How do you solve a problem like Lovato? AUing it up once again because I am not having Don cheat on Gus with Angell 2.0. Spoilers for 9x2

Chapter 16

"I don't care if you gotta bring someone over from Poughkeepsie, between that IAB debacle and Parker's latest hernia, I am down 3 detectives and the criminals haven't gotten the memo!" Daddino's roar could be heard throughout the pit, alongside the slamming his phone.

Gus and Flack looked at each other, relieved when dispatch called them out to a scene; though they were less relieved when they got there. "Another crispy critter? I don't think I am going to be turning on our fireplace anytime soon," Gus remarked as they moved back from the heavily charred body in the elevator.

Flack coughed, trying to fight back nausea. "I don't think I'm going to want barbecue anytime soon either."

"It isn't like there is any place good around here anyway," Gus quipped, relying on gallows humor to try to keep the tortured expression on the victim out of her brain.

Flack rolled his eyes, "New Orleans isn't exactly famous for its barbecue, babe." He moved them away, not able to handle the stench. "You think Leonard Brooks did this?" he asked wishing he had gum.

"I feel like the odds are good and we know the goods are odd. You want her apartment or security footage?" she asked, snagging a uniform she saw chewing gum and granting Flack's wish without him even having to voice it.

He snickered, "its a good thing we are married, otherwise I think you may know me too well. I'll take her apartment, you go flash those doe eyes at the super."

"Yep, it was Brooks alright," Gus said, coming up to Flack with a tablet, "again with the service person ruse." She shivered slightly, the escalation between starting fires and torturing a random woman giving her pause. She had a sinking feeling Brooks had crossed the line from arsonist to sadist.

"Babe?" he asked, taking in her pallor, taking the tablet from her before she dropped it.

Gus gestured to where Jo and Mac were at the elevator. "Can you fill them in, I am going to get some fresh air and a warrant."

They weren't shocked when they found Brook's room in the flophouse empty, but it did kick off an immediate flurry of activity, trying to make sure Brooks didn't get out of the city and that his face was circulated. The news outlets ate it up, arsonist turns random elevator into a torture chamber. It was like something out of a horror movie.

Gus was updating Brass when Flack came out of the SRO building looking agitated. "What's up, buttercup?" she quipped, trying to keep the skin crawling feeling away.

"Brooks called, said his work isn't done, said our vic wasn't innocent," he replied, his brow knitted in anger.

"Great, the extremely intelligent and self-reliant arsonist is turning serial killer?" Gus said, kicking the tire of a patrol car in frustration.

Flack mirrored her ire, wanting to punch the same patrol car, but his worry for her redirected some of his anger into care. "Not if we get him first, sunshine," he said, pulling her back from the car and into him.

They were sitting in the pit trying to figure out why Rita Lowman had been targeted by Brooks and waiting to see what the CSIs had found when their Lieutenant roared once again from his office.

"Flacks, get in here, now!" Daddino ordered.

Don and Gus complied, though Gus did protest as they reached the doorway. "Loo, how many times? It's Bro-" Flack cut her off, "let it go, sunshine," he softly countered, wondering what they had done to earn their boss' ire.

"I got everyone from the Chief of Ds on up sniffing up my skirt on this one. But apparently this case was enough to get them to send someone over from Narcotics," Daddino said, looking at his legal pad.

The pair looked at each other wondering what that had to do with them. And both blanched as he filled them in...

Don and Gus sat across from each other in the diner's booth, having been sent out of the precinct by their Lieutenant to digest his latest glowered into his pastrami while Gus shredded a napkin and ignored her pie. "I mean we are down two detectives permanently, he had to bring in someone," she sighed, running her finger along her coffee mug.

"Yeah, but why not Parker? He's been in homicide the longest," Flack grumbled, stabbing a fry into ketchup, contemplating how miserable it was gonna be not having Gus at his side for every case. It was the only reason he got to see her some days.

She worked at the knots in her neck, thinking between Brooks and being told her partner was going to have to mentor some feral narcotics detective, she was going to need a hell of a lot more than a massage. Reaching across the table to stop Flack from mangling a perfectly innocent sandwich, she laid her hand over his. "It isn't forever, Don, and it isn't every case. You heard what Daddino said, it'll look great for future promotions. I know we both love our jobs, but I also know neither of us want to be doing 3am callouts forever."

He knew she was right, at some point they were going to want a life outside of the precinct, maybe that brownstone and couple of kids she told Stella about, seeing as they now had the dog, even though he was pretty sure their dog had forgotten what they looked like. Don flipped his hand over and thread her fingers through hers. "I know, babe, still doesn't mean I have to like it," he stared at her for a long moment before giving her a dimpled smirk, "ya gonna eat that pie or what, sunshine?"

"All yours, blue eyes," she said, sliding it across the the table to him, "but eat up because Jo needs my help on profiling Brooks," she said, reading the text on her phone.

"You missed quite the show," Parker quipped as Gus came back to the pit, her arms full of files and transcripts on Leonard Brooks; glad she didn't have to watch 14 years of the man on tape like Jo was.

Gus dropped the stack on her desk, chasing down her travel mug as it threatened to roll off her desk. "I've been a little busy, Charlie, but what exactly did I miss?"

Parker adjusted the inflatable donut he was sitting on from his latest 'injury'. "Meeting Junior's new buddy, she is one hot tamale! Can't believe you agreed to this, Princess," he smirked.

Gus rubbed her temples, "I am betting that is racist and I don't think we were given much of a choice." Gus cocked her head as a gorgeous brunette Latina came up to Flack's desk directing a boot with a hand truck full of files to put them wherever.

"Sure thing, sweets," the uniform said, looking like he would happily lug boxes filled with concrete for her.

"Er, hi," Gus said, flagging a spot in a transcript and forcing a neutral expression as she took in the other woman's enviable figure. "Detective Broussard, call me Gus. You must be the new transfer," she said, forcing herself to be hospitable, as she offered her hand and a smile to the younger woman.

"Jaime Lovato, glad to see someone else who knows what underwire is in the bullpen," she said with laugh, trying to gauge how genuine the other detective's smile was.

It became more genuine as Gus returned the laughter, gesturing with her head, "Parker could probably use some. Did Daddino assign you a desk yet?"

Jaime shrugged, "I hope he's working on it, but I told Flack we were using his until then for these CPS records on Clark."

Gus nodded, "yeah, the second vic, huh? I'm trying to figure out if I want there to be a third so the Feds will swoop in and take this guy off our hands."

"Stop giving away our cases, sunshine," Flack said entering the pit with a tray off coffees, setting one in front of Gus and handing one to Lovato saying, "I had know idea how you take it, so I brought stuff," he said gesturing at the array of packets.

"Sunshine, huh?" Jaime remarked, crossing her arms over her chest and looking back and forth between the two detectives, trying to discern what their relationship was.

Both women shook their heads at Don complaining about reading through endless paper files hours later, Gus scribbling more thoughts on what made Brooks tick as Jaime remarked, "are you always this whiny?"

"Yes," Gus and Don answered simultaneously with similar expressions.

Jaime laughed, "okay, so how long have you two been partners?"

"That's complicated," Gus replied after Don looked at her a long beat.

He countered asking Lovato, "how long were you in narcotics?"

"Three and a half years," she replied not skipping a beat, "last 17 months undercover."

Gus was impressed, far less time than that had been too much for her, so she was shocked when Don pressed, "why the transfer?"

She gave him a warning look that he didn't catch as the other woman said, "stuff happens," her tone nonchalant but her body language changing.

"Care to elaborate?" he kept at it.

"Shut the front door! Stop interrogating her, Flack!" Gus admonished, feeling protective of the other female detective.

Jaime wasn't sure what to make of the exchange but froze as she took in the file in front of her. "Whoa, look at this," she said handing the file to Flack.

"Jennifer Brooks? Foster mother to Jimmy Clark," he read off the stats.

Lovato had a sparkle in her eye. "Jennifer, Jen, like on the AA pendant!" she put together.

"Son of a bitch," Flack swore, "Brooks killed his mother and foster brother."

Gus picked up her phone to update Jo, "well this changes the profile."

Meeting in the war room, Gus and Jo compared notes, figuring out that despite killing his mother, Brooks didn't talk about her in any of the tapes. "His father's death tipped the first domino, but something had to take him from grief to arson in that three year span," Gus said, pointing at the timeline.

"Whatever happened in that house must have been a nightmare," Jo said with a shiver.

Gus chewed on her pen until Jo pointed out it was leaking on her. "Crap," she said, wiping off the ink.

"Never change, Broussard," Danny said, coming in to inform them that there was another foster child in the Brooks' household that was unaccounted for. "Adam's running her through age progression now."

"Maybe Clark abused him?" Gus pondered, "maybe the foster sister isn't a target," she said hopefully, as they continued to review the tapes.

"I, uh, hate to burst your bubble, Gus, but I cross-referenced my progression with the DMV. I located Rachel Nelson, now Moore, at court mandated treatment, but the clinic isn't answering and dispatch just put out a call to the address," Adam said nervously tugging at his hair from the doorway.

"Good job anyway, Adam," Jo said supportively.

"Yeah, thanks, sugar, it isn't on you that this whole thing is a nightmare," Gus sighed, throwing down her pen. "Nightmares!" she shouted, jumping out of her chair, causing Adam to scurry away as she flipped through a legal pad from the psychologist.

"Remember when Leonard was talking about his reoccurring nightmares?" she said, trying to find the flag.

Jo nodded, "yes, he almost appeared manic, hadn't slept in days; I made a note about it." She flipped through her own notes and then went over to the stack of tapes. "He kept talking about being hunted, and referenced a story about a deer being hunted, wishing for someone to protect him…" she put the tape she was looking for in the player.

They watched, the puzzle pieces falling together. "This is textbook transference." Jo remarked.

"Right? Mom and foster brother are the hunters, maybe foster sister too. He's the deer and wants to be invisible. I feel like I've heard this story somewhere before…" she trailed off, seeing Mac in the hallway and following after him, Jo on her heels.

"Uncle Mac," she called, causing the man to immediately stop and turn, as she didn't usually blurt their kinship out in public.

"Augusta?" he asked, looking at the two women.

"You remember that giant illustrated book of Catholic Saints you gave me that one year for Christmas?" she asked, trying to remember what happened to it, last remembering it being used as a doorstop and figuring it had gotten washed away.

"Mac Taylor, you are not allowed to shop for gifts unattended!" Jo admonished.

Mac gave a wry grin, "I believe I have gotten slightly better at gift giving."

Gus snorted, "slightly, maybe, anyway, do you remember the story about that saint who saved the deer from the hunters by making him invisible until he could get safely back to the castle?"

Mac nodded, "yes, Saint Aidan, the Apostle of Northumbria, died in 650 AD I believe."

"Thank you Encyclopedia Britannica," Gus muttered while Jo filled Mac in on the reoccurring nightmare Leonard had described repeatedly on the tapes.

Mac stared off into the distance, his wheels turning. "St. Aidan's, castle..Jennifer Brooks worked as a nurse in the burn unit at St. Aidan's hospital, which has been abandoned since the 90's."

"I think we know where Brook's castle is," Jo remarked.

Gus tried to not pity Leonard Brooks as she observed Mac and Jo questioning him after he had been caught at the abandoned hospital.

"Dad dies, Mom starts abusing him, exposes him to who knows what are her work, brings in a bully of a foster brother…regular Leave it to Beaver situation," Don snarked next to her.

"It was always about control, fire was the one thing he could control in his life," Gus sighed.

Flack raised his eyebrows. "Well he made some crap choices either way, babe," he said, leading her out with the palm on the small of her back.

"Daddino give Lovato a desk yet?" Gus asked as they stepped into the pit, wanting to be caught up on what she missed while up with Jo, "and it better not be mine, she doesn't get my desk and my partner!" she tacked on; trying, and failing, to not feel territorial.

"Don't hulk out on me, sunshine; still your desk, still partners, I am mentoring her. She's got Lafferty's old desk," he gestured to the nameplate on the desk behind Gus'

"It's going to need more than a plant, it's going to need a priest and to be saged," she joked, looking at the empty desk top. "Where's her 'welcome to homicide plant', Don?"

He looked at her like she wasn't speaking english. "Her what plant?"

"Green thing, in a pot, supposedly easy to keep alive," she gestured, "you got me one. Ringing any bells?"

Don dimpled down at her, finally remembering. "Gus, I got you a plant when you bought your co-op hoping you would do that Southern Belle thing and call me to thank me for it so I could ask you out. You weren't a cop yet, there is no 'welcome to homicide' plant."

Gus flushed, "good lord I was oblivious back then, wasn't I?"

"You had a lot going on, babe" he said with a laugh, "but how about we start a tradition and go get Lovato a plant. Even though you know these lugs are going to make it a betting pool on who lasts longer."

"Finally a pool not about us," she said, looping her arm through his as they went to find a bodega still open.

A/N: I have to say, I swear that the writer's read FF back in the day, because I wrote Don giving Gus a welcome plant in a similar scene waaaaaaay back in 2007 and then it showed up here in 2012. You will not convince me I did not inspire them.