Alex was sitting on the leather sofa in Mitchell's office waiting for him to return. While he waited Lily came in and sat herself in an opposing chair and gave him a forced smile.

"Where is Mitchell?" She asked haughtily.

"I have no idea." Alex stated just as high and mighty.

"He better turn up soon, I have to prepare for sleep." She said tossing her dark hair over her shoulder.

"It's eight at night." Alex said giving her a funny look.

"Yes and I take pride in pampering myself, you must do certain things before sleep to ensure maxim rest and beauty." She stated then smirked, "Not that I need any help."

"Course not." Alex rolled his eyes and got up fixing himself another drink.

"I'll have a water with a lemon twist, thanks." She said looking at her nails.

Alex shook his head and fixed their drinks. He walked over handing the drink to her, then sat down just as Mitchell strolled in with a wicked smile.

"Where have you been?" Lily asked.

"Just having a little fun. Shouldn't you be leaving soon? The masseuse is waiting I'm sure." Mitchell said waving a hand at the door.

"Yes of course." She smiled walking over giving him a tiny kiss then winking at Alex as she grabbed her purse and left. Mitchell fixed himself a drink also then walked over to his desk undoing his tie with his free hand. He sat back in his chair and took a sip, enjoying the liquid's slight warmth in his throat.

"Your sister makes herself such an easy target." He said finally.

"What did you do to her now?" Alex asked sitting forward.

"Caught her out on horse back tonight." Mitchell said.

"This late? What the hell was she doing?" Alex asked.

"That I don't know, I just happen to have the best luck. Driving on the back roads and I see someone riding a horse in the darkness. Barely could make them out, but I didn't have a doubt it was her. So I sat there waiting to see where she went, then she stopped got off the horse tied him up then disappeared. So I turned the lights off and pulled up waiting, when she didn't show up for several minutes I turned the lights back on. That got her attention she waited a bit longer then I figured she would though." He paused taking another sip.

"So you scared her a bit, big deal." Alex said.

"If you're done butting in I'd like to continue." Mitchell said giving him a look Alex simply nodded. "As I was saying, after I turned the lights on she got up pretty quickly. She didn't get back on the horse after she got him; instead she walked along side him till she got out of my sight. So I turned the engine and drove over to the gate let myself in, and drove along the trail slowly. It didn't take long to come up behind her; she didn't react very fast at first. Nevertheless she set the horse off at a faster clip so I sped up; we kept with this increasing speed game for a tiny bit. I think then she realized she was in trouble so she sent him off racing, so me being the hunter I am I went after her. A few times I got right behind her, the dirt was being tossed up on the windshield I was so close."

"So what happened when you caught her?" Alex asked smiling.

"Sadly I didn't catch her, your sister is smarter then you think. She has an agile mind; she steered the horse towards a fence and jumped it leaving me behind. But I had some fun with her, put a good scare into her maybe." Mitchell laughed demonically.

"Probley went running to her little boyfriend." Alex spat out bitterly.

"I'm sure she did." Mitchell said with destructive thoughts going threw his mind.

"My legs hurt." Fulton said as they walked up the stairs, after stopping in the kitchen grabbing a bite to eat after the escapade.

"Now you see why Dwayne's bow legged." Dean said slapping him on the back rather hard.

"Look I'll have enough bruises without you adding to it." Fulton complained.

"Children no fighting." Julie stated giving them a warning look over her shoulder.

"Yes mom." They echoed together.

"Boys." She shook her head.

"You mean men." Fulton smiled.

"No I got it right the first time." She smiled.

"Evil woman." Fulton smirked.

They walked into the sitting room, finding a surprising site.

"Hello kids."

"What, what are you doing back so soon?" Julie asked starting to smile.

"Found what I was looking for." Daniel said mischievously.

"Enough to nail Mitchell?" Dean asked hopeful.

"Enough to take care of him in any way Julie wishes." Daniel smiled.

"Are you serious?" Julie said smiling.

"Certainly am." He replied then laughed when Julie squealed, ran, and jumped into his arms.

"Ok I want to know everything! Wait nevermind that just tell me what you found." Julie said back on the ground looking up at him with excitement.

"Well I found a few small things, that we could have made do with. However right before we left the ship I hit the jackpot. A highly rare nineteenth century painting, did some checking and it came from a private collector's shipment a year ago from Japan." Daniel said handing a photo of the painting.

"So what would be the best way to go about this?"Julie asked looking at the photo then passed it on.

"They won't be moving anything off that ship till tomorrow, so we could have the customs agents show up there." Daniel shrugged.

"Wonder if Mitchell will be going down there?" Fulton asked.

"Could find out easy enough, he'd have to fly there." Daniel commented.

"I'm on it." Julie jumped up and ran to her room shutting the door.

"She does that a lot lately." Dean shook his head.

"Talking to her spy I'm guessing." Daniel said still looking at the door.

"Wonder who it is?" Fulton questioned.

"Knowing her it's someone we'd never expect, or else we don't even know." Daniel smiled.

"Wouldn't shock me if she's got more then one spy on him." Dean added.

"Me either." Daniel said thinking, it obviously didn't take Julie long to contact her sleuth since a mere two minutes later she returned.

"He'll be leaving sometime tomorrow morning, probley around ten." Julie smiled.

"Nice job Gaffney." Fulton grinned and she nodded.

"So you want the agents to show up, or what?" Daniel asked her.

"I have a rather complex thing in mind." She paused with a smirk, "Is there anyway to get that painting off the ship without being noticed?"

"That can be arranged, but why?" Daniel questioned.

"Because that way I can have my cake and eat it too." She giggled.

"And again in English?" Dean asked.

"That way Mitchell will have all kinds problems in Houston, then return home to enter hell courtesy of me." She smirked devilishly.

"You vindictive thing you." Daniel smiled, "So he'll catch it from the cops, then come home and get the final nail in the coffin from you."

"Exactly." Julie nodded.

"I like it, very nice. I'll go make some calls you go take a bath you smell like a stable." Daniel laughed heading for the door.

"Mock me now." She smiled and waved him off.

She agreed on the smell and went to shower, while the guys did also. They later reconvened on the sitting room sofa. They watched a couple of movies, avoiding any talk that was necessary. Sometime after midnight Fulton yawned setting off a chain reaction of yawns. After fighting the inevitable for almost an hour they all retreated to their respective beds.

"Hey Jules?" Dean said after a few minutes.

"Yeah?" She said rolling over to glance across the room.

"Sorry for the way I acted earlier, I just sort of snapped a bit." He said softly.

"No reason to tell me you're sorry. Fulton has a way of pushing buttons sometimes." She smiled.

"Don't have to tell me that." Dean shook his head smiling. "I don't want you to feel like you owe me something." He added glancing over at her.

"I don't." She said. "I don't want you to feel like I'm only being nice to you because of the situation we find ourselves in right now."

"I don't." He nodded.

"Good, I just hum." She paused trying to find the right words.

"Conflicted?" He said out of the blue.

"Yes very. I just don't what's going on inside right now, other then how much I truly hate Mitchell." She said moving a strand of hair from her eyes.

"I know." He agreed. "I really wanted to not say anything for awhile, but obviously the pressure was too much on someone we know."

"Blast him!" She laughed.

"Don't know what to do with him. Like we need someone running our lives?" He stated.

"He needs a woman." She said sitting up eyeing him.

"You know you get that crazy dancing eyes devil look going, and I get shivers of fear down my spine every time." He laughed.

"I'm serious, find him someone then maybe he'll back off us." She confirmed.

"Us, is there an us?" He asked propping up on one elbow.

"Possibly, I don't know." She said slowly, "Does that make sense?" She asked.

"Yeah, this was pushed up sooner then it needed to be. From the start we both just kind of fell threw everything. I mean everyone in this town thinks we're engaged." He smiled.

"And we only just had our first date." She laughed, "Well sort of a date."

"Hey I nice! And I even liked the mints on the popcorn!" He said in mock astonishment.

"Oh you're not offended so stop trying to act like you are! You know what I mean." She smiled.

"Yeah I know. But just for ego's sake I mean, be honest. You've got a crush on me right?" He smirked.

"Am I that transparent?" Julie said with a little mocking of her own. "I mean is it so obvious I've had to fight every minute with myself to not just fall at your feet in admiration?"

"Ok smartass point taken." He laughed lying back down.

She smirked and turned the light off. "I think we both have affection for one another." She said after a bit.

"Yeah, we just have to let things happen now right?" He answered.

"I think after tomorrow, god willing we take care of Mitchell. Well then maybe we'll have time to focus on other things." She replied.

"I don't think I can sleep for the anticipation." He laughed.

"Ok then you can forget it. Jackass." She muttered but smiled rolling over.

"I love you Jules." He said tauntingly.

"Ya huh, right." She called back. "Lovely way of showing it."

"It's impossible for us to be sweet all the time to one another, fighting is more fun." He yawned.

"I agree. So now that we agree on something let's end the night on that happy note, ok?" She asked.

"Ok!" Fulton yelled from the other side of the door.

"Fulton!" Julie and Dean yelled together.

"Go hurt him, please go hurt him." Dean asked.

"A declaration of love, by beating him senseless?" She asked.

"Well he has no sense, and I know you're hot for me already. So it would just be for fun." He smirked in the darkness.

Julie began to speak back several times, but couldn't seem to find the right thing to say. "Oh just..just be quiet and go to sleep! Or something." She added bemused.

"Good night." He smiled getting the last victory.

"Night." She sighed and rolled over annoyed, but after a minute she smiled and went happily to sleep.