Even with the introduction of technology to the law; fax machines, high speed internet and email, there was still the need for paper hard copies to be exchanged. Whomever claimed the computer would lead to a paper free office hadn't realised the print button would be so easy to press. Kite had three inches of files on his desk, a headache he'd woken up with despite actually getting enough sleep for once, and a phone that was still irritatingly silent. He'd called her, bitten the bullet, voiced his feelings. And, damnit, he did miss her. It would be so much easier if he didn't; he knew there was a lawyer downtown who always showed up at the same bar as him, a tall brunette with chocolate coloured eyes. They'd struck up a conversation once or twice, and he'd debated starting something with her but even a casual relationship would have felt somehow wrong. With the way work was at the moment, though, he needed someone that was as much a workaholic as he needed to be to get everything done. He had his boss in one ear, telling him to clear the backlog, and his assistant DA's, complaining that they were already putting in too many hours. Rubbing his eyes and spinning around to look out the window, Kite didn't hear his paralegal walk in.

"So, I've got a request from Masters that you might not be jumping for joy about." Kite spun back around, leant forward at his desk. Jeremy was standing in front of the desk, arms crossed, suit already wrinkled though it wasn't far past eight am.

"Hm." Right now, he didn't think today could get much worse. Apparently, he'd been wrong. Anything coming from his boss was bad news at the moment. Re-election time was just around the corner, and everyone was on edge and more demanding than usual.

"He needs you to pass those off," Jeremy motioned towards the files on the desk before continuing, "and get back to Philly as soon as you can. They've had a disastrous run with their DA's and, since they're up a few murder trials there and there's nothing absolutely life threatening here, they need someone who knows the job to step in for a week or so until they can get a permanent replacement." Immediately Kite thought of a hundred reasons why it wasn't feasible for him to go back to Philly; he was acting DA here, they could appoint an ADA from Philly who needed the contacts, he couldn't just drop all his cases into the laps of his ADAs. Of course, this was political and nothing in politics was logical or practicable. And, his mind persisted with a clear thought that overrode his best protestations; Philadelphia was where Lilly was and he'd be back in a building a few blocks away from her.

"Right." Nodding, Kite sighed, thought of the flight and the climate change. "I'll book a ticket for after lunchtime, gives me enough time to sort these out." Jeremy looked almost surprised at his immediate agreement but nodded, left. Resisting the urge to turn and contemplate the view again, think of what he'd say to her when he saw her, Kite instead picked up the phone and started calling around, offloading his cases.

The day had started off well; the air was a perfect crispness, hinting at winter but still firmly anchored in autumn. Lilly had found a grey scarf she thought she'd lost winters ago, and she was having a remarkably good hair day. The phone call from Kite was still in the back of her mind. Miss you, Lil. She mulled over it as she walked to the office, finally decided he was just being nice, taking some responsibility for the call she'd placed to him. Although it was her fault, he was the one that had ended things.

She'd stopped to get everyone coffee on the way in to the office and was feeling the effect of her Triple Americano by the time she stepped through the cage on the third floor. Gun checked and coffees distributed, she'd started inputting data again. Two hours after that, Scotty looked up from his computer and smiled.

"We got something." There was almost a sigh of collective relief as they gathered around him, looked at the details.

"Bar tender murdered in '82. Fingerprints were found at the scene, and we gotta hit." Scotty pointed to the highlighted window on his screen.

"Roland Markes. Prior for domestic violence on his wife, Wendy. Address listed in North Philly for the past ten years." Jefferies read out the details.

"Everyone that was at the bar that night was interviewed. And it says Wendy Markes was on the list of those interviewed." Lilly had picked up the file, finished just as Stillman came to see what the huddle was about. Scotty filled him in.

"Sounds like something. Vera, you and Jeffries want to go find Mr Markes? Lil, you and Scotty track down Wendy, see what she's got to tell us. If the charges weren't dropped on the prior, chances are they aren't still together." Scotty started a search for Wendy, came up with an address.

"Now living in Roxborough." Scotty scrawled it on a piece of paper as Lil raised an eyebrow.

"Someone's moved up in the world."

Seven hours later, Roland was in custody for a murder and they were all patting themselves on the back. Quickest murder arrest they'd made, and it was all thanks to the new computer network; something Stillman was still marvelling at. Once Roland knew they had the prints on him, he'd cracked, admitted to it all. His ex-wife had been seeing the vic and he hadn't been able to handle the thought of them together.

"You right with that paperwork, Lil?" Stillman was grabbing his coat as Lilly nodded. She only had to fill in the last of Roland's statement and sign off.

"See you at Jones." Vera filed out soon after, never too slow when a drink was on offer. Jefferies had already left, and Scotty was picking up his coat as Lil closed the file and put it in an envelope to be taken to the DA the next morning; whomever that was. Ever since Kite had left, and Jefferies had taken out Danner, they'd had a bad run of DA's. Cage had left after only a few months with 'personal difficulties' and since then they'd been running through them at a rate of roughly one a month.

"Guess the first round should be on Stillman, for letting them talk him into getting us linked up to the new computer system." Lil nodded at Scotty's statement as they both holstered their guns before waiting at the lift.

"Yeah, even if he doesn't know how to work it." Scotty pressed the button for the ground floor after they got in, smiled at Lil. It was still an office joke; the only time Stillman had offered to use the computer, he'd not even known how to tell it was on.

"Good arrest today."

"Guy was ready to crack. Living with the guilt for that long. Probably did his wife a favour; she might have been living with the bar tender."

"Instead, she gets a doctor, moves to a fancy neighbourhood. Almost makes you feel sorry for him; all that to get his wife back, and she ends up in a nine bedroom house."

"You're not forgetting the domestic violence, are you? Broken cheekbone, three fractured fingers… Not to mention she probably wore sunglasses for a few weeks until the swelling on her eyes went down." Lilly gave Scotty a look as she pushed open the door, wrapping her scarf around her neck in response to the bitingly cold air that met them immediately.

"Right." Scotty nodded, acknowledged his defeat, stopped as well to adjust his jacket.

"I thought it was meant to be getting warmer." He complained as he shoved his hands deep in his pockets, watched Lil put her gloves on. She smiled, gave her arms a brisk rub. Scotty didn't know how she survived the cold; she didn't exactly have any body fat to keep her warm. Even with several layers on she still looked slender enough to break.

"You right to go?" Scotty snapped his eyes back up from examining her figure, hoping she couldn't see the slow spreading blush in the half light. Truth was, lately he'd been noticing her more than usual. After George and the woods, he'd felt something about her shift and change, and he'd responded to it accordingly. It wasn't just her hair, the way she showed up one day with it down around her face, impossibly blonde. It was more the way she carried herself now; less like just a detective and more like a woman. And to his discernment, he'd found a feeling that he was sure was jealousy stirring when she rode off with the guy on the Harley. The same feeling had been reawakened when they'd holed up in the interview room together, and he'd been relieved when Stillman had asked after her, giving him an excuse to knock on the door, break up whatever they were doing.

"Yeah." Scotty followed her as she stepped out of the light pooling from the lobby, into the dark street.

The plane ride had seemed impossibly long, even though it was only a few hours. He'd flipped through the complimentary magazine several times before giving up on the trashy celebrity news in favour of looking out the window at the clouds and trying to ignore how cramped his legs were. There was a kid sitting next to him who decided to play twenty questions. Kite answered nearly all of them before shutting him up with a coin trick and a joke so he could get back to the clouds. It felt like relief not to think for a while, although he could only manage for a few seconds before her image flitted back into his mind. That morning, at least, he hadn't had time to even consider her with all the placating he'd had to do when offloading all his cases. The ones that wouldn't make court he'd brought with him to wrap up here; if he got a chance. Jeremy had been dropping hints that he was walking into a war zone; an office that hadn't been run properly since he was there a few years ago. With the appeasing and worrying about how much slack he'd have to pick up when he got to Philadelphia, thoughts of Lilly had been buried. Now, however, they were back. It wasn't so much her as it was her reaction if he just showed up; he knew she didn't do so well with surprises. Kite knew that him appearing suddenly in Philadelphia was definitely going to surprise her, and he wasn't sure it would be a good surprise. He was hoping so, but too many unanswered calls was convincing him otherwise. And now, like fate, she was almost to the other side of the street, but on the same block as him, sharing the same air. For the first time in almost two years, they were back in the same city. He wasn't sure it was her at first; the hair was much longer, let loose to fall around her shoulders in a straight, silken sheet. The Lilly he'd known had been overly reluctant to let her hair down. But there was something too familiar about the way she moved, and he was pretty sure that was her partner walking beside her, looking like he was checking out her arse as they crossed the street. Kite pushed through the door, ignoring the cold air that swirled around his neck; his scarf was still in his hands, and he had no intention of stopping to put it on in case he lost sight of her. Briefcase and scarf held tightly, Kite gave the road a cursory glance each way before jogging across, closing the gap.

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