"Dr. Jackson," Garret called as Audrey and Lily strolled past his office a few mornings later. He hadn't meant to call out to her, but it was as if for a moment his brain had no control over his mouth.

"What's up?" she asked in her usual chipper tone as she entered his office and made herself at home on his sofa. Garret looked nervously at her from his desk and tried furiously to find something to say. When he came up with nothing he moved from his chair, walked around his desk and leaned against the front to buy himself some time.

"I just wanted to say," he started finally, "that you did a really good job with the Porter case yesterday." Audrey narrowed her eyes and gave him a sideways grin as if to ask if he was feeling okay.

"The guy had a stroke, Dr. Macy," she laughed, "it really wasn't anything extraordinary."

"I know," he said quickly, trying not to sound more foolish than he already did, "I just finished with the report, it's very thorough." Audrey raised her eyebrows and nodded. All her reports were thorough and she obviously didn't need to be told. "It's j-just," Garret stuttered, "you've been here three months now, so I thought I'd bring you in and tell you that I am impressed with your work. I'm glad you came to work for us." Garret smiled nervously and stood as a subtle hint that he was through talking and Audrey could go.

"Thank-you, Garret," Audrey said as she stood too and headed towards the door, "I'm glad I came to work here too." She flashed him an earnest smile and then opened her mouth to speak. When no words came, Garret had to fish for what she was trying to say.

"Is there something else you wanted, Dr. Jackson?" Audrey shook her head no and blushed.

"Never mind," she said quietly and left the office.

x x x x x

Later that day Garret rolled a body into the crypt just as the doors to the freight elevator slid apart and Audrey and Bug wheeled out two gurneys of their own.

"What've you got?" he asked. Audrey sighed sadly but Bug beat her to the answer.

"Family of four died of carbon monoxide poisoning last night," he explained. Garret pulled back the sheet on Bug's gurney as it passed him. Garret shook his head when he saw the body. It was little boy, no more than ten years old. He looked perfectly healthy, not one scratch or bruise on his body. If they had been anywhere else but the crypt Garret might have assumed the boy was sleeping. Five feet away, the boy's little sister looked just the same. Audrey stared down at the little girl and brushed her hand over her blond curls. Garret noticed tears starting to well up in Audrey eyes. He stepped closer to her to ask if she way alright, careful not to let Bug hear, incase she was embarrassed by her show of emotion. When he spoke Audrey's attention snapped from the girl and she shook her head quickly as if to force her tears back to where they came from.

"Yeah, sure, I'm fine," she said with a half-hearted smile. With that, she and Bug were quickly back in the freight elevator on their way to pick up Mom and Dad from downstairs.

x x x x x

The carbon monoxide family, who Garret now knew as the Masons, was processed through the morgue quickly. Their cause of death was apparent so no extensive tests or exams were required. Everyone connected to the case, and even some who weren't, was affected by it. After Audrey and Bug had brought the Mason's in and word circulated that an entire family had died, Garret noticed the morgue became quiet the way it always did when they were faced with such tragedies. When Audrey came into his office late that evening with the last of the Masons' reports Garret asked her again if she was okay.

"Yeah," she said quietly, sitting down in the chair across from his desk. "I've been doing this forever, but cases like this never get any easier do they?" she asked. Garret only shook his head no. He too had seen more than his fair share of tragedies and ruined lives. Audrey was precisely right. It never got any easier. Cases involving kids seemed to hit him the hardest and after working with Audrey for three months Garret could see that it was the same for her.

"Is your husband working tonight?" Garret asked, not trying to be nosy, but at the same time hating the idea of Audrey going home to an empty house after a day like today.

"Yeah," she said with a breath of laughter, "he's always working. Sometimes I wonder if he loves that job more than me."

"Impossible," Garret said without thinking. He smiled sheepishly when he saw Audrey blush at his comment. He quickly tired to change the subject. "You know I could use a drink after a day like today," he announced. "I'm just about done here. How about you join me at O'Malley's later." Audrey looked at him for a moment with a half smile, mulling over his proposition.

"Okay," she said finally with a slight nod of her head. "O'Malley's in an hour?" Garret glanced down at the papers on his desk and evaluated what still needed to be done. An hour seemed reasonable.

"O'Malley's in an hour," he agreed.

x x x x x

Two and a half hours later Garret jumped in his car and sped out of his parking space. Eleven bodies had come in just as he was about to leave to meet Audrey. Jordan and Bug had already gone home for the night and Nigel was nowhere to be found. Audrey's office was empty and Garret assumed she was already at O'Malley's waiting for him. With no help in sight, Garret had single handedly taken care of each of the intakes. Each of the bodies was tagged, charted and ready for processing the next day. As he swung out of the parking lot and onto the street in front of the building Garret reached for his cell phone. With one eye on the road and the other on the glowing screen, he tried reach Audrey on her cell. Before the call could go through the phone beeped loudly in his ear to inform him that the battery had died.

Garret cursed and threw the phone into the seat beside him. He knew he should have called Audrey when the bodies had first come in and told her was going to be late. Instead he'd gotten swept up in the commotion as more and more corpses were wheeled in. When it was finally over, he'd decided a call and an apology from the car would save him some time. He looked at the clock and cursed again. He was more than an hour and a half late. He hoped she was still waiting for him, but somehow doubted she would be. If their places had been reversed, he thought, he would have left the bar a long time ago. As soon as the idea crossed his mind, Garret smiled and changed his thinking. If anyone else had been an hour and a half late meeting him, he would have given up waiting in no time. But Audrey Jackson wasn't just anyone. If their places had been reversed he would have waited all night long.

Garret finally pulled into the back parking lot of O'Malley's Pub fifteen minutes later. As he rushed out of his car and headed for the back door he saw Audrey walking through it, her head down and her shoulders slumped. The short strap of her handbag balanced precariously from one finger and threatened to fall when she turned towards her car on the other side of the dark parking lot.

"Audrey!" Garret called. She didn't look back and Garret hoped that she wasn't ignoring him but simply hadn't heard him. He hurried around the row of cars and when he called her name again she turned to face him. When she saw him she stopped in her tracks and her familiar smile cracked across her face. Garret reached her in a few quick paces and launched into a hurried explanation, his words coming out in one long, breathless stream.

"I'm sorry," he started, "we had eleven bodies come in and I couldn't find anyone to help me. Bug was gone and Jordan had gone home and I have no idea where Nigel-"

"It's okay." Audrey laughed but Garret's explanation kept coming.

"And I was going to call you when I got in the car-"

"Garret, it's okay."

"But the battery was dead and I should have charged it last night, but I forgot and I'm sorry I'm late. You probably thought I'd forgotten-"

"Enough," Audrey said with a laugh and playfully slapped her hand over his mouth to quiet him. At her touch Garret's heart danced in his chest and as her fingers started to slip away, he caught her hand in his own. He could feel her fingers trembling now against his skin. Ever so gently he kissed the tips of her fingers. Garret was surprised when she didn't pull her hand away, but rather let her fingertips linger on the edge of him mouth. As her fingers swept slowly along his chin he was suddenly aware of the feel of her rough scar through his whiskers. He took her hand again and brushed his lips against the harsh, purple line.

Only moments ago she had been laughing at him as if he were the biggest fool she had met, but when Garret looked at her now, there was no trace of a smile. For a protracted second he had thought that perhaps he would see the fear she had shown when they had danced, but there was no fear either. When Audrey's hand finally slipped away Garret stepped closer to her and pushed a stray hair behind her ear and slowly drew her into him with his other arm. In the moment before their lips met, it seemed to Garret, as it would always seem, that there was no element of choice. It was as if every decision he had ever made was meant to lead him to this moment, to this woman. He kissed her cautiously and nervously at first, as is often the case when two people are so new to one another. But as Audrey's arms circled his body and her hands moved up and down his back, Garret couldn't help feel something familiar; as if he had known Audrey his whole life and as if he had always known the taste of her, the feel of her.

When finally he pulled away from her, Audrey let out a soft, almost confused sigh and held her hand up to her flushed cheek. They stood in the parking lot for a long moment only staring at each other, the light from a lone lamp post casting eerie shadows between them as they evaluated what had just happened and contemplated their next move. Wordlessly, Garret reached for Audrey's hand, led her away from her car and into his own.

They drove to Garret's apartment in silence; both knowing exactly where they were going and what would happen when they got there. Looking back on that night, Garret wondered what Audrey had been thinking during that car ride; if she had been thinking about her husband and how what she was about to do would affect her marriage. Garret didn't think about any of that. His only thought was that some things just were and always would be and one was hopeless to change them. What happened that night was one of those things. When the door of Garret's apartment closed behind them there was the shedding of clothes, a tangle of arms, legs and mouths and the destruction of the professional distance Garret had tried so hard to maintain.