A.N: This story takes place sometime in the beginning of Season 3, before Larry goes to space. I at first was not satisfied with the way that I had portrayed Don, but then I got to thinking that this is when he is slipping down that road of finding it harder and harder to trust people; he hasn't had that long discussion with his shrink yet. I'm mad at Colby for being an ass in the season finale, so I've decided to punish him and make him the bearer of Peyton's wrath. He deserves it, though I still hold my hopes that he is a triple agent. There are some bad words in this chapter, but not too many. Also, this chapter was posted without my original reader, she's at a conference, so please excuse any grammar mistakes. I've tried to get most of them.

Disclaimer: Je ne possede pas Numb3rs ou Pat Benatar.

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"Before I put another notch in my lipstick case, you better make sure you put me in my place."
-Pat Benatar

The Mediterranean like wind, common to this area during the spring months, blew down through the stone canyons of Beverly Hills as the last rays of the morning sun rose over the horizon. The fronds on the palm trees dotting the entrance and driveway swayed as Don parked his Suburban and joined his teammates. Colby and David were engaged with a pair of the investigators from the CSU. Giving them a small nod, he continued on into what could only be described as a mansion. All houses in the hills and canyons were mansions; albeit, this one was smaller than some of the ones in the higher regions, but it was still several times larger than his brother's house.

He found Megan in the kitchen, laboriously going through the cabinets and drawers, searching for anything of use for her profiling. "What do we have here, Megan?"

She paused in her searching and turned to him. "This is the home of Rick Keslow. Neighbors reported hearing what they thought was a simple argument last night, but they didn't think anything of it until this morning when they didn't see Mr. Keslow go for his morning run. They're not talking too much about it."

"Yeah well, most of these people turn the other way when something happens up here. Sounds travel in these canyons, making it hard to hear and pinpoint where the noise originates from. The same thing was the reason why nobody reported hearing anything in the Tate-LaBianca murders nearly forty years ago; people heard things but they couldn't figure out where they were coming from," he shrugged at this and followed her out of the kitchen. "So why are we here?" (1)

"Mr. Keslow worked for David Delgado." (2)

Don came to a halt as the two retraced their steps to the front door, mindful of the techs dusting for prints. He was certain he had heard that name before or read about it recently. "Why does that name sound familiar?"

"David Delgado was an executive at the Laguna-Niguel luxury car dealership. He's currently being prosecuted by the D.A.'s office for embezzlement and fraudulent charges."

"Right. He stole like one million dollars from the company," Megan smirked when he said 'one million' as if to say "yeah, it was only one million". "What do we know about him?"

By now their feet had rejoined David and Colby in the driveway. They hadn't found anything immediately useful; the techs would have to process the house and see if anything turned up.

David closed his cell phone and returned it to its place on his belt. "He's been called in to testify in the Delgado case. According to the prosecuting attorney, he was offered a deal and protection from any charges. His neighbors say the recent case caused a strain on his marriage; Mrs. Keslow has moved out and filed for divorce, taking their son with her."

Colby pointed to the garage and added in his own findings. "His car's still here and none of the forensics have found any viable prints so far. There's no sign of forced entry, meaning he either invited his attacker in or he simply decided to take off on his own. But the latter is doubtful."

"Why is that?" Don asked, confusion echoing in his tone.

"The attorney says that part of his deal is that he remains until the end of the trial. No statement means…"

"No deal and charges for involvement brought up against him and his life gets screwed even more." Don finished, the missing pieces falling into place. "Is there anything else?"

Colby pointed down the drive at a spot marked off by yellow tags. "Only that right there."

Don looked at the dark liquid in the pavement; moving closer to the perimeter he saw that tiny dark splatterings spiraled out and around it. "Has anyone from the CSU identified it yet?"

"They haven't and it doesn't look like they will have to, she can do it." Colby said, disdain in his voice as he pointed towards the two figures climbing from the silver Hummer that had just pulled through the iron gates.

Don groaned inwardly. He had hoped to escape his newest member and avoid another test of wills that always led to a yelling match; a yelling match that involved colorful language from both sides. The forensic specialist had been here for one week and Don already found himself envisioning a bullet from his Glock buried in her forehead or his, at this point it could go whichever way. Either way he wouldn't have to deal with that temperamental and volatile woman. If he cared to admit to himself, which he didn't, she wasn't that bad of a person. She was incredibly smart and knew exactly what she was doing. However, it was apparent to the both of them that they didn't appreciate being forced into the position that had been thrust into their laps. Neither of them was willing to meet in the middle about it, which led to them each trying to outdo the other. Don couldn't stand it when she challenged his authority as lead agent and she just seemed to not stand him at all. He didn't trust her. The blonde doctor had gone behind his back twice to his superiors, had ignored and challenged him several times, even in the field, and had yelled at him numerous times, and all within the last week. To be fair though, Don had complained about her a few times, found information before her and used it against her, and yelled at her too. If they kept this up nuclear war was likely to break out not in the Middle East, but in L.A's very own FBI office.

Sighing, Don came to the immediate conclusion that it was far too early to deal with her and especially with only a few hours of restless sleep to recharge him.

"Megan come with me. We'll go interview the neighbors again. See if we can help them remember anything else."

Colby and David watched as Don walked away, glanced at the approaching blonde, and then looked back at each other. "He's leaving us here with her." They both whispered simultaneously.

"She's all yours man." David grinned. He slapped him on the back and made a quick retreat, leaving Colby to his own fate.

He gulped as he awaited his apparent doom; his only comrade and backup was the dark puddle at his feet. "Oh boy."

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Peyton closed the hatch of the Hummer after grabbing their kits. Trading the one on the left for the coffee in Titus' right, she looked up towards the executive's yellow stone mansion to see the senior agent and his teammate scurry off towards the vicinity of the neighbors'. 'Good. At least they wouldn't fight this morning.' She thought to herself. She knew that they were being immature in refusing to cooperate with one another, he couldn't seem to trust her and let her in and she wasn't making it too easy for him to do just that. But she would be damned if she was going to cave first. There was no way, she the Doctorate with two PhD's from Berkeley and a graduate from Yale, was going to lose to the federal 'G-man'.

Taking a sip of her second latte for the morning courtesy of her Mississippian colleague, Peyton sent a silent prayer towards heaven asking for patience and guidance.

"What do you got for me?" They had left her one agent and it had to be the one that had the tendency to overshoot his mouth.

"This." Green eyes followed Agent Granger's index finger, staring unblinkingly at what was soaked into the driveway: a puddle.

"You called me out here for a puddle?" The last part was sneered as she stared in disbelief. 'Remain calm, Peyton. Breathe in. Breathe out.' "What do you expect me to do with it?"

"See what it is; test it for blood or something. Nobody else has gotten to it yet."

"And why would you expect me to do that? And just why hasn't a tech gotten to it?"

"Why can't you do it? Isn't it your job? Aren't you just like them?" He stated it as if it was the most natural thing.

"Son of a gun, there goes the other foot." Titus's southern twang came from somewhere over her shoulder.

Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and Chernobyl all exploded in her mind. 'A tech. A field tech! That's what these people though they were.'

"Excuse me?" Fury laced her voice as she struggled not to hit something. Her words were cold and even as she approached the unfortunate agent. The silver kit dropped to the pavement with a 'thud', forgotten in her wake. "Let me get this straight. You and your little buddies think that I'm, we're, like one of those people," fingers waggled at the lab technicians in the house. The ex-Afghanistan soldier had a good foot and a half on her, but she still had somehow managed to rob him of any type of speech; he could only nod. "Let me educate you, Agent Granger and I'm only going to say this once. I, my team included, are nothing like those people in that man's house. For one, they don't have half the formal education or expertise that we do; they have no specialties. Their job is to collect the evidence. They are tools and are replaceable. We are here for high profile things. When these people are at a loss, we come in. We do the things that no one else can figure out. Our jobs are to assist you, so that we can move faster and catch more of these bastards. We process, decipher, and examine. We don't do what they do and would appreciate it if you don't confuse us. It's rather insulting."

He only gave her more nods. She took a deep breath and put her mind back to the investigation and the missing man. "So, what exactly is going on?" Peyton forced her voice to even out.

"Uh…ahem…The owner works for the car executive David Delgado." He seemed to have found his voice.

"Right. The embezzlement case. Greed can make people do some surprising things." A wayward curl fell into her eyes. Reaching up she pushed it back behind her ear.

"You know him?"

"I did business with him a year ago. Sold my old car to him." She bent down and removed a testing schwab. "While I'm here I might as well test this. It'll help us to figure out if he was in any kind of trouble when he vanished. Seeing as how that is 'my job'." She winked up at the Agent and Titus. Adding a drop of luminol to the sample, three pairs of eyes watched it fluoresce a lovely shade of blue. "Yeah. It's blood. The luminol reacts with the iron in the hemoglobin in the blood."

The federal agent moved to grab his phone, probably to call his leader.

"Hey!" She barked out. "I'm not done with you yet." She turned to the other scientist there. "Titus spiral outwards in a three mile radius using the blood as a center. See if you can find anything. More blood or anything else viable. Agent Granger will go with you. Agent Granger will go with you." The agent's protests died as she leveled her glare on him. The man deserved it; he had confused them with common everyday investigators.

"Go!" She pinched the bridge of her nose as the two men moved off. The dark haired agent would no doubt be pissed beyond disbelief that she had just ordered around his own agent. The truth was that Titus could use an extra set of eyes and hands. Peyton could have asked Agent Eppes if she could borrow Agent Granger, but for some reason it was easier this way.

She was used to running things her way. No one in the L.A. Crime Lab had questioned her or her team. No one had dared to. Peyton had been the second in command, with specialties in ballistics, genetics, and some minor experience in pathology. The forensic scientists on her team all held specialties as well; Kathryn was a toxicologist, Titus was an excellent blood stain and pattern analyst, and her other former member had been a computer forensic, but he had been moved to the ATF, instead of the FBI. When Peyton Huntzberger said to do something everyone had dropped everything and did it. When she said "jump" they did and asked "Was that high enough?" The scientist had only been here for one week, but she suspected that the senior agent was treated the same way. Kathryn had accessed his file after using Peyton's security clearance. Special Agent Don Eppes was an excellent and exemplary federal agent; he had been the Special Agent in Charge at the Albuquerque office, but had stepped down for what his file deemed 'family reasons' and taken a job as a senior agent at the L.A. branch. He and his team had the highest conviction rate in the FBI over the last three years. Agent Eppes was clearly a dedicated man and obviously carried the same amount of respect that Peyton had had. Maybe that was why the two couldn't get along, each trying to be the alpha leader. She suddenly envisioned two wolves snarling and circling each other in a frozen barren wasteland. 'Oh dear.'

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Don hung up the phone, trying hard not to break it in two. The woman was seriously trying his patience. Was she trying to cause him a heart attack or an apoplectic fit? He excused himself from Megan and the neighbors, and made his was back to Keslow's home, searching for the cause of his vexation.

Spying her near Colby's 'unidentifiable puddle', he marched over the owner's immaculate lawn, trampling emerald grass as he went.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

She straightened from her crouched position, stowing her camera on top of her kit. Even with her heels, she still only came up to his chest. If it wasn't for the situation, he would have found it laughable that someone this tiny could boss anyone around. Crossing her arms, innocent green eyes peered up at him. "Well, good morning to you too, Agent Eppes. How are you?"

"Don't pull that crap with me. You know damn well why I'm over here. I just got off the phone with Colby…"

"Spineless coward," she muttered under her breath. Sighing she cut into his rant. "Look. Titus needed an extra set of eyes and Granger was there. I'm sorry ordering your agent to do something without asking you first, but you weren't…"

"Yes. That's it. He's my agent," her eyes flashed emerald fire, but Don pressed on. "You had no right…"

"No right? Your agent? Well excuse me, Agent Eppes, but if he's your agent then maybe you should teach him something about respect and humility."

"Respect? You haven't been respectful since you got here and what has Colby done to you?"

Her voice took on that icy quality that seemed to be a permanent part of her tone. It was like a switch. She could turn in on at any given moment. Like a light switch. On. Off. Idly, he thought, if she went to the Arctic her tone alone would combat the global warming problems. She could save the world and future generations to come. "Respect has to be earned, Agent. And as for you and yours, you have done nothing to earn mine. You may have the new highest conviction rate, but I've had the highest rate in the country for the last eight years." Her hands unfolded and began gesturing wildly. "I'm the new one here. I don't know how any of this works or anybody here. I come from a place where I'm the boss and everyone does what I say without fail. So excuse me, if I get a little irate when I come here and nobody gives a damn about whom I am and I have to spend half my time battling against you," Her finger pointed him in the face. "I didn't ask for this job and frankly I don't want it either." Her breath came out in pants as she finished her tirade.

Don was shocked. He hadn't thought of it that way. She was in the same position that he had been when he had moved back to L.A. Going from being the boss to having no one listen to you was hard and even harder when you hadn't asked to do it. Her accusations had floored him; most of them had been true. But the scientist had not responded in the right way either. "I didn't ask for this either."

"Really? I never would have guessed." Sighing, she shook her head, fatigue washing over her features, despite it still being early in the morning. "I'm going back to the lab. I still have paperwork to fill out, things to transfer over, and my office still needs to be organized. Titus will let you know if he finds anything immediately pertinent. I hope you find him."

She had been packing up her camera and equipment back into her kit and now stood, making her way back down towards her Hummer. "Look… I… Ms. Huntzberger…"

Turning around, but continuing to walk away from him, she called out. "I have two PhD's, Agent. So if you want to get formal it's really 'Doctor'"

As Don watched the SUV back out, he had the sinking suspicion that this wasn't over. While she had yelled at him and made him feel like an ass, she hadn't gone nuclear and that worried him. No, this wasn't over and unfortunately the Director had told him that there was no backing out of this; Don had already tried to send her back. It looked as if one of them would have to apologize and it would no doubtfully have to be him.

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The steel trunk made a large splash as it slipped into the bay. Cautiously, the figure hidden in the shadows peered around, hoping the noise hadn't attracted any unwanted eyes. He did not need to be caught. The dye hadn't worked in his latest experiment. The subject had remained the same; there had been no variable change. The test subject had died as a result of the experimentation. He did not regret it though. It simply meant he would have to work harder and change his methods for the next test. The subject had been weak. There was no place in this world for those who were weak, just as there was no place for those who were imperfect in this world. Others had failed sixty years ago, but he would not fail. His latest subject had been an abomination for the plan. She had not reacted to his modifications. She was weak and had died. Her death and weakness proved that she held no place in this world.

The dark figure watched for a few more moments and then retreated back the way he came, mindful of any potential watchers. He needed to find a new test subject. The other would not last much longer either. The other would soon follow in the ways of this one. The other was weak as well. He needed to find stronger subjects who would react to the chemicals. With his thoughts toward his future tests and plan, the figure left the area. The steel trunk, forgotten now, sank to the bottom of the bay. The only witnesses to the night's disturbances were the stars ahead and the few fish who lived in this area.

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(1) The Tate-LaBianca murders were the murders that took place in the canyons of Beverly Hills; the Manson murders. It is true that that night, neighbors and others who lived in the canyons heard gunshots, but they could not tell where the shots came from. No one reported anything until after the bodies were found. It is also true that people in the canyon do not like to talk of the disturbances.

(2) David Delgado is a true executive from the car dealership in LA. He is being charged by the D.A for embezzlement for just over one million dollars. Keslow is not real. I got the case from the LA FBI website.

A.N: This chapter came out really long. It's probably the longest chapter that I've ever written. If you can believe it, it was supposed to have a flashback of the meeting from the last chapter. I took it out and it will probably be seen in the next chapter. I'm heavily inspired by music, so that I why music will be featured at the beginning of each chapter. I've tried my best to research the stuff about the forensics and the specialists. I promise to try as be as real as I can be; if anyone finds me wrong, tell me and I will correct it. Thanks to my reviewers, I got over 300 hits for this, so that in itself makes me happy. This is really a filler chapter, and leads straight into the next one. Charlie is coming soon. We learned more about Peyton and will continue to learn more about her. I also threw in a little bit of the serial killer too. Read and enjoy. I appreciate the comments and the constructive criticism. Thanks.