A/N: Cheers for all the lovely lovely reviews, guys. They have definitely helped give me a kick up the bum to keep going, and revved the typing. I really do appreciate them.

Leon Broznic was a man of many words and more talents, one of which was unfortunately that of spilling energy drinks on keyboards.

"Shit," he said, hitting the enter key twice. The cursor blinked back at him, position unchanged. "Shit, shit, shit," he muttered again, punctuating each word with another punch of the key. He jumped up from his desk, nudging his chair back, before striding down the hallway to the supply room.

"Please be one here, please be one here," he mumbled to himself as he checked the shelves. Top, no. Middle, no. Shit, the bottom, really? No. He got on to all fours and checked under the shelves, smiling widely as he pulled the lone last one out from underneath. He grabbed it tightly in his hands, before rushing out of the room and down the corridor past Kerry.

"Hey, Leon," Kerry called, as she watched him dash back down the hall. "You haven't broken another keyboard, have you?"

Leon stopped suddenly and turned back, grinning nervously at her. "Of course not, Kerry. Why would you think a thing like that?"

She raised an eyebrow at the brand new box tucked under his arm. He glanced at it, giggling awkwardly and briefly back at her, before stopping and quickly turning to walk back down the hall. "I'm making a call," she called after him. "Briefing in twenty-five."

He saluted back at her, before hurrying back to his desk and ducking underneath it to dig through the cords. After a moment, he stood back up, plopped into his chair and hit the enter key again, this time on the shiny new keyboard.

The cursor moved down the screen.

Raising his arms in celebration, Leon leant back in his chair. "Victory is mine, once again!" he announced and spun around in his chair.

He had only made it one and a half times when he came face to face with two Senior Sergeants staring seriously at him. He stopped spinning. "Charlie, Lawson, can I help you?" he asked brightly, straightening up.

"Leon, is there a computer we can stick this thing into?" Charlie asked, gesturing at the USB Lawson was holding up.

"Yeah, yeah." He spun around and waved his hands at the main computer he used. "Actually, we can just pop it into this one and it'll show up on the main scree-"

"Nah, smaller one." Lawson said shortly. He glanced at the USB and then to Leon, crossing his arms. There wasn't a hint of a smile in his tone.

"Okay," Leon said, warily looking back and glancing between them. That was a little odd. He hopped up. "Yeah. Yeah, just…" he led them over to a corner where a computer was sleeping. "Yeah, this one should work. Do you want me to-"

"No," Lawson interrupted. "Now piss off."

"I- what?" Leon blinked. The fuck was wrong with Lawson?

Charlie raised his eyebrows and stared pointedly at Lawson before looking back at Leon. "Please, Leon," he added softly.

Leon pursed his lips. This was his kingdom but- "Yeah, okay," he said as he stepped backwards. "But only because you asked nicely, Charlie. I'll just… go get some water." He looked at Lawson, frowning, before walking out of the room.

Lawson watched him go. "I'm gonna pay for that later."

Charlie looked at him. "Yeah, you are," he said, shaking his head as he sat down and tapped the keyboard. He got it – Lawson was worried; Charlie was too. But the man could've at least tried to avoid splashing the shit everywhere. He took the USB from Lawson and plugged it in as the computer took a minute to load. Lawson hovered impatiently behind him. "Watch it, Lawson, you'll give yourself a hernia."

Lawson stopped his pacing. "Yeah, Charlie? You're all Mr Serious and you reckon now's the time for jokes?"

Charlie just looked at him. They couldn't have this – whatever it was – affecting everything today. Lawson was a Senior Sergeant; he should've known this.

Lawson sighed and rubbed his face. "Yeah, yeah, okay." He glanced at the screen. "It's up. Can you-"

Charlie nodded and double-clicked on the My Computer icon, navigating to the USB drive. Slowly picture thumbnails filled the screen and he clicked randomly on one. A sharp view of a bruised back expanded on the screen. Charlie's eyes widened.

"Holy shit," Charlie whispered as he clicked another picture. This one was blurrier than the previous, but still the image was clear enough to make out: Shannon, clad only in her underwear, bruises marring her shoulders and chest. He sat back against the chair and swallowed hard, feeling like someone had just taken a swing at him. As much as he was the outsider still, that was one of his people, and if he felt like this, then Lawson-

Lawson stiffened behind him. "Shut it off."

"Lawson-"

"Shut it off!" he growled. Without waiting, he reached down and yanked the USB out of the hard drive. He then stood straight and still, eyes boring into the wall and fists clenching at his sides, as though he were trying to crush all the pictures on the USB in his right hand and any events that had led to them.

Charlie cleared the cache and shut the computer down, staring at the blank screen. He frowned, trying to focus his thoughts, but he could only conclude one thing. After a moment, he spoke. "We need to talk to Kerry."

Lawson shook his head. "I need to talk to Shannon."

"Lawson, we need to show these to Kerry."

"Not until I've spoken to her," Lawson said, slamming his hand on the desk beside him. He breathed for a moment before adding, "We don't even know what this is."

Charlie turned his head to stare at the fist for a second. Lawson couldn't really think that – it was bloody obvious what this was. Slowly he stood, pushing the chair in, and calmly faced Lawson. "You don't believe that."

"We don't know."

Charlie didn't blink. "Lawson, I think you know that we do." He sighed, trying to decide the best way to tackle this. Logic was generally the go, he figured. "Look, I understand she was assaulted once. By a taxi driver; it led to an arrest in another case. She didn't tell you straight off, but in general, how did she react?"

"How do you even-"

Different tack. "When do you think this happened, Lawson?" he asked quietly, though he reckoned the answer was obvious.

Lawson frowned at him in confusion, before his face relaxed and his eyes saddened. "Lexie," he said, crossing his arms.

Charlie nodded. "Lexie. Think about her reaction. We couldn't get in touch with her that night; she flinched when I touched her-"

"She flinched when I touched her," Lawson murmured softly, suddenly casting his eyes downward.

Charlie didn't acknowledge the comment; he wasn't sure Lawson meant to say it out loud. "And she went off the rails for a bit. Don't tell me we don't know what this is."

Lawson closed his eyes, and nodded slowly.

"Now, I doubt she told anyone, not even Kerry, because we wouldn't have found these if she had. But when she finds out you know – when she finds out we know, how much shit will she be in if it all hits the fan again and Kerry doesn't know?"

"She'll go nuts," Lawson murmured, briefly rubbing his right hand against his mouth.

"Kerry?"

"Shannon."

"Maybe. But this way we can coast the fallout. And if anything needs to happen, Kerry has connections."

"Don't you have connections?" Lawson asked, gazing at him. For a moment, Charlie was nearly bowled over by the force of the emotion in his eyes. It wasn't hope; it was far too desolate for that. Maybe desperation.

It was desperation that Charlie couldn't assuage. "Not for this sort of thing," he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"I don't like it." Lawson shook his head and stared back over Charlie's shoulder at the wall. His hands clenched tighter and he swallowed, and suddenly Charlie knew what it was that was bothering him.

"Lawson," Charlie started, hoping that he wouldn't take this as being patronising. Charlie understood it, he did, and in the same situation, he'd be right there too. "If she asks, you can stick it on me. I outrank you; it's my call."

Lawson kept staring at the wall, shifting only slightly.

Movement in the hall caught Charlie's eye. Time to go. "Speak of the devil. Kerry," he called to her, nodding at Lawson before turning and striding across the room. She paused and waited for him, her ever present impatient air increasing as her hands moved to rest on her hips. "We need to talk," he added seriously and quietly once he reached her.

Kerry sighed. "Okay," she said, eyeing him up and down.

"Not here," Charlie shook his head. He braced a hand behind her back, hovering lightly but not touching, and nodded towards her ill-frequently used office. They started walking and he glanced back to Lawson.

"Shit," Lawson said, brushing his hands over his head, and quickly followed.

Shortly after eleven, an hour and a half after a delicious – though still slightly strained – breakfast of omelette, mushrooms, tomato and toast with Josh, Shannon strolled into the ops room. Leon was staring studiously at the main screen; a freshly-showered Stella was perched on the desk behind him, Christian next to her in a rolly chair.

"Morning," she called as she entered, taking a quick drink from her water bottle and heading towards Stella and Christian. They both called back their greetings and Shannon slowed as she reached them, frowning at Leon. "Morning, Leon," she repeated pointedly.

"Yeah, yeah, morning," he muttered briefly back.

Still frowning, she turned back to Stella and Christian. "What's up his arse?" she asked, folding her arms tightly.

"Dunno," Christian said. "Seems a bit tense."

"He's not the only one," Stella added, raising her eyebrows at Shannon. "You all right? You look tense too."

Shannon looked sharply at her, slight taken aback. She hadn't realised she'd let the morning's effect on her show through her body - or that it was that obvious. She determinedly relaxed her stance, dropping her hands to her sides. "Yeah. Yeah, no, I'm fine. Just… an eventful morning." She glanced quickly at the screen, hoping to find something to change the subject. "What've we got today?"

Stella nodded doubtfully at her, but let it go. "An eventful day. Some drug squad take-down thing – we're still waiting on them to get here." She tilted her head at Shannon. "Y'know, I thought you'd be here earlier; you missed my resounding defeat of Christ-boy here in a running race."

"You cheated!" Christian said, sighing exasperatedly as he threw up his hands. Shannon bit back a smile – she wouldn't be surprised in the least to find out that Stella had cheated. But proving it? That was always the difficult part and a challenge, she expected, Christian would not succeed at.

"So did not," Stella replied airily. She eyed Shannon, a smirk slowly spreading across her face. "So, where have you been?" she asked cockily as she leant back in the chair, bringing her own bottle of water up to take a drink.

Shannon shook her head and grinned. She waited a sec: there was no way she'd get out of answering, but at least she could get a decent reaction. She spoke just as Stella took a swig. "Josh was buying me breakfast."

"Ah- what?" Stella choked on the water. Christian kindly thumped her on the back – possibly a little harder than required, Shannon noted. She couldn't blame him. Stella pushed his hands away.

Shannon rolled her eyes. "He showed up drunk on my doorstep at too bloody early o'clock this morning, so I made him buy me brekky."

Stella nodded understandingly. "Ah, still a bit emo 'bout the whole-"

"Yeah."

Christian glanced between the two of them, forehead creased. "About the whole what?"

"Yeah, so if I'm tired and grumpy at you, it's his fault," Shannon continued unabated.

"About the what?" Christian repeated.

They both ignored him. There were some things that were just not to be shared. And if Shannon were honest, there was a part of her that was still a little annoyed that Josh had told Stella in the first place. On the one hand, fair enough, she was his friend too – and Shannon knew she probably would've told Stella eventually, anyway - but still, she would've loved to have been given an input on whether anyone was going to know. Or at least been given a heads up that someone else had known before Stella had brought it up in the locker room one arvo.

Too late now.

"Okay, so we're not telling Christian," Christian said, shrugging at them both. "That's fine. I mean, it's not like I'm an excellent, valued member of the team or anything; in fine physical non-cheating form, I might add," he said, leaning towards Stella and staring intensely at the side of her head. She swatted at him and he shifted back. "It's all good. So, Shannon," he added lightly, turning to her, "what tampons do you use?"

Now it was her turn to choke on her water. "What?"

"What tampons do you use?"

She stared at him, schooling her face blank, and deadpanned, "Why? Do you need some advice, Christian?"

"No, I just… want to know…" He frowned at his boots. "That sounded creepier than I meant."

Shannon blinked at him for a moment before turning to Stella. Her eyebrows furrowed. "Stella, why does Christian want to know what tampons I use?"

Stella shrugged, and looked primly at her. Jesus, she'd had to have practiced that – a gram of butter wouldn't melt in that mouth. "Concern? We were discussing reproductive health earlier." She placed her arms behind her on the desk and leant back. "So what do you use?"

Shannon just stared at the two of them, wondering just when they'd regressed to high school. They stared back innocently and she sighed, knowing there was only one way to get an answer. "Fine. I use Cottons."

Stella broke out into a huge grin and sat forward, swinging her hand out to Christian in one smooth motion. "Pay up, big boy."

Shannon could only watch as Christian slowly pulled out a twenty dollar note from his wallet and slapped it into Stella's palm.

She gaped. They… what. No way. No bloody way."Seriously? You were betting over what tampons I use?"

Stella laughed. "No. I was betting Lawson wouldn't know what tampons you use." Oh, yes, because that made things better.

"I know Annie's," Christian moped, balefully staring as his twenty dollar note disappeared into Stella's wallet. "I thought for sure he'd know yours."

"You've been together nine years, Christian. If you didn't know Annie's by now, I'm pretty sure it'd be grounds for divorce." Stella turned to Shannon. "So what do you do?"

Shannon squeezed her eyes shut, suddenly feeling like she was on a merry-go-round of questions, only they kept changing direction and she didn't know when she was going to be able to get off. "What do I do?"

"Lawson said he's bought them for you. I'm guessing so you have a stash at his place?"

"Yeah…" Shannon said slowly, making sure that the What the hell? she was feeling came through clearly in her tone.

"So what do you do if it's wrong?"

Sense at last! Shannon chewed her lip thoughtfully. Okay, she could share this. She leant against the desk next to Stella. "I switch them out when he's not looking," she admitted, a small grin breaking free.

Stella and Christian glanced at each other for a long moment, then cracked up. Leon looked over and blinked at them, utterly confused. Shannon waved at him and he frowned in return, before returning his focus to the screen.

"I've got a slowly growing pile of Kotex tampons," she added, nose wrinkling. She paused for a second. Hang on, maybe she could donate them. "Annie doesn't use them, does she, Christian?"

He shook his head. "Nah, she's a Libra girl through and through."

"Hey, what about me?" Stella asked, slightly indignant.

Shannon squinted at her. "You had Carefree the last time I had to borrow," she said, shrugging.

"Yeah, but I'll use anything." Stella spread her hands out for emphasis, nearly knocking Christian in the head. He slapped the offending hand away.

Well, in that case… "All right, I'll bring them in then," Shannon said with a satisfied nod.

Christian started laughing quietly again. Shannon looked at him, brushing her hand through her hair as she watched. What was it now?

"What?" Stella asked.

"You're going to have a lifetime's supply of tampons, bought by Lawson."

Stella started giggling too. "Maybe I can give some to Charlie."

"He'll have to buy you dinner first!" Like sugar into tea, the two of them dissolved into laughter.

Shannon tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear and just returned to staring at them in confusion. Just what were they on? She shook her head and sighed impatiently, glancing at her watch while she waited for them to finish. She raised her head as footsteps echoed down the hall towards them and glanced over to find the man under discussion headed their way.

And wanting to speak to her apparently. "Shannon!" Charlie called as he strode through the room.

She pushed off the desk with her hip and met him halfway. "What's up?" she asked, forehead furrowing slightly.

"Kerry wants to see you. In her office," he added. He smiled at her, clapping her briefly on the shoulder as he passed. Shannon froze – he was tactile by nature, but coupled with the smile, that was just plain weird – as she watched him head over to Stella and Christian, both of whom attempted to smother their grins as he approached, but only managed to giggle harder.

She shook her head and turned back around, heading to Kerry's office. She stopped suddenly just outside the door, feeling slightly dizzy, a small pool of dread forming in her stomach. She squeezed her eyes closed for a moment to settle her head, then opened them and straightened her shoulders, steadying herself. It was fine; she was imagining things - Charlie was just being Charlie. She knocked briefly, then entered, shutting the door behind her.