Surprise.

Sara

Sofia clicked her nails together absently and I could tell she was craving a cigarette. Leaning against the adjacent wall, I tried not to focus on the reprimand that was taking place in her office, an impossible feat as the room had more windows than walls and an empty space where a door should be. I knew she was biting her tongue as McKeen sat in her chair, lecturing her with narrowly controlled anger from across her meticulously organized desk.

The reprimand was unwarranted, there had been far worse done that had gone unquestioned, but the entire department was under pressure now. This case had all of Nevada in a panic induced tailspin, and Sam O'Riley was both a primary suspect and a major liability in the eyes of the Sheriff. The moment Sofia grabbed his jaw and forced him to look her in the eyes, the carefully toed line was snapped and McKeen had shown up just in time to see it happen.

An approaching figure drew my attention, Eli offering a soft nod before training his bright eyes on Sofia.

"When did she get back?"

"This morning"

"I left a note for her… she probably didn't get it" he mused with a soft frown, crossing his arms over his chest. My gaze lingered on him for a moment before focusing back on the scene in front of us.

"What did she do?"

Assaulted a suspect. Threatened corporal punishment.

"She… pushed it a bit in an interrogation"

He sighed, tearing his gaze away from her to meet mine.

"You know she barely sleeps? I found her in the workout room at 4:30 the other morning, running herself into the ground"

Before I could answer he chuckled- softly, humorlessly. "Of course you know. Just… keep an eye on her, yeah?"

"Yeah, I got her" I defended, unsure whether to be grateful for his concern or offended by the insinuation that I wasn't paying attention. The path to Sofia's heart wasn't through helicoptering concern and unrelenting sweetness, something he should be well aware of by now.

I turned back to catch McKeen's eye as he stalked out of the office, scowl firmly set. For a moment I was sure he was going to lay his frustrations onto me, heading in my direction with a sharp look before pausing, giving his head a tired shake and turning back down the hall.

I watched him go, gaze following him until he disappeared around the corner. Pushing off the wall with a booted foot, I wandered towards her office, pausing in the doorway. Sofia glanced up, meeting my gaze tiredly before waving me in.

"That wasn't all about you. He's under a lot of pressure"

She gave her head a single shake, clicking her tongue softly. "No, he's right. I shouldn't have gone off like that. I just… have a bad feeling about him"

Bright eyes met mine just as a knock sounded against the doorframe. Jim, not bothering to wait for an invitation, lumbered into the office with a heavy sigh.

"Alright, where do we even begin?"

He ran a hand over his mouth, gaze settling on Sofia.

"As far as I'm concerned that son of a bitch deserved a lot more than what you did to him, don't beat yourself up, and don't let McKeen get to you. Take it on the chin and please, do me a favor and go home- get some rest. Let me deal with the brother O'Riley"

A frown creased her brow, crossing her arms as she glanced between the two of us.

"What's going on?"

"I talked to Catherine a little while ago, apparently James wants to talk"

"What?"

Brass sighed, dropping down tiredly into the vacant chair.

"It beats me. The guy was adamant about being left alone, the sheriff was so worried about a lawsuit he wouldn't let us within a hundred yards of him, and now he's wandering in here like the picture of cooperation" he chuckled softly, running a hand over his head. "I don't get it"

"Well that's good, right? If he wants to talk, he obviously has something to say"

"Not necessarily" a voice sounded from the door. I glanced up, met with Catherine's azure eyes. My stomach flipped softly, gaze trailing over her as she leaned a hip against the doorframe.

"He has nothing new to say, he just wants to offer up answers to any questions we have so that he can walk away without us monitoring him"

"That's insane, he's a prime suspect in a serial murder investigation, we're not going to just stop watching him" I protested, sitting forward in the chair.

"Well that's a decision we have to make" she said, tearing her gaze away from me to look at the other two occupants of the room.

"If we deny him, he walks out of here and all we've got is whatever the hell went on with Sam" she turned to regard Sofia, hand coming to rest on her cocked hip. "You assaulted him?"

Sofia scoffed, wetting her lips absently. "I barely touched him"

Catherine didn't bother to conceal the roll of her eyes, shifting her gaze back to me.

"This might be our only chance to get some answers... even if he doesn't have anything new to say, we might be able to trip him up, get something"

"And give up the chance to keep tabs on him? He would love that…"

"We're supposed to be keeping away from him anyway Sara, all we would be doing is holding up our end of that deal. We're lucky he didn't file a lawsuit against us for breaching it"

"Oh come on Catherine, you know he has no proof that we were anywhere near him…"

"Well we sure as hell shouldn't have been. Do you have any idea how reckless that was?"

My eyebrows knit together, caught somewhere between defensive and distracted by the beauty of her anger- hands resting on her hips, bottom lip pulled between her teeth, eyes slightly narrowed, daring me to push her. I faltered, gaze dropping down to her lips for a fleeting moment before darting back up to meet hers.

Sofia watched us for a moment before rolling her eyes, forcing one hand through knotted hair, the other batting my wrist gently with the back of her hand to garner my attention.

"Did you go over there more than once? Because there's no way he would be brazen enough to pose this sort of deal unless he had more than a single sighting to go off of"

I had barely opened my mouth to answer when Catherine's scoff cut me off. "Of course you knew about this. You know, it's your job to report these things so we don't get blindsided like this…"

"It was dealt with, Catherine" Sofia defended curtly.

"Yeah, I'm sure" she scoffed

Brass held up a hand, shaking his head. "I didn't hear any of this. Look, now is not the time to turn against each other" he advised, pushing up out of the chair. He let a rough hand fall onto Sofia's shoulder, giving it a squeeze before turning towards the door.

"I'll see you tomorrow kid, get some rest"

Waiting till he was out of sight she pushed off the desk, sauntering towards the door.

"I've got… a hundred things to deal with. Call me when the interrogation starts?" she asked, glancing back at me in question. I bit back the desire to tell her to go home, giving a nod instead.

In the sudden quiet of the small office Catherine let out a deep breath, tension melting from her features as she turned to me, offering a soft smile.

"… Hey"

I pursed my lips, reaching out to her. She moved towards me as I leaned back against the desk, hand dropping down into the concealed space between us, interlacing our fingers softly.

"I would give anything to be back in your bed and not here, dealing with this"

I sighed, squeezing her hand.

"Yeah, me too"

"Last night was…" she trailed off, catching her bottom lip between her teeth gently before a smile played over her lips.

I ran my thumb over the soft skin of her hand, ignoring the arousal that her proximity elicited; the flash of images from last night conjured.

"Yeah"

She held my gaze for a lingering moment, hand sliding up to rest against the back of my neck gently. Her cerulean gaze dropped down to my lips, staring at them longingly for a moment before taking a deep breath, followed by a few steps backwards.

"I'm going to go touch base with Brass, make sure we're on the same page with what information we need to push for"

I nodded, pushing off the desk and following her out into the hall.

"I'll go check in with McKeen, see how much damage he thinks was actually done with Sam"

She snorted, arching a perfect eyebrow at me.

"Good luck with that, he's in a hell of a mood"

My brow furrowed as she turned to make her way down the hall.

"Hey, how's Lindsay doing?"

She sighed, bright eyes rolling as she turned on her heel towards me.

"Off the rails, don't remind me"

I offered a sympathetic smile, watching her gaze shift momentarily away before meeting mine again- a tiny, nervous tick.

"Maybe we can have dinner, whenever we manage to get out of here. She might actually talk to you"

I pursed my lips into a smile, enamored by these sides of her that I had never encountered before. Flustered by my proximity; my touch. Nervous about small things like dinner proposals, though I'm not sure how she could possibly be uncertain about anything after last night.

"Sounds good"

She shot me a bright smile before continuing back down the hall. I watched her retreating form for a moment before remembering myself, sighing as I turned towards reception.

It seemed busier than usual as I made my way down the hall, sidestepping an officer leading a dread-stricken man in handcuffs; the assistant DA, storming down the hall in a lilac power suit and narrowly pointed shoes.

James was standing in the corner of reception, well dressed and looking obnoxious as ever. I paused in the hall, watching him check his watch before his gaze rose up in my direction. For a moment I thought he was looking at me, my stomach clenching with anxiety laced distain, until I realized his gaze was set somewhere beyond me.

I turned, watching Sam stride down the hall from the direction of McKeen's office, his own dark eyes falling on James as he rounded the corner. His steps faltered for a brief moment, clearly surprised to see him, before continuing forwards. I frowned, unsure what exactly to expect as James pushed off the wall, stepping forward to meet his brother.

They looked strange beside one another- obviously related, but James was clean cut while Sam appeared more gruff. Even their postures were different; the way they held themselves. I watched with narrowed eyes as they spoke quietly, showing clear distaste for one another, but not the animosity I would have expected. After a brief conversation Sam turned to go, disappearing out into the June heat.

I glanced back at James, watching as he leaned against the wall once again. He seemed to sense my gaze, cobalt eyes raising up to lock with mine. I felt a shiver run down my spine as he stared unwaveringly for a long moment before a bright smile spread across his face, giving me a slight nod. A taunting of sorts.