Disclaimer: Still not mine.
Chapter Twenty-Nine: You and Me
There's something about you now
I can't quite figure out
Everything she does is beautiful
Everything she does is right
The next two weeks passed in a relatively blissful blur. Scotty was relieved to see that Lilly had returned to her normal self, even perhaps a bit lighter and happier than before. None of the cases they'd opened since then had brought back any memories for her. No nightmares, no flashbacks… they were just cases. She was no more or less attached to any of these victims than she was normally, and, though she was, as always, still intensely dedicated to her job, she was able to separate that job from her life just as well as she had before, maybe even more so, and Scotty was thrilled.
Similarly, Lilly was overjoyed that Scotty had returned to his cocky, funny, sweetly flirtatious self. Oh, sure, occasionally she'd catch him tossing a worried glance in her direction, but she just brushed it off as Scotty being Scotty. He wouldn't be himself if he didn't worry about her occasionally. She wasn't sure what he was worrying about, but, she realized with a smile as she looked up from her desk and caught him shooting her another moderately concerned glance, that he had nothing to worry about, and she was sure he'd figure that out eventually.
This time, however, she didn't feel his eyes leave her like she usually did, and she looked up once more to find him leaning back in his chair, tapping his pen against the desk, his eyes locked on her and a sly grin playing at the corners of his lips.
"What?" she asked with a slight frown.
"Nothin'," he replied lightly. "Just thinkin' about how much I love you."
Lilly beamed, at first trying to hide her joy, but soon realizing that it was pointless. Everyone at work had known for over a year, anyway.
"You sure know how to brighten a girl's day," she told him, glancing in his direction almost shyly. "And…I love you, too."
Scotty grinned broadly and was about to respond when he heard muffled swearing. Startled, he looked up to see Jeffries standing at the fax machine, glaring at it in a state of some petulance.
"Damn thing," he muttered, punching the buttons yet again.
Scotty sighed and smiled as he rose from his desk and grabbed his coffee mug. "Looks like I'm needed," he remarked, then crossed the room and expertly pressed the right combination of keys on his way to the kitchen to get a coffee refill. The machine whirred to life and went about its task, leaving Jeffries staring at Scotty in amazement.
"This machine just…like you better or somethin'?" he asked with a smile.
"Guess it must," Scotty replied confidently as he strolled into the kitchen.
Meanwhile, Vera sat at his desk, discovering, to his chagrin, that he was completely incapable of concentrating on the form he had to fill out, or even on Tetris. No, his eyes, and his mind, were on Kat. Ever since that horrendous case that had nearly ripped the squad apart, he'd found himself feeling more strongly about her than ever before, and he hadn't been sure that was possible. He'd never felt this way about anyone before, not even Julie, and he'd been head over heels for Julie…at least…at one time, he had. And, sure, he was worried, a little bit, that things might go the same way now, but only a little bit. Julie had never been a fighter. Oh, she'd yell at him when he came home late, turn a small offense like staying out at the bar until 1:00 AM into a three-hour referendum on all the cheap things he'd ever done, but she never really challenged him. All Vera had to do was grovel a bit, make a bunch of promises they both knew he wouldn't keep, and then just wait it out until she wasn't mad anymore and all was forgiven.
But Kat…Vera knew he couldn't get away with any crap with her, and, to his surprise, he found that he liked it. Loved it, even. Here was a woman who would stand up for what she wanted, who'd tell him, in no uncertain terms, when he was being a jackass, who inspired him to be a better person, to try and become someone she could be proud of. Truth be told, it bothered him a little that she still wasn't comfortable with making their relationship public. Oh, sure, she had her reasons, and they were vast and varied and definitely, definitely valid, and he had his pretend relationship with Toni to cover for the things he just couldn't hide…but still, there was a part of Nick Vera that wanted to crow from the rooftops that he was in love with the most amazing woman in the universe, that wanted to prance around the office with the same shit-eating grin Valens always had, who wanted to be able to make his girlfriend smile and blush the way Lilly did every time Scotty looked at her a certain way. Those two were nauseating, no doubt about it, but, Vera realized, a large part of why they made him sick was jealousy of the fact that their relationship was out in the open. He'd be a fool to think otherwise.
But as he continued to study Kat, to watch the way her hair fell over her shoulders, obscuring most of her face as she filled out that interview report, her hand flying over the paperwork as she scribbled her notes, no more enamored with the menial task than any of the rest of them, his thoughts wandered to that night a few months back when something had shifted, and she wasn't just his girlfriend anymore…she was his family. He and Kat had worked late one night, not leaving the office until dangerously close to Veronica's bedtime, and Kat had been annoyed the entire trip back to her apartment, muttering under her breath about the damn job and too many damn hours away from V, on and on and on, but the moment she walked into her daughter's bedroom and saw that the girl was still awake, it was as though a switch had flipped, and all was well with her world. She and Veronica had engaged in several minutes of mother-daughter chitchat, most of which went in one ear and out the other for Vera, but then, Veronica climbed into bed, and Vera had watched, utterly enchanted, as Kat sang her daughter a lullaby. He didn't know the tune, couldn't recall ever having heard it before, but Kat's voice was so smooth and melodious that he didn't give a rat's ass what she was singing; the sound would be permanently lodged in his heart. He stood in the doorway, mesmerized both by Kat's singing and the look on her face, as well as the expression of utter adoration on Veronica's. It was clear that the girl thought the world of her mother, even clearer that Kat trusted him enough to let him see that tender, unguarded moment, and that was when Vera had realized that he was really and truly in this, that this wasn't just some undefined fling, this was the real deal.
Since then, he'd come to think of Veronica as his, too, tentatively at first, cautiously, like he wasn't sure how Kat would respond to someone else, someone from a different background and culture, no less, thinking those thoughts of the little girl she'd raised on her own for a decade, making any claim to her whatsoever, but, to his relief, she seemed thrilled. And so, since that night, by unspoken decision, they'd become a family. And that was enough. But after that case, after Stillman made them all go home and Kat had walked into her apartment for the first time in what seemed like years, even though Vera had wanted to sweep Veronica off her feet into one of his famous Nick Vera bear hugs, he'd hung back. Regardless of how he felt about Veronica, she was Kat's daughter, and Kat got first dibs. He'd watched, tears stinging his eyes, as Kat had swept Veronica into her arms, held her close, and whispered sweet nothings into her ear as Veronica clung tightly to her mother. It was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen, and, once again, all he could do was stare.
That night, he'd come to a decision that being an unspoken family wasn't enough. And now, as he watched Kat fill out paperwork, he wondered what the hell he was waiting for.
A few minutes later, Stillman emerged from his office and glanced around the room.
"Got somethin' for us, Boss?" Lilly asked as she looked up, then realized, upon meeting the Lieutenant's gaze, that she hadn't needed to ask. She knew just from his expression that they had a new case.
"Just pulled a station wagon out of the river…body inside," Stillman confirmed grimly. "No ID yet, but the car's registered to a Dr. Bob Hillman."
"That name sounds familiar," Jeffries mused reflectively.
"It should," Stillman replied with a wry smile. "Dr. Hillman and his wife disappeared in 1983. Her body was found a week after they went missing, but his never was."
"We think this is it?" Vera asked, glancing up from the hated paperwork.
"Frannie's runnin' tests," Stillman answered, "but it sure looks that way."
"Guess that means we gotta go dig up some boxes," Scotty remarked, rising from his desk. The others nodded their agreement and traipsed downstairs to the evidence warehouse.
A few moments later, the detectives were in the warehouse surrounded by boxes, both Bob Hillman's Missing Persons file and Felicia Hillman's evidence box.
"Felicia Hillman, 42, defense attorney, found shot at close range on April 24, 1983," Stillman read from her file.
"Sounds like quite the woman," Kat remarked, flipping through some of the notes. "Five kids, successful lawyer, husband was a doctor…"
"Pretty charmed life," Vera commented.
"Not quite," Jeffries pointed out. "A black couple climbin' the ladder like that? Bound to piss a lotta people off. Gotta be tons of people with motive."
"Did they ever have any suspects?" Lilly asked, digging through the box.
"Nope," Kat answered. "Job went cold right away."
"Only witness was a Maria de la Rosa," Scotty observed, flipping through the original detective's notes. "Housekeeper…originally from Puerto Rico."
"Surely they got something from her," Lilly said as she crossed the aisle to peer over Scotty's shoulder.
"Nope," Scotty replied tersely, his mood rapidly darkening. "Just says here, 'Witness speaks no English. Waste of time.' Underlined twice," he added grimly, glaring at the room in general.
"Well, back in the '80s, nobody on the force spoke any Spanish," Jeffries explained, attempting to mollify the younger detective.
"Damn shame," Scotty griped as he tossed the notes back into the box. "Someone had, this case coulda been closed twenty years ago."
"Same thing woulda happened if this Maria the housekeeper had ever bothered to learn English," Vera remarked, leading Scotty to shoot him a glare.
"It takes years to learn a new language, Nick," he grumbled. "And English ain't the easiest to just pick up outta the blue."
"Your parents did it just fine," Vera argued, "and so did my grandparents."
"It's easier to learn a new language when you're young," Scotty retorted. "We don't know how old Maria was, or how long she'd been here. She coulda just got off the boat in '83."
Vera opened his mouth to reply, but Stillman silenced him with a look.
"Let's find out," he said, peering at his detectives pointedly over the rim of his glasses. "And not waste time arguing about it."
"Besides," Jeffries added calmly. "It's been twenty-five years. Even if she didn't speak a word of English back then, maybe she does now."
"And if she doesn't," Scotty concluded, tossing a brief, flirtatious glance at Lilly, "I bet I speak a language she'll understand."
Lilly smiled and ducked her head to hide her blush as she continued to dig through the box.
"Got the ID back from Frannie," Stillman announced a few hours later on his way through the squad room into his office. "The car and the body both belong to Bob Hillman."
"No surprise there," Lilly agreed, glancing through the file Stillman had just handed her.
"Will found a couple of their kids still living in the area," Stillman continued, disappearing into his office. "Why don't the two of you go have a talk with 'em, see if they remember anything?"
"That'd be great," Lilly replied as the boss nodded and closed the door, "…as soon as I figure out how to send this damn fax," she concluded, returning her attention to the fax machine. Sighing in frustration, she tried several times, punching the buttons in various combinations, and soon had the machine sputtering and emitting occasional disapproving beeps, the fax she was trying to send wedged half-in, half-out of the paper tray. Lilly finally gave up and resorted to glaring at the machine, but her icy stare and vague, muttered threats accomplished nothing. Not that she figured they would.
Great, she told herself. The wheels of justice stop spinning because of a stupid fax machine.
"You look like you might need a little help," a familiar voice said from behind her, and she turned her head to find Scotty grinning proudly at her. One look at him told Lilly that her boyfriend was clearly relishing the opportunity to be needed, even with something as simple as a damn fax machine.
"Good work, Detective," she congratulated him sarcastically.
"Mind if I give it a whirl?" he asked playfully, that cheesy grin still engulfing his entire face.
Lilly stepped aside so Scotty could deal with the petulant machine. "Be my guest," she replied.
In a matter of seconds, Scotty had pressed the correct combination of keys, and the machine cheerfully whirred to life.
"How the hell do you do that?" Lilly demanded, looking at her boyfriend with a half-smile, half-frown.
"Magic fingers," Scotty replied, wiggling them proudly.
"Uh-huh," Lilly agreed skeptically. "You read the instructions, didn't you?"
"Instructions?" Scotty echoed in disbelief, folding his arms across his chest. "Please. Real men don't need instructions."
"Then how the hell did you figure that out?" Lilly exploded.
"I told you," Scotty repeated. "Magic fingers." He fixed her with a suggestive look and lowered his voice seductively. "They sure work on you."
A sudden flush of heat raced through Lilly's veins as she remembered the night before, when he had indeed worked magic on her with those very fingers. After he was finished, she'd purred with delight, not at all unlike the fax machine, come to think of it.
Lilly placed her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes. "Should I be jealous, Valens?" she asked in mock indignation.
"Nah," Scotty replied, his eyes twinkling with both mischief and desire. "That fax machine can't do a tenth of what you can."
"Well, good," Lilly said decisively. "I think."
She turned back to her desk to grab her coat and head out with Jeffries, but Scotty stopped her to whisper in her ear.
"How 'bout I show you those magic fingers again tonight?" he suggested.
Lilly shivered slightly and beamed up at him. "Sounds great," she replied.
Several hours later, the group elected to order in Chinese takeout. Scotty, who'd been manning the phone all afternoon trying to track down Maria de la Rosa, smiled his thanks when Kat dropped a couple of takeout containers on his desk, fished a few bills out of his pocket to reimburse her for dinner, and proceeded to wolf down his Kung Pao shrimp while still on the phone. Meanwhile, Lilly huddled in a corner with Jeffries eating dinner, looking at scene photos, and plotting their next move.
"Man Candy's been on the phone all afternoon. What the hell's he doin'?" Kat asked, as Scotty crossed yet another name off his list and, after a couple exasperated bites of take-out, began to dial another number.
"Callin' every single De la Rosa in Philly, looks like," Vera replied around a mouthful of his beef and noodles.
"Sounds like a huge waste of time," she remarked, digging into her take-out container.
"You got a better idea?" Vera asked.
They were interrupted by Scotty replacing the receiver in its cradle and chuckling, a short, self-deprecating laugh.
"Any luck?" Kat asked him sympathetically.
"Not a bit," Scotty replied, grabbing another bite of shrimp. "But the last woman I talked to said she might be able to help me…"
"Well, that's good," Vera responded.
"Oh, you didn't hear the catch yet," Scotty answered, amusement momentarily lifting the fatigue from his expression.
"This oughta be a scream," Kat answered as she took another bite of dinner.
"Says she'll see what she can remember…if I go out on a date with her daughter," Scotty announced, his eyes twinkling with mischief as Kat and Vera both burst out laughing.
"Is she hot?" Vera asked mischievously.
"Does it sound like she's hot?" Scotty retorted.
"Kinda what I asked you," Vera replied.
"It's cute how the two of you are actin' like you're still single," Kat griped, digging into her dinner.
Scotty rolled his eyes, then turned his attention back to Vera. "Look, I ain't actually goin'. Even if I were on the market, what kinda woman has to get her moms to set her up on a blind date with some cop who calls outta the blue about a twenty-five year-old murder?"
"Good point," Vera chortled.
Kat shrugged. "Doesn't mean she's not hot."
Scotty looked at her incredulously. "Her moms is fixin' her up. Over the phone. With someone she doesn't even know."
"My mom set me up with someone once," Kat replied. "Blind date. Guy from church."
Vera barely suppressed a laugh, while Scotty stared at his partner in disbelief. "You? A blind date? Did you go?"
Kat suddenly cleared her throat uncomfortably and fished another bite out of her take-out container. "It…didn't go well," she replied, then popped the bite into her mouth and shot both men a look that told them, in no uncertain terms, that sharing time was over.
"Hell, maybe I should go," Scotty remarked teasingly as he rose from his desk with his empty dinner boxes. "Miller's still a pretty good catch…maybe this one'll be good enough to get us a lead in this wild goose chase. That okay with you, Lil?" he called with a glance in her direction as he headed for the kitchen.
Lilly looked up from her work and laughed. "Better than anything we've come up with so far."
Scotty chuckled in response. "Blind date it is!" he exclaimed in mock triumph.
"You're reachin', man," Vera called after him as he grabbed Kat's Kung Pao Chicken container.
"And you're reachin' for my Kung Pao Chicken," she informed him snappishly, meeting his eyes with a glare.
"What? It's family style," Vera protested.
"Do I look like your family?" she asked pointedly.
Vera stared at her for a long moment, then fixed her with a look that conveyed to her, in no uncertain terms, exactly what his answer to that question would be. Stunned into silence, she could only watch as Vera dug his chopsticks into the container and then took a large, triumphant bite.
The next morning, Kat was sitting at her desk, reviewing a file and sipping her coffee, when she sensed Vera behind her. She turned with a smile and realized, that…oh, for the love of God…he had a donut in each hand and was triumphantly munching on one of them.
"What the hell are you doin' with both of those?" she demanded. "Stealin' the last one is one thing, but stealin' the last two? Do you want to get your ass kicked this early in the morning?"
Vera chuckled. "Will you relax?" he asked her, placing one of the napkin-wrapped donuts on her desk. "I went in there for some coffee and saw that there were only two left…and Valens ain't here yet…so I figured I'd get you one and get me one so they're gone before he gets here."
Kat grinned proudly and congratulated him as she picked up the donut. "Stealin' donuts from Man Candy instead of me…you're comin' along nicely."
Vera sat down at his desk and took a bite of donut, his heart pounding. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kat lift the donut to her lips, and thought that perhaps, it might be a good idea to warn her before she ate it.
"Just so you know," he began, in what he hoped was a casual tone. "There's a catch."
"A catch?" Kat asked suspiciously, narrowing her eyes as she studied him. "What kinda catch?"
"You take a bite of that donut…you're sayin' yes," he replied lightly.
Kat's brow creased in confusion. "Yes?" she repeated blankly. "Yes to what?"
Vera grinned at her. "You better take a closer look at that donut, Detective," he encouraged.
Kat did, lowering it to the desk and peeling back the napkin…
…and in the center of the donut, wedged into the dough itself…was a sparkling diamond ring.
She stared at it, utterly speechless for a moment, and Vera couldn't hide his self-satisfied smirk. He'd done it. He'd achieved the impossible.
He'd stunned Kat Miller into silence.
She continued staring at the ring, then looked at him incredulously. "You serious, Fatass?" she asked, though her voice lacked its usual cool cynicism.
"So what if I am?" he asked with a shrug.
"I know we've been talkin' about it…but I didn't know you were serious…" she trailed off, eyes wide.
"I never joke about donuts," Vera replied confidently.
Kat's surprised look gradually melted into one of sheer joy, and if Vera weren't mistaken, he caught the sheen of tears in her dark eyes. For the win.
She started to raise the donut to her lips once more, then stopped, a flicker of hesitation crossing her features. Vera read it in a heartbeat and was ready with a reply.
"I already asked V if she was okay with me bein' a permanent fixture," he declared softly. "Figured I needed her okay before I even talked to you."
Kat could have sworn she felt her heart melting at those words. She tried to fight it, tried to keep her emotions from writing themselves all over her face, but she couldn't. Just…couldn't. Dammit.
"What'd she say?" Kat asked, as casually as she possibly could.
"Asked me what took so long to figure it out," Vera grinned. It was true. The girl had fixed Vera with a look he'd come to know well, even tilted her head to the side and put a hand on her hip in an unconscious mimicry of her mother as she'd asked him the most direct question he'd ever been asked by a ten-year-old.
Kat had fought some pretty powerful forces in her life, and had nearly always come out the victor, but the smile that crossed her face and the love that flooded her heart were more powerful than all of them put together. She couldn't even say anything, just looked at Vera, wishing fervently she could hide her smile, but knowing it was futile.
"Well?" Vera asked hopefully, a grin starting to tug at the corners of his mouth.
Kat just smiled slyly at him, then slowly, deliberately, took a large bite of her donut.
Vera broke into an exuberant grin, and the two of them just sat there, beaming at each other, as Kat fished the ring out of the pastry and brushed the crumbs off it, her eyes never leaving his.
"What the hell?" a familiar voice called out from the kitchen, and they were both stunned into silence. Vera snapped back to attention and started clicking away at Tetris, and Kat hastily shoved the ring into her pocket and took another bite of donut, her mind whirling. Surely Scotty hadn't seen anything…had he…?
"What, now I gotta fight botha you for the donuts?" he demanded, coming out into the office and glancing from one to the other. "How the hell's that fair?"
"You snooze, you lose, Man Candy," Kat replied with a grin.
A couple hours later, Lilly and Jeffries strolled back into the office, having interviewed two of the now-grown Hillman children.
"Any luck?" Scotty asked, as Lilly gave his shoulder a loving caress on her way back to her desk.
"None with the housekeeper," Jeffries replied. "But they did tell us that the whole family's from Virginia. They all grew up there, but moved to Philly in '81 to escape racism."
"And they get gunned down here," Kat commented with a sad shake of her head. "Figures."
"We thinkin' there's a Virginia connect?" Scotty asked.
"Well, all the Philly leads dried up twenty-five years ago," Lilly replied. "Except for the housekeeper. Any luck finding her yet?"
Scotty was about to answer when he was interrupted by a loud epithet from across the room, and he didn't even have to look up to know exactly what was going on. Sure enough, a glance in the direction of the fax machine revealed Vera, his eyes blazing with an almost murderous fury, trying to yank a piece of paper from the tray.
"Let's do that," he was griping at the machine. "Yeah, let's do exactly that."
"Trouble, Nicky?" Scotty asked with a grin.
"It's tellin' me there's a paper jam," Vera complained. "But there's no paper jam." The machine beeped petulantly, as if to disagree with this assessment, and Vera continued to argue with it. "No, don't give me that shit. There's no paper jam. You know it, and I know it."
"Is the paper comin' outta the machine?" Scotty asked knowingly, his voice calm.
"No," Vera grumbled.
"Then there's a paper jam," Scotty explained patiently. "Code for that is 841 and then the pound key."
"8…4…1…pound," Vera recited as he pressed the buttons, but the machine merely retracted the paper completely out of view and emitted another disapproving beep.
"Oh, for God's sake," Vera exploded.
Scotty sighed and rose from his desk to come to his colleague's aid. "You gotta be nice to it, Nick," he said encouragingly, then entered the code himself. Mollified, the fax machine purred contentedly and spit out the now-crumpled, barely-legible paper.
Vera stared at Scotty in utter amazement. "Well, now we know who the other woman is."
"Other woman?" Scotty repeated blankly. "What other woman?"
"You're cheatin' on Lil with the fax machine," Vera burst out petulantly. "That's gotta be it. It likes you. It hates the rest of us. You've gotten it to succumb to your Latin charm."
Kat nearly choked on her coffee while Scotty stared in amusement at Vera. "Latin charm?" he repeated, arching a brow.
"Hey, if it worked on the Ice Queen, no one's immune," Vera grumbled.
Kat raised her hand. "I'm immune. Right here," she confirmed.
"See?" Scotty replied, indicating his partner with a hand.
"Well, that's one woman around here who ain't bitin'," Vera conceded grouchily. "Thank God for that."
"What makes you so sure this fax machine's a woman?" Lilly asked teasingly as she removed the crumpled, half-torn fax from Vera's hand and started to try and decipher it.
"Yeah, Nick," Kat piped up from her desk. "How do you know the fax machine's a woman?"
Vera looked nervously from Lilly to Kat, then cast a helpless glance at Scotty.
"I'm curious myself, man," Scotty replied, folding his arms across his chest and glancing at Lilly with amusement.
Vera sighed. "Any way I answer that question and not become a soprano?" he asked cautiously.
"Nope," Lilly replied with a grin, and Kat lifted her coffee mug in a silent toast to feminine solidarity.
Vera turned once more to Scotty. "Help me," Vera implored softly, but Scotty just grinned.
Vera was saved from any further answer by Stillman, who emerged from his office. "That fax come in yet?"
"Sort of," Lilly answered, casting a teasing grin at Vera. "And it looks like Scotty doesn't have to go out on that blind date after all."
Stillman chuckled. "Why's that?" he asked.
"DMV records show a seventy-six year-old Maria de la Rosa who moved there from Philly in 1983 just renewed her Virginia driver's license last year," Lilly answered, handing Stillman the fax. "And it would appear she still doesn't speak a word of English."
Stillman perused the document, while Jeffries grinned broadly. "Looks like Scotty's takin' a road trip," he chortled.
"No way," Vera protested. "Valens can't go. He's the only one who knows how to work the damn fax machine!"
"He's also the only one who speaks Spanish," Stillman added, "unless one of the rest of you has a skill you haven't been sharingwith us."
"Guess I'm just in demand today," Scotty remarked cockily, then turned his attention to Lilly. "Besides…I could think of worse ways to spend a few days," he added, shooting her a flirtatious glance, which she returned with a slight smile of her own, though he felt a surge of pride watching the slight flush that crept into her cheeks as she no doubt remembered another road trip…
Stillman, apparently, was remembering the same thing, as he cleared his throat somewhat uncomfortably. "Rush is stayin' here," he announced softly.
"Boss," Scotty started to protest, but Stillman silenced him with a look.
"Surely you don't think IAD's gonna sign off on the two of you goin' on a road trip together," Stillman reminded him pointedly. "Knowin' what they know."
"It'd save 'em a few bucks on a hotel room," Scotty replied, his voice hopeful, but Stillman just grinned at him wryly.
"I doubt they're gonna see it that way, Scotty," he remarked.
"Told you we should've kept it a secret," Lilly said softly.
"Secret? Please," Kat remarked with a roll of her eyes. "You two didn't keep it a secret even when it was a secret."
"Yeah?" Scotty challenged. "Then how come it took you so damn long to figure it out?"
"Least I figured it out before Fatass, here," Kat replied, glancing teasingly at Vera.
"Hey," Vera protested, shooting her a glare. "I got more important things to worry about than who's bangin' who."
"You think we're gonna believe that?" Jeffries asked incredulously.
"Enough," Stillman silenced them, though he couldn't hide his smile. After that horrible case a few weeks back, it was good to hear them snarking one another again. "Rush stays. Will…how'd you like to accompany Scotty to Virginia?" he asked.
"Virginia," Jeffries mused thoughtfully. "Ain't that south of the Mason-Dixon?"
"Last time I checked," Stillman replied.
Sudden inspiration flickering in his dark eyes, Jeffries stole a glance at Kat, and relished the look of surprise that crossed her face, followed by the one of sheer horror.
"Oh, hell no," she declared. "That ain't a favor. That's above and beyond the call of--"
"You said…anything legal," Jeffries reminded her calmly, taking a sip of coffee. "And last time I checked, goin' to Virginia to interview a witness….well…that's definitely legal."
"Goin' to freakin' Virginia with Man Candy's sorry ass is so not what I had in mind," she hissed, her eyes shooting sparks. "I was thinkin' more like buyin' you a drink or somethin'."
Jeffries chuckled and shook his head. "Miles Davis Night at the Blue Note is worth a lot more to me than a drink, Miller. And you didn't qualify it. You were desperate. You said you'd do anything."
Kat was preparing to fire back with another verbal volley when she suddenly became aware of the curious eyes of her co-workers on her.
"What the hell are you even talkin' about?" Scotty asked, voicing the question the others asked only with their eyes.
"If it were any business of yours, you'd know," she snapped, then returned her attention to Jeffries, who, she noticed with no small degree of chagrin, was barely repressing his laughter.
"Yes, Miller, what are you talkin' about?" he asked teasingly.
She glared at him, the fiercest, most menacing glare she could muster, but Jeffries never stopped smiling. His eyes, though…his eyes let her know that he was prepared to follow through on his unspoken threat unless she held up her end of the bargain.
She finally sighed in irritation, still glaring at him through narrowed eyes. "Fine," she snapped, rising from her desk.
"C'mon, Valens," she said as she left the office. "Let's get packed and get the hell outta here before someone becomes a fresh job," she concluded, shooting another pointed glare at Jeffries, who just chuckled and calmly sipped his coffee.
Vera watched her storm out of the office, a grin slowly spreading across his face. "Good luck with that," he chortled, glancing up at Scotty.
"Thanks," Scotty replied ruefully as he rose from his desk and started to pack up the files. "I'll need it."
"You kids have fun, now," Jeffries smirked.
A/N: If you liked the Kat/Scotty scene in "Roller Girl," go check out Collider's "Pseudothyrum."
