Scene: Kate's office, Kate and Megan

Megan: "Here's a couple of the reports you were asking for."

Kate: "Thank you. Are you and Lacey doing OK? I know this whole experience with us being run off the road was a little harrowing. If you need to spend a little extra time with her until things cool down, take it."

Megan: "We're doing pretty well. Repeat this and I'll deny everything, but I've felt a lot better since Barry and Tommy have been spending the night with us."

Kate: "Both of them?"

Megan: "Yeah."

Kate: "You're really broadening your horizons."

Megan: "Not both at the same time. Different guys on different nights, depending on the schedule. Sometimes it is just my mother."

Kate: "Oh. Still, it ought to put a little bounce in your step."

Megan: "No bouncing. They stay on the couch. My bedroom is off limits. I have a daughter to think about."

Kate: "What I'm thinking about is what got you the daughter in the first place."

Megan: "Kate!"

Kate: "I've been getting orders to put my love life on hold until the campaign is over. It gets a little boring."

Megan: "Deal with it."

Kate: "Backing up a little, you did say Barry and Tommy are taking turns on guard duty?"

Megan: "Yes. Only guard duty."

Kate: "Do you think Barry might be willing to spend an occasional night on guard duty at my place?"

Megan: "Weren't you just talking about having to put your love life on hold for the campaign?"

Kate: "Yeah, but if he has already established a track record of being trustworthy in your household, I think it might fly if he stayed with me occasionally. He has behaved himself, hasn't he?"

Megan: "Surprisingly well. I was afraid that he and Tommy might get into it a little, but it has all been good so far."

Kate: "No friction?"

Megan: "No. Kind of too bad. I used to be able to spark a little jealousy. Maybe I'm losing it."

Kate: "I think you've still got it. Despite the frequent flashes of immaturity, those two might have done a little growing up over the years. Enough to avoid a fist fight for a little while."

Megan: "Could be. Or they might be getting old enough that even winning a fight is more painful than they care to deal with."

Kate: "So who would win the fight for your affections?"

Megan: "Huh?"

Kate: "Whether they behave themselves or not, I have a feeling that you've been handicapping winners in your heart."

Megan: "Way too early to be doing that."

Kate: "What's the betting line?"

Megan: "Tommy is starting way behind. We had something once, but once burned, twice shy, you know."

Kate: "Still, I'd imagine it might be easy to fan the embers of the relationship into a flame again."

Megan: "Maybe. Barry has been pretty good to me and Lacey, though."

Kate: "Tommy is the bad boy you have feelings for but can't trust, while Barry is a trustworthy guy, but you don't know if you really have feelings for him."

Megan: "I guess."

Kate: "Well, this should be interesting. If I'm not going to have a love life of my own, I'll just watch your little soap opera."

Megan: "Great. I think I'll get back to work. Find your entertainment elsewhere. Buy a romance novel or something."

(end scene)

Scene: Lab, Barry, Curtis and Ethan.

Curtis: "OK, let me see if I have the story line straight. You saved Dr. Murphy from drowning."

Barry: "Yes. I had significant reservations about the sort of person who might replace her as department head."

Curtis: "Mean-spirited statements like that can come back to haunt a man."

Ethan: "Having saved her butt, do you take advantage of the situation? No, you stay over at Dr. Hunt's apartment a number of times, supposedly to protect her and her daughter."

Barry: "Not just supposedly. Actually."

Ethan: "Then an old boyfriend of Megan's shows up to take a few shifts."

Barry: "Which I'm fine with. Because nothing is going on."

Curtis: "So your next brilliant decision is to add to the volatility of this mixture by then agreeing to stay over at Kate's place from time to time."

Barry: "Again, nothing happening."

Curtis: "Mister, we are going to be searching for your body parts over half the state of New Jersey. Make sure we have current copies of your dental records and a DNA sample on file. You are not getting out of this in one piece. Lots of little bitty pieces scattered in a swamp is how this ends."

Ethan: "We might find one of those. Our cadaver dogs are pretty good. I bet Kate and Megan could do better than a swamp."

Barry: "So what bright idea do you have for hiding my remains?"

Ethan: "I was thinking they could grind you up, and hide some of you in the stomach cavity of other cadavers. Nobody tests every body part. Stuff you in, sew it up, and sneak you out a little at a time."

Barry: "Flawless. I think I'd better get in touch with some of my former work colleagues about checking up on this lab in the event of my sudden disappearance."

Megan walks in.

Megan: "Ethan, we're getting a delivery. Nothing too exciting. A medical patient who died on the table. The family requested an independent autopsy. I'll let you take this one."

Ethan: "OK."

Megan: "Thank you. Nice to see you show up to do something useful, Barry. Where were you during the black-out? Cowering in your basement?"

Barry: "Watching play-off games on TV with my neighbors."

Megan: "How?"

Barry: "Emergency generator hooked in to the gas line. It was installed to make sure the sump pump would keep going in a storm. All my idiot neighbors who faithfully watch 'Doomsday Prep Wars' were eating their melting ice cream by flashlight, so I sponsored the block party with cold beer and TV."

Megan: "So you were partying while we dealt with the crash. What a guy."

Barry: "Hey, I also made space available for people who needed medicines refrigerated."

Megan: "Maybe you weren't a total jerk."

Curtis: "You know, I watch 'Doomsday Prep Wars'."

Barry: "Good for you. You might want to spend more time thinking about how to ride out a short-term emergency, rather than preparing for the total collapse of civilization."

Curtis: "I got the generator fixed."

Barry: "My electrical engineering background is mostly with digital devices, but I might have been able to help you get that done sooner. And I certainly would have told you guys to avoid using the power-sucking elevator."

Megan: "We would have called you, but I can only take one disaster at a time."

Barry: "You're so sweet. By the way, Megan, could I see you for a minute?"

Megan: "Sure."

Barry: "It's kind of private. Can we talk in your office?"

Megan: "Sounds serious. You're not pregnant, are you Barry?"

Barry: "No. My latest flame has been slowing down the physical aspect of our relationship out of concern for her daughter."

Megan: "Poor baby. Anything I can do to make it up to you?"

(they start to head to her office, exiting the lab.)

Barry: "For starters, don't discuss body disposal with Curtis and Ethan. I'll sleep better."

Megan: "I can manage that."

(they enter her office)

Megan: "So, what's on your mind, Barry? Did you want to have a relationship talk?"

Barry: "Not in the office. I haven't seen you in a few days with Tommy taking the overnight shifts, and there was something else I wanted to mention."

Megan: "Is there anything wrong?"

Barry: "No, but I heard from your mother that you have been trying to dig up information on your father's death."

Megan: "What of it?"

Barry: "I know it happened kind of a long time ago..."

Megan: "Are you insinuating anything about my age?"

Barry: "Uh, a mere blink of an eye in the lifespan of a young, vital woman such as yourself, but ancient history as time is measured for cases. A ten-year-old case is ancient, whereas a ten-year-old person is still a kid."

Megan: "As long as we understand each other."

Barry: "The point is, I know it happened before a lot of digital data collection became routine, so I can't just google 'bad guys in Philadelphia' and the year he died, but I still have some pretty good connections with some people who have access to info that the locals might never see. Classified material, non-local bad guys who might have been in town around that time, things like that."

Megan: "I would be very interested in anything relevant."

Barry: "I'll have some people poke around a little. If you come up with any leads you want me to pursue, let me know."

Megan: "Thank you, Barry. You can be nice when you're not annoying the crap out of people."

Barry: "Point for me?"

Megan: "Maybe even a couple of points. You don't ever talk about the work you used to do. Here, you're just another geek in the office. It never hurts to remind me that you have a dark and mysterious past."

Barry: "I'll try to play that up. Since so much was classified, I don't have to own up to the boring parts."

Megan: "Oh, Mr. Bond, surely you led a life of intrigue and suspense."

Barry: "Yeah, and every single body that comes across your table is a suspicious death. Nobody ever dies in an accident or from pneumonia."

Megan: "Are you telling me you had boring days in your life as an international spy?"

Barry: "For every field operative, there were 200 guys doing things like analyzing spy satellite imagery to predict the Soviet wheat harvest."

Megan: "How dull."

Barry: "Reality isn't always as romantic as fantasy. If it would help, I could make up some fake stories and would rev your engine a little."

Megan: "There you go. Work on a story about how you averted World War III or something."

Barry (smiling): "I can't tell you that story, because I actually did do that. Still classified. Have dinner with me sometime, I'll tell you a tale of my daring rescue of the last remaining Romanov heir from the KGB."

Megan: "Works for me."

(end scene)

Scene: Kate's place, late at night/early morning. Barry is sleeping on the couch when an alarm goes off on his laptop. He looks at the screen, then hustles through a hallway and knocks on a bedroom door.

Barry: "Kate! We've got company! Get your rattiest bathrobe and splash on some face cream or something!"

He goes back into the living room and picks up a camera, turns it on.

(outside)

Reporter (in front of camera): "This is investigative reporter Jessica Brady in front of the house of potential congressional candidate Kate Murphy. We received a tip that one of her part-time male employees has been spending the night on multiple occasions recently. Does the medical examiner have a boy toy funded by the taxpayers of this county? Let's find out..."

(She rings the doorbell. Barry answers.)

Barry: "I already have a religion, and I place my Girl Scout cookie order in bulk. Why are you here at this hour?"

Jessica: "Are you Barry Gray?"

Barry: "Hey, aren't you Jessica Brady? From the news? This is so exciting! Let me get a picture!"

(He starts taking pictures every few seconds with the flash on.)

Jessica (trying to ask questions with a flash going off in her face): "Mr. Gray, are you an employee of the county?"

Barry: "Part-time on-call contract employee in the medical examiner's office."

Jessica: "So you work for Dr. Murphy?"

Barry: "From time to time."

Jessica: "That's your car in her driveway? The one that has been there several nights in the past week?"

Barry: "Look, I understand that some of the neighbors don't like the looks of it, but it runs OK."

Jessica: "They're not concerned with how the car looks. They're concerned with how it looks for a candidate... (angrily) Will you get that thing (camera) out of my face?"

Barry: "Funny, I was about to ask you the same thing."

Jessica: "The people of Philadelphia have a right to know how their tax money is being spent."

Camera guy: "Give it up, Jessica. None of this footage is usable. That flash threw the exposure off."

Jessica: "What?"

Kate (emerging from bedroom area, looking as unsexy as possible): "What's going on out here?"

Barry: "We have visitors from the local news. Perhaps you should put on some tea."

Kate: "It's a little late to be doing interviews, don't you think?"

Jessica: "It's the right time of day to catch you with your taxpayer-funded boy toy."

Barry: "Could you let me know when this airs? If I could link to your newscast calling me a boy toy, it would really juice my profile on those web dating sites. Most guys my age don't get that kind of favorable press."

Kate: "Not my boy toy. As you can clearly see from the untidy appearance of my couch, he hasn't been invited to my bedroom. Mr. Gray volunteered to pull guard duty for a couple of us in the office who were concerned we might be targeted by violent criminals."

Jessica: "Guard duty?"

Kate: "From past experience, I know Mr. Gray is up to the task of dealing with dangerous adversaries. He also spent some nights with Dr. Hunt, and I was assured that there was no impropriety. Dr. Hunt has a teen-age daughter to think of, so I trust her recommendation."

Jessica: "Oh."

Kate: "Mr. Gray is an excellent marksman, keeps a level head in a crisis, and thinks creatively in dealing with threats to me and my department members."

Camera guy: "That stunt with the flash was on purpose!"

Barry: "Yup. Nice try, Jessica. Maybe you could try interviewing her on the issues facing the people of this district, instead of trying to slut-shame a female candidate. When was the last time your station ran a story like this on a guy?"

Jessica: "Um, I don't know..."

Barry: "Juicier story because she's attractive... (sidelong glance) most of the time, and a woman. Leave middle school behind, lady. There is actually room in this city for more than one woman celebrity."

Jessica: "I guess."

Barry: "Why don't you guys pack it in and head back to the station? Unless you think you need a demonstration of the marksmanship Dr. Murphy mentioned. Of course, my eyesight is a little blurry from interrupted sleep. No telling what I might accidentally hit if I miss."

Jessica: "OK, guys, let's go."

(She turns and leaves, trailing a camera crew. Barry and Kate return inside.)

Kate: "That went well. You handled things very well, Mr. Gray."

Barry: "Why, thank you, Dr. Murphy. Sure you don't want me to squeeze off a couple of rounds at the news van?"

Kate: "As enticing as that might be, I think I have to get along with the press if I'm going to further my political career."

Barry: "Darn."

Kate: "Don't pout. You're doing a fine job of protecting me and my interests. I am in your debt. Sometime, I need to be able to repay all the favors. Do you have any dead bodies that need an autopsy?"

Barry: "Are you sure you want an answer to that?"

Kate: "No. Forget I asked."

Barry: "You know, if you're going to be a politician, you're going to need to think these things through."

Kate: "True. It's late, I'm tired. Here's something I don't need to think through: I'm going back to bed, and you may return to the couch."

Barry: "Geez, just when I would have wanted you to disregard consequences..."

Kate (firmly): "Go!"

(end scene)