The first thing Murdoch did after his illuminating conversation with Pendrick was to make detailed notes for this William about what he had discovered. The only way future William would be able to give himself fully to this Julia was if he could completely let Sally go. Murdoch strongly suspected that the truth of her character and her less than savoury activities would be enough to do so.

The next thing he did was go back to his condo and snoop around Julia's things. Although he felt it necessary after Pendrick's insinuation, it was still very uncomfortable for him, especially considering most of her things were rather skimpy pieces of clothing. Some undergarments consisted of so little material that they seemed to reveal more than they concealed and the only thing they accomplished was to make him blush profusely as he inadvertently imagined her in them.

Satisfied that she wasn't hiding any secrets from him - he hadn't expected she would have, he was just being extremely cautious before proceeding – Murdoch tried contacting her again. Not surprisingly she didn't pick up, and somehow he didn't think the late hour had anything to do with her unresponsiveness. Instead he called George and asked him where he might possibly find Julia.

"Had another lover's quarrel did you?" came George's dopey voice. Murdoch believed he had been drinking heavily again.

"Yes." George didn't respond and it sounded like he was drifting off into sleep so Murdoch prompted him. "Once more I must ask you if you have any idea where she might be."

"Tried Emily's already?"

"Uh, no, not yet."

"Well, shit, Will, they're only best friends. Pretty obvious starting place."

"Oh, yes, of course...Emily." He paused. "And where might I find Emily?"

There was a groan on the other end of the line, accompanied by some mild profanity. However, George did eventually tell him Emily's location and Murdoch set off once more.

"Do you ever sleep, son?" chuckled Harry as he sidled into the back seat of the limo. "I haven't seen you this worked up for quite some time."

Murdoch simply stared at him and his father's smile disappeared. They set off soon after in silence. At length he meditated on what he should divulge to Julia and before he knew it, they had arrived at Emily's address.

He entered into the small space beyond the front doors and tried the secondary doors. They wouldn't budge so he looked for Emily's name on the wall registry. He pressed the corresponding button and hoped for a response. There was none, so he pressed it again several times.

"Do you have any idea what time it is?" came an unfamiliar and irate female voice.

"Half past one in the morning," he answered logically.

"Screw off Will. She doesn't want to speak to you. I believe that's what 'don't call me again' means."

"This is very important. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't."

"Okay, spill, Will. I'm all ears."

"I'm afraid this is only for her ears."

"If you came here to exclaim your undying love again, save it."

"I did not."

"Well, whatever it is, I'm sure it can wait till morning. Besides, she's out like a log and I don't want to wake her. She's been through enough tonight."

The connection was severed and he stood there dumbly staring at the console for some moments. Then it clicked and Julia's voice spoke in a rather similar way to George's. Was everyone around him drunk? Did he inspire such licentious behaviour?

"I'm coming down, Will. You've got five minutes."

"Thank you, Julia."

While he waited for her to arrive, he patted his white suit down and checked his appearance in the glass enclosure. He looked rather haggard considering how well he had been sleeping here. But he supposed undue stress did that to a person.

They shared eye contact for a spell when the elevator doors opened. Then she slowly approached him and pushed through the second set of glass doors. She still smelled strongly of alcohol but he decided it was best not to mention that.

"Let's go for a walk outside. Fresh air might wake me up a bit."

He was about to say, 'that sounds delightful' and offer his arm as he was often wont to do with past Julia, but managed to stop himself at the last second. Instead he simply held the door open for her and they meandered along the chewing gum covered sidewalk for a time before she turned to him and said, "Well?"

Murdoch gestured to a nearby bench and said, "Perhaps you would like a seat?"

"No thanks, I'm good," she replied, hugging her green leather jacket to herself. "Just get on with it, Will. It's friggin' cold out. What was so incredibly important that you just had to see me tonight?"

For a second her eyes flashed and he thought he saw some longing there but more than likely it was just the reflection from a passing car.

He put his hands behind his back. "Julia, how did you discover the case discrepancy?"

"Come again?" she said, clearly taken aback by his line of questioning.

"In the Pendrick affair I mean. No one else was able to."

"Oh," she said a little sheepishly, rubbing her arms, "I uh, I followed up on an anonymous tip. Normally I ignore those sorts of things, lots of whack-a-doodles and attention seekers, but I was pretty invested in this outcome." She gave him a shy smile. "I think pretty much every woman was."

After holding an intense eye contact for a short while he glanced away.

"I see. And do you have any idea where this anonymous tip came from?"

Julia rolled her eyes. "No, Will, I don't. That's what makes it anonymous."

"It is my belief that it came from an organized crime group, once called The Black Hand."

"The mafia?!" she yelped, eliciting a few curious stares in their direction. Julia glanced around and then said quieter, "What the hell do you mean it was the mafia? Why the hell would they-"

Murdoch could practically hear the wheels turning in her mind as all the gears clicked into place. She grabbed his arms roughly, pulling him much too close to her perfumed hair and her glistening painted lips and it was with a great will power he didn't attempt to kiss her.

Whispering, "Are you telling me that they were involved in that mess? That they caused that mess?"

Julia noticed his fascination with her mouth and if she hadn't been so distracted by this alarming news, she almost certainly would have taken the plunge. He just smelled so good right now. She felt like licking him all over. Vaguely she wondered if he always smelled that good or if she was simply still intoxicated and very horny.

Shaking these thoughts off, she released him and said in a her cop voice, "Tell me everything you know, Will."

"All right, but it may take some time," he said with a glance towards that same bench.

"Okay, whatever," she said throwing up her hands, "we'll sit." She cast him an evil eye as they sat down, "Are your cycling legs tired or something? I thought that wasn't possible?"

Murdoch made a face and then commenced his long winded story.

"Well, shit," was her only awed response. Then after another minute or so she turned to him suddenly with an anxious expression and put a hand on his thigh. Murdoch ignored the sensations this caused in him. "This is bad, Will, really bad."

"Yes, I had surmised as much myself," he said with a faint smile.

Seemingly unconsciously her hand had been creeping further up his thigh and he was worried about an unasked for reaction occurring in public.

Cocking an eyebrow, he glanced down and said, "Perhaps now is not the time for such things?"

"Wha-" she looked where her hand had travelled to and quickly pulled it away. "Ah, oops." Coyly, "I can't always control myself when I'm around you, but you knew that already, didn't you?" Giggling, "Remember Vegas? That last night?"

From the pictures he most certainly did, and it caused him to flush to the same degree as when he went through her underthings, and almost as bad as when he awoke to her pleasuring him.

Julia laughed at his expression and then became instantly serious again. "So you're telling me Pendrick did a double bluff? That he did in fact store that damning evidence on a secret server?"

He nodded. "Yes, and I intend to retrieve it. Tonight."

Wild eyed. "You what?!" she yelled. She shook his shoulders slightly. "Shit, Will, it's too dangerous! They could have men watching us at this very moment!"

So saying, they both glanced around nervously, but besides a paparazzi discretely taking pictures of them, there was no one suspicious lurking around.

"What else do you propose I do, Julia? Pendrick has been imprisoned unjustly. I must correct this grievous error. My conscience demands it of me."

"Call the feds, that's what! This is way bigger than the both of us! You can't hope to handle it yourself!"

"The feds?" he repeated, confused.

"You know, FBI, CSIS, hell, even the RCMP would do!"

"I can't trust them to handle this task," he said, shaking his head. "They could be corrupted as well."

She gave him a disbelieving stare. "You don't even trust your own brother now?!"

"I didn't say that, Julia. I simply don't want the...mafia to get away with further criminal activity while an innocent man needlessly wastes his life in prison for defending himself. I need to act now before the mafia mobilizes forces to deal with me."

"You mean us, don't you?" she said sharply.

Julia caught his eye and imparted great meaning with a simple look, just as past Julia used to do. A sudden rush of affection overtook him and he hugged her close.

"Yes, I suppose I do," he responded into her ear.

For several moments they just held each other, enjoying the sumptuous feel and delicious smells of one another, and then without thinking too much, he gave her a chaste kiss.

That was a big mistake.

Julia threw her arms around his neck and kept him securely in place as she attacked his mouth, as if her life depended on it. No sex for two and a half weeks coupled with an emotional break up, left her thinking with a particular part of her anatomy and not her head. She seemed very insistent on getting her tongue in his mouth but he wouldn't budge a muscle and she almost snarled with frustration.

When Murdoch tried to get away from her, she simply clutched at him tighter, digging her nails into the back of his head. And when he protested she immediately took the opportunity to dive right in. At first he squirmed as their tongues made contact but then he moaned as she delved deeper and participated in this exploit wholeheartedly, hands getting increasingly higher on her sides, eliciting a hitched breath or two. Somewhere in the back of Julia's mind she realized he was kissing her strangely, that is to say, badly, as if he had never done this before, but for the most part she was full of too much need and desire to really notice anything out of the ordinary. Besides, as was usual with them, she took the reins and he followed suit, just like any time they attempted to waltz at some big ta-do.

After some time of this, they pulled apart, both flushed and panting and it was then that he noticed his hands were on her breasts. The urge to squeeze them was quite strong. Thankfully an older man walked by right at that instant giving him a dirty look and that was enough to bring him back to his senses.

Murdoch reluctantly let go of her and cleared his throat, feeling intensely awkward. Julia seemed very disappointed by this turn of events but didn't complain vocally. She knew there were more important things they must attend to now. Saner heads must prevail. For tonight.

He smiled to himself at the memory that accompanied these words and she smiled back at him, unaware that his private thoughts were not directed towards her, well, this version of her. That line was starting to blur and it was a most distressing notion.

"Well, then," he finally said, clasping his hands together, "I suppose we should get going."

"Yeah we wouldn't want to make the bad guys wait to kill us."

He gave her an annoyed look and she chuckled.

"Don't worry, Will," she said, patting her right hip where there was a suspicious bulge, "I got us covered."

"You brought your fire arm along to talk with me?" he enquired, arcing an eyebrow.

She smiled pleasantly. "Thought I might feel like using it."

Murdoch made another face and then they were on their way.

There they made out. Does that make up for the double dream sequence? ;)