Thank you Marlingrl, for your continued faithful reading. Mouse didn't guess itwas Shou either! Be patient, there's more romance ( and a little angst) to come.

Remember, I don't own, you don't sue.

June 12th, 2000 Wednesday 9:00 AM

All hospital ceilings looked the same, Sanos decided. White squares of Styrofoam-looking stuff with steel frames. He'd looked at this one often enough since being brought here to Mercy yesterday morning. The doctor had told him that his broken ribs hadn't punctured a lung; the dislocated kneecap in his right leg would heal: though he might have problems with it as he got older. The cut in his shoulder took thirty stitches to close, but wasn't dangerously deep. He could go home later today, Kathy was coming from work to pick him up and help him get there. She had brought him some clean clothes from his place yesterday along with a message from their editor to take as much time as he needed to get his head together. Provided it was in time for tomorrow's deadline for printing this week's edition.

He hadn't even thought about how to start. It wasn't like he could use his laptop in here anyway. Besides, how was he going to explain his own part in the mess? He'd helped save Kenshin and Teo, but he was only there because he let that sick bastard play him. Shou was as quick as most madmen were, he'd guessed what was going on and decided to use him as both bait for Teo and an extra victim to point her out as the killer. Plus the whole sick idea of being his "audience" to his planned attack on Ken, to get as much bang as possible for his sick buck. If the little man hadn't come to, they might all be dead now, it was his struggle that had bought them time and drawn her attention to the roof.

He hadn't seen either of them since watching her being carried away, her husband following without a backward glance. Detective Cooper, who had been working on the case as well, came to take his statement. He hadn't talked to Kenshin yet; he said yesterday afternoon, and Lt. Gaudro was still in surgery. Detective Taylor had popped his head in around dinnertime to say hi. He'd been up on the eighth floor to visit. She was out of surgery, but they were keeping her very drugged to stop her from moving.

"Will she be all right, Detective Taylor?"

"Please, call me Mac. Yeah, I think so, though it will take a while to heal and she'll have a pretty good scar on her right shoulder. It could have been worse if she hadn't gotten the gun away from Shou."

"Where's he?"

"Bellevue, under lock down and a constant suicide watch. He's made a full confession- a lot of these kinds of guys seem all too happy to talk when they're finally caught. They get to relive the thrill, I guess. The clothes in his locker were covered with the Simione kid's blood. He was able to walk right into a police station and take a shower with nobody thinking of it at all. Like he was invisible."

"I met a man who wasn't there… That's what Teo said at Monday's briefing. She said she'd find him and she did. She said it had something to do with an old detective story?"

"Not many people read Chesterton anymore, though you may have heard of "Father Brown," his detective priest. In a short story called "the Invisible Man," a murderer walks right by the witnesses in plain sight, but no one notices. Because he's a mailman – a common, unthreatening sight that most people would never notice. Just as they wouldn't be scared of a cop who was wearing his badge. Four out of his previous victims have already picked Shou out of a photo line up as someone they had seen just before their attack, but hadn't really paid attention to. There will be more."

"I guess I'm not ready for your job, Mac. I never noticed Shou was left handed, I never thought about why he'd be taking an extra shower for just slopping some coffee on himself. I was focused on Gaudro, I'd made up my mind that something was wrong with her and that was that."

"Don't beat yourself up too hard, Dave. Teo is a hard woman to like at first meeting, I didn't. But once you've seen her dedication to her job and her treatment of the victims, you start to see another side. She loves Kenshin and her job, in that order. Everything else is secondary, including a winning personal style. Though I enjoy watching her kick the pricks to get things moving and then stand there as if she had no idea she'd done anything to offend anybody. Maybe she doesn't.

Also, I wasn't worried about someone I thought might be in danger from her. It wasn't till she was brought in that anyone even would have thought about Kenshin fitting the victims' profiles. Come to find out, that was part of Carl's plan too, he suggested adding her to the investigation. She would have been buried under circumstantial evidence and dead people don't defend themselves very well. All this because she saved his life all those years ago."

"She said something about a Frank?"

Taylor sighed and ran a hand through dark hair. "Frank Moreau - assigned to Bed-Stuy with a young Carl Shou. Killed himself in October of 1982, ate his gun – common enough for a cop. Shou was lucky that Teo came along – Moreau's previous partner had died "accidentally" in a fall. I've read the autopsy reports and I want a time machine to go back and kick somebody's ass! The cop had cuts and bleeding on his buttocks, "probably suffered in a fall onto broken glass" – but his pants weren't torn! Gays didn't exist in the department, much less people with even more interesting habits. If Teo had reported it, with the two male cops having more time and established records, she would have been the one disciplined and driven out of the force. That's why the out cops work so hard for their rights, especially the right to be believed. Moreau's death saved Shou's life; something Teo said must have gotten through to his sick mind to make him stop himself permanently. Carl didn't see it that way though.

He knew who she was, but she didn't recognize him, the beard covered the scar on his left cheek from the cut Moreau gave him. She told Myojin about it when they went to Nyack to visit the man who had lived with Shou up until four years ago. She'd seen a picture of him in his office as a younger man, one who wasn't able to have facial hair under dept. policy at that time, and recognized the scar. I guess the ex had some pretty gut –twisting stories to tell, but he's alive. Used to be a cop himself, one of Shou's old partners, in fact. All of the other's are being checked on to make sure they're okay and to stop a further cycle of abuse spilling out from Moreau's actions all those years ago."

"And I thought she was sick. I convinced myself of it because of – stupid reasons, really. Thanks for telling me all this Mac, -do you want a mention in my article?"

Mac got up, waving a hand. "Oh no! I'll be an unnamed source if you like, but I prefer the quiet life. Taking on windmills is Teo's job. You should go up and see her, or at least Kenshin. His new look is a surprise; he said that Teo had asked him to do it. Take care."

9:30 AM

A tap came at the door, and Katsu Myojin peeked in. "Hey, up for some company? You've already met Donna Kaye, she said. How are you?" The big young cop, in street clothes, and the smaller dark haired woman walked in to Sanos' room and pulled up chairs.

"Yes, we met three thousand years ago, it seems, though it was only Sunday. I hurt but I'll get better. How is Teo? And Ken?"

"She's still out, Mr. Sanos," said Donna, "and Kenshin's ready to burn the place down about it. They pulled her NG tube this morning, early, and sent him out of the room. She started to wake up, and I guess she was afraid for him and wanted him; when they didn't bring him, she started to get up. They strapped her down and snowed her again to keep her quiet. If Katsu hadn't been there, Ken would have been thrown out by security or worse."

"He's just so tired and upset, that's all, Dave. He's hardly been away from her except when she was in surgery. That's when he got a friend to change his hair back. He's in the same clothes I put him in, and we can barely get him to eat or drink. I'm getting scared for him if she doesn't wake up soon. What are you doing, Dave?"

"Help me get dressed, Katsu. Donna, go steal a wheelchair. I'm going to see him."

"You're not his favorite person right now, Dave. I guess Detective Cooper told him how the Captain used your feelings about him and Teo to get you up on that roof. I don't think it's a good idea."

"If I can't make it better, I'll at least give him something to think about besides Teo. I won't press charges if he belts me, I promise. Help me get dressed."

He was in a wheelchair fifteen minutes later, being taken up to Teo's room. Katsu and Donna were still worrying about what Kenshin would do to a helpless Sanos, and if the "Domina" would be pissed off at them later when she found out. "You two know about each other?"

Donna blushed, "We knew there was someone else. Besides, Ken, I mean. We met here yesterday and got talking and it came out. Funny thing is, Katsu and I went to high school together! He was a year behind me. I still have seniority; I've been her servant for six months now. He met her two months ago, so he's under me. Unless she says not, we'll have to ask her."

"Please don't tell me what being her "servant" entails, but I thought she was a lesbian? And why call her Domina?"

Katsu answered. "She doesn't like "Mistress." Domina just means "Lady" in Latin, and that's only for outside the job." He ran an unconscious hand over his ass. "The other thing? You ask her. She says the biggest sex organ is between the ears, and she does have an amazing imagination." The two young people giggled at some sort of private joke.

With these two in cahoots, Sanos wondered if Teo really would want to wake up. Well, if anyone could handle the situation it was her.