AN Sorry it took a bit for this to get posted, we're just working on the end...hope this holds you're interest while we get there...thanks again for all the support!
"Ah, take your medicine. We've got an arrest to make."
She was on her second cup of coffee and desperately trying to read a book when the phone rang. She looked at the clock, it blinked 1:00 at her, she stared curiously at the phone before picking it up, "Hello?"
"Adrenaline keeping you awake, or are you drinking caffeine?"
Her heart should NOT be pumping like this at the sound of his voice, but it was, "A mix of both if you must know."
"Hmm."
"Hmm what?"
"Just figuring out if you are trying to read a book or watch TV."
She stood up and looked around her apartment, "Where are you?"
He chuckled, "At a diner three blocks from your house."
"How did you…"
"Just a guess, it's usually what I do after an intense case. Feel like having some worse coffee, under florescent lights with an insomniac CSI?"
No, no she didn't. It was a bad idea, "Sure I'll be there in fifteen minutes."
"Great." He hung up.
She stared at the phone in her hand then turned it off. What was she doing? This was stupid. It was bad enough that she slept with him twice, now she was going to have coffee with the guy, worse things could happen with this. She could get to know him, she could genuinely like him, she could want more than just sex from him, and that was bad.
Flack and Aiden got out of their car and walked towards Yates, who was still surrounded by his posse.
"Orlando Yates?" Flack asked, flashing his badge.
"Yeah, that's me," Yates said, sizing up Flack and Aiden in a single glance.
"We need to talk," Flack said.
"So talk," Yates challenged, looking at Aiden rather than Flack. His posse was already starting to raise themselves up and look bigger and more threatening than usual.
"Downtown, big boy," Aiden told him with a smile. "Let's take a ride."
Yates held his hand up to hold his people back from starting a scene and smiled back at Aiden. "Only if you promise you'll ride with me," he said.
She nodded. "I promise."
Flack gave her a queer look, but walked Yates over to their vehicle and put him in the back seat.
In the interrogation room, Aiden couldn't stop staring at Yates. She would look at him and then look away again, as if she were – was she flirting with this guy? Flack could hardly believe his eyes.
"So, Yates, where were you two days ago?" Flack asked, trying to ignore Aiden.
"With my friends," Yates answered him, not averting his gaze from Aiden.
"And are you friends with anyone by the name of Mike Kortanze?" Flack prodded.
"Should I be?"
"We found your prints on a bag of diamond heroin in his pocket."
"You arresting me for something?"
"Murder, quite possibly."
"Oh, come on, Flack. Does this guy look like a murderer to you?" Aiden finally piped up.
"Yeah, actually, he does," Flack answered, a little peeved that she hadn't discussed the good-cop, bad-cop shtick with him beforehand.
"There has to be a perfectly good explanation," Aiden said. "Go ahead, Orlando."
Yates smiled a winning smile at her and leaned forward, his hand almost brushing against Aiden's on the table. "There is. I may have handled some diamond heroin recently. Some sleazeball pusher was trying to get me to buy it off of him. Name might have been Mike – I don't remember. I beat the shit out of him and sent him on his way."
"But you didn't kill him," Flack said.
"Of course I didn't kill him," Yates said, still refusing to look at Flack. "I'm a lover, not a fighter."
Aiden smiled and blushed.
"You beat the crap out of him," Flack said. "You call that loving?"
"It was tough love. He needed to learn a lesson," Yates told him, easing back in his chair, but leaving his hand where it was. "You need anything else from me, or can I leave now?"
"Flack, we don't have enough…" Aiden started.
Flack glared at her. "Can I talk to you a minute?" he asked.
The got up and left the room, but Aiden deliberately left the door open a crack.
"You could have warned me," he hissed at her.
"But your reactions wouldn't have been as good," she whispered back. "You can't keep him here because of one fingerprint on a bag of heroin," she said, loud enough for Yates to hear.
"I've held losers like him for less," Flack answered, reluctantly following her lead.
"Come on, Flack, we can't prove anything!"
"Just because you have a crush on the guy doesn't make him less guilty!"
"I do not have a crush on him!" she protested.
"Yeah, whatever. I'm gonna go get a warrant for his arrest."
Aiden grabbed his arm. "You know you can't do that – not yet. We need more."
Flack shook her off. "Fine. I'll give you a day. But if this guy takes off, it's on your head."
They went back into the room together, Flack looking angry and Aiden looking kind of excited. She went and sat down next to him.
"Orlando, I need for you to promise me you'll stick around town for a while. We need to process some more evidence to see if we can try to clear you of all this. I need to know I can get a hold of you – I might have more questions to ask."
Yates' smile was sickly sweet. "Whatever you say, darling. If you can get me out of this mess, I'll do anything you ask."
Flack was sick of this. He threw Yates' jacket at him. "Get out of here. I swear to god, if you go anywhere, there will be hell to pay."
Yates just smiled, took his jacket, gave one last meaningful look to Aiden and left the room.
Aiden smiled to herself, quite pleased with her performance.
"Shelby put you up to that?" Flack asked her, still not entirely amused.
"Oh come on, stop being such baby," Aiden laughed.
"You're killing me, Burns."
"You said that already tonight. And if I'm really killing you, then why won't you just die?" she mocked.
"I'm too good looking, that's the trouble," he finally grinned. "You owe me a martini for this."
"Shaken, not stirred?" she asked, flipping her hair and batting her eyelashes.
"I thought you had the hots for Orlando," he said, getting up to leave the room.
"Oh, but I do," she said, getting up to follow him.
"Don't make me kiss you to get over him. And that is an offer."