A/N: So yes, in response to DaisyDay, Connie is in protective custody. She has officers following her around while out in public and they stay parked outside her apartment at night. I'm sorry, if I wasn't clear on that. It's talked about a little bit more in this chapter.

Also, something I should have put in the first chapter, when I first introduced him, Connie's father is a doctor. I know in the show her father was a doctor in Spain (I think), but his medical licence wouldn't carry over to the US so he had to become a nurse (I think). So this is not completely cannon, he practices medicine here. My mistake for not better introducing him. (He's only referenced in this chapter and not in it, we don't meet him until next chapter.)


Connie stood in the LAPD's cafeteria, passively staring at the different choices of salads. There was Caesar, ice burg, romaine, and numerous different types of dressings. The salads were prepackaged in plastic bowls and the dressing was in individual packets.

A voice at her ear brought her out of her thoughts, "Anything decent to eat here?"

Connie jumped at the proximity of the voice, "Mike, dear Lord!", she took a breath, "I'm going to tell you what I told Ricardo a couple of days ago, 'DO NOT SNEAK UP ON SOMEONE WHO HAS A MURDERER AFTER THEM!'"

He tried to conceal a smirk, "I didn't mean to scare you".

"Sure"

"TJ said that the chicken is good here", Mike said, looking at the menu on the wall.

"It is… for cafeteria food."

"That's a ringing endorsement." He paused as he watched her grab her salad, "So are you eating with anyone?", his eyes dashed around the room of uniform police officers and plain clothes detectives.

She laughed at his boyish manner, "Yeah, you"

They both got their food and searched for a table.

Connie noticed Mike was searching the room again, as they sat down, "Are you looking for someone?"

"Your shadows."

"There're off somewhere else. Since I am in the LAPD headquarters, surround by cops, they're allowing me to wonder the halls by myself", she sounded irritated.

"Freedom", he jested.

She smiled at him and opened her salad.

"I'm not sure how much longer I can take being followed."

He tried to give her a reassuring smile but he did not know what to say.

"How is your mom?", he changed the subject.

"She's got fluid in her lungs and they want to keep her for a night or two. But she is in good spirits."

"That's really good."

Connie nodded in agreement, "I think I am going to stay with her tonight. Dad is on call in the ER so he may not be able to stay the whole night with her."

"I thought that you were trying to keep your space from your family with all of this going on?"

"Yeah, well, my dad is concerned about me. He is committed to seeing me because I have a have a murderer after me, and every time I tell him it's not safe, he says 'that's all the more reason to be with your family'.", she seemed exasperated with her father. "But with mom in the hospital I figured it was best to go see her."

He gave her a genuine smile, "You like being back here, in LA, with your family?"

"Yes…well, for the most part", shifted in her chair, "I'm three thousand more miles closer to my brother's hovering, but it's a fair trade off for my dad's cooking."

"How's your headache?", he turned his concern to Connie.

She gave him a gracious smile, "Much better—it was gone when I woke up again."

He broke out into an impish laughter and joked, "That could be interpreted more than one way."

"I'm talking about the headache", she said, laughing with him.

"I hope you got up alright, it completely slipped my mind to reset the alarm. Morales called and I just thought you could use some more sleep."

"Yeah, I woke up just fine-I needed those extra hours.", Turning back to work, "Any new developments?, she asked.

"Yes, a big one, actually. Mrs. White tells us that her husband thought that Spencer is running some sort of organized crime ring."

She froze, "Seriously?"

"Yes, and considering he is now dead….", Mike let the statement hang, as he took a bite of chicken, "So the question I have is for how long? Did we miss something that big five years ago?"

"That's something pretty big…", she responded, looking contemplative.

After a few moments, Connie observed, "You have that look…"

"What look?"

"That introspective how am I not going to get caught next time look."

His voice went a little high, "What are you talking about?"

"You get this", she gestured towards him, "Outward… ambiance, for lack of a better word, whenever Jack rips you a new one."

He gave a nervous laugh, "I do not, so you cannot tell that."

"Oh yeah. Then why are you suddenly looking guilty?"

He smiled, "It wasn't Jack.", Mike said quickly, conceding to her, "Not even I can piss someone off from across the country."

She froze, again, "Tell me Hardin didn't…."

"No. No, but on that…", Mike paused, "I spoke to Jack this morning and he said the details of our arrangement are floating around the office."

"That's great.", she replied sarcastically and then turned serious, "Tell me you guys have a plan for if or when Hardin does find out."

"Not really, Jack said we'd cross that bridge when-if we get there."

"Wow", she was not impressed, "I'm speechless. You're going to get your ass thrown out-of-town and Jack is going to damage—at the very least—damage an important relationship with a DA in one of the major cities in the country….And your plan is to not have a plan."

"Connie, trust me we've gone over it, but the best worst case plan is to see where the chips fall. If you have any ideas, we're open to suggestions."

She gave him an incredulous laugh, "I shouldn't even know about this."

"You asked."

"I did and I'm glad that you told me."

He smiled, "Talk about mixed signals".

"So, who did you piss off?", Connie asked, trying to veer the conversation back to point.

"Um…", Mike took a second to gather his thoughts, "Lieutenant Gonzales."

She choked on her drink, "Lieutenant Gonzales? What did you do?"

"I might of…well in her words 'bullied a grieving widow'."

"Mrs. White?", Connie asked, not particularly surprised.

"Yes.", Mike could tell Connie wanted further explanation, "Morales and I were interviewing her and she began to shut down so I got hostile with her and showed her a picture of Ms. Malone."

"Mike, if you're anticipating pissing off the DA's office, it may be wise to befriend the LAPD."

"I know.", he said, flatly.


After they ate, they wondered the halls and talked. Mike did not know where they were going but Connie walked them to a secluded spot.

"About last night…", Connie began, a little nervous, "And this morning I just wanted to thank you. Not many guys would do that…. I really appreciate it."

He shrugged dismissively, "No problem, I was more than happy to…"

She placed a hand on his forearm, "No, Mike, it means a lot….I was… really upset last night and you... were a complete gentleman."

Mike, placing his hand on top of hers, made her look up at him, "Anytime, Connie."

The feeling of his touch sent shivers down her spine. In the few days that he had been in LA, he had changed the way she felt. She could not remember the last time she felt like this, he changed something from the day-to-day drudgery. She knew what it felt like for him to hold her…and she wanted that again. However, Connie had sworn to herself that she would not go down that road again. He was her boss, perhaps not at the moment, but he had been, and the implications of a relationship between them would be the same. Anything between them would compromise her tenure in New York: performance reviews that Mike did as her boss, would be considered as though there was an asterisk next to every thing she accomplished.

Mike broke eye contact with her and the corners of his mouth twisted into a smile, "Complete gentleman, huh?" He caught her gaze again, "I was actually afraid that you would be mad at me for some of last night."

"Really…?", she asked, reservedly, "Why… would that be?"

"Well", he shyly replied, "You did tell me to leave you alone a couple of times…. And I…didn't know whether I was crossing the line", his throat went dry, "… by getting into bed with you."

She swallowed and said in a low voice, "I asked you to stay."

He still seemed hesitant, "I know…but…."

"I was vulnerable and not thinking clearly?", she finished his sentence with a mischievous smirk.

He lifted her hand off his arm and enclosed it in his, "Something like that…."

When Connie looked back up at him, he broke into his dimple revealing smile. She was not sure what he was doing. Mike began to pull away, and she thought that he was going to let go of her hand, but he quickly stepped forwards into her personal space.

"So, you are telling me that you knew exactly what you were doing last night when you asked me to stay?", his voice was low and ruff.

It took her a second to process his words. She was too distracted with his breath on the side of her face and his sheer proximity.

"I knew exactly what I was doing last night", she whispered, transfixed

His deep blue eyes seemed to be glowing with desire. She had missed those eyes. His seas of blue seemed to only burn like that when his attentions were turned towards her. In her life, Connie had not been the kernel desire of a man in the way that she saw in his eyes. Sure, men had lusted after her, but Mike had a special fire for her.

Slowly, Mike leaned in and her lips parted in response. He paused, hoping she would close the gap between them. Tilting her head, she thoughtlessly met him. At first, their lips lightly touched, as they both did not seem prepared for the unguarded intimacy. Upon wanting more, Mike closed his mouth to hers and began to kiss Connie more firmly, hoping she would allow him entrance. She immediately let him explore her mouth, as he permitted her entrance as well. He brought his hand up to her the back of her head, and he encircled her waist with his other arm, as he deepened the kiss further. The taste, the feel, of him, Connie could not stop herself. She ran one hand up his arm to the nape of his neck and the other slipped underneath his suit jacket, pulling him closer until their bodies were firmly against each other. Once out of breath, they broke apart. They rested their foreheads together, eyes closed. Neither of them moved from their embrace. Connie's phone began to ring, but she did not move to answer it. Moments passed, they just stood motionless. A loud crashing sound from down the hall brought them back to reality, and they jumped apart. A police officer came around the corner pushing a full cart of boxes and files, and pulling, behind him, another cart of full of various evidence-bagged items. Connie's phone began to ring again, as the officer passed them, and he gave both a curt nod, oblivious to the moment he just interrupted. She quickly grabbed her phone from her purse, which was sitting on a windowsill next to them.

"Hello.", she answered turning away from Mike and walking a few steps down the hall.

Neither of them were able to make eye contact with the other. Stepping in the opposite direction, he took a deep breath to gather himself. His mind seemed blank. Connie. He and Connie just kissed. This was not their first, as they had kissed the weekend before she had left New York. However, Mike had assigned that to be the last and only romantic gesture between them because she was leaving, but, now, in LA, he realized that her actions, that night, were more than fleeting emotions caused by her abrupt departure. He turned to look at her; she had her back to him, still talking on the phone. Awkwardly, he stuck his hands into his pants pockets, and walked back to where they were standing. She hung up, but did not immediately turn around to face him. Mike watched her, taking in her movements—he could not read her body language. When she began to turn around, he quickly diverted his gaze. Connie walked back to her purse, next to him, careful not to make eye contact.

"Um…", she began, while digging around in her purse, "That… was Dekker and I have to go."

There was no response.

After gathering her things, she turned around to find his stare fixated on her. His eyes were intense and did not leave hers for a moment.

"Alright, I'll see you later", he finally replied.

Her voice caught in her throat, so she just nodded and walked away.


Another A/N: From here on out, I may be posting every two weeks. I'll try to post next weekend, but after that, it will be every other week. Things just got busy, sorry. Next time I write a story, I'm going to have it completely written before I publish, so I can post at more regular intervals.

Questions, plot holes, compliments, or complaints, please review.