Immersed Emotions

by rebanana

Paige Matthews misunderstood her new case. What once was a misson, now becomes a struggle. A struggle she has to work over with her new partner Brody, who would like nothing better than to figure her out. But what happens when he does? Is love an option?

6. Partner Bonding Time

"Miss Matthews?" Paige looked up from her desk tiredly. She had been up all last night thinking, and hadn't been able to fall asleep. She sighed, imagining the dark circles that probably had formed under her eyes.

Paige's boss approached her desk sternly. "Yes?" She found herself smiling fakely at her boss. "What do you need, Mr. Cowan?" She so badly wanted to get back to work, to stop thinking about everything that happened. Paige hadn't really imagined herself as the type to run from feelings, but it was exactly what she was doing now, and she wasn't about to stop after how many miles she had ran.

"Looks like we've got a child abuse case on our hands, and you're the only social worker free for this." Mr. Cowan looked Paige in the eye. "I know you're right for this case. I know it'll be the first, but I have no doubt that you'll come through with flying colors. That is," He paused, and continued in a stiff voice, "That is, if you arrive to work on schedule, and don't leave when you're not supposed to."

Paige rolled her eyes, and flicked her dark hair behind her, "Mr. Cowan, when I accepted this promotion, I promised you there wouldn't be any more of that. Are you calling me a liar?" This was what Mr. Cowan both loved and despised about Paige, she was very to the point, and very quick to jump to her defense, or anyone's defense that she believed needed it.

"No, Paige, I'm just reminding you of our rules." Mr. Cowan gave her a smile, "If I didn't trust you, I wouldn't have promoted you."

She placed a file to the side of her desk and asked, "So what's this case about?"

He took a seat on the chair that was in front of Paige's desk, "All of the information is in this file" He said as he passed Paige the file he held in his hands. "Any questions you know where to find me…and I think we need to get the cops in on this one" Cowan explained.

Paige nodded, as she had already began to flick though the file she instantly felt her heart tighten, and the anger rise. She hated these cases, these cases that to anyone were so obvious except to a courtroom where the scum always seemed to walk free. She was reading through, absorbed in the incident reports, the background info, and the detailed accounts. As she continued she came to the most recent, there had been numerous hospital visits in the past few months and they seemed to becoming more frequent. She got the end, the latest visit, and the worst yet. The young boy had been admitted into hospital yesterday from what the reports say with a broken wrist and battered face. He claimed to have fallen down the stairs, the hospital felt differently, so rang through to South Bay social services. This was all Paige needed to know; closing the file and standing to her feet she lifted that and her jacket and set off out of the office.

She knew that social work was supposed to be very stressful, but for her now, it was a stress reliever. Besides, she didn't matter anymore; it was that little boy who had so obviously been beaten that mattered now.

While in the car, Paige racked her head for important details from the file. The kid's name was John Parks. Her heart sank at the name Parks, a name she normally tried to forget. But, there were a million people in the world with the last name Parks, so she knew she didn't have to worry. John was ten years old. He had a sister named Maria, and his mother was having another baby. The father's name was not yet mentioned in the file, although the mother's was Alice. Paige knew she would immerse herself in this project that, she would not have a life outside of this project, and for the time being, this was her life. Her sisters would be angry, but, her first thought was 'screw them, I need to follow my own path'. She couldn't believe he was only ten years old, and not to mention that Maria was six, cases like this made her sick. Her car pulled to a stop, and she had to blink her eyes twice, she was at the hospital. Paige couldn't even remember driving to the hospital, all she could remember was the boy's picture in the file.

As she walked up the stone steps to the entrance, Paige ran the picture through her head. It was a class picture, with a blue curtain background, and he was in a neatly pressed, collared red shirt. His two front teeth were missing, and even though someone had obviously tried to tidy it, his brown hair was tossed and messy. His green eyes looked familiar, but warming. She didn't see any sadness in them, but she was prepared to when she visited him in the hospital.

Paige patted her hair nervously, and walked up to the reception desk, "I'm here to visit a John Parks," She looked down at a little white card of information that had become damp from her sweaty hands. "Third floor. I'm from South Bay Social Services."

"Yes, a Miss Matthews was scheduled to come, is this she?" The receptionist asked sweetly.

"Yes. I'm Paige Matthews."

"Alright, the room number is three hundred twenty five."

"Thank you!" Paige said anxiously, and walked into the elevator, pressing the button for the third floor. Her mission was about to begin.

Part 2

3025 – She stood at the door looking up at the numbers on the door; this was it – room 3025 'my lucky number huh?' she mused over in her own thoughts. Insuring that the folder was securely under her arm she knocked twice. She knew that she had to do this, 'stay professional 'don't get pulled into the emotional crap, just do your job dude' She was mentally giving herself a pep talk when she pusher the door open and into the room. She was greeted by the furious face of who Paige assumed to be the mother, who sat at the bedside of her sleeping son. He looked more than a little out of it from the drugs rather than a natural sleep. Then Paige looked at the man stood in a black suit, white shirt and tie looking very smart and official. She felt the need to introduce herself in a professional manner.

"Sorry to interrupt, Paige Matthews, social worker" She steeped in further and looked over to the mother who was beyond angry now.

"Social Services…you have got to be kidding me!" She spat, "What is this?" She shouted

"Ma'am if you'll just calm down and let us get this sorted," The man tried to defuse the

situation that seemed to been created. The woman, who was pretty, through the reddened eyes and tossed hair anyway, a kind of natural beauty Paige could not help but notice it. She seemed the type to be a mother. The kind who just seems to fit the bill, she pushed her hand threw her hair as if in disbelief.

"Mrs. Parks. Alice Parks?" Paige asked, a formality that she knew by heart, Step one, find out whom you are talking to. The woman nodded once, it was as if she was in disbelief. Paige looked over to the man who she had assumed was the officer that Cowan had been referring to. "Officer" She acknowledged his presence. He had ruggedness about him, which Paige happened to notice. "Brody" He offered. Paige nodded in acceptance of this, and then turned back to the mother who was holding onto the hand of her son and holding back the tears.

"Mrs. Park's do you mind if I ask you a few questions?" Paige asked.

"What is it with you lot? Just leave us alone! Don't you think I'm going through enough?" She shot, obviously she did mind if she was asked questions. It seems she was jumping into the defensive.

"I'm sorry I know this must be a rough time for you but I do need to do this…" She explained as she opened the folder and took out her pen.

"He fell, what don't you people understand about that?" She asked aggressively.

"Ma'am look this is my job, to insure this boy's safety…" Paige explained; it was then she noticed him waking up. "Okay ma'am maybe you could go with officer Brody and I can have a talk with John?" Paige hoped she would agree to this.

"I don't believe this, what is it exactly you are investigating?" She asked, directing this at Paige. It's funny she thought how she always ended up being the bad person.

"Ma'am it hasn't gone unnoticed that these hospital visits are not uncommon this is routine, just want to make sure it is all in order."

Brody was seeing this woman wasn't going to give in, so he offered a hand, "Ma'am this has come to the attention of social services, and this is not something that is going to go away. Either you allow Miss. Matthew's to do her job or I will be forced to take action. If you would like to step out of the room, we can talk." The woman seemed to understand the words, action, and she felt that was something they didn't need. "I want to call my husband" Paige nodded, that could be arranged. Paige watched as Alice Parks leaned forward and told her son 'not to worry, mommy would be just outside' he nodded, but was visibly shaken. Paige was unsure if this was due to having just woken up and having strangers stood around, or something more but she'd find out.

After a huge amount of debating Alice Parks eventually gave in and left the room, adamant on calling her husband. This was something Paige had more than expected and that was when the real fun would start. Paige watched Alice leave with Brody and he would ask her questions after she'd rang for her husband. Paige supposed. She turned to see the boy that lay in the hospital bed. Her heart instantly went out to him, and like she had predicted earlier he looked frightened, so very scared.

"Hey Dude" She smiled, a soft sweet smile that seemed to come so naturally to her, "All this is a little scary huh?" She asked him.

He nodded his head; "Little" his reply sounded, Paige nodded.

"I bet…mind if I take a seat?" She asked, he shook his head so Paige took a seat next to him, "Well I'm Paige Matthew's what's your name?"

"Johnny Parks, are you a doctor?" He asked her softly, still fearful. The way he gripped onto his hands didn't go unnoticed.

"No I'm, I'm a social worker" Paige explained, "All this is a little scary to you I bet. Been in the hospital" John nodded, and Paige was convinced that she had created a basis to work on she just hoped that she would get the required answers out of him.

"What the hell is going on?" A voice boomed as he walked down the corridor,

"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to calm down" Brody was quick to react

"Calm down?" He shouted, "Were the hell is my son, what is this?" The man shouted, "What have you told them Alice?"

"Nothing…"

"Well why the hell are they here?"

"Sir this is routine, according to reports your son has been admitted into hospital a lot we are just insuring that his safety isn't at risk"

"This is fucking stupid… I want to see him"

"That isn't possible I'm afraid, the social worker is in there with him now"

"What the hell social worker…" His anger was flaring and when he turned to see his wife crying this angered him more. "How did you let this happen?" He shouted

"Sir please calm down"

"Calm down! Calm down! I want to see my son NOW!"

As he attempted to push through Kyle Brody the door to the room opened. Paige walked out ready to continue with her work happy with the progress that she had made with the young boy. She was ready to talk with the parents that was until she saw who was stood there. She froze as she looked at him.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me" He shouted, "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Miss Matthews is everything okay?" Kyle asked seeing Paige seemed to have drained in color and was not looking too great.

"Maybe this should be a little more private" Paige said, "Why don't the both of you come down to South Bay Social Services" She wanted to continue with her job not get into this now. She had to stay professional. She had to keep this professional and couldn't let anything get in the way of that.

"How about you tell me what the fuck is going on?" He shouted at Paige,

"Sir, I will happily do that at the social services"

"PAIGE" He screamed as he reached forward and grabbed her arm.

Paige pulled back and shouted, "NATE I'd back off now! Before I get you arrested"

"What the hell are you doing in there with my son? What's he said?"

"All he needs to, now if I were you I'd take my advice and do this at the services"

"How about we do it here" He grabbed Paige's arm violently. Paige pushed him backwards and Kyle grabbed him.

He was struggling in Kyle's arms, and Kyle let out a grunt, to let Paige know that he was losing him. Paige didn't care. She ran at Nate Parks with a force, and punched him square in the jaw. She soon came into realization of what she had done, lost her professionalism and was probably going to get in trouble with Mr. Cowan.

"You son of a bitch!" Nate yelled at Paige.

"Cheating bastard!" She retorted back.

Kyle cleared his throat, "Mr. Parks, I'd advice you to stop, I am an officer, and I can arrest you. You're still going to have to come to the station to answer questions, but I'd advise you to stop harassing Miss Matthews now." Paige nodded at him gratefully, and noticed how young he was. Scared, really. He looked about twenty-five, her age. "And Miss Matthews, I understand it was in defense, but lets try not to hit the father of the boy?" Paige shook her head disdainfully, "Even with your personal connections," He added professionally.

Paige tried to keep her cool, but a few more words slipped out, "Ha, our personal connections? You have to understand, this man is less than a person to me."

Kyle sighed wearily, "I'm going to give Mr. Parks to another officer, Miss Matthews, may I talk to you in the hall?"

"Yeah! Arrest her!" Nate chuckled.

Kyle looked at him with anger in his eyes, "What the hell did I tell you? Don't say anything!" He dragged Nate to the door, and took out a walkie-talkie from his pocket. "We've got a problem. One of the kid's parents is harassing the social worker. Can you send down someone to take Mr. Parks and question him? Over." He pushed the button on the walkie-talkie.

"Alright Brody, we've got a guy for you. He'll be at the hospital in five minutes. Hang tight. Over." A loud mechanical voice answered.

Kyle turned to Paige, who looked nervous, "How do you know him?" He whispered.

"Don't ask." Paige grumbled, rolling her eyes.

They waited a few minutes before a heavyset officer appeared before them. "Hey Al! Thanks for coming down here, man." Kyle whispered, gratefully.

"Anytime. This the guy?" Al said in a deep rumbling voice.

"Sure is." Kyle said, "I'm going to take Miss Matthews into the hallway. That okay?"

"Yeah, man. It's fine." Al grabbed Nate, and rumbled in his ear. "You're coming with me."

Kyle turned to Paige, "Shall we?"

"I guess." She said, unsmiling.

He led her away from Nate and out into a different hallway, "How do you know him?" He asked.

"Why do I have to tell you?" She turned away from Kyle so he couldn't see her face.

"Because, from now until this case is over, we're partners!"

Paige glared at the young man, "What!"

"Yep."

"Don't you have another police buddy to work with?" She asked angrily.

"As long as you're assigned to this case, we're working together. It says that in the file." Kyle pointed to the manila folder she was still clutching.

"I'm sorry Officer Brody," She sighed, "But I work alone." Paige always had a bit of an independent streak. She grew up as an only child, although she had 'found' her sisters. Even now, she had trouble listening to them. Not only that, but she couldn't take being the youngest child.

"No can do," He laughed, "Your boss specifically told mine..."

"Alright fine!"

Brody offered his hand to Paige. She didn't shake it.

"So how do you know this guy?" Brody persisted again.

"I don't." Paige pouted. She knew this was easily a lie.

Brody took on a serious, almost scary facial expression. This was probably the expression that got his clients to tell the truth. Paige knew she had to spit it out now. "Miss Matthews."

"Officer Brody." She said, rolling her eyes again. To Kyle, it seemed like her trademark emotion.

He eased up a bit, "Please call me Kyle." He waited for her to say, 'please call me Paige'. Of course, she didn't. "Why do you automatically dislike me?"

"Because you don't need to know about my personal life."

"But this has to do with the case!" Kyle whined, of course, still professionally. "There must be another reason!"

"You're a cop," Paige said, deadpanned, "I always used to get in trouble with the cops."

"Right, well that's the past, I guess." Kyle smirked. "So who is he?"

"If you must know, I went out with him a few times, okay?"

"We're getting there." Kyle started.

"No! We're there!" She snapped. She gulped back tears that threatened to splash down her cheeks. Nate was the one person Paige had been trying not to remember, well one of the people. It was just so unfair that she had to see him again, after everything that happened. She let her hair cover her face. "I have to go." She paused, trying not to let the tears infect her voice, "And you know, talk to the boy."

"Wait! Miss Matthews," He lightly grabbed her, "Will you at least tell me what information you got from the boy?"

Paige stopped again, smoothing down her dark green shirt, "He told me he fell down the stairs, but he seemed weary of this information. I couldn't tell if he was lying or just tired." She knew already that Nate was the abuser. 'Who else could it be?' she wondered bitterly. "I think he was abused, I really do. No doubt by that Nate rat."

Kyle winced, he knew that she had trouble with Nate, but it wasn't really fair to make assumptions based on what she thought of him. He tried to tell her in the nicest way possible, "Maybe it's not a good idea to assume things about him. After all, he might not have done it."

"How can you think he didn't do it? After you saw how he acted towards me!" Paige shook her head, her brown eyes fiery.

"I'm not saying he didn't do it, Paige, I'm just saying that we shouldn't be biased this early in the case." Kyle watched Paige's reactions. He secretly thought she was the most interesting woman he had ever laid his eyes on.

"Don't call me Paige!" She snapped, turning around.

"Where are you going?" He asked, quietly.

"To talk to John again." She said, sniffing, and left Kyle standing there alone, only to think about the case, and her.

Paige found herself standing outside John's door, back at the start. His mother must've had to go home, because she wasn't there anymore, there was just John watching television. "Hey John, mind if I come in?" She asked, her voice soft, even with the stress she had just gone through with his father.

"You can come in," He said, pausing to think, "But only if you call me Johnny."

She chuckled and stepped in the white room, and noticed there were a few cards, "Can do, Johnny. Who are those cards from?"

John shrugged his shoulders, "Dunno, I think from my Auntie Alex… And mom bought me that bear." He said, pointing to a big teddy bear that said 'get well soon'. "She feels bad for me. This is the longest time I've been in a hospital." John seemed to have less of the innocence of normal ten year olds, there seemed to be a wise look in his eyes, but also hidden fear.

Paige neared his bed, pushing her brown hair out of her eyes. She smiled at John, "So you've been in the hospital before?"

"Yeah, plenty of times…" He paused, unsure of something.

"Why are you usually in the hospital, Johnny?" Paige sat next to him, and focused in on his eyes. It hurt her how much he looked like Nate; it hurt her how Nate had been so insensitive to his wife and kids, and… to her. Nobody but Nate had won. She hated herself for hating John's eyes, just because they were like Nate's. Just because he was Nate's son didn't mean that he would grow up to be a cheating liar. John seemed sweet enough.

"Um, I play lots of sports." He said, looking down at the floor.

"Oh! That's really cool!" Paige knew he was hiding something from her, but she wanted him to trust her, so she went along with his little game. "What sports do you play?"

"Soccer and baseball." He said, "The guys are tough."

"Oh really? I was never much of a sports person, although I did play softball for a bit. I wasn't very good at it. I was more artsy fartsy." Paige gave a little smile when he giggled.

"Fartsy? Ew, gross." He laughed, "You're Matthews right?"

"Yeah, my full name is Paige Matthews, but you can call me by my last name."

"Really? Cause its so much cooler! You're first name sounds like a piece of paper." He scratched a mark on his face in deep thought.

Paige pretended to be offended, "Hey! Well, I guess you're right. It kinda does, but at least it's a unique name."

"Yeah." He said, more quietly.

"Do you have any siblings?" Paige asked.

"Yeah, I got an annoying little sister, Maria. My mom's going to have another, I hope it's a boy." He put his hands together as if in prayer.

"You're hilarious, you know that?"

"Yeah," He answered, smiling. Nate's eyes sparkled in his. It reminded her of when she once sang for Nate, and, he looked so happy, so proud of her. She felt anger rush back to her, but kept it down. "Hey Matthews, do you have any brothers or sisters?"

"I have three sisters. They can be such a pain in the butt. But I love them. Lemme tell you a secret though, I kinda wanna move out." Paige leaned in and rolled her eyes.

"Really?" He seemed surprised for a second, "You can do that?"

"My sisters wouldn't like it, but I would." Then she realized he was talking generally. "But you can't move out of your house til you're like eighteen." She lied a bit.

"Oh." He seemed a bit disappointed.

This was her que, her heart started beating again, "Why do you want to leave home?"

John had another uncertain look on his face, "I dunno, I just wanna be able to do what I want. Mom and dad are always annoying me. Making me take baths every night and everything."

Paige scrunched up her nose, "Baths every night? How horrible!"

"I know!" It seemed John didn't sense Paige's jokey sarcasm.

"Well, Johnny," She said, standing up, "I better be going. I have to get home to dinner. It was very nice talking to you."

John shot her a pleading look, "Please don't go! I hate staying over night here." He raised head, and pointed down to his cast, as if to say 'feel bad for me!'

"I'll be back soon though, Johnny." She said, mussing his scruffy hair.

"Please! Matthews, stay." He looked as if he was about to cry.

"My sisters will want me to come home." She started.

"You don't have to." John looked in her eyes, "You're a grownup, and you can do anything you want!"

"Not quite," Paige smirked.

"Pretty please! With sugar on top?"

"Fine, I'll stay a bit longer, on one condition."

"What?" John asked, his eyes huge.

"Put some cherries on there too."

He gave her a big smile, "Cherries too."

Paige sat in a hospital chair and chatted with the boy. Soon, she felt her eyes droop, and took a look at John, he was breathing in and out softly, asleep.

The distance she'd traveled from the hospital had been not even close to a mile and she broke down and gave into her pain. A pain that was so real, as real as the day her pain had first started. She drove down the road in front of her and she was happy to see traffic had built up. She had time to hide this, hide the pain. Although tears had welled up in her eyes, she was happy they hadn't completely fallen. As she stopped at the traffic that was cued up and didn't look to be moving anywhere soon, she lifted the file and leaned it on the steering wheel, opening it, she looked at the picture of Johnny. She concentrated mostly on his eyes, looking deep into them she was pulled back to a moment, which for so long she had wanted to forget, she had pushed back but looking into these eyes now cause all her memories to flood back.

She lay on the bed, looking up into his deep eyes as he leaned over her. He ran a hand softly over her check. She hadn't understood fully why that simple gesture made her melt inside, but it did. She was looking at a man whom she loved, whom she had openly expressed her love to and shown her love. Something that Paige wasn't used to doing letting someone know her fully, love her fully, and be part of who she was. But with Nate, she let him be a part of her heart. Their lips met, and their hearts joined. Paige ran her hand through his hair… it all felt so right, so natural. But it was in fact too good to be true as the next thought that invaded her memories was that of which had crushed her. 'Wife' one word, so destructive to Paige's heart,

'Kids' another, her heart sunk.

'I'm married, I have a family' that was the final blow it had forced her heart to drop, hit the floor and smash into a million pieces. ---

She was pulled from her thoughts by the car behind beeping its horn at her along with a few others as the traffic had moved; yet she had stayed in one place. She threw the folder to the side, and put her foot down as the anger, upset and emotions she had been trying so hard to hide came back at her full force. The car drove, the speed picking up, as she turned off the busy roadside, and onto a side road, taking a short cut to the place she had traveled day after day.

She turned her car into the parking lot and shut off her engine, she looked in the mirror to make sure that her feelings inside weren't showing on the outside. Although she looked tired, and if someone looked into her eyes the pain was visible. She was happy to see that the mascara had done its job and when this particular tube said waterproof it meant it. Brushing her hair back from her face she mentally prepared herself for this. For walking into her place of work, and having to put any and all of her emotions away until she stole a quiet moment alone where, usually she'd walk into the manor at an hour well past midnight, where she could crawl into her bed. A bed, which she had spent times alone with the man who had caused this pain, and let the tears fall freely, allowing her sobs to escape into the pillow. Allowing her pain to have a release, she cried herself to sleep. But until then she'd have to make it through.

Her mind ran through the possible ways in which she could go about this; take all she needed from her desk and head on home. She would lock herself in her room, stay at work and isolate herself at her desk with her papers spread out in front of her, and a less than convinced smile on her face every time a colleague walked on by. Although she was leaning more towards the second option, so having to not answer questions from her sisters as to why she had been so distant lately, her mind was made up as she heard her name been growled across the office. "MATTHEWS"

She did in fact expect this, seemed that word had gotten back to the boss and she knew already she was in for it now. She put her bag on the side and waited for the inevitable to come, "MY OFFICE NOW!" She rolled her eyes and walked threw the isles of Co-workers, who gave her looks of pity and their condolences. Paige just walked into the office without even knocking.

Cowan stood up and looked at her his eyes fiery with rage, "I sent you on this case to save the kid, not assault his father"

Paige looked at him, "Self defense, he grabbed me and I reacted" Paige explained, it was cold and emotionless. Cowan looked at her, this wasn't Paige, what was wrong with her? "I've spoken to Brody, I am convinced that there may be a conflict of interest…I'm taking you off the case"

"You can't…" Paige protested

"Paige I can and I have, I'm not liable for my actions if you continue to work this case against me decision. You're walking on ice that is thin and cracking."

"Sir, look…I reacted, I know I shouldn't have but I did. It won't happen again"

"I know it won't because you're not going to be working this case again" he seemed adamant, Paige at this point knew she couldn't let this go.

"Sir you can't kick me off this case"

"I can and I am"

"Sir, he trusts me. He is talking to me"

"Paige you punched him…"

"Sir, this boy needs my help, he trusts me. I'm getting somewhere" Paige stepped forward. "I was out of line, way out of line I get that but I just reacted, he grabbed me and I swung."

He sat down and motioned for Paige to take a seat. She moved across and sat on the empty seat across from him. He leaned on the desk across from her, "I know you wouldn't have just hit him, Paige so talk to me, not only as a boss, but your friend because I can see that this case means a lot to you, and I want to let you continue, but right now I'm having trouble believing that you are not going to let emotion get in the way."

"Sir, look he is hurting that kid, I know it and you know it. I'm not going to let you down, and I'm not going to let Johnny down. Let me do my job"

He looked at Paige curiously; she really had connected with the kid. He could see it maybe that was a good thing – maybe! He shook his head. "Paige how can you manage to mess everything up…how can I be sure, that this case isn't going bring a law suit our way?" Paige stayed quiet knowing that one smart comment; humorous sentence could blow the lot.

Paige took a deep breath, "I know what happened today shouldn't have happened and I was way out of line and that right now you should be sacking me but give me one last chance" Yes, this was in fact Paige begging, "I want to save this kid, sir."

'And teach Nate a lesson' she added silently.

"Okay look, Paige this is what we are going to do, I keep you on the case but if I see anything II don't like you're off. And you don't do this alone. Officer Brody will be with you. He will go into the family with you and work with you"

"Sir…look as happy as I am that your keeping me on Brody…He's an officer"

"An officer who is fully qualified for this kind of case. You work with him…" Paige weighed up her options.

She went with it, this been the better of the options available for her. She nodded, "Sir, thank you…I'm not going to blow this"

"Make sure of it Matthew's and hey do me a favor…don't kill yourself working on this. You need sleep at some point" She knew he was referring to the recent string of nights where she had worked well into the night.

"Kyle has the father at the station so look, I'll give him a call and tell him how this is going to play out. I think maybe you should think about what happened today." Paige was thinking about today, she hadn't stopped. She nodded, and stood up and walked from the office and back to her desk.

She sat at the desk and before she could say a word the phone rang she pushed her hand threw her hair and tried to compose herself. After the fifth ring she lifted it, "Paige Matthews" She announced.

"Hey honey, you know you're hard to get hold of."

"Pipe, hey…sorry work and stuff" Paige said into the phone as she sat once again looking at the photo in the open folder.

"Hey you okay honey?" Piper sensed that something was off with the youngest.

"Why wouldn't I be? Just a lot going on down here" Paige explained

"You sound tired…you know you're working too hard."

"Well its important Pipe, not something I can put on hold" Paige said a little too harshly, and she knew it. "I'm sorry, things are just a little bad down here right now it isn't a good time"

"Well honey…I was just ringing to see if you wanted me to put you some dinner up."

"I don't think I'll be back for dinner," Paige said

"Well will you meet us at the club later?" Piper asked

Paige hadn't really spent time with her sisters in ages and the pleading in Piper's voice didn't go unmissed, "Pipe, I don't think that's going to be possible"

"Well, try?" Piper asked, "We'll have a laugh" All Paige could think about was how much she wanted to not laugh, how she wanted to go into the manor and let her emotions run free after having a day like today. "Honey we haven't spent a night together for so long…"

"I'll try Pipe, that's the best I can do right now." Paige said.

"Well, we'll be at the club, try and make it."

"I'll see how things go"

"Okay, Missy don't work yourself out its not good for you!"

"I'll speak to you later" Paige finished up the conversation, not wanting to have yet another conversation about her recently adapted work habits, conversations that had already at one point turned into an argument with the oldest.

"Kay honey" Piper eventually gave in, "Hope I see you later," with this it went dead and Paige put the phone down and looked into the file, although not really reading, just looking into eyes that identically mirrored that of the green eyes which had hurt her. But she had to get past that to some degree professionally anyway. Only when she was away from all this on her own, could she let her emotions take hold. Only then could she become immersed in her emotions.

It was twelve, midnight, or at least almost. 11:57 counted as twelve right? By this time Paige was slumped on her desk, her eyes blurred from reading tiny print over and over. By now she knew almost everything technical about John. There were small facts like he was allergic to strawberries, to big things like he almost died from pneumonia. She found a small picture of his sister, Maria, who had eyes as equally green as her brother's, but not her fathers brown hair, more of her mother's strawberry blond. She was very young in the picture, not much older than six. Another fact that interested her greatly was that his parents had divorced from each other and then gotten back together. There wasn't a date. Paige couldn't help but wonder if she was Nate's flame during the divorce, or when they were back together. She knew that it wouldn't matter anyway, that Nate was still a heartless jerk, and nothing would change what he said to her, or what he did to her. She looked around the office and, it was empty. No person in his or her right mind would want to stay this late. 'Of course,' Paige mused, 'I'm not exactly in my right mind, now am I?' She smirked to herself. Paige wondered whether she should stay at the office all night. She certainly had done it before. Her body told her no, and her back was aching for a bed. "Fine, you win." She said aloud. She packed the file into her bag, and picked up her jacket.

Paige yawned as she switched off the light, and locked the door behind her. It was a chilly night, and even with all the light pollution, she could see some stars. She could vaguely see Orion's Belt, and that was as far as she could go with constellations. To the universe, she was only one prick, only one little piece of a big plan. She knew this, but her problems felt like they could fill up the whole universe by themselves. Pulling her jacket tighter around her, she unlocked her green Bug and drove home.

Paige tiredly walked up the steps to her house, wondering if her sisters were still at the club. She noticed Piper's Jeep out of the corner of her eye and sighed. Tonight she would have to deal with her sisters. Again. Paige tried her best to sneak into the house without anybody finding her. Of course, as soon as she hung her jacket up she just HAD to trip over someone's briefcase. She rolled her eyes; she was such a klutz. "Shit," She silently swore.

"Nice one." Someone said behind her.

"Leo." She was caught.

"Paige, why are you coming home so late?"

"I don't know father, why am I?"

"Don't give me that tone, young lady." Leo smirked at her, his own green eyes sparkling. She was relieved that his eyes looked nothing like Nate's.

"Why must you keep me locked up like this?" She laughed.

"Hey, don't look at me, I'm just practicing my fathering skills." Leo grinned.

"Practicing? Is there something you're not telling me?" Paige looked at him suspiciously.

"See this is why you don't miss family meetings." Leo said, putting his arm around Paige's shoulder in a friendly manner.

"No one told me it was a family meeting. I know you're hiding something from me! Tell me."

"Hiding something from you? Pot calling kettle black." Paige gave him a little glare. "All right. I can't really keep it in anymore, can I?" He paused, as if waiting for a drum roll. "Piper's pregnant. She told everyone tonight." He could hardly keep the pride off of his face.

'Shit!' Paige slapped herself mentally, 'that's why she wanted me to come home so bad.' "Oh my god! Congratulations! That's amazing!" She hugged Leo, and kissed him on the cheek, "So is Piper still awake?" Paige really wanted to see Piper and congratulate her. Maybe the baby would be a distraction from Piper wanting to know what was going on with her all the time. Plus, Paige knew she would be an aunt, and that thought excited her. She couldn't imagine having someone like Johnny in her family.

"Yeah, I think she is. Prue and Phoebe haven't given her any time to breathe. They're really happy too." Leo said, "Piper just wishes that you had been there when she told everyone."

"I wish I had too." Paige said, frowning. If she had known the news was this important, she would've come, but she would have to risk her sisters seeing her tears.

"Leo!" Phoebe stumbled in the room looking deliriously happy. "Come in and celebrate some more with us!"

"You better not be giving Piper anything to drink." He said, menacingly.

"Of course not Leo!" She giggled, "We're not THAT stupid." She turned her big brown eyes on Paige, "Paige! You're finally back! Geez, all work and no play makes Paige a dull girl."

"Gee thanks." Paige rolled her eyes.

"Prue used to be like that." She stated, "But photography did wonders for her life. You should try it." She staggered a little, "So you heard Piper's news did you?"

"Yeah, I did, where is she?" Paige asked, and got her answer as Phoebe dragged her into the sunroom, which was dark because of how late it was, still the laughter in the room lit it up. Prue was sitting with a glass of champagne in hand, and talking endlessly with Piper.

"Guess who's here!" Phoebe said, plopping down next to Piper.

"Oh, hi Paige." Piper said, not looking at her.

"Pipe! Oh my god, I heard your news! It's great!" She watched Piper stare at her, and finally break into a smile. Paige hugged Piper. "Hey baby!" She said, waving to Piper's stomach.

"It's so exciting isn't it?" Prue got up, and leaned her head on Paige's shoulder, "Our little Pip is growing up." She turned to Piper who was rolling her eyes, "We always knew you would be the first one to have a kid."

Paige felt like crying. She had been thinking of herself all this time, but there was something bigger. She could put herself and the case aside to be excited for Piper's baby. "So do you know when the baby is due?"

"Well, it's October now so," Piper did small equations in her head, counting on her fingers. "Somewhere around June, but I think the doctor said, late May, early June like June 5th." Paige pecked her sister on the cheek.

"Wow, a baby in June. I hear summer babies get in trouble easily." She winked at Piper.

Phoebe jumped in, next to Paige, "I hope it's a girl, so I can dress it in cute outfits." She giggled uncontrollably.

"That's the last time I share my good champagne with you!" Prue smirked, and turned to Paige, holding up the bottle, "You want some?"

"Well, only if it won't tempt Piper." She said, giving Piper a small smile.

Piper laughed, "That's what I've been telling them, and they're like oh, well, you can have cider. It's my baby that they're celebrating."

"I take that as a no." Paige giggled.

"Nah, help yourself. I'm too happy to be jealous of your drinking habits." She squealed as Leo put his arms around her, and kissed her on the top of her head.

"We're," Leo planted one kiss on her neck, "Having," On her chin, "A" cheek, "Baby," He gave her a full kiss on her lips.

Paige felt jealousy flicker through her, but she knew Piper had worked hard to make her family happen, and she deserved this.

Paige threw her shirt into the laundry basket, and put on a big baggy one that said 'Med-O-Lark', her old camp. She picked up the baggiest pajama pants she owned, and put them on over her underwear. Paige peered at herself in the mirror. She saw the same person that she saw last time she looked. Her pale skin shown in the dark, and her normally red full lips were chapped. Her dark eyes had equally as dark circles under them, and her hair was thrown up into a bumpy ponytail, looking a bit ragged. She could remember the last time she had actually tried to look nice, with Nate. She had been obsessed with wanting him to like her, the way she looked. She wanted him to think she was beautiful. Usually with guys, Paige looked her best no matter what, but couldn't care less about her appearance. There was something about Nate that made her unstable. She disgustedly remembered the time when she had poked at the dimple in her chin, trying to make it disappear, because otherwise Nate would think it ugly. It hadn't worked, and Nate hadn't even noticed it, in fact, she was sure at one point that he complimented her on it. That wasn't the person Paige was. Although, at one point she was sure she loved Nate, she was almost certainly better without him. Almost.

She flopped back on her queen-sized bed that nearly took up a quarter of the room, and let her hair dangle off the side of the bed. Her sister's had gotten the bigger rooms, because they had been living in the Manor all their lives, and Paige was just a forgotten sister, waiting to be found. She wasn't the kind of girl to keep a diary, that girl was Piper, but if she had, the entry would be called, 'Top 10 Reasons My Life Sucks'. She could already think of the top five. "One," She said aloud, "I don't have a boyfriend. Two, my family thinks I'm dull. Three, I'm a bad person because I don't spend enough time with my family." She paused, twirling her hair with her fingers. "Four, the guy who I thought loved me, well it turned out he loved someone else. Five, I almost got kicked off my first case because I assaulted a guy."

The door creaked open, "Assaulted? Should I be coming near you?"

"Piper, hi." Her cheeks turned pink.

"Hey Paige." Piper sat down on the bed next to Paige, whose hair was still dangling over the side. "Aren't you going to sit up?"

"No." Paige looked up into the warm face of her sister. Piper always cared about Paige, she had always wanted to become closer. She had almost succeeded in this, but then Paige shut her out. Again. "Hey miss mommy, shouldn't you be resting? It's almost one."

"I should, but I feel it's more important to talk to my sister about what's going on in her life." Piper played with her straight hair, almost nervously.

Paige sighed, she loved Piper, she really did, but it was just sometimes, she was too concerned for her own good. "Why?"

"Because, Paige! We feel like we haven't seen you in weeks. You stay at the office all day and night. Y'know, Prue used to do it, and she felt like her life was wasted in that office." She her placid face had a look of worry, "Paige, you're a part of this family. And you're going to be an aunt soon. What will my kid do without Auntie Paige?"

"He or she'll do just fine without me."

"I'm serious Paige, what is going on with you?" Paige was silent. "Okay, let's start with the assault part, what happened there?"

"Piper, why don't you just get some sleep, and I'll tell you in the morning?" Paige felt smaller under Piper's glare. "Ok. So I started a case today,"

"Congratulations." Piper smiled a bit, happy to know that her sister was going to share some information.

"Thanks. So I started it, and it's an abuse case about this boy. So I visited the boy in the hospital, and his dad was there, and he just grabbed me, so I hit him out of self defense." Paige shrugged her shoulders.

"Okay, why did he grab you?" Piper asked, laying a hand on her non-existent stomach.

"He uh, knew me." She said, tiredly.

Piper looked at Paige, into her tired eyes and could sense the Pain, "He knew you?" She repeated. Paige nodded her head 'yes', as she looked up at the ceiling talking about all this made it so much worse, made it so much real. Sure, Piper, like all the sisters knew the pain that Nate had caused her mostly due to the fact they saw Paige at her lowest – an emotional mess. Not that she was much better now; she had just got better at hiding it from them, hiding it from herself.

"Talk to me" Piper said comfortingly as she lay down on Paige's bed, so they were face to face, she ran a hand softly through Paige's hair sensing the sister needed a comforting hand.

"Not that simple Pipe, I'm not even talking to myself right now." Paige explained, as she looked into the concerned eyes of a sister.

"Who was he?" Piper asked, lovingly, yet firmly.

"It's…" Paige pushed her hand through her hair again, and although she was tired there was know way she could do this without some help. "If we are going to do this do you mind if I grab a bottle of beer or something?"

"Go ahead, I'll be waiting right here" Piper said comfortingly sensing that this was a big deal for Paige, that there was something big going on right now.

Paige walked from the room, as she walked down the corridor she passed Phoebe's room to hear Phoebe and Prue still talking and laughing, still being happy. She lingered on the doorway a little, wondering why she had to go through this pain. Not just of the case, although this wasn't helping – it was like pouring salt in the wounds that were still open. She never before had let someone in so fast as she had with Nate, let him into her heart, her life she had given him everything. She looked up to see Leo stood looking at her from his doorway, "Hey dude, why don't you get over here and do your job, it's past there bed time in there… practice makes perfect!" she smiled lightly, a pain filled smile that she tried to cover up.

Leo knew that something was off, he had grown to know Paige as the sister she was, and he loved her in that way. As a friend and brother, he walked over and put a comforting hand on the sister's shoulder, "You're in good hands" He smiled knowing where his wife had gone, "Talk to her it'll help… her and you both. She's worried about you!" He didn't wait for an answer or reply; it was a statement, one to let Paige know that they cared about her. Leo gave her a warm smile before he turned to the door, he lifted his hand and brought it down rapping on the door firmly then he opened it a crack and looked in to see Prue and Phoebe sat on the bed laughing. "GIRLS! It's past your bedtime… GET some sleep and so help me… If I hear another word from you" He had his best authoritarian voice on.

Paige couldn't help but smile, she tapped him on the back, "Take it Piper's going to be the authority in the kids life huh? Dude face it once a pacifist always…"

Leo smiled at her, "Hey, they fear me" Paige looked past Leo, at Phoebe and Prue who were laughing at Leo looking over towards him.

"Oh yeah, fear!" Paige said as she walked away

"Don't walk away from me" He shot after he again with his scolding voice Paige shook her head as she hared Leo turn back to the sisters who were laughing and joking, happy and, wishing them a good night as they yet again congratulated him.

Piper looked up to see Paige walk in to the room with a bottle of beer open, and in her other hand a bottle of water. She threw Piper the water. The older sister who was setting on Paige's bed took the water, "Thanks."

Paige lingered back as she thought about running back to work burying herself in papers and files, and the case and never leaving again but she knew she couldn't go on like this. She couldn't keep running and maybe it'll help to talk about it. Just maybe she couldn't run from her sisters anymore she had to let them back into the heart which she had long ago frozen them out of – frozen everyone out of since Nate had hurt her so bad. She had to open up to them. She took a swig from the bottle as she lent against the now shut door, pulling the label off from the bottle as she spoke.

"I hurt you tonight huh? I pissed you off?" Paige asked, knowing the answer already, not needing conformation.

"Yeah a little, but I'll get over it. I just miss having my baby sister around" Piper explained, "I hate not been able to help her"

Paige had just detached the 'B' from the bud bottle and was well into the 'U' as she replied to Piper's words, "I can't even help myself" She explained, she looked up to her sister, "Why are they all bastards?" Paige asked.

Piper looked at her with a questionable frown, "Who?" She asked

"Men" Paige growled, with so much anger at the one word.

"There not all…" Piper offered, knowing that this was the score whenever a man hurt one of the sisters it was the job of the others to restore faith in them. At times, like with Paige, the job proved harder.

"You just got a good one" Paige explained, "Who by the way you should be with right now instead of in here with me"

"Honey, come lie down – You're tired" Piper could see it in Paige, the way she was acting, that was sleep trying to overcome her. Paige nodded, she couldn't fight it she was tired but she knew that if she slept she'd think back to a time when she was happy and wake up to this mess and that was never good. She walked over to the bed and Piper lay down and Paige took a seat next to her and lay against Piper who put a comforting arm around Paige's shoulders.

"So who is it? Who's the guy in the case… that has added to the belief of them all being bastards?" Piper asked as she held Paige close letting the youngest lean on her shoulder as she took another swig from the beer.

"Confidential…" Paige attempted, now not wanting to tell Piper who it was.

"Nice try, Paige were sisters. With us nothings classified…who?"

"It's… It's Nate" Paige explained reluctantly after a few moments of silence, "My first case is a case against my cheating ex"

Piper couldn't believe it, "Nate?" She asked, not needing clarification it just escaping involuntary in disbelief. Paige took a much-needed gulp of the bitter alcohol. She knew this wouldn't help much but it did a little, "And you took the case on honey…do you rally think that it's a good idea?"

"It's complicated Piper… The kid, I have to do something…"

"So is it Nate? Is he hurting the kid?"

"Who else" Paige offered, "I saw him stood there Pipe, and I swear to god it was like been kicked in the head. All the pain came back by ten. His wife, his kids- All the time and I didn't know. She's pregnant and all I could think about was if she was pregnant when I was with him… if…" Paige couldn't continue, she couldn't keep speaking anymore "He hurt me" Was all she managed as she lay with her sister.

Piper knew that Paige was holding back the tears, she knew there was so much pain and also knew that right now she didn't need Paige to tell her anymore. She had to comfort a hurting sister. She ran her hand over Paige's arm softly, "I'm here for you Paige…when ever you know that right?" Piper wanted to make sure the youngest did know that she had someone to turn to.

Paige nodded, she knew, always had but it was only now that she felt she could talk about this. Today she had given in, because she hadn't known what else to do. It was all so…unreal to her. "I loved him Pipe." Paige managed as a tear did in fact fall followed by more.

Piper hugged her sister as Paige buried her head into her sister's embrace and let her emotions free. Piper comforted the youngest that had been broken by that guy. She hated him for doing this. "I know you did honey- it's not your fault" Paige's body wrecked with sobs this been the first time in a long while that she had cried in front of her sisters, spoken to her sisters, let them comfort her.

Piper, after a few minutes noticed that Paige had stopped crying, she looked down to see she was running her fingers through the hair of a now sleeping sister. Carefully so not to wake her, Piper took the now empty and de-labeled bottle of 'bud' from her sister's hand, and put it on the side, turning the lamp off. The two were in a world of darkness. The moonlight flooded in, highlighting the two figures who were lay there, Piper holding Paige protectively.

The light that flooded through the window in the bedroom soon turned into that from the sun. Piper opened her eyes, noticing she was lying alone. She turned looking through the room for a sister, who seemed to be gone. She also noticed she had been covered with a blanket, the clock on the side said 7:05. Where was her sister, maybe in the shower, or in the kitchen? Piper had no idea. She pushed her hair back from her face as she sat up remembering the pain in Paige's eyes. She was concerned for the youngest.

Kyle Brody found himself wanting to fall asleep on his desk. He had been up all night asking that damn Nate questions, that Kyle knew Nate wouldn't answer unless his life were threatened. He hadn't gotten anywhere with Nate last night, except to find out what he already knew, that Paige and Nate dated. He didn't know when, or how close they had been, or why they had broken up, but he was determined to find out. It was just as an important piece of the case as the reason as to why John Parks was in the hospital.

He didn't know where exactly he stood on Paige, but he liked her personality and spunk. Kyle just wished that they hadn't met in such a forced, angry manner.

"Rough night?" Kyle spun around to find the woman of his thoughts, speaking to him with her arms crossed.

"A little bit."

"Well me too, so don't feel so bad for yourself." Paige stood near Kyle's desk, tapping her foot away, a hand on her hip.

"So why are you here again?" Kyle found himself smirking.

"Because I work with you." She huffed, and pulled a seat up to the side of his desk.

"Ah right, did your boss have anything to do with this little change?" Brody's eyes were sparkling. Paige had to admit that for such an air headed jerk, he was kind of cute when he smiled, the way that his lips curled up as if there was a secret beneath them. She shook her head, kicking those thoughts out. Brody was an annoyance.

"I'm sure you had something to do with it, Brody. Why do you even want me to be your partner anyways? From all you know, I'm a screw up." She giggled, her smile brightening up her face pleasantly.

Kyle looked at her seriously, and even with the sunlight streaming through the office windows, her pale skin glowed eerily. It reminded him of the moon. "Actually from what I've seen you're not a screw up. You're good with the boy, obviously are dedicated to this case, and even if you DO have a bit of a temper, that works. You're strong. It helps that you're pretty." He winked at her, and she frowned with disgust.

"So you want me to work with you so you can get into my pants." Paige put on a strange unreadable emotion.

Kyle looked horrified, "No! No, Paige! See, I can already tell, this is one of your faults, you jump to conclusions."

"What, so you think I'm jumping to conclusions with John's father?" Paige tapped her foot even harder on the solid floors of the office.

"Yes." Kyle Brody was a police officer. He could not, and would not be intimidated by Paige Matthews.

She shook her head, now her fingers were drumming impatiently on the wooden desk. "I don't know how the hell I'm going to work with you, Brody."

"Call me Kyle." He smiled, and opened a file. Paige shook her head. "I guess we should start doing some actual work, huh?"

"Okay, so what does that mean?" Paige asked, looking down at her duplicate of the file that Brody held.

"We make connections in the text. How bout we split this job up, like you'll have information about him, and I'll have info about his family. Then, we put together a list of suspects."

Paige shrugged, "Why not?" She gave him a warning glare, "But what you say doesn't always go, got it buddy?"

He laughed inside; he loved her ever-present spirit. Kyle put on his reading glasses, and tossed a pen to Paige, who caught it gracefully. He pretended to concentrate on the words, but the letters placed conveniently next to each other didn't make sense to him. He kept stealing glances at Paige, who was tapping her pen against her chin, and sometimes chewing against the end thoughtfully. She was a shear mystery, hard to figure out. Kyle Brody didn't mind that, he was always up for a challenge.

Looking down at the blank piece of paper, Paige wrote 'Suspects' on top. 'First suspect,' she scribbled down, "Nathan Lee Parks father of John Ricky Parks.' She scanned through the paragraphs, the typed lettering not helping her at all. They were only words, only a documented part of a boy's life. On their own, the words were pointless information, an array of facts. She looked for clues in the text, because in each and every word there was a part of the answer. There, lay in front of her, the answer. The only problem was, she didn't know how to get to it. She smirked, 'thank god I've always been good at puzzles.'

'Nathan…' Paige's own loopy handwriting stared menacingly back at her. She couldn't think of anybody who could've done such a thing to John, but Nate. She needed at least five suspects though, and tapped her paper, thinking for other people.

Paige tried to steal a glance of Kyle's paper, but just like in elementary school, Kyle was covering it up, and working intently. "Ok…" Paige whispered. 'Alice Maura Parks (maiden name Shalski)' The blue ink flowed with the words in her head. 'Mother of John Ricky Parks.'

She skipped down the page for other family members. Although they had been told that this was an abuse case, it wasn't clear abuse, and had been happening a lot, but had only been brought to attention now. Most likely, the person would have to live with the family, but it could be a school bully for all Paige knew. "Hmmm." Paige knew she was supposed to be studying only about John, but she couldn't build a suspect list without reading some information about the family members. In the Parks household lived Nate, Alice, John, and Maria, all the usual suspects, and someone else. She looked down at a small picture of someone who looked much like Nate, but friendlier looking. He had laugh lines crinkling near his eyes, and his smile was big, green eyes sparkling. He didn't look cold, like Nate had in his picture. This man was Will Parks, age thirty-one, Nate's senior by two years. She hated putting his name down on the suspect list, but felt she had to, because looks couldn't tell if this man had done anything or not.

"It's lunchtime, Paige." Kyle tapped her on the shoulder and she jumped.

"Oh, sorry." She said, looking up at him. "I was just zoning into what I was reading."

"No harm in that, it means you're working hard." Kyle picked up his papers and shoved it into his folder, "You wanna go somewhere for lunch? I mean, it sucks being crammed in here on a hot day like today."

Paige shrugged her shoulders, maybe he had good intentions, "As long as it doesn't end up being like a date I'm fine."

The two of them sat across from each other at a small restaurant, outside at
a table that was sat opposite a park, due to the summer heat, the park had
families sitting on the grass and children running around and playing. Paige was
sat looking across at them, all happy and smiling – she hadn't felt like
that in a while – happy. She played aimlessly with the bottle top in her
hand turning it through her fingers.
"Hard to imagine" She looked across the table to Kyle who had just spoken.
"What is?" She asked,
"That anyone could hurt a kid I mean you got to be pretty heartless" He
finished as he looked into Paige's eyes.
She held his gaze for a while but then with realizing she was staring into
his eyes, which she had decided looked nothing like Nate's, she looked down
at the bottle cap in her hands. "Yeah well there are some pretty heartless
people out there" She spoke informatively.
"It sounds like you have met your fair share"
"And you haven't? No ones ever hurt you?" She asked,
"Not as much as you." He said.

Paige looked up; a look of confusion crossed her face, "Hold up…Dude, are
you trying to read me?" She asked
"Yeah but it's pretty hard" He smiled back, "You're a tough one"
"You have to be…in my…"
"Line of work?" He asked, cutting in.
"That too" She nodded.
"Can I ask you a question with out you going off at me?" He asked leaning
over the table towards her.
"Depends what the question is" She explained, "And if it's work related"
She added.
"You don't like not being in control do you?" He said,
"Is that the question?" She asked,
"No it's not…" He said with a smile, "look we are going to work together
right, and I usually like to know I can trust my partners…"
"So what you don't trust me?" Paige shot.
"No…I trust you, I don't fully understand you but…I trust you. I just don't
get why you don't trust me." He explained.
"Who said I didn't trust you…" Paige asked him as she looked at his eyes.
There was something about them, something that told her there was so much
more about that guy, and it did scare the shit out of her not knowing what
he was thinking right now, not knowing it there was something behind the
question. She wasn't the only one that was hard to read but something else
in his eyes were kind of calming, and comforting.
"What, so you do?" He asked
"I never said that" She replied, leaning back in her chair and continuing
to play with the bottle top, "Look it's kind of a loaded question how can
you really trust anyone?" She asked, "I mean you work with all this crime,
you see what some of these people are capable of… how can you trust anyone?"
She asked him.
"Because you learn to see the good in people, you learn to read them," Kyle
explained.
"You ever wrong?" She asked,
"Sometimes" He explained, "You know this is the first time you've spoke to
me without being all passive aggressive" Paige just looked across the road at
the children, something made her want to tell him to back off and that he
didn't know her but something agreed with him, maybe she was being passive
aggressive? After a few moments she turned to him, "I think we should get
back to work."

Back to the files, and the suspects and the stuffy office and the endless
ways in which this guy could get off. How this may slip through their fingers
if they didn't get this all done fast. Paige herself, had seen it soon many
times, too many times. Not enough evidence, not enough reason, unable to
convict…the possibilities of failure went on. Paige threw the folder on the
desk and looked up at Kyle, "This is pointless we aren't going to get
anything from these files…"
"Yeah maybe we should call it a night" Kyle agreed as he threw his own
folder shut and dropped it on the side, "So you get anything from that?"
"Nothing" Paige explained, she stood up and took her jacket from the back
of the chair and her mobile of the side, "I'll leave my phone on if anything
comes up call me" She said offering him a half smile half professional nod.

As she walked out of the station she looked into the darkness, they had been
working all day yet Paige felt they hadn't got any closer to this. She knew
that Nate was behind all this all she wanted to do was put that guy behind
bars where he belonged. Bring safety to that boy. She couldn't do this with
files and paper… taking a deep breath she walked down the steps and headed
towards her car.

Due to it being so late, it hadn't taken Paige long to get back to the manor,
she showed up just in time to greet Prue as she saw her oldest sister
walking from the kitchen towards the stairs to get of to bed, where any
normal person would be at this time.

"Keep this up, it'll kill you" Prue said as she lent against the banister,
"not now Prue, I've had a long day" Paige replied to her sisters concern as
she put her keys on the side and her jacket on the coat hook.
"I'm just saying…" Prue offered
"Well how about you don't"
"Take it you had a bad day?"
"The worst…this case is kicking me and I'm already down" Paige explained,
"How's things around here?"
"Same as always…except you're not around much" Prue explained
"Yeah tell me about it" Paige lent against the wall, "ever wanted to just
sleep for a few weeks till everything was over and wake up to some kind of
normality"
"More often than you know…" Prue smiled, "But really you should pace down,
get some rest…this isn't good for you"
"Hey I could be at the office now… but I decided to come home to see my
sisters"
"LIAR…" Prue shot playfully, "Beers in the fridge and the CD players on
standby. Some how knew that you were going to need it tonight."
Paige walked forward, "You know me too well…night"
"Night" Prue said hugging Paige, "And remember take care of yourself before
you have a break down." Prue walked up the Stairs to bed and Paige headed
for the kitchen, today had been one long day, and something was telling
Paige tomorrow wasn't going to be any better.