Here's the chapter that a lot of you have been waiting for. Hope it was worth the wait.

Chapter Eleven: On Assignment. In which Ian gets a case, as does Don.

Weeks passed, and before she knew it Charlie was calling the Dean at CalSci and telling him that she wasn't going to return for the rest of the semester. He didn't seem to be overly concerned, going so far as to say that he was thinking of offering Amit a permanent place on the teaching staff. Charlie agreed with this wholeheartedly.

She'd started going along to Ian's shooting courses at first just to make Ian happy, but then because she turned out to be scarily good. Now that she understood all of the variables, Charlie was able to calculate the ideal stance and position to shoot from.

Of course, it was only paper targets and clay pigeons that she'd shot. The thought of shooting a real person made her break out in a cold sweat.

Charlie smiled as she lowered her weapon and leaned back. Ian was in his usual position right behind her, arms tight around her waist. He was rather possessive, and tended to growl when other men spent too long looking at her. For the moment, Charlie didn't mind. She fully intended to tell him when it got too much though.

"Nice shooting, Professor," Ian smiled against the top of her head. "One of these days I'll get you to come hunting with me."

"Not on your life," Charlie laughed.

"Hmm," Ian hummed, considering. He didn't actually mind that she shied away from violence. He was still amazed at the fact that she now had no problems cleaning, loading and firing a gun. Not that he'd admit it to her, of course.

Once she'd emptied the clip into the target, Ian cleared his throat.

"Professor," he started with his pet-name for her, since it always made her smile. "I've got an assignment. I need to hunt down a man who killed a Federal Marshal." Charlie turned to face him, wondering where this was going. "I'll be operating out of a town called Sibley."

"Wait, in the Angela Crest Mountains? I know it, there's some good hiking trails up there."

"It's probably going to take a few months to find him, since he knows the area so well, and another tracker's already spent quite a while trying to bring him in. I want you to come with me."

Whatever she'd been expecting, it wasn't that. Her shock showed clearly, and Ian couldn't help but let out a chuckle.

"I realise it's unexpected, but I don't think it warrants that level of surprise."

Charlie closed her mouth and punched him lightly on the arm.

"You just took my unawares, that's all." A thought occurred to her then. "Wait, that's why you've been pushing me to practise lately, isn't it? You knew that you'd be going somewhere dangerous and wanted me to be able to protect myself."

"Something like that," Ian nodded. Charlie considered, then smiled in agreement.

"Okay then, let's do it. After all, what's the worst that can happen?"

"We get eaten by bears," Ian immediately supplied, making Charlie burst out laughing.

"So, what's the name of your target?" She asked once she calmed down again.

"Bob McHugh. He was selling contaminated beef. Marshals went to arrest him, there was a standoff, all very Wild West. Now he's hiding out in the mountains."

-BDBD-

Meanwhile, Don was discussing his latest case with Larry and Amit. The younger of the trio was working on ways to predict the next move of a man who had been tampering with pharmaceutical products – and was starting to understand why Charlie had run off. Balancing his own studies, covering Charlie's lessons, a relationship with Don and sometimes helping out on cases was a lot to deal with. At least no one expected as much of Amit as they had of Charlie, since while he was very clever, he wasn't a mathematical genius.

Larry had just started flipping through the 'Toxic Manifesto' that had been uncovered, when Don's phone went off.

"Eppes," he answered quickly.

"I just got the phone records," Megan started without bothering to identify herself. "They have the suspect calling from a pay phone in Sibley, California. Turns out the Manifesto was mailed from the same location, so I called the post master up there and he remembers the guy who mailed the package. A middle-aged black man."

"Sibley," Don paused, "Why does that sound familiar?"

"It's where that US Marshal was shot last year. They've been having trouble finding him again."

"Right, I remember now. Think I saw an internal memo saying Edgerton was getting assigned to the case."

"Whew," Megan exhaled sharply. "I sure wouldn't want to be in McHugh's position."

"Yeah. Maybe Edgerton's seen our guy, send Colby and David up to check will you?"

"Already on their way."

Larry chewed on his lower lip in consternation. He'd already gathered from various cluse that Charlotte had gone to stay with the sniper. If Colby were to discover this… he sighed and stared unseeing at the Manifesto in his hands.

He had the feeling that life was about to get very complicated for his younger friend.

-BDBD-

In the car on the way to Sibley, Colby was more excited than David had seen before.

"I'm so pumped! Getting to meet Ian Edgerton…"

"You a fan?" David laughed.

"Dude, the man was a sniping legend in Afghanistan. You'd see his work everywhere but you'd never see him. My Colonel in Special Ops said he was the bastard son of Clint Eastwood and Yoda." There was so much awe in his voice that David nearly broke down in laughter.

"I'll admit the guy's good, but he can be a bit of a dick."

"What?" Colby looked astonished. "You've met him?"

"Yeah, he helped us out on a sniper case a while back." David shook his head, remembering. "Pity Charlie's not here. Man, it was fun seeing those to working together. One minute they'd be at each other's throats, the next they'd be ganging up on Don. Highly entertaining."

Colby had flinched a little at the mention of Charlie. It still hurt, thinking about how badly he'd screwed that up. He hoped that when she came back she'd give him a second chance, but it seemed unlikely, given that she hadn't contacted him at all.

Eventually, they pulled up outside a small diner in Sibley, figuring that it would be a good place to start asking questions. They both got out of the car and headed around to the deck out back, then froze in mid-step.

Edgerton was sitting at one of the tables, his rifle case on the ground next to him. And straddling his lap, arms around his neck and leaning in for a kiss, was Charlie.