A/N: Thank you for the truthful reviews of the previous chapter. I hope this clears up some questions I raised. Oh, and for the record: I wrote Eric to be an asshole on purpose. He's the epitomy of all my best friend's boyfriends. That should tell you how I feel about all of them.

Summary: Eric uses Lynne's penthouse in ... questionable indevers, but unfortunately for him, someone finds out about it and is not happy. Will Lynne finally get fed up with the sleeze ball enough to leave him? Can she find comfort in arms that have always been close at hand to help her out? End of Season Two. You may be a little surprised with her pairing.

"I'll be back in a minute, Alex," Lynne said as she unbuckled her seatbelt and made her way out of the SUV and into her apartment building to change her shoes and grab the present she had purchased for Alex's brother's birthday.

"Take your time, we're not in any hurry," Alex replied, putting the car in park as she settled in to wait.

Lynne flashed the detective a smile, "I'm sure Dan would say otherwise."

In the three months following that first dinner between the two, Alex and Lynne had become good friends - a rarity in any environment. It was often over pints of Ben & Jerry's ice cream, or glasses of imported French wine that Alex would unwind after a long week at work ... that is, after she would have a celebratory dinner for closing a case with Bobby. Lynne never tried to step on the toes of the two partners, and often times it seemed like she was the only one besides Deakins that actually realized what they were beginning to mean to each other.

"Hi, Don," Lynne greeted her doorman with a smile.

"Miss Andrews," Don said. "Mr. Reasons is up in your penthouse, ma'am," the doorman continued, positive that he should tell the kind young woman the news before she went up and found out the hard way, "He had a woman with him - said she was his sister."

Lynne frowned, "He told me he didn't have any sisters. Thank you for telling me, Don."

When Lynne arrived in the entryway of her penthouse, she expected her dog to be there to greet her, but when Sarge was no where in sight, the designer started getting livid.

"ERIC!!!" she screamed at the top of her lungs as she made her way through the penthouse, intent on finding him and his 'sister'. When she stepped into her bedroom she found them together in a rather ... unbrotherly embrace on her bed.

"What's this, Eric? Don told me you brought your sister up here," Lynne said, gathering up his clothes and the clothes of the unknown blonde currently occupying her bed. "That doesn't look like anything I'd do with any of my brothers."

"Lynne, Lynne wait!" Eric said as he watched her walk to her bedroom window and open it, intent on throwing their clothes onto the streets below.

The livid woman gathered Eric's clothing into one hand, holding the woman's in the other and held it out the window, "What did you do with my dog, Eric?"

"Sarge?" Eric asked, suddenly confused as his bed partner tried to cover herself up with the sheet, "I locked her in the bathroom."

Lynne's hand opened, releasing the expensive designer lables onto the streets below, "You better get that before you get fined for littering, Eric." As he was running through the living room she shouted after him, "And if I ever see your fucking face here again I'll have you arrested for tresspassing!"

The other woman was trying not to look at Lynne as the door slammed shut behind the stockbroker. Lynne then turned her attention on Eric's side-show. "What's your name?"

"Charity," the woman said, finally looking up to reveal a face with too much make-up.

"You're a working girl," Lynne said, positive in her ID of the woman who called herself Charity.

"Yeah," Charity whispered. "Can I have my clothes back?"

"What'd he tell you?" Lynne asked as she gave the woman back her dress and underwear.

"He gave me four hundred bucks and said I'd get a pair of Prada heels out of it at the end. He said I had to pretend to be his sister until we got up here - and I had to be careful not to move anything." Her eyes met Lynne's as she tied the last tie on the dress, "I've got a little girl - we've gotta eat somehow."

Lynne nodded, mulling over the information in her mind before she asked, "How old?"

"She's five," Charity said with the genuine smile of a mother. "Looks just like her grandma."

"How long have you been doing this?"

The prostitute raised her eyebrows, "You sure ask a lot of questions for a woman who just found out her boyfriend was cheating on her."

Lynne smiled slightly, "He was an ass anyway. How long?"

"Seven years. I've gotta pay the bills somehow."

"Don't you have anything else you could do besides selling your body?"

Charity shrugged, "No time to learn a new trade that pays as much."

"What about the danger?" Lynne asked, "You wanna leave your little girl without a mother?"

She shook her head, "No. I used to want to write ... but writing doesn't pay the bills and I dropped out after one semester in college."

Lynne nodded again - she seemed to be doing a lot of that recently. She went to her closet and picked out a pair of Prada shoes she'd never had the guts to wear. "Here's your Prada. You better go."

"Thank you," the other woman said, confusion in her eyes as she left the apartment building.

"Yeah," Lynne sighed after she left before going to release her dog from her overly ceramic prison. "Hey, girl," she said as Sarge bounded out of the room and licked her face. "Sorry about, Eric. He won't be coming around here anymore." The dog barked happily at the news, as if she had understood.

"Did I just see Eric run out of the building wearing nothing but a pillow?" Alex asked when Lynne came back down to the car fifteen minutes after going up.

"Yes," Lynne replied, setting Dan's present in the back seat of the car. "I caught him in bed with a pro."

"Ouch."

"It's fine, Alex," Lynne said, more to convince herself than the other woman, "Lennie and Fin have been trying to get me to dump him ever since we started dating."

"But, in your bed?" Alex asked, wanting to make sure she heard right as she pulled into traffic.

"Well ... at least someone got lucky on it. Now I have to sleep on the couch while I find a new bed."

"I've heard stories about that couch, Lynne, you'd have a backache for a month!"

"Where else would I go? Paul already has a full house and I won't impose myself on anyone like that."

"What'd you do with the hooker?" Alex asked, switching the conversation back to the previous topic.

"I gave her a pair of shoes and wished her luck in finding a different job."

Alex was shocked into silence for the rest of the car ride.

"Hi, Dan," Lynne greeted with a forced smile as she got out of the car.

"Lynne, Lexie," Dan greeted in return, oblivious to the strained look in Lynne's eyes.

"Hey, Dan. Happy birthday, little brother," Alex teased.

Dan scoffed at her, "I'm six inches taller than you, Lexie - little my ass."

"Don't be rude to your sister, Danny," his mother said from the doorway. "And let them all come inside!"

Lynne heaved a sigh of relief as she sat down on her sofa, closing her eyes as she tried to relax. Her eyes opened suddenly as she felt something poking her in the back. When she moved to investigate she found one of the hooker's earrings. With a growl she threw it across the room and watched as its shattering caused Sarge to look up from where she lay with a questioning look in her eyes.

The designer sighed, "I'm sorry, Sarge. I never should have gone out with someone like him in the first place."

Sarge got up and trotted over to her human, resting her head in Lynne's lap as the designer started to scratch her ears. "What are we gonna do, pup? I can't stay here knowing what he did. I can't go over to Paul's place - they have barely enough room for them."

Her phone rang, "Hello?"

"Lynne? It's Lewis. Listen, the guys and I were wondering if you wanted to go out to S&S tonight. It's so much more fun when you're with us to keep us in line." Lynne could here the note of humor in his voice and smiled.

"Who qualifies as 'the guys'?"

"Max, Johnny and me. You in?"

"Sure, Lewis. I'll meet you there at seven."

"Sounds good. Bye."

"Bye."

Lynne gave Sarge a look as she asked, "I hope you'll be okay by yourself tonight? Or do you want to go keep Bobby company?"

Sarge barked, indicating that she could stay by herself like the big girl that she was.

"Hi, guys," Lynne greeted with a genuine smile.

"Lynne!" Johnny said happily, giving the petite designer a massive hug (literally raising her a foot off the ground in the process).

She patted his back in return, "Johnny. Can you let me down, now?" The big man did as she requested with a slight blush. "Hi, Max, Lewis. What's the score?"

"Max is kicking Johnny's ass," Lewis said, in reference to the pool game they were playing. "Oh, we ordered you a Stella."

"Sounds great," she grinned, happy to note that Lewis had remembered her fondness of the imported Belgiun beer.

"Hey, Lynne, did you hear what happened to Max on the subway yesterday?" Johnny asked, taking his shot and missing the pool ball he was aiming at.

"No, do tell," Lynne asked the rabbi as Max lined up for his next shot.

"It's nothing, really," Max tried to get out of telling the story. He didn't want to embarrass his friend's ex-girlfriend ... or his friend as he had come to think of the fiesty designer. After much badgering, however, he finally came out and said it, "It's just ... I thought I saw a couple going at it that looked an aweful like your boyfriend, Eric, and Elene from that salon by where Lewis lives."

Lynne cocked her head at him. "Ex-boyfriend. And it probably was," she said before downing the rest of her beer. "Who's up for another round? It's on me."

"Wait. What do you mean 'ex-boyfriend'?" Lewis asked, a frown marring his features.

She glared at him, "What does it sound like? I broke up with him because he's a pompus pig who thinks he's God's gift to women. Now what kind of beer do you want?"

"None, I'm the designated driver."

"Wuss."

The conversation switched to much safer subjects as the night wore on. By the end of the evening Lynne was in a much happier mood thanks to the charm of three manly men who just wanted to play pool and understand why their love lives were so terrible.

Lynne was the last person left in the car for Lewis to drop off. Her head rested comfortably against the passenger door as he came back from making sure Max was okay. "I don't want to back into Manhattan tonight," she said sleepily. "Is your couch comfortable?"

Lewis glanced at her, unsure if it was a good idea for his libido to have a woman he was so ... about in his apartment overnight. He cleared his throat uncomfortably, "You want me to drop you off at Bobby's?"

She turned her head so that she could watch him drive. "Bobby and I broke up on mutual terms over two years ago. It's not getting sloppy seconds to let me sleep on your couch, Lewis. I'm not his girl anymore."

Even with the beers and rum in her system, Lynne could tell that he was still uncomfortable with the idea. She sighed, "Do you trust me?"

"Of course," he responded immediately, unsure why she would question that.

"That's what it's all about, Lewis. Trust. I trust you enough to know that nothing's going to happen tonight if I sleep over on your couch. You should learn how to trust yourself."

Without another word Lewis switched directions from driving back to Manhattan so he was now driving toward his Brooklyn garage and apartment complex. Trust. Yeah, he could trust himself.

A/N: I meant no disrespect to all the designated drivers out there. I aplaud you all. Stella Artios (not sure about the last part) is my brother's favorite beer, so I felt it deserved a mention.

Thank you all so much for sticking with me in this. I know this didn't give any BA action, but Lewis and Lynne will get around to that soon. I promise. Trust me.