In her sixteen years of life, Deunan had never before thought she was hot, decent looking maybe, but not hot. Now, though, she found herself on the receiving end of quite a bit covert attention from the men (and to her horror a few of the women) on SWAT. Although it gave her a small thrill to have so many people, the guys at least, making advances to her, she couldn't help but feel a tinge of guilt and regret. Over the past several weeks since her little morning exhibition, her relationship with Briareos had been stranded at best. Loath though she was to admit it, the majority of this distance was her fault. She'd held angrily to her grudge for a while, trying to convince herself that he'd somehow wronged her by seeing her as a child. She also tried to convince herself that she was happy with the substitute attention she was getting elsewhere, mainly in the from of Baker when he knew that Briareos was busy somewhere else.

It was a rare cool afternoon in April when Baker decided to make his move. Briareos was working a drug bust and Baker had assumed that he'd be out for at least a couple more hours when he approached Deunan in the lounge. She was laying on her back on the sofa; her literature textbook was propped up on her knees as she scribbled notes for her final essay. She was a bit proud of herself, since they'd moved to L.A. she'd been in a home study program and she pushed herself hard to be able to graduate a year ahead of time. She had plans, big ones. The youngest applicants they accepted at the Police academy were seventeen; she was going to enter and graduate as quickly as she could, then transfer immediately to the Special Training Center and again graduate quickly from there. Her dream was to be the youngest officer in the history of L.A. SWAT, and she would accept no less of herself.

Baker, however, who was standing in the doorway, admiring her bare legs, didn't know or really care about her dreams. He had dreams of his own, and many of them involved that blonde-haired vixen naked and writhing with pleasure beneath him. Getting the uncomfortable feeling that she was being watched, Deunan turned her head and gave a little smile when she saw him standing there watching her. "Hey Chris," she said, closing her book, "need something?"

A crooked grin formed on Baker's lips as he walked in and pulled up a chair besides her, straddling the back of it. "As a matter of fact, I do," he said, his voice seductive and playful.

Deunan giggled a little, and fought back a blush. He was no Briareos, but he was cute. "And what would that be, Mr. Baker?" she asked, with a shy smile.

"There's a party tonight, just outside the city, and I need a date," he said, tilting the chair closer to her, his fingertips lazily grazing over her forearm.

She shivered at his touch, her heart beating hard against her ribs. What should she do? Actually going out with Chris Baker had never been her goal, but seeing as Briareos wasn't likely to fall for her any time soon, she thought maybe Baker could be an acceptable substitute. "How can I help there?" Deunan asked coyly.

Baker laughed, tapping her on the nose with his forefinger. "You're gonna make me beg aren't you?" he asked, shaking his head a little. "Fine. Deunan, will you please come to the party with me. Pretty please." He gave her one of his most beguiling smiles, and she felt as though she would float right off the sofa she was laying on.

"I'd love to," she heard her voice say, although she was never sure whether her head had taken any part in reaching that decision.

"Great," he said, standing up and pushing the chair back a bit. "It's a little drive, would you be able to be ready to go in, say, an hour or so?" He looked down at his watch. That should leave enough time that they would be out before Carl and the team got back to headquarters.

Deunan had intended to get a good start on her final essays, but the thought of actually going out on a date was far more intriguing. With the exception of the times she went out with Briareos, and he was always quick to point out those had just been "as friends," this would be her first date. She nodded in reply to Baker's request, not completely trusting her voice to work correctly.

"Great, I'll meet out outside barracks in about an hour?" he asked, giving her a wink.

"Yeah," she managed to say, blushing a little, despite her best efforts to restrain it.

The barracks were empty when she got there. Jill was away with the other active team members, but Deunan really wished her friend had been there to give her some kind of advice or at least a bit of encouragement. She couldn't help trembling as she dressed, changing outfits four times, before finally settling on a green halter top and denim mini-skirt that had gotten her quite a few appreciative stares the weekend prior. As for footwear, that was the bane of her existence. She hated heels every bit as much as she had the first time she'd worn them, for Christine's wedding, but heels went best with skirts, and she was more than aware that they were the best for showing off her legs. She sighed and resigned herself to a set of three inch, black stilettos that she'd bought at Jill's urging earlier that year. In front of the mirror, she turned, admiring her handwork and wondering if Baker would approve.

Glancing at her the clock on the wall she saw she still had a good deal of time. Makeup, she thought, she ought to be wearing makeup. All she had though was a bit of lip-gloss and a tube of black mascara. She looked across the room at Jill's trunk. Her friend had let her borrow her makeup before, and Deunan was fairly sure she wouldn't be upset for her borrowing it this time. After all it was a special occasion.

Sitting up on her bunk, a small mirror propped up against the metal bar at the foot, and the contents of Jill's makeup bag strewn over the mattress Deunan went to work. She didn't have a lot of experience in that area, but it wasn't so bad. There was no way Jill's light base and powder would match Deunan's dark skin, so she skipped over that step. She went a little heavy on the eye shadow and blush, but she was happy with the result. In her mind she looked a bit older, and wilder, than she normally did. After applying candy red lipstick she took one last look in the mirror her head from side to side and smiling approvingly.

She glanced back at the clock and was startled to see that she was now ten minutes late to meet him. Hurriedly she stuffed Jill's makeup back into her bag and slipped off the bed. When she landed her ankles twisted a little in the heels, but she managed to keep her balance, wobbling her way to Jill's trunk where she deposited the bag and stole another quick glance in the mirror before she tucked that away as well.

Baker was sitting on the bench outside the women's barrack, and when Deunan emerged he turned to her and gave a wolf whistle, shaking his head in mock disbelief. "Damn, Deu," he said softly as he stood up and appraised her. "You just keep getting hotter and hotter."

Deunan blushed brightly and smiled. He may not be Briareos, but at least he saw that she wasn't a little kid. Not only that, but he liked what he saw; that made a lot of difference. His appearance didn't hurt much either, in his white button down shirt and dark jeans, with that perfect hair and the killer smile; he looked like he could have been a model. Bri was handsome, but he was rugged and about as much a pretty boy as Baker was humble. For years Deunan had thought that everything about Briareos was what she wanted in a man, but she had to admit, Baker was beginning to change her mind on that opinion.

"Come on, sweetheart," he said, wrapping an arm around her waist, "let's get going."

Briareos was having a decidedly bad afternoon. He crouched down behind an overturned table knowing that the barrier would hardly hold much longer. Standoffs irked him, and had this been some five odd years ago, back when he still wanted nothing more than to die, he'd have jumped out from behind the table and opened fire without any hesitation. As it was though, he no longer had the desire to die. The something that had always pulled him back in all his nightmares had materialized; that so long unnamable force now had one, although he was unwilling to admit it.

And so, he was hunkered down there; his mind quickly weighing his options, trying to find the one least likely to have him killed. On the other side of the metal-topped table, across the room, were three heavily armed drug dealers. Briareos took a deep breath, looking down at the pistols in his hands. Deunan had returned them to him the day after he'd called her out for dressing like a hooker, but even between that and all his bitter history with the weapons, they still reminded him of her. The look in her eyes as he'd watch her clean them was positively sinful. It didn't matter now though; she hated him, all because of one little gesture, one small retreat. He sighed softly one last time, shifting the pistols so that both were in his left hand. That was it; repress all those needless thoughts. He jumped up from behind the table, loping a flash grenade in the behind the boxes the drug dealers were hiding behind and took the second gun back into his right hand. A split second later there was a boom and a flash of light. His three adversaries dove from behind the boxes and the room erupted in gunfire.

By the time they arrived at their destination the sun was beginning to set and Deunan was convinced that Baker was in no way an adequate substitution for Briareos. He was boring, dear God, he was boring. And conceited beyond tolerable levels. And perverse. And a bit stupid on top of all that.

As his truck pulled up to a large barn with many people milling around the outside, Deunan was about ready to call a cab, although she was relatively sure they didn't run cabs that far out. At least not ones that wouldn't cost a small fortune, so she took a deep breath and pushed back her disappointment as she climbed out the truck after Baker. She looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "You brought me to a barn dance?" Deunan asked dryly.

Baker laughed at this, squeezing her in a tight one-armed hug as they walked towards the building. "Not a barn dance," he said that same goofy grin, "a rave."

Deunan fought back a sneer. 'Oh for the love of…! A rave? A rave!? Why don't I just throw away my application to the Academy?' her mind screamed, although she tried to keep her cool. Maybe this one wouldn't get out of hand, or the authorities wouldn't be alerted. A slim chance, but maybe.

"You okay?" Baker asked, then leaned over and kissed Deunan on the cheek.

"Fine," she mumbled, restraining an aggravated sigh. This was going to be a long night.