See prologue for story information and disclaimer.

Chapter Seven

Flack stared at the ceiling, making out cracks and patterns when the lights of cars flashed past his window. He strained his ears past the noise of traffic, nighttime in New York. He listened for a whimper or cry to come from the room next door. He was almost certain they would come, and he was determined to be awake to stop them.

It wasn't until very late, almost morning, when the whimpers began. They quickly grew louder, as Flack hurried down the hall to the other room.

Sarah lay tangled in the sheets, moaning in fear. Flack went to her side and lightly shook her.

"Sarah, wake up," he said softly.

After a moment of two, her eyes fluttered open and, just like on the sofa earlier, a glimmer of fear appeared before it faded into comprehension.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"No," she murmured.

"Was it the same dream?"

She nodded. He sighed and stroked her hair. She let out a sob and clung to his shirt. He gathered her up and held her close as she cried.

When her tears slowed, he lowered her back to her pillow and began to pull away. She tightened her grip on his shirt.

"Don't leave me," she whispered.

"I won't," he said. "I won't let anything hurt you."

He lay down beside her, on top of the sheets, and rubbed her back as she slowly fell asleep. He absently listened to her clam breathing and drifted into sleep himself.

-----

When he woke, the sun was lighting the room softly. Flack could hear his alarm going off in his bedroom, but he still had an hour and a half until he had to be at work. Slowly, he extracted himself from Sarah, who had managed to drape herself across his chest. He left her sleeping while he showered and changed for work.

He was making scrambled eggs and bacon when she came out of her room. He noticed how adorable she looked in her baggy shirt and boxers with her hair all mussed from sleeping. He smiled at her and gestured to the pans.

"Hope you like scrambled eggs and bacon," he said brightly.

"You cook?" she asked.

He laughed at her disbelieving look. "Only a couple of things. Scrambled eggs and bacon happen to be two of them."

She smiled at him. "I can make pretty good pancakes, myself."

"Well then, I guess between the two of us, we've got breakfast covered. Can you cook any dinner meals?"

She was brightening from his teasing and he could see the last vestiges of fear from the dream leave.

"I can cook a few things."

He grinned. "Then, we'll only need to order out when it's my turn to make dinner."

He set the eggs and bacon on the table and they sat to eat.

"So, what's happening today?" she asked. "Do I stay at the lab? Or will a cop just come with me everywhere?"

Flack shrugged his shoulders. He had no idea how they would work this, but he didn't really feel comfortable letting her out of his sight. She was beginning to mean quite a lot to him.

"I'm not sure," he said honestly. "We'll go down to the precinct and talk it over with my supervisor and Mac. But you'll probably want to talk to your mother at some point today, like Danny said yesterday."

She nodded, not looking too pleased with the idea of talking to her mother. It was understandable; neither he, Sarah, nor Danny had reacted very well when Lindsay described the phone call she had received. Though, Sarah had hugged Danny when she heard how he'd stood up for Lindsay.

When they finished breakfast, Sarah took a shower while Flack did the dishes and grabbed the things he needed for work. Soon enough, they were out of the apartment and on their way to the precinct.

When they got there, Flack held the door open for Sarah and guided her to his supervisor's office with a hand on her lower back. He saw Mac watching them through the window in the door, and from the look on the CSI's face, he knew that Mac hadn't missed the looks he gave Sarah or the position of his hand.

Flack's supervisor opened the door and told Sarah she could wait in the chair by the door while they talked to Flack. She didn't seem too happy to be left out, but she sat nonetheless. Flack shot her a sympathetic look before his entered the office.

"Well, Detective Flack," said Harrison, his supervisor. "Detective Taylor tells me that Miss Monroe out there requires constant police protection and that she is currently staying at your apartment."

"That's right, sir," Flack said.

"Well, this leaves the question of who will accompany her during the day."

Flack nodded.

Mac looked at him pointedly and said, "Flack, will you be able to work on this case objectively?"

Flack thought about saying yes for a moment, but then reconsidered. Mac already knew the answer, after all.

"No, Mac. I can't be objective."

Mac nodded. "And you probably won't be able to concentrate on other cases either."

Flack shook his head.

Harrison smiled. "Glad to see you're being honest, Detective. You'll be Miss Monroe's police escort then. That way we won't be wasting man power."

"Sir?" Flack asked, not quite believing what he was hearing.

Harrison started looking through the files on his desk and waved his hand dismissingly at Flack. "Take her sight-seeing or something, Detective. Show her the city. Just get outta my office."

Mac smiled at Flack as they walked out of Harrison's office.

"Didn't think you'd be up to interrogating suspects," he said.

Flack laughed. "That's why they pay you the big money, Mac. You're observant."

"What did he say?" Sarah asked, jumping out her chair.

Flack grinned at her. "Meet your mew personal bodyguard."

"Really?" she said happily.

"Really. He said we should go sight-seeing or something."

Sarah looked like she was going to burst with excitement.

"Great! I've always wanted to see New York." She grabbed his hand and started to pull him towards the doors. "Come on. We've got a lot of places to go. I want to see the Met and the zoo and Wall Street and Times Square. Oh, and don't forget Fifth Avenue."

"More shopping?" Flack groaned.

"Of course, and I want to see a Broadway musical."

He smiled at her enthusiasm. "Okay, but we can't do everything today."

As they left the building, Flack remembered they'd just left Mac standing there without even a goodbye. For a moment, he felt bad, but then he figured Mac would understand.

After all, he's been in love too.

Flack was so shocked by this thought that he was paying for tickets into the Metropolitan Museum before he realized where he was.