A/N: I don't really know what to say about this chapter except given the content it was fun to write. Oh, and to those who were disappointed that LaSalle rejected Brody's kiss in the last chapter, hopefully you'll have some restored faith by the time you finish reading.

Brody craned her neck as she made her way through the crowded pub searching for Chris. Worry started to churn in her belly at the notion that the cat was out of the bag about Claire Keats and what it might do to Chris. Merri had purposely avoided the confrontation at the cemetery with the rogue agent for just this reason.

She knew after all that LaSalle had been through it would send him off the deep end.

"Have you seen this man?" she asked, squeezing her way in between two cozy looking female patrons so that she could show a photo of Chris to the bartender.

"I saw him disappear into the ladies room," the brunette next to her answered. "Went in there about ten minutes ago with a blonde chick, with bad low-lights"

The ladies room?

Brody rolled her eyes, pushing away from the bar, the nagging worry in her stomach confirmed. Chris had not only thrown himself off the deep end. He was also drowning in it.

Jaw clenched, she made her way to the back of the pub where the restrooms were located and slipped inside. The ladies room was pretty nice for a bar. It was a classier type complete with a spacious lounge area that separated the rest of the space from the stalls.

The stalls, ewe, Merri thought trying hard not to visualize what her partner might be doing in one of them with his new lady friend. Scratch that. No self-respecting lady would ever think of- In a bathroom stall much less. The very thought was degrading and insulting to her gender.

And why would he?

Thankfully, she didn't have to wait long to find out.

The adjoining door swung open and out came Chris practically grinning into the lips of a blonde with light brown low-lights, clad in a form fitting black mini dress, her shoes still in her hands.

Merri tried not to think about why the woman would have taken her shoes off in the bathroom, but thought of her bare feet touching the floor of a public bathroom the sickened her.

Or maybe, she'd taken them off because her legs were wrapped around Chris. Even more disgusting.

Ahem

"Brody?"

If Merri had to guess, she would say that Chris had jumped back at least 3 feet trying to separate himself from the woman that she had just about decided might be a hooker.

The well stacked blonde looked at the female agent, a scowl brewing on her face as LaSalle threw his hands up in surrender.

"She's not my wife, I swear."

"Ya think that would really matter at this point?" the blonde quizzed cupping LaSalle's cheek. "Let me know if ya wanna talk some more and in the mean time I'll see about getting you what you need."

"Appreciate that," Chris swallowed watching the blonde and Brody exchange what appeared to be predatory looks until the would be whore/pick up slipped out.

"What are ya doin' here?"

"It's the ladies room," Brody deadpanned, trying to quell her disgust. In the months following Savannah's death, she'd watched Chris LaSalle slowly lose himself in a sea of booze, parties and woman, but never in her wildest dreams would she have imagined this and especially not so soon after he had kiss her.

Ok, so she had kissed him.

It stung. No, it more than stung. It was humiliating and heartbreaking. She'd offered him comfort, support and even thrown herself at him. Was she so offensive that he'd rather get it on with some stranger in a bathroom stall than to spend one more moment with her?

"It ain't what ya think." Chris defended watching the wheels and cogs of her interrogator mind start to turn. If he had to guess she was about to ream him, a good un'.

"She wasn't wearing any shoes!" Brody hissed at him. She wasn't quite sure why that particular detail bothered her so much, but at the moment it was the equivalent of the woman coming out bare ass naked.

Chris tried to explain that his new found lady friend had caught her heel in one of the drain covers, but Brody wasn't listening. Evidently the only color she could see at the moment was green.

"You're disgusting." She retorted as a group of three women entered, stopping in their tracks.

"Should we come back?" One of them asked, eying the only male in the room.

"I was just leaving." He pushed past Brody, grabbed at her hand as he brushed by her, pulling her along while she protested.

Her berating insults fell upon deaf ears as Chris purposely ignored her, searching for the back door exit. Success. He pushed his way through, leading them straight into the classic back lot complete with an offensive smelling dumpster serving as a backdrop.

"You need serious help, Chris," Brody ground. It was obvious she'd failed her true mission, which was saving him.

"Would ya lem'me explain?" Chris let go of her hand, prepared to meet her head on.

"Oh…when I think of all the times, I defended you to Sonja…"

"Brody"

"And now come to find out she was right all along-"

"Brody listen-"

"To think that I actually let you put your tongue in my-"

"You kissed me!" LaSalle shouted a little more loudly than he intended. Deep frustrated etched in his face. "I already tol' ya. Ya don't want this!"

"You're right, I don't." Brody shot back, locking a furious set of chocolate orbs into his equally angry blue ones.

"That's a good thing. Trust me." Chris returned lowering his voice to an acceptable level as his partner muttered something about an STD waiting to happen.

"But just for the record, the blonde back there is an informant, formally for the NCIS Red Team. Patton set me up with her. She's helping me track down my mystery lady."

"Claire Keats," Savannah's look-a-like, Brody corrected, watching him nod. She had to admit that she was more than relieved to hear that Chris hadn't wasted any time in trying to find the rogue agent, who she had recently dubbed as his stalker. But that still didn't explain what he was doing in a bathroom stall of the ladies room.

"Turns out, Fawn Lynn-"

"Excuse me, Fawn Lynn?" That was actually her name? Now Brody was back to thinking the woman was a hooker.

"The informant," Chris said, trying to sound a little more politically correct. "Use-tuh meet up with the Red Team once or twice a year when they came through New Orleans to check on a terrorist group they were trackin'."

Brody's eyes widened slightly. "And we're just now hearing about it?" It was disturbing to say the least. But even within an Agency such as NCIS, there were secrets and levels of information, that only certain parties were privileged too. Their little family sized unit (well, not so little any more) was standard procedure mainly. They weren't equipped to handle some of the bigger threats that the specialized units were given.

"That was until budget cuts disbanded their team in 2012, reassigning all of the agents except for Agent Keats to different units around the globe." LaSalle continued.

"And why is that?" Brody quizzed, genuinely intrigued.

"Nobody seems tuh seems to know." Chris shrugged. "or if they do, they ain't sayin'"

"Deep undercover?"

"Your guess is as good as mine."

Relaxing, Merri let her shield of contempt down a little bit. Damned if she'd admit it, but she had been a little hard on Chris about the ladies room. "If you really want my guess; Claire Keats is long gone and you haven't slept since before we left Alabama."

Leaning in she sniffed playfully at his clothing. "Or showered."

"Now that ain't fair. You know I don't have a bathroom."

"Well, luckily for you, I do." She outstretched her hand. "And this time, I'm not taking no for an answer." The last thing she wanted was to see him run himself down again.

Chris dipped his chin, a full-blown grin sliding across his face. "Ya never give up do ya?"

"Not when it's a friend I care about." They would look at things again in the morning, but for right now, she wanted to get him home and tucked away before Claire Keats or heaven forbid anyone else should try to take another crack at him.

"Pretty lucky friend," Reluctant to take her hand, Chris offered her his arm, which she graciously accepted.

"So, have you ever actually been with someone in a bathroom stall?" Merri asked as they started in the direction of the parking lot.

"No, can't say that I have." Chris answered trying to gauge her expression as they walked through the cool night air. "But uh…after I get over this grieving business, I sure wouldn't mind taking a shot at it, if yer still willin'?"

Brody stopped to face him, her face flushing. Had he actually just propositioned her? "I might just hold you to that, LaSalle," A greedy spread across her face, letting him know she was more than willing to become more than just his partner when the time was right.

"Well then, Meredith Brody, I guess we have something to look forward to." Nervously, he wet his lips. Merri was a beautiful woman, both inside and out. Over the last several weeks, she pulled him out of more scrapes that he could count, saved his life and was now hatching plan to prevent his own zealous self-destruction.

God, he loved this woman. Not in the physical sense. That would have to wait until later. What he had with Brody went beyond the physical need. It transcended into the very depth of his battered soul, even though he had fought so readily against it.

A/N: Hmm...Chris has agreed to stay with Merri for the time being. Will she eventually wear him down? What will happen when they finally meet up with Claire?