"Leah and Robert,

sitting in a tree,

K-I-S-S-I-N-G.

First comes love,

then comes marriage,

then comes baby

in a baby carriage!"

Leah glared at her laughing friend in embarrassment. Her face was flushed and she was imagining everyone in the Diner was listening into Joey's gentle teasing, even though Joey had kept her voice low. She reached across the table and put her hand over her friend's mouth. Not even that stopped Joey from repeating the little rhyme and her eyes were sparkling in merriment back at her. "God Joey, shush," she whispered.

The mumbling stopped, so Leah removed her hand.

"K-I," Joey began again. She moved out of reach of her friend's hand, a huge grin on her face. "S-S-I-N-G."

"I'm going to have to have a word to your girlfriend about you," she muttered.

"Then I'll look forward to a good spanking from her," smirked Joey with heavy sexual undertones, which made Leah blush again. "Seriously though Leah," she said. "It was nice to see you out and about last night, and happy." She grinned at her friend. "Though I admit it was a bit of surprise that it was with Robertson."

"I'd heard the way people spoke about Robert, which was why I was so surprised myself, that I had said yes to a date," Leah admitted. "But I'm glad I did, because he was the perfect gentleman. He was charming, attentive, he made me feel special."

"Sounds like a great date."

"It was," she said. "He didn't even try to pressure me or drop any less than subtle hints that he wanted more from the night. Right from the start he respected that I was hesitant about dating again and he treated me accordingly." She sighed a little wistfully. "It's too bad that it's not going to lead to anything serious though, but that's ok. Robert is exactly what I needed to encourage me to move on from Brax."

"Have you heard from Brax lately?"

She shook her head. "Not since I told him I wanted to end our marriage. He seemed to have been expecting my decision and hopefully that means he won't fight it when I can finally get the divorce."

"Lucky you," muttered Joey. "I have this awful feeling that Angelo is going to be hanging around like an STD and do everything he can to make the divorce as hard as possible. Not to mention all the trouble he can stir up in between."

"You think he'll do that?" Leah said. "Stir up trouble?"

"Once I would have said no, but now that I've started to see what sort of man he really is, then yeah, I think he'll do whatever he can to cause trouble and not just for Charlie and me."

"I guess there is one advantage to having a husband in jail, in that he's out of the way," murmured Leah. "But hey, with any luck, Robert will find the evidence to put Angelo behind bars as well."

"Not so sure that is going to be the case," Joey said. "Charlie didn't go into a lot of the details over the phone earlier, but from what she told me, a few things have happened that makes it look like Angelo will get away with running Martha off the road."

"Bloody hell," Leah said. "Georgie is not going to be happy with that."

"Yeah, Charlie's really not looking forward to that part," Joey said. "Nor having Angelo strutting around the Station day after day. She should be enjoying her well-earned promotion, instead of babysitting a man who doesn't belong there and having to deal with the discontent of every other officer. No one wants Angelo at the Station, no one wants him around town," she said. "No one wants him at all, so I wish he'd just go away."

"Look, I told you before," Shannon hissed. "I'll get it done as soon as I can." She hung up and put her phone away. "Fuck," she muttered.

"You ok?" Graves said and Shannon jumped at the unexpected voice behind her.

"Jesus," she shouted and spun around with her hand over her heart. "You scared the shit out of me."

"Sorry."

"You don't look very apologetic."

"Because I've been waiting all day to do this." She pulled Shannon towards her and pressed her lips to hers. "I missed you," she murmured and kissed her again.

"I missed you too."

"Have you eaten?"

"Not yet."

"Then join me for dinner and a night cap," Graves suggested. "And we can catch up on the day."

"I'd love to, but I can't spend the night with you," Shannon said and backed away from her.

"You did enjoy last night, didn't you?" she hesitantly asked. "I mean, I thought you said it was wonderful."

The disappointment and uncertainty in her shy lover's eyes had Shannon quickly drawing her close once more.

"Are you kidding?" she said. "Last night was wonderful and I want to be with you again, it's just that I have a lot on my mind right now and I don't think I'd be great company."

"Anything I can help you with."

Shannon smiled and brushed her lips over hers. "You're so sweet for asking, but no, you can't help me."

"You sure?"

"Well, my agent has been on my back, because I was supposed to be making a start on my novel, getting ideas and a short overview done and such," she explained. "Only problem is, I have no idea what the hell my book is going to be about." She sighed heavily. "This trip was supposed to help with my inspiration, but I think it's had the opposite effect. I honestly have no idea what my story will be about."

"How about a young female Detective who takes on the Big Boys Club."

Shannon stared at her for a moment, then smiled. "You know, that's not a bad idea."

"I was joking."

"Young lesbian Detective, sexy, intelligent, eager to fight both corruption in the Force and for the rights of victims. On her first day on the job, she gets involved in a murder investigation. Along the way, she deals with prejudice, abuse and a lack of respect from her colleagues. Then she meets a victim who she starts to fall for. But is the victim as innocent as she claims to be." She frowned at the amused smile now gracing her lover's face. "What?"

"You seem to have found some inspiration."

"Thanks to you." She grabbed Graves' head and pulled her into a deep kiss that left them both a little breathless when they parted. "I think I have found my muse," she whispered. "But now that I have all these ideas running through my mind, I really do have to go and put it down on paper before I start to forget it. I will make it up to you though with an even more wonderful night."

"More wonderful?"

"Mind blowing," she promised. She grinned at the eager anticipation on her lover's face. "We really are going to have some fun my gorgeous little muse. Just not right now."

Charlie rolled her eyes at the commotion going on in the other room. "God, having a house full of teenagers is worse than having the cells full of drunks at work," she muttered.

"There's only four of them," Joey pointed out.

"Four teenage girls under the same roof is a full house." Another particularly ear piercing shriek reached their ears. "What the hell are they doing in there?"

"Homework."

"Must say, homework has changed in the few years since I was at school."

Joey chuckled in agreement. "Well, since it wasn't that long ago that Ruby was complaining that she wasn't being invited to places and feeling left out, this is a good thing, even if it is just a homework party."

"Yeah, it is."

"But probably not what you need after a long day at work." She gently kneaded Charlie's shoulders. "Is Angelo really going to get away with it?"

"Robertson isn't giving up. He's got experts going over all the evidence, he's even arranged to have some uniforms check the warehouse area for any signs of recent activity, but none of them expect to find anything, least of all a body to be found and without more solid proof, Robertson isn't going to be able to keep the uniforms searching there for very long."

"And Bianca?" Joey said. "She's really dead?"

"That's just it, we don't really know," she replied. "There is every likelihood that she is dead and her body has been cremated," she said. "But then there is also every likelihood that she's done a runner and is in hiding." Charlie shook her head sadly. "My instincts though, tell me that she is dead and her body destroyed, but we have no way to prove any of it."

"Then we just have to believe that justice will prevail," Joey said. "Or at the very least, Robertson will annoy Angelo so much that he'll confess just to get away from him."

That made Charlie laugh lightly. "We can only hope."

More screaming from the next room had them both grimacing. "Oh god," muttered Charlie. "I'm not sure I can survive much more of that."

"How about we go to the cinema and see a movie?"

"Is there anything on worth seeing?"

"Who cares," Joey said. "It's not like we'll actually be watching any of the movie."

Charlie grinned as she realised what her girlfriend had in mind. "I haven't made out in a cinema for ages."

"Neither have I, but at least it will be quieter than here and much more private."

"A cinema full of people is more private?"

"A darkened cinema full of people and if we get there early enough, there will be a nice cosy little corner up the back just calling out to us." Joey tugged on her sleeve. "You might want to change out of your uniform first."

"You're not chickening out, are you?" Joey whispered as she passed the popcorn. The movie had been on for a good ten minutes now and no one else had come in, so it looked like it was only going to be a half filled cinema tonight, which was even better, since it meant they had plenty of empty seats to the side and front of them. And it was definitely nice and dark, except for the movie screen and the little lights that lined the steps.

"Everyone knows who I am."

"Charlie, it's perfectly natural to make out in a cinema," she said. "In fact, it is like a rite of passage."

"For teenagers, not grown women."

"Tell that to the couple in the other corner."

Charlie glanced across the room. Sure enough, a man and a woman were in a tight clinch. A brightly lit scene in the movie briefly made it a little easier to see what the couple were doing, before they were covered in darkness once more.

"Ooh, she's got a nice rack," Joey murmured appreciatively. "Too bad they're fake."

"Joey!" Charlie hissed at her. "Don't stare at them making out."

"I'm not," she said. "I was talking about the lady on the screen."

"Oh," Charlie murmured a little embarrassed. "How do you know they're fake?"

"Because she's running and every part of her is moving except her boobs. If they were real, they'd be bouncing up and down and knocking her in the chin each time," she replied in a hushed whisper. "Now stop talking before we get kicked out," she told her. "Better yet, come here." Joey put her arm across her girlfriend's shoulders. "This movie isn't half bad."

"It's terrible." She flinched when the woman with the great rack just had her head sent flying through the air by some hidden booby trap.

"Yeah, you're right." She grinned at Charlie. "We're in a half empty cinema, watching a terribly lame horror movie, whatever shall we do?"

Charlie leant into her. "This." Their lips met, then parted as the screen lit up once more.

"If we time it to the dark and light scenes, we'll be like one of those bobbing birds you sit on the edge of a glass," Joey whispered.

"Then we might as well just keep kissing," she murmured against her lips. She moaned softly when she felt a hand cup her breast. "Joey, this is a public place and if you touch my tits again, we won't only be kicked out, we'll be arrested for indecent exposure because of what happens next."

"It's ok, I'm sleeping with the Sergeant and she'll see us well treated," Joey assured her. "But I'll keep my hands to myself."

"We should really stop talking."

Joey nodded. "And we really should be watching the movie."

"I prefer this." They kissed again, then again as the movie continued to play out in front of them.

The bed slammed against the wall again and again, but he didn't back off.

"Oh god," she moaned, feeling yet another orgasm rising. It surprised her. Most times when she was with a guy or woman for work, she only climaxed because of the thrill of the deceit, but this one was coming from sheer sexual pleasure. She circled her legs over his back and he went even deeper, making her cry out in genuine pleasure. He was like an unrelenting jackhammer as the whole bed continued to shake from the power of his thrusts.

"Yes, god, yes, yes," she yelled as she climaxed. Her body bucked against his and he just kept pounding into her. "Harder," she begged. There was definitely nothing wrong with getting enjoyment from her work.

He grinned in triumph at how easy he'd overcome her earlier reservations when he'd come home from work to find her exactly as he left her. Naked on his bed, ready and waiting for him and he'd wasted little time in renewing their activities. And if anything, she'd been even more enthusiastic and vocal tonight. "Admit it Shannon, you prefer having a man buried deep inside you, filling you in a way dykey little fingers never could."

"God yes, yes, I love it so much," she cried out. "I love having you so deep inside me I can almost taste you." That look in his eyes at her apparent surrender and his entire attitude told her that she had him hook line and sinker. He honestly believed she was under his spell, when it was the other way around and that knowledge only served to heighten her already high sexual pleasure. When the time came to take it to the next stage, it was going to be even more enjoyable. She turned her head to the side on the pillow, making sure he got a clean shot of her face for his candid camera. The fool was such a rank amateur for thinking she hadn't seen him playing with his phone before casually setting it there on its side. Pointing right at the bed. At least she'd made sure he was going to get a good show. She closed her eyes as she felt the thrill of it all rush through her. "Please Angelo, give me more, show me what a real man is like." Her voice carried just the right amount of submission and desperation in it that she knew would appeal to his ego the most.

Graves came out of the cinema. She'd decided to see a movie since the thought of climbing into an empty bed to watch TV didn't appeal to her. It had just felt so lonely in that hotel room that even a horror movie at the cinema had sounded better. "Oh god," she muttered. It was all meant to be a bit of fun, but she'd felt a connection last night and now she knew she was in danger of letting her heart step over the line with Shannon if she wasn't more careful.

"Hey," a voice called out and Graves turned to find Charlie there with her girlfriend. "Were you in the cinema just then?" Charlie asked. "We didn't see you."

"That's because the only thing we saw were each others' tonsils," quipped Joey.

Graves laughed, enjoying the embarrassed, yet affectionate glare Charlie sent to her girlfriend.

"So, were you here alone?" asked Joey.

"Yeah," she said. "My date had a better offer."

"She sounds like a right idiot to stand you up," said Charlie.

"Not an idiot, just a writer who had a sudden burst of inspiration and needed to get to work on it."

"Ah, the creative type," Charlie said. "Dated one or two of them myself. They can be great when their mind isn't so preoccupied."

"Well, it's nothing really serious between Shannon and me anyway," she said with a dismissive shrug. "Just a bit of fun."

Joey and Charlie shared a knowing look.

"Well, we were going to go to the pub just down the road for a couple of drinks if you'd like to join us," Charlie said.

"I don't want to cramp your date."

"You won't be," she assured her. "That place is going to be crowded at this time of night, so it's not like we'll be alone in there anyway, so come along and share a few drinks with us."

"Thanks, I think I will." Anything to avoid that large, lonely, empty bed.