Here is Joss's confrontation with Fusco. I love writing these two so much! But more than anything I love hearing Fusco's voice in my head! I swear if I can't hear him say it, it doesn't get written. My man has the final say. Enjoy!

Cupid

The small motel room looked lived in. With both twin beds unmade, a blanket lay haphazardly on the floor – along with a couple of stray towels, shoes, and one sock – while on the round table near the window, two empty pizza boxes lay surrounded by numerous empty soda cans. But the two guys sitting side by side on the end of one of the twin beds couldn't have cared less as they stared intensely at the video game on the TV.

"I'm catching up, Dad," Lee stated with just a hint of victory in his tone. His fingers worked the buttons and joy stick on the small control pad.

"The hell...heck you are," Lionel retorted. Furiously his fingers flew as he tried to keep his score. He loved his son, but that didn't mean he had to allow him to win, Lionel reasoned logically.

"I think you're getting old," Lee chided.

"Almost there..." Lionel executed a maneuver that rushed his car ahead of his son's and past the FINISH line. GAME OVER flashed on the screen.

Jumping up from the bed, Lionel threw the control down on the bed and did a little victory jig. "Who is getting old now?" he tossed out. "Who's the old man now?" He jabbed his thumbs at his chest and harrumphed.

Lee rolled his eyes. "You are."

"Come here, squirt!" Lionel grabbed Lee and put him in a mock choke hold and ruffled his hair. "Old?! Not too old to do this!"

"Dad! Help! Help!" Lee pleaded between giggles.

"Who's old?" Lionel demanded gruffly and loosened his grip. "Who's old?"

"Not you."

Lionel let Lee go. "You got that right," he chortled and patted Lee on the back.

"Double or nothing, Dad?" Lee handed the control over. At that moment there was a knock on the door.

Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Lionel tried to catch his breath. "Who could that be?" he wondered.

"I don't know, Dad," Lee answered cheekily, "you have to answer it to find out."

"Smart aleck. No cheating," Lionel warned before turning the knob. "Hey, Carter," he greeted with unveiled surprise at the sight of his partner standing in the motel parking lot.

"You got a minute?"

Lionel looked around. Lee was flipping channels on the TV. "Yeah, sure." He stepped out of the motel room and closed the door behind him. "What's up? We got a case or something?"

Joss didn't beat around the bush as she replied, "I know it was you behind the site chat."

Lionel's jubilant demeanor changed instantaneously. "Is that so?"

"Why did you do it?"

"Because someone had to."

"That's not an answer."

"I don't know, Carter. What do you want me to say? The two of you were lonely and maybe it wouldn't hurt if you hooked up and knocked boots a few times?" Lionel asked sarcastically.

"That's a little crude."

"It's nicer than what I had in mind."

Joss tried to suppress her anger. "You do realize I'm not talking to him."

"How was I supposed to know... Wait! You're not talking to him? That means you were talking to him before...?" Slowly the facts began to dawn on Lionel.

"It doesn't matter. What matters is..." Joss argued before being interrupted.

"It does matter. You and Boy Wonder were talking to one another and I didn't know?"

"You didn't know?" Joss was thrown to know that what she thought was fact actually wasn't.

"Hell no," Lionel scoffed.

"It was a secret."

"No shit. I guess I'm always the last to know. Well, that changes everything," he groused.

"The only thing that needs to be changed is you sticking your nose into business that didn't concern you."

The wind slowly began to pick up speed, but neither person seemed to notice as their conversation began to heat up.

"Excuse me," Lionel puffed out his chest. "I didn't know you two were involved."

"We weren't 'involved', Fusco," Joss corrected.

"So, what were you?" he challenged defiantly.

Joss searched to find the correct word to describe what she and the man in the suit shared. "Partners."

"Bullshit."

"What?"

"I'm calling bullshit. What you two had was more than 'partners'. At least on his part."

"He talked to you? What did he say?" Joss demanded.

"You mean did he talk about you?" Lionel returned. "Not by name."

"You had no right."

"Look, Carter," Lionel spread his hands and gave her a beseeching look, "I found the man sitting alone in a pub trying to shove himself into a bottle of Scotch. I figured it had something to do with a woman and I pressed him to tell me more. After he threatened to kick my ass for referring to you as a 'chick', I found out that he had betrayed the trust of a woman he greatly cared about. I gave him some advice on how to win you back. How was I supposed to know it was you?"

"You didn't know at all?" Joss scoffed at the thought that what her partner was saying could be true.

"Not a clue."

"And that night at the stakeout?"

"You were pretty miserable over the guy who you kicked to the curb. I put two and two together..."

"And came up with a plan to screw me over," Joss finished.

"...and figured that I would get my two mutual, miserable friends together so they could forget the losers who hurt them," Lionel corrected. "How was I supposed to know you and he were the same people?" he wondered with a shrug.

"It didn't dawn on you?"

"Math was never my strong suit," he confessed. "Although I had an inclination that something was a little hinky. But I thought that meant I was heading in the right direction."

"You should have listened to your gut."

"Wait a minute! You betrayed him too!" Suddenly the pieces fell into place. "You did. I thought something was up with how cozy you were getting with Snow, and then the way our mutual friend went underground for a couple of weeks, and the strange way you were acting afterward. You had something to do with that," Lionel pointed his finger accusingly toward Joss.

"It's different," she deflected.

"I had to hide a pain bottle in Connecticut to throw that son of a bitch off John's trail," Lionel revealed his role in the coverup. "That means Snow hurt him. I'm guessing John was the recipient of a bullet, and my gut is telling me that you were there."

Joss swallowed and looked away. "There is a lot more to it than that."

"Look, Carter, John pushes my buttons and he's threatened to kick my ass on more than one occasion – twice where you were concerned – but I never once wished him harm. And I know that Snow character was shady from the moment he and his partner walked into the 8th. Why you hooked up with him is beyond me."

"It's water under the bridge."

"For him, not you."

"Did John tell you how he betrayed me and got Szymanski shot?" Joss fumed, but her anger was less than a minute earlier.

"Shit happens, Carter. It's called life. John was trying to rescue a baby from kidnappers and you were protecting a mafia don who killed the mother of his son right in front of the child. As far as I can tell, the protection you were offering was pretty misdirected to begin with."

"He deserved protection," Joss stated vehemently.

"Morretti is a mother killing bastard, Carter. The only thing he deserves is a satin lined casket six feet under. Even then I'm not sure about the casket."

Warily, the Homicide partners eyed one another and waited for the other shoe to drop.

"What's this about, really?" Lionel asked directly. He was tired of pussy-footing around the fucking mulberry bush. And it was getting cold.

"It's about you sticking your nose in business that didn't concern you."

"When my friends are suffering, it concerns me. A lot. I wanted to make things better. So sue me."

"You have no right."

"Pfft. Who gives a damn about right – or wrong – for that matter? The man loves you, Carter."

Joss shook her head. "No."

"The hell he doesn't. He's crazy mad for you. How you don't see it is beyond me. He threatened to shoot me if anything happened to you when Elias put the hit on you. He risked his life to save a baby whose life means more than that of a don. Then he tried to shove himself in a liquor bottle when he thought he lost you. If that isn't love, I have no idea what is."

"It won't work," Joss sighed.

"Won't or can't?" Lionel asked. "You are just as stubborn as he is, but at least he's trying."

"You set us up." Joss shook her head mournfully.

"Yeah, I did. Happy?" Lionel gave her a stupefied look before scoffing. "Now I'm wondering if it was such a great idea. Here I was trying to help Tall, Dark & Dangerous find the woman of his dreams so he could live happily ever after. Maybe it would've been easier to have gotten him a call girl for a night. He doesn't need this garbage."

"You wanted us to sleep together?" Joss was flabbergasted by the thought.

"Not anymore. I want him to be with someone who actually gives a damn about him. Not someone who is going to throw his mistakes back at him every time he turns around. He needs someone who cares."

"Lionel.."

"Forgive and forget, Joss. It's not that difficult. Learn to trust someone because you don't seem to be trusting yourself all that well," Lionel advised. Shivering against the bitterly cold wind, he backed up toward the door.

"I'd love to keep standing here and argue about petty bullshit, but I have my son for the weekend and we have a video game to finish." And with that, Lionel turned the knob and disappeared back inside the motel room.

For a long minute Joss stood and blankly stared at the door. She could hear the sounds of laughter filter from inside.

Sighing, she turned on her heel and walked back to her car.