Gabi sighed, resting her head against the steering wheel as they parked outside their next assignment.

"You're a great cop, Gabi," Troy splayed his hand on her shoulder, comforting her. "Just take a minute, huh?"

Gabi looked up to him, an accusing stare in her eyes.

"What?" He asked, lifting his hand up in petty surrender.

"Now suddenly you're Mr Nice Guy? I don't buy it, Bolton." She told him, taking a breath to steady her nerves.

"Hey, I was just trying to help…" he defended, climbing out of the car as she did, replacing his cap and looking over to her as he shifted his trousers up, his heavy belt of weapons weighing them down around his hips. "Are you always so…antagonistic?" He wondered as they walked.

"No, only to you," she quipped, heading up to the front door of the house in question.

"Look, I'm sorry, okay? I said it once already and I'm saying it again. I was out of line…"

Gabi licked her lips and flicked him a look, his tall leanly muscled body wrapped attractively in his navy cotton uniform, his bulky arms and chest pushing against the strict fabric and hinting at his strength. She would love to believe he was being serious but past experience told her she should know better. When Troy Bolton said he was sorry, it was usually to get something. She didn't know what it was he wanted yet, but she wasn't about to be duped by his act.

"Fine, okay," she agreed flatly.

"Why do I get the feeling you're just trying to shut me up?" He wondered as they paused at the door.

"I don't know, why do you?" She arched her perfectly set brow as she knocked with one hand, twisting to face him from under her cap.

"You just never-" His thought was interrupted by the answering of the door and the man of the house invited them in.

It was a sensitive case, one they had been taught to handle and went through all the motions, checking the house, the baby in question, asking all the right questions. Nothing seemed awry, nothing was out of place and as they left, side by side, the door clicking quietly after them, they looked up to one another and a silent agreement passed between them.

They would come back, another day just to check again on top of the social services visit that was due.

"You want some lunch?" Troy asked his partner as she swayed her hips ahead of him, the action of her ass entertaining him while he followed with a little pleased grin.

"With you? Not likely," she threw over her shoulder with an eye squint and a glib smile.

"Come on, Montez. We do this every day and you know we have to eat together, every day…" he sighed, opening the passenger door and then leaning on the hood of the car to appeal to her.

"Fine," she rolled her dark eyes upward. "Chilli dogs for you, Sushi for me." She guessed.

"Come on, have a chilli dog, for once in your life…" He begged, sliding into the car using his hands on the roof to take his weight as though he were in some cop movie.

"I thought I wasn't supposed to eat things like that," she pierced him, straight through the chest with her comment and he sucked in a breath at her words.

"Well I was wrong," he lifted his brows, his voice soft with hurt and regret. "You have a great figure and you don't need to watch what you eat."

"Wait, did you just say that, or am I imagining it?" Gabi shook her head of her befuzzled state of mind.

"I stepped over the mark," he conceded, meeting her eyes now. "I'm sorry."

"That's three apologies in one day. I think Valerie put something in your tea…"

"Yeah, some sense," he muttered, belting up as she pulled away.

"Chilli dogs it is then," she narrated as she drove.

/

"Mm, oh god…" Troy spoke with his mouth impossibly full of his favourite food, the chilli spilling down his chin in turn, his eyes rolling backwards in apparent bliss and his moan nearly desire-like as he ate.

If he wasn't so damn good-looking, he might actually look like the disgusting pig he clearly was, but Gabi couldn't help the little flutter in her belly at watching him so at ease. She felt her gag reflex jump in the same moment, but damn if he wasn't adorable and endearing her to him even more with his boyish charm.

"You're gross, Bolton." She told him, eating her own dog with more decorum, although she had to admit she had lost half of her chilli in the wrapper and his technique had something going for it.

"Just open your mouth and stuff it in, Montez," he goaded crudely. "Imagine it's Peter's dick and take a good old bite…"

Gabi froze, turned to him and held her uneaten mouthful for a full five seconds before she finished it, making him nervous in her glare. When she stood up, he got even more nervous and then she did what he thought she might. She dumped the remainder of her hotdog- and all the uneaten chilli-right down the front of his shirt and into his lap, making sure she rubbed the wrapper in his hair before she stalked away, her sway a lot more pronounced than he had ever seen before.

Shit! What now?

He was such an ass! The words just spilled out of his mouth before he could stop them and it was his stupid way of dealing with his undeniable attraction to her, only he'd gone from apologising about the weight jibes to becoming some kind of perverted moron and he didn't like either version of himself, he just couldn't help that that's who he was. He sighed, gaining attention now and he stood, knowing she would be heading back to base without him unless he ran to catch her up.

"Whoa, whoa…" He grabbed the passenger door of their car as she pulled away, dragged along the pavement a little until she stopped, her glasses fixed in place along with the thin line on her lips.

"Look, I say stupid things okay?" He tried to explain, sweat beading his upper lip that he swiped away, the moisture coming back just as fast as his heart pounded heavily in his chest. "I have this like, emergency button that just spurts all this crap from my mouth when I don't know what to say…"

"How about saying nothing?" She suggested, not for the first time that day.

He sighed. "Look, you intimidate me, okay? You make me nervous. You walk around all superior and sexy all the time and I'm just…running to keep up. You're like a step ahead of me every time, Montez. A guy doesn't know how to deal with that."

His honesty shocked her. She never thought she'd hear the day that Troy Bolton admit he was intimidated but there it was, in all its glory. Only his admission didn't satisfy her, it just pained her even more to know that the wall she built around herself only served to make others uncomfortable around her. So much so they got so nervous they began to spout crap to cover it up. Was that the real reason for his sexual innuendo, she wondered? Or was he just pulling her a line?

She didn't know, but he looked damn nervous when she turned to him beside her.

"Most guys I know, they really dig a woman who knows what she wants and isn't afraid to get it. They don't feel intimated by me, they feel…" she paused, not wanting to say the words 'turned on' to Bolton, of all people. "They like my control." She amended.

"I dig that, too," he assured, sitting up as his voice got softer, thinking they might actually be having a real conversation for once. "But you have this mask…this…invincible shield and you're perfect, all of the time. For screw ups like me, that's kinda hard to watch."

"You're not a screw up," she told him, pursing her lips.

"I say the wrong thing, all the time."

"You're young," she shrugged.

"I always talk about sex…"

"All guys do," she intervened.

"I make women dump their lunch on me and then spend the entire day apologising," he added with a furtive look at her, his blue eyes sorrowful.

"Just don't talk about me doing anything with Peter," she reminded him. "Least of all giving him the pleasure of sucking his dick," she licked her teeth as she pulled up at the base.

"Ok, got it," he nodded.

"This car stinks of chilli," she complained with a wrinkle of her nose as she opened her door. "You better get some air freshener in there before we leave."

"Yes ma'am," he muttered to her receding back.

"And don't forget to clean the seat!" She called back toward him, making him wonder if she had heard his remark.