AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thank you for all the reviews. After watching the new shows for this season and seeing how good Bug looked, it gave me inspiration for adding more to this story. Also with all of the "fun" of my second year of university, it's been taking me awhile to update.

Armonia - I'm happy that you like this story so far.

ilovebug - You're right Bug needs to be more adventurous. That's partially why I paired him with someone who wasn't Lily...... for now. Thank you for your persistence and motivation.

gfryffingirl77 - Thank you for your constructive criticism.

oxygen21 - Thanks for the encouragement.

missiemeghan - we shall see if this fic goes in the direction you're thinking of!

DISCLAIMER - I do not own characters appearing on "Crossing Jordan"

Chapter 4 - Before the Date

As Bug was walking down the hall from his office to the Crypt, he didn't realize that both Woody and Jordan were walking beshind him, and incidentally they went with him into the Crypt where Nigel was.

"Bug, so I've heard about your date with Sandra O'Leary." said an annoyed Woody.

"So?" asked Bug as stopped and turned to confront Woody.

"SO?" asked Woody, all in Bug's face.

"Here we go again." said Jordan as she rolled her eyes.

"So, I should be going out with Sandi O'Leary. I should be coming home to her making dinner and Woody Jr. running up to greet me and baby Anna in her crib..." stated Woody.

"You would think being a detective would give you less time to think eh Woodrow." said Nigel with a smirk.

"You're jealous that when you thought it was time to go out with her, she asked me out." replied Bug.

"He's got you there Woody." said Jordan with a smirk.

"Of course I'm jealous, jealous as hell!" shouted Woody, who was clearly frustrated.

Just then Dr. Garret Macy walked in, he did not looked pleased at all. "Jordan, Nigel, I need you to go to do some field work it's at the docks, again. And Woody, do all your shouting at the precinct. Now all of you get going, and Bug you're wanted in Conference Room One."

Bug couldn't understand why he was needed in the Conference Room, usually he was there to explain the cause of death to loved ones. It couldn't be about the Deneuve case, that was finished days ago, so what was it about? He looked in the window of the Conference Room to see Sandra O'Leary sitting there. He waited a few moments before he walked in the door, he felt a bit nervous and puzzled, he wondered what she was doing there, and why she wanted to see him. He walked in the door.

"Hi Dr. Vijayaraghavensatyanaryanamurthy. I thought I would just stop by to ask if it would be okay if we took my vehicle to the trail. I mean it's a SUV so it could store both of our things easier. Unless you would rather take your vehicle." explained Sandra.

"You know you can call me Mahesh, you don't need to be so formal." replied Bug in a very tired tone. "We can take.."

Just then Lily came through the door, "Bug, I need you to sign this." Lily asked as he handed Bug a get well card, "It's for Emmy, she had an appendectomy."

"I didn't know that Emmy had appendicitis." replied Bug as he was signing the card.

"Bug I didn't know that you were still working on the Deneuve case." said Lily as she was looking at Sandra.

"No, I'm not. Why do you ask?"

"It's just that I didn't know you had a meeting with one of the translators right now."

"No, no we were just discussing what we were going to do on our date tomorrow." said Bug calmly.

"Mahesh and I are going hiking on the Appalachian Trail." interjected Sandra.

"Oh," said a disappointed Lily, "but why go hiking?"

"Because that's what Mahesh and I have in common." said a calm Sandra.

Bug could sense a bit of jealousy in Lily's voice, but he didn't know if she was jealous over him going out with a woman he hardly knew or that she was jealous that Sandra beat her to him. Bug would never know of course but he could tell that if he didn't do something, the tension in the conference room would seem more than it was right then.

"Thanks for letting me sign Emmy's card." said Bug as he handed the card back to Lily.

"Yeah no problem Bug." replied Lily as she headed out the door.

"So where were we?" Bug asked Sandra. He was feeling a bit cocky, seeing and hearing Lily's disappointment with his new love life, made him happy. He was finally happy to see Lily realize that he's not this lonely soul wandering around waiting only for her.

"About the vehicle situation, your vehicle or mine?" replied Sandra.

"We'll take mine, then I can take you to my favourite part of the trail."

The Next Day

Bug arrived at Sandra O'Leary's condo, early in the day because they both knew that the best time to look over the valleys along the Appalachian Trail are at sunset. He really wanted to get out of this date, he didn't know anything about this woman, mainly because she wasn't Lily. But Bug being the nice guy that he is, he couldn't just break off a date.

Sandra invited Bug into her condo, he sat down in a very comfy chair in the open concept condo and he could easily see into the kitchen area. There was a smell in the air that Bug didn't quite recognize, he then saw Sandra pull something out of the oven in the kitchen.

"Oatmeal raisin cookie?" offered Sandra, as she brought out a plate of cookies.

"Sure, why not." replied Bug, as he grabbed one off of the plate.

"This seems to always be a new habit of mine, baking oatmeal raisin cookies before going hiking." said Sandra with a smile.

"Why is that?" asked Bug.

"I think it was after I broke up with Joe six months ago. He always insisted that we had those energy bars with us on our hikes. I wanted something more handmade, I guess that's how I came up with making oatmeal raisin cookies." explained Sandra.

"I can't complain about that," said Bug with his mouth full of cookie.

"I take it you like them then?" asked Sandra.

Bug nodded his head, Sandra laughed.