##### 2 days later, Law Office of Franklin, Deeks and Wayman #####
Spike looked around the office as he sat waiting for his appointment. He tapped his hands on the folder in his lap lightly, trying not to make too much noise and annoy the secretary. She was very pretty, and kept stealing glances at him. He tried to keep from smiling, but he caught her looking at him twice. Conversation is better than being bored, he thought. "So how long have you been working here, Virginia?" He said tipping his head to look at the nameplate and then her.
She pulled an earbud out of her ear and turned off the recorder. "About six months." She smiled a bright white smile that reached her amber eyes. "What do you do for work?"
"I'm a Constable with the Strategic Response Unit." Spike smiled and waited to see what her reaction would be. Some girls clammed up and backed away, to some it was instant hero worship, and then there was the rare person that understood and supported the choice.
"Wow." Virginia's perfectly sculpted eyebrows rose. "Dangerous work."
"Yeah, but it's worth it." Spike shrugged.
She gave him a slow smile. "Well, thank you."
"For what?"
"For doing what you do to keep people like me safe." She shrugged. "Especially for the SRU. You guys handle the really tough stuff."
"Yeah." Spike nodded and smiled at her. Understanding and support, nice.
"So." Virginia looked down shyly.
"So." Spike echoed.
"Virginia?" A male voice said over the speaker.
"Yes?" She pushed the button on the phone and looked at the officer.
"You can send Mr. Scarlatti in."
"Ok." She stood and he could see that she was wearing three inch heels. "This way Constable."
Spike stood and followed her to the dark stained wooden door to the right. When she opened the door and put an arm out, he nodded to her in thanks.
She looked him up and down and smiled back. After the door closed behind him, she put a hand to her chest and took a breath. Oh my god he's hot, she thought. She took out her phone and hit the number for her best friend. "Just met cutest guy." She texted.
"At work? Cute criminals don't count." The text read.
"No. Very cute cop." Virginia smiled as she typed.
"Ooh. :) what's he look like?"
"Tall dark and handsome. SRU hottie."
Paige frowned and looked at the text. No, it couldn't be him. She looked up at the pictures on her mirror. Various shots of Spike during different SRU calls, taken by the newspapers. "Oh yeah? Who?" She said out loud as she typed.
Virginia frowned. Who was it Paige was always complaining about? That he wouldn't talk to her or her mom? Was this the same guy? She opened the calendar on her computer and looked it up, Mike Scarlatti. She did a quick internet search on him. Her phone dinged.
"U still there?"
She bit her lip as she looked at pictures of the officer that just went in to see her boss. "Hold on." She typed. She typed in Wassler with Scarlatti and got no results. No, it was her aunt. Hauser. She typed Hauser and Scarlatti and got a short article about Angelica Hauser involved in an SRU incident. She took in a breath as she read about the accident involving members of Team One of the SRU and a member being abducted. It was Constable Scarlatti?
Paige had told her about Paige's aunt's death, but her version was far from the story given in the article. What the hell? What am I going to tell her, she thought. I can't tell her anything. Her boss had made his confidentiality requirements very clear. It was part of her employment contract with him. She looked up at the ceiling. I'll be fired if he knows I told Paige what I have. Shit. looked up as the door opened and the two men walked out.
"Don't worry, I'll get on that right away." James Deeks said as he walked Spike out.
Spike looked at Virginia as he walked out. She looked stressed. He frowned for a fraction of a second and looked up at his lawyer. "Thanks Mr. Deeks. I appreciate it."
"I'll be in touch." James stuck out his hand and shook the officer's firmly. He turned and returned to his office.
Spike turned to Virginia after the lawyer shook his hand and returned to his office. "Nice to meet you." He smiled and put up a hand.
"You too." She smiled nervously.
Spike frowned. "You ok?"
Virginia smiled and shrugged. "Yeah. Busy, stressful day." She hoped he believed her.
He could tell that was only a half truth. "You sure? Seems like more than that. If you're in some kind of trouble-"
"What?" She crinkled her face into an incredulous mask. "Pretty sure I'm in the right place for being in trouble." She put her eyebrows up.
Spike laughed. She was right. He reached in his jacket into the small pocket. He handed her a card and said, "well, if you ever do need help here's my number."
Virginia smiled slyly at him. "Thanks." She took a card from the holder on the desk, wrote her number on the back and handed it to him. "Likewise."
Spike smiled and left the office, sure she was checking out his butt as he left.
She watched him leave and sighed. I will definitely-. Wait, she thought, I can't date him. Paige would kill me. Although, it could be a way for them to meet. She jumped when her phone vibrated for the fourth time in the last five minutes. Damn she was insistent. She moved the edge of her skirt from her knee to reveal her phone. She looked at the messages.
"Who is the officer?"
"R U still there?"
"What's going on?"
"GINNY! Answer!"
Oh god. What was she going to do? It was definitely a breach of confidentiality to even mention he was there. She looked at the door to her boss' office. She loved this job. She couldn't risk losing it. James Deeks is one of the top lawyers in the city. Lots of girls would kill to be where she was. She was sure he'd hired her because she was young and pretty, but that didn't matter to her. She was going to prove she could do this job.
Crap, she thought. What was she going to tell Paige? I hate to do it, but I have to lie. She took a breath and typed, "sorry. The dragon left the cave." She let a small smile play on her lips. She loved the code for her boss. He really wasn't that bad. "Just some douche trying to impress me. Not that cute after all."
"See? Can't meet good guys at a criminal lawyer's office. :)"
"True. Gotta get back to work." She typed and put her phone back in her purse before the dragon caught her with it. She stole a glance at his door, grabbed her phone and deleted the conversation. She put the ears bud back into her ear and slid the phone back into her purse just as the door to the dragon's den opened.
Spike looked up when he reached the street. He smiled to himself and put his head down. He walked to his car and got in. He looked at the clock and saw that he had plenty of time to stop at the store before heading to Ed's.
A half hour later he was walking up the walk to Ed and Sophie's carrying a bag full of goodies. He could see that Jules and Sarge were already there. He looked towards Ed's truck and saw Sam's bike. He was last to the party. He went up the three stairs and knocked on the door. He smiled when Ed opened the door.
"Spike! 'Bout time. What'd you walk or something?" Ed smiled and clapped a hand on his shoulder.
"Had to make my grand entrance." Spike smiled. "Hey guys." He waved to the rest of the team kicking back in the living room. They all waved and said their hellos.
"What ya got?" Ed pointed to the bag.
Spike smiled and walked into the living room. "Pork rinds for Jules." He pulled them out and threw them to her. She caught them and smiled. "Ridgies for Sam."
Sam caught them and laughed. "What no dip?" He laughed harder and flinched when the dip nearly missed his head and landed in his lap.
"Pretzels for the Boss." Spike tossed the bag but it was too hard and it flew over Greg's head. Greg saw they were too high and dove off the couch for them, catching them before they hit the ground.
"Whoo! Nice save!" Raf laughed.
Greg straightened up, put the pretzels in the crook of his arm like a football and put his other hand out like the heisman trophy. "Ooh. Still got it." He laughed.
"Raf?" Spike nodded and threw the white jar to him, then the brown one.
"Peanut butter and fluff?" Sam chuckled.
"Nothing better to snack on while watching the game." Raf smiled. "Mom always made them for my dad and I every game." He chuckled, "she made one for me at least twice a week to take to school for lunch."
"You never got sick of them?" Jules asked from her seat next to Greg.
"Nah." Raf shook his head. "It was a nice reminder of the quality time I got to spend with my dad, especially after he went to jail."
"Mmm." Jules nodded. "Sorry."
Rad looked at her. "I'm not." He smiled reassuringly.
Spike dug in the bag and pulled out the six pack of beer he brought. He handed one to Ed and walked around to hand one to each person. He clinked bottles with Raf, took a drink and put it on one of the side tables. He took the bag to the kitchen, put it in the recycling and returned to the living room.
He sat on the couch to the left with Sam and Raf. Ed sat in the arm chair between the two couches set in a V and Jules and Greg on the other couch. He wasn't sure he wanted to talk about it with everyone, but he considered them his family so he knew they would be supportive. "I went to see a lawyer today." He looked at Greg and saw the understanding on his face.
Rat frowned and sat forward. "You did? For what?"
"Uh," Spike looked at Sam and Ed, he forgot that Raf didn't know about the abduction. "Ok. A couple years ago a woman did a bunch of stuff and ended up kidnapping me. She, um, beat and tortured me. We ended up having to neutralize her."
"Oh. The brick house in the woods. I heard about that. I'm sorry, man." Raf looked down, he knew this group had a history together, he just didn't know how much.
"Thanks." Spike gave him a small smile. "Her sister and niece have been contacting me over the past two years wanting to meet. I've written back several times and even left a message on their machine that I had no interest in meeting with them. The other day I got the 26th letter from them and it was really nasty this time."
"Twenty six." Jules breathed. "What did it say?"
"The first ten asked. The next ten begged, but the last six, they moved into threats. This last one said that my loved ones and I would be sorry if I didn't meet with them. That they would come to my home, my work, find me wherever I was."
"Have you let the PD know?" Greg asked, very concerned.
"Yep." Spike nodded.
"Damn." Jules whispered.
Spike looked at her and nodded. His look said, now you understand. She returned a look saying, yes I do. "So I contacted a lawyer and he's going to start the process of getting a peace bond, but it takes a while."
"A month sometimes." Greg nodded. "Which lawyer did you use?"
"James Deeks." Spike took a sip of his beer.
"He's good." Sam's eyebrows rose along with his ire. What are they thinking threatening a police officer? Then to threaten his friends, family? It made him feel a little better to know Spike had installed a state of the art security system after his abduction.
"Yeah. He'll get it settled for you." Ed smiled. Inside he was screaming. How dare they threaten one of his team, one of his family? He looked at Greg and knew they were thinking the same thing, we need to be extra vigilant from now on.
Spike nodded and leaned back. He looked up at the screen and took another sip of his beer. He hoped now that he set things in motion that the woman and her daughter would understand. He didn't want to be mean to them, but enough was enough.
##### Karen and Paige Wassler's residence, the next day, 1230 hrs #####
Paige sat at the kitchen table with the two local newspapers opened to the classifieds. She had her headphones on and was bopping along to the music. She had already circled a couple of ads and was going to print out her resume as soon as she was done. She finished with one paper, closed it up and moved it aside to look at the next one.
She shifted on the chair and was reading through the ads when the red light on the wall lit up. Front door. She grabbed her tablet and went to the door. An officer was standing there. She frowned and opened the door.
"Are you Paige Wassler?" The dark haired officer asked.
She put up a finger and wrote on her tablet. "Yes, I'm Paige. I had an accident a while ago and am unable to speak. Do you know sign language?"
He leaned forward and read the tablet. "No sorry." He said. "Is your mom home?"
Paige looked at him warily then looked past him to the cruiser in the driveway, seems legit. "She's at work."
"Ok." He nodded. "Would you mind if I came in for a minute?"
Paige looked behind her nervously then back at him. "Yes. We can sit on the porch." She moved forward, making him back up and closed the door behind her. She put out a hand and they sat on the two wicker chairs on the porch.