Hello people. I'm back. But I'm really sad with just three reviews. Please review and tell me what you really think. Anyways enough with my complaining and here's the next chapter.

Chapter 6

I wake up early the next day. What's new? I was always an early riser. Mornings are the best part of the day and I enjoy the peace and quiet which is nearly impossible any other time in this city.

Yesterday night was truly torturous. Jordan's words were going through my mind again and again making me restless. What if it's too late? What if she doesn't like me? And even dream land wasn't a relief with my dreams filled with her. Naked. God I'm such a perv.

Since I don't have any appointment for an hour I'm sitting on my desk doing practically nothing. Well okay not nothing I'm making a list of the pros and cons. I know it's stupid but its not that I've anything better to do. It's not like I'm plucking flower petals and going "she loves me, she loves me not…" Yet.

I glance at the list I've made so far

Pros-

She's smart

Funny

Beautiful

Helpful

Brave

Great legs. Sigh. God I really am I a sicko

Cons-

She loves trouble

Most importantly she already has a boyfriend

Great! I can't think of a single bad thing about her. So much for my stupid list. What am I going to do? I can't loose her. It's not like I ever had her. I have to tell her how I feel. Granted she might laugh at my face but at least ill know how she feels about me. I won't be going crazy talking to myself. If she says no, I can't bear the thought, maybe we can be friends. Although heaven knows I would never want to be just friends with her.

After my morning appointment I'm glued to my chair, not moving an inch even when my stomach is growling at me. I hear a quiet knock on my door. Who could it be at this time? Its lunch time and I don't have any other appointments today. I look up to see the object of my ramblings walk in all hot and bothered.

"I need a ride to Westchester. Gavin's in jail," Heather says. Its funny what love can do to you. The next thing I spring to my feet and grab the keys and we're on our way in under a minute.

We're quit for most part of the journey. It's not an awkward kind of silence, just soothing. We should have already reached there but I'm driving at a slow rate because my car is a senior citizen. I'm aware that the drivers passing by are giving us rude gestures but I really don't mind. Since it was my first car I'm really attached to it. It's given me company during the most boring stakeouts. I know its weird to think of your car as your companion but that's what she is to me.

"I don't get it," she say finally breaking the silence, as we cruise up the Hutchinson River Parkway.

"What don't you get?" I ask.

"When Sarah and Gavin asked you yesterday if you'd drive them to Rock Ridge, you said no. But when I told you I needed to get up there, you couldn't grab the keys fast enough." She raises her eyebrows speculatively. "What gives?"

"Do you think there's a distance I wouldn't go," I ask, "for a chance to see that kid in the slammer?" I can drive to china for you, sweetheart. And the fact that Gavin was caught with his pants down is just an added plus.

She rolls her eyes at me. When I look at her again her gaze is fixed on my arms on the gear. I've rolled back the sleeves of my shirt almost up to my elbows showing the dark hair on my arms. I hope she doesn't finds my hands gross.

"Why are you staring at my fingers?" I ask her curiously.

"I just d-don't," she stutters, turning to face me. "D-don't understand how Sebastian could have shot Owen. I mean, I saw Sebastian right after the murder. Like a couple hours after. And he was joking around. There's no way he could have done it. No way he's that good of an actor."

"Ah. So you're going for the old just-because-he-had-the-murder-weapon-on-him-doesn't-mean-he-did-it defense," I say with a shrug. "Well, it's an oldie, but goodie. But I suppose someone else could have shot the guy and slipped the gun in Sebastian's bag…"

"Exactly!" she says animatedly. "That has to be what happened. So that means it has to have been someone with whom Sebastian came into contact yesterday morning, sometime between the murder and his arrest. Which," she says sullen now, "could've been a million and a half people. I'm sure he was all over campus, between his classes, his GSC stuff, and everything else Sebastian is into. I saw him in the chess circle in the park with Sarah and all those reporters. Any one of those homeless guys in there could've walked up and slipped anything they wanted into that bag, and he never would've noticed. No one would've."

"Well, I'm sure his lawyers are on it," I tell her.

"Don't they need to find, I don't know, gunpowder residue on his hands?" she wants to know. "And witnesses?"

"He's got motive," I tell her surprised that she knows this. She's much more smart than I give her credit "And the murder weapon. And no alibi. The DA's probably thinking this one's pretty open-and-shut."

"Right. Except for one thing," she complains. "Sebastian didn't do it."

Her cell phone rings and she makes a face on seeing the caller ID. She picks it up tentatively and the person on the line gets down to business at once yelling at her, although I cant make out what.

"I had to go," she murmurs. "I didn't want to get into it right then."

She's now holding the phone away from her head, but I still cant make out what the other person is saying .I fumble with the tape deck leaning forward a little. I know its wrong to eavesdrop, but I'm really curious what she did to make the person so mad.

"I'm not going to Rock Ridge to bail him out," she cries lowering her voice so that I cant hear, which perks the curiosity even more. "I'm just going there to talk to him. Besides you're the one who brought the bridal magazines over. Plus, he hasn't even asked me yet. All he said was that he had something he wanted to—"

BRIDAL MAGAZINES? Please tell me God I misheard. But they've been going out for three months for Pete's sake!

"Funny you should mention that," she says

Have you ever felt that everything is going in slow motion, because that's how I'm feeling right now. I keep my gaze on the road barely aware of my surroundings due to the ringing in my ears. A truck driver is honking at me impatiently and i wave at him distractedly. Maybe this is all a dream and I'll wake up still in my bed.

"No, I'm not on a boat," I say.

"It's just a truck. I'm on the highway. Patty, this isn't really the best time to have this conversation—"

She starts making noises with her mouth. Under other circumstances i would have been highly amused. "What's that, Patty? You're breaking up. Uh-oh, can't hear you at all now, must be passing through a no-cell-tower zone, gotta go, bye."

"Tad asked you to marry him?" I ask as when she hangs up.

"God!" she says frustrated. "No! Okay?"

"Then why did you say that Patty brought you a bunch of bridal magazines?"

"Because everyone is jumping the gun," she says cringing. "Ouch. I didn't mean to use the word gun . It's just that the other day, Tad said he has something he wants to ask me, but only when the timing is right." He's going to ask her to MARRY him! Of coarse he does, you idiot. Did you expect him to be as stupid as you?

"But I'm sure it's nothing, I never should have mentioned it to anyone, especially Tom , who has the biggest mouth in the known universe , and—"

"You guys have only been going out for a couple of months," I say trying to keep myself calm.

"Yeah," she say. "But. You know."

"No," I say sardonically. "I don't know. What's happening to you? Who are you supposed to be now? Britney Spears? My brother's happily married and popping out sprog now, and you can't stand to get left behind, or something? What's next? You're going to get yourself knocked up, too?"

"Excuse me," she says, clearly offended. Great Cooper! Way to win your girl. Now she must think I'm a childish fiend. "I didn't say I was saying yes. I don't even know that's what he's asking. Maybe he's just asking me to move in with him, or something."

"And you think that's a good idea?" I demand. "To move in with your math professor? Who doesn't even own a TV? Or eat anything except tofu-covered bean strips dipped in wheat germ dust?"

"You don't even know what you're talking about," she points. "There isn't even such a food as what you just described. But if there was, you might want to look into trying it. Because it might do you some good, judging by all the fast-food wrappers I see lying around your office. When is the last time you had your cholesterol checked? Your heart is probably a ticking time bomb."

"Oh, excuse me, were those your carefully constructed Giada De Laurentiis–inspired Nutella Chips Ahoy! Macadamia Brittle ice cream sandwiches I saw in the freezer last night?"

She glares at me. "Oh my God, if you ate one—"

"Oh, I ate one, all right, I ate them all ." I say childishly

"Cooper! I made those especially for—"

"For what? For you and Tad ? You have got to be kidding me. He wouldn't touch one of those hydrogenated fat-wiches if you served it to him on his favorite Frisbee with a big side of babaganoush."

"Now you're just being mean," she remarks. I know she right, one hundred percent. I'm whining is what I'm doing. Way to go man. I'm sure she'll really like you now. Not "And that's not like you. What, exactly, is your problem with Tad? Or your problem with me and Tad, to be exact?"

"I don't have a problem with Tad ," I say failing to keep the contempt to myself. "Or with you and Tad. I just don't think, as a friend, your moving in with him is the best idea."

"Oh, you don't?" she asks "Why?" What am I doing? Why cant I keep my mouth shut and behave like a mature adult? She must be thinking what a big jerk I am.

"Because the whole thing just has disaster written all over it." I'm a little old fashioned about marriage. I don't believe in having a strings of marriages, but just to one person with whom I can spend the rest of my life with. And now that I've finally found her she's marrying someone else.

"For what reason? Just because he's a vegetarian and I'm not? People with different values end up together all the time, Cooper. And the TV thing—I'm not convinced it's a deal breaker. He just doesn't know what he's missing. He still watches movies, you know."

"Oh yeah?" I snort "Do they all have hobbits in them?" I cant believe she's defending him. Next what? Is she going to turn into a vegan too?

"God, what is wrong with you?" she asks. "You are being such a d—"

Her cell phone rings again and she picks it up more warily this time. "Oh, Hi Larry."

Larry Mayer? Her dad's new business partner. Nut why would he be calling her? Maybe just to talk or something. But then it hits me. Alan had mentioned 'a little business proposal' to her. New job equals new home which equals her moving out. How much bad news can a man take in one day? Isn't it bad enough that I'm loosing her to a myopic vegan? Does God really hate me?

I miss out rest of the conservation . I try to keep my best poker face when she looks at me

"Larry, I'm going to have to call you back," she says. "I'm right in the middle of something at the moment, something work-related. Bye"

"So," I ask when she hangs up. "Tell me."

"Believe me," she says. "You don't want to know. I wish I didn't even know."

"Oh," I say seriously. "I think I do want to know. Do I need to start looking for a new housemate…and a new bookkeeper?"

"I…I don't know. When I do, you'll be the first to know. I swear." She says hesitantly.

I don't know what to say so I settle for saying nothing at all. Since I'm no longer paying attention to the road I miss the police station drive past it. "Damn!" I mutter frustradly, and not for just not paying attention.

After parking the car in the almost empty parking lot we get inside the just as deserted police station. I spot the chief himself eating chicken wings and Gavin behind the bars not far behind him.

"There she is," Chief O'Malley says. "Heather Wells herself! I'd recognize that hair anywhere. But you've put on a few, hey, honey? Well, who among us hasn't?"

"HEATHER!" Gavin yells wrapping his sticky fingers around the bars. Idiot

"Hey, there," Chief O'Malley deplores. "Don't you be getting that special sauce all over everything. I just had the rookie clean in there yesterday."

"Damn, I forgot my camera." I say delightedly.

"Heather, I'm so glad you're here." Gavin says. Of coarse you are. "Listen, Jamie says she's sure it wasn't Sebastian who shot Dr. Veatch. She had an appointment with him yesterday because he was going to help her lodge a formal complaint about a New York College staff member who made unwanted sexual advances toward her. That's why she got scared and ran home—she thinks it's her fault he got shot. She thinks it was that person who shot him, before he could lodge the complaint—and that she's next."

. "Who was it?" she asks him eagerly. "Simon Hague?"

"No. Some guy the college just hired. Some guy named Reverend Mark."

"Reverend Mark?" she repeats incredulously.

"Yeah", Gavin confirms.

To say that she looks skeptical would be an understatement. And from the looks of her face I can make out that she doesn't believe what Gavin is saying and just where she plans to go now. Uh huh.

Just two words- Please Review. Oh and I was thinking about writhing a one shot between Heather and cooper. Tell me if you want to read it. Hint: its based years later and H&C have broken up. Will they be united? If you want them to be together tell me or ill be real cruel and let her be with someone else.