A/N: So I've belated realized that I'm half way which is super exciting! Anyways, had a little fun with this one as usual - hopefully you all enjoy!

12. Lying to each other

He catches her eye sideways and for just a second there is something else. A flash of skin, sweat slicked. The sound of breathing right next to her ear. Boiling lust rolls through her, clenches her gut, slides lower. It is gone in an instant and she shudders away the feeling.

"Deb." Right in her ear, his voice husky. Or is she just imagining that?

It nearly makes her jump out of her skin and she stumbles away from him. She wants to shove him aside as well, create more distance. But she fears touching him will give her away.

"What?!" The anger slides into place easily, masking anything else.

He raises his eyebrows, surprise or perhaps a question as to what has brought on her irritation. But she crosses her arms over her chest, tilts her head down and gives him that exasperated glance.

He takes his cue. "We should discuss Fisher." Their latest suspect, who she wouldn't even know about if she hadn't demanded Dexter share all of his findings. They had had this discussion before. He wasn't to take any more cases away from her. But old habits…

She turns on her heel, storming through the chaotic department and into the break area. She yanks open the freezer while he watches curiously and finds her precious box of thin mints tucked in the back. Now that she's lieutenant she never has to worry that these may suddenly disappear.

She tears into the crinkly plastic wrap and stuffs one into her mouth fervently. Deb keeps her back to Dexter as she chews feverishly, popping a second one into her mouth before she's even swallowed the first. Her eyes catch the nutrition label and she groans, she should really go back to smoking before this shit made her fat. Like Masuka said, die young and leave a hot corpse. Fuck, did I just quote Masuka?

"Deb?" Dexter breaks into her thoughts cautiously. "Are you ok?" he gestures to the box in her hand and she scowls in return, slamming the box onto the counter behind her and crossing her arms over her chest.

She barely bothers to cover her mouth as she asks him again "What?!" With her mouth full the sound is muffled and the crumbs of the cookie hit her hand. She frowns further, swipes her hand against her jeans and makes a face at her brother.

"Fisher…" Dexter sighs and glances around. With everyone out of earshot he steps closer and lowers his voice. "Are you going to let me take care of this?"

Deb swallows dryly. "What the fuck?!" She harshly whispers. "Why is this your fucking solution to everything?"

"You know why." Dexter grinds out. "You're not going to be able to do this the way you'd like to. So just let me do it my way."

"Ugh!" Deb grunts as she smacks him on the chest. She makes enough noise that a few heads turn, but no one ever seems surprised by the Morgan siblings' interactions and they simply shrug it off and turn away again.

"Seriously. What the fuck is wrong with you."

"Deb." Dexter replies warningly.

"No, I can't even fucking deal with this shit right now." She snatches the Girl Scout cookie box off the counter and stomps back to her office with Dexter at her heels.

He waits until she has sat at her desk and put her head into her hands then shuts her door and draws the blinds. Dexter takes a deep breath and sits down across the desk from her. "Deb, just let me make this go away."

She looks up at him astounded. "You're talking about a FUCKING PERSON you dipshit!" Deb's voice cracks as she hurls the insult and Dexter grimaces, sure that the sound permeated her office.

"Deb." He warns again before continuing on. "I've told you I want to be honest with you."

"Since when, huh? Since I gave you no other fucking choice? Since I walked into that fucking church and saw you?" She can feel herself choking up at the memory; the thought that she helped him cover up a crime that he commits with alarming frequency makes her stomach turn. She looks away from him because it's just too hard to look in his eyes. How is it possible to love him so much when she feels sick at the thought of him? And how does she say no to who he is? His unavoidable truth?

"I only wanted to protect you." Dexter's voice is hushed as he leans forward in his chair.

"Yeah, well good job on that." Deb scoffs in return.

"Maybe it's time for this to stop." Dexter replies quietly. "I was right to keep this from you."

Deb nods with hesitation. "So we go back to the lying?"

"It was easier. Weren't you happier when I was just your brother?"

Deb's eyes slide towards him and she wonders if he knows her darkest desires. She wonders if he chooses to ignore them the way he proposes she ignores his darkness now. Isn't it easier? To pretend that he's not a serial killer? To pretend she's not in love with him? Maybe this lying, this pretending, this ignoring the thing that is screaming in your face really is the answer.

She cocks her head at him without an answer. "I've got a lot of work to do. Plenty of cases still on the board."

"And Fisher?"

"Not enough evidence." Deb shrugs. "He'll trip up eventually and we'll nail him then." She lifts her gaze squarely to Dexter's.

"Or maybe he'll get what's coming to him before he can hurt anyone else." Dexter suggests.

Deb sighs sadly. "Maybe. But for now I've got other things to worry about."

Dexter nods and leaves quietly, shutting the door behind him.

In the quiet of her office Deb takes a deep breath and pushes thoughts of Dexter, good and bad, to the recesses of her mind. She can feel the stress crawling along her neck and across her shoulders and longs for the taste of a cigarette between her lips. Instead her eyes slide over to the box of thin mints. As long as we're pretending.

She pulls two out and stuffs them into her mouth in quick succession. The sweetness hits her tongue and she rolls her shoulders back. Before she can allow her thoughts to meander back to the conversation, to Dexter, she plucks a file off the top of the pile and flips it open. Maybe she can't do everything the way she'd like, to fix it all and make it right. But she doesn't have to pretend about everything, she doesn't have to lie all the time. At least in this moment maybe she can do the honest thing. With that thought she grabs a couple more cookies and delves into the case.