John sat in his car, having finally gotten eyes and ears on Mary Caldwell. He had slowly followed her from Ever Fitness back to her expensive condo. John kept his binoculars on her as she hurried inside it.

"How does a woman with a criminal record become a personal trainer at a very exclusive gym, Finch?"

"That's a good question Mr. Reese, one I am looking for an answer to as we speak."

"How?"

"I just hacked into Ever Fitness's employee records and am searching for her record right now." John nodded keeping sight on her as she entered her bedroom. He quickly lowered the binoculars when she yanked her shirt over her head.

"Anything yet Finch?" he looked away to give the woman privacy.

"I'll say. Ever Fitness does extensive interviews into their clientele but not so much for their employees. She lied on the application, Mr. Reese."

"But that doesn't make any sense. Kimberly Keston would have done an extensive background check on Ms. Caldwell, her lie would have been found out."

"Maybe they did do a background check Mr. Reese, and someone covered it up."

"Who?"

"Maybe Ms. Keston knows Ms. Caldwell and helped her get a job?"

"Maybe, but would Ms. Keston be willing to risk her cushy little job for Ms. Caldwell? Ms. Keston seemed to play by the book. It could be anyone in management that could have hidden the fact that she was a felon to get Ms. Caldwell a job."

"True, Ms. Keston was quite extensive in her questions with you, Mr. Reese, though I'm sure it was for a far more personal use."

"Excuse me?" John tried to clear his throat for the umpteenth time.

"Mr. Reese, why else would she have needed to know if you had a wife or girlfriend? And why else did she feel the need to give you her home phone and personal cell phone numbers if you had any additional questions?" John had just assumed it was routine. John wasn't feeling well enough to even argue with Finch.

"Well, what if whoever did the background check didn't lie for her to help her, but did it to get a little money out of her?" John asked drinking a little water as he put his binoculars back to his eyes, watching her condo again.

"Like blackmail Mr. Reese?"

"Yeah, she did lie on the application; if Ever Fitness found out she'd be terminated immediately. There aren't many jobs like the one Ms. Caldwell found that felons can get. Maybe whoever manages the background checks is hiding it to make a payday for him or herself."

"Which could mean Ms. Caldwell is the perpetrator rather than the victim. The information Detective Carter got for us doesn't really pertain to Ms. Caldwell's current predicament."

"Why?"

"Because Dale Erikson is happily remarried, and with a newborn child. I say the man has moved on from the death of his son and wife." John watched as the young woman exited the condo once more wearing a dress and had her hair down. She was climbing back into her pricey car and sped off. John followed at a safe distance and watched as she pulled up to a fancy Italian restaurant. "She's going to some sort of fancy restaurant Finch. Luigi's Italian restaurant."

"I'll say! Luigi's has the finest pasta in the state of New York."

"You've been here?"

"Sometimes." came the reluctant reply.

"And you never invited your favorite hitman? I'm sort of hurt now, Finch." John teased as he sneezed again and again back to back.

"Mr. Reese, you sound worse than prior."

"That's because I feel worse than prior." His medicine must have worn off now. He sure the hell did hate catching colds. "Finch, she doesn't have her phone on and I lost sight of her."

"Have a nice dinner Mr. Reese."

"Thanks Finch." he grinned as he exited his car crossing the street. John walked to the door and stopped when Ms. Keston appeared.

"Well hello John, what a small world?!" she smiled.

"Hello Ms. Keston."

"Please its Kim remember."

"Yes, I remember, sorry." he opened the door for her and she smiled as she entered. "Have you ever been here?" he asked being polite.

"Many times, you haven't?"

"No, But it comes highly reommnded."

"Oh, its has wonderful Italian food. Are you meeting with anyone?"

"No, just was going to enjoy a quiet meal."

"Me too." John smiled as they walked towards the hostess.

"Table for two?" the girl asked pulling out menus.

"Just for one." John smiled at the young woman. She nodded her head and he turned to look at Ms. Keston. "It was nice seeing you again Ms. Keston."

"Kim." she corrected. "And likewise John, and I'm hoping we'll be crossing paths soon." John nodded his head, remaining polite before he walked away, following the hostess to his table. He sat down and picked up his menu looking around searching for Mary Caldwell. John nearly dropped his menu onto the floor when his eyes landed on Joss who was sitting across the room from him on her date with Beecher. He diverted his eyes, looking around the room for Caldwell.

"Finch, I can't find her." he said quietly as his eyes strayed back to Carter. She was wearing a black formfitting dress. She looked so very different from how she usually looked. She was beautiful in her pantsuits, but in that dress she was breathtaking. He looked back down at his menu.

"Mr. Reese." Finch sounded unsettled.

"What's wrong, Finch?" he asked looking through the menu.

"I hacked back into Ever Fitness's computers to see all the members of the gym, and ninety five percent of the members are male." A thought occurred to him about Ever Fitness, though they needed help finding out if his hunch was correct or not.

"Finch can you just look to see if there happens to be any men employed by Ever Fitness?" it took a few moments for Finch to do as he asked.

"No, not a single man works there."

"Finch, I think Ever Fitness is a front for a prostitution ring." he sighed.

"Oh dear, now it makes sense as to why your application was approved minutes after you left Mr. Reese."

"No credit or background check on John Rooney?"

"No, none that I can see. Though there are a few female members of the gym though its mainly men."

"They let select women in to make it appear like a legitimate gym and not like a prostitution ring, it throws the cops off. They only allow so many, and they use the guise of being exclusive to keep out the other women. They let as many men in as they want too because they want to pull in more money." John sighed feeling his dull headache turning into a migraine. John looked up seeing the waitress walking over.

"We need Carter and Fusco to run the names of all the other employees that work at Ever Fitness to see if all of them are criminals." His eyes strayed back to Carter, and her eyes were on him looking startled. He averted his eyes and forced a smile at the waitress.

"Are you ready to order sir?"

"I'm sorry, I have to leave. Business calls I apologize." he stood up placing the menu down and walking purposely towards the exit. John sighed when he saw Carter hurrying towards him.

"What are you doing here?" she hissed.

"Working a case."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah Mary Caldwell entered here and I can't find her." he looked around the other side of the restaurant. His eyes widened when he found Mary sitting with Kimberly Keston. John grabbed Joss's arm, pulling her aside so that Ms. Keston wouldn't see him.

"John you look bad." Joss whispered reaching out to touch his face. Her eyes widened with concern. "You're burning up."

"I'm fine." he snapped.

"No you're not John. You're sick and you need to rest."

"Carter, look, I don't have time to rest or be sick. I need to work this case and things seem like they are getting weirder and weirder."

"What are you talking about?"

"Nothing you need to worry abou, go back and enjoy your date with Beecher," he assured her. He stared down at her trying to will away the kiss they shared that echoed through his mind. Carter was on a date with a guy she cared a lot about. He didn't want to think about how beautiful she appeared, he wished he could go back to how he viewed her before the kiss happened. As just a friend whom he didn't see the womanly curves or her beauty. He longed for the days before this morning because now all he saw was the woman Joss Carter rather than just Detective Carter.

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"I just can't when you are so sick and need help, John." John looked up and saw Ms. Keston having spotted him. She was walking towards him.

"Mr. Rooney, please you must join myself, and Ms. Caldwell."

"Oh I was just heading home I don't feel so well."

"Who are you?" Carter looked away from him and towards the middle aged woman that asked the question and held out her hand.

"I'm a friend of Mr. Rooney's. I just saw he wasn't feeling all that well and wished him to feel better. I better get back to my date before he thinks I left. Hope you feel better, John." She touched his arm and waved to Ms. Keston before she walked back toward her table.

"Oh I do hope you feel better, Mr. Rooney, and I'm hoping to have good news to tell you as early as tomorrow that you are apart of Ever Fitness."

"Thanks, me too. Have a nice night Ms. Keston." John smiled a little, already knowing the answer to that.

"You too Mr. Rooney and feel better soon." he nodded exiting the restaurant. "Finch, Ms. Caldwell is with Ms. Keston right now. I think I'll have better visual on her from the outside." he sneezed as he hurried towards his car once more.

"Mr. Reese, Ms. Keston and Ms. Caldwell are having dinner together?"

"I would say so. Its too coincidental that both women show up at the same restaurant to eat alone. If Ever Fitness is a front for a prostitution ring it still doesn't clear up if Ms. Caldwell is a victim or perpetrator. We need to find out more I have to get close to Ms. Caldwell to speak with her."

"Why was Detective Carter there?"

"She's on her date with Detective Beecher." John said trying to ignore a growing feeling in the pit of his stomach. If he analyzed the feeling closer he would say he felt jealousy, but he wasn't in the mood to analyze his emotions. He was just going to bury them and pretend they didn't exist.


Joss walked to her apartment with Cal following behind her. She was glad chivalry wasn't dead with him offering to walk her up. After seeing John at Luigi's, her date crashed and burned. She kept staring off at him the little while he had sat at the table alone and she had longed to go eat with him. She felt frustrated with herself having felt like that at all. It wasn't her problem he was sitting there alone and she had worried for nothing. John had been only there working a case even though he appeared very ill. Though Joss had been shocked to the core at seeing him in Luigi's. Her mind had immediately jumped to the wrong conclusion that he followed her there, but then she quickly talked herself out of it. John wouldn't have followed her there, he thought the kiss was a mistake as much as she did! Didn't he? A niggling thought worked its way into her brain.

"You okay Joss?"

"Huh, what?"

"Are you alright? It seems like you were distracted tonight."

"I was a little bit. I'm sorry Cal."

"No, its alright, Joss. I was hoping you'd invite me inside." he said with a smile as he eyed her. Joss grabbed out her keys and began unlocking the door.

"Oh yeah, you were hoping huh."

"Yeah, a guy can hope can't he?"

"He sure can."

"Joss I really like you a lot, and I was hoping to meet Taylor sometime." Joss unlocked the door and turned to look at him.

"You would?"

"Yeah, I would."

"I need to talk to him about it. He knows I've been seeing someone, but I need to sit him down and talk to him more about it."

"Whenever you're ready Joss. I don't want to make you feel pressured or anything."

"Thanks Cal, and I'm sorry I'm just not ready to invite you in-yet." she smiled.

"You're worth the time, Joss." she smiled as she leaned against her closed door.

"Goodnight, Cal."

"Goodnight, Joss." He leaned in and brushed his lips against hers. Joss stood still waiting for that same fire she felt when John kissed her this morning to appear. Here was the man she was dating kissing her, and NOTHING. No fire, not even a flicker of a spark. Joss felt desperate as she wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him almost desperately. Cal moaned and Joss waited for him to deepen the kiss, hoping the sparks would ignite. She didn't have to wait long for him to deepen the kiss, but she waited and waited for the sparks. Joss pushed out of the kiss in agony when she felt absolutely no spark at all.

"I had a nice time." Joss kept her eyes on the floor, hoping he wouldn't see the worry on her face.

"Me too, and I'll call you soon, Joss." With that she turned and fled to the safety of her apartment. She shut the door on Cal, locking it, and leaned her forehead against the door as she heard his footsteps moving away become quieter and quieter as he left. She squeezed her eyes shut and smacked the door in angry frustration before pushing away from it to throw her purse onto the nearby couch as well as her coat. What the hell was the matter with her?! That wasn't their first kiss, the first one had been on their second date. The first one was just a quick chaste kiss nothing to write home about. But this one was their first real honest too goodness kiss and she felt absolutely nothing from it. Nothing, especially when compared to the other kiss, the one from John.

Cal's kiss didn't make her feel hot inside like John's. His lips didn't imprint on hers like John's did and his kiss didn't make her feel enveloped in flames like a certain someone else's. She could still feel the contours of John's mouth on hers, and how soft they were even though it happened early this morning. She tried to think of one thing she hated about John's kiss. It ended. She frowned at herself. God, what was the matter with her? She had a great guy in Cal Beecher, she had been attracted to him, so what happened? He was what she wanted in a man, so why didn't Cal's kiss mean a thing to her? One passionate kiss from John shouldn't make her feel so-so twisted in knots. John was an emotional mess with no discernable timeframe of when he would allow himself to move on from his demons. He was unpredictable, he pissed her off, and he was a damn fine kisser.

Joss walked in her kitchen to her refrigerator yanking the door open and grabbed a bottle of beer, eyeing the green lit clock on her stove echoing it was only nine at night. She and Cal had met up at seven thirty which meant their date lasted all of an hour and a half. She snapped the top to the beer bottle off taking a healthy swig of it while cursing John's name for the destruction of her date tonight. It was his fault why she hadn't enjoyed herself and why she had insisted she wanted to end the date early. It was his fault being at Luigi's tonight. She had been letting go of that damned kiss, but her eyes strayed and she saw him sitting there and it all flew out the window. She couldn't stop looking at him, she couldn't stop thinking about his kiss and hoping it would happen again. Joss leaned her forearms against her kitchen island hanging her head. Damn it this couldn't be happening to her! But it was. And she couldn't ignore it any longer. She was attracted to John Reese and had no idea what to do about it.


Author's note: my hands nearly fell off from typing that kiss between Beecher and Joss. I think I wanted to vomit writing it out, *shudders* but it served its purpose. Next chapter our lovely little peeps actually have a conversation, *cough* argument *cough*, that may or may not push these two closer towards one another ;P

Thanks to everyone who is reading and reviewing, you guys kick some serious butt and I adore you guys :D