March 15th

Cassie St John excused herself away from her current partner to slip into the captain's office. She closed the door behind her "So what happened yesterday?"

Harry looked up from his paperwork. "What do you mean?"

"With Tom and IAB." She said, "What happened?"

"If Tom wants you to know he'll tell you. But I don't see that happening, Cassie." He said and looked at his paperwork again. It broke his heart. This whole affair with Tom broke his heart. He had taken a step back to be an 'impartial' advocate for Tom, which was why he'd been included in the meeting the day before. Cassie had pulled back for reasons of her own, and now she had to deal with the fact that Tom didn't appear to want anything to do with her.

"Why not? I don't understand anything where he's concerned anymore. I thought I did but I guess I don't."

"Detective, I believe you have three unsolved homicides on your desk that you need to work on more than the mystery of why your ex-husband is no longer your best friend."

"Ouch." She said "Fine, I'll get on it. But Harry… Will is alright. He's a good cop but he's a lousy homicide detective."

"Then I guess you'll have to work twice as hard to clear your caseload. So get to it, unless you'd like to put in a transfer to another unit."

"I said I'll get on it, Gees." She said and left the room. Things must have gone very badly indeed.

Tom got up early that morning and went for a run. It was the first time in months and by the time he'd finished five miles he thought he was going to throw up. He'd gotten horribly out of shape and he just couldn't let continue.

His arm was doing much better. Not 100% yet but he had hoped that it would be sooner than anticipated. If he was careful and didn't overdo it.

He gave the apartment the once over to make sure there was nothing out of place before getting into the shower. It was too soon to call her and agree to go out with her again. He'd call her that evening, or the following morning. Meanwhile, he had bills to pay and groceries to buy and Physical Therapy in the afternoon.

There was a reason he'd never gone undercover for the long term in the past. He didn't think he was suited for it. The level of paranoia and isolation necessary made it difficult for a man like Tom. He was open, he was social and he wore his heart on his sleeve.

Whatever it took, he'd get used to it, because there was no way he was going to let anyone else near Maura. Eventually, Alexander would get over himself and stop chasing wild geese. Until then he'd do what he had to do and see what he could do to prove that she didn't have contact with Vittorio Rossi.

He ran his errands, finding that it was getting easier to shift gears than it had been before he'd started physical therapy. He paid his bills and spent an hour with his physical therapist working on isometric exercises to strengthen his arm and hand.

Once home he started a pot of lentil soup and took out his cell phone and called Maura's number.

"Hello?"

"Hey, it's me." He said

"Well, hello, Me." She said in return. It was an old exchange between them "How are you?"

"I'm …better than I was this time yesterday. I want to thank you for last night. I was getting bogged down in everything. It really helped." It had helped, even though he felt like he was no better than Virginia at the moment.

"I can't blame you." She said, "And I'm glad I could help."

"Look, ahm… Would you like to go out tomorrow night? To a movie maybe?"

"I would like that very much." She said and he could hear her smile in her voice. "Do you know what's playing?"

"Not a clue. We can just go and figure it out when we get there." He said, remembering how they used to do that every Saturday afternoon. "Grab something to eat in the mall afterward."

"Just like old times." She said.

"So I'll pick you up around 5 pm then?" He asked. "I forgot to ask if you're working, I'm sorry."

"Not at the moment. I am on call for restorations when needed at several museums. Other than that I occasionally verify artwork before it's purchased. I want to eventually have my gallery but for now, I'm content."

"Verify artwork? So you prevent forgeries from being purchased? That's no small feat."

"It's not life or death, but I like to think it's a necessary profession."

He leaned back in his chair. "What's your most amazing restoration?"

"Do you remember when I used to drag you to the art museums?"

"You only had to drag me the first time. After that I loved seeing it all through your eyes.., I even go on my own now. I have a story about that for later." He said. "But yeah, I remember."

"Remember the artist that I loved so much, the one who painted with dots. Seurat."

"I remember. I also remember they chased us out of the museum once because you had to get as close as you could so you could see all those dots." He smiled at the memory. The guards had not taken kindly to a teenage girl getting behind the velvet ropes and practically putting her nose up against the painting.

"There is a museum in Miami that has one of his paintings. They hired me to restore it. It was the most incredible thing I have ever seen. I got to be as close as it's possible to get. The varnish was tarnishing and it needed to be stripped and reapplied."

"That had to be incredible, to add your hand to the work of an artist you practically idolized." He said, "I'd like to see it sometime."

"We'll go soon. Are they restricting where you go? With the charges pending ?"

"Not really. At least they haven't told me not to leave town again, and until they do, I'll go where I please." Not true. That was how he'd wound up arrested in the first place because he'd left the jurisdiction. But he was certain they would let him go where needed as long as it wasn't back to Boston. After all the judge had only said that he needed to keep them informed when he left town.

"Next weekend?"

"It's a date." He said. God, he wished this was real. "I can't believe how accepting you are. I'm gonna wake up and this will all be some dream. "

"You forget who I grew up with. What happened to you, what you did, is tame compared to the things I had to accept growing up if I wanted to love my father. ."

"I've had to shoot and fight people in the line of duty. That was the first time it happened in my private life. It's going to be the last." He said. The worst part of it was that he'd thought it was in the line of duty when he'd done it.

"Good. I didn't think you were a violent man, but it's been a long time."

"Yeah, it has." He said "It still feels like it used to. Am I insane?"

"You never forget your first." She said, "That's not insane."

He got up and went to check the lentil soup, stirring as he talked "Good. Not that I'd object if it was." There was a knock at his door and he frowned at the timing. "Someone's here." He looked through the peephole. "Oh god, it's my ex-wife." He groaned.

"I'm sorry."

"I'm going to let you go." He said as Cassie rapped again. "I'll see you tomorrow at five."

"Good night Thomas," Maura said and ended the call.

Tom opened the door and let Cassie enter the room. "What do you want, Cassie?"

"Wow, you cleaned house." She said as she looked around.

"Yeah well as well as being a liar when I'm sober, I'm also pretty tidy, even if not by your OCD standards."

"When are you going to let that go?" She asked. "The being a liar when sober thing. It's getting old."

"I'm not." He said, "I have no intention of ever letting go of that."

"I never said it, Tom. I never said you're a liar when sober."

"Not in those words but yes you did." He said "What do you want? Are you playing messenger again?"

"I wanted to see if you were okay." She said. He looked better than the last time she'd seen him. She hoped that was because things were looking up with IAB.

He raised an eyebrow. "Why now?" He asked "You couldn't be bothered for two months, and now here you are two days in a row. What game are you playing? Better yet, whose game are you playing."

"I miss you. I miss us. Not the married us, but us as friends, as partners." She said, "I know I have been distant for the last couple of months-"

"Cassandra, you weren't distant, you were absent entirely. When I needed a friend the most you couldn't be bothered." He said moving away from her. "I'm as okay as I'm going to get. So now you know and you can leave."

"How is it that you can tell me you never loved me, but I'm the one that's the villain?"

"I was drunk and I was angry. People say things they don't mean when they're drunk and Angry. Everyone knows that but you." He said " I miss working with you, Cassie. We were a great team. But we both know I'm never getting my badge back. Our marriage died of starvation. Our friendship … you walked away from that. So I can't think of a single reason you have to be concerned about how I'm doing. Now, I would like you to leave. Please don't come back here."

Tears welled in her eyes. "Alright." She said, "If you change your mind and want to talk, you know where to find me."

"I won't. Goodbye Cassie."

That was hard. He did still care about Cassie. Part of him would always love her. But he couldn't have her anywhere near this and that meant she could be nowhere near him. Besides, every word of it was true.

Maura's phone rang before she was through putting in the number from her previous call as Tom Ryan. The one coming in was already on her contact list. She sighed, then felt bad. She answered "Hey, Dad. How are you?"

"I'm good. A bit worried about you though." He said.

"And what have your spies told you about this time? That I've started taking yoga classes instead of tai chi, or that I've had Tom Ryan over for dinner?"

"They're not spies, they're bodyguards there for your protection. If you're not going to take steps to protect yourself then I have to do it for you. Of course, you could always come back to Boston."

"I like my life here, Dad. You know that."

"Get back into Tai Chi and I will worry less." He said. "So how did you run into Thomas?"

"At the gym where I take a Yoga class. He was in the coffee shop. We got to reminiscing so I invited him to dinner."

"How did that go?" He asked, his tone worried.

"He didn't stay over if that is what you're asking."

"I know that. He left at 12:15 AM."

"And you say they aren't spies as though it was actually true," She said and sighed. "Nothing happened that couldn't be watched by small children and nuns. Before you ask the next question, yes I'm going to see him again. No, I'm not in love with him anymore but I wouldn't mind it."

"There's no future in that boy. I've been telling you that since you were sixteen years old."

"You know, all those men you did approve of, they're the ones that hurt me. Not the least of which was the doctor I was engaged to, the one that turned out to be the family doctor. You liked him just fine even though you know I don't want anything to do with that part of your life."

"He could take care of you, protect you. Of course, I was pleased when you two began to date."

"Well, that is why I live in Palm Beach, not Boston. I love you, Dad. Very much, but you need to stop trying to control me. It's not going to happen."

"You are every inch your mother's daughter." He said with a chuckle.

"That's funny. She says I get it from you." Maura said "Give your wife my best and stop worrying so much. Good night, Daddy."

"Good night, Princess." He said and ended the call. He dialed another number. "Gino, it's Tony Palmeri, I need you to get down to Palm Beach. I want to know everything there is to know about Tom Ryan."

March 16th

Cassie went into the office a little late the following morning. She had a splitting headache and a serious case of the blues after her conversation with Tom. The past two encounters had been painful at best. She knew him better than he knew himself, or at least she used to think so. He was just lashing out because he was hurt. He felt betrayed by everyone, which just wasn't true.

"Earth to St John," Will said. He was one of the few people she knew who was taller than Tom. The women at the precinct thought he was fairly dreamy with dark hair and dark eyes and a lopsided smile."Are you with me here?"

"What? Oh, sorry." She said "I didn't sleep well last night. Where were we?"

" We were about to go interview the Vic's sister." He said. "Are you alright? You look a little green."

"Yeah. It's just a headache." She said. More like a heartache, but she wasn't going to tell him that. "Let's go."

Harry watched as Cassie and Adams left the squad room and shook his head. It made him even angrier with IAB and DA Alexander. Tom should be here working homicide, not on some wild goose chase that was probably going to get him killed. You could mess with the mob and survive. What you could not do was mess with a mob boss's daughter and come out the other side with your skin intact. He shook his head and went back into his office. He didn't want to go to Tom's funeral. He still wasn't over Chris Lorenzo's.

Tom was glad that he still had the mustang. At least he could pick up his date in style. He was a bit ashamed of how intimidated he was by her wealth. This whole situation was messed up and he'd rather go to jail than hurt her. She didn't deserve it. But then someone else would just take his place and they would really hurt her.

He took a deep breath as he parked the car in front of her home. "I can do this… It's a date. I'm not looking for information tonight. it's just a date." He whispered. He got out of the car and walked up to the door.

He was let inside and went into the living room and smiled seeing Maura there, putting in a pair of earrings. She tilted her head to the side and dark hair spilled over her shoulder. She was still one of the most beautiful women he'd ever seen. That girl next door's wholesomeness mingled with slightly exotic features took his breath away.

"Hi." He was able to say it eventually. It was her turn to blush slightly.

"The last time you looked at me that way was when you picked me up for Senior Prom. Dad almost didn't let me go because of that look."

"If he had known what we were going to get up to later that night I think he'd have had me taken out and shot," Tom said as he stepped closer to her. "It would have been worth it."

"Oh no, He'd have done it himself." She said with a laugh. "He called last night. I had just gotten off the phone with you when he called. As predicted his spies told him you were here." She grabbed her purse.

"How'd he take the news? " He asked as they walked toward the front door.

"About like you'd expect. He spewed the same thing he did when we were in high school."

"There's no future in it. He's a fireman's son, Maura." He said imitating her father's tone and cadence. He opened the door for her. He thought about locking it before they left but the maid was inside and would lock it up before she went home.

"Pretty much." She said, "And it had about as much effect as it did then too."

"Glad to hear it." He said "Otherwise I'd be going to the movies alone. Dejected and forlorn. Crying into my popcorn."

"That would be terrible. There is nothing worse than soggy popcorn." She said, "I am more than happy to save you from soggy popcorn."

"Sure, you'll save me from soggy popcorn, but you'll make me suffer through extra butter and diet soda." He teased.

"Absolutely. A girl has to have standards."

Tom laughed. "And diet soda has never been a hill I'm willing to die on." He said.

"You never needed it." She said.

"And you did? Since when?" He asked. He opened the car door for her.

"Mirrors lie," Maura said.

"Cheerleader uniforms don't." Tom pointed out. They had been the stereotype while in high school. He had been the captain of the football team and she was the head cheerleader.

They enjoyed the movie. He hadn't been in the mood for an action film, especially not the buddy cop movie that was playing, she hadn't been in the mood for the rom-com. So they had settled on a vampire movie. It was supposed to be serious but they found themselves laughing at it as if it were a comedy. When the people around them would glare at them like unruly teenagers it just made them laugh more. They eventually left the multiplex to walk around the outdoor mall to look for someplace to eat.

"You know I had a case a while back where this guy thought he was a vampire."

"Seriously? Did he wind up in a psych ward?"

Tom made a face "No I um…I had to kill him."

"I'm sorry." She said, "I know they say that gets easier but I can't imagine it does."

"On one level it does. I don't hesitate when it's necessary like I did the first time." He said. "In other ways, it's worse every time." Especially the last time.

She squeezed his hand. She started to speak when someone else beat her to it.

"Tom?" Cassie asked, "What are you doing here?" She hadn't gotten the impression the last time that she had seen him that he was communicating with actual human beings anymore. IAB did not count.

"Just got out of the movie theatre, why?" He asked, his tone was tight, as was his expression.

"No reason, I just didn't expect to see you here is all. Who's your friend?" Girlfriend? Not again, Thomas, Please not again.

"Maura, this is my ex-wife and ex-partner Cassie St. John. Cassie, this is Maura Palmeri."

"Maura…as in your prom date Maura."

"One in the same," Maura said and extended her hand. "It's nice to meet you."

Cassie hesitated briefly before taking the other woman's hand. Was Tom making another mistake? This soon after the last one? Wasn't this the girl whose father was the mafia guy?

"Yeah, you too." She said and gave Tom the patented 'what are you thinking look.

"Well, we're going to go get something to eat. So goodbye, Cassandra." He said and started to walk away. Why wouldn't she just stay away? He didn't want her to get hurt when this all hit the fan.

"She's carrying a torch," Maura said. "I just can't tell if she wants to use the torch to light your fire, or light you on fire."

"Ah…now see if you knew Cassie you'd know that it's both. Until recently I felt the same way. "

She laughed a little. "How recently?"

"Before I started dating Virginia." He said. "Don't worry it's not a rebound thing."

"I know." She said. "Besides," She teased "I was there first." She shrugged.

"You don't have an insecure bone in your body do you?" He asked as he slipped his arm around her. One of the things he'd always liked about her. She wasn't a giant ball of anxiety begging for validation.

"Oh, I totally have insecurities." She said. "Your ex-wife isn't one of them."

"You know when our captain decided we needed to be partners again despite the divorce, I hated the idea. I was pissed off and hurt and the last person I wanted to see every day was Cassie." He said "But then we started solving cases. We were lousy as a couple but as partners it was magic. Then we started being friends again. Which was pretty great. I just knew I could depend on her without question. And I started to remember what it was like when other things were great too."

"What happened to change that?" She asked.

"I got lonely. She was seeing someone else and I thought well, I could go out with other people too, and maybe the next time we were single I'd ask her out. Then I met Virginia. I thought I'd fallen in love all over again and you know the rest of that story." He said "But anyway, I said some stupid things when I was drunk, and she wouldn't accept my apology or believe that I didn't mean it. So when the shit hit the fan she avoided me like the plague. Do you still like Cuban food? There's a great restaurant just around the corner."

Maura knew that was the cue that he was no longer wanting to discuss his ex-wife. Not that she minded that subject change. She wasn't jealous or insecure but no woman wanted to hear about the beautiful woman that came before her. Especially one that was so obviously still carrying a torch. "Cuban sounds great."

Cassie continued to the storefront where her partner was waiting.

"What kept you?" Will asked as they entered the crime scene together.

"Nothing. I just ran into my ex." She said. "Who is here with his high school sweetheart? What is it with women from Boston showing up to sleep with Tom Ryan? First his senior Chemistry teacher and now the girl he took to the prom."

"Don't know, don't care St. John." He said. "Neither should you. He's disgraced himself and the badge. You dodged a bullet, and you know it."

"No, I don't, and if the District Attorney actually thought so he'd have pressed charges by now. Internal affairs would have had him completely dismissed instead of suspending him. Don't talk about what you don't know." She said. It made her angry when people talked Tom down. Sure she needled him, but that was different. She was his friend. Friends picked on each other. That was all it was. He'd taken it differently.

"I know the two of you have a history, and part of that is a history of deciding which rules apply and which ones don't."

"Look I know you mean well, but we haven't known each other long enough for it to be okay for you to pick at my life. Drop it."

"If you don't want to talk about him, maybe you shouldn't bring him up so often." He countered "The body's in here."

"Oh wow, I am stuffed," Maura said as they walked back to his car from the restaurant.

"Now you know how I felt the other night." Tom said, "And I'd have had more if I thought I could hold it."

"Thank you." She said. "Next time I'll send leftovers home with you."

"I'm not going to turn that down." He said with a grin. He stepped over to open the passenger side door and paused seeing the red and blue flashing lights at the end of the block. Every instinct said to go check it out. Everything he'd been…

"Tom?" She asked.

"What? Oh sorry. Distracted by the lights." He said and opened her door. "Once a cop always a cop I guess." He closed the door for her once she was inside the car then went to the driver's side. He pulled away from the curb and out of the general vicinity of the restaurant.

"Where do you live?" she asked.

"In a part of town, you shouldn't see let alone be in." He said.

"Don't start." She said with a sigh.

"Don't start what?"

"Treating me like a delicate little princess who can't handle reality."

"I never said that you were. I just… I'm ashamed okay? I'm ashamed of where I'm living now." He said honestly. " And I'm afraid that if you see it, you'll start thinking I'm out for your money."

"I know better than to think anything so foolish as that." She said, "I want to go home with you, Tom."

He nearly panicked. Taking her out, spending time with her, he could convince himself it was no harm no foul. He could pretend it wasn't for all the wrong reasons, because they were both enjoying themselves, and there was history there. But he couldn't put making love into that category. No matter how much he wanted her, not with that lie between them.

"I… I will admit that thought has crossed my mind a lot since we ran into each other. But I have a bad habit of falling in love at light speed and screwing things up. I don't want to do that again. Especially not with you. Let's take this slow. Please."

"Okay." She said. "I can do that."

March 19

Tom showed up for his scheduled appointment that Friday, with IAB and Craig Alexander. He was pleased to see Harry there too.

"Alright, " Galloway said "Let's get your initial report out of the way before your union rep gets here. I scheduled us half an hour before she gets here."

"There's not much to report. Unless you want to know what she made for dinner or what movie we went to see." Tom said

"You haven't found the connection between her and Vittorio Rossi?" Galloway asked, in a frustrated and almost menacing tone.

"No, I haven't. But we both know the connection. Rossi works for her father. This isn't an interrogation. I'm not going to put her under hot lights and break out the rubber hoses. If the feds thought that would work they'd have done it a long time ago. I'm gaining her trust again. It's been 17 years since we dated. That's not going to come back overnight."

"He's right," Craig said. "We knew this was going to take time before we approached him with this."

"I think maybe if he was aware of how bad things could be in prison he'd work faster."

Tom didn't flinch. He didn't give much of a reaction at all. "We're going to Miami this weekend."

"Isn't that what got you into trouble in the first place?" Galloway said.

"No, what got me into trouble in the first place was trusting the wrong person." He said. "I won't be making that mistake twice." He looked pointedly at the IAB investigator. "If you would rather I can cancel my plans with her because IAB says I'm not trustworthy enough to leave town."

"No, you can go." The District Attorney said, and gave Galloway a look that dared him to push it. "Whatever it takes within reason to find out where Rossi fits in. A weekend in Miami is a small concession in the face of that. When are you leaving?"

"Tonight," Tom said.

"Where are you going to be staying?"

"I didn't ask." He said honestly. He hadn't wanted to have that answer to give them. He wanted to make sure there was somewhere he could talk to her that couldn't be bugged.

"What did you ask? Have you done anything but play boyfriend and girlfriend with this girl?"

"The Woman in question is a smart lady. She has spent her entire life dodging questions about her father, his business, and his friends. Her father has spies watching and reporting to him every day. Do you really think that in one week, I could get any further than two dates?"

"Start pushing, Ryan, or get used to a lifetime in orange" Galloway said.

"Enough., Harry said sharply. "That's enough. He's not a magic 8 ball. This isn't an episode of must-see tv. I don't know if you've forgotten how it actually works while you're sitting here in your ivory tower. But investigation takes time. There are undercover agents that have been there for years. So can the impatience, it's counter productive."

There was a knock at the door and Galloway said "Come in," in a sharp tone.

Jessica Montoya entered the room "You haven't started with out me have you?"

"No." Tom said "We're just sitting here glaring at each other."