A couple days had passed since the incident with the brick. Alex, still, had not reported it to the police, and Claire was still hounding her about it. Alex had decided not to report it, because she did not want the press to get a hold of the story and put it on the news. She did not want that kind of press. However, Alex was still being haunted by the idea that someone might be stalking her. She really had not slept in days. She spent her time after work sitting on her couch watching infomercials on the Public Access channel. It was blatantly obvious that she was tired, but too worried to sleep. That was when her phone rang. She stared at the phone while it rang. Her sleepless nights were starting to take a toll on her.

"It could be Claire, or Jack. Maybe It's Munch. I'll bet Claire called him and told him about the other day. I'm not answering. Maybe…" Just then her answering machine picked up.

**You've reached Alex Cabot, please leave a message.** Alex waited for the caller to leave a message, but much to her dismay, the caller hung up. Alex hung her head.

"What's wrong with me?" She sighed before she broke into tears.

The next afternoon Munch and Fin were interrogating a man they suspected of soliciting minors.

"Your girls have already sold you out, man." Said Munch

"They claim that you threatened them." Growled Fin.

"Bitches." The perp mumbled.

"What was that pal?" Snapped Fin. Fin and Munch continued to interrogate the man while Captain Cragen looked on. Just then a very disheveled Alex walked into the room.

"What do you have?" she bluntly stated.

"A store keeper found the body of a 14 year old prostitute behind his store on the North side. After talking with some of the ladies who worked the avenue, they said there was a circuit of minors working the streets. We got his name, tracked him down, and picked him up."

"Whatever, book him." Said Alex as she walked out the door. Cragen knocked on the window before he followed Alex.

"Alex, are you alright?" Cragen asked

"Yea, fine." She said as she made her way out of the office room.

"What's up?" Fin asked.

"Alex says to book him."

"Where is she?" asked Munch.

"She's left." Said Cragen. Munch trotted out of the office room and ran to the stairs to see if she was still there.

"Alex!" He yelled as he hopped down the stairs.

"Yea."

"How are you?"

"I'm fine, John." Replied Alex.

"You sure, you look tired?"

"I'm fine." Said Alex, "I gotta go." With that Alex quickly walked away leaving Munch confused in the stairwell.



Munch walked back into the station room with the same confused look on his face.

"Is she ok?" Cragen asked.

"I don't know. She claims to be, but something has to be wrong." Said Munch, "She looks exhausted."

"I'm sure she'll be ok." Said Cragen, "She's got a good head on her shoulders. If she needed help, I'm sure she'd come to us."

"I'm going to take a couple hours personal time." Said Munch as he grabbed his coat, "Fin, book that guy."



Alex walked back into her office to try and get some paper work done. She handed a chunk of her cases to some of the other attorneys in the office, but she still had a good load to work with. She had cut up a garbage bag and taped it to the hole in the window. She sat down at her desk and noticed a white flower box sitting on her desk next to a pile of letters. She picked up one of the letters and found her address was typed onto the envelope and no return address. She opened the letter and swallowed her heart as she read it. She opened up the box and found a box full of black tulips. A few tears began to roll down her cheek as stood up and backed away from the box. Just then there was a knock on her office door. She walked over to the door and slowly opened the door a crack.

"Hungry?" Asked Munch holding up a bag of carry out from the deli down the block.

"John." She sighed as she opened the door and wiped away her tears as she let him in. John took notice of her teary eyes, but kept the comment to himself.

"What happened to your window?"

"Oh, a… Pigeon flew into it." she lied.

"That must have been some pigeon." Laughed Munch.

"I guess." Said Alex, "What did you bring for lunch?"

"I stopped at Beroski's on the way over." Smiled Munch, "I got you a Turkey and Provolone." He handed her the sandwich.

"What brings you over my way?"

"I was in the area, thought I'd stop by."

"You were pretty busy at the station when I left, don't lie." Smirked Alex.

"I'm making sure you're alright."

"I'm fine, John, really." She assured him.

"You look exhausted." He said as he ate his sandwich.

"I'm a little tired, but it's expected in this profession." Said Alex

"I've known you for 3 years Alex, I've never seen you in this state." Said John, "I'll admit, I'm a little worried." He continued to eat his sandwich.

"Don't be." She sighed, "I'm fine."

"You know that if you need anything, you can call me right?" asked John.

"Believe me, if I need your help, I'll call." Smiled Alex, John smiled back at her.



The rest of the day dragged on for Alex. Before she left her office, she called for a cab to meet her at the building so she would not have to wait for one, and then made it a point to walk out of the building with Claire.

"Alex, have you called Curtis about the other day yet?" Claire asked.

"No."

"Why not?" said Claire

"I'm afraid of the press getting a hold of the story. I don't want publicity like that." Sighed Alex.

"What if someone is stalking you? You could be in real danger, if something were to happen to you; at least the police would have the evidence. What did you do with the brick?"

"It's in my office." Replied Alex as they walked out the door.

"Please, go to the police about it." Pleaded Claire.

"No, Claire, I am not." Said Alex, "and please stop pressing me about it."

"Fine."

"I'll see you tomorrow." Said Alex as she got into her cab.

"Yeah." Sighed Claire as she watched Alex off.



It was late in the evening, and Fin had just walked into his apartment. He looked around and shook his head.

"This place is too clean." He sighed as he kicked his shoes off in any direction. He looked in the kitchen and saw Celia asleep at the table with her head on magazine. He went and got changed into his black sweatpants and a white tank top. When we walked back out of the bedroom, he noticed something.

"Celia!" he yelled. Celia was startled awake.

"What! What's wrong?" she snapped up.

"Where is the Grand Master Flash poster, I asked you not to touch?" Fin said putting his hands on the kitchen table.

"It's not on the wall?" Celia asked.

"No, it's not." Fin Growled.

"Oh yeah, I took it down earlier so I could wash the wall."

"Where is it?" asked Fin. Celia thought for a moment.

"I can't remember." Replied Celia, "I'll look for tomorrow."

"Whatever." Sighed Fin as he kissed the top of her head.

"Oh, Sweetie, I'm going back to work tomorrow, too." Said Celia.

"Already?"

"I'm bored. I can't clean anymore." Said Celia.

"There is no more furniture to buy." Laughed Fin.

"Very funny." Said Celia as she smacked his arm, "I talk to Anita Van Buren today. She wants me to start as soon as humanly possible."

"Is she gonna process all of your paper work from the feds?" Fin asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure she got it done today, since she wants me to start tomorrow" Smiled Celia.

"Tell Anita I said hi."

"You know her?"

"Yea, we were both in narcotics at one point." Said Fin, "She got promoted to Homicide long before I transferred to Special Victims." Celia walked over to the fridge and pulled out a Tupperware container.

"Here's dinner. I made some spaghetti." Smiled Celia.

"Thanks." Said Fin as he grabbed it off the counter and threw it in the Microwave.

"Fin, You know one of these days we need to get married." Smiled Celia.

"I need to tell my family you're back first." Smirked Fin, "and maybe you should call your sister."

"Maybe." Sighed Celia.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I know this was sucky place to leave the chapter at, but I feel a need to bring Celia more into this story and this is how.

Vegea.