It was ten o'clock before Rae began to stir the next morning. She slowly began to stretch out and as she turned she saw Jesse still fast asleep beside her. She moved over towards him and rested her head on his chest. Just as Jesse had done the night before, she enjoyed the feeling of his skin against hers and closed her eyes again. The next thing she knew the phone was ringing insistently in her ear.
Jesse put his hand out, and without moving any other part of his body picked up the phone and put it to his ear. "Hello?"
Suddenly Rae felt herself being moved off his chest and she rubbed her eyes and looked at him. "Rae, it's almost noon, you were due in an hour ago."
"What? Oh, great." Rae looked at her watch. "Tell, whoever it is, that I'm on my way." She got up, grabbed her clothes and headed to the bathroom. She heard Jesse speaking into the phone and then he came and put his head round the door. "Ok, I said you would be there in an hour. Want me to go get you some clean stuff from next door?"
"Yes, please. Oh, Jess, make sure it matches, ok?"
Jesse stuck his tongue out at her shadow in the shower pulled his jeans and t-shirt on, and headed for the hallway.
He unlocked her door, and picked up the mail. He felt Kira wrap herself round his ankles and bent down to stroke her under her chin. Then he laid the mail on the counter. As he did so he saw an envelope bearing some handwriting that he recognised. He picked it up and slid it into his jeans. Then he went and grabbed clean underwear, a pair of black pants and a white shirt for Rae. He figured he couldn't go wrong with black and white. Then he put some cat food in the bowl for Kira, ticked the list on the refrigerator and headed back for his own apartment.
Rae came out of the shower and ran her fingers through her hair. She couldn't believe that she had slept in. She'd never been late for work since she had arrived in LA. Great now Cheryl will think I'm lazy as well as bad tempered and inconsiderate. She heard Jesse open his front door and wandered out into the living area to meet him. "Hey, what am I wearing today then?"
Jesse grinned at her. "Not a lot by the look of it."
She smiled, stuck her tongue out and looked at what he had chosen. Jesse had picked out her very best trousers, the ones she only wore for court appearances and evenings out, and a white shirt that she had last worn when she spring cleaned her apartment. She took them from him and put them on quickly. "Thank you, sweetheart. This will be fine."
Jesse smiled. "I knew I couldn't go wrong with black and white. Oh, I fed Kira, and ticked it off on the sheet."
"Thank you. Now I really must be going. I have no idea when I'll see you, but I hope it'll be soon. Have a good day." Rae leant over and kissed him on the lips. Slowly she felt his arms go round her, and hold her tight. She moved out of the kiss and looked into his eyes. "I love you so much." She rested her head on his shoulder for an instant, and then she moved towards the door. She blew him a kiss and then she was gone.
Steve sat at his desk and wondered what the matter was with Rae. He didn't think it could just be jealousy; she had never struck him as a jealous person. As for being late, well he had a feeling she would be really angry with herself for that. He got up to put the kettle on so that she could have a drink as soon as she got in. As he stood there he looked around. Martin was busy reading through the notes from last night. Rae's desk was empty and waiting for her. Cheryl wasn't due to work today. Steve wasn't sure where they were going to fit another desk in. Maybe Martin and Cheryl would have to have their desks backing on to each other. He carried on thinking as he made the drinks and he knew Rae was in before he saw her.
Rae stormed into the room. Her desk was clear so she plonked her purse down on it and hung her jacket over the back of the chair. Then she sat down and ran her fingers through her hair. She knew that she needed to get her feelings under control so that she could apologise to Steve and Cheryl and get on with her job. She looked up as a cup of tea was put in front of her. "Hi, thank you."
"No problem. Are you ok, it's not like you to be late for anything."
"I'm sorry, ok. It won't happen again. Let's get on shall we?" Rae got up and headed over to where the phone books were kept. She needed the number for a hairdressers and an optician.
"Fine, I have plenty to do." Steve turned away from her, and as he sat down his phone rang. "Sloan here… Oh, hi…Yeah, did you call the wrong extension…? What, no, look give me a minute and I'll call you back, ok?" Steve put the phone down and moved away from his desk. He walked up to Detective Campbell, whose desk was further up the room. "Can I borrow your phone?"
Steve received a nod and watched as the Detective moved over out of the way. Steve put his call in and waited.
Jesse picked up the phone on the first ring. "Steve? Listen, can Rae hear you…? Good. I went to get her some clean clothes from her apartment this morning, and the mail was on the mat. There was a letter from him…Yeah, him… No I haven't done anything with it except put it in my pocket…Ok, I'll keep it with me and I'll get it to you without her seeing…No, you need to speak to her, she'll tell you what's the matter… Yeah, bye."
Steve moved back over to his desk. His mind was too busy as it was; now he had Levington to worry about again. He picked up his phone and put a call through to Community General. "Hi, this is Lieutenant Sloan, could I speak to Doctor Bentley please?"
Rae heard Steve start his phone call, and knew that he was getting the preliminary autopsy report. Not that there was anything difficult about it. The man had been shot through the head, point blank range, probably. She clenched her fists and then released them. This whole case was making her feel very angry. At herself mainly. She knew that it hadn't been her fault that she had been injured, but if it hadn't happened then maybe this would have already been sorted out. She found the number that she wanted in the phone book and dialled.
By the time she finished on the phone she had all the information she needed and an appointment at the hairdressers for half an hour's time. She moved over to her partner's desk and tried a smile. "Steve, I have to go out. This is where I will be for the next couple of hours. If you are still here when I get back, I would like to talk to you."
Steve looked up and nodded. "I'll make sure I'm still here then, ok?" He took the proffered piece of paper and laid it on the desk, then as he watched her she turned and walked out of the squad room.
The autopsy report that Steve had got from Amanda had been just as he had expected. They had very few leads to go on. There were no security cameras in that part of the docks. It was up to the individual companies if they wanted cameras linked to their warehouses and this company obviously didn't. Steve shuffled the papers on his desk until he found the piece he wanted. The company that owned the warehouse was based in New York. He checked his watch, and decided to give it a go. Once he had dialled the number he sat and waited.
"Hello? Oh, hi, this is Lieutenant Sloan, LAPD, I wondered if I could speak to the person who deals with your Los Angeles operation…. Yes, I'll hold." Steve began to doodle on the pad in front of him. By the time he got through he had drawn four boxes and a cube. He began to explain what it was he wanted.
Martin had finished the report and was now comparing the new information with that they had already gathered on the first two murders when his cell phone rang. "Hello…? Yes, this is Martin Anderson… What, oh great…Yeah I'm still interested. I need the work… I can come over right now if you would like, Ok. See you in a while." He put the phone down with an apprehensive smile. Then he stood and walked over to Steve's desk. He could see that Steve was making notes as he talked on the phone, so he sat himself on the edge of Rae's desk and waited. Five minutes later Steve put the phone down.
"Martin? Everything ok?" Steve stood up as he began to speak.
"I just got a call from the agency, they have a vacancy for a night watchman. I guess we know what happened to the last guy, huh?"
"Yeah, I guess we do. Ok, you need to go to the temp agency and get everything rolling. You have all the paperwork that we had made up for you; once you have signed everything, go home. From now on you don't come in here, ok? You have Rae's mobile number and mine; you contact us on there. Don't use Rae, remember, it's too unusual a name, call her Susan. Otherwise when she turns up on the dock someone might spot something." Steve put his hand up to stop Martin speaking. "I know we're probably being over cautious, but that's what we decided, so from now on, she is Susan, ok?"
"Yeah, I guess, don't forget to tell her I know then. I'll see you, whenever." Martin took a last look around the squad room; he wondered how long it would be before he was back. Then giving himself a mental shake he went off down the stairs, and headed towards the agency.
Jesse walked into the ER and looked around for Mark. He had been on duty for just over two hours, and he still hadn't seen him. As he went back towards the doctor's lounge he saw a white head disappear round towards Amanda's lab. "Hey, Mark, wait up." He broke into a run and almost collided with his friend as he turned the corner. "Hi, I've been looking for you everywhere, where've you been?"
"Don't ask. I had a meeting with the board. You know I don't think I could bear to be a businessman; I would have gone nuts long ago. What were you looking for me for?"
"I wondered if you could take this home and give it to Steve for me. I'm working through tonight, so I won't get the chance." Jesse handed over a large brown envelope with 'Steve' written on the front.
"Sure, what is it?" Mark looked at it and turned it over in his hands.
"It's a letter, inside the big envelope, that I picked up from Rae's place this morning. It's from Levington. She doesn't know anything about it."
Mark shuddered. They had all thought that when Phil Levington had been jailed for twenty years for stalking Rae, and almost killing Jesse that their problems were over, but he had been sending mail to Rae on and off ever since, although she knew nothing about it. "Ok, I'll see that he gets it tonight when he comes home. Thanks, Jess."
Jesse started to speak but they were interrupted by a voice floating through the air, calling both of them to the ER.
Steve had been looking at the information from New York for about half an hour. The only good thing about starting an undercover operation was that you didn't get called out on other things. He had been able to spend the whole day in the precinct, and he had got a lot done. This though was a dead end. The man that Steve had spoken to had been extremely vague, he had said a lot, but revealed nothing. The warehouse operation on the docks was just a very small cog in an enormous wheel. It was a small operation, importing and exporting international magazines and newspapers. Every now and again, Rae would buy a copy of a magazine that she used to read in England. Steve guessed that it could quite easily have come in through Wagon Warehouses. She also got a daily paper sometimes; he wasn't so sure about that.
He began to look through the details of the company in Los Angeles that he had been provided with. From what he understood it was just a branch office. The revenue from the warehouses was invoiced from Los Angeles, but the money was paid straight to New York. Still he had the address to contact the next day just to see what they could find out from this end. He guessed that Rae and he could go and do that first thing in the morning. As he began to work out a plan in his mind his spare cell phone rang and he answered it. "Yup!"
Rae parked Tom and walked back into the precinct. She had a smile on her face and she was waiting to see if she got any reaction. Bob was working on the desk, and he didn't look up as she walked up to him. So she shrugged her shoulders and carried on up the stairs. As she entered the squad room she saw Steve put his cell phone back into his pocket and begin to write something down. She walked across, put her hands down on his desk and waited.
Steve looked at the hands on his desk. They had long lilac nails, which had silver shooting stars going up the middle of them. He looked up to see who they belonged to and nearly fell off his chair. "Good God! What happened to you?"
Rae smiled and tossed her hair off her shoulders. "I started to get into character, what do you think?" she took her hands back off the desk and ran them through her hair, but this time it wasn't just a short trip across her head. Her hair was no longer brown and short, but blonde and long, very long. The front parts were in tiny plaits and had been caught back in a lilac coloured clasp on the back of her head. Her brown eyes were now green, and she looked completely different.
"Well, I don't think your own mother would recognise you. But you still sound the same. But I guess nobody is going to realise you are Reagan Yeager, the most famous detective in LA!" Rae stuck her tongue out at him. "Unless you do that!" Steve smiled at her. "It's on for tomorrow. I just got a call. I have a job as a security guard. I start at six p.m. Twelve-hour shift. I can hardly wait!"
"Well the van is ready, all I have to do is stock it up and Cheryl and I can be there whenever you want. What about Martin?"
"He went to the temp agency this afternoon. He got Jenkins old job. He starts at eight-tomorrow night. So I think we should both leave here now. We won't be able to come back until this is finished."
Rae looked at him. "I still need to talk to you. Do you fancy a take out at my place?"
"Yeah, sure. I'll follow you, ok?"
Rae climbed into Tom and pulled out into the traffic. She drove to Bob's and waited in the parking lot while Steve went in and picked up a meal for the two of them. She didn't want anybody to see her looking as she did. She watched as Steve came back out and got into his car and then she drew away again and headed for home.
The barbeque smelt wonderful as they walked up the hallway together. Rae unlocked her door and they entered. Kira began to purr as she saw Rae and so she bent down and picked her up. The cat began to flick her paws at the long hair that was hanging over Rae's shoulders, and she laughed as she put her back down. "You know I've never had hair this length before, I love it."
It didn't take them long to eat their food, and then Steve stared over at his partner. She seemed much more calm, maybe Cheryl was part of the problem. He wasn't sure how to start the conversation but he knew he had to try. "Are you ok? What made you so angry? Was it Mrs Franks?"
"Yes it was partly Mrs Franks. Do you know what I found out yesterday when I went visit with her? No, obviously you don't, seeing as you haven't bothered to go yourself." Rae could feel her anger rise again, but she carried on. "She isn't coping with her loss at all. Her house is a mess; nobody seems to be giving her any back up. The garden is uncared for, paint is peeling off the windows, and just to cap it all, her children have been taken into care. All because we didn't do our job properly." Rae was shouting now, but she didn't care. All the guilt of the day before came rushing back.
"Ok, that's enough! No, I didn't go see her; I didn't think it was necessary. Maybe I was wrong. I'm sorry about her children, and the fact that she isn't getting the assistance she needs but it'll keep, I have other things on my mind. I'm worried about you, Rae, this assignment is important, and it could be dangerous. I don't want you doing it if you don't think you can keep up with the rest of us."
"Why wouldn't I be able to? If you don't want me on your team, Lieutenant, you just let me know. I'm sure you can find another willing helper from your list of previous partners!" Rae had carried on blazing. Even with the green contacts in, Steve recognised the danger signs.
"Rae, maybe it's because you aren't quite back up to speed yet. You had a life threatening injury, perhaps these feelings are a natural part of your recovery, or possibly you just need to get more rest now than you did before." Steve knew he had said the wrong thing immediately the words left his lips.
"Maybe it's just you I need the rest from!" Rae's anger suddenly changed and Steve saw panic cross her face. "I can't believe you just said that. You were the only person who treated me as if I was better for a long while. You didn't speak to me like a child, you phoned me, even though my answers took a long time. Do you think that I am getting worse again? That maybe I will go back to being childlike? Is that why you don't want to work with me?" There was fear in Rae's voice, but Steve chose to ignore it, knowing that getting to the real heart of the matter would settle her down much more effectively.
"But I do want to work with you. You're my partner. But maybe Cheryl is right. Maybe you are jealous."
"Yeah, I'm jealous of her. And I know I shouldn't be, I hate myself for it, but that's how I feel. She worked with you for a long time. She obviously wants to work with you again…" Rae turned away from him, she knew if she looked at him she would let more of the hurt and anger from yesterday spill out.
"Why? She's a lovely lady, Rae, I want you two to get along together. She does too. I think that the four of us, Cheryl, Martin, you and I will make a great team. But you have to be prepared to climb down off your high horse and get to know her."
"High horse. You think I'm on a high horse? How would you react if you found your life turned upside down like mine was yesterday? Cheryl comes back, and all of a sudden, I have no partner, no desk, somebody else gives my report to the Captain, I go to a murder scene, our murder scene, and there she is. And you, you hardly spoke to me after she arrived in the squad room. You and Martin spent all day with her. How dare you say I was … whatever it was you said I was?" Rae stood up and began to move away.
Steve stood too and put his hands on her shoulders to stop her. He turned her to him. "Listen. Don't say a word, just listen. The reason Martin and I spent all day with her, was that we were showing her the cases that she would be working on, with her new partner… Martin. She was also getting to know him, as she will be with him from now on. Rae, I asked the Captain to team Cheryl with Martin, so that you and I can work together permanently."
"Oh." Rae looked down and felt Steve's hand gently lift her chin. They looked into each other's eyes, and almost without realising what was happening she felt his lips come down onto hers and begin to kiss her. She began to respond to him and suddenly felt his tongue as it probed deep into her mouth, and his hands as they ran through the long blonde hair that fell over her shoulders. "Steve…" Rae was going to say, 'no, we mustn't,' but Steve's mouth claimed hers in another, deep longing, loving kiss. She went to pull away from him, but his arms were strong around her and she gave in and began to kiss him again.