Andy sat with Sabine outside of Luke's office. Having been banned from the discussion taking place within, Sabine had opted to wait here and Andy had decided to wait with her. She figured the senior officers would brief her later and she would be better served trying to get as much information as possible. She had never seen Luke so worked up before. Even when things blew up between them, he had always maintained his calm. One look at the woman sitting beside her, though, and his calm had apparently left the building. Andy could never deny being characteristically curious. It was part of what made her a good cop. The unknown nature of Sabine's relationship with Luke was killing her. Not to mention that she felt somewhat protective of him. Irrational or not, having been responsible for inflicting pain on him in the past, she was determined to block anyone else from doing so. Judging from Luke's reaction and Sabine's comments, Andy surmised that their acquaintance had almost certainly been more than professional. She tried to tailor her line of questioning to suit that assumption.

"So, you were in love with him?"

Sabine laughed. "I do appreciate a direct manner of interrogation. Yes, I am…I mean, I was…whatever…yes. You?"

Andy shot her a surprised look and Sabine smiled. "It's beneficial in my line of work to be able to read people. I'd say the two of you were involved, but you ended up leaving him. I hope you managed to do a better job of it than I did."

Andy hesitated, "I cared about him. I still do. I…it's difficult, in this job, to find someone you mesh with and can open up to. We didn't fit well from the start, but I always cared about him."

"Luke has trust issues. I'm partly to blame for that, or at least, I didn't help matters." Sabine said ruefully. "It would be hard for him to really let someone in."

"When you met him, were you here…uh…for work?"

"Yes. My last job of that sort, as it turned out."

"Did you get what you came for?"

"No." An expression of sadness flashed over Sabine's face and she considered Andy for a moment before continuing. "It should have been easy. Get in, take the piece, get out. Unfortunately, another thief thought the same thing. There were two of us there that night, trying to steal the same painting. Long story short, a guard was killed. Not by my hand, but maybe because of me." She fell silent.

Andy kept her eyes on Sabine and waited for her to continue.

"No one ever got hurt on my one of my jobs. I always tried to plan for…he was just a kid. The guard. He was putting himself through college working security. He didn't even have a gun. Raines, the other thief, just shot him and left him to die. Alone." Her brow creased, "I couldn't just…I called 911 and stayed with him. But…gut shot, you know? He died before they got there."

Andy noticed movement at the door of Luke's office, but kept her eyes focused on Sabine. "They caught the guy who shot him. I remember reading about that case. It was Luke's."

"Yes, they caught him. I made sure of it. I conned my way into the investigation posing as an antiquities dealer. I used my connections to locate the painting that was stolen and from there Luke was able to track down Raines. After he was caught, I should have moved on. I shouldn't have let myself get involved with Luke in the first place. I knew it was dangerous, but I ended up staying for six months because I just couldn't leave him."

"How did he find out who you really were?"

Sabine breathed out a laugh. "Luke can be very perceptive; as I'm sure you're aware. Of course, he can also be completely oblivious, but in my case perceptive won out. I'm still not sure what I did that made him suspicious, but he managed to get my prints and run them." She shrugged.

"You were too good to be true."

Sabine jerked around at the sound of Luke's voice.

He shot a lopsided smile at her, the look in his eyes no longer confrontational. "Everything about you was perfect. I knew there had to be something wrong with you. No one is perfect."

Sabine nodded but didn't smile back. "I was always careful about not leaving evidence, but my past jobs were…numerous and, like you said, no one is perfect. There were a lot of agencies that wanted to ask me a lot of questions."

"So you just arrested her? The woman you had been dating for six months?" Andy sounded faintly outraged.

A defensive look crossed Luke's face, but Sabine spoke before he could. "He's an honest man and a good cop. It's what he was supposed to do."

"Did he give you a chance to explain?" Andy asked, still giving Luke a disgruntled look. He crossed his arms and leaned against the door frame, looking harassed.

"I would have, but she cut the power and threw the entire building into a blackout. Then she was just…gone." Luke shook his head in exasperation.

"The minute you ran my prints, all those agencies I mentioned sent orders to your division to hold me for extradition. That would not have been to my benefit. So I had to leave," she said, "Abruptly."

"Yeah, they weren't happy when they got here and discovered you missing." Luke frowned, "They had some very unfriendly things to say."

"I made it up to them later. We are on much better terms now."

Luke looked mystified, but before he could question her more, Sam pushed him out of the doorway so he, Jerry and Frank could exit the room.

"How did you turn off the power that day? We've never been able to figure it out." Sam asked, coming to lean on the wall next to Andy.

"Well, I'm a criminal. I have a few ethically questionable tricks up my sleeve. Not to mention a few ethically questionable friends with back doors into the power company's mainframe."

"Okay. I'm just going to cut you off right there before you say something that makes me want to arrest you again. Otherwise, I'll never get this evidence you say you have." Luke held out his hand to pull Sabine to her feet. "Let's go. I'll drive. Sam and Andy are going to follow us."

"Not dressed like that they're not." Sabine said sharply, gesturing at the uniforms. "And certainly not in a police cruiser."

Sam opened his mouth to say something, but Sabine cut him off with an upraised hand. "I didn't blow your cover before, now is your chance to repay the favor. There is no way I can walk into my place accompanied by uniformed officers. You of all people know that someone is always watching." She paused, considering. "Change into civilian clothes and we all go in the same car."

"We'll change clothes, but we'll follow you in my truck." Sam countered.

"Fine." Sabine nodded.

"We'll wait for you in the parking lot." Luke put a hand on Sabine's back to guide her out of the building.

Luke's mind was racing as he walked with Sabine toward his car. Each thought superseded the last: 'she's not trustworthy…she did help once before… God, the things she went through…should I believe her?…I missed her…'. She was walking beside him as if she had never left and he was fighting opposing impulses to arrest her or wrap his arms around her and never let her go again. He stole a glance at her profile.

"I know you don't trust me yet, but I will prove that you can. I promise you that I'm not the same person I was." Sabine said quietly.

"Are you still a criminal?"

"That depends on your definition."

Luke looked at her sideways as they stopped at his car. "Not really."

Sabine smiled at his tone. "There is a possibility that I've done things that didn't adhere to the strict letter of the law, but I've done them to help people."

"Criminal-type people?"

"No," Sabine had to laugh, "Honest-type people. Upstanding citizen-type people who have run afoul of the criminal-type people." She smiled brightly. "I think I've found my niche."

"So, what? You had an epiphany and are now a proponent of truth and justice?" Luke asked dryly.

Sabine grinned at him. "I like to think of it as my karma reclamation project. Besides, I've always found truth to be relative and justice, well, it often comes from surprising directions."

Luke shook his head at her. He felt torn in his reaction to her; disapproval and apprehension warring with laughter and the memory of an old love. As he looked at her face, lit with laughter, he felt the knot of tension he had been carrying around inside for far too long begin to unravel. "Well," he thought fatalistically, "whatever happens next, my life is never going to be the same."