A/N: Thanks for all of your patience, guys! Hope this warrants your endurance!

Thanks again to all my reviewers, you know who you are. Love you guys!

Disclaimer: Characters are still not mine.

The boys were sitting around, trying to formulate a cohesive map of all the known underground routes when they heard the elevator chime.

"Whoa. I thought you said you worked at a shipping company?" An unknown male's voice echoed through the floor. "This seems a bit hi-tech."

"Err, well, we ship internationally. It requires more...stuff." Katie answered, clearly showing that she didn't think of the questions her friend would raise. "Anyway, these are the guys I was talking about. The blond one, Kendall, is my older brother. Carlos is the smiley Latino, don't ask where he's exactly from, I have no idea. Logan is that dimply brunette, the brains of the operation, and lastly, the broody one in the corner is James. Try not to be offended if he doesn't speak, be glad if he even grunts at you."

James' eyes flashed, but didn't say anything when he knew that Katie just wanted to get a rise out of him.

"Umm, okay." The redheaded male said, slightly confused at his friend's hostility towards James.

"Guys, this is Tyler. He's a friend of mine who'll help us with the making of our documentary on the underground world of Los Angeles. He's a social worker; he's been working with underground dwellers for the past year or so. He thinks that he'll be able to get some of them to help us out."

Tyler nodded, "Katie's told me all about how you guys are all amateur film makers and that in order to fund your project, you guys all took jobs at this shipping company."

"Yeah," Logan said, looking Katie, who just mouthed to the guys to go along with it.

"So, what exactly is it that you guys need?"

Kendall and Carlos exchanged looks, "Well," Kendall started. "We're sort of trying to document how they...travel. You know, because it's a wonder how they manage to survive without coming to the surface," he made up, hoping to sound like it was a legitimate reason.

"Yeah, 'cause people are always wondering how they shower, or eat, or watch t.v.," Carlos added. "Do they visit other underground neighbourhoods. Wait, are there more than one underground dwelling?"

Katie wanted to groan, but she bit her lip from doing so.

Tyler laughed. "Yeah, there are. That sounds like a really cool idea. I'll talk to the folks I know. They'll probably hook you up with information. Well, provided that you pay them. I know it seems unethical, but you have to remember that these are homeless people, they'll do anything in order to survive. The thing is, you guys have to make sure that you don't seem like you're going to expose them, they're really big on keeping their identities a secret. Most of them want to forget they exist, it's why they choose to live in an existence outside of the real world."

"When can we have contact with them?" James asked, getting straight to the point.

Tyler shrugged. "Not sure, as long as it takes for me to convince them." He looked at Katie, "You wanna come? They may agree faster if they see a pretty girl is doing the project."

Carlos started, giving Tyler a surprised look. "Did you just hit on Katie?"

Tyler laughed. "Yeah, right. She's like a sister to me. Not to mention, she's dating Da−"

"Shut up!" Katie hissed, staring at Tyler.

"Sorry. I thought they knew," Tyler replied apologetically.

Kendall stared at Katie. "What boyfriend? Why are you dating a boy that I know nothing about? How long as this been going on? Who is he?"

Logan tapped his friend's shoulder. "Um, maybe you should save the whole 'scary big brother' thing for another time. We have other important issues at hand. But, you know, it's not like Katie's dating life isn't important," he added, seeing Kendall's enraged face. He turned to Katie, "Uh, shame on you, Katie, for keeping such a big secret."

Carlos wheeled his chair next to Katie. "So, who's the boyfriend?"

"I'm not telling you," Katie answered, shoving Carlos away. "Can we please get back to the documentary?"

Kendall walked over to Tyler and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Tyler, you seem like a nice kid. I'd hate to have to see any harm come to you." The guys and Katie all watched as Tyler's face became progressively purple. "How about you tell me who Katie's dating, and I'll make sure that you'll be in good hands."

Tyler gasped, "It's Dak Zekon!"

"Tyler!" Katie moaned into her hand.

"Oh," Carlos pouted. "What a letdown. I have no idea who that is."

James rolled his eyes. "Kendall, let go of Tyler so that he can go and find the mole people because he's trying to help us."

Kendall loosened his grip and gave Tyler a pat. "Thanks, buddy. We owe you." He flashed Tyler one of his dimpled grins.

"N-n-n-no problem. I'll get right on it." The red head sped out of the building as fast as he could.

"Great, thanks for that!" Katie snapped, throwing her hands up. She huffed, putting her hands on her hips. "Now, I'll have to probably buy him dinner to make up for the fact that you made him pee his pants." She glared at Kendall.

"Who the hell is Dak Zevon? What kind of name is Dak Zevon anyway?" Kendall asked, completely ignoring his sister's ire.

"You heard him, he's my boyfriend," Katie answered quickly.

"Enough," James barked, narrowing his eyes. He was starting to attribute to his recent headaches to the appearance of his partner, who apparently brought along drama wherever she went. "This is not a place to discuss your personal lives−"

"Thank you! Finally, something we agree on!" Katie interrupted.

"Do not interrupt me," James hissed. "As I was saying, this is a work place. Nobody wants to hear about your fucking personal life drama. Strict business from here on out."

James could see that Katie was flabbergasted. "Are you fucking kidding me, right now? I wasn't even the one who brought it up." Katie narrowed her eyes at her partner, clearly wanting to finish this discussion with him, but she held her tongue, waiting for a more private moment. She settled for breathing heavily through her nose with her arms crossed.

"Now, go follow your little friend. See if you can get those mole people to agree to help us. Use your...'charm' that everyone seems to think you possess," James instructed.

"Fine, I'll go. But only because I want to get away from you creeps, and not because you told me to," Katie answered.

Logan, who was back to fiddling around on his computer, swivelled his seat around. "Uh, change of plans. Looks like Gustavo wants another meeting, right now. Seems urgent, he's called everyone in."

Without saying a word, Katie turned on one foot before stomping dramatically towards the meeting room.

Kendall winced. "Ooh, that's not good."

Carlos frowned. "What isn't?"

"She did her little ballerina twirl-thing. She only does that when she's good and angry. We're all going to be paying in some manner. And trust me, it's going to hurt," Kendall whispered, clear fright written in his expression.

"You're kidding me, right? You fight demons on a daily basis, and you're telling me that you're afraid of a girl who's barely five feet tall?" Carlos scoffed. His grin dropped slowly when Kendall's expression didn't change. He gulped audibly, "Is it really that bad?" When Kendall nodded, Carlos slowly took a sip of his cola, worry etched onto his face.

Logan, who remained quiet while watching this exchange, finally piped in, face pale. "She's not going to do anything to me, right? I mean, I didn't even do anything to her. She can't hate me for anything, right? If anything, James should be the one worried. I mean, you did wring her out to dry about the whole entire personal life story thing, and from a completely non-biased, bystander's perspective, she was right. You blamed her for something that wasn't her fault. Tyler was the one who brought it up, Kendall forced the story out of him, and Carlos was egging him on."

"I was not!" Carlos retorted. "I just wanted to know who she was dating for curiosity's sake."

James remained unfazed. "Let's go. Meeting room."

"Okay, everyone is here. Good." Gustavo began. "Now, I know that we're doing all we can to get the underground network shaped up, but we have other concerns to consider as well. The human body count from the lair was unusually high, and there have been very little press concerning any disappearance in the Los Angeles division. JEN was able to identify that many of them were street kids; people that no one would miss. The other bodies weren't even from the city. It seems like when the demons came flocking in, they brought along snacks with them." Gustavo paced in front of the room. "Because the problem is now not local, Griffin has decided to include other units in our assignment. Team, meet Jett Stetson, captain of the San Francisco unit."

James watched as a blonde man with fine facial features entered the room. The man scoped out the occupants sitting around the table. He flashed a full-watt smile at the female members.

"Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. As your division manager has just stated, I am Jett Stetson, captain of the finest unit in all of California."

Everyone raised their eyebrows when Jett had inadvertently insulted them and continued to speak without care or notice.

"As you are well aware, we are dealing with two of the more notorious demons in North America. Gabriel and Damien have been two of our priority targets for over a decade. They have been scrupulously hunted by all units in the US, however, we have done nothing to actually capture them. They manage to elude us at every turn, managing to bounce back and forth between cities. Griffin knows that the two are hiding somewhere beneath California, which is why he wants us to work together and finally destroy them. This is clearly the perfect opportunity to get rid of them once and for all. My team will be here shortly so you can update them. We'll take lead in this operation and you guys can assist us."

A silent spell fell on the L.A. division; all stared at Jett as they processed what he had just said.

James could tell that his team was about to explode, he held up a hand, still sitting across from their visitor. They all managed hold their tongues.

He gazed at Jett, almost lazily from his seat. "There are a few things I'd like to point out."

Jett smirked, "Be my guest."

"First, you are our guest; do best to remember that. That means that our team will be heading this operation, your team will do nothing until you have confirmed it with us. Second, as much as I admire your enthusiasm," James added sarcastically, "hunting Damien and Gabriel will much more difficult than you appear to think. This will not be an in-and-out assignment, it will require much more brainpower than anything we typically have to deal with. And third, calculating the number of successful hunts between our divisions, I highly suggest you reconsider the title of the San Francisco unit."

While the unit was used to James' cool exterior, Jett was physically irritated by his blasé attitude. Fortunately, Gustavo stepped in before Jett could respond.

"My team captain is right, Jett. This is our operation, please respect our wishes while you're here."

Jett's purple face answered for him before he stomped out the room.

Just as Jett left, Gustavo let out a gasp. "Griffin is not going to be happy about this."

Kendall scoffed, "Why? Are you actually afraid of that guy?"

Gustavo pierced Kendall with his stare, "No. I'm afraid of what will happen when Jett runs to tell his unit manager; Mercedes, Griffin's daughter."

The team winced.

"Oh, that's bad," Carlos said from behind a fist clasped to his mouth.

Gustavo grasped his temple. "It doesn't matter now, I'll deal with it when she comes, just be on your best behaviour, dogs and...lady dogs," he gave a confused look to the women in the room, unsure of what to nickname them. "Don't say or do anything stupid, or worse, anything to get me fired. Now, go about doing your work." He shooed at them, and left the room.

Kelly sighed behind his large retreating back, feeling contempt at her employer's rude attitude to the team. She threw them an apologetic look on Gustavo's behalf. "If you guys need any help with the SF team, just let me know, and I'll get Gustavo to do something about it. That Jett seems like he's going to be a piece of work."

Logan nodded, slumped over his arms. "Thanks, Kelly. We'll keep that in mind."

James stood up. "Alright, any updates from this morning?"

Lucy and Jo shook their heads. "Nothing yet," Lucy said. "We'll let you know as soon as we do. It's been unusually quiet." She stifled a yawn, right after her response.

James looked at the team, realizing how exhausted they look. He looked at his watch and calculated that apart from the four hours between the raid and this morning's meeting, the team had been working for over 32 hours.

He stood up a little straighter. "Okay, go home for the day. We'll continue working tomorrow. We have to wait for Tyler to complete the map anyway, and informants will still be there tomorrow."

Kendall's eyebrows went up. "You for real? We never break until the job is done."

"This isn't a regular assignment, it's going to take more than just a day or two. We'll need all the energy we can get." His monotonous tone eroded the consideration of his words. He crossed his arms, as the team waited for the punchline. "If you want to stay here and contin−"

"No! No, we're good," Jo interrupted. "What time should we reconvene tomorrow?"

"Eight."

With the finality of his answer, the unit scrambled out of the meeting room. James stayed in the room, pulling up the map on the large screen.

James took his time studying what the guys had managed to put together. He highlighted certain areas that were potential hotspots for demons to lay in. He lightly scratched at the growing beard on his face with one hand, thinking about the the possibility that the hunters may be in over their heads with this case. He knew his team was good, but they were going to have to step up their game if they wanted to get rid of Damien and Gabriel. He pulled up their profiles.

"How the fuck do we kill you?"

He shook his head, knowing that he was going to need more brainpower to figure out the answer. He sighed, and decided to go home, figuring that there was little he could do now.

He was headed back to his desk to pick up his phone when he spotted a brunette head wiggling back and forth. He shook his head again, and walked over to his partner. He plucked an earphone that was in Katie's ear, startling the girl.

"Holy shit, you scared me!" Katie stood up, with her gun pointed. James inwardly admired her quick reflexes.

"What are you still doing here?" James asked, looking around the empty room to emphasize the fact that he expected her gone.

"Can't leave, yet. I still have some paperwork to do. Why in the world do we have to fill out so many forms just to work here?" She tucked her weapon away, sighing as she lifted the papers off her desk to show her partner.

"Liability issues. We can't have anyone knowing what we do, in case you leave Griffin Corporation voluntarily or otherwise. Forms state that we are allowed to erase all memory of you working here if that happens. There's also an agreement to a severance package, a compensation form where in the case you die, your family will be supported, also an agreement that your family will not know what you actually do, and who can forget, the health and dental care form," James listed.

Katie cocked her head to the side, pointing at her partner. "Did you just crack a joke? I didn't know you could do that."

James scowled, turning away from her. He walked towards Gustavo's office.

"He's not in there," Katie called after him, sitting back down.

James turned around.

"He left when he figured out that you gave the team the rest of the day off. I think he's just hiding from Griffin's daughter though, who, by the way, still hasn't shown up. Jett came back and wanted to talk to him about the SF unit coming in today, but Gustavo told him that they'd have to wait until tomorrow." Katie informed him, as she went back to filling out the forms.

James nodded. He continued standing there with his hands in his pocket.

With her back still towards him, Katie spoke up again, "You know, you can just leave, right? Kendall told me how to lock up the building after I'm done." Her tone was cold, warning him that she had remembered what happened before the meeting, and what happened yesterday.

He bit his cheek, holding in a retort to question her competency in the task. But, even he knew that he had been unfair that afternoon. There was just something about the teenaged girl that riled him up the second he saw her. Maybe it was the fact that she seemed to have no fear when it came to him, something that he wasn't used to. He knew that he had the respect from everyone else on the unit, but Katie just seemed to disregard the role that he played. She countered him every chance she got. He needed a more compliant partner.

Though he knew he was wrong, that still didn't mean that she warranted an apology.

He shrugged, knowing that she couldn't see his movement. He headed for the elevators. "Don't forget to turn off the lights," he threw over his shoulder.

He could hear Katie growl. "Well, nice to see that you care about my safety." She had raced over to stand in front of the elevators from afar.

James stepped into the elevator. "You said that you could do it. Why should I care if you die or not?" He leaned over to press the button.

He smirked when he saw her stomp her foot in frustration. "Argh! You're such a dick, James!"

He let out a chuckle when the doors closed. Maybe partnering with Katie wouldn't be all terrible. He would be at least entertained by seeing how much he could get on to her nerves.

When James settled in his car, Kendall called him. "What is it?" He answered immediately. "You want me to do what? That's a violation of company rules, Knight. And privacy," he added as an afterthought. "I don't care if she's your sister. I'm not tracing her phone calls." He rolled his eyes listening to his friend plead over the phone. "Fine," he ceded. "I'll do it. You owe me, Kendall."

James fiddled with his phone once he hung up with Kendall. Logan had provided his phone the option to trace calls whenever he needed to activate the feature, particularly with any tricky demon. He found his partner's number and set up the tracker to inform him of who's contacting her, and because he knew that Kendall would probably want more information, he decided to bring up her history, calls and texts, just in case.

Again, he was going past what he normally did with team members, but in Katie's case, it seemed that he was breaking quite a few of his personal rules. He really didn't care who Katie Knight was dating, but because Kendall rarely asked him to do anything that jeopardized his belief system, and the man seemed desperate to know about who was dating his sister, James relented to his request. Also, he knew that if his partner found out, Katie would just be even more irritated than she already was, and that was always a plus.

As he waited for the system to drag up past information on Katie, James scrolled through his contact list. He frowned at the number of phone numbers he had never dialled, probably put into the phone by one night stands and the like. He slowly deleted each number. It wasn't his fault that he never had any time to call these girls for a second...whatever it was. Protecting the city from a demon overrun took precedence.

An alert popped up, telling him that it managed to find Katie's phone history. He scrolled through the texts, finding everything meaningless. All the girl did was text her friends, and occasionally her so-called boyfriend. He skimmed past the usual cute-talk between the couple, but halted immediately when he spotted a sent image. He clicked on the icon to see the picture better. His eyes widened. Little Katie Knight had sent her boyfriend a nude photo. Strategically covering her assets, it remained clear that she was wearing no article of clothing on her body.

James closed his eyes. He wanted to erase the image from his mind, but the smooth alabaster skin of his partner kept appearing before his eyes. Fuck. He had lasted this long without thinking of his partner in a sexual manner, and he didn't want to go changing that just because he saw a picture of her nude. His inner demon argued. Katie was exactly his type. Big doe eyes, and a small lithe body, he was attracted to her from day one. Thankfully, her slow-witted, annoying behaviour stopped him from falling for her. There was no way in hell that he would ever like Katie Knight, friend or otherwise. As it was, he had to suffer partnering with her for the duration of her stay; there was no need to add sexual attraction to the mix.

He shifted in his seat, clearing his mind. He looked at the image again, this time willing his body not to react. He debated on sending the picture to Kendall, but he realized that he couldn't taint his friend by showing him a nude picture of his sister. Doing so would cross boundaries even he wouldn't dare. He smirked to himself as he clicked the save button on his phone. While it wasn't likely that he would ever show the picture to Kendall, it wouldn't hurt to keep it as blackmail material if the need ever arose.

He started his car. He'll have Katie surrendering in no time.

A/N: And finally, admittance that James is sexually attracted to Katie. ;)

And we have three new/old characters added to the mix: Tyler, Jett and Dak (yes, I realize that it's completely random to have him as Katie's b/f, but I have my reasons).

Hope you guys liked it! As always, I love hearing what you guys thought, so drop a review.

Thanks for reading!

Love,

D

P.S. I had to get this up today in honour of the next BTR episode being a James and Katie team-up! I always enjoy those ones most for the obvious reasons. So excited for it.