Chapter 8: Any Little Bit

Gus found herself at Sullivan's waiting on Sheldon who had been stuck in the lab finishing up a case file and had waved her ahead.

She had thought about going back to the closet she was using as an office, but her eyes already felt like they were bleeding. She had managed to close one cold case, pleasing Stella and keeping Daddino off her back about her avoidance of the homicide pit; but overall Gus was dissatisfied with the tediousness of cases gone cold.

After a chat with Billy over the phone and with the bartender at Sully's, Gus gave in and started drinking alone. This act seemed so much more desperate in public than it did in the privacy of her apartment. She was a couple of drinks in by the time Sheldon showed up.

"Hey, sorry I took so long," he waved the bartender over, "wanna split a pitcher?"

"Not unless it is of liquor", Gus retorted, pointed at her near empty glass.

"Gotcha. Rough day?" Sheldon asked after getting his own drink.

"In actuality no, just boring" Gus sighed.

"Cold cases will do that to you" Sheldon patted her on the arm, "how is the head?"

Gus smiled wryly, "You know me, hardest head on the team."

Sheldon laughed at this, "I don't know, you have pretty stiff competition out there."

"I did, but then Danny and Mac went all soft," Gus joked back.

"I don't know if I would use the word soft, perhaps they just found some worthy companionship?" Sheldon questioned.

Gus raised her eyebrows, knocked back her drink and motioned for another, "I am refraining from answering. There's a free table, wanna shoot some pool?"

"Are you going to beat me as bad as last time?" Sheldon muttered.

"I heard that and probably," Gus said sashaying off.

But Gus didn't. After sinking the eight ball well before its time for a third straight game, Gus sighed and took another shot of whiskey. "Jack on the hot" she called to the passing server.

"Is it the drinking or is your head just not in the game?" Sheldon asked with a worrisome expression.

"Drinking usually improves my game, can't think about shots as much," Gus said with a wry smile. Sheldon remained quiet and worked on racking up the balls for another game.

Gus knew he was waiting for her to speak again, so after a long pause and a deep breath she said, "It's just...Danny and Lindsay, Adam and Kendall, Mac and Peyton...there are couples everywhere it seems. And maybe I threw away my only chance at it." Sheldon bit back a laugh, his chortle causing Gus to exclaim, "what are you seeing someone now too?"

Sheldon sniffed, "sort of, trying to get my schedule to match up with a new attending at Mercy but-"

Gus cut him off, "See, see what did I say? Everyone but me. And maybe Stella. And Don," Gus' eyes grew wide and panicked, "They aren't, they haven't. Oh my god...I have ruined my life."

Sheldon moved in front of Gus, who looked near hyperventilating, and gripped her shoulders. "Look at me Gus." Gus complied to Sheldon's order. "Stella and Flack are not together. And you did not ruin your life. Have you even talked to him since you have been back?" Sheldon asked sternly.

Gus slowly shook her head. "Maybe you should" Sheldon said with finality, handing her another shot and her cue. "Now drink up and it's your turn to break."

Gus took yet another shot of whiskey and lined up behind the cue ball trying to not think of Flack with anybody else. Trying to not think of his expression when she left or his tone when she talked to him last. Anger and frustration welled up inside of her as she took the shot. Both Gus and Sheldon watched as the cue ball sailed over the pool table and rolled across the floor at Sullivan's.

"Aw, hell" Gus exclaimed and went to go fetch it.

"Dammit!" Gus swore as she crawled under a table hoping to retrieve the cue ball and trying to not thinking about what fluids she might now be covered with.

"Looking for this?" came a cavalier voice from above. A hand appeared in front of Gus' face holding the cue ball. Gus looked from the hand to the smirk on the speaker's face to the very familiar blue eyes and prayed for the ground to swallow her right that second.

"Er, thanks" she stuttered, attempting to crawl out as ladylike as possible and banging her head on the underside of the table.

"Good to know you didn't loose your gracefulness down there in New Orleans," Flack replied, still smirking.

Gus pulled herself to standing and took the cue ball from his hand, "Of all the gin joints" she muttered under her breath, "Flack," she said louder with a nod of her head.

He looked at her oddly for a moment. "Broussard," he replied, the smirk leaving his face.

Gus was caught between wanting to run away and wanting to pull Flack to her and start begging. "You look good," Gus finally spluttered out and immediately wanted to disappear.

"You look tired," Flack replied, looking her up and down, which was the least of it. She looked exhausted, had lost weight she did have to lose, and something in her eyes looked broken.

"Long summer," she shrugged.

"Was around here, too," Flack bit back, unsure of his footing.

Sheldon watched from beside the pool table, unsure if he should interject, but pretty sure Gus could more than hold her own. He just wished both of them would stop being so stubborn. And stupid.

"Well good seeing you," Gus said, not able to look at Flack again.

"Gus, wait!" Flack protested, catching hold of Gus' wrist.

She thought about trying to break free from his grasp, but she caught Sheldon's gaze and instead turned into Flack and looked at him. "What, Flack?" she asked.

"Wanna sit and have a drink, talk?" Flack said, swallowing and looking at her seriously.

Gus hesitated but finally came out with, "fine, but let me just let Sheldon know."

Gus walked over to where Sheldon was standing, playing on his Blackberry. "Shel, is it alright if I...?" Gus trailed off and made a small gesture.

"Please, go ahead" Sheldon exclaimed and then looking at his phone, "my attending just got off," he flashed Gus a smile and raised eyebrows.

"Have a good night, Shel. And thanks" Gus said, giving her friend a huge squeeze.

"Can't breathe" Sheldon joked and waved to Flack before leaving Sully's.

"So," Gus said, sliding into the booth across from Flack.

"So," he echoed, looking slightly uncomfortable.

"How's life?" Gus squeaked and then started choking.

Flack looked at her strangely and waited until she had knocked back a good portion of the vodka tonic that was in front of her. "Life is life," he said, his voice icy.

Gus slumped in her seat and dropped her head to the table. "I hate this, Don," she mumbled into the wood.

"Can't say I am a big fan either, sun- Gus" Flack said, steeling himself from slipping back into nicknames and trying to ignore the flood of emotions rushing through him.

Gus raised her head and studied Flack for a long moment.

Finally she squared her shoulders and decided to just go for it. "I screwed up. I know that. And I was wrong. About everything. I belong here, not there and I didn't get that until I went back and I'm sorry, it was just - everything - at once! I didn't know what to do and I didn't want to hurt you. But of course that is exactly what I did" the words gushed forth in a wave.

Flack took them in, but didn't know how to respond other than, "Yeah, you hurt me pretty good. And yourself. But what's done is done, what we do know is pick up the pieces, and move on."

Gus felt like she had been shot in both the heart and the stomach, "Move on. Right," she whispered.

Flack rubbed his neck, "It hasn't been easy for me either," he said quietly.

"I didn't figure it had been. I know I can't ask you to forget, but I can ask you to forgive me at some point," Gus said, and put her hand up as Flack started to interrupt.

"And I by no means think that time is now. But I am back now and I am working in homicide and despite my best intentions, I can't hide in the storage closet in the lab forever. And even though I am on cold cases now, at some point we will be working together again and I want to figure out how we can do that and it not seem so damn weird," Gus finished, looking spent.

"We'll just do it," Flack replied.

"Just do it? What is this a Nike ad?" Gus was dumbfounded, and wondering if this was only a big deal to her. Maybe Flack had just gotten over it, over her and it was as though it had never had happened.

"Despite your actions at the beginning of the summer, we are both adults. And are good cops who care about their careers. Plus we are all on the same team. A team that Mac Taylor won't have any weak links. Might seem weird from time to time, but we will get over it. Not to mention that fact that I like having you in my life, Gus. You are still a good friend, even if that is all you can handle," Flack said playing with his glass for a moment before draining it.

"Is this a truce then?" Gus chewed on her lip.

"Wasn't aware we needed one" Flack looked at her carefully and then added, "Storage closet?."

Gus gave a small laugh and nodded. "Betcha Danny is pissed about that" Flack joked.

"Why? Oh, oh!" Gus exclaimed and then caught Flack's gaze and then started blushing furiously.

"You still got a desk in homicide. A dusty one, but a desk all the same," Flack said and then checking his watch, "I gotta go, but I'll see you around."

Gus looked up at him, not knowing what to say, but knowing she didn't like the thought of him leaving, especially since she bet he was meeting a date.

"Take care, sunshine" Flack said, squeezing her briefly on the table while dropping cash on the table and heading out of Sully's.

"You too, blue eyes," Gus said to herself.

The next day as Gus was hauling boxes from the storage closet back to the homicide pit, Danny went running past her and almost knocked a box out of her hand. "Sorry 'bout that Broussard. I would help, but I got to get to a call."

"A call?" Gus exclaimed, "out in the field?"

"You bet", Danny beamed.
Gus set the box down and gave Danny a big hug, "Congrats, Danny!" she exclaimed.

"Thanks and it is bound to be a big one. At lady liberty" Danny rocked back and forth on his heels before running off.

"As in the Statue of Liberty?" Gus questioned, picking her box back up.

"The one and only," Stella replied, running past her.

Gus arrived with her box back in homicide seeing Flack preparing to leave. "Lady Liberty?" she asked.

"Got it in one" he said with a smile, "now if I could only get a hold of Mac."

"That big?" Gus was curious now.

"Press is already on it and he is supposed to be headed back today. I take it you two haven't talked much this summer?" Flack tried to keep his tone light, but his eyes were concerned.

"It, well, you see..." Gus didn't know what to say. "Good luck on the case" she said, heading back to the lab in a hurry.

Chapter 9: New Parade March

After lugging the various boxes and files back to homicide, Gus stood with her hands on her hip and surveyed her desk. It hadn't been assigned, or touched it seemed since she pulled her disappearing act. And it was still facing Flack's. Like the missing couch, this was another reminder that kicked her in the gut. Gus made a strangled noise, causing Parker to look up from his desk.

"Hey, kid, how you doing?"

Gus made a face and curled her lip. Pointed at her desk Gus coughed out, "Good, except that."

"Just a little dust. Cleaning crew is bound to have something-" Parker cut off, "Oh. Yeah. Well, here, take mine."

"Take yours?" Gus asked.

"Sure, I mean, a desk is just a desk to me, I don't care where I sit" Parker shrugged.

"Won't that seems a little obvious?" Gus questioned.

"Yeah, but who cares" Montgomery piped in.

Parker and Gus both shot lasers through their eyes at him. "To keep feeding the gossip stream or not to feed," Gus pondered.

"Face it kid, you and junior are going to keep being fodder no matter where you sit. First it was, 'will they or won't they' about you sleeping together and now it is whether you will get back together," Parker pointed out.

Gus leaned in towards Parker and said, "this might count as insider trading, but I wouldn't bet on it."

Parker surveyed Gus, not sure what to make of her statement. All he knew was that Flack had been storming around the precinct all summer until some of the guys called him on it.

Then there was the great shake up in the division on whether they should try to set the boy up with someone else or not, but Loo put a stop to them choosing teams, so not much more was said about it, but Parker knew more than a few numbers had been sent Flack's way.

Gus stood, head swiveling between the two desks. Should she go back to her old desk and try to continue on as normal and risk a breakdown having to try to not moon over Flack all day, ie pull a Danny, or should she take Parker's desk and thus be more efficient at work but potentially not be able to live things down with the guys in the pit?

"Thanks, Parker, but I'll be fine here. As long as I can roll on over to visit if need be" Gus said, wrinkling her nose at the dust on her desk.

"Any time, Broussard" Parker said, sitting back down.

"Good choice" Montgomery said from behind Gus, "because I wouldn't have let you live it down."

On the hunt for cleaning supplies, Gus ran in to Lindsay in the lab. "What are you doing here?" she asked in shock.

"I know, right, best crime scene possibly ever" Lindsay shook her head. "But Adam is missing and everyone else was called up first, leaving me here to hold down the fort and process information as it comes in."

Gus gestured to the television showing the news in the background, "looks like the media has latched onto this one like a dog with a bone."

"Can you blame them. But get this, they are saying it is paint on the face, but Danny just informed me it is blood."

"That's a lot of blood then" Gus replied.

"Hope it isn't human" Lindsay shuddered.

Gus spent the next few hours trying to not claw her eyes out from going through cold cases while simultaneously trying to keep up with what was happening with the Statue of Liberty case. The press was having a field day with all major networks having picked up on the vandalism and murder, however the NYPD was trying to keep additional information to a minimum.

Listening to her police radio and calls to Lindsay garnered Gus the information that in addition to the dead female security guard, a body had been found on the roof across from the island with "two more will die" written on his chest in blood.

Not to mention that fact that apparently the new lab tech was somewhat of a hotshot in competition with Adam. Lindsay relished in this tidbit and also was mentioning something about spray condom residue found on the victim.

On an expedition for coffee and a sandwich from the new vending machines, Gus ran into Adam. "Hey Adam, heard Kendall is something of a spitfire" she teased.

"What is it will all you women up here always trying to b-" Adam cut off as Mac came walking down the hallway. "I gotta go figure out this" Adam said holding up a piece of metal.

"See ya," Gus called, "Hey Mac. How was your flight?"

"Fine, but quite a greeting to come back to" Mac said, looking carefully at Gus.

Gus returned his scrutiny, "You look tired" she said.

"As do you" Mac circled her, "how are the cold cases?"

"Boring" Gus admitted.

"Want to come experiment on the dummies with me?" Mac asked, hoping they would get a chance to talk.

Gus debated it for a second, "I would love to, but I have to follow some leads back in the pit. Dinner soon though, please?" Mac nodded before heading into one of the lab rooms.

Gus was deep into case files when Flack slid into his seat across from her desk.

"See you managed to uncover your desk under the dust," he then took in the files, "and re-bury it."

Gus gave a small laugh, "Well if we weren't killing trees how would we ever solve crimes?"

"Have you ever dealt with this PO," Flack flipped through his memo book, "Steve Andrews?"

"Yeah, he's a good guy. Will give you the info you need without too much grief. Protective of his guys though," Gus said and looked quizzically at Flack.

"He's the PO of Damien Brock" Flack answered.

Gus put her hands up in a confused motion, "And who is Damien Brock?"

Flack shook his head, "Sorry, it is weird having you here but not knowing everything."

"Rub it in," Gus grumbled under her breath.

"What?"

"Nothing" Gus answered harkening back to his 'Just do it' statement and realizing how hard this was going to be.

"Anyway" Flack said shooting her a look, "Damien Brock is the guy we found on the roof across from the island, the two more guy."

"I see, well Andrews in a good guy, as I said" Gus went back to her files and forced herself to keep her eyes on the paperwork.

A bit later Flack looked up, "Got an address. Andrews was a good guy."

"You weren't doubting my word were you, Flack?" Gus asked and then waved him off, "Don't answer that."

"Heh. You want to come for a ride, I got Brock's address?" Flack was still trying to find balance in wherever they stood, on top of the fact that he missed Gus.

"I am waiting for an old witness to come in, otherwise...but good luck."

"See ya then, and don't stay too late, you still look tired," Flack instructed.

"As everyone including my uncle keeps pointing out" Gus sighed, rubbing her temples.

Gus was already back at her desk and making notes when Flack came in.

"You did go home, right?" Flack said to her.

"Yeah, for a couple of hours," Gus said, not looking up. "Heard there was some excitement at Brock's place last night."

"You don't miss a beat, do you, su-" Flack broke off, confused at how easy it was to slip into comfort like she hadn't been gone all summer. Like she hadn't left him, standing in the street brokenhearted.

"Yeah, excitement would be a word for it. Killer embalmed him there, still alive and called while we were in the apartment. Then Stella found one of them red things, ya know, ya look through, with the pictures?"

"A view finder? Blast from the toy past!" Gus exclaimed.

"I know, right? Anyhow there is this guy on there, and then we get a call on 911 that led to Lincoln Center." Gus suppressed a groan, thinking about the case she had worked there last fall. Turns out the vic from the photos is trapped inside a drum. Danny and Mac find him, but he can't id his attacker because his tongue was cut out" Flack looked bewildered as he sat down.

Flack's phone beeped, he looked down, read a text and looked up his eyes sad. Gus caught his look and felt her heart lurch, not to mention the distance between him. "Lee Nakashima, the vic from last night died in the OR" Flack said, writing something down in his book.

"Crap, Flack, I'm sorry. You got any other leads?" Gus asked quietly.

"Not much to go on."

Gus' phone rang then, she answered it to an anxious Stella. "Gus, do you have the evidence box for the Casimira case? It was from just a year ago and before I went down to the locker..."

Gus looked around her desk, which was better organized than first appearances, "Yeah, Marie, right? Got it here. Haven't opened it though, seal's still intact."

"Can you bring it over to the lab?"

"Sure no problem" Gus said hanging up and working to free the box from the stack. "

Casimira, huh?" Flack said coming over to help her.

"Yeah, did you work the original?" Gus asked, letting him take over the lifting.

"Nah, but the building Brock lived in is the same building this girl was killed at. Stella worked that case too."

"Small island" Gus remarked.

"Guess so. You need a hand with that?" Flack asked.

Gus shot him a withering glare, "I may look tired Flack, but I didn't get weak in New Orleans."

"Yeah, I heard. 1200 hours or something?" Flack looked at her amazed.

"Thirteen hundred and twenty six to be exact. Did Loo send out a bulletin?" Gus sniffed, "I'm going to get this to Stella" she said making her way to the lab.

Chapter 10: Here I Sit In Prison

After dropping the box off with Stella, who eagerly ripped into it, Gus ran into Danny. "Messer, heard you tried to get a little culture last night and it went south."

"You tellin' me, guy sealed into a drum, tongue cut out, it gives me the willies" Danny shuddered.

Gus smirked, "Ya wanna tell me more about this spray on condom or do I have to talk to Lindsay?"

Slight color rose to Danny's cheeks, "Come on now, Broussard, I don't kiss and tell. Or spray and tell as the case may be."

"I am just curious about the mechanics of it, that's all" Gus looked bemused.

"Just because you aren't getting-" Danny started in and then thought better of it, "just wait for margarita night, Gus." Danny shot Gus a full fang smile and then wandered off whistling. Gus shook her head and headed to Stella's office.

Knocking lightly so as not to scare her friend, who was currently lost in the box Gus had just dropped off, Gus asked, "Want a second set of eyes on that?"

"If you don't have other things to do, that would be great," Stella smiled, wearily.

"Are you kidding? This is as close as I can get to working with the whole team right now, so I am on it."

They sat in silence for a long while, reading through the reports and other various paperwork. "Pretty girl, young too" Gus remarked, flipping through the crime scene photos.

"Aren't they always? I just can't help but think that somehow this case fits in with the current one" Stella shook her curls violently.

"Everything is connected, right?" Gus smirked. Stella smiled slightly.

"You happy Mac is back?" Gus asked a while later.

"I am more than happy to hand the reigns and paperwork over to him" Stella rubbed her neck, "but I am a little worried about him. Did he tell you about the calls?"

Gus shook her head, "We haven't really had a chance to catch up. But I did glean that Peyton was still in London. And that he looks exhausted as apparently I do."

"He checked out of his first hotel early because he kept getting hang ups."

"Weird," Gus remarked.

"They continued at the new hotel" Stella looked pointedly at her.

"Even weirder. Maybe I should put a rush on that dinner with him?" Gus pondered.

"Maybe so" Stella remarked.

Gus' phone started buzzing, "Sorry, Stella, I gotta run. I got an old witness to reinterview. Hoping I can crack her."

"Thanks for looking through all this with me, if anything comes of it, I'll let you know."

It took several hours and sneaky psychological tactics for Gus to get her witness to break down and confess to murdering her friend. But Gus managed to, as she simultaneously tried to not waver as the young girl told of her jealousy of her frenemy and how she snapped one night after clubbing and beat the girl to death with one of her many "stupid trophies." She walked back to the pit looking satisfied.

"That's your 'I got a collar' look" Flack smirked as she sat down and started in on the paperwork.

"Yep. And a little tip, don't mess with beauty queens, apparently they have mean jealous streaks" Gus retorted, not looking up from her file.

"I'll try to keep that in mind in all my dealings with beauty queens" Flack tried to catch her eyes, but Gus kept them averted. He sighed, she really wasn't coming back to him, he got that. Didn't make it any easier. "Stella called," Flack said, getting Gus' attention.

"And?"

"She said that Brock and Nakashima both lived in Casimira's building at the time of her death. She figures that was the crime the both witnessed. Apparently there was video on the phone like the answering machine message. They both had information that would id a perp and she thinks it might be Marie's killer."

"Why the hell is the case sitting cold then?" Gus bristled.

"Seems neither wanted to come forward at the time."

"Well that is just great" Gus sniffed.

"Hey not everyone believes snitchin' is bitchin'" Flack joked.

"One lousy t-shirt" Gus joked back and then cut off as a current passed between them. She was not going down this road again.

Gus knew she had far too many things to work out on her own before she could attempt to fairly share her life with anyone. And while she had no reasonable expectations that the handsome detective would stay on the market very long, a tiny part of her held to the notion of if you love something, set it free.

Flack's phone saved them both, "Flack, yeah, yeah, okay, I'll meet you there." He hung up and looked at Gus, "Missing puzzle piece found, they think Nova Kent is the final target. One of her concert tickets was shoved down Nakashima's throat."

"Tasty."

"So you want to come with to Lincoln Center?" Gus furrowed her brow. "She's a musician, geesh, sunshine, keep up."

Gus looked at him with a distant stare, "Cold cases, Flack, I'm on cold cases. I'm not part of the team anymore."

Flack caught her look, realized his slip up and covered it quickly, "Catch ya later then," he said coolly before striding out.

Gus sulked at her desk for a while, feeling left out of the team, but knowing it was her own fault. "Idiot" she exclaimed walking back from the restroom.

"Talking to yourself?" Montgomery asked.

"Maybe, you only have to worry if I answer myself though" Gus covered with a false smile.

"You still got a thing for him don't you?" Montgomery questioned.

"Who?" Gus played innocent.

"Don't who me, Broussard, you are a far better detective than that. But a lot of us around here are pretty damn good detectives too. And all your shrinking skills in the world can't hide what is going on behind those eyes of yours," Montgomery tapped her on the head.

"Yeah, well, I got what I asked for. I think it is too late anyhow, I think he has moved on," Gus sighed.

"A coupla set ups here and there is hardly moving on, Broussard," Montgomery pointed out thinking he was being helpful.

Gus tried to not take a sharp breath at her newfound knowledge. "I gotta go," Gus rushed out, slipping past Montgomery.

Gus passed by one of the interview rooms, seeing Flack inside doing his angry, pacing tiger walk. She could tell by more than just the vein starting to throb in his temple that he was pissed.

She also noticed Mac observing. Feeling like she needed to pretend at least for a moment that she might one day be part of the team again, Gus went a stood beside Mac. "What's his story?" Gus asked.

"Anthony Colton. Picked him up at the Nova Kent concert. He has been sending her black calla lilies, to keep her quiet" Mac replied soberly.

"He's the killer then?" Gus continued to watched as the man protested against Flack's interrogation,

"Flack sure seems to think so" she said as Flack looked all but ready to throttle the guy as he sat down across from Colton.

"What's your take?" Mac asked quietly.

Gus shrugged, "I'm just a girl working cold cases who happened to pass by."

"About that-" Mac cleared his throat, but cut off as Colton exclaimed, "I only saw her. I went there to scare her, not to kill her."

Mac and Gus watched as Flack, who had stood to leave, stared Colton down. Gus cringed as Colton said the magic words, "I want a lawyer."

Mac turned to Gus, "Survey says?"

"My gut? He killed Marie. He might have thought about killing Nova. But the guys? I don't think he had the balls or forethought" Gus chewed on her lip and then saw Flack about to exit the room, "I should get back."

"Augusta" Mac asked with care.

"Hmn?"

"Early breakfast when I am done here?"

"Don't you need sleep, Mac?" Gus replied.

"Don't you?" he countered.

"See ya at the diner" Gus capitulated.

"Lindsay" Gus said, running into her friend in the hall heading back to the pit.

"Flack and Mac done with Colton?" she asked.

"For now, he lawyered up. They are in there" Gus said pointing.

"Thanks. We should catch up later" Lindsay added.

"I'll put you on the list" Gus joked.

It was nearly 4am before Mac met Gus in the diner. By that point she had consumed enough cups of coffee that she wasn't sure when she would be able to sleep.

Luckily, one of the perks of working cold cases was being able to essentially set your own hours. Though Gus figured she should try to be somewhat coherent for her appointment with her shrink later. "Mac, you look a little distracted. You wanna reschedule?"

"No, I'm just still on London time. And hungry" Mac replied sliding into the booth.

"What happened with Colton? Gus asked.

"He killed Marie. Morton Brite killed the men."

"The boyfriend? Wasn't Stella looking at him for Marie's death?"

"Yes, she was. And in fact she went to tell him that we had Colton in custody when it came out that he had killed Nakashima and Brock. Ended up having to shoot him."

"Damn, she alright?" Gus worriedly questioned. "She'll be fine. Worried about me though."

"Imagine that" Gus drolled. "Hopefully she'll get McNair for her eval. He thinks she is hot. I mean mind you she is, but he'll go easy on her" Gus continued, "Now back to you."

"Wait, I thought this was going to be about you" Mac protested with a wry smile.

"We are a mess" Gus exclaimed, "at least Reed appears to have had a quiet summer."

"Have you talked to him?"

"Briefly in my boredom of cold cases. He took a full summer load, so he kept busy. In the library mostly" Gus shrugged. They ordered and sat in silence. "Peyton still in London?" Gus asked finally.

"She is staying for another few weeks. You and Don over?" Mac countered.

Gus nodded, "Yep. Shot myself in the foot good on that one."

"Quit by fedex? Gus what were you thinking?" Mac admonished.

"I wasn't. Clearly" Gus admitted.

"There are more productive ways to have meltdowns."

"As I figured. But Stella helped me to not get fired, so I am only stuck on cold cases and forced to see a shrink for an indeterminate amount of time" Gus admitted.

"Probably good for you" Mac said carefully.

"I know" Gus sighed, "and hey, at least this way it is on the department's dime" she laughed.

"You want me to talk to Daddino about getting you back with the team?" Mac asked.

Gus shook her head, "I don't think I am there yet, Mac, but thanks. It was a long rough summer."

"I know, I read your file" Mac revealed.

"Jesus, is there anyone Daddino didn't give it to?"

"He only gave it to me and the staff Sargent."

"Well that is a relief" Gus dripped.

"You'll be fine, Gussie. You just needed to process everything" Mac leaned in, "and I am speaking from experience."

"Ah yes" Gus smiled slightly, "and tell me about these mysterious phone calls?"

"Nothing to worry about" Mac said with finality.

"Like I shouldn't worry about Peyton staying in London?"

"You have enough on your plate, stop worrying about the world, Gus and focus on getting back up to snuff. I need you, the team needs you," Mac said, and then dug into the food the waitress had brought them.