Title: Privilege

Author: NightMage

Rating: maybe PG13, to be safe.

Summary: The team gets very, very frustrated with doctor-patient privilege! And Sam deals with a problem of her own. My very first M/S fic. Please R&R!

NOTES:

As always, thanx to the readers, reviewers, etc, and to Chele who is, at the moment, sitting right next to me and watching me type this. You all can thank her for this chapter because she made me write it in payment for her making my dinner. Now I had better get on with the story or she's going to – Okay! Okay! I'm starting!

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Chapter 7
THE MILLPOND

Danny's cell phone rang just as Vivian pulled up in the parking lot of the FBI building. He glanced at it, then over at Vivian. "It's Jack." He grabbed it and flipped it open. "What's up?"

"Danny. Where are you?"

"A few floors below where you are."

"Turn around, get back to St. Anthony's."

Danny looked up and found the window of Jack's office. "What? Why?"

"Father James just found a kid's jacket in Garver's confessional."

"Huh. On our way, Boss."

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Someone was knocking on the door. David Casper didn't much care. Let them knock. He couldn't find his daughter. Let them knock.

"Mr. Casper, FBI! Open up!"

They couldn't find his daughter either. Let them knock.

"Open up."

The knocking stopped. The door opened. How dare they just let themselves in? He was a peaceful man minding his own business. He couldn't find his daughter. His beer bottle was almost empty. Funny, he'd just opened another one. Gee. He couldn't find his daughter. Let them... wait. They weren't knocking. They were talking. Let them talk.

"Mr. Casper, we need to talk to Nigel Simmons. He wasn't in his apartment, do you know where he might be?"

It was the blonde agent again. She couldn't find his daughter. And there was a guy. Who was the guy? That guy probably can't find my daughter either. Where'd the beer go? He couldn't find his beer. His daughter didn't drink, did she?

"Mr. Casper. Mr. Casper?"

Shut up and go away. "Does my daughter drink?"

"Excuse me?"

"Where is she? She stole my beer."

The guy and the blonde exchanged funny looks. "He's drunk," she said. Gee.

"Mr. Casper, we need to find Nigel Simmons."

What?

"Nigel Simmons! Zar! Do you know where Zar is?"

Zar likes beer. "Zar likes beer."

More funny looks. "Where does he drink?"

"He's, uh… he's drowning. Millpond."

The new guy was annoyed. "Mr. Casper, we really -"

"No, wait." The blonde interrupted.

"What?"

"The Millpond. It's a bar. Let's go."

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"This the jacket?" Danny held it up.

Father James nodded. "I was thinking about Channel after you left. I hadn't been in his confessional since... And the jacket was just sitting right there." He pointed.

Vivian checked the tag. Lynn Casper, it read, in faded black marker. "It's Carolynn's."

"She was here." Danny glanced into the confessional. "What are the odds it was her confession that spooked Father Garver?"

Viv nodded. "Yeah, now we just need to find out what her confession was."

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Sam had given Martin a brief summary of Nigel "Zar" Simmons' story on the way to 'The Millpond' – and how did she know about that bar anyway? Martin wondered. He still wasn't exactly sure why they needed to question 'Zar,' and Samantha wasn't being very talkative. Still, what Sam wanted, Sam got.

Martin led the way into the Millpond. As he held the door for her, it suddenly hit him that he was taking Samantha to a bar. Where did that come from? This is not a date, he told himself firmly. This is work.

'Zar' was sitting at a stool at the bar, staring into his bottle. Samantha worked her way over to him, dodging elbows and trying not to step on anyone's foot. Martin followed a little less cautiously.

"Zar."

Zar didn't turn around.

"Zar!" Samantha had to shout to be heard over the music.

Zar started, turned toward her, and blinked. Then he recognized her. "Oh, hey. It's... uh... Spade! Sam Spade! 'Sup?"

"We need to talk to you about Cai!" Sam shouted.

"What?"

"We need to talk to you!"

"Oh, right, okay. Comin'."

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Sam led Zar to a picnic table outside. Martin followed, though he still didn't really know what was going on.

Zar fiddled nervously with the edge of his ratty old jacket. Sam leaned across the table.

"Hey."

He looked up at her.

"Why didn't you tell us you got Cai pregnant?"

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