Disclaimer: All characters seen or mentioned on COLD CASE belong to CBS and Jerry Bruckheimer and are used without permission. Sueing me would be a waste of time, since there's nothing you'd get out of this, because I don't make any money with this story.

If you don't like the idea of Scotty/Lilly, you should definitely leave.

Bad news: Still no sex.

Good news: More romance, at least from Scotty's side. Poor guy still doesn't know what Lilly's thinking of him. Let's torture him a bit. :)

Sorry: For not updating for so long. College has started.

Note: Not sure if they get together in this one – if they don't, I'll write an extra-mushy sequel, to silence all those who scream: "ROMANCE! ROMANCE! Why didn't they get together!" . :)

ORPHEUS AND EURYDIKE
No. 9: Rosa
by Dare

The next morning, Scotty and Lilly sat at his dining table in the kitchen; Lilly had eaten three pancakes, an apple, a slice of bread with about one inch of peanut butter on it and a large bowl of cereals.

Scotty just watched her in awe, wondering time and again how she kept her weight. There was something different about her this morning – she was friendly and polite as usual, but she was lacking of her usual ... well, what was it? Scotty Valens wondered.

What was different about her?

Something was missing – there was a certain hard and tough , streak about her, something she had acquired during her difficult childhood and all the disappointments during her life.

Somehow, Scotty thought. I'm one of these disappointments along with Christina. But ... he started to grin. Maybe I can make it up.

Suddenly, he noticed something in his view. It was a big, beautiful smile – and it belonged to Lilly. He had stared at her without noticing.

"Do I have something on my face?" she asked and started to wipe her cheeks. "Peanut butter?"

Okay, Valens: just keep cool and whatever you do, don't blush. You are an up-grown man, a police officer, someone who is tough. Someone you don't want to mess up with.

"No," he said. He cleared his voice. "No, not all. You're completely fine, I was just deep in, erm, thoughts. Yeah."

Valens. You are such. An. Idiot.

Lilly's smile grew – he knew, she wasn't buying it at all. "I'll take care of the dishes and everything – and you should get yourself ready. I don't think Rydell would be happy to see you in you pyjamas at work." She almost winked at him. Almost.

Scotty started at her, managed to nod – and gulped heavily, when he was out of sight and fled to the bathroom.

"You can't face her like this," he told the mirror. "You can't. She's your partner, at least for the time being. No matter how nice it is to dance with her, just imagine you're dancing with Orson. Since when are you such a – a wimp. You used to be cocky. You can't have those kind about someone you work with. Okay?" The Valens on the other side of the mirror nodded. "Okay."

He remembered something – when he was still dating Alyssa, he had been afraid that where Alyssa threaded, she would not be able to come back – that she would do something to herself – that something precious about her was taken away and he wouldn't be strong enough to stop it.

With Lilly, things were different: she was such a strong, such a private person. He seriously doubted that there was something that could drive her insane. Hurt her, maybe, or torture her, but Lillian Rush was a survivor – and compared the Alyssa, Lilly did not want to saved – and compared to Alyssa, Lilly was able to turn him into a babbling pre-college idiot.

It was an entirely knew feeling he could have lived without.

With Lilly, Scotty felt helpless: She wasn't buying any of his shit, could handle his cockiness and occasionally rising arrogance. And she was no damsel-in-distress.

He showered, brushed his teeth and wiped away the bubbly, white beard the toothpaste had created, then he got dressed.

"Okay," he said in a forceful tone when he left the bathroom. "Let go. We're going to be late anyway." Scotty nodded. Forceful. Confident. Cocky. Just keep it up.

When he entered the living room, Lilly was siting on the couch, her head in her hands, her elbows on her knees and met his eyes. She smiled and looked absolutely adorable.

Scotty supressed a gulp and amlost stumbled over it's own feet. "Okay, let's go."

She didn't tell him that she noticed him slapping his forehead again and again when he followed her out of the apartment.

CCCCCC

"You are late, you two," Rydell said when Valens and Rush entered the department. "Long night?"

Scotty ignored the question. "Anything new about the woman Juliette St.Claire told us about? Rosa?"

Orson shook his head. "No, we are still checking the files," he said. "Agent Sharma is currently talking to someone at the Warren Sanatorium, requesting Juliette St. Claire's file." He rolled his eyes in Sharma's general direction, where the young and very furious woman practically screamed at the person on the other side of the phone.

Sharma did her job, all right – but she wasn't exactly diplomatic.

"Are you sure she's a nice person when she's not carrying her badge?" Scotty asked his partner.

Lilly just smiled at him and handed him a part of the Trent File. "Have fun," she told him and they spent half the morning trying to figure out who the hell that Rosa was.

It was before there lunch break when Sharma came over from her desk, waving a file over her head. Her victorious face created a deep frown and a pout in Eric Orson's face.

"I found it. I just reviewed the family history of everyone and it jumped into my face," she declared. "Rosa St. Claire."

Lilly took a look at the file, then she sat back. "Rosa St. Claire is Juliette St. Claire's mother." She looked at Orson. "Is she still alive?"

Orson keyed something into the computer, then he looked up. "Even better – she lives in Duvall, near Seattle."

Sharma looked up at Valens and Rush and smiled not so pleasantly. "Have fun."

"You are not coming with us?" Rush asked.

Sharma shook her head. "No, we have an appointment with him-who-shall-not-be-named."

Scotty and Lilly stared at him.

"With whom?" Scotty wanted to know.

Agent Sharma laughed. "When you have children, you'll get it. Orson and I are going to visit Frederick Zimmer."

Scotty watched his partner in the edge of his eye – and she didn't even flinch. She really had self-control.

Something that could not be said about Orson. "Oh, must we?" he asked, while wringing his hands.

"Stop whining, Orson," Sharma ordered him mercilessly. "We just ask him a few question and leave."

Lilly watched both of them with a certain amount of worry when they started to leave, but she didn't say a word about it. She just nodded towards Scotty. "Shall we?"

Scotty did his mental check list and when he couldn't find the keys, Lilly was already waving with them, then they left building on their way to the car. She drove, while he reviewed all the information they had on Rosa St. Claire.

"She was the householder," Scotty told Lilly. "She worked for the Trents."

"Why was she never questioned?" Lilly asked. "We don't have any interviews with her."

Scotty frowned and shook his head. "Wrong Trents," he said. "She worked for Jonathan Trent's parents and left them, when Augustus Trent, Diana Trent's grandfather, died. "Why would Jonathan Trent visit the daughter of an employee of his father?"

Lilly's gaze grew intense. "I have a strange feeling about this," she told Scotty.

"What do you mean?"

Lilly shook her head. "I can't tell you."

"You can tell me – I am your partner," Scotty joked.

Lilly merely smiled at his lame attempt of humour. "No, it's just – I can't place my finger on it; it's something ..." she again shook her head, apparently at a loss of words. "We'll see when we talk to Rosa St. Claire."

It took them awhile to actually reach the small city of Duvall. It had about five thousand citizens – and they stopped at a small restaurant to eat something for dinner.

A slightly oversized lady – that would be the polite way to describe her to anyone – brought their meals.

Lilly had salad with French dressing, while Scotty ordered a large cheeseburger with double cheese.

"Your arteries will scream in agony," Lilly commented dryly, when she saw the burger dripping with fat.

Scotty waggled with his eyebrows and took a big bite. "Tastes delicious," he informed her, while she just rolled his eyes at him.

"You know," he said, when he had finished his burger and watched her eating her salad. "I wonder why it was never like this back in Philly."

She didn't look at him. "What do you mean?"

"Like eating together or even joking together," Scotty said. "I never knew you can eat so much for breakfast."

This time, she looked at him and there was a smile in her eyes. "Usually, I'm only eating that much when I feel good."

He stared at her and tried to remember when he had seen her eaten that much. Sometimes they had ordered Chinese back in Philly, and Vera, Stillman and Jeffries had always urged her to eat more that just the fortune cookies and a random noodle.

This morning, she had eaten --

-- more than him. They exchanged a long glance over her salad and his bottle of coke, then he said slowly: "Thank you," not sure, if she actually meant it as a compliment.

The response was a rare, almost-toothy smile. "You are welcome," she told him.

They left the restaurant and about twenty they stood in front of Rosa St. Claire's house. It was a large, white building with a red roof and a carefully attended garden in front of it.

Scotty identified some of the flowers as roses.

Roses.

Rosa.

How appropriate.

The door was slightly open which was never a good sign.

They both drew their guns and slowly approached the building. Pressed next to the door, Lilly nodded and Scotty slowly entered the house.

"Mrs. St. Claire?" he called out.

There was a rustle and then something black moved towards Scotty.

He waved his gun around and almost shoot a black cat that escaped through his legs.

"Jeez," he mumbled and carefully moved forward, Lilly slightly behind them.

To their left was the empty kitchen and to their right the completely empty living room with a small table, a comfortable couch, an armchair and a fireplace with a shelf over it that held dozens of framed photos.

A hall lead to the backyard and stairs to the first floor.

When they climbed the creaky stairs, a cold chill greeted them – all the windows up there had been opened and the floor in front of the master bedroom was covered with white pieces of paper.

And in the middle of all that white colour in front of the bed, cloaked in red blood, lay the lifeless body of an elderly woman.

Rosa St. Claire.

End #9

CreativeFreak24: Here's your update. Thank you very much for your review. We'll get to L/S, I promise. :)

Annica: Sorry for the delay – and thanks a lot for looking for an update. Here it is. I promise to hurry. :)

Becky Greenleaf: Thanks a lot for liking my dancing sequence. I thought it to be too much, but since you liked it, I'm relieved. ;)

Lea: Thanks a lot. No need to feel bad, though. I'm just glad you read it. :)

XdareXDevilX: Here's your update. Hopefully, it's not too short.

Pealee: Thanks a lot. Not much L/S in this one, but we'll get there, I promise.

Kawaii-Peach14: No dancing in this one, but I hope you still like it.

Lil'n'Scotty foreva: Thanks a lot.

givemecookies: I don't think you are out-of-character in your stories. I like them very much. And thank you for your kind review.

Haley: Sorry to keep you waiting. Nice nickname, BTW.

EvangelineLilly: Thanks a lot. Here's you update.

AthenaIceGoddess: We'll find out in the next chappie if Lilly likes him.

Mellie Erdmann: Thanks a lot. Yeah, they would've kept Orson.

Tiantian Wang: Who likes Christina anyway:) Thanks a lot for reviewing. What I wanted to ask you: your first name – does it mean something?