As angry as Maggie was upon hearing that the guy had looked into them and found out what they meant to one another, it was nothing compared to the fury that was written on Alex's face.

As soon as she'd disconnected the call, Alex had yanked at the wheel, doing a full 180 degree turn on the road they were currently on, and sped back towards the sheriff's office.

"Alex…" Maggie whispered, feeling her stomach clench at the thought of what her wife was up to. But the agent shook her head.

"We're dealing with this now, and quickly, before the rest of the officers find out." She said. "And I swear to God I'm going to put his ass in place for doing it, too."

"Alex." Maggie tried again. "Please…"

"Please what?!" Alex shot back. "The guy needs to be handled, now, before he makes a mess we can't fix!"

Upon Maggie's downcast eyes, Alex huffed. "Why the hell are you being like this? You were the one that said we needed to keep things quiet!"

"I don't… want to draw attention." Maggie mumbled, tracing the pad of her thumb with her other hand nervously.

Alex opened her mouth to argue, but clenched it shut forcefully, willing herself to calm down. She couldn't lose it in front of Maggie.

That's what that damn Evans guy was for.

So with newfound carefulness, she tried again. "Mags, I promise you, I'm going to fix this. Nobody in Blue Springs will know. Just wait in the car, alright? Just a couple of minutes, and then we can go grab food and not think about him again."

Alex empowered her point by stopping the truck abruptly in front of the sheriff's office, and cutting the engine. "I'll be right back."

As she moved out of the driver's seat, she felt a hand rest on her upper arm. She turned around to see Maggie looking at her with an unreadable expression. Before she pulled her back into the car, and reached forward to cup her cheek with her free hand, kissing her passionately.

When they pulled away, Alex was sure she saw tears in Maggie's eyes.

"Be careful."

Maggie Sawyer admitting defeat wasn't a sight Alex had seen too many times before, but she recognized it immediately. So without another word, she left for the building in front of her, her hand already twitching to make contact with a specific, stubbled face.

"Where is he?!" She asked the receptionist immediately as she shot through the door. Upon the mousy woman's wide eyes, she sighed. "Detective Evans. Where is he?"

"I-In the back…" The woman pointed towards the corridor. Alex nodded quickly, and then took big strides through the hallway before finally arriving at the bullpen.

"Evans." She raised her voice the second she spotted him standing around a bunch of his co-workers. "A word."

The man looked up with a grin, apparently surprised to see her. "Agent Danvers! How nice of you to join us again so quickly. Tell me…" He raised the tablet he was currently holding, showing a picture of her and Maggie locked in a passionate kiss, both wearing white wedding dresses. "… Which one of you is the guy? Wait, wait, don't answer. It's you, isn't it?"

Alex didn't respond, instead gauging the other officer's responses. To her relief, the three officers didn't look like they found his joke hysterical. If anything, they just looked uncomfortable.

A weak smirk appeared. This shouldn't take long.

"Are you married, detective?"

Evans lowered the tablet, still grinning at his own joke. "I'm never getting married. Single life is the best life."

"I see." Alex nodded. "So, not only are my jokes funnier than yours, I can also get more women, apparently."

Evans' head shot up at the sound of one of the officers next to him stifling a laugh. The man tried to keep a straight face, but seeing the detective's glare only made him crack up harder.

"You think that's funny, Agent?" Evans stepped forward. "You think I don't have friends in high places that can get you kicked off this investigation?! Two can play your game."

"Good thing I'm just trying to do my job without games then." Alex raised an eyebrow, seemingly unfazed. "And before you decide to talk about me or my wife again, let me remind you that I can very well get all the dirt on you, detective. And then we'll see who wins."

"Is that a threat, Agent Danvers?" Evans took another step, until they were at arm's length. "Because I'd like to see you try."

"Great." Alex forced herself to smile. "But until then, you stop acting like what's going on between me and detective Sawyer is any of your business, and focus on the fact that you're going to do anything you can to get us up to speed with the investigation. Sounds like a plan?"

Wounded in his pride in front of his colleagues for the last time today, apparently, Evans spat at the surrounding officers. "Leave us."

The three didn't seem eager to leave, but a small nod from Alex made it clear that she had the situation handled. A quick thought of Maggie in the car made her fingers twitch towards her gun holster involuntarily.

She didn't give him the satisfaction of being in charge of the situation though, instead opening her mouth the second the other officers left. "You had no right. And if you keep acting like an asshole, I'm going to keep putting you in your place. Haven't you done enough to damage your ego for one day, detective?"

"You have no idea what's coming." Evans shot back. "You don't even realize it, do you? I'm not the bad guy here."

Alex huffed. "Somehow, I find that hard to believe."

Evans leaned closer, until his face was almost touching hers. "You think she's safe here? Where everybody knows exactly why he kicked her out? You really think it matters that you're there to be her bulldog when she can't even protect herself?"

"You're pathetic." Alex shook her head. "No wonder you're here, instead of actually solving murders out in the city."

Evans' face changed slightly, and if Alex wasn't so trained, she would have probably missed the expression. "Maybe Maggie needs protection from a more adequate source."

"If you as much as go near her again, you'll regret it." Alex spat angrily, leaning closer too and raising a threatening finger. "I won't hesitate. She'll forgive me."

"And you cater to her every need, don't you, Agent?" Evans smiled back. "You even took off your ring, how considerate of you." He stepped back abruptly, breaking the tension between the two of them. "Make no mistake, Agent. I meant what I said. I'm a good cop, compared to others. Some people here won't be as… accommodating to your kind."

"I'll keep it in mind." Alex said. Though she didn't want him to see the impact his words had on her. With her and Maggie's talk about the killer possibly being law enforcement in the back of her head, she wanted nothing more than to pry about what he meant by the statement. But it could also just be bluff, and she didn't want to give the man the satisfaction.

"I love my wife, detective." She finally said. "I'm sorry you can't handle that."

She didn't wait for his response to walk out the door.

Instead of going to the diner, Alex drove to a small sub shop a few miles out of town, and then back to their hotel room to get some privacy.

Eating was spent mostly in silence. Alex was sitting down on the chair at the small desk in the corner, while Maggie sat down on the bed, staring at the carpeted ground.

The detective hadn't asked about her encounter with Evans, and honestly, Alex didn't exactly want to scare Maggie more than their surroundings already had. But she needed to talk to Maggie. Because as traumatized as Maggie seemed about everything, she herself wasn't exactly a big fan of Blue Springs and its people either.

Truth be told, Alex hadn't encountered all too many homophobic people until she met Maggie's father. During her coming out, she hadn't expected any of her family, friends or coworkers to treat her any different, and people in National City were generally very open and cool about homosexuality.

But she hadn't known more about the town than Maggie had told her, and it seems like Maggie's reason for fear and hesitation in terms of showing off their relationship were entirely justified.

Alex hated Blue Springs already, and she hadn't even been here more than a few hours.

"What do you think?" She asked instead.

Maggie's head shot up, as she had just bitten down on the last piece of her sandwich, frowning. "About what?"

"The case. What does your gut say?"

Maggie sighed, swallowing and tossing her wrapper into the nearby trash can. "Can we talk about something else?"

Upon Alex's understanding nod, Maggie backtracked immediately. "I just… I need time to think."

"No, I get it." Alex said quickly, smiling. "What do you want to talk about?"

"Have you heard from Kara?"

"I called her earlier, when you were out. She said to give you her best, and that she could be here in less than two hours if you needed her."

Maggie smiled weakly, appreciating her sister-in-law's sentiment. But Alex saw that it didn't reach her eyes completely, and put away her sandwich. "Tell you what. How about you tell me that story that you still owe me about McConnell and his mother-in-law at that barbecue last summer?"

Alex moved forward and jumped onto the bed, positioning herself so that she was lying down, her head resting on the pillow. Maggie joined her, needing to feel her wife's touch that she'd missed so much in the past hours.

She rested her head on Alex's chest, and chuckled, as she started to tell the story. And as much as it felt like such a stupid story to tell, she instantly felt better by how Alex was running a hand through her hair, laughing quietly at the jokes and nodding along.

When it was over, they stayed like that for a while, neither of the two ready to let this go.

Let the other go.

To Maggie, this room was her only safe place in the hundreds of miles surrounding them. Lying in Alex's arms, feeling her wife's heartbeat in her ears, and not seeing the scrutinizing gazes of the people of Blue Springs.

To her, it was magic.

Alex, however, couldn't get her mind off Evans' earlier words. The man had clearly hinted that something dark was going on in the Gage County sheriff's department, and that Oscar had been a part of something that ultimately led to his death.

But the way he'd said that Maggie needed more adequate protection haunted her the most.

At the time, Alex hadn't thought about it in the slightest, instead focusing all her anger on the man.

But now that she thought about it, throughout all of the bluffing and macho behavior, the man had flashed an expression of regret and vulnerability that Alex hadn't seen coming at all.

That, combined with the predictions of a bigger threat within the sheriff's department actually made her wonder if Evans really was the douchebag he was claiming to be.

Or if there actually was more to his story.

That thought only added more fuel to her assumption that he actually knew who the killer was, and it made her mind race with possibilities.

Maybe the entire police department knew who'd done it. Maybe it was a team effort. A coup, something to get rid of Oscar as a sheriff.

Which only made her more curious to see who the second-in-command was. It felt odd that none of the deputies had mentioned anything about a new sheriff, or whoever was going to take Oscar's place. And shouldn't Lincoln already have been notified about the sheriff's death?

Alex's state law knowledge was rusty at best, but she did remember that usually someone was appointed right away.

For now, though, she filed all of the thoughts away, instead holding her wife closer and kissing the top of her head slowly.

Whatever Evans had hinted at, they could take.

They were going to get through it together.