Amy went into her chambers tiredly at the end of the day, closing the door most of the way behind her and dropping her files on the table before sinking into her desk chair. Her robe was hanging open and probably catching on the wheels of her chair, but she didn't have the energy to take it all the way off and hang it up just yet. A piece of paper fluttered from her pocked to the ground then, and she groaned and leaned over to pick it up.

It was the message from David.

"Ugh." She sank back into her seat, fingering the paper. She really should call him. Tonight wasn't good for her to go out, but she should let him know...

The door opened slightly and Bruce came in studying a file intently. He made it a few steps into the room before he looked up. "Oh—Judge Gray. I'm sorry, I—I thought you went home."

"I wish," she said as he took a seat in one of the chairs in front of her desk. "I need to return a phone call first, and then I'll be gone. Peter and Kyle and everyone are eating at our house tonight."

"Everyone, hmm?" Bruce asked, and Amy immediately started trying to cover what she thought he meant.

"Well, no—everyone—everyone except David, I mean, he's not—everyone, he just doesn't... come because..." Amy blushed in spite of herself and Bruce worked his jaw, staring at her desk.

"I didn't say anything about—" he started, but Amy just kept going.

"No, um... having David over generally proves to be a bad idea lately. Kind of awkward." She saw her CSO raise his head and crook an eyebrow at her teasingly, but the shock in his eyes at her real meaning was evident. "You—you know, because of Lauren and Victor." She tried to cover hastily, but she wasn't fooling anyone.

Finally Bruce shook his head and got up. "Well, I guess you'd better make that call then." They both knew to whom the call would be.

"No—Bruce, you don't have to go..." Amy said, even though she knew he did. She wasn't going home until she called David, and she couldn't call David while Bruce was sitting there. But she didn't want him to go, even though he was standing in front of her desk with that damned inscrutable expression on his face that she could never seem to figure out. And then he spoke.

"You can't have it both ways, Judge Gray."

"Why not?" She asked softly. Bruce sighed, and suddenly Amy was mad. "No, Bruce, I really want to know. What are you saying, I can't have both ways—what, that I have to CHOOSE between the two of you? Bruce, that's ridiculous!"

"I did not say that," Bruce said calmly, refusing to rise to the bait.

"Semantics," Amy growled implacably.

"Judge Gray, I asked you to leave me out of anything to do with David McLaren—"

"What harm would it do—"

"What GOOD would it do? You—" Bruce scoffed, trying to stay in control. "I've been here through a lot of your boyfriends, and until this one, I tried to help you. I tried to tell you the Karate Kid was too young for you—I made it VERY clear how I felt about Stu Collins, and you want to know the best part? You always seem to come to the same conclusions yourself, but you just HAVE to do it the hard way, don't you?"

"Well you know what, Bruce, maybe I didn't want advice, you know, maybe I just wanted someone to listen."

"Yeah. But if I'm your FRIEND, I'm not going to just listen and not say anything while you run full-speed into another big mistake."

"So instead you're just not going to listen at all? Is that going to make it better?"

"Somehow or another I'm going to get through to you," he said, turning and going for the open door. As he reached for the handle he left his parting shot without even turning to look at her. "Hopefully it'll be before you sleep with him, because that seems to be the point where it all goes downhill."

"Then I guess you're going to need a better plan of action," Amy said, now in full-out spitfire mode and standing, walking around the desk. "Because you're too late."

In one smooth motion, Bruce let the door slam closed with a crash that Amy thought would certainly break the glass. When he turned to her, his eyes were as angry as she'd ever seen them, and his hands were clenched into fists. He took two steps back into the room, where Amy was standing, her robe still hanging at her sides.

"I have ASKED you to leave me out of this more times than I can count. But since you keep bringing it up to me, fine, I'll just—" Bruce shook his head. "Amy, what are you doing?"

"Right now? I'm having an argument with someone who I THOUGHT was my best friend, but who does nothing but ridicule my choices, who at the last second decides he's not coming to my wedding and then who won't even tell me why, and—I NEEDED you that day, Bruce! And you weren't there."

"Well maybe my not being there was just another way of 'ridiculing your choices,'" Bruce snapped. "And who could blame me when the choices you make circle around sleeping with every guy you meet, like—" He bit back whatever he'd been about to say, but it was too late.

"Like what?" Amy's voice was low and dangerous. Bruce shook his head and turned to leave again. "Bruce." He turned back slightly. "Take Monday off."

"What?"

"I'm giving you Monday off. I'll see you Tuesday."

"Judge Gray, I don't see why this conversation has to—"

"Bruce, you've been acting strange all day. Even this morning, you said—" Amy sighed. "Just, something out of character. Just take an extra day, all right? Maybe it'll... maybe it'll help."

Bruce looked straight into her eyes and finally nodded. "Fine. I'll see you Tuesday."

It didn't help matters that he nearly ran into David McLaren on his way out of her chambers. Amy groaned and covered her eyes with her hands as he walked in.

"It's good to see you too," he said, closing the door behind him. Amy shook her head and managed a small smile at him, dropping her hands. "Well that's a little better. You ok?" He asked, leaning in and kissing her.

"Yeah, yeah." Amy slid her robe off and went to hang it in the closet. David looked at the doorway that he had just passed Bruce in.

"You want me to beat him up for you?"

"That's very sweet," Amy said, gathering her things, "but very unnecessary. Everything's fine."

"Ok. You ready to go, then?"

"Oh... everything's fine except for that," she amended, locking her door and walking with him to the parking garage. "I'm sorry, David, I didn't have a chance to call you, but..."

"You can't go out."

"Not tonight, I'm sorry—"

"No, it's ok, it was short notice anyway. It was just a thought." He let his arm circle her waist as the elevator took them down. "What about tomorrow? Can I have you for the day? There's a baseball game at the park, and I know Victor was planning on going with his friends—"

"With Lauren?" Amy asked, stopping by her car.

"No, with some other guys. So they'll be off skateboarding, and we can watch the game... you like baseball?"

"I could," Amy said, finally smiling.

"Good." He leaned down to kiss her goodbye. "Mmm... I'll pick you up at eleven, ok?"

"Ok. Bye."

David waited for Amy to get in her car and then waved as she pulled out before making his own way home.