Thanks everyone for the positive reviews. Here's one more chapter, hopefully another soon. Keep the reviews coming, good or bad.

She was late. It was twenty after seven when he heard a knock. Why was he afraid she wouldn't come? When he opened the door, she didn't apologize for being late, she just walked in with a pizza box in one hand and a six pack of beer in the other. She was dressed casually, jeans and a light blue t-shirt with a suede jacket over it.

"That's dinner?" He asked incredulously. "At the very least it should have been Chinese."

"Hey, I'm only a cop. I don't make the money you doctors do."

"And where's the movie?"

"Right here, in my pocket. A new police action flick."

"Oh, please. Don't you get tired of that at work?"

"Did you want a medical drama?"

"No, I live that. I wanted porn."

She laughed. "In your dreams, buster."

"Actually, I prefer porn in real life, but dreams will do in a pinch."

She walked in, put the pizza and beer down on the table and looking around as she removed her jacket. She noted the haphazard way most of the things were arranged, saw the magazines and books scattered in the bookcase and the piano against the wall.

"Like what you see?" he asked.

"It's cleaner than I would have predicted."

"You a clean freak or something? Is your place a pristine palace?"

"God, no! I hate cleaning. Only do it when I can't walk through the place without being knee deep in crap."

She sat on the sofa and handed him the video. Then she opened the box and reached for a slice of pizza. "Crank it up. I'm starving and I had an annoying day."

"By annoying, do you mean the bad guys got away?"

"The bad guys don't get away when I'm on the job. At least, not most of the time"

"Please don't hold back, tell me, how good are you?"

"I'm damned good." She swallowed the last bite of pizza in her hand, as she looked at him. "And from what I hear, so are you."

He ignored her last comment and reached for his own slice of pizza as he asked, "What happens when you don't catch them?"

She stopped, glanced down, then said quietly, "I keep looking. I don't accept defeat easily. What do you do if you lose a patient?"

"Move on to the next one. I don't have the opportunity to keep looking. Dead is dead."

"Yea, it sure is. Except my dead usually come first. You have the chance to escape death for your people."

They sat in silence for a few moments, each contemplating the uncertainties of their jobs and the things they could not control. He moved first, reaching for the video.

"Time for some mind numbing escapism." He said, as he put it in the DVD player.

They finished the pizza and drank the beer as they watched the video. Both agreed it was terrible, but for different reasons. He liked the car chases, but she complained about the flawed police procedure being used. She was moved by the drama when the cop was wounded, but he shouted at the EMT's and doctors that treated the man.

"What kind of medicine is that? Do they want to just kill him outright? Putting a knife in his gut would be a more humane way to do it than what they're trying."

When the movie was over, she picked up the empty pizza box to dispose of it, figuring she should keep someone else's place neater than she kept her own, but he pulled her back to the sofa.

"Where are you going? He asked.

"Just getting rid of this trash."

"Leave it." He said as he pulled closer to her. Their lips met a second later. She gave in to the kiss, responding with more emotion than she thought she was capable of. He pulled her up to him, his arms going around her back and then moving up and down, feeling, caressing. She did the same, moving her hands to his hair and running them through it. He pulled her onto his lap and continued to kiss her, then moved his hands to the bottom of her shirt. He reached under it and caressed her bare skin. She moaned a little as he did so, but when he started to lift the shirt off her, she suddenly stopped and jumped up.

"What?" He said.

"I…I don't think this is a good idea."

"Well, I happen to think it's a great idea. Was I wrong in thinking that you're as attracted to me as I am to you?"

She hesitated, then said, "No, you're not wrong. I just don't think we should rush anything."

"Well, it is the third date. Isn't that the usual test for women?"

"How do you figure third? This is second, the bar was the first."

"No, when I asked you to come back to the hospital and met you there, that was the first."

"You didn't even buy me lunch then!"

"I got you something better – an interview with your witness. How many other guys you've dated would be that considerate?"

She laughed, the tension she had felt a few moments ago now gone. "You're something else. Look, I do like you and I think we will end up in bed together. But I need a little more time to process this. Is that okay?"

"Yea, that's okay."

"Your turn next. Give me a call next week, your choice."

"Really? So you enjoy strip clubs?"

She laughed again. "Sure, male strippers turn me on. I just didn't think you did. What a guy!"

She put on her jacket and headed for the door. He walked with her and stopped her as she was about to open it. He leaned in and kissed her again, not as much fire as before, but enough to let her know it was under the surface.

"Good night, Greg."

"Good night, Kate."