A/N: I'm finding Randi to be a very fun character to write with and hope you're enjoying her as much as I am. I know this chapter is primarily Randi but trust me, it's a building block for the story. Let me know, as always, what you think.

Chapter 7

Officer Davey Vickels raised an enquiring eyebrow as a young woman in Goth-wear approached the desk.

"Hi, can you tell me where to find Randi Wilcox?" the girl asked.

"I can give her a call, if you'd like," Davey said.

"Sure. Thanks."

"May I ask your name?"

"Angel. I'm Randi's secretary."

Quickly closing his mouth, Davey placed the call. Randi assured him she'd be right there.

Angel was a practicing Wiccan who simply favored the dark, Victorian-romantic clothes of Goth-wearers. She was a natural blonde with chunks of dark red in her shoulder-length hair. She even had a nose stud and a sterling silver eyebrow stud. Today, wanting to dress to impress but still be true to herself, she'd chosen a black and purple velvet corset top with long bell sleeves in a sheer black material. She was also wearing black pants with wide purple vertical stripes, fingerless lace gloves, and black pointy "elf" shoes with a square coffin heel and silver buckle. Black lipstick and nails, and a large silver pentagram with polished amethyst pieces completed the outfit. On her back was a coffin-shaped backpack but she also carried a black leather book bag.

"Hiya, Angel!" came Randi's cheerful voice as she greeted the secretary. "You ready to go eat?"

True to her word, Randi was wearing a pretty blue ribbed tank top with bows all over it in pink, purple, and blue, faded jeans that had a worn hole in one knee, and tan, well-worn cowboy boots. She was even wearing a large, well-worn denim jacket and had pulled her hair back in a ponytail with a faded dark blue handkerchief.

If Stewie saw Randi right now, he'd blow his top, Angel thought, grinning at the concept. She thought Stewart was getting more and more controlling and obsessive about the business and towards Randi and this worried her. Yeah, her loyalties lay with Randi, but what if Stewart went too far? What if things came down to a power struggle? What if Stewart really tried to fire her? Then what? What would happen to her?

Angel tried not to worry, to have faith in Randi, but that was easier said than done. Still, she tried.

"A'right, what's with the claddagh?" Randi demanded, slinging an arm around Angel's shoulders and dragging her left hand up for closer examination, where a very nice silver claddagh ring sat on one finger, in the "Taken" position.

Angel giggled and blushed. "It's from Trey," she admitted, referring to her boyfriend of over six months.

"About damn time!" Randi yelped as they left the building.

Over lunch they discussed business matters. Randi quickly 'nay'ed' two thirds of the invites due to lack of time and two she just plain didn't want to go to.

"Stewie's gonna scream," Angel commented.

"Stewie can damn well remember who he works for," was Randi's reply.

"Don't bet on it," Angel muttered.

Randi looked at Angel with concern, leaning back in her chair and tapping her pen on the table. "What's on your mind, girl?"

Angel sighed heavily. Her boss had always been able to see right through her.

"Stewie's been getting… possessive… about the business as of late. I think he may be trying to take Back In Time away from you, or at least get more control over it. He's pushing pretty hard to have more high-end contracts brought in and, from what I've seen of the contracts, he's taking a sizeable chunk from the fees for 'personal services', whatever the hell that is," Angel confessed.

"Did you ask?"

"Guess the results," was Angel's sour reply. Randi nodded in understanding. "He also keeps threatening to have me fired if I don't start doing things his way."

Randi was scowling by this point. "I appreciate you telling me this and I can understand how difficult it may have been but I'm glad you told me. I'm not sure what, exactly, I'm going to do right now in regards to Stewie, however, know that your job is secure. I'm very satisfied with your work, Angel, especially as of late," she finally said.

Angel sighed with relief.

"I think, from now on, I want you to start taking a much more closer look at what goes on in regards to Stewie. If it raises a red flag, let me know and put Paulie on speed-dial," Randi continued.

"Done and done. What am I looking for?"

"Trust your gut," was Randi's simple reply. "Speaking of Paulie, did he get back to you on those contracts?"

"He read 'em, red-penned 'em and threw three of 'em out the window," Angel said gleefully.

"That good, huh?"

"Yup, including the one Stewie signed. He said if the contract was challenged, it wouldn't hold up in court 'cause you didn't officially sign it, making it invalid."

"Good. Tell Paulie to expect a lot more of those his way. What about the other two contracts?"

"Can you squeeze him in for lunch tomorrow?"

"I can do that. Usual place and time?"

"Yup."

Randi pulled her PDA towards her and inputted in the information in her organizer section. Her cell, laptop, small digital camera, MP3 player, and PDA were her constant companions and all had some kind of lucky symbol or charm on it for protection because those things seemed to be the only reason her gadgets didn't go screwy on her. Angel had thought it was hilarious at first, until Randi had borrowed her cell one day and the darn thing had not worked again. That was the last time Angel had ever let Randi near any of her electronic gadgets.

Randi sighed heavily. "Why aren't you my business manager instead of Stewie?" she groused.

"Fire Stewie and we'll talk," Angel quipped.

"Don't tempt me."

Back at the precinct, Randi literally ran into Mac. They had enjoyed their dinner last night and, once again, he'd dropped her off at her place, leaving with yet another kiss on the cheek, this one a little closer to his own mouth than the previous one and a little more lingering. The kiss, and the look in Randi's eyes, had resulted in some very interesting dreams for him that night. Now he had his nose buried in a file and she was responding to someone's greeting, not really paying attention to where she was going. The end result was papers and photographs flying everywhere.

"Mac! Yipe! I so sorry!" she yelped.

Mac just chuckled in affectionate amusement and said, "Did you enjoy your lunch?" They bent down to gather up the file.

"Angel's always… what the heck?" she began, her attention caught by a photograph of a carved wooden coffee table.

"Fraud case," Mac said. "That's supposed to be an eighteenth century table made by the Taros Company in Europe. What do you think?"

"Won't know until I see it," Randi said, still studying the photo. She handed it back to him with a shrug as they stood up. "As it is, I don't touch anything unless I'm invited to."

"That could always change," he replied in a low, soft voice, leaning close and grinning as he deliberately teased her.

"If you're referring to antiques, that's one thing but," and here she leaned closer to him, whispering seductively, "if you're referring to yourself, that's a whole 'nother subject." And, with a quick kiss on the cheek, she was off, skipping down the hall, leaving Mac chuckling.

Randi had won that round that time and it was a game he was seriously enjoying. He just wondered where it was going to end and couldn't help but hope that it would end favorably. Randi was desirable, not just as a woman, but as a person and the more he got to know her, the closer he wanted to get to her. He wondered how she felt.