Secondment

Week One

The desk sergeant at the 29 looked up to see a beautiful brunette woman hurriedly entering the precinct. She walked up to the desk and lifted her hand to display a silver badge.

"Hi, I'm Officer Elliot, I am supposed to report to a Sergeant Reagan, can you please tell me where I can find him?" She asked smiling warmly. The desk sergeant was temporarily stunned by the beautiful woman's dazzling smile so it took him a moment to respond.

"Oh…ah…Sergeant Reagan's office is down that corridor first on the right." He directed, pointing to a corridor to his right but never taking his eyes off her.

"Thanks." She replied as she flashed him another dazzler and quickly took off towards the corridor. She walked quickly, her low heeled boots softly clicking on the linoleum floor, when she was most of the way down the corridor she looked to her right and saw a man sitting at desk in an alcove. She wrapped her knuckles on the filing cabinet at the entrance of the alcove and he looked up.

"Sergeant Reagan?" Jamie looked up at the sound of his name and saw a very attractive woman in plain clothes standing a few feet from his desk, duffle bag over one shoulder, holding a silver badge in her raised hand.

"Yes." He confirmed.

"Hi, I'm Officer Elliot, the temporary transfer, I was told to report to you." She explained. Jamie knew she was starting today and had been waiting for her arrival, he had not expected someone quite so attractive. Realising he was staring he pulled his eyes away and glanced down at his watch.

"You're over two hours late." He pointed out as he looked back up.

"I know, I apologise but I have a very good reason for that." She began.

"I was on my way to work and stopped at a convenience store, while I was there it was held up. I was able to take down and arrest one of the perps but the other one shot the cashier and got away. Unfortunately, the cashier didn't make it and I had wait for detectives from homicide to show up and take my statement. Then they asked me to sit with a sketch artist and I'm sure you know how long that takes." She walked Jamie through the mornings events.

"I see, well, that is an acceptable reason to be late." He smiled understandingly and she couldn't help but notice that her temporary sergeant was quite handsome.

"The detective in charge gave me his card, he said you could call him and he would confirm everything. I think you know him." She began to grin as she held out a business card to him. Jamie took the business card from her and read the name printed on it: Det. Daniel Reagan.

"Oh." He grinned back.

"What the the odds, right?" She chuckled. They stood there staring at each other, small smiles playing on their lips, both a bit taken by the others physical appearance. After a couple of seconds Jamie snapped out of if.

"Right. Well, given your, understandable, lateness you've missed roll call where I gave out all the assignments for the shift. So, you'll have to ride with me today." He informed her.

"Okay." She accepted the assignment happily. Jamie was a little taken aback, he never had anyone be so amenable to riding with their sergeant.

"Really? No sigh, no grumble, no poorly disguised disappointment?" He asked still getting over his surprise.

"Oh, are you really bad to ride with?" She quipped, grinning again.

"I don't know, no one would dare complain." Jamie joked smiling back and she laughed. Silence fell as they again stood staring at each other. Jamie found himself quite taken with her smile, noticing it lit up both her face and the room. Elliot for her part, was busy admiring the beautiful shade of blue of his eyes.

"Okay, so you need some time to change into uniform and while you do that I'll call Detective Reagan." Jamie laid out a plan, after regaining his concentration and looking back down at the card, Elliot nodded.

"Um…Sarge?" She started and Jamie looked up to see her still standing there.

"Locker room?" She inquired and Jamie mentally kicked himself.

"You don't know this precinct yet, okay follow me."

Jamie led her to the women's locker room, giving her a partial tour along the way. Once he had ascertained the locker room was empty he took her in and showed her which locker she could use for the duration of her time there. He told her to come back to his desk once she was ready to head out and left her to get changed. She put her duffle bag down on the bench and pulled out all the pieces of her uniform. As she quickly got changed she was thankful she had decided to put her hair in the uniform required low bun before she left home. After little more than five minutes she was in her uniform, she put her gun in the holster, picked up her hat and left the room.

It was less that ten minutes before she was back standing in front of Jamie's desk. He looked up and was impressed at the speed with which she had gotten ready. Jamie picked up his hat from the end of his desk and began leading her through the precinct to the garage, completing the tour of the precinct as they went. When they reached the patrol car they would be riding in for the day she began to do the patrol guide mandated pre-departure checks. He stood and watched her, impressed by her diligence at tasks he knew many of his officers either didn't bother with most of the time or half-assed. Once she was finished they climbed in and he continued to watch her as she worked through the internal pre-departure checks. He watched her in approving silence as she checked everything, then put on her seatbelt on and turned to him.

"We're all good, ready to go." She confirmed.

"Great." He smiled, put on his seatbelt then turned on the car. He pulled the car out of the space, drove to the exit and turned the car on to street. The car was quiet for awhile until Jamie decided he wanted to get to know his transfer a little bit better.

"So, were you chosen for this transfer or was it voluntary?" He began his questioning.

"I volunteered." She told him.

"Why?" He pried.

"I thought it would be interesting to see how another precinct does things, and I felt like I needed a change of scenery." She answered, he nodded more interested in the second reason than the first.

"Fellow officer or your sergeant?" He probed and she glanced at him.

"What caused you to need a change of scenery?" He clarified and she sighed quietly, not surprised he'd focused on the second reason.

"My sergeant." She admitted reluctantly.

"Problems?" He inquired.

"Nothing specific, we're just very different people and very different cops." She responded vaguely. She went quiet and Jamie glanced at her.

"I'm very by-the-book, bit of an overachiever, you know, kind of type A. That rubs some people the wrong way, my sergeant is one of those people. He calls me officer goody goody." She sighed, Jamie looked over at her again and frowned, empathising with her situation.

"I'm sorry to hear that. You won't have that problem with me, I'm pretty by-the-book, type A myself." He reassured her and watched her brighten up.

"Then we should get along great." She smiled.

"Already do." He confirmed smiling back. As he shifted his eyes back to the road he decided to move things to a new topic.

"So have you always wanted to be a cop?" He continued his friendly interrogation.

"Nope. I actually got a degree in psychology." She explained.

"Where from?" He followed up.

"Yale." She told him and his eyebrows went up.

"I went to Harvard." He revealed and it was her turn to be surprised.

"I won't hold it against you." She grinned and they shared a laugh. He began to formulate his next question, his curiosity growing the more he learned about her.

"So…" Jamie began but was interrupted by the radio crackling to life. They listened as dispatch told of an attempted robbery in Morningside Park, only three blocks from their current location. Jamie glanced at Elliot and she immediately got on the radio to let dispatch know they would be responding. Jamie put on the lights and sirens as he sped up the car. They arrived at the entrance to the park only a few minutes later. They climbed out of the car and quickly made their way into the park. Only a few steps in they saw a middle aged woman with a cocker spaniel waving them over, a few feet from her a man was lying on the ground with 4 people holding him down.

"Ma'am, can you tell us what happened?" Jamie asked as they approached.

"That man stole my purse, my dog ran after him and bit his leg. That slowed him down enough for these kind strangers to take him down and hold him until you guys arrived." At her story Jamie and Elliot shared a look and went over to the pinned man.

"Okay guys, you can get off him now, we'll take it from here." Elliot informed them as she bent down and grabbed the man's arm. The four people stood up and Elliot and Jamie helped the man get to his feet.

"That woman's dog attacked me, you should arrest her." He exclaimed as he tried to get out their grip.

"That's not true, he stole her purse. The dog chased him and bit him, we're all witnesses." A man in workout gear told them, the rest of the group nodded in agreement.

"Alright, we will take all of your statements." Jamie assured them as he began to handcuff the perpetrator. Jamie had the handcuffed man sit on the ground while he and Elliot got the victim and all four witnesses statements and contact details. Once they had them all Jamie stood the man up, patted him down and read him his Miranda rights.

"You're arresting me?!" The man remarked quite shocked.

"I'm the injured party!" He insisted lifting a torn and bloody pant leg.

"Yeah, yeah. You're a real genius you know, robbing the one person at the park with a dog." Elliot admonished him and Jamie did his best to stifle a laugh.

"What about her, you need to arrest her. Her dog bit me; that dog should be put down." The man railed as Elliot walked over to the woman and her dog, who was sitting at the woman's feet looking very proud of itself. Elliot looked to the woman for permission to pet the dog, the woman smiled and nodded.

"This dog…" She started as she bent down.

"Should be given extra treats today because…" She again looked to the owner.

"Her name is Cookie." The woman answered her unspoken question.

"….she is such a good girl!" Elliot heaped praise on the dog as she rubbed her head.

"Cookie, you are such a good girl, yes you are, you protected your mama didn't you?" She baby talked to Cookie, who revelled in the attention. A smile spread across Jamie's face as he watched the joyous interaction between Elliot and Cookie.


Elliot slung her duffle bag over her shoulder as she exited the precinct at the end of her shift. She hadn't made it more than a few steps down the stairs when she heard her name being called.
"Mel!" She turned towards the sound and saw her sister jogging lightly up the stairs to meet her. She smiled as her sister made it to her.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" She asked as they shared a quick hug.

"It's your first day at your new temporary precinct, I thought I'd surprise you."

Jamie was looking down at his phone screen so intently that he didn't notice the person on the stairs in front of him had stopped. He looked up but not in time to stop himself from bumping into the back of them.

"Oh, sorry." He apologised as he regained his balance and stepped back.

"That's okay…oh, hi Sarge." Elliot greeted him once she had turned around.

"Elliot." He acknowledged her as he saw a woman behind her nudge her.

"Oh right, Mer this is my new boss, Sergeant Reagan. Sarge this is my sister Meredith." She introduced them and noticed Jamie looking back and forth between them.

"Twin sister." She added to assuage Jamie's curiosity as Meredith's eyes lit up.

"Hello Sergeant." Meredith greeted him in a blatantly flirtatious tone as she held out her hand.

"Mer!" Elliot chastised her turning red as the two shook hands.

"Are all the guys at your new precinct this hot?" Meredith asked grinning, Elliot went redder.

"Oh my god, stop!" She begged her sister as Jamie went a little pink.

"I bet you wished you'd transferred years ago." Meredith grinned, enjoying torturing her sister. Elliot groaned and covered her face with her hand sure she now resembled a tomato, Jamie chuckled at the sisterly ribbing.

"It's okay. I'm flattered, but married." He informed them raising his left hand to show his ring.

"Bummer." Meredith commented and Elliot grabbed her.

"I'm going to take her home now, before you have to arrest me for sororicide." Elliot told Jamie as she began to drag her sister away.

"What's sororicide?" Meredith asked as she resisted being dragged.

"The act of killing one's sister." Jamie answered smiling.

"Oh…hey!" Meredith exclaimed as she clicked, Jamie and Elliot shared a laugh.

"Night Elliot, have a good one." Jamie smiled finding some difficulty breaking eye contact.

"You too, night Sarge." Elliot smiled back.

When Officer Elliot was introduced to the rest of the precinct at roll call on her next shift, all the men immediately volunteered to be partnered with her and the female officers rolled their eyes. Jamie assigned her to partner with Officer Ortiz as his partner being on medical leave was one of the reasons they were short of bodies. Elliot quickly proved herself to be an exemplary officer as, in her first week at the 29 she talked down a jumper, took down an aggressive drunk twice her size who had caused a bar fight, managed to resolve a domestic argument that had spilled out on to the street without needing to arrest anyone and spotted and arrested a criminal there was a BOLO out for. By the end of her last shift of her first week she had earned herself the nickname super cop, the men of the precinct had also taken to calling her officer hottie amongst themselves.


As Jamie headed home after his early Friday shift he got a text from Eddie asking him to pick up milk on the way home as they had run out. He stopped at the convenience store just a couple of blocks from home and greeted the cashier as he entered. He walked straight to the back of the store and began making his way down the aisle of fridges. Halfway down he stopped as woman in a messy top knot, staring into a fridge of sodas, was blocking his way.
"Excuse me, can I please get passed?" He asked politely.

"Oh sorry, sure." She pulled her face away from the fridge and looked at him.

"Oh, hi Sarge." Elliot lit up and smiled warmly at him as she recognised him.

"Hi." Jamie greeted her. As he spoke he saw a little boy and girl both of about three come up from behind her and wrapped their arms around her legs.

"Hey guys, did you pick out what you wanted?" She asked looking down at them. The little girl held up a lollipop and the boy held up both his hands each containing a different candy.

"I'm pretty sure I said you could each pick one piece of candy." She reminded the little boy emphasising the word one. Elliot looked up to see Jamie still standing there watching the interaction.

"Are they yours?" He enquired and she shook her head.

"No, they're my niece and nephew." She answered.

"Oh, your sisters." Jamie put it together as he remember meeting her flirtatious sister earlier in the week.

"Actually no, we have an older brother, they're his. This is Rosie and the cheeky monster trying to get two pieces of candy is Eli." She explained and introduced them.

"This is my boss Sergeant Reagan, can you guys say hello?" She encouraged them.

"Hi." Eli went first.

"Hi." Rosie followed her brother with a shy greeting. Jamie smiled and returned the greeting as Rosie tugged on Elliots leg. Elliot looked down and Rosie reached up, Elliot understood, picked her up and placed her on her hip. She then looked to Eli who was still holding on tight to both of his pieces of candy.

"You're going to have to pick one. We said one each and your dad's gonna kill me if I let you have too much junk food." She explained. She and Jamie watched as the little boy looked back and forth between the two sweet treats finding the decision impossible. As he tried to decide Jamie noticed Meredith come up behind him.

"Hey Eli, why you choose that one, I'll get the other one for me and you can have a bite." She suggested pointing first to the one in his right hand then to the one in his left, then winked at him. Realising he was going to get both, Eli held out the candy in his left hand to his aunt, Meredith took the candy, picked him up, gave him a squeeze and put him on her hip.

"You're as bad he is, and he's three." Elliot grinned while shaking her head.

"You'e just jealous because I'm the fun aunt." Meredith retorted, smiling at Jamie in greeting.

"I'm fun too, right?" Elliot asked Eli and he put his now free hand up and made the universal symbol for a little bit, Elliot laughed and turned to Rosie.

"Do you think I'm fun?" She asked and Rosie nodded.

"One out of two ain't bad." Meredith chuckled and so did Elliot. She then turned to Jamie who was still standing there.

"Oh, sorry, we're still in you way." She apologised as she remembered.

"It's okay, just need to get to the milk." He smiled and the two women flattened themselves against fridges so Jamie could get past. He squeezed passed and grabbed a bottle of milk from the fridge beside Meredith.

"Well, I should…" Jamie gestured to the cashier with the bottle of milk.

"Oh, right. See you next week." She nodded and smiled.

"See you then." He smiled back, holding her gaze for a second before turning and heading to the counter. The two women watched him pay and leave then Meredith leaned her head close to Elliot's.

"Damn, that man is fine." She commented grinning.

"Mer!" Elliot groaned at her sisters comment.

"I know you agree with me." Meredith continued. Elliot, knowing she couldn't argue the point, just sighed.

A quiet had fallen as the Reagan's all dug in hungrily to Sunday dinner after Henry said grace. A couple of minutes passed without anyone starting a conversation, seeing as no one seemed about to Danny seized his opportunity.

"Hey Jamie, how's it going with your new transfer?" He asked, a slight smile on his face.

"It's going well." He answered vaguely.

"She certainly improves the view, huh?" Danny commented, the smile now a full on grin.

"Ugh, not you too." Eddie grumbled at his comment and he raised his eyebrows questioningly at her.

"Every guy at the precinct is drooling over her." Eddie complained, explaining her reaction.

"Not surprising, right Jamie?" Danny replied and Jamie shot him a look.

"How do you know Jamie's new transfer?" Erin inquired, asking the question the rest of those at the table were wondering.

"She got caught up in a robbery on her way to work her first day at Jamie's precinct. She took down one of the perps but the other, who shot and killed the cashier, unfortunately got away. Baez and I caught the case, I had the pleasure of interviewing her and taking her statement." Danny explained, smiling to himself as he fondly remembered that morning.

"And she's attractive?" Erin followed up, though she already knew the answer.

"She's gorgeous." Danny confirmed still smiling.

"And her work?" Frank interjected.

"Impeccable." Jamie responded, upon seeing everyone faces he suddenly wished he'd picked a less effusive word.

"Is she single?" Sean asked and everyone looked at him.

"I'm asking for Dad." He clarified and everyone turned to Jamie to hear the answer.

"I don't know." He replied.

"What do you know about her?" Danny probed.

"Well, she volunteered for the transfer, has a degree in psychology from Yale, a twin sister named Meredith, an older brother, a niece named Rosie and a nephew named Eli." Jamie rattled off the list of things he had learnt about Officer Elliot, everyone looked at him surprised.

"She's been with us for a week and you learnt all that?" Eddie questioned him.

"Because she was late her first day she had to ride with me and I ran into her twice after work." Jamie quickly explained the innocent reasons he knew so much about her.

"She has a twin? There are two of them?" Danny continued probing, Jamie could see that information had him lost in thought.

"They're not identical." Jamie somewhat burst his bubble.

"Still." Danny smiled and gave Jamie a you-know-what-I'm-thinking look. Jamie, wanting badly to change the topic turned to his father.

"Dad, did you catch the Jets game?"

Week Two

As Elliot put the last of her street clothes into her locker her phone started ringing, she pulled it out of her bag and tapped the green button on the screen.

"Hello?" She said not recognising the number.

"Officer Elliot, this is Detective Reagan." Danny's voice came from the other end of the line.

"Oh, hi Detective." She smiled as she remember him.

"I'm calling about the robbery homicide you witnessed." He explained his reason for calling.

"Thanks to your excellent description of the perp and the fact that you winged him, we found him." He told her.

"I'm sure there was some detective work involved." She commented.

"A little." He chuckled and she grinned.

"Anyway, we need you to come to our house and do a line up." He informed her.

"Of course." She agreed willingly.

"Great, how long will it take you to get here?" He asked.

"Oh, I'm just about to start my shift, I can come by right after." She offered.

"That's alright, I'll just call your Sergeant. We go way back." Danny joked and heard her chuckle.

"Okay, I'll just finished getting ready and come right over." She confirmed.

"Great, see you soon." Danny replied and she heard the call disconnect. She placed her phone on the shelf in her locker and finished getting ready. As soon as she was done she slipped her phone into her pocket, closed her locker and hurried out of the locker room. As she reached Jamie's office she saw he was on the phone.

"Okay, okay, I'll send her over now." He relented.

"You're welcome." He said insincerely after a pause.

"Yeah, see you Sunday, bye." He finished the phone call and put his phone in pocket, when he looked up he saw her standing a few feet from his desk.

"Oh, hi."

"Detective Reagan?" She guessed the identity of the caller.

"Yes. He already called you didn't he?" Jamie made a guess of his own.

"Yeah, I told him I could come right after my shift but he really wants me to go and do the line up now. He told me was going to call you." She relayed her conversation with Danny.

"Figures. Patience has never been his strong suit." He reflected, Elliot did her best to stifle a laugh. Jamie noticed her struggle and started to smile, after a moment they both broke out into big grins.

"You should getting going." He told her as his grin faded to a small smile.

"Right, I'll be back as soon as I can." She promised.

"You don't have to hurry, just do what you need to do." He told her kindly.

"Okay, thanks." They shared a smiled, then she left.


The late morning quiet of the precinct was shattered when Officers Wallace and Ryan returned with a small screaming baby in a carry cot. Everyone in the room stared at them as they walked over to the desk and Jamie who was manning it.

"Wallace?" Jamie questioned the officer holding the carry cot.

"Abandoned kid, member of the public called it in. We called CPS but as per usual they're backed up, so they told us to take her to the precinct and they'll send someone as soon as they can." He explained and Jamie nodded.

"We can't make it stop." He added upon seeing his Sergeants pained expression. At that moment Officer Elliot and Officer Ortiz rounded the corner and found everyone staring at the still screaming baby. Elliot went right over with Ortiz following and Wallace explained to them what he had just explained to Jaime.

"Have you tried soothing her?" She asked assuming the gender based on the pink onesie the baby was wearing.

"No, we've just been staring at her hoping she would stop." Wallace retorted sarcastically.

"Can I try?" She offered.

"Please." He gratefully accepted as he raised the carry cot. Jamie and the three officers watched as Elliot undid the buckle and gently lifted the baby out of the carrier and placed her on her shoulder.

"Hey, you're alright, shh, shh." She soothed the baby as she rocked and swayed in place. Within seconds the baby stopped crying and began to settle down.

"Oh thank god." Ryan exclaimed relieved and Wallace looked at Elliot impressed.

"You have kids?" He asked her as she continued to slightly rock the baby.

"No, but my brother and sister-in-law had twins a few years back and an extra pair of hands were always welcome. I've had a bit of practice." She revealed.

"We gotta head out." Ortiz gently reminded her. Elliot nodded and began to place the baby back in the carry cot, as soon as she let go the baby began to cry again.

"Take her back, take her back!" Wallace begged and Elliot took the baby back out of the carrier and re-calmed her.

"Sarge, please, we need her." Wallace pleaded with Jamie to have Elliot stay with the baby. Jamie looked at Elliot and observed her smiling at the baby for a moment as he came up with a plan.

"Okay, here's what we'll do. Elliot are you happy to stay here with the baby until CPS arrives?" He checked and she nodded.

"Ok, good. Wallace you stay here, help Elliot with the baby and write up the DD5. Ryan, Ortiz you two can ride together for the rest of the shift." Jamie laid out the plan and all four of his officers nodded their acceptance. Ryan and Ortiz headed out and Elliot looked to Wallace.

"How long did CPS say they would be?" She asked him.

"They said it could be several hours, you know how they are." He informed her.

"Then we're going to need baby stuff." Elliot stated, they both looked to Jamie.

"Elliot give him a list of what you'll need, Wallace can you make a run? The precinct will reimburse you." Jamie instructed. Wallace nodded, put down the carrier and pulled out his notebook.

"What do we need?" Wallace turned to Elliot clicking his pen.

"Okay, well, definitely diapers. Get 0 to 3 months, oh and wipes. I don't know when she last ate but if it's going to be hours we should also get formula, also 0 to 3 months and a bottle. Oh and grab a bib too." Wallace wrote as Elliot talked and once he had the list he headed out to buy the supplies. Jamie came out from behind the desk and picked up the carrier.

"Here, let's go the to the break room."

Elliot got herself comfortable in the break room and tried to entertain the baby as best she could. After about forty five minutes Wallace returned with a shopping bag full of all the supplies Elliot had requested. As soon as he put down the bag she immediately pulled out the diapers. Wallace, being little help when it came to babies and knowing what she was about to do quickly left to go write up the DD5.

When Jamie went to the break room for a coffee an hour and half later he found Elliot sitting alone feeding the baby. As he entered the only sound to be heard was the soft sound of the baby suckling on the bottle, Elliot gave him a small smile as she noticed him.

"How's it going?" He enquired as he made his way to the coffee machine.

"She's good, but you know how it is with babies, it's non stop." She remarked.

"I'm making coffee, would you like one?" He offered and one of her room lighting smiles spread across her face.

"Yes please." She replied gratefully and he took out a second mug.

"How do you take it?" He asked.

"Milk, no sugar."

"Got it." He responded as he took the coffee pot out of the machine. The room was quiet as Jamie made the coffees and Elliot finished feeding the baby. As she placed the baby on her shoulder and began to burp her Jamie placed her coffee down beside her.

"Thanks." She took the mug and took a big sip. As Jamie went to leave her heard her talk softly to the baby.

"Why don't we see if we can get you down for a nap."

Things got a bit crazy and it was four hours before Jamie was next able to take a break. In desperate need of more coffee, he grabbed the empty mug from his desk and headed to the break room. When he got there he found Elliot sitting in there alone, still holding the baby.

"Still here." He comment as he entered.

"Yup."

"You should have Wallace follow up with CPS, remind them your still waiting." He suggested as he walked over to the coffee machine.

"Already did, they're just really busy today. Told us it would be a couple more hours." She informed him, then she stood up.

"Hey Sarge, since your here, can you do me a favour?" She asked, Jamie put down his mug and turned to face her.

"Uh, sure."

"Could you take her for a minute, I really need to go to the bathroom." She looked at him expectantly.

"Oh, yeah, of course." He immediately agreed.

"Do you want to put her…" He trailed off and looked at the carrier.

"I would but she starts fussing when I do that, are you okay to hold her?" She checked, Jamie nodded and she passed him the baby.

"I'll be right back." She assured him as she walked quickly to the door. Jamie watched her leave then turned his attention to the baby. The baby stared at him, as he stared back his was reminded of holding Nicky when she was small. As Jamie continued to stare the baby began playing with his badge. He watched her tiny fingers try to grab it and started to smile. A few minutes later Elliot returned and was greeted by the adorable sight of Jamie smiling at the baby as she tried to take his badge.

"She's fascinated by mine too." Elliot chuckled as she made her way over. Jamie glanced at her then looked back down at the baby.

"Do you and your wife have kids?" She asked as she put her hands out for the baby.

"Ah, no, not yet." He replied as he gently removed the baby's hands from his badge and handed her back, surprised by his slight reluctance to do so.

"It's not your first time holding a baby though, is it?" She guessed and he shook his head.

"I have a niece and two nephews." He confirmed her suspicion.

"Aw, nice." She smiled and he saw her stifled a yawn.

"If you want a break I can have someone else watch her for a bit." Jamie offered.

"Thanks, I appreciate that but I want to see this through, you know." She explained and he nodded his understanding. Jamie turned to the coffee machine and poured himself his third cup of the day. As he took his first sip Wallace led an emotional man into the room.

"Lacey, oh thank god. Is she alright?" The man asked concerned as he walked over to the baby, the baby started babbling excitedly and reaching for him.

"She's absolutely fine, you're her father?" Elliot surmised.

"Yes, I'm Eric. Her mother, she's not been right since Lacey was born. She took her for a walk this morning, I don't know what happened but, she left her. Thank god her mother came to visit and when she realised my wife didn't know where Lacey was she called me. I've been looking for her all day, I thought something…" The man trailed off from his rambling explanation, unwilling to imagine what could have happened.

"She's completely okay. A member of the public found her and called us. She's been here with me most of the day." Elliot reassured him as she handed him his daughter, he took her into his arms and hugged her.

"Her last feeding was half and hour ago and I changed her diaper about fifteen minutes ago." She told him and he looked at her.

"Thank you, thank you so much for taking care of my daughter." He smiled at her, immensely grateful.

"You're welcome, she's a wonderful little girl." She smiled warmly and patted the baby's head.

"Oh here, you should take this. There's diapers, wipes, formula, a bottle and a bib." She listed the contents of the bag as she held it out to him.

"Oh my gosh, thank you." He replied as he took the bag.

"No problem. I hope your wife feels better soon." Elliot smiled and the man nodded, he placed the bag in the carrier, picked it up and headed out of the break room with Wallace.

"Well, that ended better than I expected." Elliot commented happily to Jamie, who was still standing next to the coffee machine.

"Yeah, good outcome." He agreed as he saw a smile spread across her face.

"Moments like that make me love this job."

Week Three

Jamie yawned as he walked out of the precinct, glad he only had one more shift before his two days off. As he started down the stairs he noticed her sitting on the flat part of the wide concrete balustrade at the bottom of the precinct stairs nose deep in a book. He continued down with no intention of stopping but by the time he reached the bottom his curiosity had got the better of him and he went over.

"Waiting for someone?" He hazarded a guess and Elliot looked up from her book.

"Oh, hi. Yeah, my sister's picking me up." She confirmed as she placed a bookmark in the book but didn't close it.

"What are you reading?" He inquired and she tilted the book so he could read the cover.

"I love his work." He commented as he immediately recognised the author, he saw her face light up at his comment.

"He's my favourite author, I've read everything he's written." She told him excitedly, before going a little red as she realised how nerdy she sounded.

"I thought I had too but I don't recognise that one." Jamie admitted, noticing her close the book.

"This is his new one, it only came out last week. I bought it as soon as it came out." She confessed, feeling yet more nerdy. She then held out the book to him so he could look at it. He took it from her, he first scanned the front cover then turned it over and read the blurb on the back.

"Looks really good, are you enjoying it so far?" He asked as he handed it back.

"Yes, it's so good. I think it's definitely one of his top three." She gushed enthusiastically. He smiled at her ardour, before he could comment on her assessment a car honked loudly. They both looked and saw that Meredith had just pulled up outside the precinct, Elliot waved at her in acknowledgement. Jamie watched as Elliot stood, picked up her duffel bag from the ground, slipped the book into the front pocket then slung it onto her shoulder.

"Well, I gotta go. See you tomorrow Sarge." She said as she gave him one of her face lighting smiles.

"See ya." He smiled back, then turned and headed off.

The next day, twenty minutes before roll call, there was a knock on the wall of his office. He looked up to see Elliot in plain clothes standing in the entryway, duffle bag on her shoulder and he noticed, the book in her hand.

"Morning Sarge." She greeted him with a smile.

"Morning." He replied returning it.

"I finished it and I thought you might like to borrow it." She held out the book to him.

"Oh, that would be great. Thanks." He smiled appreciatively at her as he took the book.

"Wait, you finished it already?" He asked surprised.

"Yeah, I stayed up way too late last night reading." She admitted, slightly self conscious.

"That good, huh?" He wondered.

"Yup, one of his best." She assured him and he nodded, his eyes staying on her.

"Well, I should go and get changed, the boss doesn't like it when we're late." She quipped with a grin, he chuckled and looked down at his watch. When he looked back up, she nodded in the direction of the locker room then headed off. He watched until she disappeared, then looked down at the book in his hand and smiled to himself, taken with the thoughtfulness of the gesture. He turned back to his desk and slipped the book into his bag which sat next to it on the floor. He turned his attention back to the task at hand, looking forward even more to his days off.

Week Four

Towards the end of the week Jamie stood at the podium about to wrap up roll call, watching as two of his officers finished handing out copies of the mugshot of a criminal wanted for a spate of recent crimes in the area. Once the officers had completed their task and retaken their places he thanked them and looked down at his agenda. Having discussed everything on it he knew he had just one thing left to do.

"Now I had it down for Davis to ride with me today but as mentioned earlier he's sick. Would anyone like to volunteer?" He asked and got exactly the response he expected, no hands went up and the room fell silent. It stayed this way for a few moments before a lone hand was raised; Officer Elliot's.

"Kiss ass." A male voice coughed loudly from the back of the room, followed by the sound of whole room of Officers chuckling at Elliot.

"Come on, no-one put their hand up. I felt bad, so I took pity on him." Elliot quickly retorted with a grin and the room erupted in chuckles again as she won everyone back. Jamie did his best to suppress a smile, impressed by her quick response.

"Okay, thank you Elliot…for taking pity on me." He parroted her line and got some chuckles of his own.

"Ortiz you can ride with Matthews today." He ordered.

"Okay Sarge." Ortiz complied, though he was obviously not thrilled to be losing his new partner for the day.

"Alright, dismissed."

"Um, Sarge about before, during roll call…" They had barely made it out of the precinct parking lot before Elliot tried to apologise. Sensing that was what she was about to do Jamie cut her off.

"No need to apologise." He told her with a small smile.

"Really?" She glanced at him surprised.

"Yeah, I know that's far from the first time I was the butt of a joke at the house. I'm happy to take the hit if helps my officers bond with each other." He reassured her and she visibly relaxed a little.

"Speaking of bonding, how have you found the precinct?" He inquired curious.

"Everyone's been great, mostly." She answered honestly.

"Mostly?" He pressed.

"Well, some of the guys have made lewd comments, but, you know, guys can be like that." She started and saw his eyebrows go up.

"Present company excluded of course!" She quickly added upon realising her faux pas, he smiled to reassure her he had taken no offence.

"And when you're a woman that men make comments about, even though you don't like getting the comments, some women, women who wouldn't even want the men to comment that way about them, get jealous. And jealous woman can be…bitchy." She explained as truthfully and diplomatically as she could. She saw Jamie's nod of understanding but could tell that he seemed slightly concerned about the behaviour of some of his officers.

"But like I said, it's mostly great, and when it's not I can handle it." She told him, her tone upbeat, in an attempt to assuage his concerns.

"I don't doubt it." He smiled, appreciating her effort. A comfortable silence fell as Jamie contemplated how much unwanted male attention Elliot must have had to deal with over the years. Jamie was brought out of his thoughts moments later by the crackle of the radio. Dispatch advised of a disturbance at a restaurant only one block away, Elliot informed dispatch that they would be responding and Jamie hit the lights and sirens for the brief drive there.

They arrived at the restaurant to find a group of customers arguing with the manager. As soon as the customers saw them they calmed down and a resolution was quickly found. Once they had paid, Jamie and Elliot escorted the group out and stood just outside the door watching to make sure they continued to leave peacefully. As they watched the group leave Elliot noticed a waitress come outside visible upset. She saw the waitress take a seat at an empty table outside and wrap her arms around herself protectively. Feeling compelled to try and help Elliot went over, Jamie saw her walking over and followed.

"Are you okay?" Elliot asked the woman gently, the waitress looked up at Elliot surprised anyone had noticed or cared.

"Um, yeah." She answered, clearly covering.

"Are you sure?" Elliot tried again. The waitress stared at her, internally debating whether to unload on a perfect stranger, seeing the genuine concern in the officer's eyes she finally relented.

"One of the servers, he…um…tried to force himself on me." She confessed welling up, Elliot and Jamie's eyes went wide.

"I'm so sorry. Is he still in there?" Elliot questioned her and she nodded.

"Would you like to press charges?" Jamie followed up.

"Oh, uh, no. He didn't get very far and I have to get back to work." She quickly told him as she stood up.

"We can help." Elliot told her and the waitress gave her weak smile.

"Thanks but I gotta go." She insisted, walking between Jamie and Elliot back towards the restaurant. Jamie heard Elliot sigh as the waitress reached the door.

"I really wish you'd reconsider." Elliot called out and Jamie could hear a sadness in her voice. The waitress stopped in the doorway then slowly turned around to face Elliot.

"You're never going to forget what happened to you. I promise it will be a lot easier to live with if you know you did all you could to make him face the consequences. Trust me, I know." Elliot imparted, hoping it would get through to her. The waitress stared at her and so did Jamie, both suddenly aware it was personal for Elliot. After a few seconds the waitress walked a few steps over to Elliot.

"You know?" She repeated questioningly, clearly wanting to know more but reluctant to ask directly.

"Yeah. In my last year of college, I went to a party and met this guy. We both had a fair bit to drink and he tried it on. I said no but he didn't want to hear that. He forced the situation and I had to fight him off. I went home, cried, took a scalding hot shower and went to bed. I never told anyone what happened, instead I told myself that we were both intoxicated and maybe I'd given him the wrong idea, I just lived with it. I graduated several months later, a year after that I became a cop, life went on." Elliot, doing her best to keep herself together, paused. Jamie's heart sunk to hear what Elliot had been through, he couldn't help but stare at her as she took a breath before continuing.

"My third year on the job my partner and I were called to a fight at a club. As we were getting that under control a woman came up to me crying, telling me a man had assaulted her. She wanted to press charges so my partner and I went into the club with her and she pointed him out to us. It was him, the guy from college, the guy who had done the same thing to me at that party." Elliot paused again and Jamie could see she was struggling to keep her emotions in check.

"I felt sick, if I had gone to the police when he did it to me, he might have been in jail and that girl wouldn't have had to go through the same awful thing I did. I know rationally there was a good chance he wouldn't have been convicted and even if he was, he might not have gotten much jail time but he could have. If I had come forward he might have been in jail, not at the club assaulting that girl. God knows how many women there were between me and her and I have to live with that. Unfortunately, what happened to you will stay with you for for the rest of your life and I know there's a chance nothing will come from pressing charges, but I guarantee you it's much harder to live with knowing you didn't even try." As Elliot finished her story Jamie and the waitress could hear her voice wobbling with emotion.

"Please…" Elliot started but her voice sounded brittle so she paused and took a breath.

"Please reconsider pressing charges." Elliot pleaded. The waitress stared, touched that Elliot had told her, a complete stranger, a very painful story in an effort to help. Jamie stunned by the same thing kept staring at her too.

"Ok." The waitress replied after a few moments.

"You'll reconsider?" Elliott checked slightly hopeful.

"No. I'll press charges." She told her.

"That's great." Elliot gave the waitress a warm, supportive smile.

"We'll start by taking your statement." Jamie informed her as he pulled out his pad.

Elliot didn't talk much for the rest of their shift and for the last part they went their separate ways. Jamie stayed in his office getting up to date with his paperwork. When he was all caught up he packed his things, grabbed his bag and headed out of the precinct. As he stepped outside he saw Elliot at the bottom of the precinct steps, feeling a strong desire to talk to her he sped up.

"Elliot!" He called out as he bounded down the last few steps. She heard her name, stopped and turned around to see him walking over to her.

"Hi." She smiled at him. He couldn't help but notice that this one was, sadly, not as bright as her usual megawatt smile.

"Hey. I just wanted to say, what you did today, telling that woman your story, was really brave." He told her in admiration.

"I'm just glad it helped." She replied.

"You really never told anyone?" The question tumbled out before he could stop himself.

"Sorry, I don't mean to pry." He added quickly, kicking himself.

"It's okay. I told Meredith and after seeing that girl at the club, I did pressed charges. It was a drunken he said she said so nothing ever came of it but, I spoke up and I was heard. It helped." She informed him.

"And you're okay?" He felt compelled to ask.

"Yeah, I am. I just hadn't thought about it for a while and I've never really talked about it, so it was kind of hard." She explained. Hearing that she had never talked about what happened before willingly sharing it with a stranger, cemented for Jamie that Elliot really was quite a remarkable person.

"It took a lot of courage. It really says a lot about you that you were willing to do that to help someone you didn't even know." Jamie complimented her and her eyes widened.

"Thanks." Was all she could manage as she was taken aback by his unrestrained praise and slightly thrown by the way he was staring at her.

"Sarge?" She spoke up after a few seconds, snapping Jamie out of it.

"Right, sorry, I should let you go. Have a good night." He gave her a small smile.

"You too." She smiled back.

"Bye." He added.

"Bye." She held the eye contact for a second before turning and walking away. As Jamie watched her Eddie came up beside him.

"Hey, what was that about?" Eddie inquired as she watched the ever shrinking figure of Elliot walking away.

"Nothing." Jamie replied as they turned and started walking to his car.

"Jamie." She said his name in a come-on-you-can-tell-me tone.

"It's not for me to share." He told her and she shot him a look.

"Ever." He added firmly, knowing her tendency not to let things go. They reached the car and climbed in, as he put the key in the ignition she turned her head to look at him.

"You're really not going to tell me?" She asked him, annoyed there was something he wouldn't share.

"No, I'm not." He confirmed giving her a look to indicate the discussion was over. She huffed quietly, put on her seatbelt and stared straight ahead. Jamie sighed as he turned on the car, as he pulled out of the parking space he decided to try and change the topic.

"So, what do you feel like for dinner?"

Week Five

Jamie had decided to spend the morning powering through all his paperwork, however only an hour in there was a knock on the wall by his desk. He looked up to see two detectives, one of whom he had worked with before standing a few feet from his desk.

"Sergeant Reagan?" The female detective he didn't recognise inquired.

"Yes." He confirmed and the two detectives approached.

"Hey Reagan." The male detective smiled at him.

"Hey Manning." Jamie replied giving a small smile back.

"This is my partner, Detective Collins." He introduced her and Jamie shook the hand she had extended.

"Nice to meet you, how can I help you Detectives?" He asked.

"We need to talk to one of your officers, an Officer Melissa Elliot." Detective Collins informed him, consulting her pad for the name.

"She's out on tour at the moment." He told her, not surprised that of all the officers under him it was her they wanted to see.

"We really need to talk to her and it's time sensitive. Can you get her back here?" Manning requested and Jamie nodded.

"Sure."

Jamie got on the radio and ordered Mel and Ortiz back to the precinct. He showed the detectives where they could wait and got back to his paperwork. Less than twenty minutes later he was interrupted again by Mel and Ortiz.

"Elliot, two detectives are here to talk to you." He informed her.

"Me?" She responded surprised and Jamie's curiosity was piqued.

"You have paperwork to get on with, right?" He turned to Ortiz.

"Actually no Sarge, Elliot really cracks the whip." He said and Jamie nodded impressed.

"Well, I guess you get an extra break then." Jamie rewarded him.

"Really? Thanks Sarge!" Ortiz lit up and turned to Mel.

"Good luck." He told her smiling then headed off to the break room.

"Follow me." Jamie instructed. He led her to the interview room where he had parked the detectives and she went in, seeing him at the door Manning nodded for Jamie to join them. He went in and sat next to Mel across the table from the detectives as they introduced themselves to her.

"Officer, we need your help. The night before last we carried out a raid and among the people we picked up was this woman." Collins slid a mugshot across the table. Mel and Jamie looked down and saw a woman that bore a striking resemblance to Mel but had clearly lived a harder life.

"Her name is Lucinda Morris, she works for Ronnie Holden who's well known to us, he's a big time player in the drug business." Collins elucidated.

"Lucinda's not talking but we were able to get a warrant for her phone. When we went through it we discovered she's all set to have a meet with another big name, one Freddy Dolan." Manning who had taken over the explanation slid another mugshot across the table. Mel and Jamie looked at the mugshot, the face looking back was of a slightly balding, fairly intimidating looking, middle aged man. Given the first mugshot and the conversation so far Mel had a fair idea of the kind of help the detectives wanted, Jamie had come to the same conclusion.

"Ronnie mainly works in distribution, whereas Freddy has connections and is more on the supply side of things. We think that Lucinda is going to meet Freddy to secure a new supply line for Ronnie. What we'd like you to do is go to the meet as Lucinda, connect with Freddy and get a name, even better the address of the supplier Freddy's going to connect Ronnie with. So, will you help us?" Collins, who had taken back over the explanation, put it to her. Mel looked from the detectives back down to the mugshot of Lucinda and contemplated their request.

"We'll be able to hear you the whole time, you give us the signal and we'll coming running." Collins added sensing her hesitation.

"Okay, I'll do it." Mel agreed though she was clearly apprehensive. She glanced at Jamie who was already looking her.

"So you'll have her wired but you're sending her in alone?" He questioned them, concerned.

"Well…" Collins started then turned to look at Manning who had begun quickly rifling through one of the files they had brought with them.

"Reagan, you've got a law degree right?" He asked not looking up from his rifling.

"Uh, yes." Jamie confirmed wondering where he was going.

"Here." He stopped rifling and pulled out another mugshot.

"Lucinda's been in an on again off again relationship with Ronnie's former lawyer, who's now disbarred." He told them as he put the mugshot on the table, in it Jamie and Mel saw a man of approximately Jamie's age and colouring.

"Nate here is currently doing a bit up in Sing Sing. What if, say, he just got out, he and Lucinda are back on again and he goes with Lucinda to the meet. What you think Reagan, you wanna go under with her?" Manning asked, clearly proud of his idea.

"I think we'd all feel better having you in there with her." Collins nudged him, obviously in agreement with Manning's plan. Jamie, caught off guard by the suggestion, looked first between the detectives then he looked at Mel. She looked back at him with a hopeful expression, clearly also preferring Manning's plan.

"Alright, I'll go with her." Jamie decided.

"Thanks." Mel smiled, grateful.

"So when's the meet?" Jamie followed up.

"Tonight." Manning admitted sheepishly.

"Tonight?!" Mel stammered surprised.

"We know it's short notice but we really think we can pull this off." Collins tried to reassure them.

"Okay, here are the files on Lucinda, Ronnie and Freddy. Why don't you guys study these while we get everything ready." Manning suggested, Jamie and Mel nodded.

"I'll stop by our precinct and get everything we have on Nate, shall we meet back here at six?" Collins proposed and everyone nodded in agreement. The two detectives left and Jamie and Mel got to studying.

Collins and Manning returned at six as discussed, with a file on Nate and everything needed for the undercover operation. They had Jamie and Mel read the file on Nate then went over the plan several times to ensure everyone knew what to do, after that they told Jamie and Mel to go and get ready.

Fifteen minutes later Mel left the woman's locker room looking quite different than when she entered. She turned the corner at the end of the corridor and almost ran into Jamie who was exiting his office. They both quickly apologised, stepped back and froze as they finally saw each other.

"Wow!" The word fell out of his mouth before he could stop it, stunned by how incredibly good she looked. On her lower half she was wearing black leather, lace up, high heeled boots and skin tight, dark grey, ripped skinny jeans. On the top she had on a black crop top over which she wore a black and red checkered shirt tied up in knot just under her bust. This left her very toned abdomen completely exposed, on which Jamie noticed a gold navel ring. She had on gold hoop earrings and heavier make up: a swipe of black eyeliner on each eyelid, which made her sea foam green eyes pop. She also wore thick mascara and most noticeably, matte, dark red lipstick. What caught Jamie's attention the most, aside from her bare stomach, was her hair. For the first time since they'd met, she had it down. Her thick, waist length, chocolate brown hair hung around her face in stylish loose curls. Jamie, despite himself, stood stuck to the spot, transfixed by her. Mel found herself similarly captivated by the way Jamie looked in his undercover attire. He was wearing black leather shoes, tight fitting black jeans, a charcoal t shirt and a black leather jacket. As Mel began to blush under Jamie's long held gaze they heard a loud wolf whistle.

"Damn Elliot, looking good!" One of her fellow officers commented while he ogled her. Jamie saw her shift uncomfortably and tore his eyes from her to shoot a glare at the officer.

"Don't you have somewhere to be Davis?" He questioned him sternly.

"Yes Sarge, going now." Davis straightened and he and his partner swiftly exited. Once the two officers had left Mel and Jamie's eyes moved from them back to each other and the staring resumed.

"We look…different, huh?" Mel carefully chose her words as she pretended not to feel the sexual tension between them.

"Yeah…different." Jamie agreed using her word, not trusting himself to choose his own.

"Woah." Manning grinned approvingly, eyeing Mel as he and Collins entered the corridor from the interview room.

"You look great." Collins agreed kindly.

"Thanks." Mel gave her a small smile.

"Here, these phones are your wires, keep them on you or on the table at all times." Collins instructed as she and Manning handed them each a smartphone.

"Okay, I think you're all set." Manning concluded, Jamie and Mel glanced at each other.

"Good luck." Collins smiled warmly, Jamie and Mel nodded and made to leave.

"They're gonna be fine." Manning reassured his partner as they watched the pair leave.

The car ride to the club was quiet with Jamie and Mel mentally preparing themselves for what they had to do. Jamie parked the car a block and half from the club and he and Mel climbed out. The walked the short distance to the club, wordlessly stopping just before the last the corner.

"Ready?" Jamie asked as Mel took a deep breath.

"Yup." She told him more confident than she felt. They resumed walking and within moments were at the entrance, there they found a not small line of people waiting to get in. To Jamie's surprise Mel kept walking, right past the line of people. He followed as she walked right up to a bored looking bouncer.

"Hi." Mel greeted the bouncer flirtatiously, then flashed him a dazzling smile. The bouncer perked up as he ran his eyes over Mel's body.

"Hey. Go on in." The bouncer smiled as he gestured for them to enter. The interaction made Jamie suddenly aware that Mel was cognisant of the effect she could have on men and, as she had just proven, knew how to use it. He contemplated this as he followed her into the club. Once inside both Mel and Jamie began scanning the room for the older man from the mugshot.

"Do you see him?" Mel asked him still scanning.

"Nope." Jamie replied shaking his head. Mel gave up scanning the room and nodded for Jamie to follow her. He complied and trailed her as she made her way over to the bar. When she got to it she found a gap between two people and leaned her forearms on the bar. The bartender noticed her almost straight away and Jamie watched impressed as Mel again turned on the charm.

"Hi." She smiled warmly at him.

"Hey, what can I get you?" He asked smiling back, immediately taken in.

"Information. Do you know guy called Freddy Dolan?" She inquired.

"Freddy? Sure, he's here all the time." He confirmed, his eyes glued to Mel.

"Is he here tonight?" She followed up, holding his gaze.

"Dunno, haven't seen him. See that woman over there? Purple hair." He pointed behind her, Mel turned around, looked passed Jamie and saw a woman with bright purple hair sitting in a booth with a dark haired man. Once she had clocked her she turned attention back to the bartender.

"She works for Freddy, she'll know." He told her helpfully.

"Thanks." She smiled broadly. Mel and Jamie left the bar and made their way across the room to the purple haired woman, the woman looked up as they approached.

"Hi." Mel greeted her with a smile

"Hey." The woman smiled, returning the greeting while her dark haired companion checked Mel out.

"We were told you work for Freddy. I'm supposed to be meeting him tonight." Mel explained.

"You must be Lucinda." The purple haired woman concluded as she noticed her companion's appreciation of Mel.

"I am, it's nice to meet you." Mel confirmed and the purple haired woman seemed to relax a little bit.

"You too, I'm Lola and the guy getting drool on the table is Mitch." She introduced them.

"So who's the arm candy?" Mitch asked, eyeing Jamie.

"This is my boyfriend Nate." Mel explained.

"Hey." Jamie gave a small smile.

"Freddy didn't mention you were bringing anybody." Lola commented as she too eyed Jamie.

"Oh, right. Well, Nate just finished doing a bit in Sing Sing, he just got out today. It's been so long and I just got him back, we can't bear to be apart." Mel quickly explained away Jamie's presence as she slipped an arm around him and leaned her head on his shoulder.

"I get that." Lola empathised smiling at the couple.

"Are you the lawyer?" Mitch asked, the name Nate ringing a bell.

"Used to be." Jamie confirmed.

"Oh, yeah, I remember hearing about that. A few years back Ronnie got jammed up and had to hire himself a lawyer. One day he goes to his lawyers office and walks in on you banging him, right?" Lola looked to Mel as she recalled the story.

"Yup." Mel confirmed grinning as she gained unexpected insight into Lucinda.

"Ronnie must have been pissed." Mitch grinned having enjoyed the story.

"Oh yeah." Mel smiled.

"What did you do?" Lola asked curious.

"Told him it was his fault for hiring such a hot lawyer." Mel replied in the most Lucinda way she could think of, making everyone chuckle.

"Speaking of bosses, is yours here tonight?" Mel smoothly segued into the reason they were there.

"Oh, not yet. Should be here soon though." Lola assured her.

"In the meantime, come, sit, have a drink." Lola invited them gesturing to the booth she and Mitch were sitting.

"What can I get you guys?" Mitch asked as he stood to go and get the drinks.

"Jack and Coke please." Mel smiled.

"Same as you." Jamie pointed to the empty beer bottle on the table where Mitch had been sitting.

"Cool. Babe, you want the same again?" He looked to Lola.

"Yes please." Lola smiled sweetly at him and they all watched as Mitch headed off to the bar. As Jamie's eyes moved back to the table they briefly fell upon someone who looked familiar. He shifted nervously as he realised how he knew the man sitting a few tables over, Mel noticed.

"So Nate, how does it feel to be out?" Lola inquired about his new found freedom, Jamie quickly brought his attention back to the table.

"There are definite upsides." Jamie grinned as he looked Mel up and down.

"I see that." Lola chuckled as she too appreciated the way Mel looked.

"By the way, I love your hair." Mel reciprocated the appreciation.

"Aw, thanks, I just had re-done. Forget my hair, yours is amazing." Lola fawned as she reached out and gently ran her thumb and forefinger over a small lock of it.

"What do you use?" She asked upon feeling how soft it was. Jamie moved his eyes back to the familiar man as the two women began excitedly sharing their opinions of various hair care products. As Jamie's eyes found the man he noticed the man was looking at him, it seemed as though he was trying to figure out where he knew him from. As Jamie determined that it didn't look as though the man had figured it out yet Mitch reappeared at the table with the drinks. He placed them all down and slid each persons drink over to them, receiving grateful smiles as he did so.

"So what are we talking about?" He asked Jamie as saw the women in deep discussion.

"Hair care." Jamie told him then took a sip of beer, he glanced at the women and saw them exchanging cell phone numbers.

"Oh yeah…I got nothing." Mitch remarked and the two men shared a smile. After a couple of minutes the women realised the two men were just sitting quietly, they quickly brought their conversation to a close.

"Sorry." Mel smiled.

"It's okay, we know what women are like." Mitch joked sharing a looking with Jamie, he swiftly received a playful whack from Lola. He took a sip of his beer then reached into his jacket.

"I'm dying for a smoke, you coming?" He checked with Lola as he pulled a packet of cigarettes from his pocket.

"Ooh, yep. You guys smoke?" She looked to Jamie and Mel, they shook their heads.

"Cool, can you mind our drinks and the booth?" She asked them.

"Sure." Mel confirmed.

"Thanks." Lola replied as she and Mitch slid out of the booth. Jamie and Mel watched them weave their way through the club, as soon as they were out of sight Mel turned to Jamie.

"Okay, what's wrong?" Jamie looked to Mel and realised she had noticed his discomfort.

"See that guy over there in the corduroy jacket?" Mel turned her body to face Jamie and looked past him to see the man.

"Yeah."

"He's an old collar of mine, I've seen him looking my way as if he's trying to figure out how he knows me." He explained and Mel became concerned.

"Do you think he'll make you?" She asked as she noticed the man glance in their direction.

"I don't know, but I have collared him more that once." He admitted.

"What do we do?" She asked.

"Nothing for now. If he keeps looking my way we may have a problem though." Jamie sighed, Mel gave him a sympathetic smile. They fell quiet, a few minutes later Lola and Mitch returned and took their places in the booth.

"You all good?" Lola enquired seeing concern on their faces.

"Oh, yeah, we're fine." Mel assured her, she glanced over at Jamie having expected him to chime in. She saw him looking at the man who was again looking at him.

"Hey, so when do you think Freddy will get here?" She put to Lola as she decided she needed to do something.

"Um, not sure, soon though." She confirmed vaguely as she touched her phone screen and checked the time.

"Maybe like half an hour." She guessed on seeing the time.

"Great, that leaves enough time for a dance." Mel commented then turned to Jamie.

"Babe, wanna dance?" She asked him as she glanced toward the dance floor. Jamie followed her gaze and instantly realised it was on the far side of the room from the man in the corduroy jacket.
"Yeah, sure." He smiled understanding.

"I'll come find you when Freddy gets here." Lola offered as she watched them climb out of the booth.

"Thanks." Mel flashed her a smiled then took Jamie's hand and began leading him to the dance floor. Once they reached it they began to make their way into the throng of people dancing, Jamie pulled gently on Mel's hand and she turned to him.

"I don't really dance." He confessed and she chuckled.

"That's okay, you're a guy. All you have to do is sway in time the music, I'll do the rest." She told him and once they found a spot he did as she said. As he began to sway Mel stood just over a foot from him and started gyrating her body to the beat. Jamie swallowed hard as he watched her body moving in front of him, he wasn't able to watch for long as after two minutes the song finished and new slower song began. On hearing it Mel stopped gyrating, moved closer to Jamie and placed her forearms on his shoulders. Understanding, Jamie took hold of her and they began to dance together, both doing their best not to react to the feeling of Jamie's hands on the bare skin of her obliques. After a few moments, they both started scanning the room, as they remembered why they had come out onto the dance floor. It didn't take long for Jamie's eyes to find the man in the corduroy jacket making his way towards them.

"Crap." He exclaimed and Mel's eyes quickly moved back to him.
"What?" She looked at him concerned.

"He's coming." He told her as she followed his eye line to the man.

"So is she." Mel added as she saw the top of a purple head of hair making its way over to them.

"If he makes me as she reaches us…" Jamie started.

"…we're screwed." Mel finished the thought as they shared a panicked look. They glanced over to see corduroy jacket and Lola closing in. The looked back to each other both hoping the other had thought of something. A moment later a thought occurred to Mel that she immediately wished hadn't, but having no other ideas and Jamie not volunteering any she took a deep breath and went with it. Jamie was back watching the man getting continually closer as he felt Mel's hand come to rest on the side of his face between him and the man. He flicked his eyes to her just in time to see her leaning in. His eyes instinctively closed as she pressed her lips to his. He froze for a second but quickly realised what she was doing and knowing he had to go along with it, he started kissing her back. Their hearts, which had been beating faster than normal since they entered the club, began pounding as they stood on the dance floor kissing.

"Jeez you two, get a room." Lola teased as she reached them and found them kissing. Jamie and Mel quickly broke apart and Mel gave an embarrassed smile. Jamie quickly looked for the man and saw he had just passed the dance floor and was heading down the hall where the bathrooms were.

"Freddy's here." Lola informed them as Jamie breathed a sigh of relief. They followed her back to the booth where they saw the man from the mugshot sitting and talking to Mitch. As Lola, Mel and Jamie slid back into their seats the man turned from Mitch to them.

"So you're Lucinda?" He questioned, staring approvingly at Mel.

"Yes, you must be Freddy. Nice to meet you." Mel put out her hand as she gave him a warm smile. He shook it then turned his attention to Jamie.

"Ronnie didn't mention you'd be bringing anyone." He commented, suspicious of Jamie.

"This is my boyfriend Nate." Mel introduced them and Jamie put out his hand.

"He just got out of lock up, they really missed each other." Lola explained for them and Freddy finally shook Jamie's outstretched hand.

"So, Ronnie wants a new supplier huh?" Freddy commented deciding to get straight down to business.

"Yeah, he's looking to expand, he said you're the guy with the right connections." Mel established.

"That I am." Freddy confirmed. Like everyone else, he found himself warming to Mel.

"Great, will you help us?" Mel asked smiling and Freddy, enjoying her presence, decided he would.

"Yeah, alright, but there's gotta be something in it for me." He told her.

"What do you want?" She questioned.

"Twenty percent of the profits." Freddy smiled.

"Twenty? Ronnie will never go for that. Five." She began to negotiate.

"Fifteen." He countered.

"Ten." She offered and Freddy just stared at her.

"Okay, what if we meet in the middle? Twelve and a half." She put forward her final offer.

"Twelve and a half? Okay, I can live with that." Freddy agreed starting to smile, then he extended his hand. Mel reached out and they shook hands, Freddy then reached into pocket and pulled out his phone.

"Take this down." He instructed and Mel picked up her phone from the table. Freddy slid his phone ever and she copied the address on the screen.

"I'll tell my guy you're coming." He told her as took it his phone back, typed and sent a text then put it away.

"Great, thanks." Mel smiled. The two couples watched as Freddy started to get up.

"It was nice meeting you but I got places to go and people to see." Freddy explained as he stood up.

"Of course." Mel replied understanding.

"Oh and tell Ronnie, any future dealings, I'm only meeting with you." He smiled.

"I'll tell him." Mel promised and they all watched as Freddy walked away.

"That went well." Lola commented once Freddy was out of sight.

"Yeah." Mel agreed.

"We should…" Jamie gave her a look and Mel nodded, they both started to get up.

"You're leaving already?" Lola asked disappointed and Mel thought quickly.

"Yeah, Ronnie wants to sample the goods tonight, so the sooner we get the stuff and deliver it to him the sooner I can get this one back to my place." Mel grinned glancing at Jamie, he looked at her impressed by her ability to think on her feet.

"You wanna make up for lost time?" Lola guessed.

"Yup." Mel confirmed and the two women shared a knowing smile. The two couples said their goodbyes and Jamie and Mel headed out. Neither spoke as they walked back to the car parked a couple of blocks from the club. Once they were inside the car Mel pulled out her phone and sent the address to the detectives, she then dialled their number and put it on speakerphone.

"Hey." She said once the call was picked up.

"Hey, you guys did great." Collins told them.

"Thanks. I've sent you the address but you heard what Freddy said right? He told his guy to expect me." Mel reminded them.

"We heard. We really want to know what we're walking into before we go busting in. If we get you guys some money are you good to go and make a buy?" Manning asked, Jamie and Mel exchanged a look.

"Yeah, sure." Mel agreed.

"Great. Give us a little time to get the money, once we have it we'll give you a location to meet us. Just sit tight." Collins instructed.

"Got it." Jamie confirmed their acknowledgment of the plan and Mel ended the call. They sat in the car, neither spoke as they waited for the detectives to get back to them. After waiting what felt like an age, but was in reality only a little over ten minutes, Mel's phone dinged. She opened the message, input the address they had been sent into the car's GPS, once he had seen it Jamie started the car and they headed off to meet the detectives.

Once Mel and Jamie had received the money they made their way to the address Freddy had given her. They parked a couple of blocks away, Jamie grabbed the bag of money and they started to walk. As they walked in silence, a thought occurred to Mel as she glanced at Jamie carrying the bag, she decided to try and ease the tension.

"Guess you're the bag man." She cracked, Jamie looked at her then down at the bag.

"Yup." He agreed and they chuckled. Mel looked at her phone then up at the nondescript building they had arrived in front of.

"This is it." She told him as she put her phone away. She wrapped her knuckles on the door, a few moments later a slot appeared in the door and a pair of eyes stared out at them.

"Hey, I'm Lucinda, Freddy said you'd be expecting me." She told the eyes. The slot quickly closed and the door opened. A guy stood just inside, his back to the wall to leave room for her to pass. She stepped in and saw the man eyeing Jamie with suspicion.

"He's with me." She assured the man. The man allowed Jamie to enter then closed the door behind them. Mel surveyed the room and saw that the building was housing a large drug operation. There were men packing bricks of drugs, other men counting money, and various other signs of drug activity. The man from the door directed them to a man at a folding table placing stacks of cash into money counting machines. Mel and Jamie made their way over and the man looked up.

"Hey, I'm Lucinda." Mel introduced herself and the man nodded.

"Freddy said you'd be coming, you got the money?" He asked and Jamie lifted the bag.

"You got the stuff?" She questioned him and he used his foot to slide a duffle bag over to her. Mel bobbed down, opened the bag and confirmed it was full of bricks of cocaine. She stood, picking up the bag and nodded to Jamie who handed over the money. The man opened the bag and quickly rifled through the stacks of cash, then looked up and nodded.

"Go out the back." He instructed them pointing to his right, confirming their business was concluded. Mel nodded, she and Jamie followed the man's direction and found themselves outside the back of the building. The walked quickly back to their car and as soon as they were inside, Mel called the detectives on speakerphone.

"Hey, we got it. Freddy's connection is legit." She informed them.

"That's great, how many inside?" Manning responded.

"Eight, that we saw." She told him.

"Okay good, we're going take SWAT and shut it down. Once you take the drugs to our precinct and voucher them you guys are done. You have both such big a huge help, thank you." Collins told them appreciatively.

"You're welcome. Good luck with the bust." Mel said.

"Thanks." Replied Manning then he hung up. Jamie and Mel did as the detectives instructed then went back to the 29.

Mel placed the undercover outfit in her locker, picked up her duffel bag and headed out of the locker room. On her way out of the precinct she passed Jamie's office, she slowed to a stop and looked in. She saw him sitting at his desk in his own off duty clothes working through some paperwork. She debated for a moment before taking a deep breath and knocking on the wall.

"Hey." She spoke as he looked up.

"Hey." He replied as he stared at her wondering what she wanted. As he kept staring she walked nervously into his office space and came to stand quite close to his desk.

"About earlier, the…um…kiss." She said the last word so quietly he almost didn't hear it. She saw his eyes widen slightly and knew he had.

"I know it kind of came out of nowhere and we didn't discuss it before the op. In the moment I wasn't sure what else to do so I just, you know, went with my first idea. If I handled things badly, if that was the wrong thing to do, I just wanted to say I'm…"

"It's okay." He interrupted her rambling apology.

"You did the right thing." He assured her and saw her eyes widen.

"I did?" She uttered surprised.

"Yes. You simultaneously saved me from being made while furthering our cover. What you did saved the whole operation. Unexpected sure, but definitely the right thing to do given the circumstances." He confirmed and watched her relax a little.

"Oh, okay. So we're good?" She asked.

"We're good." He smiled, she smiled back as she let out a relieved breath. As he continued to stare at her he suddenly felt compelled to say more.

"You were amazing tonight…" He started and watched her eyes grow at his strong choice of words.

"You have this way of making people warm to you and you used it to perfect effect. That combined with your impressive ability to think on your feet makes you fantastic at undercover work." He finished surprise by his own frankness. She stood stunned for a moment, taken aback my his unreserved praise.

"Uh…thanks…" She finally managed and Jamie kicked himself as he worried he'd made her uncomfortable.

"I appreciate the feedback. Unfortunately, I don't think I have the nerve for it. I mean, I got through tonight but I can't imagine going undercover for any extended period of time. I don't know how those long term guys do it." She told him when she had regained her composure.

"Yeah, it does take nerve." Jamie agreed nodding. They fell quiet as they stood staring at each other. Eventually she broke the eye contact and looked away in the direction of the exit.

"Well, I'm going to head off. Night Sarge." She smiled glancing back at him.

"Night." He returned her smile, then watched as she turned on her heal and headed out. He turned back to his desk and looked down at his paperwork, upon reading the first line he sighed knowing he had no hope of concentrating.

Two mornings later Mel, Ortiz and their fellow officers filed out of the room after roll call, as Mel stepped through the door she saw Manning and Collins waiting for her. She nudged Ortiz, as they made their way over she started getting nervous.

"Good morning Officer Elliot." Collins greeted her with smile as did Manning.

"Morning Detectives. This is my partner Officer Ortiz." She politely introduced him, he and the detectives nodded in greeting.

"We need your help again." Manning told her and her nerves increased.

"We'll just wait for…there he is." Manning waved Jamie over as soon as he saw him. Jamie walked over to the detectives wondering what they wanted.

"Detectives." He greeted them.

"Hey Reagan." Manning smiled.

"We need to borrow you and your officer again." Collins told him.

"Right. Ortiz you can ride Martin today." He ordered.

"Okay Sarge." Ortiz agreed, though he was clearly unhappy not to be riding with Elliot yet again. He gave Mel a supportive smile then headed off to find Martin. Jamie and Mel went with the detectives to the same interview room they first sat in, where they happened to all take the same seats.

"Lola reached out." Collins launched straight in as she pulled out Mel's undercover phone and placed it on the table in front of Mel and Jamie. Mel unlocked the phone, went to the messages app, opened the only message in it and she and Jamie read Lola's text.

'Hey, u all good? Call me when you can.' Mel noticed it was dated the day before.

"You want me to call her?" Mel guessed and the detectives nodded.

"We want you to touch base with her, see what she knows, see where the call takes you." Manning elaborated smiling encouragingly.

"Okay." Mel agreed, then tapped the phone next to Lola's name and then speakerphone. The phone rang twice then the call connected.

"Hey!" Lola greeted her warmly, Jamie and the detectives watched as Mel transformed into warm, charming Lucinda right in front of them.

"Hey!" Mel reciprocated cheerily.

"I left my phone at Nate's place last night, he just dropped it by and I saw your text." Mel effortlessly explained the delay in calling.

"Oh thank god, I thought you two might have got caught up in the raid the other night." Lola sounded genuinely relieved.

"As you can imagine Freddy's livid, I'm guessing Ronnie's not thrilled." Lola surmised.

"Yeah, he's not in the best mood." Mel confirmed.

"Well, I have good news for you. Freddy's having one of soirées this weekend." Lola informed her.

"Soirées?" Mel queried.

"Yeah, he has these get togethers on his massive super yacht, you know to show his existing clients his appreciation for their business and schmooze new his new clients." She elaborated.

"Oh." Mel murmured her understanding

"Anyways, the good news is, you and Nate are invited." They could hear Lola's smile through the phone.

"Really?" Mel asked a little surprised.

"So, what do you say? You and Nate, me and Mitch on a super yacht getting a little sun and R&R. And of course you and Freddy can have chat bout a new supplier for Ronnie." The detectives eyes lit up at the last part, excited to have another in. They nodded, encouraging Mel to accept the invitation, she looked to Jamie who looked as apprehensive about the idea as she felt. After a moment he nodded too, aware as the detectives were that this was a golden opportunity.

"That's sounds great, we'd love to." She confirmed happily and the detectives looked pleased.

"Awesome! So we're gonna head off early/mid Friday afternoon and we'll be back by late Sunday evening." Lola laid out the plan and Mel's eyes widened.

"Oh, the whole weekend?" Mel checked doing her best to sound curious and not concerned.

"Yup. Freddy likes to make a big deal of it and spend the weekend showing his clients the sound." Lola clarified.

"Oh, right." Mel upped the chipper in her voice.

"Sweet, so I'll hit you up with all the details once Freddy's confirmed everything. Oh and don't forget to bring your bathing suits, the yacht has a spa pool on it." Lola told her excitedly.

"Cool!" Mel enthused.

"Kay, see ya Friday."

"See ya." Mel replied then hung up the call. Once she had she let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding.

"You're gonna do great." Manning reassured her picking up on her unease, Mel just nodded.

"Don't worry, we'll prep you both thoroughly before Friday." Collins tried her own brand of reassurance, Mel found it slightly more effective.

"You'll need to hold on to this for when Lola gets back in touch." Manning told her pushing her undercover cell phone towards her.

"We'll start getting everything ready, we'll come back and start prepping you both tomorrow." Collins stated as Mel picked the phone up from the table. She pocketed it, said goodbye to the detectives and left the room. Jamie headed out of the room, watched the detectives leave for a moment then turned towards his office. When he did he saw Mel stopped not too far from the interview room, on seeing her he walked over. She looked up as he approached and he could see the worry etched on her face.

"You okay?" He asked and she nodded.

"Yeah." She replied unconvincingly, eyes downcast.

"I remember what you said, about not liking undercover work. You don't have to do this." He told her, giving her an out. She lifted her gaze to look at him and gave him an appreciative smile.

"Thanks, but I want to do this. I mean, I don't want to do this, but I know this is a great opportunity and I want to help get bad people off the streets, make a difference. This is a way I can help." She replied determined. He stared at her, deeply impressed by her resolve.

"I'm going to do it, but I don't have to like it." She broke into a grin and Jamie chuckled.

"Fair enough."

Jamie and Mel had a couple prep sessions over the next few days and a final one on Friday morning. After their final session they got changed into the casual version of Lucinda and Nate appropriate outfits, collected their weekend bags full of everything they would need over the weekend and set off for the marina. The whole drive there, while Jamie looked for a park and as he parked neither spoke. He turned off the car and Mel went to get out.

"Hey." He finally spoke and she stopped and settled back in her seat.

"About this weekend…" He continued, she glanced at him momentarily then looked straight ahead.

"Given we're going to be on a yacht with no easy way of extricating ourselves, maintaining our cover is paramount." He told her and saw her nod in agreement.

"If something goes wrong…well…" He trailed off not sure how best to put it.

"They'll never find our bodies." She said it for him, he looked at her shocked by her phrasing. As he stared at her he realised what had been going through her mind on the drive over.

"That's fairly dramatic but…yeah." He sighed as he realised he could not argue.

"The point is, keeping up our cover is critical, so we do whatever have to do, to do that." His statement garnered another glance from her.

"For this weekend we're boyfriend and girlfriend. So, no holding back, no second guessing, whatever interaction makes sense in the moment we do it." He elaborated, her eyes flicked to him then back to outside the windshield.

"Even…" She trailed off not comfortable enough to say it. She didn't need to, Jamie knew what she was referring to.

"Yes, if it makes sense in the moment, if it would be weird if we didn't, then yes, even that." He confirmed, she took a deep breath.

"Agreed?" He asked.

"Agreed." She replied.

"Ready?" He followed up and she nodded. They climbed out of the car and grabbed their bags from the back, Jamie locked the car while she pulled out her phone. She opened Lola's most recent message and re-read the location of Freddy's berth. She looked up and scanned the signs close to them.

"It's that way." She told Jamie pointing with her phone to the left. They set off towards B dock, once they got to it they walked down the ramp onto it. They walked all the way to the end and found themselves face to face with a staggeringly impressive two hundred and thirty foot super yacht, Mel and Jamie's eyes went wide.

"Wow!" Jamie exclaimed blown away. As they stood there awestruck Lola and Mitch's top halves appeared above the wall of the main deck.

"Hey!" Lola called out waving. As she did Freddy appeared beside her.

"Hey! Permission to come aboard?" Mel asked Freddy.

"Permission granted." He smiled broadly, loving the gesture. Jamie and Mel started up the gangway, as they reached the top and stepped aboard they were met by Lola, Mitch and Freddy.

"Great day for it, huh?" Mitch smiled as Jamie and Mel took in the deck, neither used to such opulence.

"It is." Jamie agreed, casting an eye to the cloudless summer sky.

"Why don't you two show them to their room then give them the grand tour?" Freddy suggested to Lola and Mitch.

"Sure." Lola beamed. She and Mitch took Jamie and Mel inside, through a couple of rooms, up a flight of stairs then down a hallway.

"This one's yours." Lola told them as opened the first door they came to, before opening it completely she paused.

"We're just down there." She added, nodding to a door further down the hall. She fully opened the door then stood aside to let them in. Jamie and Mel filed in and almost immediate stopped, eyes wide at the luxurious accomodation. The cabin contained a bed, two bedside tables, a large TV mounted to the wall with a dresser below, sliding glass doors that opened to the deck outside and to their left a bathroom. Though minimally furnished everything appeared to be of the highest quality, giving the look of a five star hotel. Once they had taken it in they both walked over to the bed and put down their bags, then turned to Lola and Mitch who were getting a kick out of their reactions.

"Not bad right?" Mitch grinned.

"It'll do." Jamie quipped and everyone chuckled.

"Wanna see the rest?" Lola asked, keen to show off the yacht.

"Yes." Mel and Jamie replied, both genuinely very eager.

After a comprehensive tour Lola, Mitch, Jamie and Mel arrived back on the same deck Mel and Jamie had boarded on. They found Freddy still there having been joined by two other men of approximately his age.

"So what do think?" Freddy questioned them as he took in the foursomes smiling faces.

"She's amazing!" Mel gushed, Jamie nodded in earnest agreement.

"You know your boating lingo." Freddy remarked, noting Mel had correctly referred to the boat as a she.

"Picked up a few things here and there." She downplayed it as one of the men with Freddy gave Lola a look.

"Oh, right, introductions. Lucinda, Nate this is Giancarlo." She motioned to the sandy haired man who had given her the look.

"Don't let the name fool you, he goes by Johnny and he's a mommy's boy from Jersey." She grinned at him, he shook his head chuckling at the description.

"Nice to meet ya." He greeted them with a smile and a strong New Jersey accent.

"And the guy with the great hair is David." She looked to the second man, who had a luscious mop of black hair. As Mel and Jamie smiled in greeting to the two men they both noticed the boat had started moving.

"No one else joining us?" Mel inquired as the two couples sat down on the seats built into and encircling the deck.

"Nope. I like to keep these things intimate." Freddy told her.

"We want to enjoy this time away from our wives." Johnny added with a grin.

"Well, there is the crew and a couple of Freddy's guys will be around here somewhere." Mitch provided a more informative answer and Mel nodded. The group made small talk as the boat left the marina and started into the sound.

They all spent the afternoon lounging around on the deck, Mel and Jamie largely chatted with Lola and Mitch but sometimes one or more of the older men would chime in. The sun was getting low by the time the yacht arrived and dropped anchor in the bay were overnighting in. With everyone so relaxed and comfortable Freddy had dinner served on the deck. The food was delicious and the alcohol flowed, though Jamie and Mel made sure to have as little as they could get away with. Just after dinner Freddy motioned for Mel to come and sit with him.

"That dinner was amazing." Mel commented as she took a seat near him.

"Glad you liked it, hope you've saved some room for dessert." He smiled.

"So I thought we'd discuss our bit of business." He suggested, Mel nodded.

"Is Ronnie still interested in getting his stuff through me?" He asked.

"You got raided, these things happen. Ronnie's still interested." She assured him.

"Good, good. And our deal remains the same?" He checked.

"Yup, twelve and half percent." She agreed recalling their first meeting.

"Okay then, here you go." He pulled out of his pocket a folded piece of paper and handed it to her. She took it, opened it and saw it contained a name, cell number and an address. After she read it she looked back up at him.

"He's good, he can get the weight Ronnie wants to move." He told.

"Thank you." She blinked, surprised he'd given it to her so easily.

"I like you, you got something. You're gonna go far in this business." He explained what she had been wondering.

"If you ever want to go somewhere without Ronnie, Lola's got my number." He smiled, Mel nodded understanding.

"Now we've got that out of the way, we can enjoy the rest of the weekend." As he told her this, he looked over to see Lola, Mitch and Jamie had stopped talking and were watching his and Mel's conversation patiently waiting for Mel's return.

"I think you're wanted." Freddy chuckled, directing her to look with his eyes.

"Oh, right." She smiled.

"Thanks for this Freddy." She lifted the piece of paper slightly then pocketed it.

"You're welcome. Go on." He encouraged her to re-join Lola, Mitch and Jamie.

Dessert was served soon after she re-joined them, afterwards the two couples whiled away the evening as they had the afternoon, enjoying each other's company. Eventually, a little after eleven Freddy, Johnny and David turned in for the night. Around an hour later the two couples decided they would too. When Jamie and Mel got to their cabin they set about getting ready for bed. Mel grabbed her toiletry bag and her pyjamas and walked toward the bathroom.

"Mind if I go first?" She asked Jamie as she reached the bathroom door.

"Go ahead." He smiled, then watched her go in. She was out less than ten minutes later, now wearing pyjama shorts and a t-shirt and with her hair down, out of the ponytail it had been in all day. Jamie went in after her, he too needed less than ten minutes to get ready for bed. When he came out of the bathroom he saw Mel sitting on the bed speedily typing on her phone. Watching for a moment he realised the pattern of the typing was not consistent with texting and became curious.

"What are you writing?" He inquired.

"I'm making notes on everything we learned today." She answered whilst continuing to type.

"You really are type A." He chuckled and she stopped typing.

"Yup." She gave him a slightly embarrassed smile.

"Hey, it's good. I'm sure Collins and Manning will really appreciate it. Just make sure not to save it anywhere too obvious."

"I'm writing it in a drawing app you can write text in." She assured him.

"Smart." He smiled approvingly. Jamie climbed into the bed and plugged his phone into charge and placed it on the nightstand. She typed one final note and did the same. They both lay down and each turned off their bedside light.

"Night."

"Night."

After what seemed like an hour Mel rolled over and checked the time on the clock on the bedside table. The glowing green numbers told her only twenty five minutes had passed. She sighed quietly and stared at the ceiling as she contemplated trying again to fall asleep. She soon decided that would be futile and very slowly and quietly crept out of the bed. She padded as quietly as possible over to the sliding door and opened it gently. She stepped out on to the deck and slid the door closed behind her. She walked forward, rested her forearms on the railing and took a deep breath, filling her lungs with sea air. Jamie, who had been wide awake beside her, heard and felt her get up and out of the bed. He then watched her cross the room and go out on to the deck. He lay staring at the sliding door debating whether to join her, after a few moments he came to the conclusion that being out there with her was preferable to lying alone in bed. He got up, crossed the room and slid open the door. She turned to looked the moment he did and kept watching as he stepped out and closed it.

"I didn't wake you, did I?" She asked concerned in a quiet whisper.

"Nope, I can't sleep either." He matched her low volume, once she was reassured she turned back to the water. Jamie mirrored her posture and leaned on the railing, she remained quiet so long he began to wonder if he'd disturbed her.

"That's one upside of being stuck on the super yacht of a drug kingpin…" She finally broke the silence though her voice remained hushed, he looked over and noticed her gaze was actually fixed upwards.

"…you see a lot more stars than you do in the city." She commented, a small smile playing on her lips. He stayed on her for another moment before shifting his eyes up and taking in the vast blanket of stars above them.

"They are beautiful." He shared her unspoken sentiment.

"Mmm hmm." She murmured her agreement.

"They make me think of when I was a kid." She told him.

"Yeah?" He encouraged, genuinely wanting to hear the anecdote he guessed she was about to share.

"My parents would take all us kids to our aunts place upstate a few times a year. She lived just outside of Ithaca." She looked to him, Jamie nodded somewhat familiar with the area.

"She had a house and a small bit of land, the place was kinda rural. Being kids Meredith and I always had to go to bed when it was barely even dark but when we were at my aunts place I would always stay awake. Once it got really dark, I would grab Meredith and we'd go outside, lie in the grass and stare up at the stars. She was never as into them as I was but she'd always come with me." He saw her smile fondly at the memory and her sisters kindness.

"Sounds nice, does your aunt still live up there?" He probed.

"Yeah, she does. I haven't been up there in years though." She told him sounding a bit sad about it. His eyes finally moved back to the stars and he thought of what they brought to mind for him.

"They make me think of this poem I read, by W. H. Auden." He threw out and her head quickly spun to face him.

"The More Loving One?" She proffered as her eyes lit up, he nodded.

"I love Auden." She gushed.

"I remember thinking it was quite captivating." He commented as he tried to recall exactly how it went.

"Looking up at the stars, I know quite well, that, for all they care, I can go to hell, but on earth indifference is the least, we have to dread from man or beast. How should we like it were stars to burn, with a passion for us we could not return? If equal affection cannot be, let the more loving one be me. Admirer as I think I am, of stars that do not give a damn, I cannot, now I see them, say, I missed one terribly all day. Were all stars to disappear or die, I should learn to look at an empty sky, and feel its total dark sublime, though this might take me a little time." She recited from memory, Jamie stared at her awestruck.

"Yup, captivating." He finally managed, though neither was entirely sure he was referring to the poem. After a few moments she tore her eyes from him and moved them back to the stars.

"I was the kid who asked Santa for a book of poetry for Christmas." She told him self conscious, to explain her knowledge.

"That does not surprise me." He stated and they shared a chuckle.

"Hey, if there was a book under our tree it was almost always for me." He told her in an effort to ease her embarrassment and she smiled.

"What kind of books?" She questioned him.

"Unsolved mysteries, whodunit's, stuff like that." He told her and noticed her grin.

"That fits."


At a little after eight in the morning there was a knock on their cabin door, Jamie and Mel woke with a start and looked at each other blearily. Without discussion Mel climbed out of bed, made her way to the door and opened it with a yawn.

"Hey!" Lola greeted her quite chipper.

"Hey." Mel replied sleepily.

"Sorry to wake you. I just wanted to let you guys know that Freddy has breakfast served at eight thirty. If you guys don't want to get up yet the chef can make you something later though." Lola added the last part when she realised her guests might not be morning people. Mel glanced at Jamie and saw he was sitting up, rubbing his face, trying his best to wake up.

"Oh, that's ok, we'll be out in a bit." Mel assured her, Lola nodded had headed off to breakfast. Mel closed the door behind her and turned to face Jamie.

"That'll teach us to stay up talking till three am." She yawned and they shared a smile. As she walked over to the bed, Jamie got out of it and stretched, when he turned to start making it he saw her on the other side about to do the same. The shared another smile as they wordlessly made the bed, then they both went to their bags to find something to wear.

Jamie and Mel had breakfast with Freddy, Johnny, David, Lola and Mitch. When the rather long breakfast was coming to an end Freddy mentioned that he, Johnny and David were going to go to the games room and play poker. Lola said she wanted to show Mel and Jamie the spa pool and not long after the group split up. While the three older men headed off to the games room, the two couples went back to their rooms to get changed.

Once Mel had found the swimsuit that had been packed she went into the bathroom to get changed, while she was in there Jamie got changed into a pair of black swim trunks. As he was putting away the clothes he had been wearing he heard the bathroom door open, then he saw her pass by him out of the corner of his eye. She put her clothes on top of her bag, then turned to face him. Jamie swallowed hard as he took in the sight of her standing in front of him wearing a royal blue string bikini.

"Wow." The only word his brain could manage to form.

"You say that a lot." She pointed out with a smile.

"I get wowed a lot..." He replied unsure of himself, after a moment they both chuckled.

She stared at him unable to stop her eyes from wandering down where, as he had no shirt on, she could see for the first time he had nicely toned abdominals. Meanwhile, as his eyes roved over her lithe yet slightly curvy and perfectly toned body he noticed a tattoo of two orange flowers joined at the stem on her right hip.

"They're marigolds, my birth flower." She explained as she saw him notice it.

"October." She added as she began to feel a little uncomfortable under his unwavering gaze.

"Me too." He told her as he made himself meet her eyes, she gave him a small smile at the coincidence.

"Two because you have twin." He mentioned as he put it together.

"Yup, Meredith and I got matching tattoos for our eighteenth birthday." She confirmed and elaborated. Despite Jamie's best effort to keep his eyes on her face they began to wander her body again as they both fell quiet. Seeing the effect she had on him Mel decide to throw the shorts and t shirt she had worn to breakfast over her bikini. Jamie saw what she was doing and felt bad, he thought to apologise for staring but didn't want to bring attention to the fact that he had been. He threw on a t shirt and they headed up to the top deck to meet Lola and Mitch. As they walked out on to the deck they saw that Lola and Mitch had not only gotten there first but they had wasted no time and were already in the spa pool.

"Hey, come on in, the water's great." Mitch called out to them when he saw them. Jamie and Mel walked over and deposited their towels on the seats beside the pool. As Mel took off her t shirt and shorts Lola saw how fantastic her figure was, she glanced over and saw Mitch noticing it too.

"What's it like dating a woman who looks like she walked off the cover of Sports Illustrated?" Mitch asked Jamie, ogling Mel as she climbed into the pool, Jamie gave him a self satisfied smile.

"I kind of hate you now." Lola grinned, Mel grinned back.

The two couples whiled away the late morning and early afternoon lounging and chatting in the spa pool and the surrounding poolside area. They went inside around one and ran into the three older men. The whole group had a long lazy lunch together at the end of which after lunch plans were discussed. Freddy decided he would take Johnny and David out on one of the decks and the men would indulge in whiskey and cigars. Realising that left the games room empty, Lola suggested the two couples seize the opportunity and go and play some games. So the two couples spent the afternoon playing mostly pool in the games room, where they found they were all fairly evenly matched.

"Hey, I think I want to have a shower and get changed before dinner." Lola put to the room at around half five while they were all relaxing between games.

"Me too." Mel chimed in.

"Should we go and do that now?" Lola suggested and received nods of agreement from anyone. The two couples left the games room and walked in companionable silence to their cabins.

"Oh dinner's at seven in the dinning room." Lola told Mel and Jamie as they headed into their room.

"Got it." Mel confirmed. Jamie closed the door behind himself then both he and Mel began going through their bags.

"Do you mind if I have a shower first?" Jamie asked as he turned to her holding a pile of clothes and his toiletry bag.

"Not at all, go ahead." She gave him a small smile then resumed rummaging through her bag. Jamie showered and got dressed in the bathroom, walking out about twenty minutes after he went in. Mel went in right after him and took about the same amount of time. When she came out Jamie saw she was wearing a short, black dress with a muted flower pattern and her hair up in her towel on her head. As she put her clothes from earlier away she noticed he seemed ready to go.

"I still have to do my hair and put some makeup on. If you want, you could see if Mitch or Lola are ready or…" She trailed off.

"It's okay, I'm good." He smiled at her then pulled the book she had lent him out of his bag, then he went over, plopped onto the bed and started reading. She smiled to herself, grabbed her make up bag and went back to the bathroom. She went through her usual makeup routine, occasionally glancing through the open bathroom door to see him reading. Once she had finished she repacked her makeup bag, left the bathroom and passed Jamie on the bed, he was so engrossed in the book he didn't even notice. She put her makeup bag away and pulled out her hair dryer, she plugged it in then placed it on the dresser.

"Enjoying it so far?" She inquired, Jamie looked up to see she was no longer in the bathroom but standing at the foot of the bed.

"Yeah, it's so good. You were right, it is one of his best." Jamie gushed and Mel smiled.

"I'm gonna…" She wiggled the hair dryer, Jamie nodded his acknowledgment. He watched for a little while as she took the towel off and her long, damp, chocolate brown hair tumbled down. She tossed the towel on to her side of the bed and flipped her hair over, as started to dry it Jamie resumed reading. The next time he looked up she was pulling a brush through her now dry hair, she sprayed it with a quick spritz of hair spray then turned to him.

"Shall we?" She asked and he smiled. He put the book away and they moved to the door.

"Hey, do you mind?" She lifted her phone up the glanced at his pants pocket.

"No pockets." She glanced down at her dress.

"Oh, yeah, sure." He smiled, she slipped her phone into his pocket and they headed off to dinner.

Dinner was, as all the meals served on the yacht had been, delicious and followed by an equally delicious dessert. As everyone was enjoying their digestifs Lola stood up and began walking over to the sideboard.

"Freddy, do you mind?" She asked as she glanced at a portable speaker sitting on the sideboard and pulled her phone out of the pocket of her t shirt dress.

"Sure, just nothing too crazy, we're not at the club." He told her gently. She smiled, turned on the speaker and connected her phone to it. She stood scrolling through songs for awhile before finally choosing one. As Lola put her phone back in her pocket Mel heard the familiar opening notes of Still Crazy After All These Years by Paul Simon.

"Paul Simon? A little before your time isn't it?" Mel questioned, as she had assumed herself and Lola were close to the same age.

"Freddy's always playing stuff from that era, some of it I like." Lola explained as she crossed the room to Mitch. Mel and Jamie watched as she took his hand, pulled him to standing and led him to an empty space in the room. Mitch took hold of Lola and the pair began to slow dance. Lola noticing that Jamie and Mel were watching them, gestured with her head for them to join her, then added a smile for encouragement. Jamie and Mel looked to each other then both stood up, they walked over and took a spot beside Lola and Mitch. Jamie placed his hands on Mel's waist, she placed her arms on his shoulders and they began to slowly sway in time to the music. As Mel shifted her eyes from Lola and Mitch to Jamie his eyes met hers. As they moved to the music Mel could not resist the temptation to study his face up close. She saw, as she had the day they met, what a beautiful blue his eyes were. She visually catalogued all the handsome features of his face, her eyes finally landing on his full lips. In the well lit room, being this close Jamie could finally see all the details of her face and gave in to the same temptation. He admired her almond shaped eyes, with their beautiful sea foam green irises, that went so well with her chocolate coloured hair. His eyes travelled over her high cheekbones, lightly dusted with blush. They finally came to rest on her plump lips, on which he now noticed she had applied a pinky mauve shade of lipstick that perfectly matched some of the flowers on her dress.

"What are you waiting for?" Lola asked, snapping them out of their reveries.

"Huh? What?" Mel stammered.

"If you want to kiss, kiss." Lola told them.

"Oh no, we're good." Jamie smiled trying to extricate them.

"You were all over each other in the club the other night." She pointed out.

"That was a noisy club, this is polite company." Mel countered.

"Don't hold back on our account." Mitch smirked.

"Yeah, go on." Lola encouraged them smiling.

"Do it! Do it!" Mitch cheered grinning. Mel's eyes drifted back to Jamie who was already back looking at her. Remembering what they had agreed to before the trip, they both leaned in. A moment later they felt their lips touch, they kissed each other tenderly for a couple of seconds then broke apart.

"Aww." Lola grinned.

"You guys are so cute!" Mitch teased them and they smiled.

They two couples danced and the group chatted and listened to music until Freddy, Johnny and David turned in at around eleven, the two couples turned in not long after. Jamie and Mel were in their cabin starting to get ready for bed when there was a knock at door. They shared a look before Mel crossed the room and opened it to find Lola and Mitch standing on the other side smiling excitedly.

"Hi." She greeted them.

"Hey, we wanted to see if you guys wanted to have some fun." Lola grinned as she held up a baggie filled with white powder.

"We have all kinds of fun." Mitch added as he showed her a joint in one hand and tabs of something in the other. Before Mel could think of an acceptable excuse, Jamie came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her.

"We were just about to go to bed." He told them, raising his eyebrows as he nuzzled her neck.

"Ah, got it. Yeah, that's probably more fun." Lola commented as she and Mel shared a knowing smile.

"Okay, night guys!" Lola grinned, they watched as she and Mitch disappeared down the hall before Mel closed the door and Jamie let go of her.

"Thanks for the save." She smiled gratefully.

"Sure." He smiled back, then watched her expression change.

"Do you hear that?" She asked before he could question it.

"What?" He replied and she placed a finger to her lips. They stood still for a moment before Jamie was able to hear the sound of motor slowly getting closer. As soon as he'd registered the sound Mel spun on her heal and walked over to deck. She opened the door and the sound got louder as they spotted a speedboat approaching from a distance. Only a second after spotting it Mel turned around, went inside, grabbed her phone off the bed and started to the door.

"Where are you going?" Jamie asked as he stepped back inside and closed the sliding door.

"To get a better look." She told him as she reached the door, he quickly jogged over and put his hand on hers to stop her from opening it.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea." He stated and she looked him.

"We're here to gather intel, that's what I'm going to do." She told him matter of factly. He considered arguing but the look she was giving him indicated she was going with or without him.

"Okay, let's go." He relented finally removing his hand from atop hers. She opened the door and they slipped quietly out into the hall. They moved as quietly as they could through the yacht until they reached the third deck and snuck outside. They edged along the deck until Mel came to a sudden stop, Jamie stopped behind her.

"Look." She whispered very quietly, pointing. He followed her finger and saw the speedboat they had seen being tied up alongside the yacht. Mel lifted her cellphone, turned off the flash and sound and started snapping pictures. As they watched and Mel snapped, two decks below they saw a man dressed all in black board the yacht, Freddy came out on to the deck to greet him. A man still on the speedboat handed the visitor one of about eight very full duffel bags, he opened it and showed Freddy it was stuffed with bricks of drugs. Johnny appeared beside Freddy, took one of the bricks, made a small opening with a knife and tested a small quantity of the drugs. He soon gave Freddy a nod in the affirmative and disappeared from view. He reappeared moments later carrying two similar looking duffel bags. He handed one to the man all in black, the man unzipped the bag confirmed it was full of stacks of cash and closed it. As they kept watching and Mel kept snapping the duffels full of drugs were loaded on to the yacht and carried inside, then the man all in black picked up the bags of cash. As he went to put them into the speedboat Jamie and Mel heard a noise to their right. Mel immediately hid her phone in Jamie's pocket as they looked to see what it was. They saw nothing but listened and soon recognised the sound to be footsteps. They shared a concerned look and quickly and quietly started moving down the deck in the opposite direction. They had only gotten a few steps when they saw Johnny coming up the external stairs a few feet in front of them from the deck below. They momentarily froze then spun around, they could see a hand holding a cellphone, screen aglow, coming around the corner. Jamie and Mel looked at each other, panic now evident on their faces, after a moment Mel saw Jamie have an idea. He grabbed her by the waist and placed her against the wall of the room they were outside of, he closed the already small gap between them and started kissing her fervently. Mel immediately understood, grabbed hold of Jamie and kissed him back matching his fervour. Her heart hammered in her chest and her temperature rose as she felt the heat from Jamie's body pressed against her coupled with the involuntary reaction of her body to being kissed like this by him. Jamie, despite only doing it out of necessity was feeling something too, which brought on a strong pang of guilt that made him want to pull away but for their safety he continued.

"Oh, you two." They heard in Johnny's thick New Jersey accent after a few seconds and stopped kissing. Keeping hold of each other they smiled at him feigning embarrassment at being caught. They both stole a glance to their right and saw one of Freddy's guys, phone in hand, staring at them.

"What are you doing out here?" Johnny questioned them.

"We wanted to do it somewhere different." Mel told him with a wicked grin, turning on the Lucinda attitude and Jamie smirked.

"Oh. Look, I get it but not here, okay? Why don't you guys go up to the top deck, do it under the stars?" He suggested.

"Okay." She happily agreed as they let go of each other.

"Good. Well…night." Johnny gave them a small smile.

"Night." Mel smiled back as she and Jamie squeezed passed Johnny. They made their way up to the top deck, both a little worried they'd run into Lola and Mitch. Thankfully, when they walked out on to it they found it empty. Relieved, they crossed it, went down the stairs and as quietly as possible headed back to their cabin. It wasn't until their were back inside their cabin and Jamie had closed the door that they finally somewhat relaxed.

"That was close." He told her.

"Yeah." She agreed as she tried to calm down. After a moment she grabbed her phone from Jamie's pocket and walked over to the bed. As she sat down on the edge of the bed and starting typing Jamie went over and joined her. He looked down at the screen and saw her sending all the photos she had just taken to Manning and Collins. After several moments of awkward silence her phone rang, she immediately answered it and put it on speakerphone.

"Hey, are you good to talk now?" Manning's voice broke the silence.

"Yeah, we're in our cabin. You're on speakerphone." Mel responded keeping her eyes on the phone screen.

"Those photos you sent are incredible!" Collins enthused.

"We always suspected Freddy did deals on the yacht but we could never prove it, until now. We can take him down with this." Manning told them, also clearly excited by what they had found.

"We're going to get a search warrant and board the yacht when it docks tomorrow." Collins informed them.

"We'll arrest everybody, including you two. They'll all go to the local precinct but we'll make sure you guys are taken to ours." She added laying out the rest of the plan.

"Got it." Jamie acknowledged.

"Well, you should get some rest. Fantastic work guys!" Manning praised them.

"Thanks." Mel replied then ended the call. She finally lifted her eyes from the phone and her eyes met Jamie's, they held each other's gaze for a moment then both looked away.

They both went about their nighttime routines, only speaking to say goodnight as they turned off their bedside lights. As Mel lay in the dark she didn't even bother to turn over onto her side, her favoured sleeping position, she just lay on her back staring at the ceiling wide awake. Though she was certain that sleep would not come for awhile, she debated whether she should go out on deck as she had done the night before. After a few minutes she ended her internal debate by quietly pulling back the covers and getting out of bed. She walked over to the door to the deck, opened it and stepped out. As she closed it behind herself and took a place at the railing she found, despite the awkwardness between them, part of her hoped he would follow. Jamie, as with the night before, felt and heard her climb out of the bed. This time though, he spent a lot longer deciding whether or not to join her. Eventually he got bored just lying in the dark so he got out of bed and padded over to the door. She didn't turn when he opened the door and stepped out on to the deck. He noticed her finally look as he joined her at the railing. He remained quiet looking out, as she did, at the bay they were anchored in. Feeling the tension between them, and wishing things were as they had been the night before, Jamie felt compelled to say something. Mel saw Jamie open his mouth to speak out of the corner of her eye.

"You don't have to say anything." She preempted him and he looked over at her.

"You did the right thing. We're good." She echoed his words from after their first undercover assignment in an effort to relieve the tension.

"Thanks." He smiled, truly appreciating the gesture. Jamie's eyes moved back out to the water and he stared at the twinkling lights across the bay. After a few moments the silence, though more companionable now, began to bother him. Jamie turned his head to look at her and found her expression hard to decipher.

"You know, you really can see a lot of stars out here." He threw out as he glanced briefly upward then back at her. He was rewarded with a big grin that lit up her face and half the bay with it, a smile spread over his face as a wave of relief washed over him. He continued stare at her watching the grin fade into a contented smile, as he did he wondered why them really being good mattered so much to him.

The next day, in between a long lazy breakfast and a long lazy lunch there was a lot relaxing in the sun on the main deck. After lunch everyone parted ways for time to go to their cabins and pack. Jamie and Mel being organised types had packed their bags after they got dressed for breakfast, so they just spent the time lounging and chatting in their cabin. After awhile everyone met back on the main deck with their bags and kicked back while the yacht entered the marina and was docked. The crew tied the yacht to the dock, cut the engine and put the gangway in place. Before the anyone could disembark Manning and Collins quickly walked up the gangway and boarded the yacht.

"Freddy Dolan." Manning greeted him with a smug smile.

"Can I help you detectives?" Freddy asked civilly.

"We have warrant to search this yacht." Collins informed him, as she held out the warrant Freddy scowled.

"Everyone take a seat." Manning instructed them as a large number of cops began to board the yacht and fan out. After a few minutes one of the cops appeared on the deck with a duffel bag.

"Detectives." He got their attention, then opened it. Everyone saw as he held open the sides of the bag that it was full of drugs.

"There's seven more like it in the hold." The cop added.

"Looks like you're all coming with us." Manning smiled like the cat who got the cream.

"Nobody say anything without a lawyer." Jamie gave advice an ex-lawyer might give.

"Everybody listen to Nate." Freddy added sternly. Freddy, Johnny, David, Lola, Mitch, Mel, Jamie, Freddy's guys and all of the crew were all handcuffed and taken into custody. As promised Mel and Jamie were put in a squad car together and as the car exited the marina they breathed a sigh of relief.

Week Six

Part way through the day as Jamie was working in his office, his concentration was broken by a knock on the filing cabinet. He looked up to see Capitan Espinoza standing in front of him, a piece of paper in hand.

"I received this today." Espinoza handed him the piece of paper. Jamie took it, saw it was a letter on NYPD letterhead and read it.

"Good work." Espinoza congratulated him when he looked back up.

"Thanks."

"You'll inform Officer Elliot, give her a copy and pass on my congratulations?" His request came in the form of a question.

"Yes, of course." Jamie confirmed as he placed the letter on his desk.

"If her work is this good perhaps we should consider trying to hold on to her." Espinoza mused. His stared at Jamie trying to gauge his reaction, mostly Jamie just seemed surprised by the idea.

"She has shown herself to be an outstanding officer." Jamie finally gave his honest assessment, Espinoza sensed no hyperbole.

"Really?" He murmured, unable to recall the last time Jamie spoke so highly of a colleague.

"Well, in that case, at the end of her time with us if you decided you want to keep her, I'm happy to sign off on it." Espinoza told him helpfully.

"Okay, I'll keep that in mind." Jamie replied, Espinoza nodded and headed off back to his office.

Only an hour later Jamie, now in the break room getting coffee, saw Elliot and Ortiz leading a handcuffed man to the cells. He quickly walked to to the door and stuck his head out.

"Elliot." He called out. She, Ortiz and the handcuffed man stopped and looked to Jamie.

"Can you please stop by my office on your way back out?" He requested.

"Sure Sarge." She smiled cheerily at him.

"Is she in trouble?" The handcuffed man asked Ortiz.

"Her? Nah. She couldn't get in trouble if her life depended on it." Ortiz grinned at Elliot.

"If you only knew." She grinned back as they got the man walking again.

Half an hour later Mel and Ortiz stood in the entrance to Jamie's office.

"Sarge?" Mel spoke to get his attention, Jamie looked up at them then back down at his desk and grabbed a piece of paper.

"Right, just wanted to give you this." He told her as he handed it to her, she took it and began to read.

"You're getting a commendation, congrats!" Ortiz exclaimed and Mel looked up to see him reading over her shoulder and smiled.

"Thanks."

"Yes, congratulations." Jamie chimed in.

"Thanks, you too." She smiled at him having just read they will both receiving one.

"Manning and Collins must have sung your praises." Jamie guessed.

"Our praises." She gently corrected him and he nodded.

"Ceremony's next week." Ortiz commented, still reading the letter.

"Yep, all the information is in there." Jamie confirmed.

"Oh and Captain Espinoza wanted me to pass on his congratulations." Jamie added as he remembered and she nodded in acknowledgment.

"All right, better get back to it." He said as he sat back down at his desk, Mel and Ortiz understood they were being dismissed and headed back out on tour.


Mel heard the letter crinkle when she took off her jacket as she started getting changed after her shift. She pulled it out, glanced at it briefly, smiled then put it away in her bag. She continued to get changed, removing each piece of her uniform and replacing it with her own clothes. As she pulled her t shirt on over her head her phone started to ring. She quickly finished putting on her t shirt and grabbed her cell from her bag.

"Hello Detective." She answered, recognising his number.

"Officer." Danny replied and she could hear the smile in his voice.

"I have some good news. The perp you helped us collar has decided to take a plea." He informed her.

"Oh that's great." She replied upbeat.

"Yeah, well with a cop as an eyewitness, a bullet wound in his arm and his prints on the counter he'd have to be dumber than he looks not to take plea." Danny reflected.

"True." Mel chuckled.

"I thought you might be happy to know you don't have to testify, the case is closed." He told her.

"Right." She replied as she absorbed the information. After that they both fell quiet, Mel noticed he didn't hang up and wondered if he had something else to say.

"So…" He started before she could ask.

"Since the case is closed, I was wondering, if maybe, you would like to, uh, have dinner with me, sometime." Danny stumbled his way through the proposal, upon hearing it Mel lit up.

"I would like that." She replied and could hear Danny's relieved exhalation.

"Great! I know it's short notice but are you free this Saturday?" He asked.

"I am." She told him.

"Good. I can pick you up at, uh, seven." He suggested.

"Seven's great. I'll text you my address." She advised him.

"Okay, I will see you Saturday." Danny confirmed, they both said goodbye and ended the call smiling. She put her phone in her pocket, put on her cardigan, threw her bag on her shoulder, closed her locker and headed out.

As she walked down the corridor on her way out of the precinct she passed by the glass wall of Jamie's office. As she kept walking she could see him sitting at his desk hard at work. She had just reached the end of the hall when the realisation struck, Detective Reagan is his brother. She stopped just around the corner from the entrance to his office and starting second guessing her decision to accept the date. She stared at Jamie through the glass wondering if maybe she should run it by him, she almost immediately discarded the idea as she thought about how awkward it would be. She vacillated for a minute before deciding she would not be able to fully enjoy the date if she was worrying that it might effect her job. She took a deep breath, rounded the corner and knocked on the filing cabinet. Jamie looked up from his work, saw her standing there and put down his pen.

"Heading out?" He guessed from her civilian attire and the bag on her shoulder.

"Yeah I am, I just wanted to run something by you." She told him.

"Sure, go ahead." He smiled and she moved closer to his desk.

"I just got a call from Detective Reagan. The perp I ID'ed for him took a plea." She informed him.

"That's great." He replied.

"It is." She agreed and he noticed her nervous demeanour and knew there was something else. He watched as she took a breath and readied herself.

"After that, he…asked me out." She finally told him and saw his eyes go wide. Jamie stared at her, surprised to hear Danny had done that and wondering why she was telling him.

"I accepted, then afterwords I remembered he's your brother." She continued and Jamie began to understand.

"I work under you at the moment and I don't want to do anything to compromise our working relationship or anything that might create a conflict of interest so I thought maybe I should run it by you. I take my job very seriously so I wouldn't want to do anything that might cause any issues, so if it's going to be a problem at all…" She paused to take a breath and Jamie seized the opportunity to put his hand up to indicate she should stop. She exhaled heavily and he could see how uncomfortable she was, her concern was also clearly evident.

"I appreciate you bringing this to me. I don't think it's going to be a problem." He reassured her, once he had taken a moment to process it.

"Really?" She responded surprised.

"Yeah. What you and Detective Reagan do on you own time is your business. As long as you don't bring it into work, I can't see any reason it would be an issue." He elucidated.

"I wouldn't." She quickly assured him.

"I know." He smiled, very aware of her professionalism.

"Thanks. I'm sorry, I know this is really awkward." She smiled apologetically.

"It's okay. It's good to know you value your job so much you felt the need to do this despite knowing how awkward it would be." He told her.

"I'm gonna get going." She stated clearly eager to be done with this conversation.

"Right…well…have fun on your date." He saw her eyes widen and suddenly wished he hadn't said that.

"I just made it more awkward, didn't I?" He realised going red.

"Yeah, but thanks." She smiled warmly trying to make him feel better.

"Night." He gave her a small smile back.

"Night."


Jamie, as was normal, had been quiet throughout Sunday dinner. After dessert had been served and the table had fallen quiet as everyone dug in, he couldn't contain his curiosity any longer.

"Hey Danny, when's your date with Officer Elliot?" He questioned his brother, trying his best to only sound mildly curious. Upon hearing this the whole table stopped eating and stared at Danny surprised.

"You have a date?" Erin asked, stunned by the revelation.

"Actually, it was last night, so I had a date." He answered her question by making a correction.

"How did you know?" Danny looked at Jamie questioningly.

"She came to me about it." Jamie admitted.

"What?!" Danny exclaimed surprised.

"After she accepted she remembered we're brothers and wanted to run it by me." Jamie explained.

"What did you say?" Danny put the question to him in the same tone he used for interviewing suspects.

"I told her as long as she didn't bring it into work, I didn't see it being a problem." He told him and saw Danny relax.

"So, how did it go?" Erin grinned, excited to hear the details.

"Really well." Danny smiled, remaining vague.

"What's she like?" Sean followed up, hoping for more details.

"She's amazing. She's smart, funny, friendly, charming…" Danny ended his list as he noticed Eddie roll her eyes.

"You don't like her?" He asked her.

"She's fine." Eddie mumbled and looked down at her dessert.

"Just fine?" Frank pressed, intrigued by her reaction to the topic.

"It's just annoying, everyone fawns all over her, she's good at everything, never puts a toe out of line. She's such a goody goody." Eddie grumbled, clearly not a fan. Jamie bristled at Eddie's last comment as he remembered riding with Elliot on her first day at the 29 and hearing her reluctantly admit to the nickname her Sergeant had given her.

"She's just hard working and likes to go by the book." He came to Elliot's defence and received an unimpressed look from Eddie.

"You know, Jamie spent a whole weekend with her." Eddie threw out hoping to shift the focus off herself. Everyone else at the table spun to look at Jamie, clearing misreading Eddie's meaning as she had intended.

"Undercover." Jamie quickly clarified as he gave Eddie a look.

"A whole weekend?" Danny inquired, surprised he was just now hearing about this.

"Yes. Our undercover identities were invited to go away for the weekend. The vice detectives we were working with thought it would be a great opportunity to collect intel." Jamie explained.

"Ah yes, collecting intel while relaxing on a super yacht." Eddie added, her tone giving away that she had not been happy about the assignment.

"A super yacht? Cool!" Sean was suddenly more interested.

"Sounds luxurious." Danny commented, sounding jealous.

"It was. It was also really dangerous, if we had been made…" Jamie trailed off, his expression serious as he chose his next words.

"…they'd have never found our bodies." He finished, deciding to use Elliot's phrase from just before the assignment, feeling it heavy but accurate. A somber tone fell over the table as everyone thought about the serious risk Jamie and Mel had taken.

"It went well though, right?" Henry asked, hoping to lift the mood.

"Yeah, really well. We actually managed to gather enough to take down one arm of a drug syndicate and one of the big players, Freddy Dolan." Jamie added the name as he knew some at the table would recognise it.

"Freddy Dolan, wow, that's huge!" Danny commented.

"It was mostly Elliot." Jamie told him.

"That's what you are receiving a commendation for." Frank added informing the table, having recently been made aware of Jamie's name on the list of cops receiving commendations at the next awards ceremony.

"Congratulations." Erin beamed, proud of her little brother.

"Thanks." Jamie smiled. The rest of the table added their congratulations to Erin's then everyone fell quiet as they finished their desserts.

"Dad, are you going to see Officer Elliot again?" Sean asked breaking the silence, everyone looked to Danny curious to hear the answer.

"Her name is Melissa, and yes." Danny began to smile as he thought about it.

"I'm seeing her again this Friday."

Week Seven

Jamie was working the front desk when he saw a familiar face walk through the door to the precinct. He recognised the man as Eric, the father of the baby Mel had taken care of her second week with the 29. The man, pushing the baby in a stroller and a woman of about the same age approached Jamie at the desk, the man seemed to recognise him.

"Hi, would it be possible for us to speak to Officer Elliot?" The man asked politely.

"Sure, I'll have to see where she…" Jamie didn't bother finishing his sentence as he noticed Mel and Ortiz appear from around the corner on their way out of the precinct.

"Elliot!" Jamie called to her. She stopped her conversation with Ortiz and looked at him, he gestured for her to come over to the desk.

"There's someone here to see you." He informed her as he looked to the man, the woman and the baby.

"Lacey." Mel smiled as she recognised the little girl, who was now a little bit bigger.

"Hi." She smiled at Lacey's father as he stood behind the stroller.

"Hi, my wife wanted to meet you." He told her as he looked to the woman standing beside him, the woman took a couple of steps forward.

"Hi, my name is Laura, I'm Lacey's mom." Laura gave her a weak smile.

"My husband told me you took care of Lacey when I had my episode." Mel nodded.

"I just wanted to say thank you." Laura's voice wobbled as her eyes began to mist.

"I wasn't well, but I'm getting help now and I'm on medication. I'm doing better, I'm not not all the way there, these things take time but I'm getting better. If anything had happened to Lacey…" Laura broke down at the thought.

"It's ok, nothing happened to her. She looks great to me." Mel tried to reassure her as she glanced at Lacey happily babbling away.

"I know, I just wanted to say thank you." Laura smiled through her tears before pulling Mel into a tight hug. Mel was surprised at first but then gently hugged her back.

"I'm just glad I could help and that everything turned out okay." Mel told her as Laura continued to hug her. After a few more seconds Laura let go, Mel crouched down and looked into the stroller.
"Hi cutie." Mel grinned at her, Lacey lit up as she recognised her temporary babysitter.

"Would you like to have a cuddle?" Laura offered as Mel played with Lacey's little hand.

"I would love to but we have to get back out there." Mel told her sadly as she stood back up, Jamie who had been watching the whole scene saw Mel's disappointment.

"Go on, you can take a minute." Jamie gave her permission to delay returning to tour.

"Really? Thanks Sarge." Mel beamed at him, very appreciative.

"Big softy." Ortiz quipped looking at Jamie, who chuckled as Mel lifted an excited Lacey out of the strolled and put her on her hip. Jamie, Ortiz, Eric and Laura watched as Mel cooed at Lacey and Lacey smiled back, after a few minutes Mel gently placed Lacey back in her stroller.

"We should let you get back to work. Thank you for everything you did." Eric smiled as he echoed his wife's sentiments.

"You're very welcome, I'm glad you're doing better. Best of luck with everything." Mel smiled warmly at Laura and she smiled back. Mel and Ortiz watched as Eric and Laura pushed Lacey in her stroller out of the door of the precinct.

"Ready." Ortiz nudged Mel, she nodded and he started towards the door. Mel turned to Jamie, smiled and mouthed the words thank you to him then followed Ortiz out of the precinct.


Mel absentmindedly straightened her jacket as she and Meredith walked up the steps to the front doors of 1PP. She fiddled and re-straightened her tie as they walked into the main foyer. As they waited at the elevators Meredith noticed her sisters nervous fidgeting.

"Would you relax. You have done this before." Meredith pointed out in an effort to get her to calm down.

"I know, but you know what I'm like." Mel reminder her.

"Just breathe." Meredith instructed her as they got in the elevator. They rode up in silence, when the doors opened Meredith spotted Jamie and began to walk over.

"Hi Sergeant." Meredith greeted him with a friendly smile.

"Hi." He smiled at both sisters as they reached him.

"This is my wife Eddie, this is Officer Elliot's sister Meredith." He introduced the two women who exchanged a smile.

"Elliot." Eddie greeted her with a tight smile.

"Janko." Mel returned the greeting.

"Oh here they are." Meredith commented and Mel turned to see her parents stepping off the elevator. Meredith caught their attention and waved them over. As they made their way over Jamie noticed that Mel strongly resembled the man approaching them and Meredith strong resembled the woman. It explained why, though they were twins, Mel and Meredith didn't look that much alike.

"Hey Mom, hey Dad." Mel greeted each of them and gave them a quick hug, Meredith followed suit.

"Mom, Dad, this Sergeant Reagan, my boss while I'm working at the 29." Mel told them.

"Sarge, these are my parents Stephen and Julia." Mel introduced them and Jamie shook their hands. Jamie barely had time to introduce Eddie before everyone was ushered into the auditorium for the ceremony.

Jamie and Mel sat beside each other at the front with the other members of the force receiving awards. Meredith and her parents found some seats a few rows back and Eddie took a seat the row in front of them and was joined by Erin and Henry who just managed to slip in before the doors were closed. Everyone fell quiet as Garrett took the stage, he welcomed everyone then introduced Frank. Frank slowly took to the stage and stood behind the podium. He gave a thoughtful and well written speech about how hard all of the members of the force work and how he was particularly proud of those sitting in front of him today. After his speech Garrett took back the podium, he read each police officers name and the award they were receiving. One by one the police officers stood, walked up to the stage, shook Frank's hand and received a black velvet box containing their bar. After they had all received their awards the ceremony was concluded. Everyone filed out of the auditorium and congregated in the hallway outside. Meredith and her parents found Mel in the throng of police officers in dress blues and they all went and stood to one side.

"This one's different from your other ones." Meredith commented as she took the black velvet box, opened it, then compared the bar sitting inside to the ones Mel already had above her badge.

"Yeah, that one is a commendation for integrity." She said of the bar in the box.

"This one is for exceptional merit, this one's for community service and this one's for meritorious police duty. They're all a little bit different." Mel explained as she pointed to each of the bars above her badge.

"You're getting quite the collection." Erin observed as she, Jamie, Eddie and Henry reached Mel and her family.

"Uh, yeah." Mel smiled at the attractive brunette woman who had just complimented her, Jamie quickly introduced everyone.

"It's very impressive." Henry remarked smiling at Mel after the introductions.

"Overachiever." Meredith grinned.

"Mer!" Mel groaned.

"What? It's true!" Meredith defended her comment.

"We're very proud of you honey." Julia beamed.

"Thanks Mom." Mel replied, going a little red from all the attention as her mother pulled her into a tight side hug.

"Both my brothers talk very highly of you." Erin told her.

"I think very highly of them." Mel smiled, she then noticed her parents looking at her questioningly.

"I'll explain later." She said quickly as Meredith smiled knowingly at her.

"So are you doing anything to celebrate?" Stephen asked Jamie and his family.

"We'll probably go and have drink or something." Eddie replied.

"Are you?" Jamie enquired.

"Yes, we're taking our girl out to dinner." Stephen smiled proudly at Mel.

"What about me?" Meredith queried.

"You're invited too." He mother quickly assured her.

"Sweet, free food." Meredith perked right up, Mel chuckled and everyone else grinned.

"Well, we won't hold you up. It was nice to meet you." Jamie smiled at Mel's parents.

"Nice to meet you too." Julia smiled warmly back.

"See you tomorrow." Jamie told Mel.

"See ya." She gave him a bright smile. He and the rest of the Reagans watched as Mel and her family walked away and disappeared around the corner.

"Danny was not exaggerating." Erin asserted once they were out of earshot.

"She is very beautiful." Henry agreed and Jamie was sure he heard Eddie scoff.

Week Eight

After Mel and Ortiz were dismissed from roll call they made their way to Jamie's office.

"Sarge, you wanted to see me?" Mel spoke as Ortiz knocked on the filing cabinet.

"Yes, I only need her for a minute." He informed Ortiz.

"I'll go get the car ready." Ortiz told Mel, then turned and headed off to the garage.

"This is your last week with us." Jamie mentioned and Mel nodded.

"It is, it's gone so fast." She confirmed.

"It has. I have been very impressed with your work during your time with us." Jamie commented and Mel smiled proudly.

"So impressed in fact, that I would like to offer you the opportunity to stay here at the 29 permanently." As Jamie put forward his offer he saw her eyes widen.

"Really?" She asked genuinely surprised by the offer.

"Yes, are you interested?" He inquired.

"Oh my gosh, yes! I would love to stay here permanently." Mel lit up, clearly thrilled.

"Great. Captain Espinoza has already said he is happy to sign off on it, so I will get the paperwork started." Jamie informed her, unable to contain a smile.

"Thank you." She told him gratefully.

"You're very welcome." He replied. She gave him a warm smile and turned to leave, she hadn't taken more than three steps when she turned back to him.

"Can I ask you a favour?" She ask tentatively.

"You can ask."

"I was just wondering if it would be possible for me to permanently ride with Ortiz." She put forward.

"Working out well?" He questioned her and she nodded.

"Yeah, Ortiz is the best!" She enthused. Jamie considered it for a moment as he took in her hopeful expression.

"You know what? I think I can pull some strings." He finally responded as he broke out into a smile.

"Thanks." She beamed then headed off to join her partner.


"Now, before I dismiss you, I have a piece of good news. The paperwork came through this morning so it's now official. Officer Elliot will be staying here with us at the 29 permanently." Jamie announced at roll call two days later, to cheers and whoops. He noticed a few unimpressed faces including Eddie's but the response was generally very positive. Immediately after dismissing his officers Jamie went back to his office, he was followed there by Eddie. She walked in and stood right next to his desk, her partner Officer Badillo stood waiting a little ways down the hall.

"Was it your idea to keep Elliot?" She demanded.

"Captain Espinoza and I discussed it but the final decision was mine." Jamie explained.

"And the decision was made purely based on her performance?" Eddie questioned.

"She is an exemplary officer with a spotless record." Jamie replied, he quickly saw his response was not satisfactory.

"And the fact that she's a beautiful woman has nothing to do with it?" She interrogated him.

"She is attractive but I don't base my personnel decisions on the way my officers look. If I did, I would have gotten rid of Miller ages ago." Jamie tried a joke to ease the tension but Eddie wasn't having it.

"Come on Jamie, every guy in the precinct has been drooling over her since she got here." Eddie countered.

"I'm not every guy, the only woman I'm drooling over is you." Jamie smiled sweetly at her, and Eddie sighed. Realising she wasn't going to get anywhere with him she turned and headed out on patrol.

Week Nine

When Danny arrived he saw Jamie was already sitting in a booth nursing a drink. He quickly walked up to the bar and ordered himself a beer. Once he had received it he walked over and joined Jamie in the booth. They exchange a brief greeting then quietly sipped on their beers, sensing Jamie needed to talk Danny stayed quiet waiting for him to start.

"Did Elliot tell you she's staying at the 29 permanently?" Jamie asked when he finally spoke.

"Uh no, we're actually not seeing each other anymore." Danny admitted and Jamie's eyes shot up from his beer.

"What?! What happened?!" Jamie blurted out cleared stunned by Danny's revelation.

"We want different things." Danny replied, Jamie stared at him clearly needing more information.

"Kids. She wants them and I've been there, done that. I said as much so she called time." Danny gave him a full explanation, Jamie seemed satisfied and took a long sip of his beer.

"I'm sorry, are you okay?" Jamie enquired sensing Danny's disappointment.

"Yes and no. We only went on a few dates but she really is amazing so you know, it sucks." He told him. Danny took a sip of beer and studied his little brothers mood, seeing it had been low since he'd arrived at the bar Danny decided to pry.

"Elliot staying on is a good thing right?" Danny checked.

"Yeah." Jamie confirmed.

"So why are you sitting there doing your best Atlas impression?" Danny wondered aloud. Jaime, a little lost in his own thoughts just looked at him blankly.

"You look like you have the weight of the world on your shoulders." Danny elaborated and Jamie nodded his understanding. Though he now understood Jamie remained quiet.

"Come on kid, it's just you, me and these beers." Danny pressed, Jamie sighed and took another sip.

"When I asked Elliot to stay, I think her work was only part of the reason." Jamie finally told him.

"And the other part?" Danny questioned him.

"I like having her around." Jamie confessed and Danny realised what was going on.

"You have a crush on her." Danny diagnosed the problem.

"No." Jamie replied too quickly and defensively to be believed.

"Maybe." He admitted reluctantly, Danny smiled at him.

"Know what that makes you?" Danny asked and watched as Jamie braced himself.

"Human." Danny answered his own question and Jamie looked confused.

"She a beautiful woman inside and out. Any one can see that." Danny explained.

"I'm married. I love Eddie." Jamie insisted.

"I don't doubt that. What, you think you're the first married guy with a crush?" Danny chuckled.

"You ever…?" Jamie looked at him curious.

"One or two." Danny confessed.

"And." Jamie probed, wanting to know more.

"And nothing. They went away…eventually." Danny reassured him with a smile. Seeing Jamie's mood barely lift he knew there was something else.

"You and I both know that you having a crush is not the end of the world, so why do you still look like Atlas?" Danny pried and got nothing. Knowing his brother Danny remained quiet, he just stared at Jamie and gave him a look to indicate he was not going to let up. Jamie stared back, eventually breaking the eye contact to have another sip of beer. After a little more silence Jamie sighed and gave up.

"A little while back a baby, a girl, was brought into the precinct, it was thought someone had abandoned her. Elliot ended up taking care of her for most of the day. At one point she asked me to hold her so she could go to the bathroom." Jamie paused, Danny sipped his beer and stayed quiet.

"I did, I stood there in the break room holding this little girl wondering how anyone could possibly abandoned her. Turned out her mom wasn't well, the dad came in frantic, it all worked out in the end. Anyway a couple of weeks ago the parents came in with the baby to thank Elliot for taking care of their daughter. The mom's doing better now. I was at the desk and I watched this happy little family and Elliot cuddling the baby and remembered back to when I held her…" Jamie trailed off and Danny sensed he was about to get off his chest whatever it was that was weighing on him so heavily.

"I want kids, Danny." Jamie told him with the tone of someone confessing to murder. Danny looked at Jamie confused as to why that was such a heavy secret, before he could ask Jamie continued.

"I've tried to push down the feelings, the desire and for a while it worked. But holding that baby, seeing that family it all just came back up and I can't seem to push it down anymore." Jamie explained and Danny's stomach sank as it occurred to him why that might be such an issue.

"Eddie doesn't want any?" He asked, Jamie sighed.

"She says she doesn't know. That's what she said when we were engaged and the topic came up. I loved her and wanted to marry her so I heard it as she didn't know when she wanted them not that she didn't know if she wanted them." Jamie clarified.

"It's come up a few times since and she's always said she doesn't know and we drop it. The last time it came up she told me she couldn't be a mom and a cop. So I pushed down my feelings and dropped it, again. I just can't ignore the feelings anymore." Jamie exhaled heavily and took another long sip.

"So you have to talk to her." Danny laid out an obvious plan of action.

"I can't…I'm…terrified." Jamie confessed and Danny looked at him stunned, he could not remember ever hearing Jamie admit to being terrified of anything.

"Terrified?" Danny pressed him for more information.

"If I brought up the topic of kids and she told me she doesn't want them, we'd be done." Jamie explained his deep fear.

"You'd leave?" Danny questioned him, wanting to fully understand where Jamie was coming from.

"I wouldn't want to, I love her, we have a great life together but if we don't agree on something like that, I'd have to." Jamie started, sensing he wasn't done Danny again stayed quiet.

"I couldn't live worrying that I was going to wake up twenty years from now with no kids, the time to have them having passed and resenting her for being the reason I never got to be a dad. If she said she'd have them for me, if that's what I really want, I couldn't let her do that. I don't want her to wake up and regret having children and resent me because she's a mom when she didn't want to be. All at the expense of her career and just to make me happy. I couldn't live with that either." Jamie sighed and took a deep breath.

"If I bring it up and we don't agree, it's over. Hence terrified." Jamie finished and sat back in his seat, Danny stared wishing there was something he could do but knowing there wasn't.

"I'm sorry, that's a really tough." He sympathised with his little brother.

"Thanks." Jamie told him.

"Can I point something out?" Danny asked gently and received a nod from Jamie.

"If you don't have the conversation, you're going to end up with one of those outcomes you're so afraid of. You'll wake up twenty years from now with no kids and resenting her for it. I don't think avoiding the conversation is really an option." Danny laid out a painful truth.

"I know, you're right. It's just…until I have the conversation there's still hope that she'll tell me she wants them like I do. Once we have the conversation, that hope will be gone." Jamie told him sadly.

"You really think her answer will be no?" Danny asked about Jamie's assumption.

"She's always been unsure and she really wants to make detective. I really can't see her doing that then just walking away from it to have kids." Jamie expressed the reason behind his thinking.

"Right." Danny mumbled as he processed everything Jamie had told him, he saw the sadness in his little brothers eyes and his heart broke.

"I'm really sorry." He said not sure what else he could say, Jamie gave him a very small tight lipped smile.

"Want another one?" He asked looking at their empty beers, Jamie stared at the beer bottle in his hand as he briefly contemplated calling it a night. As he considered his options he heard the song that had been playing end and a new one start. He recognised it almost immediately as Still Crazy After All These Years by Paul Simon and exhaled heavily.

"Yeah, sure. Why not?"


Jamie slowly and quietly unlocked and opened the door to his apartment, seeing Eddie on the couch watching TV he realised he needn't have bothered. She looked over at him as he closed the door behind himself.

"Hey, were drinks good?" She asked as her eyes moved back to the TV.

"Uh, yeah." He replied as he walked over and joined her on the couch. He stared at her as she watched some action heavy movie and considered broaching the conversation he had being putting off.

"Everything okay?" She questioned when she noticed him staring. Sensing there was something on his mind she muted the TV and turned to face him.

"What's up?" She pressed as he remained silent. Jamie tried to gathered the courage to ask her the question he was so afraid of, he opened his mouth to start but quickly lost his nerve.

"Nothing, I'm just tired. I'm gonna turn in." He told her as he chickened out yet again.

"Okay, I'll be in in a bit." She smiled and unmuted the TV. He placed a quick kiss on her temple then stood and walked to the bedroom. He kicked himself as he got ready for bed, sighing heavily as he climbed in and turned out the light. He lay in the dark wondering if he was ever going to get the nerve to have the conversation with Eddie about having kids and wondered, if he did, how the conversation might go. After playing it out in his head a few times, he realised he was not going to be able to sleep anytime soon so he sat up and turned his bedside light back on. As his eyes fell on his bedside table he saw the book Elliot had lent him sitting atop it. He got up, grabbed his extra pillow from where he'd discarded it and brought it back to the bed. He got back in, propped himself up, picked up the book and opened it. When he did his eyes fell upon the bookmark Elliot had left in the book when she lent to him and he read the quote adorning it: In the end…we only regret the chances we didn't take, and the decisions we waited to long to make - Lewis Carroll. As Jamie stared at the bookmark for a moment he felt as though the universe was trying to tell him something. He sighed, deciding to ignore everyone's advice for the night he dropped the bookmark onto his lap, blocked out the world and began to read.