Garret stood completely motionless for a moment, while he still was able to hear the shot echoing in his head. He hesitated...should he keep on looking for Renee or go back outside and check what had happened? Maybe they needed a doctor, even though he wasn't all that practiced anymore, he might be able to help someone for once who was still breathing.

But that's when he heard the noise out of the last stall and he knew that he was far too worried about Renee to waste anymore thoughts on potentially wounded people.

"Renee?" Carefully he walked to the last stall door and got scarred horribly, when the door swung open slowly shortly before he had reached it. However, an expression of relief spread over his face when he saw Renee. Even though this Renee didn't have all that much in common with the otherwise tough woman who had given him hell just a minute ago. Garret was ignorant from time to time but he wasn't completely oblivious. It hurt to know that she probably wanted someone else to keep her company right now, but, unfortunately, he didn't know how he could make it right again without looking like a complete dumbass.

"Thank heaven… why did you not answer me?"

Renee looked at him somewhat irritated and then her face took on a worried expression. "What do you think? After I heard the shot, I thought it would be best to not move at all. What's happening anyway?"

"Three men are just robbing the guests of your Italian restaurant."

"My Italian…" She looked at him questioningly, but just shook her head. Now it wasn't the time to get aggravated about needling comments. If he didn't like coming here, why had he never said anything? "A robbery?" She was shocked, but not enough to supress a joke about Garret and her situation. "And why are you here? Did you pick the wrong door by mistake?"

"In case you're interested…because I was worried about you." He snapped at her and hated himself for it at the same moment. He hadn't worried about her, just to continue exactly at that point where they had stopped earlier in the restaurant. More controlled he added: "One of the robbers came back here to check if there were more guests in the restrooms. When he came back without you, I got worried."

Actually she was touched by his openly shown worries about her, and had the circumstances for her being in the restroom in the first place been different, she probably would have reacted differently from how she finally did.

"About what? Why he hadn't gotten rid of the annoying DA for you?"

"Could we just take a break from all this until we get out of this situation?" Garret understood her reaction, but the situation had changed. They didn't sit in the restaurant anymore with a glass of good red wine and were fighting in a rather civilized manner which was unusual for them. No, they rather should be worried about a good ending for all this.

Renee had walked past Garret towards the sink and looked into the mirror. It was apparent why she had fled here. What a blessing waterproof mascara was, she thought bitterly and to hell with Garret, however, she still glanced at him in the mirror. He stood behind her and obviously didn't know what to say next.

Take a break? She thought. From what? From the mean remarks they liked to hurl at each other? Then pretty soon they wouldn't know what to say to each other within five minutes.

Looking at him made her insecure, though, and she wondered if his devastated expression made her happy or if she pitied him for it more than she pitied herself at the moment.

"Why did they not find you?" Apparently he didn't want to deal with the unusual situation and the weird mood between the two of them.

Renee sighed. Once again he didn't want to take the first step - but she certainly wouldn't take it either.

"I heard the shot and ran into the last stall. When the door opened and I heard steps, I pulled up my feet. What else could I have done?" Renee took a Kleenex out of her purse and tried to fix herself up as good as possible. "Obviously one of the robbers isn't all that smart. Otherwise he would have checked inside the stalls. And had I known that you were following me I would have escaped through the backdoor."

"Renee it's not funny more."

"Why not?" She looked at him again in the mirror and frowned shortly. He really seemed angry, but that didn't really stop her it just egged her on more. "Are you running out of smartass comments?" She didn't know why she wanted to keep on hurting him. He was here because of her. He had been worried, even though just a few moments ago they had hurled all kinds of words at each other, just not words of affection. That should mean something to her. Was she really as stubborn and grudge bearing as he sometimes accused her of being? Or was it her right to be as she usually was this time? After all she hadn't caused the robbery out there that had interrupted them. Just because three thugs decided to make the rich a bit poorer, the feelings she had for him had not changed. It didn't make her feel more forgiving or made her forget all of a sudden what an egoistic, ignorant son of a bitch Garret could be sometimes.

But when Garret hit the stall door with his fist instead of an answer, so that the door banged loudly against the wall and then bounced back, Renee winced so violently that her mascara fell with a soft clang into the sink.

Her eyes widened and she turned away from the mirror in order to finally look at him directly. She never had seen him like that. It even scarred her a little bit, but she managed the trick to not show it. Quite the opposite she even dared to completely ignore the reason for his violent outbreak.

"Don't you think that this reaction was a little bit risky and unconsidered with three armed criminals out there?"

"I…" Garret's facial expression stayed clouded, his eyes were narrowed and both his hands were balled to fists. When he took a step towards Renee, she automatically took one backwards.

Garret noticed which impression he had made on her and stopped. When he tried to relax a little he noticed that his hand hurt. He really was an idiot…a big one on top of that… instead of clarifying anything, he had scarred her now. She usually managed to get him to a 180, but it usually happened at a point where he was able to just throw her out of his office, or she left before he was able to say things that he would regret later.

But right here, right now, it wasn't possible for him to flee the room, except he planned to leave the restaurant in one of his own black body bags. He just had vented some and with that he had showed her a Garret of whom he was ashamed now. But it was too late to retreat. Maybe they would never get such an opportunity again to bring everything out into the open what had stayed unmentioned between them right from the beginning of their relationship.

"Goddammit Renee…listen to me just once." He finally said urgently, while Renee didn't know what to think about what was happening between them right now. Earlier in the restaurant it had felt right and justified to tell Garret clearly that he couldn't treat her as he pleased. This privilege she would happily leave to his co-workers, because she was a lot more than just that. It seemed like she was the woman that mattered to him. Even though he had a weird way of showing it.

She was taken off guard and wondered if she hadn't overstepped her boundaries a little earlier. But one thing she knew – right now he was in no position to criticize her. And her attitude was according to that conviction, but Garret wasn't intimidated by that.

"Will you listen to us? One of us takes the first step and the other one backs up immediately. One is offering a compromise, the other one automatically demands more. We will never get anywhere like this. We will turn in endless circles this way."

"Welcome to the club" She couldn't help it, even though she bit her tongue immediately. It just had to come out. Had she not tried to signal him that this was their problem in the last few months?

"It just can't keep on going like this."

"As far as I can remember I have never claimed anything else."

"What I want to say is, if we really mean something to the other one, shouldn't we show it at least a little bit?"

"Okay, this" She pointed at the door of the stall. "Was already frightening, but now you're really scaring me."

Garret smiled a little smile, which seemed insecure. He really had overreacted a little bit, but sometimes she just drove him crazy – on all accounts.

They just stood there for a moment in silence – each of them preoccupied with their own thoughts that dealt with the other one and the pros and cons of their relationship but this time there was a little bit more hope in this silence than usually. They only glanced into each other's eyes for a very short time before they lowered them in embarrassment, in order to look for a few words they could use to close the gap between them. However, a noise in front of the door distracted them from taking that famous first step.

Garret reacted instinctively and pulled Renee on her arm into the stall. He closed the door except for a tiny gap and saw the robber enter. They barely had made it!

The man walked into the middle of the restroom and listened into the silence. When he approached the stalls Garret closed the door entirely and hoped that the criminal would be dumb enough to not look too closely a second time. And indeed the steps moved away after a short period. When the door fell shut behind the robber, Renee exhaled relieved and Garret sank with his back against the stall door.

"That was close." Renee whispered and felt very uncomfortable in her skin. In here it was definitely far too narrow for two adults. Especially for two adults that behaved just like children, when it came to their relationship. Also closeness should be something beautiful but right now it was only uncomfortable and annoying.

Garret didn't seem like he was about to open the door. He stayed where he was and stroked his chin where by now a slight 5 o'clock shadow showed. He didn't look at her, his gaze was lowered to the floor and he avoided hers. Whatever was going on in his mind, Renee wanted to get out of this narrow stall – and that immediately!

"Could you please…" She pointed at the door.

"I think we will be safer in here."

"You don't seriously believe that? And don't even think you can use this to end the fight in an unfair manner. I'm really not in the right mood for that."

Garret looked up and grinned. It was a short-lived expression that relieved Renee, but it quickly changed to a serious expression. "You know Renee, when both of us would step aside from our principals just a little bit, just a tiny little bit…then it could work. Don't you think so?"

Renee's eyes took on a doubting expression. "I don't know…we're both very big egoists. Besides." She made an impatient gesture that included the whole stall. "I will certainly not discuss this with you in here."

"You don't have any choice…I won't let you out of here. And who knows when they will find us in here, in order to tell us when the situation has cleared up?" He managed to look at her challenging while an amused glitter lay in his eyes.

"That is mean, Garret." She hissed, but Garret could detect a small undertone of amusement in her voice.

"I know. But I have to take what I get. Besides didn't you just say earlier that life isn't fair?"

"O, come on Garret … you're better than that." Renee's facial expression clearly showed a first hint of annoyance again.

"See? This is exactly what I meant, Renee. We constantly try to hurt each other, because we can't admit that we like each other. Because it is easier that way, in case we would have to realize one day that it doesn't work out. It is easier to break up when one can say that one didn't really like the other one all that much but that the sex was quite okay."

"Quite okay?" Her indignation was real and Garret hoped that the first baby steps into the right direction that had been taken wouldn't immediately lead to regress again. "I think I just misheard something here."

"You know I didn't mean you and me with this. It was just…an example." He was a bit lost here. "What I meant with this you know yourself. We're both just far too headstrong and still…I mean…what I'm trying to say…" For crying out loud, could it really be so hard to apologize?

"Let me help you out here." Renee frowned. "You mean I'm only good and useful for one thing?" There was no trace of amusement in Renee's voice now and Garret was about to just give up.

"Why do we always have to make it so horribly hard for each other?" Garret responded exhausted. "That was not what I wanted to say with it. I meant that it is easier to call it quits like that."

"So you want to do that now in this very appropriate location?" Why didn't he just come to the point, instead of giving her so many opportunities to launch at him? It wasn't like she did it completely on purpose. It was one of her character traits and it almost happened on its own.

"Are you even listening to me?" Garret got a bit louder and his usual, aggravated sound was audible in his voice again.

"Of course, just your words reach me a bit jumbled."

"All I'm trying to do for the last past minutes is to apologize. But you really make it hard for me."

They looked each other square in the eyes and his grumpy look held up against her annoyed look until they both gave up their unusual "who-blinks-first" game and looked aside. He wanted to apologize? Had she heard that right? And she behaved so…narrow-minded?

"I understand your problems because of Mexico, but it has happened. I can't change it anymore and I would lie, would I claim now, that I would do everything differently had I a second chance. I just considered it as important to stay and help. I didn't think about the consequences…"

"You surprise me." Renee interrupted him amazed. This was actually an apology.

"I think…who knows what else will happen. Maybe we will never get a chance like this one ever again, where we can just talk it all over, that's why…you really should know, that I regret it immensely that I plunged head first into this adventure."

"I see." Renee lifted one eyebrow and looked at him amused. She had to smirk. "Um, does this mean that we will meet for a fresh cup of coffee every morning from now on, just as if we had a real, healthy relationship?"

Garret sighed. Had she really understood him? Or did she just not want to understand him? Could it be that she wasn't able to deal with his insight, his apology and his sudden honesty? What was so difficult about saying something nice for once?

"I don't know what that means, Renee. But it would be worth a try, wouldn't it?" He pushed himself away from the door and came a few centimeters closer to Renee, who, according to her facial expression, wasn't all too happy about this maneuver, but the only way to escape was to retreat between the stall wall and the toilet bowl, and she really didn't feel like that.

"I don't know what you're trying to do here, but I don't think it would be a wise idea, Garret." The last words came a bit slower and more stretched out over her lips, while Garret wasn't the least bit impressed with her reaction and just starred at her. After all the excitement since and because of Mexico, he registered again what he had like at her from the first day on when she had walked into his office – an interesting woman, with will power and a spirit to fight in her, who was deep down not as hard as she always pretended. It was a beautiful sight; even so it was overshadowed somewhat by her angry gaze.

"Why not…it is a long time ago that we did something nice for each other."

"O…I wonder - whose fault was that…" Renee, who slowly grew nervous, tried to dodge Garret, if not in a spactial way so at least verbally. Garret on the other hand enjoyed the fact that he apparently was capable of unsettling Renee now and then.

"Guilty on all accounts, counselor."

Renee tried to resist his gaze, which asked a silent question, that she didn't want to hear…after all they hadn't figured out anything yet, just because he was willing to apologize of his own account for once and a few things had been discussed, they still had a lot of problems in their relationship. But it was tempting to forget everything, push it aside, like they usually did and to concentrate on what they were good at and where they harmonized surprisingly well. It really was strange that in their every day life they weren't able to go a long time without misunderstandings, picking on each other and insults – the fact that they just didn't harmonize at all.

She didn't know why, maybe due to the extreme situation they were in, but all of a sudden she had to laugh. A noise that didn't only surprise Garret completely, a laughing Renee was as rare as a snow in California. Of course there had been moments like this between them before...but by now he was able to count those on one hand.

Garret was definitely convinced that it suited her very well. It banished the small wrinkles of sorrow around her eyes, took away the hard traces around her mouth and made her eyes glow warmly.

"I'm sorry." Renee pressed out between a new fit of laughter.

"What's so funny?"

"Everything." Renee tried to control herself and just ended up laughing suppressed again. "I mean, don't you think it is funny to discuss our problems right here? In a tiny, narrow toilet stall?"

"Who said anything about discussing?" Garret was now very close and caused Renee more uncomfortable feelings than nice feelings.

"I…the moment is rather bad, don't you think?" She had herself under control again, even though the idea still made her smile amused. Still, Renee squeezed by him, with doing so she managed the artistic trick to not touch the toilet bowl with any part of her very expensive suit, and reached for the door knob.

"I don't think so." His hand gently lay on top of hers and stopped her from opening the door. She looked back over her shoulder and shook her head.

"Garret, please don't…I don't think this is such a good idea and then...HERE?"

Garret didn't see any problem, at least not in the moment. He had thanks to his midlife crises and Maggie desecrated an elevator and his office…he had to admit that this situation was somewhat unusual and definitely not one of his numerous phantasies he had about Renee, but one had to be creative and how long they had to stay here no one knew.

"You have a choice, either we discuss our relationship until it is dead or we forget this unnecessary fight!"

"You know what? We forget the fight and I forget really fast that you actually tried to seduce me in a public toilet stall." She shook off his hand, opened the door and fled towards the sink area. Garret followed her slowly and obviously had troubles suppressing a grin.

"What?" She looked directly at him in the mirror, while she washed her hands. She had touched too much of those unknown, cold and dirty tiles while they were debating in there.

"You're afraid…"

"I'm not."

"O, yes, you are."

"How do you know what I feel!" She turned the water off and turned around to face Garret. In her eyes lay a vacuous expression, but Garret wasn't mislead by that. He approached her even further – and Renee stayed where she was.

"Because I know you better than you think." Now they were only separated by a couple of inches and there was no way for her to flee – already she had backed up all the way to the sinks and felt one of them press uncomfortably in her back.

"If you think so…"Renee started sharply and all of sudden she fell silent. Did she really want to keep on discussing, fighting, making accusations? Or wasn't it a lot easier to just forgive him? This one time? It was very tempting….

While Garret was still hesitant about how far Renee was ready to give in to all this, he saw a glint in her eyes, which was answer enough for him. They had said everything that there was to say, they had made their arguments clear, defended them, without anyone of them being the loser here...and while they stood so close to each other, their heads moved forward automatically, a smile appaeared on Renee's lips, that Garret loved so very much, that made her face glow and showed the woman behind the hard front. She had her eyes closed and Garret was already able to feel her warm breath on his skin – when a loud bang was audible outside – and the lights went off!