"I ever tell you I was engaged once?"

Mike raised his eyebrows. He hadn't been expecting that. "Uh...no Barek I'd remember you saying that."

She smiled faintly. "I was. Few years back." Mike didn't say anything. He let her have her time speaking. She looked off into the distance past his shoulder. "He was a good man. I knew him when we were kids. We lost touch after high school and went our separate ways. I didn't see him again until after I left Brooklyn." She took another moment, then went on. "It was years before I saw him again, and when I did...he was handsome. He was so handsome. I was profiling then. I was deep into it and...I hadn't given myself time to have a life. But with Freddie..." she smiled, "it was fast and hard. I fell bad for him. We moved in together. We got engaged. I was so in love with him." She glanced up at him. "He got me, you know?" Mike nodded, he did know. "It was the only time I ever thought about happily ever after..." Her smile faltered.

"We don't have to talk about it," he said gently.

"No. I want to. We were engaged for several months before everything broke. Some cops came around, and Freddie got arrested. I, uh, I found out that he'd been tied in with some major stuff. A really nasty gang. He worked on the outside of it for them and got away with it. Anyway, he rolled on them and they tried to kill him. So he went under. I'd already broken it off by then, but someone decided it was okay for me to see him one last time." She exhaled and bit her lip.

She went on, "I didn't want to see him. He told me he was being relocated and begged me to go along...I didn't say anything. I walked away. They, uh, they made it look like they'd locked him up in high security." She sighed and took a break again.

Mike squeezed her hand, unsure what to think so far. It wasn't anything like what he was imagining in his head and it didn't seem like something that would happen to her. He couldn't quite believe it. She studied him then pointed to his face. "And that's what I had to deal with," she said. He opened his mouth to say something, but she went continued. "After Freddie was 'locked-up' I didn't hear the end of it from anyone I worked with. It was a big joke. Y'know, Carolyn Barek – criminal profiler – had one sharing her bed and didn't even realize it." Her voice grew heavy and cracked a bit. She remembered all the remarks people had made. Until the recent calls, she'd gotten past it. Now she was recalling them and the anger it ignited in her. "The boys would say 'Hey Barek, how's the boyfriend? Any conjugal visits lately?' And the women would say, 'Tough break Barek, how'd you not know?' And there was a lot worse that...I won't even repeat." She shook her head, "I couldn't take it. That's when I joined up at the FBI. They took me up for 2 years and it was nice. I didn't hear...all those...but then Deakins brought me on. I was so scared that it'd follow me. The rumors or whatever. The remarks. But they didn't. Deakins knew a bit about the troubles and I asked him to keep it quiet. He did. And things were good for me. I was okay having a partner again, I was making friends. It was all behind me." She stopped and smiled again. Mike returned the smile.

"But, uh, a couple days ago I woke up to a phone call. It was Freddie. Somehow he had found me and found my number. He's been in D.C. apparently. He was going on and on that he wanted to see me and he was sorry. That he missed me and had been looking for me and wanted to make things right. I ignored his calls all day...then the night before last he called and said if I didn't come see him he'd come to New York. I couldn't have him come here...I hate what he did to me but...I don't want him dead. So I took a red-eye to see him. Used an old undercover alias to get my flight. I talked to him for an hour at the airport and said he had to leave me alone or he was putting himself in real danger. He reluctantly agreed and apologized and went home. So I came back here and...and that's why I was late yesterday. But he kept on calling me and telling me I had to forgive him and let him explain his side."

Mike rubbed his face with his spare hand as he processed it all. "Wow," was all he could muster at first. "And the guy that came to see you?"

"Agent Hayes. He was in charge of Freddie's relocation. I called him and told him Freddie'd reached out. Then told him I went to see Freddie, which is why he was yelling at me. He said he had to relocate him again and I said good. I wanted him to."

"And he's still calling you?"

"Yea. I told him earlier that Hayes was coming after him, so hopefully that was it," she said.

"He ever hurt you?" Mike asked, agitated.

"No. Not physically at least." Silence hung in the air for a long time. "You gotta say something," she said at last.

"Okay. Those assholes you worked with should be shot in the head and Freddie needs to learn a lesson before he gets you in trouble."

Carolyn squeezed his hand. "Thank you. Thanks for not..."

"For not being like those other guys? Did you think I would? That why you didn't tell me?"

"I was worried, yea. As I said, I was liking having a partner again. I didn't want those looks."

"That's not me, Barek."

She nodded. "I know. I was just scared."

He sighed. "So this Hayes guy will relocate Freddie...then what? What'll keep him from contacting you again?"

"Hayes said he'd take care of it."

"If I can do anything...I mean it, anything, you tell me." She nodded, and once again they fell into a comfortable silence. "I'm sorry all that happened to you," he said after awhile. "I wish...I wish it had worked out for you. That happily ever after." He wished it for himself everyday and knew the deep need for it. He also knew the deep need to stop needing it.

"Yea, me too. Who knows...maybe I'll find one somewhere else."

"Make sure I look him over first," Mike said. "We're talking extensive background checks on him and his brother and his mother...I'll tail him a couple weeks, really make sure he's worthy."

Carolyn laughed and Mike smiled, happy he could just make her laugh. "When I first got stuck with you I thought I was in for it," she commented. "But you've grown on me, Logan. You're okay."

"You're not so bad yourself, Barek."

Mike didn't let the doctor move him to his room just yet. Carolyn had finally fallen back to sleep and she actually seemed to be sleeping well. He kept hold of her hand and thought over everything she had told him. He hadn't swallowed it yet. It was rough. He'd always been intrigued by the mystery of his new partner, who she was and where she'd come from...but he hadn't actually taken the time to think seriously about it. Then to see that something so...purely human...had happened...he just couldn't get past it. He also couldn't get past the way she'd been treated, how she'd been forced into being a loner. He knew that feeling all too well. He knew how it was to be ostracized by the people you had once thought had your back through thick and thin. And he knew the feeling of losing someone you loved so deeply...all because you were too blind to see who they really were.

Though through it all, he felt like things were better. He felt a new bond with his partner and was ready for them both to heal and get back to work.