A/N: Gorman warning, obviously, for language and such related to a man like him.

As Rick speaks to Gorman and his escort in the foyer, Amanda studiously ignores the man. Finding her hair tie where Rick dropped it, she tugs her hair back into a messy ponytail. The door closes, but she doesn't have to turn to know Gorman's inside the apartment. His particular brand of slimeball stare is one she can practically feel.

"Well, this is not who I expected to find, Lieutenant Grimes. Where's your pretty little blonde?"

Rick shrugs, catching the undershirt she throws him and slipping it on. It's a tank top style shirt, so the mark of her teeth is luridly vivid on his pale skin. He makes a point of fastening his jeans, the jingling of his belt buckle obvious even as Gorman stares at Amanda as she meets his gaze with every bit of the icy stare she's practiced for years.

"Beth was otherwise occupied tonight. Sister's in town, so they're off having a girl's night."

"Looks like you found an interesting consolation prize." Gorman's glancing between them, and she knows there's no way he missed sex had definitely been in progress between them. She resists the urge to cover her chest, because the thin fabric of Rick's shirt gives away her lack of a bra. Unwilling to give him the satisfaction of the gesture she made with Rick earlier, she juts out her chin and lets the Ice Queen bleed away the remnants of ache still lingering within her.

They got carried away, so Amanda isn't sure how they're actually going to explain this. Kissing Rick wasn't supposed to turn serious. He's not her type, and she sure as hell isn't his. Her body didn't seem to agree. If Rick hadn't said her name when he did, the way he did? He would be a lot more acquainted with her body than he is.

"I think she's trying to convince me college girls aren't my thing. But I don't think you came all the way here just to discuss my sex life, Gorman."

The sergeant smirks after scanning Amanda's shirt clad figure and dismissing her as uninteresting. "No, I didn't. I certainly didn't expect to be personally escorted to the penthouse floor. This is an interesting place for a cop's salary. Interesting indeed."

It takes all Amanda's self control not to react to the fact they're not even having to bait the greedy bastard. Rick assured her last night that his family's money isn't easily traced as the source of his extra cash. Everything is in his mother's family name, much of it paid out through a trust where an attorney does the day to day management. What is exposed now is deliberately so, thanks to Shane's special intervention. But is it Rick or Beth that Gorman's after now?

"I like my creature comforts," Rick replies, eyeing Amanda and drawing Gorman's attention back to her from where he's been studying the big open floor plan living and kitchen area. Everything outside of the kitchen isn't as high end as it could be, actually an almost comfortably lived in feel for such a lofty setting.

"So I see. I needed to speak to you about something, but not with an audience."

Rick indicates the main balcony. "We can step outside. Amanda was just heading to the bedroom anyway."

She doesn't know him well enough to understand exactly what he's telling her, but she rolls her eyes at the dismissal and nods. "Maybe I'll go test out that jacuzzi of yours."

But she doesn't go straight to the bedroom, strolling to the fridge and fetching herself another of the beers they had with supper. As she heads down the hall with her clothes draped over her arm, she hears Rick offer Gorman a drink, and there's the clinking of glasses. They're bypassing the beer for something from that nice liquor cabinet.

She drops her clothes on the storage bench at the end of the king size bed. The bookcase headboard is actually being used as a bookcase. Before she can actually go see which books get placed there, her phone buzzes. Checking the text, she sees "Balcony door".

It's almost enough to make her laugh at Rick's quick thinking. Unlocking the sliding glass door, she can hear voices already. Those plants that Daryl hates so much mean that Rick's bedroom balcony can't be seen at all from the main one. She eases out onto the balcony, taking a seat on the little cushioned outdoor settee positioned closest to the main balcony.

She hears Gorman's voice first. "Got the boy well trained, checking in by text like that."

"Only way to keep him on track. He's meant for more than being a Georgia cop." There's a clink of glass to metal table. "Don't want him ending up in a shotgun wedding before he's managed that."

"Texting won't stop that."

"No, but he's heard the lecture enough by now that he knows why. He won't have to give up MIT."

Gorman laughs, obviously amused. "MIT is an expensive school for a cop's kid. Tuition has got to be double what Tech's is."

"Try four times. Fifty grand a year just for tuition. Another twenty for the rest of his expenses. Same as Harvard or Yale."

Jesus Christ, that's a lot of money. Amanda's been aware of Carl's ambition for college for a while, but she hadn't realized the tuition was the same as a starting Atlanta officer's yearly salary. Hell, she's only making about ten grand more than that with her new promotion, less than the total yearly cost.

"Mighty steep price for a police lieutenant to pay, even with your ex and her husband paying their share."

"That's one of the reasons he's at Silverleaf. Tuition is free for employees' children, and the school's got a good record for Ivy League acceptance and scholarships." Rick sounds so matter of fact, talking about sums of money most cops never consider. Then again, Amanda's sitting on a balcony of a penthouse that costs probably three grand a month. The man's never been in the same world as an average cop.

"Gonna be hard to maintain this sort of lifestyle." Gorman's voice takes on a sly tone, and Amanda realizes the conversation about Carl was leading to this. "Knew you lived in one of the most expensive buildings in Atlanta, but buddy, this is the goddamn penthouse, and not one of the smaller units. Add in the muscle car, pretty little blonde, and whatever the hell you're doing fucking around with Shepherd? You got tastes more expensive than even mine. Hell, this bourbon costs as much as my monthly truck payment would if it wasn't paid off."

Considering that damned King Ranch truck is a year old and costs as much as the tuition they were just discussing, Gorman's doing better for himself than Amanda suspected if it's paid for already. This is a bigger issue, not just skimming from dealers and hookers. Going after Merle was the first clue, but this? It confirms it.

"Perhaps." There's an indistinct sound she can't identify. "Seems like you had a reason other than my finances as a reason to show up here on a Friday night."

"Nah, Lieutenant, those are exactly why I'm here."

Glass drops onto the metal table hard enough to make Amanda wince. "And why exactly is that? Are you accusing me of something?" For not being experienced at anything undercover, Rick's voice is impressively offended and icy.

"Oh, I am. But not in the way Internal Affairs would. More of an opportunity to expand what you're already doing." Gorman sounds as slimy as she's ever heard him, but he's definitely trying to hook Rick into something.

"And what exactly do you think I'm doing?"

"Money laundering is such a clean term for something so very unclean, isn't it, Grimes?"

Amanda smiles broadly, glad that Shane's false paper trail seems to have been laid just in time. Whoever his tech is, the guy deserves a pat on the back. While all the money is actually Rick's, and as clean as anything from legal business can actually be, the paperwork Amanda saw today? Makes Rick look like he's been a dirty cop for a long, long time.

"Good luck proving that." The smug asshole tone Rick uses would do Gorman proud.

"I wouldn't want to. I'm here to offer you an opportunity for more, not to mess up the good thing you got going. I've got more cash coming in than I can safely keep off IA's radar anymore. Keeping cash around is painting a target on my back I don't like."

"Don't trust your compatriots or your business partners?"

"Would you? My source says you're just as cautious, Grimes. You don't want to know what getting what information I got on you cost me. Real estate is such an easy cover, and no one ever questions a cop getting lucky with land deals or investments since they fluctuate so wildly."

"I like to pay for loyalty, although now I have to figure out where the weak point is. What are you offering, Gorman, and why should I risk it? Being cautious is why I don't have IA looking at me."

Gorman lays out his request, a larger scale of what he was trying to press Merle into doing, sending illegal cash through legitimate businesses. Amanda prays the man sees only what he wants to see; what they want him to see: Rick's an intelligent, lazy womanizer who likes the good life and wants his son out of Georgia. It's a sickeningly easy sale to make the corrupt cop. Gorman expects men to be much like himself, if presented the right opportunities.

Rick's quiet for a while, but Gorman doesn't press the issue. Finally, she hears her partner sigh before speaking. "Suppose it could be spun as helping out a fellow cop. Offering him an investment opportunity."

That earns him approving laughter from Gorman. "It wouldn't even be a lie, now would it?" A chair scrapes against the concrete of the balcony. "I'll let you get back to your evening. We'll get the details worked out later."

"Sounds like a plan."

Amanda hears more movement and assumes both men are heading inside, so she rises herself. Before she makes it back into Rick's bedroom, Gorman speaks again, less distinct now that he's not at the patio table.

"Yanno, I always thought Shepherd was a lesbian. Still not sure why you would bother, not with a sweet young blonde obviously hooked on you. Think that one might even stick around without your money."

Rick chuckles. "I'm sure she would. Beth's the sort of girl you take out for a test drive and see how you fit. Then when I marry her, she's damned grateful for it and wants to keep it. Pretty, delicate, sweet, and from a good family just well off enough to appreciate all this." The man sounds so damned fond of Beth that Amanda wonders if he realizes exactly how lovesick his tone is.

"So what's Shepherd then?"

"Woman like that? She's married to her career. Thinks growing up poor makes her special, because she's made her own way. Likes being a martyr. She's married to her job, and have you ever met a man who wanted to marry a female cop?"

The assessment stings in an unexpected way. Rick isn't saying anything she hasn't heard before from the more conservative men on the force. No matter what role her erstwhile partner is playing, hearing that shit out his mouth makes her want to punch something.

"That make her a pity fuck?" Gorman seems to like the idea, and he better not get any ideas.

The door into the living room opens, but Amanda still catches Rick's reply. "All that uptight frustration? It's a thrill you can't imagine to hear her beg for it."

The something she wants to punch feels like Rick Grimes. If they hadn't just nearly fucked on his couch, maybe it wouldn't have such impact. But for all of his denial that there's anything between him and Beth, she can't help but notice they actually like each other. The cheerful engineering student is exactly what Rick says she is: delicate, beautiful, and of good breeding. Just like Rick himself.

Like Lori wasn't.

Shaking off the thoughts quite literally, Amanda yanks open the door to head inside. What does it matter how someone like her compares to pretty Beth Greene? Nearly fucking Rick was an aberration of her normal behavior. Let Beth be the girlfriend, imaginary or otherwise. From now on, they're strictly partners.

Rick shuts the door after Gorman steps into the elevator and goes to sit on the couch, head in his hands. Speaking with the man makes him feel filthy, as if he needs a shower just from such close contact. Or a drink, although after sharing a drink out of the very expensive bottle of bourbon his mother gave him last Christmas with Gorman, maybe not. The man likes his liquor, to recognize that particular bottle versus the better known Pappy Van Winkle.

Playing to the man's obvious prejudices with so little time to plan was exhausting. He hears the clink of glass on the breakfast bar and sees Amanda setting a half full beer bottle down. She's dressed except for her shoes, which she's slipping on even as he watches.

"We need more information on what he's up to, especially if he's gaining more money than he can safely hide anymore," he tells her. He hasn't had a partner since Shane, but turning to one is second nature still, apparently.

That makes her finally look directly at him, and her expression is set in that icy, judgmental one he remembers from the first meeting in the parking garage. What the hell has set her off this time? What happened earlier was definitely more than either of them planned, but it shouldn't make her revert, should it?

"I'll take care of it."

"That's not how this works, Amanda. If he's gotten into the cover story Shane laid in, it'll be his computer geek who can best find out the source." It would have been easy enough to just ask Shane without her, but she's his partner in this.

"I can handle it." If nothing else, she seems even further offended.

"Amanda…"

She interrupts him before he can really speak, voice cold. "I said I can handle it. I don't need you holding my hand. You aren't the first male cop to see me as married to my job, so let me do it."

"We're partners, and your gender doesn't have anything to do with me saying we need to get more information. There's no one or the other of us where this goes. We have to work together because neither of us needs to be in the dark if we have an option."

"We aren't partners by choice. Would you honestly choose a female partner if allowed to pick?"

Rick gapes at her for a minute, shocked that she's taking his words to Gorman so seriously. "I never chose a partner. First they left me with my training officer for a year since we didn't have any new rookies. Then he retired, and the Sheriff paired me with Shane. But I've trained other deputies, male and female, and neither was better or worse because of their gender." Hell, one of the investigators under his supervision is a woman he thinks will end up with his job in a few years when she's more experienced.

He frowns, remembering she's only recently promoted to a supervisory position. She's had a partner more recently than him. "Was your partner that kind of asshole?"

Anger flickers into her expression now. "My first partner was a good man. He took a lot of shit for staying my partner after training."

Ah. That might explain why Amanda didn't seek out the man's help. She didn't want to cause him any more grief with the assholes of the precinct. "And the second?"

"A kid who was so damned relieved I got promoted that he bought me a gift card to celebrate."

Rick considers saying that sounds like a bit of an asshole to him, but as prickly as Amanda is, the kid probably didn't mean it the way she took it. Judging it would be unfair, just like Amanda is judging him based on doing his damn job to lure Gorman in. "I'm not either of them," he says softly, hiding the sting that her distrust causes. "What we're doing is dangerous. We have to rely on each other."

Her expression doesn't soften, but once again, they're interrupted at a key point by someone coming to the door. This time it's Beth, using her access card to get into the apartment. The girl smiles brightly at them both, holding up a covered pie from a bakery.

"You'll never guess what I found, Rick. You said chess pie was your favorite, and I know you like raspberries, so voila! Lemon raspberry chess pie."

Rick clears his throat, taking a deep breath. Beth doesn't need to know there's problems between the two people responsible for solving the Gorman problem she has. "Sounds delicious."

The blonde sets the pie down on the counter. "Maggie had an emergency surgery come up, so she dropped me back at my dorm early. Want some tea?"

Rick glances to Amanda, who still looks about as unreachable as possible. Beth's already filling the tea kettle that appeared when he told her she was staying until they resolved things with Gorman. "Sure. I need to go check in with Shane. Coming along, Amanda?"

Her jaw sets, and she shakes her head in a quick jerk. Beth's eyes narrow as she looks between them, but she doesn't comment. Heading down the hall, Rick wonders if he can manage to slip in a shower as well as a quick phone conversation. Maybe it will give Amanda time to calm down.

As soon as Rick's out of earshot, taking the decision to contact Shane out of her hands, Amanda finds herself the focus of Beth's full attention. "Do I want to know what you two are fighting about?"

"We aren't fighting. We're trying to figure out what to do next about Gorman. He came here tonight."

Beth nods, but doesn't look like she believes Amanda. "Want some tea and pie?"

Amanda shakes her head, and Beth goes and fetches the empty beer bottles from the coffee table and rinses them before putting them in a recycling bin. "That explains the expensive bourbon," the girl says, sniffing at one of the tumblers on the counter. "Smells like butterscotch." Carrying the bottle back to the liquor cabinet, Beth switches out the bourbon bottle with a bottle of vodka and a cocktail shaker.

Leaving right now would reinforce Beth's idea that they're fighting, so Amanda slumps on a stool and sips at her beer while Beth brews a pot of tea, measuring loose leaf tea from a prettily painted tin. She can't resist asking when she sees Beth begin to measure something herbal, lemon, and honey into the shaker and smush it with a wooden spoon. "What are you making?"

"Not something we would usually serve at the bar," Beth says, smiling. "But sometimes we get people asking for cocktails just to see if we can make them. So Merle gave me an app of drink recipes to practice from."

"And this one is?" Other than weird, due to the herbal addition and the pot of tea, which smells sort of floral.

"White tea vodka smash. Rick looked like he could use a drink, and he'll usually be my guinea pig." The hot tea is poured into the shaker, along with a decent measure of vodka. Beth stirs with all the flourish Amanda is used to seeing at the bar, straining the result into two glasses filled with ice. "Sure you don't want one?"

Amanda shakes her head, noting how comfortable Beth is in the kitchen. She knows where everything is, casually washing the whiskey tumblers and getting out plates and forks for the pie. Her beer is empty now, but another drink seems excessive.

Beth runs out of things to do, leaning against the counter and studying Amanda with a shrewd look she isn't used to seeing from the girl. "You're angry at him again. Why? I thought you two were in this together."

"He's taking over what I was already doing, like every other male cop does." Amanda would like to blame the poutiness in her voice on alcohol, but two beers really shouldn't hit her that hard.

"Seems like you're shutting yourself out. He asked you to go talk to Shane with him. If you assume the worst of people, that's usually what you get, and Rick's a good man."

Amanda looks at the drinks and pie and frowns. "I think you're biased."

Beth laughs. "Everyone's biased towards their friends or family. I told Shane I wanted to be involved so no other girls are harassed or worse by Gorman. It's living up to my mother's legacy a bit, but it's also because I like Merle. He's had a rough life and deserves to have better now."

"He's a charity case?" Amanda doesn't like the idea of that, even though in many ways, it's how she suspects Rick sees her oldest brother. Her tone shows it because Beth frowns.

"When my brother was about my age, he got into the same type of trouble Merle did. Do you know what happened to Shawn?"

Shaking her head, Amanda can imagine, though.

"He got five years probation and two hundred hours of community service. Everything he did before that, just fines and community service. Did Merle ever get that leeway?"

"No. And I'm guessing you know he served two years in prison." The comparison Beth makes is one that drives Amanda crazy. Shawn Greene benefited from his family in a way people like Amanda and Merle never could.

"Now some asshole is trying to mess up Merle's life, and it's not fair. It wasn't then, and it's worse now. I can help, so I will."

Beth seems so certain that it's exactly that simple. Nothing has ever seemed that clear to Amanda. It's not just Beth's youth, because Rick's reasons for getting involved were stated much the same. It also drives home what Rick said, comparing her and Beth. She might as well be an alien compared to the two of them. Beth moves around the penthouse like she's always lived here, whereas Amanda is only here because Rick is willing to include her in the investigation.

What does he really need her for? She's a complication to the investigation, not an asset. Even inexperienced, Rick handled Gorman like a pro. It's his connections setting it up, his friend protecting Merle in a way she can't, and dammit, even Daryl went to him first. Her mood tanks so far she just wants to be alone.

"I think I should head home. Rick has got this under control, I think, for now."

She almost makes it to the door before Beth calls out. "Sure you're not avoiding talking to him about that love bite on his chest?"

Dammit, hoping Beth didn't notice when it was half exposed by the strap of Rick's undershirt was apparently too much. "That was just for Gorman, to explain why I was here when you weren't. I'm certainly not his type."

Amanda can't stop herself from looking back, as much as she hates herself for it. Beth is looking so thoughtful that what she asks ought to be expected. "And what do you think his type is?"

"You. Look around, Beth. You fit in here, not someone like me. You come from the same type of world" Rick only voiced her own thoughts, after all.

Beth rolls her eyes and swings her arm at the big open living area. "You're so stuck in your prejudices and the material bits you can't let yourself actually learn who he is, can you?" The scolding tone is at odds with anything Amanda has ever heard the girl using.

"I know who he is."

Scoffing, Beth picks up one of the glasses. "You keep thinking that. It's your loss." Without a backwards look, Beth disappears down the hall.

Rick's off the phone when Beth reaches his room, looking so damned lost and tired that she wishes she could fix it for him. He's sitting in the little alcove that's set up with a television and small two-seater sofa, head in hands. His cell phone is laying on the cushion beside him.

"Brought you a drink," she calls out softly.

When he looks up, his smile is a pale imitation of the normal one, but he reaches for the glass. "Thanks. I should probably go relay what Shane said to Amanda."

"She left." Beth perches on the storage bench at the end of the bed, watching as Rick sighs and takes a drink from the glass before eyeing it closely. But he doesn't put it down, taking another drink. "Figured you could probably use a drink, but not bourbon."

"Thanks." Rick leans back on the sofa. His shirt shifts, showing the bruised skin along his collarbone even more. "Shane wants you to be extra careful."

"I am. I even took a cab back here, not the bus."

"Remind me to get you a credit card for the extra expenses."

He looks like that might upset her, so she smiles instead. "That'll certainly keep up the sugar daddy front. Do I get to flash it around a bit?"

"Might as well." Rick reaches up and rubs across his shoulder and winces.

"You should put some antibiotic cream on that." When he looks up guiltily, Beth gives him her most sympathetic smile. "That's not just setting a scene, you know."

"Certainly seemed like it," Rick mutters. He's blushing, and the obvious shyness about the mark makes him look half his age.

"No, that would be what we do. Leaving that kind of mark? That's real interest."

Rick is thinking that over, she can tell. Leaving him to it, she heads back to the kitchen and the pie she's been dying to try since she saw it this afternoon shopping with Maggie. It looks so worth the special stop at the little restaurant on the way here. Whether or not both of the stubborn cops will listen to her, she doesn't know, but she tried.