We went back to the lab to get the evidence in for the day shift to analyze, then went out respective ways. I was headed out the door to my car when Nick fell in step beside me. "Hi, Nick."

"Hey. So, what was the case for which Warrick got pulled off stolen motorcycles and I didn't about?"

"You haven't heard? It's either another Simon murder or a copycat. The crime scene was almost identical to the Zamesca case. We're waiting on the ballistics to find out." My phone buzzed and I checked the caller ID. It was Mike. "Here they are now. Hi, Mike."

"Are you alone?"

"Nope."

"Then the bullet that killed Holstein was from a 9 millimeter, but it wasn't the same gun as the Zamesca murder."

"Thanks. I'll talk to you later."

"Who are you with?"

"Yeah, Stokes was wondering too."

"I see. I'll call you later."

"Bye." I flipped the phone shut. "The bullet was from a 9 mil, but the gun doesn't match Simon's."

"So, it was a copycat," Nick said.

"Looks like it. So, I'll see you later."

"…yeah. See ya."

I sighed and went home.

That night, we came back and got back to work. Mike, Catherine, Warrick, and I sat in the conference room going over what day shift had found. Catherine said, "I got a partial print off the straw of the soda cup. AFIS hit Edwin Dennison aka Rat."

"Small time drug dealer with a big time rep sheet," Warrick said after looking at his file.

Mike suggested, "I'll have Brass bring him in, huh? Nice work everybody." He turned to leave, but he caught my eye and smiled. I smiled softly and glanced away. He really needed to stop smiling at me. It was starting to unnerve me when he did…in a good way…depending on your point of view.

As Mike left, Nick came in. "Hey, we just connected Sara's vic to Simon." Mike stopped and turned. "Yeah, you might want to hear this," Nick added, motioning him back.

"What's the connection?" I asked.

"Well, I think Simon was driving her BMW to meet Zamesca."

Catherine said, "Nick, we got a print from the Holstein case. Street dealer. We're bringing him in now. He looks dirty for Zamesca too." She got up and motioned for me to follow her. Mike left with us. She muttered, "I grew up in this town. I know something about playing the odds. You are gambling with my team."

"We talked about the risk going in. It's not like we can quit now," he answered, slightly annoyed.

"I'm not quitting! But I don't like it. And I hate lying to my guys."

I tried to lighten the mood and said, "We're almost out of this Catherine. Once Brass brings in street dealer boy and he confesses to Zamesca's murder, Simon will come out. We'll get him."

"I know, Sierra. I just hate the way I have to do it."

I pat her on the shoulder and went off down another hall to get my lunch. While I was eating, Brass brought in the guy and the under-Sherriff made a statement. "Good afternoon. The Las Vegas Police Department has successfully apprehended a suspect. One Edwin Dennison who had just confessed to multiple homicides including that of assemblyman Denilo Zamesca. Mr. Dennison admitted to luring Mr. Zamesca to a remote location while seeking his help to leave the drug trade. While Mr. Zamesca encouraged him to turn himself in to police, Mr. Dennison shot him. He later shot Mr. Holstein over a dispute in a drug deal. I'd like to say how very proud I am of the swift and efficient work of my department…" By then, I had stopped listening. It was time to bring down Simon.

I walked out and almost ran into Warrick who said, "Hey, Sierra, I've been looking for you. Will you come with me and look at these bullets again?"

"Um…sure."

We headed to someone else I hadn't met's lab and started reviewing the bullets. I tried to stay out of the way and let him do whatever in a non-suspicious way. After we had been there for about half and hour, Mike meandered by the doorway, noticed us in there, and stopped. "You know, that Dawson guy get's a little uptight when people touch his stuff," he said casually.

Warrick chuckled a little bit, but then got back to the point. "Well, the Holstein bullet was fired from the same gun that you found in Rat's car."

"So, it's a done deal," I said quickly…maybe too quickly. I was nervous. The team was starting to catch on to things.

"I'm not so sure. If this bullet went through a window and a guy's head, it would have pieces of glass and bits of bone in it. This hollow point is clean. There's no sand blast effect."

Mike walked farther into the room. "Hmm. Did we get a DNA sample yet? It might've been cleaned already."

"There's still blood on it."

"I see your point. Maybe autopsy will show something. Sierra, will you come with me, please?" I eagerly followed him out into the hall.

"Thank you," I sighed in relief.

"How'd you let yourself get caught up into that?"

"It wasn't my fault!" I said defensively. "He asked me to help him out. What else was I to do? Tell him no? That would've set off more suspicion."

"More?"

"Oh, don't tell me you can't tell that they're catching on. Mike, this is falling apart. We have to get Simon fast."

He grabbed my hand and pulled me into a quiet corner. "I'm working on it. We have to give Simon time to feel safe."

"I know. I'm just nervous. We're outsiders, and we convinced Catherine to do something against her better judgment and if it puts a rift between her and her team, I can never forgive myself."

"You didn't convince her to do anything. That was all me. I suggested it, I pressed the issue…it was me. You followed because you were forced. You didn't like it either. Don't carry the weight on this on your shoulders. It's mine to bear." I just stared at him. "What?"

"That sounded like it was from a book. A fairy tale or something. Prince charming takes all the blame and reassures the damsel in distress……and did I really just say that?"

He smiled a closed mouth smile and told me, "I think you did."

"Sorry."

"You're apologizing again."

"Well, you just do that to me. I never know what the hell I'm saying around you. You need to stop being like that."

" Like what exactly?"

"I don't know! Just stop." The hall was deserted and we had taken to whispering even more quietly. "I can't handle your charming smiles and random little jokes that I don't get right away. I don't cope with stress very well, no matter what Eric Delko says. Not knowing what to do around you is stressing me, and this whole reverse forensics thing is killing me, and…" I suddenly found myself cut off. And rather like the dyslexic atheist joke, it took me a minute to figure it out. And when I did, I tried to gasp, but realized that I had no air to inhale because Mike's mouth was blocking it off. Impulse took over and I immediately kissed him back. Then I realized where I was and what I was doing. I kissed him a second longer before pushing him back. "Stop! Not here!"

He closed his eyes and whispered, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have…"

"Now you're apologizing?" I asked jokingly. He picked up on the lightheartedness in my tone and opened his eyes.

"So…I didn't…offend…"

"No!" I cried a little too loudly. "No," I amended in a whisper. "Just…not here. We, um, work here."

He nodded. "That we do." We had another awkward silence moment like the one we had at the airport. "So…tomorrow's our day off."

"Mhm."

"Can I take you out to dinner? Well, I mean, at dinner time for the rest of the populace."

"Sure. I'd like that," I answered with a small smile up at him.

"Ok. Ok. Let's go get Simon."

"Right." We both started off in different directions, stopped and tried to go the other way with the other person, then finally decided to go our own way. I had nothing to do until we moved in on Simon, so I found myself thinking about Mike. I hadn't intended to get anywhere near close enough to anyone for this to happen, and I still wasn't sure I wanted it to happen. I couldn't stay in Vegas. I'd have to go back to Miami, and long distance relationships rarely worked. But maybe, just maybe, something would work out.

About an hour later, Mike called me. "Sierra, Brass and his boys are going for Simon."

"Good. I'm so ready to get this over with."

"We all are. Meet me at interrogations?"

"I'll be there." I hung up and headed towards the interrogations side of the building. I found the room they had Simon in because Mike was leaning against the wall outside with the under-Sherriff. Well, I thought it was Simon's interrogation. It turned out to be a council including the DA, Catherine, and Brass discussing the case…and the methods used to solve it. The DA stalked out and gave the under-Sherriff a death glare before walking away. Brass and Catherine filed out too.

"Alright," the under-Sherriff said, "which one of you screwed this up?"

Brass stared at him and said, "I'm looking at him. You dropped the ball, man. You never cleared this with the DA and now she says she can't tell fact from fiction and she's not going to file charges against Simon."

"She's a tight ass. I told her what I thought she needed to know."

"Did you hear what I said? Now what you gonna tell her, Sherriff?" The under-Sherriff, extremely pissed off, walked away.

Catherine sighed and said, "We gotta clear this up at the lab."

"Yeah," I responded. "This isn't going to be pretty."

So, we called a meeting of the team to explain everything. Mike started. "It's called reverse forensics."

A guy I had yet to properly meet, but I learned was named Greg said, "Reverse forensics?"

Catherine added, "Simon had to believe what he saw on the news."

"The guy was a fugitive. The only way to get him to show his face was to make him think he was off the hook," I said.

Warrick looked us over and asked, "And your only option was to fabricate evidence and make me process it?"

Greg came back in with, "How could you think we wouldn't figure it out? I mean, that's kind of what we do."

"I understand how you all feel," Catherine said. "I am sorry. I did not have a choice."

"We trust you with out lives, Catherine!" Nick said heatedly. "You could've trusted us with this."

I was keeping my eyes averted from everyone else's because I was afraid of the judgment I would see. Catherine finally looked at Sara and asked her opinion. "Sara?"

"If I have something to say to you, Catherine, I'm going to say it in private." She glanced at Mike and me and added, "No offence."

Catherine decided to go back to work. "We can still get Simon. He only walked on Zamesca. He drove Monique Carter's vehicle out into the desert. Nick has established that." I just sort of dropped out mentally for a minute. I hadn't kept up with Sara's 419, so I had no idea what they were talking about. "Did he kill her too?"

She sent Nick and Sara back out to the girl's apartment to look into it. They found the evidence needed and Simon was arrested and charged.

That evening/my morning, I was up and getting myself into a dress. I was very lucky I even packed one. I had just thought that there might be some official event or something I would have to attend. Not exactly official…

I was just grabbing my purse when Sara knocked on the door. "Come in."

She opened the door and smiled softly at me. "Mike's here."

"Thanks." She turned to leave and I called, "Sara, wait!" She stopped. "I'm really very sorry about what happened in the lab."

"Yeah, I know. And I don't blame you. You're not the one in charge."

I nodded and she nodded and then we laughed. "Thanks, Sara."

"Sure thing. Now, get out of here. Your date is waiting."

I did what she said eagerly. Mike was waiting at the door. He looked up and smiled when he heard me coming. Oh, that smile. "Hi," I said somewhat breathlessly.

"Hi." He was in a suit…I was beginning to think he owned nothing else…and he looked damn good in it. He offered me his arm, and I took it. We went out and got in his car, and then headed towards whatever restaurant he had staked out. We attempted at conversation during the ride. "You look really nice."

"Thanks," I chuckled. "You look…normal. But it's nice!"

He snickered and responded, "You all just can't get over me working in a suit, can you?"

I took a deep breath as if I was going to go into a long explanation, then bluntly stated, "No." He laughed, and it was the first time I had ever heard him fully laugh. It was an amazing sound.

We got to the restaurant and we were escorted to our table. As much as we tried, we couldn't keep work out of the conversation. "So, I dig up a ghost. I know he has a son who was killed by drug dealers, she's being killed by drugs, he's got a savior complex, so I use her to lure him out into the desert. That's why I drive her car. So he'll recognize it…feel safe."

I leaned against my hand with my elbow propped on the table and looked at him, intrigued. "You are aware that you talk about the killer in the first person…right?"

He leaned forward on the table a little with a small smile. "Well, that's the point, isn't it? It clouds my judgment to identify with the victims. Our job is to catch killers." He took a deep breath. "I guess it helps me to think like one."

I shook my head. "I'm not used to guys like you. You have insight into the things no one else wants to think about, and it helps. You're not afraid to do what the others won't. I think that's very cool."

"Well, thank you. I think you're pretty cool too."

I chuckled. "I'm sorry. I talk like a teenager sometimes."

"There you go apologizing again!"

"I'm sorry!"

"No! Shh! If you can't say something without apologizing for it, don't say anything at all." I fell silent, but I gave him my best puppy dog face I could. Gradually, I could see him breaking. Finally, he gave me a deplorable look and said, "Oh, fine. Say something! Just don't look at me like that. I feel like I just kicked a puppy."

I grinned and said, "That was the desired effect. It usually doesn't work."

"Yeah? Well, it did this time."

I reached across the table and touched his hand. "Tough guys with a soft spot are more likely to get a girl when they show that soft spot. Don't feel bad."

He turned his hand palm up so he could hold mine. He looked over at me with those blue eyes and quietly said, "I don't."

He took me home after dinner. It was about 9pm when we pulled back up to Sara's place. He walked me to the door and said, "Thank you for coming tonight."

"Thank you for asking me to. I had fun."

"Yeah, me too. You want to do it again sometime?"

"Of course! Name the date, I'll be there."

"Ok. Ok," he said with a grin.

I nodded and said, "Sooo…" He bit his lip for a second then swooped down and kissed me. His lips were warm and tasted faintly of the wine he had with supper. It was a seductive mix. Very tentatively, one of his hands held my face closer to his. I kissed him until I thought I would burst, then broke away. I took a few slow breaths to calm my heart rate, then looked back at him. "Goodnight, Mike."

He smiled and kissed me very very lightly one more time and said, "Goodnight, Sierra," against my lips…and then he was gone. I watched him walk back to his car, and waved as he drove away. Then I let myself in the door.