Taking the opportunity to wish you all a Happy New Year's Eve! I hope you'll all have a great beginning in 2019 and that you'll enjoy this new chapter :)

Lots of love! N

PS: Sorry if you see any mistakes!

Lightning woke up thirty minutes after her usual waking time and already, panic had started to settle inside her mind at the idea of being late to the precinct. Jumping from the bed, she instantly made a beeline towards the end of the hallway and kicked open the bathroom-door. She had five minutes to use the toilet and before if she wanted to drink her coffee, but somehow, the situation deemed impossible to achieve.

Undressing as quickly as possible whilst sitting on the toilet, Lightning was up from the seat, had flushed and was under the cold shower drain the very next second. The ice-coldness of the water was unpleasant to say the least, but it allowed her to feel awake. Washing her hair ad body, she rinsed them as fast as she could, storming out of her bathroom with nothing but a towel around her waist and marched towards the kitchen.

After turning on the coffee machine sitting near her fridge, Lightning had to juggle between clean and dirty mugs, silently condemning herself for not having cleaned anything during her weekend but truth was, the time had flown by. Her last twenty-four hours had been spent looking at papers, searching on line to try and find more information or to link the different clues together by using a colour code. Red for the girls, blue for the men and green for the links she was almost certain existed. She couldn't even say how late she had decided to go to bed to gather some energy for her day, but based on her lateness, Lightning knew she hadn't slept enough.

As the light finally stopped blinking on the machine, Lightning pressed on another button and jumped back towards her bedroom, now nearly dry. Tossing the towel on her bed, she walked naked in direction of the dresser and gazed for a second at her reflection in the mirror. Though her skin was pale, it also seemed like she was sick. The bags under her eyes were or no help, but the posture she had taken, looking like an older woman was enough to slightly make her flinch.

No time to fixate on this, get a move on! Shaking her head, she opened the dresser and selected her outfit for the day: a shirt, a black pair of jeans and of course, fresh underwear. Fully dressed one minute later, Lightning was back in the kitchen and pouring extra cold milk inside of her coffee. Twirling the content of the mug with a spoon, she then placed the mug at her lips and swallowed the still warm entire coffee without taking the time to breathe.

Then, it was a race to brush her teeth, grab an apple from the fridge and try at least to apply a brushing to her pink-coloured hair. The result it gave wasn't excellent, but it would have to do for the day. At 7:57 AM, Lightning had finally managed to grab everything she needed for the day and storm in direction of her car.

Unlocking it as she walked towards the Mustang, Lightning was quick to sit down behind the wheel and turn the ignition on. Beating fast, her heart was deafeningly loud, thumping against her ears to hush her surroundings. So as she felt a presence next to her, Lightning didn't think twice to react.

With a force similar the one of a bull, she slammed her fist up against whatever, or whoever had decided to enter the car without giving the permission and the loud grunt that was given in return made her severely flinch.

"Jesus fucking Christ Fang what are you doing here," she yelled at the woman, both of them exiting the car.

"God, Farron, can't ya just chill for a bit," Fang barked back, both her hands covering a very bloody nose.

"How dare you jump into my car like that, you nearly gave me a heart attack!"

"And ya broke my goddamn nose, I think we can call it even!"

Managing to calm the beating of her heart, Lightning walked in direction of Fang to make sure nothing had been actually broken but the closer she got, the whiter her face started to become. As Fang retrieved her hands from her nose, Lightning was quickly reassured at the sight if a bloody one, but luckily not broken.

"You're fine," she said, uninterested by her presence. "I'm late for work."

"I don't give a damn," Fang snarled under her breath. "Drive me home, I need to fix this."

Gritting her teeth against one another, Lightning sharply turned back around and scowled in her direction. "I don't have the time to do that." With a glance at her watch, she said, "Come inside, I'll handle it."

"Bein' my goddamn nurse isn't on the contract Farron!"

"I don't give a fuck! I don't have time to waste, come here."

She grabbed her by the wrist and guided her back towards her house, her eyes darkening the closer she got to the door. Her morning was on for an awful day. Slamming the keys inside the lock, she entered the house and continued to guide the wounded Agent towards the kitchen, painfully trying to ignore the drops of blood dripping on the ground.

"There, wait here," she urged as she sat Fang down on a stool. Walking out of the kitchen, she strode towards the bathroom to retrieve her first-aid kit and was back with Agent Yun only a few moments later. "Take off your hand," she urged, "let me see how bad it is." Observing the bump that had started to form, Lightning fought hard not to let a chuckle escape. Pressing her lips together, she carefully cleaned her nose and applied ice cubes she retrieved from the freezer and placed in a hand glove. "Hold this."

Taking a few steps to the side, Lightning placed herself in front of her Fang and gave her a look. "What?"

"Why did you sneak into my car," she asked with her arms crossed on her chest.

"I told you the FBI could need you at any given moment," Fang mumbled, trying to hold the glove on her nose, "this is one of those moments." Pausing she winced in pain trying to relax the muscles in her face. "Christ you pack a mean punch Farron."

"Imagine what I can do with two."

The smirk that invaded Fang's lips was unmistakable and the realization of the meaning of the words she had used made her understand why.

"Didn't think you were the flirting kind of woman," Fang taunted.

"If this is what you call flirting, I wonder how you even get girls."

"Well my, Lieutenant, did someone do some digging?"

"What does it matter, Agent Yun? You never said anything about investigating you."

"I guess that's fair since I've done the exact same thing… Didn't know you were once arrested for excessive driving," Fang said, a drawl in her mouth. "You didn't tell me that during our interrogation."

"I was sixteen, I didn't think it would matter. Plus, you didn't ask me any questions about the matter." Coming closer, she pushed Fang's hand away and gave her nose a quick look-at. "You have a small cut on your skin, let me clean it and patch it up."

In silence, Lightning proceeded to the cleaning of the wound, carefully placing a band-aid, small in size, to cover it up. Trying to touch her as little as possible so she wouldn't cause another damage, Lightning stayed focused during the entire process before she went back before Fang to look at her. Though her skin had started to turn purple under her eyes and around her nose, she still looked the same irritating self.

"Okay, now can we go?"

"We're going where I want us to go," Fang said, her voice rough. "Call your boss and tell him you can't make it today."

"What? What am I going to tell him?"

"You figure out. We're taking your car, I'm driving."

"In your wildest dreams, Yun." Snatching her keys from the kitchen island, Lightning waved in direction of Fang and led them both back to the car. "I'm going to the precinct, that's final."

Opening the driver's door, it was quickly slammed back shut by a powerful kick. Scared by the action, Lightning jumped to the side with her hands on her gun, ready to point it in the menace's direction. Watching Fang clenching both of her fists and giving her the most terrifying look, Lightning had to swallow the lump that had formed inside her throat.

"Listen to me Farron, if you thought this would be a fun ride you got on the wrong carousel. If I tell you to do something you do it without questioning me, is that clear?"

"I'm not a tool for you to play with, Fang," Lightning countered.

"That's exactly what you signed to be," Fang said, a finger pointed at her chest. "I never gave you a sudden promotion. You're here to help since you so preciously want it, so I'd advise you obey me."

Her jaw couldn't have crashed hard enough on the pavement as she replayed the words Fang had just yelled. "Obey," she mirthlessly asked, "is this your idea of a joke?"

"Do I look like I'm in the mood to make a joke?"

Staring at her, Lightning was conflicted between trying to lighten the mood, or simply do as she was told. Though not being fazed by orders, there was something about Fang that made her want to do as much as she could to bother her more. Instead of doing so, she handed the keys in her direction and reluctantly walked in direction of the passenger door and took a seat on the chair.

"Where are we going," she asked.

"You'll see," she aggressively answered. "Call your boss now."

Breathing out a deep sigh of despair, Lightning pressed on her boss's number and made the call. Managing to find a lie fitting to the situation, telling Amodar she was stuck with a headache without any other and therefore glancing in Fang's direction, Lightning was left alone without a warning. However, she also knew that these sudden days off would soon start to sound alarm-bells throughout the precinct. After all, she had never missed one day in her life and being surrounded by detectives would not help her case.

"I'm sorry I angered you," Lightning said after a little while, unaware of where they were heading.

"You need to understand that you don't make the rules in this situation, Lightning. And breaking my nose surely did not help your case."

"That was an honest mistake, Fang."

"Tell that to my nose," she answered, her tone still sounding angrier than usual.

Scratching at the nape of her neck, Lightning pressed her head against the window and looked as buildings disappeared and were replaced by trees. She didn't where they were heading, and didn't even know if they were leaving town, but she oddly felt at ease. Truth was, Lightning was so tired she was ready to fall asleep and be awoken at their destination, fighting as her eyes suddenly felt heavy.

Clearing her throat, she sat back straight and darted in Fang's direction, observing how focused she was even while driving a car. It seemed like nothing but the road existed, her eyes staring straight ahead of her as they reached the highway leaving the city of Los Angeles.

"You're staring at me again."

"Where are we going?"

"I'm guessing you read the file I gave you?" Lightning nodded affirmatively. "Did you come across a Johnathan?"

"Yes, I did."

"We have a hideout in front of his place. Well, I provided us one. We're going there and spending the night."

"The night?!" Nearly shouting in Fang's ear, Lightning picked up her cell-phone and checked her calendar. With a frown, she quickly entered a number and placed the phone at her ear. "Hello? Yes, this is Lightning Farron, I'd like to cancel my appointment tonight. Yes, something came up. Next week? Wait a moment." Bringing her phone back in front of her eyes, she quickly gave her calendar another glance and continued, "Yes, five o'clock will do. Thank you, Doctor."

Locking her phone, she placed it between her thighs and closed her eyes. Pushing back the appointment she had taken a few weeks ago, she was in luck to have received another only a week's time but still, it was one she rarely missed.

"Everything good," Fang asked, genuinely showing interest.

"Yes, everything is fine." Lightning coldly replied. "Thank you for asking," she quietly added, her head slowly falling to the side.

"Good night."

"I'm not going to sleep, I'm just resting."

Discretely yawning against the window, Lightning knew she wouldn't be able to pretend for long. Tired had now overcome her, and not needing to be alert for at least an additional hour, the thought of a short nap suddenly became alluring. And plus, not having to talk to Fang for a least thirty minutes seemed like a dream come true. Yawning once more, she crossed her arms on her chest and let herself be rocked to sleep by the rhythm of the car.

The pain had finally stopped spreading across her entire face a few moments after she had heard the soft snoring coming from her right. Didn't take her long, she thought with a smile, staring at the road. Sighing, Fang unwrapped her right hand from the wheel and ran it through her wild hair, carefully maneuvering the car with the other. God knew she'd probably have more than a broken nose if she were to scratch the hood of Lieutenant's Farron car or even be suddenly murdered.

Boy did this woman have a temper. Although it didn't bother her and often amused her, she couldn't believe people actually managed her more than a couple of days. Coming back to that frown and that aggressivity wasn't something she believed to be enjoyable, but then, perhaps was there more to the mysterious Lieutenant than she showed but for some reason, Fang knew she wouldn't more information than the ones she had received.

TO be fair, the question she had asked her hadn't been necessary. Of course, a background had been made to see if she was worth the trouble, but she had only asked Lightning's question to listen to her tone. A file could have everything, but the tone of voice was considered important when it came to an answer.

Glancing on the right at a sound echoed in the car, Fang couldn't help but to shake her head ever so slightly at the sight of Lightning's face now facing towards her, her eyelids slightly flickering due to a dream. She had to be pretty, eh? Breathing out a deep sigh, Fang brought her line of sight back to the road and automatically turned on the radio. Lowering the volume, she selected a rock channel and let her head bounce from side to side. How she had survived without any music for the ten first minutes she had driven was perplexing. God knew she couldn't live without it. For some reason, she believed her sleeping passenger would disagree with the fact music was important unless she had turned the radio on herself before falling to a deep sleep which evidently, she didn't.

"What is this now," she whispered at the sight of a line of cars blocking the entire highway. "You've got to be kiddin' me."

Slowing down Lightning's Mustang, Fang then realized what sort of car this was. This wasn't the vehicle of a civilian, but one of a police officers and therefore…it possessed sirens. Looking at the dashboard, she was quick to find the button starting the lights, immediately followed by the loud alarms having the effect she had been praying for. Soon, all the cars were getting out of the way and Fang was free to continue her way towards Santa Maria, no less than an hour away.

With a smile and a cigarette at her lips, she carefully continued to drive down the coast, fighting the sun now starting to fully shine over the trees whilst Lightning continued to sleep by her side.

"Wake up Sunshine, we need to be quick about this."

Feeling as if a hammer had suddenly crashed against her temple, Lightning's eyes opened to the sight of an abandoned, shitty old building merely standing straight and was quickly reminded of the nightmare she had trapped herself in. Although surprised to having slept the entire way, the city where Fang had driven them didn't seem to be the kind of place she'd spend her holidays at. Jumping from her seat with her bag in her hand, she waited for Fang to lock up the doors and started to follow her in front of the building she had been staring at with disgust.

"We have to spend an entire night there?"

"Oh, I'm so sorry your Highness," Fang drawled, "would you prefer a resort or a five-star hotel maybe?"

Throwing a glare at the nape of her neck, Lightning blew out a heavy breath before keeping the airt inside of her lungs as a heavy metallic door was pulled opened, releasing aa terrifying screeching sound. Wincing, she stood still in front of the door for a few seconds before entering the damp hallway and followed Fang up the stairs of the building.

From what she could tell, the building was completely abandoned. Not a living soul was to be found as they went up the four flights of stairs, tiptoeing and grazing the walls to avoid the mold that had started to build up on the wooden steps. Dying from a fall in a shitty building located in a shitty neighbourhood was clearly not on her wish-list, and no matter how deeply Fang sighed of despair, Lightning continued to take her time.

"How are you a police officer?"

"By being careful, Agent Yun. You ought to do the same if you don't want to end up with a bullet in your knee," she said, her tone bitter.

"Slow your horses, we're not even married yet and you're threatening me with a divorce?"

With clenched fists and gritted teeth, Lightning finally reached the hallway and was able to look at Fang in the eye, the smirk that had invaded her lips never seeming to fade away, no matter the circumstances. Even with a lumped nose and bloodshot eyes, she still managed to remain obnoxious and really far from everything she tolerated in a person, man or woman.

Only giving her a desperate shake of the head, Lightning followed Agent Yun towards the darkest side of the building and unintentionally started to feel uneasy. Checking over her shoulder, she brought one hand to the pistol on her belt and gingerly walked closer to Fang, her eyes darting in every possible direction.

"Where are you taking me?"

"Right…there."

Glancing to a door on her left, Lightning observed as Fang retrieved keys from her pocket and slammed it inside the door. Turning them several times inside the lock, she listened to the nearby sounds with a sense of dread. Water dripping, people laughing, people arguing…What the fuck am I doing?

"There, you can enter."

"You go first," Lightning murmured, "I'm not going there first."

"You don't like to put your trust in others, do you?"

"I don't put my trust in others," Lightning corrected as Fang entered the apartment, "there's a difference."

"Whatever you say. You can come in by the way."

Raising her nose in the air, Lightning gingerly walked towards the door and went inside the flat, carefully shutting the door behind her back. Sniffing the air, she was surprised by the smell of roses and vanilla filling the flat and the closer she got to Fang, the stronger the scent became.

Finally reaching the living-room, she gave the room a quick look over and it was without much surprise that she found it to be rather empty. At the windows stood two chairs, a table and a laptop, and a board was hanging on the wall, already containing several different information she believed Fang had gathered. This clearly wasn't the first nor the second time she was here, based on the cans and empty bottles aligned on the floor. Getting closer to them, Lightning's first reflex was to pick them up under Fang's perplexed gaze only to throw them away in the nearest plastic bag.

Only when she felt more at ease with the environment was Lightning able to drop her bag to the ground, jacket on the chair and come closer to the board with undivided attention, watching every picture that had been taken with an extreme amount of care. The man looked the same as the one pictured, she had seen in the file, tall, thin, good-looking, he hadn't changed for a bit.

The confidence he emanated hadn't washed away either, based on the numerous sexual acts he had done ever since Fang had started to keep track of him.

"Why…Why did you take those," she asked, her cheeks slightly turning pink.

"Why did I take what," Fang asked coming closer. "Oh! I was aiming the girls to be fair."

"At the…" Averting her eyes, Lightning glanced out the window.

"In case they end up being killed. Get your head out of the gutter, Farron!"

Flinching as a strong hand patted her on the shoulder, Lightning quickly glanced back at the board. Gathering everything, she spent the next twenty-minutes reading through documents describing his moves, his whereabouts, and his usual hangouts. Although nothing seemed to stick out, she also knew she couldn't take anything lightly when it came to this case.

"So, he usually stays home from nine to twelve and then goes to a bar? Exciting life," Lightning muttered, mostly to herself.

"Yep," Fang answered.

Surprised she had even heard he talk, Lightning walked towards the second chair that had been left untouched. Looking at the high-quality binoculars standing in front of the window, she carefully placed both her against the object and immediately found herself staring at him.

"He has a lot of tattoos."

"You don't like tattoos," Fang asked.

"I don't mind them. But when there's a lot, it's not aesthetically pleasing to the eye."

"I'm guessing you don't have any?"

A smile vaguely creased the corner of her lips. Pulling away from the binoculars, she waited for Fang to look in her direction, one of her eyebrows standing at attention. "Maybe, maybe not."

"Oh, well look at that. Lieutenant Farron isn't so predictable anymore."

"Do you have to be such an asshole every single time?"

"Maybe, maybe not," Fang joked, her eyes back on the target. "Just take a chill pill, perhaps that can help."

"You were the one asking me to meet you in the middle, I'm going to ask you to do the same. We don't have to like each other, and you know what," Lightning asked, back on her feet, "we don't even have to talk. Let's just stay out of each other's way until tomorrow morning, how does that sound?"

She didn't receive much of an answer except for a sigh, a shake of the head and a judging look, but words were never given to her. Not that it mattered anyway. As long as Fang wouldn't be her obnoxious self for more than ten minutes, Lightning considered it as a victory.

"You're a tough nut to crack Farron, I'll give you that. But this is the last time you ever talk to me like this."

"If you stop treating me like shit, I will."

"You're incredibly rude, you know that?

"I just…" The sound of her ringtone both made them slightly flinch. Aggravated, Lightning took the occasion to retrieve herself in another room and answered the phone. "What?"

"Wow, you sound angry."

"Yuj," Lightning said, "what's going on?"

"There's a new body. But you're not here and Yun isn't here either…"

Closing her eyes, Lightning brought her fingers to the bridge of her nose and pinched the skin. "A coincidence. What's with the body?"

"Young girl…throat sliced…Rings any bells?"

"You're kidding me." Going back towards the living-room, she quickly shushed by Fang holding a phone at her own ear. Discretely going backwards, she closed the bedroom door and said, "I'll be there a soon as possible. Get everything you can from the victim."

She didn't leave Yuj to give her and answer, already back inside the living-room staring right back at Fang. They eyed one another for a few moments, carefully trying to think through their next action. IT was Fang, would made the decision for them both.

"You're staying here."

"Excuse you?"

"If we arrive at the same time it'll be too suspicious, and I'll kick you out of the case anyway." Already snatching the keys from her pocket, Fang walked towards the door and continued; "I'll be back as soon as I can, and I'm taking your car."

"Absolutely not," Lightning said, sprinting after her.

Eventually managing to snatch her wrist, it was with great surprise and a sheer amount of force that Lightning was pushed against the wall, both her hands maintained over her head. The rage that shone from her eyes was unmistakable, but Fang refused to let go. They stared at each other angrily, and that anger turned to something else. Hunger. Pure and raw devouring her from within.

Swallowing her saliva, Lightning fought to keep her breath between her lungs, refusing to inhale the air surrounding Fang's body, the perfume she had yet to ignore still strongly affecting her senses. With her eyes boring into hers, Lightning was unable to fight back. Mesmerized but et extremely enraged, not a single muscle in her body accepted to react. She was simply turned to stone.

"You're staying here, and keep an eye on him," Fang said, forcing Lightning to look at her lips. "If he moves, you move. There's a bike in the bathroom, take it."

"I…"

Letting her go, Fang opened the front door and shut it back in a two seconds span, leaving her alone in the middle of the hallway, her back still pressed against the wall. Rubbing at her left wrist, she looked at the trace of Fang's finger wrapped around her skin and closed her eyes to forget any of this had ever happened.

Shaking her head ever so slightly, she went back to the living and took a seat before the binoculars, digging her gaze into the glasses to stare at the wanted man. But there wasn't a split second where Lightning thought of anything else but Fang, and the thought was unbecoming of her. Running her hand through her fingers, she blinked a few times and gathered her thoughts back to the essential. She had a man to frame. It was all that mattered.

It was around three in the morning when Fang came back from Los Angeles, a new piece of information in hand. After immediately warning Lightning of the situation about Yuffie Kisaragi, the new victim. But this time, this woman hadn't been FBI but had truly been missing for the past two years. She, therefore, found out Yuffie had staged a disappearance due to severe domestic abuse, and escape Tokyo to come to Los Angeles. She was working as a bouncer, in one of the most dangerous parts of town, and usually got into contact with some bad people: drug addicts, drug dealers, murderers…

The MO had been the exact same and the same poison was found in the wound, some sort of signature to a perfect fourth murder.

"That's what we know so far. Your Detectives kindly gave us the body, no one actually yelled at me this time."

"Because you could've possibly made it in time," Lightning answered, still sitting at the window.

"Well, when you drive 150 on an 80… It goes pretty fast."

"Whatever." Shaking her head, Lightning got up from the seat and snatched a bottle of water from the table and chugged down the liquid to help slide a pill for her head.

"What's up with the migraines? You have them quite often," Fang asked as she took a seat to see the apartment.

"It's not a big deal", she answered with a small wave of her hand, "nothing to be concerned about."

"I'd be conserved about it," Fang continued, her eyes glued to the binoculars. "Do you know where it comes from?"

Sighing, Lightning went back to sit closer to Fang and shook her head. "Not really. I have scanners and MRI's every three months, but they don't know what caused it. Stress perhaps, anxiety…They're not sure."

"I'm sorry, that sucks. I hope they figure it out someday."

"Oh, I don't. For now, I have nothing. Just headaches. If they find out something, I'm not sure I'd want to know what it is."

"If you see it like that, I guess not."

Nodding, Lightning averted her eyes and looked down at her hands. Exhaustion had started to take a toll on her and sleep was calling for her name from the bedroom, where a bed awaited her. She had been on a stakeout before but had been able to sleep a least four to five hours per shift, and then continue to spy. But with Fang gone for most of the day, neither of them had been able to sleep and it seemed wrong to suddenly go rest.

Rubbing the corner of her right eye, she turned her head around and continued the task she had been doing the entire day without feeling the need to complain.

"Farron?"

"Yeah?"

"Got rest for a while. I'll wake you up in a few hours."

"There's no need to, I'm fine."

"Please," Fang said, only now looking directly at her. "Just go rest, I'll be okay."

Wanting to complain, Lightning was quickly forced to shut her mouth only by the sight of a hand being risen in the air. With a tight smile, she got up from the chair and slowly made her way towards the bedroom, her headache still savagely thumping against her temples.

Getting onto the bed, she let herself fall until her back was against the mattress and tightly closed her eyes. Only a few minutes passed, the faint sound of music coming from the living-room reminding her she was not alone in the middle of nowhere, and oddly, Fang's presence was somehow reassuring. Puffing at her thoughts, she deleted them all one by one and let herself be drawn into a deep sleep.