Chapter Two

Scotty, Stillman, Vera and Jefferies were leaving to go for a drink. At a break in their conversation Jefferies turned to Scotty and said " Hey is Lil' coming for a drink?"

"I'll go and find out", replied Scotty, " you guys can go on ahead and we'll meet you there."

He walked back down the hallway and into the office. They each had there own desk space in here except for Stillman; since he was the boss he had an office all to himself. Scotty scanned the room and was surprised by what he saw. Lily was asleep with her head resting sideways on her arms.

He couldn't help himself; he just stopped and starred at her. She looked so beautiful when she was asleep. Hell, he thought, she looked beautiful all the time. He took a few steps closer and saw glimmers of tears on her checks, she'd been crying. Seeing them hurt him deep inside. He fought the impulse to wipe them from her face. He didn't like seeing Lily hurt, but he could never help her because she wouldn't let him. She wouldn't let anyone in. That was of course with the exception of Kite. It made him angry to think about Kite right now, knowing that it was probably partially his fault she had been crying.

Had he ever given any thought to how much courage it had taken Lily to open up to him and let him see her for real? Scotty didn't think so. Lily had been ever more silent in the two months since her and Kite had broken up, and it hurt Scotty to think about how many more barriers she would have since put up.

Although Lily was beautiful she was also stubborn and headstrong, qualities that attracted some guys but scared just as many away. But Scotty wasn't intimidated of her because of these features, and although he had tried to convince himself otherwise he was actually extremely attracted to her because of them. She showed such initiative with her work and was sympathetic to a victims family. Instead of seeing her as headstrong and stubborn he had come to see her as being strong-willed and courageous.

Slowly his mind returned to the reason he was there in the first place. He knelt down beside her desk and watched her a bit more. Up this close he could clearly see the small freckles that sprinkled over her nose and cheeks onto her pale skin. He didn't think he had even been this close to her before. He reached out and gently tapped her arm and clearly spoke her name to wake her up.