"Do you know this guy?"

Captain Brass couldn't believe it was this simple. It was rarely this simple. All this angst and time and energy spent and here they were with a real, tangible lead because yes, Lillian Hunniford knew him.

Jim Brass stood in Lillian Hunniford's decrepit living room beside Greg Sanders. Getting entry had been tricky, Jim had tried some charm and that had gotten them into the hallway, when she had folded her arms and made it clear she wasn't interested in discussing acquaintances or that damn crown again he had shifted tactics. Some hinting that maybe if she was helpful her approaching trouble with some queries over fraud just might never reach her had gotten them to the living room.

Jim wasn't sure the change in venue had been an improvement. The room was dim, the curtains were drawn, the place reeked of smoke and was stained in several areas with the black marks of an overbuild up of scattered ash.

Greg had counted four ashtrays and while he let Jim do his job he started trying to guess what other vessels in the room might double as ashtrays. The pot with the dead plant abandoned beside the single chair with the small burn stains of cigarettes probably slipped out in sleep had to be one.

Jim and Greg both stood, the lumpy couch with its various marks looked like it would give them disease rather than comfort. Jim was opposite Lillian whilst Greg hung back, not wanting to give her the impression of being intimidated although Greg doubted she was easily intimidated.

Greg felt a little bad that Chris wasn't here, this was part of his case after all but even he had agreed that Lillian was all too likely to clam up with him.

Jim held out a copy of the photograph of the I Heart Vegas tourist at the ATM machine. It was the best they had, black and white with their perp wearing a mask and a wig, how in the hell would anyone know him?

Yet there it was, Jim almost thought he had imagined it in desperation, recognition flitting across Lillian's sallow face.

She flicked ash onto the floor, took a deep puff of her cigarette and breathed out the smoke slowly as she gave Jim a serious stare.

"You're going to make this misunderstanding with the bank go away, right?" She made it a demand.

"Right," Jim assured.

"I want reassurances," she said firmly.

"I want something worth it," he retorted.

She nodded. "Alright." She looked back to the photograph again as she crossed her free arm about her waist. "I couldn't say for sure but that might be my nephew Ronnie. He used to wear a dumb cap like that, said it kept him covered from the cameras, dope."

"Is that the only reason you think it might be him?" Jim pried. "I mean this guy is wearing a mask."

She shrugged and tilted her head slightly, trying and failing to portray an expression of uncertainty.

Greg could see how she didn't keep her focus on the photograph, seeming to have no need to study it, he knew that she was confident in her answer.

"He's a mask like that too, plays hockey with his friends, too cheap for a proper one, came by wearing that thing trying to give me a fright, that's how I know. Laughing while I nearly went to heaven early," she scowled and shook her head. "Tells me all proud how he got it outta a costume shop and figured it was hard enough to do the job."

Jim glanced back at Greg, wondering if Ronnie had been telling a lie or if Lillian was or maybe Ronnie had figured the mask would do for hockey and for crimes.

"You give me my reassurances now and I'll give you Ronnie's contact details," Lillian said as she gave Jim another serious stare.

Jim gave a small smile at this and nodded. "Sure thing."

Jim wasn't getting his hopes up, Lillian wasn't sure that it was Ronnie in the picture, hell she could be lying right through her teeth to save a fraud charge, maybe Ronnie wasn't even real but maybe, just maybe, he was and he was their guy.

Robbie hastened into the hospital's main entrance and up to the reception desk with a slight pant. He had ran the whole way from his car to here, and the car park had been busy so it had been a long enough sprint.

He gave the tired looking receptionist a charming smile and quipped, "where's the blood drive at?"

"Third floor, head down the corridor and turn right, you'll see the signs," she advised bluntly.

"Thanks."

Robbie widened his smile but she was looking elsewhere. He shook his head and moved for the stairs, figuring dryly that her lack of interest was his lack of a badge, the ladies really did love the sight of the star. He was off duty today and the phone call he had received had been a little alarming so he hadn't bothered to change, coming as he was in jeans, a black t-shirt with a green Oriental dragon on it, and a loose fitting, open, copper-brown jacket.

He headed up the stairs, bypassing a couple of visitors who looked a little annoyed with his speed, and headed down the corridor, spying the big red sign directing him to the right. He grinned again, thinking red was the ideal colour for a Blood Drive but liable to put off any would be do gooder already wary of needles and fearful of blood.

Through a double set of doors Robbie met a much more pleasant receptionist, bright and ready with a smile and forms.

The reception area for today's blood drive was crowded but that was no surprise, whenever a drive was on offering dollars for pints it brought a lot of poverty stricken people to the doors.

"Hi sir, are you here to donate?" the young receptionist quipped cheerfully.

Robbie shook his head apologetically. "I'm here for someone," he said. "Penny T Stead."

It had took him a minute when he'd gotten the call from a nurse attending the blood drive asking if he knew someone with that name to get it, when he had said no, he had been advised that Penny had a card with his name and number on it. Only it wasn't his number, not anymore, it had been an old one out of service and when they had called the station asking for an Officer Robert Woods that had caused a slight confusion too before the call had finally come his way. He thought it was endearing how hard they had tried to get someone for a patient who, as the nurse had informed him, had taken a hysterical panic attack and passed out in their care. Robbie supposed that maybe endearment linked with naivety which might explain why they hadn't realised that their patient, Penny T Stead, was going by PTSD.

"Oh, yes." The receptionist, a pretty brunette with freckles on her cheeks, perked up at this and gave him another smile. "I'm glad you've come, we did get worried that maybe you didn't even exist it took so long to track you."

She stood up from her seat and gestured to a wooden door on her right with a narrow pane with mesh in it. "Just through there, I'll buzz you through."

"Thank you," Robbie said sincerely.

He headed to the door and upon hearing the buzzer he pushed it open.

The smell of fresh blood hit him instantly, for some reason donators often didn't expect it but when there was a donation drive and it was busy, it was to be expected as medical staff worked round the clock trying to hit targets for blood intake. There was a lot of chatter too as donators waited their turn, organised by time slots as much out of organisation as an embarrassed desire to keep the hospital staff from being outnumbered by people of a questionable nature.

Robbie took a note of his surroundings, the security standing by, only two people to a queue, and a certain briskness in ushering people on and out. He knew it wouldn't be the same if the donators were in flashy suits and wondered what the staff would think if he told them about all the wealthy criminals he'd dealt with.

He felt security's eyes upon him, judging him for his attire and knew that his badge would have deflected their low opinion.

"Can I help you?" a nurse queried as she approached him, clipboard ready in hand.

"Penny T Stead?" Robbie made it a question as he shoved his hands into his jeans' pockets and gave her a smile.

"Ah, are you the officer then?"

There it was again, the judgement stare. The nurse made a point of tipping her head up and down to take in his outfit.

"Detective but yes," Robbie retorted with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

Her brown eyes looked doubtful but she nodded anyway. "Follow me."
Robbie figured she didn't care who or what he was so long as he took the problem of Penny away from them.

The nurse led him through to an area cordoned off by curtains to create the illusion of a room. Occupying a single hospital bed was a young woman with a chalk white face and hair dyed a deep dark brown. She was engaged in devouring a sugar cookie rapidly whilst another two sat waiting on a plate on the cabinet beside her along with a glass of water.

"Feeling better Miss Stead?" the nurse queried gently. "We got your friend after all."

Robbie glanced to her in surprise, wondering if maybe she did care a little.

The bed bound woman nodded as she kept her gaze purposefully away from Robbie.

"Can we try again?" she queried hopefully.

The nurse gave a sympathetic smile and shook her head. "You took quite a scare, it would be better if we didn't."

"Please, I need the money."

Robbie looked over to the young woman, feeling a rush of sympathy at the woe in her pallid blue stare. The darkness of her hair offered a strong contrast to her eyes and they almost seemed to glow against the shadows of her molasses brown waves.

The nurse glanced up to Robbie this time. "Why don't you talk with your friend?" she suggested. "I'll come back in a few minutes and see if you're ready to go."
The nurse turned and pushed back the curtain to escape leaving Robbie alone with the woman.

Robbie stepped up to her bedside and offered her a warm smile. "So it's Penny now?" he queried with mirth. "Gotta say, I prefer Paige."

She shrugged up at him as she finished the cookie. "I didn't ask for you," she dismissed him casually.

"Of course not but here I am anyway."

Robbie looked about for a seat but there wasn't one so he sat on the edge of the bed putting him closer to the young woman.

"You had my old number, can I see the card?" he quipped.

Paige tried to keep up a disinterested attitude but Robbie caught the quick flick of her pale blue stare to the cabinet.

Robbie spied the card sitting there, half in the shadow of the plate of remaining cookies. He snapped it up and stared down at it in wonderment. It was a generic card for the LVPD precinct, creased in several places, the blue on one side lightened with exposure to the sun whilst the white on the other side had yellowed. There in black ink was Robbie's cursive handwriting- Officer Robert Woods followed by the work mobile number he had been using four years ago. In different font beside the Woods was- Aces.

"This you keep but not I.D?" he remarked sardonically.

"I have I.D," she retorted hotly, "but they'd be risking an assault charge trying to find it."

Robbie looked back at her curiously at this remark, his brown stare darting briefly to her bronze, faux silk shirt.

"Where have you been Paige?" he queried quietly. "I've been worried you know."

"Why?" she asked sardonically. "There's no strangler after me, just some other creep having fun."

"There doesn't have to be anyone after you for me to worry, I'm your friend too." Robbie gestured down to his attire pointedly. "See, off duty."

"You guys are never really off duty," she accused.

Robbie propped himself on one elbow as he fixed a stern stare on her.

"You know I didn't find out about any of this business until you'd already ran off again," he retorted defensively. "I would have told you as soon as I knew."

Paige shrugged again. It was a gesture Robbie had never understood, dismissing it as a habit of hers. "It's better this way, I'm off the radar again."

Robbie sighed and placed the card back on the cabinet. He looked back to Paige with a serious stare as he shifted slightly on the bed to face her better.

"Is that what you want? You know I figured that was what you wanted a few years ago," he grimaced slightly, "well, your mom said it was. She told me to stop calling around, said that I was just keeping you tied to it and I thought maybe she had a point, that I was just a bad reminder."

Paige's icy eyes filled with surprise at this and her lips parted slightly.

"My mom told you to stop calling? And you did!" The surprise gave way to anger as it was easier to deal with than the stunned hurt that had started to flood through her.

She could feel a nervous twitch at her left side as her bowels flipped with the sensation of shock.

"You were the only one who had any idea, any understanding. You saw, you saw what had happened to me, you knew what he'd done," she shuddered as her voice grew quieter, "you were the only one I could talk to about it who'd get it."

Now Robbie looked surprised. He considered fleetingly that there had been another officer present all those years ago but dismissed the thought as he remembered that grim evening. He could still see Paige as she was four years ago, soaked in blood, shocked, stunned even and confused in her pain, unable to accept freedom and yet recognising Robbie's police badge as salvation. She'd flung herself at him screaming and sobbing, a plea for help, a ramble about danger and finally some heavy crying of relief because she knew she was safe at last.

The paramedics couldn't prise her from him, she was too scared, too desperate to be without the protection of an officer so he'd rode with her to the hospital and held her quivering hand all the way through the entrance until they'd told him to let go. He should have went home then, taken a rest but he had waited, sitting in the waiting area like a concerned relative for hours. Detective Riker had turned up, assigned to the case and ready to question her when she came to, to find out who she was and who had held her hostage. He hadn't been happy with Robbie lingering but Robbie lingered anyway.

Robbie had been there when Paige woke up from surgery, confused and frightened once more, until she had spied Robbie's Ace of Spades patterned handkerchief hanging out of his trouser pocket, bloodstained as he'd used it dab at her face in the alleyway. She'd recognised it and remembered that he was the cop who'd found her. It was to Robbie she had been persuaded to tell her name. He had kept her company until her parents had arrived, scribbling his name and number onto a card for her before he had finally ended a shift that was going on fifteen hours.

"I didn't want to keep you in the past," Robbie explained quietly. "I wanted you to have a chance to move on and if that's what you want to do this time round that's fine, I'll respect it. My department put you in the spotlight again, it wasn't fair, I understand if you don't want to bother with any of us but kiddo if you want to stay friends, I'm happy with that too. Maybe I got it wrong and if I did I'm sorry. Maybe I wasn't keeping you in the memories but I was supporting you with them."

Paige frowned as he called her kiddo again and turned from him in frustration . She murmured to the off-white wall, "I'm not a child anymore."

"I know," he said gently even as he gave a small smile at the irony of her telling this to the wall.

Paige turned back to him with a fierce stare that he felt a very real icy burn from.

"Do you?" she snapped. "Did you notice I'd grown up?" She pushed down the blanket and gestured to herself. "Do you notice me at all?"

"What?"

Robbie looked puzzled and cocked his head slightly at the young woman.

"Sure I do," he said as he summoned up another smile. "When you let me. You're the one who keeps hiding Paige."

Paige held his stare this time, resisting the urge to look away again and hide her emotions. "I don't want to hide anymore," she confessed. "I want a life."

Robbie nodded sympathetically, unfased by how close they continued to sit.

"I know and I'll help you with that if you'll let me. Why don't you tell me what happened here first? The phone call I got said you were yelling and panicking and then you fainted. I was at least happy to hear you were in the best place for fainters," he added humorously.

Paige clenched her hands suddenly against the edges of her shirt and bowed her head. "He used a knife sometimes, he said he liked my moans of pain," she said quietly. "I just felt the needle and I guess it was in my head again."

Robbie nodded as the horror slipped across his face. He had seen the marks but that was only part of the torture that had been inflicted on the young woman, all the verbal stuff he'd only known a little of because Paige had lost some those memories, intentional or not Robbie didn't know or care, and she hadn't discussed with him the memories she did retain. He realised now of course why that was because when she had actually wanted to talk about what had happened he'd deserted her following pressure from her mother. He could kick himself for it, all those years gone by with Paige having no one to turn to whilst he'd thought of her only a little, convinced that she'd moved on with her life now that he wasn't lingering there as a reminder of the horror.

"I'm sorry kiddo, life really hasn't been fair to you."

"I'm not a kid," she insisted angrily as she looked up at him again.

Robbie's smile turned apologetic even as his brown gaze shone with amusement. "Alright but you have a nickname for me, so I have to have one for you," he insisted. "Hmm, what should it be?" His eyes roamed up to the crown of her head, taking in her recently dyed hair. "Hairy seems mean," he joked.

Robbie raised two fingers under his chin in a mock expression of looking thoughtful as his gaze shifted down.

"Hmm, now I've always loved those pale eyes of yours, Ice Eyes just seems cold though." His smile widened with his poor pun and he laughed as her expression turned to one of distaste.

He reached out a hand to her right shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. "Oh Paige, this is too much pressure for me, I don't have the knack for it that you do."

"It's because you don't know me," she retorted, her voice quiet and full of sorrow once more, "not really. We didn't speak for years."

Robbie's smile faded and he leaned forward putting his face closer to hers. "I do," he insisted. "You're tough, you live in the dangerous neighbourhoods on your own and no matter what happens you keep sticking it out, you don't give up, you move from job to job but you keep trying, and you're brave, even when you get attacked again and followed you still keep up your feisty attitude."

Robbie smiled again. "You like sharks, you want to see Egypt, hell you want to see the world because it got small when you were attacked. You got afraid of the world and the people in it and you think you've missed it and you don't want to. You want to be out there living life because you know better than anyone that it's short and you don't know when it ends. You want to see the sights. You're fun and you've an interesting sense of humour, Chris told me about that dance for Vartann by the way, sick sense of humour more like, and you've a real sweet tooth. What else huh?"

Robbie cocked his head again as he studied her face watching the emotions dance across it.

"What don't I know?"

"That I like you," she admitted softly.

It was out there before Paige could think about it, a confession often imagined ever since she'd encountered the blonde again. This wasn't even close to how she had envisioned it and the moment it slipped out she almost wanted to swallow the words back again.

Robbie straightened his head as his irises widened with surprise. "Huh."

He knew what she meant but Paige wasn't sure that he did so she figured she would attempt to explain it now that she'd put it out there. He was so close to her it seemed the obvious thing for her to do, an opportunity Paige hadn't had before with the detective.

Paige's warm mouth pushed against Robbie's, tasting a faint hint of nicotine and the remnants of syrup from his pancake stack breakfast. It was a little unexpected and not how she had imagined it but she figured that was no surprise, months of fantasising were definitely going to eclipse reality.

Robbie's mouth pushed back, driven by curiosity and an odd thought that he shouldn't be rude by pulling away. He had never imagined this so there was no dreamed up vision for him to compare it to. Paige wasn't much of a kisser but Robbie figured given her wary nature she probably didn't have a lot of practice. It wasn't going to be memorable for him but he tried anyway.

Robbie reached up his right hand to cradle her cheek gently and tilt her head a little so the angle of her mouth was better. He twisted a strand of her hair about one finger as he kissed back and wondered why he was doing it.

Paige kept her eyes open, shutting them was a vulnerability she didn't want. She saw that Robbie had closed his, his blonde brows were down and his brow lines smooth, he was utterly relaxed with no hint of tension. She couldn't fathom if that was a good or bad thing.

Paige felt a small thrill when he reached up to touch her cheek but that was it. There was no spark, no rush of heat, nothing she had imagined or expected. When his hand slackened slightly and he started to fiddle with her hair the thrill slipped away, it was as if he'd grown bored of touching her skin within seconds.

Her hands reached up to both his shoulders, pulling herself up to him as she tried to force some passion into it. She kept kissing his mouth, unsure what else to do and realising there was no urge for anything else.

Her hands slipped away and she pulled back, embarrassed and uncertain what to say.

Robbie smiled because he figured it was the best thing to do.

"Well, I was going to offer you coffee, maybe should've done that first," he murmured awkwardly as he lowered his hand, "and money, you know cause you need it but that'll get misinterpreted now."

He rubbed at the back of his neck awkwardly and looked over with a sudden relief as the nurse returned to them.

The nurse fixed an immediate look of disapproval on Robbie, taking in how he was seated on the bed.

"Are you feeling alright now Miss Stead?" the nurse queried.

Paige's stare flitted to Robbie. She was still wondering why there'd been no hot moment of passion and how one was meant to create that spark. She pondered if there was ever a spark with people or if it was some manufactured bullshit by marketing companies to make money from cheesy, romantic gifts and getaways. She tried to remember if she had ever felt it with a boyfriend, if there was ever that flutter in the stomach or heated rush with anyone?

Paige raised a hand to her mouth and caught a flashback of Lou dabbing at it hastily with a napkin, scowling and looking awkward the whole time. She remembered the lurch that had filled her stomach then as she had frozen up with the gesture. Paige felt a fresh warmth at her cheeks as she lowered the hand and looked to Robbie with a mute surprise.

"She's good," Robbie answered at last, "just a little tired. We're going to get coffee."

The nurse nodded approvingly. "That sounds good."

"Yes," Paige murmured.

Robbie stood up and held out a hand to Paige.

Paige accepted the hand and let him help her up from the bed. She felt gratitude, appreciation and a gladness for having him here but it wasn't the giddiness she had felt taking Lou's hand to let him escort her down the shark tunnel. She tried to dismiss the thought figuring that had just been excitement for the sharks.

She was mad at Lou, he was another deceptive detective, she was a job to him and when he'd crossed that line it had blown up spectacularly in his face. Yet, when she'd been mad before and publicly humiliated him in revenge he'd still come back and taken her out for her birthday and offered her his house for sanctuary.

"Shit," she murmured quietly.

"What is it?" Robbie pried with a glance of worry.

Paige shook her head and looked up to the blonde wondering how in the hell this had happened. She had always liked Robbie, hell she had pined for him for almost four years, he was cute, funny, eccentric, stubborn, and her hero. None of that had changed and yet, while she still loved him for all of that, she wondered if it was a platonic love. She wanted Robbie to always be in her life but that yearning for intimacy was still there and she wasn't sure if he could fulfil it.

Robbie squeezed her hand gently and offered her a grin. "Let's get some coffee already."

"Did I ruin things Aces?" she queried nervously.

"We haven't agreed on things," he answered chirpily. "That was our whole discussion, I think though Paige I'll have to be a little stubborn on this one. I'm going to be in your life, that's a cert, even if you say no because I think you do need me. No matter what I'm going to be your close friend."

Paige felt relief at this and nodded. "Okay."