"What were you thinking Charlie? Climbing down the fire escape on that leg? You could have fallen and gotten yourself killed!" Rachel grumbles as she paces around Charlie's apartment. "I don't understand why you would risk your body when all we were trying to do was get you out of your apartment and take you to a rather lovely lunch. Your mother was extremely disappointed that the two of you chose to run away instead of joining us. It would have been lovely to get to know more about your mate." Rachel lectured her partner.

"I already had lunch with Santana, with her parents. Parents that didn't walk in on the two of us having sex. I did what any person in their right mind would do, given the circumstances. She's my mother. She caught me having sex. Santana put a moratorium on sex because of that. So, not only did I get embarrassed in such an epic fashion, my soulmate no longer wants to have sex with me! Now you're here lecturing on my life choices, what I do in a past life kick a puppy?" Charlie asks crossing her arms over her chest.

Rachel rolled her eyes, "I don't know why you're talking about past lives, you're an asshole in this life." Rachel mutters before waving a case file. "And yet here I am bringing you case files even though you haven't been cleared, but there's been a break in the case."

Charlie hesitated for a moment before deciding to play along, "Which case?" she asks, the last time she had checked they had multiple cases.

"Snixx," Rachel grinned when Charlie flicked her eyes over to her, before quickly opening the case file in front of her.

Rachel frowned and straightened herself out, "I actually managed to bring these files for you, even though you still haven't been cleared, but there's been a break in the case."

"Which one?" Charlie asked stretching out. The last time that she had checked she had multiple cases.

"Snixx." Rachel smirked watching as Charlie sat up and held her hand out for the file.

"Rachel give it to me."

"What would your sister say?"

"She'd tell you to give me the damn file so I can solve this case. What's the new lead? When can I get back to work?"

"You've been out of the loop but the FBI recovered a painting that we believe was stolen by Snixx, it's one of the Monet's. Apparently, he's willing to talk about how he contacted Snixx to hire her for the job. He's been most helpful."

Charlie frowned, "Why did the FBI raid his house?" Charlie asked flipping the pages of the file in an excited manner. This was it, this was finally her turn to turn the tables on Snixx, to finally be one step ahead of her.

"The Silk Road, it was part of an ongoing investigation into various other illegal activities. It was a joint operation between the FBI, ATF and DEA. I think they've got their hands full and are throwing us a bone." Rachel frowned, "You know how these federal agencies are," Rachel shook her head.

"Of course, they didn't think to bring the NYPD in on this? Why do we have a cyber-crimes unit if not for shit like this?" Charlie frowned and tapped the picture of the painting that was in evidence. "We're sure it's the real thing? I mean someone might have just sold him a forgery." She frowns and looks at the painting that was displayed prominently in the pictures. "Never mind, I remember this one, it was stolen out of one of the museums in Chicago."

Rachel smiled pleased at Charlie's enthusiasm. "The FBI, DEA and the ATF have decided to keep the Silk Road running for now. To make it easier to take down drug cartels, and to monitor the sale of illegal firearms. They've given us permission to lay a trap, once we've figured out how to contact her."

"We're only going to get one shot at this," Charlie muses after a moment. Despite her initial excitement at the break in the case, they were in uncharted waters. Snixx had managed to keep one step ahead of them for years, mocking them and making fun of them. "Even with this, we still don't know how Snixx is managing to stay a step ahead of us. I've always theorized that she has a partner out there, maybe one who's good with computers. So maybe we need to go to our cybercrimes division and ask them to start bolstering our security. Maybe we should use burners as well. I don't want any leaks, air-tight. Maybe we should go what's the term analogue?" Charlie looks up at Rachel before rolling herself out of bed.

"Charlie you still haven't been cleared for active duty."

"That's true but I'm going to go to the doctors and see if I can at least be thrown at desk duty. I'm just sitting here eating donuts and watching Netflix bored out of my mind. This is my collar, I've spent years of my life doing this and getting shot at and dealing with red tape bureaucracy. I am going to slap handcuffs on her and drive her to the damn station myself." Charlie says and reaches for her crutches.

Rachel smiled, "If you're back that means that Puck can stop putting his crap all over your desk, which means that I'm forced to look at it—"

"He did what?" Charlie frowned before shrugging and shaking hera head. "Whatever if it's still there when I get back it's just going to go in the trash."

~ O~

Santana frowned and flicked her eyes over her soulmate, she had been in a weird mood all day, and it was hard to place her finger on what had gotten her so positive. "I don't get why you're happy, you're back to work but all you get to do is sit at a desk. You said you hated being on desk duty."

Charlie tossed her crutches to the side and flopped down on her bed sitting in front of Santana, who had shown up and taken her to her physiotherapy session. "I do, but this is different," Charlie admits. "I've got a case that I'm working on, it's going to take a lot of groundwork and visiting some CI's but we're going to make this work."

Santana's body went rigid for a second even if she kept her face perfectly neutral. The only case that Charlie talked about with any enthusiasm was the Snixx case which meant that there must have been a new lead. "Your Snixx case," Santana surmised and Charlie turned to her. "You get this weird look on your face when you think about her. You know if I was anyone else, I'd be jealous over the hardon that you get for Snixx."

"Santana, don't be ridiculous, she's a criminal. One that I have been trying to catch for years and every single time she just manages to escape my grasp. I was close last time, and by close, I mean my hands were on her. I know that we're going to catch her this time."

Santana turned to get a cup from the cupboard, an action so she could hide her face from Charlie. She didn't have anything on the docket right now, she simply didn't have time for it. Which meant that Charlie knew something that she didn't know and that Brittany wasn't aware of. "With all those donuts that you've been stuffing in your face? You sure she simply didn't outrun you and you tripped on your own two feet?" she teases causing Charlie to scowl.

Charlie leans back and studies Santana for a moment, "Whatever, I'm going to catch her this time."

Santana tilted her head, "So, if you catch her are you going to be on the news?"

Charlie shrugged for a moment, "Probably, but that's not what matters. What matters is justice and well a tiny bit of it is vindication—it's been five years Santana. Five years of chasing this woman all over New York, using my vacation days to travel to other countries to chase her down. I mean after this I should retire, there probably isn't going to be another case like this in my lifetime. This is the case for me."

Santana nods, she needs to play her cards right to get Charlie to tell her what she knows, "Well, I suppose if you're a famous detective like Sherlock it won't be that bad. I can tell all my clients that their paintings are safe thanks to you. Might actually get me some more business."

Charlie puffs out her cheeks, "I don't really care about the Mayor or Police commissioner pinning something to my chest to tell me that I did a good job—"

"So, I don't have to reward you then?" Santana interrupts. "Shame I was thinking that we could have had fun roleplaying, but if you're not interested in being rewarded for being a decent cop then—"

"I take it back. I take it all back, what did you have in mind? Wait I thought that you had put a moratorium on our sex life—not that I'm complaining but—" Charlie began, Santana didn't seem like the type of person to change her mind on a whim and the last time they had tried to do it in her apartment her mother had walked in with the rest of her family.

Santana raised a brow, she was simple enough that simply kissing her would work. Blow her mind with sex and then take the information she needed. Maybe having Charlie as a mate was going to be the best thing that ever happened to her it would certainly make her life easier.