A/N: I was really going to get this up last week but, I got caught up in the CSI premiere. For those of you who watched it… I am a Cat War junkie and after what happened, I couldn't focus on another couple. I got that out of my system by writing a oneshot, but that pushed this back and I'm sorry. But here it is finally.
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Scottie smiled at Lil as she caught a piece of pasta that had uncurled itself partially from her fork while she was taking a bite. She lipped the rest of it into her mouth, smirking. He took in her slight blush, the way her hair fell it two small tendrils to frame her face, and the way the v of her button-down shirt showed just the right amount of skin, and he was glad that she had forgiven his blow-up yesterday.
"What?" she asked, blushing a little more as she realized he was staring at her. He followed suit, giving her an embarrassed little smile.
"Nothing. So, what'd you do with yourself today?" he asked, evading the question. She raised her eyebrows, but didn't call him on it. Instead, she answered his question.
"Not much, actually. Believe it or not, I was bored out of my wits, once I'd called Stillman," she said, her tone slightly annoyed. He chuckled.
"Who would've figured the great Lil Rush would take so well to not working," he joked. She shot him a mock glare.
"Funny, so what's going on at work? Any new cases?" He smiled.
"Well, that took you long enough," he teased. Then he turned serious. "The only cases that are open right now are Laura's and… you know…yours. To tell you the truth I haven't had much to do myself today," he said, the frustration obvious it his tone. She gave him a reassuring smile and reached over to give his hand a squeeze.
"Hey. Vera and Jeffries are good. They'll get something." He smiled at her.
"Thanks Lil."
"You wanna go through what we know? I know we can't do any more digging, but we can just talk it through." Scottie was amazed beyond words at her compassion. He had noticed it when he first saw her work that first cold case when she decided to switch from Homicide. He had noticed it and loved it in the way she made love. But now, this was something that he knew he would remember and love forever. Just yesterday (though it didn't seem it) she had been so careful with the questions she'd asked Laura, not wanting to put the girl through too much reliving. Scottie had seen in her pain, however much she made her self forget about it because she needed to focus on the case. Now, when he was the reason for that self-sacrifice, he was grateful. She was offering to force herself to relive her attack just to help him with whatever he was dealing with. He smiled at her, squeezing her hand just as she'd just done.
"We don't have to if you don't want to. I'll be fine."
"Well I want to. If you don't mind."
"You know how much I love you, right?" he asked, dead serious. She smiled at him.
"I'm not sure…do you? I seem to remember thinking that you didn't really like me. Are you sure you do?" she teased. He just glared at her.
"Funny, Rush. I seem to remember thinking the same thing about you." That shut her up. They both took a bite of their meals, chewing in silence until, similtaniously, they caught each other's eye. They smirked. Then, out of the corner of his eye, Scottie noticed the green Taurus again, and his smile disappeared.
"What's wrong?" Lil asked, and once again, Scottie told himself not to let the bastard who'd ruined her life ruin her evening.
"Nothing. How's your lo mien?" he asked.
"You're avoiding the question Scottie. I don't like it when you treat me like a baby. What'd you see?" She demanded, turning so she could see out the window. Scottie sighed. They'd had this argument yesterday and it had left their relationship on rocky ground. He wasn't about to do that again.
"You see that hunter green Taurus across the street from the parking lot, near the bakery?" She searched the dark and found the car he was referring to.
"Yeah, what about it?"
"He's followed us from your apartment." She sighed.
"Great," she said sarcastically.
"Yeah."
The tone was slightly quiet after that, both lost it their own thoughts and fears. There was small talk, criticing the food and what not, but that was it. As they were finishing up their food when Lil muttered, "What if…" and Scottie glanced up sharply.
"What if what?" he demanded.
"What if we bait him? What if I bait him?"
"Lil, now you're just talking crazy. Absolutely not."
"But why not Scottie? Why not lure him into doing something stupid?"
"Because it's stupid! What do you plan on doing Lil?"
"Just let me question him-alone. I might be able to get him to snap. If not we let him go and follow him."
"Alone? I don't think so. Besides, do you really think Stillman's going to let question a guy who, technically could sue the department right now? I, mean think about it Lil. There's no way he's coming voluntarily, and we have absolutely nothing to go on, besides your ID." She sighed. Then, she thought of something.
"What if I'm wired? I'll let him confront me, and then I can talk it out of him if he think's it's just me."
"Lil, it's crazy," Scottie didn't like to think about the guy having Lil alone, without back up.
"Unarmed," Lil added. Scottie shot her a glare, and she smirked, silently asking him if he really thought that she'd take that chance. Scottie didn't laugh. If the case depended on it, she would. Lil's smile fell, knowing he was right. "Okay fine, I'll have my gun."
"Lil…"
"Then what the hell are we supposed to do?" she exclaimed. Scottie looked at her then, really looked at her and he realized that she really did realize how crazy her suggestions were, and she wasn't really suggesting them at all. She was just frustrated out of her mind.
"Lil…We'll get him, just…don't do anything stupid." She sighed, then smiled at him.
"Thank's Scottie." He just smiled back.
"Let's get home, shall we?"
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Scottie Valens walked through the night. Lil was upstairs, asleep. But Scottie couldn't sleep so he'd decided to go for a walk to calm himself down. After Lil had shown him the note, he'd had to admit that it did seem like the guy was going after him. What had Scottie scared was the fact that it also seemed that he was using Lil to get to Scottie…His thoughts were interrupted by the soft ruffle of fabric behind him. He whipped around, his hand on his gun.
"Tsk, tsk, Valens. Do you really think that the department would like the fact that you drew a gun on an unarmed citizen? And don't think your pretty little pet will save you again. She'll have enough to worry about once I'm done with her."
"You leave Lil out of this," Scottie demanded. The creep smiled.
"Ahh… you do do pissed off well." Scottie drew his gun.
"If you don't want anything to happen to your pretty little bitch, I suggest you drop the gun." Scottie considered that, then, slowly, he lowered the gun. Instantly, they guy grabbed it, overpowering Scottie and held the gun to his temble.
"You drew your gun, I draw mine. But don't worry, I won't waste this bullet on you when what I want is upstairs."
"No! Leave him alone!" Lil exclaimed. She grimiced, turning into the warm presence next to her. That presence wrapped his arms around her, soothing her hair.
"Shh… he's not going to hurt you babe."
"It's not me I'm worried about," she said, turning her head so he could hear her better.
"Lil, I'm not going anywhere, okay?" he assured her, pulling up her chin so she'd look at him. She nodded, catching his lips with hers in a reassurance that he was okay. He held her as they both drifted off to sleep again.
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Lil was glad to get back to work the next day, but as Scottie had mentioned, there wasn't much to work on. And so, she found herself going through Laura's cold case file. Though it was the same case, a connecting factor still hadn't been found, except for the two victim testimonies. As long as she stayed strictly on Laura's case, shs didn't think Stillman would mind. As she was flipping through the file, a clear plastic evidence bag fell out. Inside was a necklace. At first she thought that it was Laura's but when she looked closer, she realized that the pendant was a cat, not the simple diamond that was on Laura's. A chill ran through her as she realized that this necklace was similar to a necklace her mother had given to her when she was little. A necklace, come to think of it she couldn't remember seeing since…the day she was attacked. How had a necklace from her attack, thirteen years prior to Laura's, ended up in Laura's file instead of hers? As she thought about it her lind got slightly carried away, and she told herself that there could be a perfectly logical explaination for it: somebody had been looking at both of the files and simply placed the necklace into Laura's file by mistake. She flipped through until she found the paper she hadn't fully expected to find. But there it was, in plain sight, the evidence log for her necklace. So she was still left with the question of how her necklace had ended up in Laura's file…
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I know, I know…that ending was lame, but I PROMISE I'll have the sequel, complete with explaination (I have it I just didn't have time to write it) up by Friday.
Annica: I skipped your review last time so I'm doing you first. I hope this is a little longer, but it's probably not. And yes, pining helps me write faster- LOL.
Nix707- Yeah, umm... you missed a GREAT episode. I'm sorry. If you have any more questions, you know my e-mail.
strwbrryCSI: LOVE the review. It had me cracking up. By the way, I wouldn't skip ANY new CSI epi. for ANYTHING.
justawriter- LOL. I don't turn off phones... I just ignore them.
Mellie-I don't think like 'that' I just follow the evidence- LOL.
OH, and Laura Hilsin is an anagram for Lilian Rush.