Garcia stepped up to Blake as the brunette waited for the elevator after work.

"I'm going with you."

"No, you don't."

"You're going shopping, Alex. You need to put me in a strait jacket to keep me from coming along, don't you know that by now?"

Blake rolled her eyes. She wasn't used to being this close around other people for an extended length of time and it was beginning to suffocate her. At the same time she knew that Garcia was only being protective of her, so she couldn't exactly yell at her. She tried passive-aggressive and delivered a deep sigh.

"Fine, let's go shopping for strait jackets, then," she muttered. Garcia didn't bite.

"Listen, I know you want to be alone, but I'm coming with you whether you like it or not and that's final."

Blake's chin dropped. Garcia gave her a stern look.

"You heard me, lady. Let's go shopping."

"By all means," she said, surprise still lacing her voice.

Garcia looked around in the store; it was far from the kinds of stores she usually shopped at. Blake had a more sophisticated, mature… and, as far as Penelope Garcia was concerned, plain boring, taste in clothes.

"Hey Alex, why don't you try this one on?"

Blake turned around and stared at the fuzzy sweater Garcia held up.

"No."

"Come on, it would look lovely on you."

"It's pink," Blake simply stated and took out a dark green blouse and a black blazer and added the items to the black slacks she had already picked out. Garcia sighed.

"I thought you said you were buying new clothes, but to me it looks like you're buying the same clothes you're already wearing every day. Besides, you're on desk duty for another three weeks, you don't have to look that official; I don't."

Blake shook her head, but she was smiling a little.

"Nice try, but it's not going to happen."

"Can't blame a girl for trying," Garcia shrugged and put the pink sweater back. Blake checked the size tag of the blouse, nodded and headed for the checkout.

"Wait, you're not even going to try them on?" Garcia called out.

"They're the same brand and size as the ones I already have, as you pointed out it's basically the same clothes, I don't need to try them on."

Garcia pouted.

"You're boring. You don't even like shopping, do you?"

"Not when I'm forced to," she said evenly and pulled out her credit card. She just wanted to get a coffee and go back home. Garcia was sweet, but she was also very chatty, and Blake wanted nothing more than an hour of silence with a book. One hour? She could settle for thirty minutes if necessary.

She was utterly unprepared when the cashier said;

"I'm sorry ma'am, but your purchase didn't go through."

She took out another card and tried that one. More nothing happened. A bad feeling began to twirl its cold fingers around her heart, but she refused to admit that she was afraid James had outsmarted her.

She took out her third card - the emergency card, the one she never used. Not even this one worked.

"I'm sorry ma'am," the girl said, and she looked it. Blake was blushing from embarrassment, but that feeling was second to the building terror. She put her wallet back into her purse.

"'Scuse me, I need to sort something out with my husband," she mumbled as she turned around to leave.

"Would you like me to put these away for you for the time being?" the girl called out as she folded the clothes, but Blake didn't answer. She felt like she was slowly turning into ice. She walked out of the store like she was in a haze, and a puzzled and worried Garcia followed in tow.

"Please let's go to the police," Garcia said as she sat down in the car. Blake had taken the driver's seat and while Garcia wasn't one hundred per cent sure she was fit to drive, she wasn't going to argue.

"Tomorrow," Blake repeated automatically and then, with no warning whatsoever, she slammed her fists against the steering wheel and screamed. There were no words in the scream; only despair. It hurt Garcia to hear anyone sound that helpless.

"Calm down Alex, maybe it's just a glitch…"

"All three cards? Oh, no, I don't think so, this is James's doing, I'm sure of it. I have to call my bank."

As soon as they got back to Garcia's apartment, Blake called the bank and had a heated argument with them, but in the end there was nothing they could help her with. Apparently a man who identified himself as Doctor Alex Blake, had terminated her accounts and walked out with all her savings in cash earlier that morning. Blake tried to wrap her head around how he had managed to manipulate an ID, but on the whole, how he had done it didn't matter. He had done it, and nobody had stopped him.

After the initial shock, something that looked suspiciously like anger began to show on her face as she flipped the phone open again. Garcia was getting even more concerned, if that were possible.

"What are doing? Please don't do it."

"I'm calling my husband," Blake snapped. "James! Something funny happened today when I was going to make a purchase. The cards didn't go through."

"That is odd." He sounded perfectly calm. "Do you need me to put some money into your account?"

"What account?!"

He ignored her.

"How is Alabama by the way?"

"What? It's, it's fine…"

"You lying bitch! You told me you were going to Arizona! So, being naturally curious about my wife's whereabouts, I called the bureau and asked for your team, and they said they were currently unavailable because they were going to California! And guess what? Agent Blake wasn't with them, according to hotel managers in California. So where are you, Alex? I know you're still in town, because your cards haven't registered any purchases elsewhere, nor have you bought train or bus tickets, and your car is still in our garage. Listen carefully, you fucking whore, you have two hours to get your ass back home and I won't kill you. But if you make me go out there and hunt you down, I swear to God Lexy I will kill you."

"I'm going to the police, James," she stuttered.

"Good luck with that, my dear. After I took down your bank accounts I filed a missing person's report on you. So the moment you walk in at the police station, their first call will be to me - worried husband of a wife who's having a nervous breakdown and accusing everyone dear to her of the most outrageous things."

She was quiet.

"Oh you disappoint me, Lexy," he mocked. "Multilingual, doctor's degree in linguistics, and you can't even entertain a simple conversation in your own mother tongue."

"Don't call me Lexy," she said listlessly. "You know I hate it."

"I know," he whispered. "Two hours. Then I'm coming to give you your well deserved surprise. You'll love it. It's to die for."

He hung up. Blake stared into thin air, the phone falling from her hands and onto the table. The world had begun to spin around her, all colours draining from it. She felt numb, so terrified she had completely lost her ability to act, think or even feel.

"He's coming," she said in a perfectly conversational tone.

Then she leaned forward and threw up on the floor.

A/N

I set my life duties aside to write this chapter this morning, and my muse wouldn't even allow me to eat breakfast. Or lunch. Talk about suffering for the art! Now I need cake. Or pie.

But most of all I need to hug Alex. I'm so sorry for writing such horrible things. : (

Okay. I do try to update as soon as I can, but as of tomorrow I need to do things that concerns others than myself, so I'll write the next whenever I can get the time to. ^^