A/N: I wanted to show something I thought was important. Remember Kris' only stable 'family' is Father Price, so getting affection is somewhat new to her and a bit foreign.

Disclaimer: Same old drill, don't own women, own Kris and story.

Ch. 12: Pawns

Cavanaugh was piss to hear that there was a mole. I had to stay out of his office while I heard Cavanaugh yell loudly. I slouched in the chair, rubbing my temples as Jane and the team came out. I stood up, whispering in Jane's ear, "So?"

Jane looked over her shoulder then back at me, "We are going to talk with Maura, figure out how the Deliberator attacked."

"Now?"

"Now," she told me.

The team and I all went down to the gym to meet Maura, when we entered we saw Maura standing with a punch dummy. "Hello detectives," she greeted the team. She then smiled at me, "Hello Kris."

"Hey Maur," I greeted, "so this is for what per say?"

"A test subject to explain some bruising I found on our latest victims," Maura told us. She pointed to the dummy in front of us, "This is about the same height as our officers. The bruising was here," she points to the neck area. "While I was doing the internal examination the trachea was swollen while on the external examination was massive bruising over the neck area. There was enough pressure applied to both men's neck."

"A chokehold," Jane immediately said. I took a minute to think before I stepped forward at the test dummy.

I tapped it, "This won't prove it." I looked up to see Frankie coming down, "Frankie, come over here, I need you for a sec." He looked at me before walking over; I grabbed his arm placing him in the spot I stood. "I apologize for what is about to happen,"

"Why are you-" Suddenly my arm went around his neck, creating a chokehold. Though I was a bit short, I was able to place a chokehold on him. He tried to struggle with me as I began to talk to my wide-eyed audience; "As you can see, the bruising would have developed when a lot of pressure is apply. As you said, Maura but," I brought him to his knees, doing a small tap on the side of his neck, "the Deliberator also placed the sedative in also. He first chocked them out then injected the sedative."

I released Frankie as Jane went next to me as he gasped for air. "He then stepped forward, took out the gun, pointed at the face," she added as she formed a gun with her fingers, "he did his whole monologue then," then she pretended to shoot.

"Bang," I finished.

Jane looked at me, "How did you do that?"

I shrugged, "I was in high school at a young age, I had to learn fast to defend myself."

Jane smiled at me, "Come on, time for a burger for you."

"Finally!"

Jane's POV

After our group talk, we all separated with the boys doing a further background check on the officers, Maura going through evidence again, and finally Kris and I disappeared to grab some food.

I noticed that Kris seemed to interact with me and Maura a bit differently. She smiled at me as she sat down in the booth of the Dirty Robber. I watched as she messed with her fingers, tapping; "That a habit," I inquired.

She looked up at me, "Yeah slightly. I did that a lot when I played sports."

"What kind?"

"Basketball," Kris chuckled randomly. She flicked her hand a bit and pretended to fake a shot, "I could do this wonderful shot so well."

"What happened?"

"I stopped. The program was in the way," she shrugged as a burger appeared in front of her. She took a bite before talking to me with her mouth slightly full, "Don't get me wrong, I loved the program but I never really had a chance to have fun or do anything wild. I grew up fast unfortunately."

"You mean you didn't break curfew or do any teenager things? I don't know what you kids don't do these days," suddenly Kris coughed and started to laugh. "What?"

"You make yourself sound really old, Jane."

I took a moment, "Oh shit. I did. Kris laughed more and it was the most I ever seen her smile. I sipped my coffee that arrived as I continued to talk to her, "So Price is what?"

"My foster father and a Father," she told me, "and no, before you ask, I'm not one of those kids who do Mass, I sit in the rafters."

"That's why you knew the catwalk well enough and saved Maura."

"Grew up in a church and proud of it," she then puffed out her chest. I chuckled as she took another bite, I then glanced down at my phone for a moment, she looked up at me. "Do we need to go back?"

I nodded, "Yeah. We need you back in the custody while we search for this guy. Suddenly Kris pushed the burger, "What's wrong?"

"Is it ok to be scared?"

That broke my heart when she asked that and there I saw it, a piece of vulnerability that hid under this tough look of teen. She was scared and used everything she knew to hide it. I shook my head as I gently touched her hand, "It's ok to be scared. I promise, you'll be safe."

Kris nodded gently before we both got up and drove back to BPD. I went back to my desk and began to look through everything but it seemed that the only link we had, was that all the officers demoted back to patrol and that the notes mentioned time. It made no sense and it was getting irritating.

I rubbed my hands on the scars; they burned a bit out of frustration. It was getting worse as the day progressed and I am determined to find out who was doing this.

For Kris.

"It helps if you massage them," I turned to see Kris came back. She handed me the cup and took a seat, "Black coffee with three sugars."

"How did you know," I asked incredulously. She shrugged as she placed her cup down, leaning back in the chair. I took it seeing that she watched my hands for a moment then looked down.

"You can ask," I told her knowing that her mind was wondering about it.

She looked up with a sad smile, "I don't need to ask what I already know, Jane."

"You don't everything, Kris," I told her. "Only person is my best friend called Google," I added as she peered at me over her glasses.

"True but, I just wish I knew enough to stop being scared."

"Kris, you are a kid. It's natural, you are not a cop or anything."

"Like I said, I wish." Kris took a sip from her coffee as she spoke quietly, "You know usually, Matthew knew all this. He took care of me."

"You seem to avoid your brother."

"My brother is a sensitive subject."

"Is that because he was a junkie?"

She looked at me and sighed, "Why are you so persistent?"

I took a sip of my coffee then placed it down as I pull out a notepad, "It's part of my stubborn personality and the job."

"Your mother mentioned that."

Of course, Ma says something about me to her. "Nice to know I'm a wonderful subject. Come on, Kiddo-"

"Don't call me that," Kris suddenly snapped. My eyes widened as her face seemed to harden then when she noticed my soft expression; her expression softened a bit. She looked down then back at me, "I'm sorry. That name gets to me sometimes cause Matthew called me that a lot. I was always 'Kiddo' in his eyes."

So that answers the hostility, "I'm not trying to hurt you, Kris," I softly said to her. I let my hand touch her hand; she looked up at me then pulled her hand away, messing with the silver ring that was on her finger. Her face tried to hide the fear but her eyes gave it away to me all the pain she was feeling, all the trust that she had before disappearing. "I won't let you get hurt like your brother did," her eyes locked on mine in that statement.

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because it's in my gut, Kiddo. It's in my gut."

I moved my chair closer to Kris and I don't why I did this but I hugged her softly. Her body seemed to stiffen at the touch but soon she hugged me back. I pull back slowly as she looked away for a moment then back at me, giving a small smile. I smiled back and we sat in silence eating.

Kris' POV

Jane hit a nerve when she said that she wouldn't hurt. It was something I was promise times before and it seemed that the promise I got, was always broken. I didn't want that anymore but when Jane said it to me, I saw sincerity. It was something foreign to me.

The boys came back sooner than expected bringing back files of paperwork. It seemed that each officer was involve with certain drug busts ranging from cocaine to the smallest of marijuana. The only thing that was suspicious was that all officers were under one supervisor.

"Jones was their supervisor in all of this," Frankie repeated. I nodded to the team and sighed at this, "We should get him." I shook my head and looked up at Korsak and Jane.

"We need to find out what cases Jones's been doing lately. Go to the warehouse if you have to but, we need to have something before we make a move," Korsak told them.

Jane nodded, "I agree with him. Kris could even agree with that she's smart enough to not count her chickens yet."

"I am a protégé, Jane, but I'm not you guys." I joked a bit.

She rolled her eyes at me, "Show off." She gave a small wink as Korsak and Jane walked off back to the warehouse. Then Frankie left for he had to return to patrol, leaving only Frost and I in the bullpen.

"I hate that it somehow involves me," I told him. He looked up at me, giving his full attention as I spoke. I ran my hand through my hair as I sighed, "It seems everywhere we go, and it seems something involves me. He's teasing me to come over and get myself killed while so many others are becoming victims."

Frost nodded, "However you didn't run away from it. You ran toward it because you know the difference between right and wrong."

"That's because I couldn't prevent the wrong that was happening in front of me when I was young."

"Do we need to visit the Drug Unit and talk with Jones," Frost asked me. I looked down at the documents in front of me that were scatter on Jane's desk. I rubbed the temples of my head as I looked down at them.

"Not yet," I told him. "If we told them about this, it might give something away."

Frost nodded and I yawned, "Why don't you take a nap? The cot room is available for you to sleep at."

"Nah, there's too many things to check on."

"You need it, plus Korsak and Jane are going to be gone for a bit. So go ahead and take a nap, you look like you need it."

I chuckled a bit but I gave in, "I do need to sleep a bit. Thanks Frost." He nodded, going back to his computer as I stood up, walking over to the room.

The room was not huge but it was big enough to fit a couple of officers who were doing a large amount of overtime. I walked over to a cot and lie down on my back gazing at the white ceiling. I yawned and slowly I began to fall asleep.

Kris was push against the wall as her attackers began to punch her. Once she knocked out completely, feet walked past her slowly. "What do we do with her now, Boss," Dmitri asked as he moved his foot toward her arm. He lifted it up and let it drop showing that she was still unconscious.

The Deliberator walked on the other side, "Leave her here. She's barely breathing and she'll die before the night ends. But we need to prepare for our grand finale."

"What would that be?"

"A-"

"Kris," my eyes snapped open to look to see Maura looking down at me. She was wearing her lab coat over her scrubs as she looked at me curiously. "Are you okay, you were mumbling a bit," she inquired.

I sat up, rubbing my eyes, "How long have I been asleep?"

"Detective Frost told me that you went inside about thirty minutes ago," Maura replied. She continued to watch me as I stood up and noticed that in her hand was a file.

"What is that?"

She handed it to me, "I was going over the notes that the Deliberator sent and I noticed a couple of stains on each note. I got them tested and the result came back to a small amount of alcohol on it."

"Like what?"

"Whiskey brand," she replied as she handed me the file. I quietly began to read the file as Maura suddenly asked, "Kris, do you remember anything the night of your assault?"

I looked up with a raised eyebrow, "Actually yes but they are very brief, almost like a flashback." I scratched the back of my head, "I want to remember but I only remember so much before waking up. It's weird."

"You are having repressed memories."

"I sort of figured that," I stood up while Maura followed me. "They are not new to me, Maura." I've had them since I was a little kid anyways.

Maura gave me an interesting look as I walked into the slightly empty bullpen. Her hazel eyes locked onto my blue eyes as we sat down next to each other at Jane's desk. I look down a bit as she gently touched my arm, having me feel a slight shock at this touch. "You like to talk about them," she gently asked me.

I looked away. I never talked about anything especially about the memories not even to Price who was my guardian for the last five years I have lived with him. But for some reason, Maura had gotten past my normal defenses as well as Jane, only those two got past the armor I had place up. "You don't have to, if you don't want to," she simply told me. "I'm going to call Jane and tell her my finding ok?" I nodded as I went back to looking at the papers on the desk. Suddenly out of nowhere, I felt a light kiss on the top of my head, my body tensed at the touch then soon relaxed as Maura walked away.

I felt tears build up in my eyes as I looked up at the ceiling and sighed.

Don't let them in, Kris.

R&I

It took a bit but we figured out what kind of whiskey it was. However, the question that pondered on the detectives, Maura, and my mind was where the whiskey from was and why was it on the paper?

"Maybe he drinks," Korsak pointed to the photo, "I know if I had whiskey on my paper it's because I drink like a fish."

I chuckled, "I bet you do old man." He looked at me and lightly punched on my shoulder as I gazed at the photos on the board, "Or he owes a bar." I take the picture down of the Ace looking at the back of the bar. Korsak went over to me, looking over my shoulder. I sighed, "Tell me what you see?"

He grabs the picture and looks at the photo, "A full bar?"

"Right, but what kind of liquor occupies the shelf the most? Then could be wiped on the bar tables?"

"I think you just cracked the case," he replied as he patted my shoulder.

R&I

I sat in the back of the car as the detectives drove over to the Ace. It made sense now, the manager; John Andrews ignored the fact that drugs were being distributed in his bar. Actually, a recent drug bust in the club because of undercover cops investigating it for the drugs. The whiskey only backed up the fact that he wrote the letters on the bar but the smoking gun was that the hair was his.

DNA results came back in time when we were leaving to prove that it was Mr. Andrews placed the dummy up. But what really got under my skin was that he was someone I knew. Someone I trusted and it turned out he was the guy trying to kill me from the start.

We pulled up with the detectives going inside with their guns drawn. I watched them enter, I patiently waited for them to return with him cuffed, and this whole thing can be over. I can have my life back and I can sleep in my bed with no backaches.

That was what I hoped until Korsak came out, he ran to the car. He peered into the window with my eyes questioning him. He grabbed the radio to the car, "We got a suicide at the Ace."

My face went stoic as I got out of the car walking back with Korsak. As I entered, the first thing I noticed was the body at the bar, hunched over. Jane shook his head in disbelief as I walked over, seeing a gun in his right hand and in his left a note.

It said, "I did my deliberation."

I sighed and looked again at his hands. When he was pouring water for me when I came here, he used his left hand, not his right. If he committed suicide, he would have used his left hand at his left temple. That means…"He's not the Deliberator," I said aloud.

"Yeah he is," Jane pointed to the note, "he gave his confession."

I shook my head, "He's a lefty."

"You sure?" I nodded again then Jane loudly cussed, "He's just a fuckin' pawn. The Deliberator tried to set it up to make us think that John was he. He tried to trick us, to get him off his tail."

"So that means that the Deliberator is still out there and he just killed again."

As if, I was going to make it seem the manager was the Deliberator but it was fun to make the suspense. It got my heart going a bit. But, review, PM, etc. Hugs!