Apartment of Executive ADA Kate O'Hara

February 21, 2005

7:45 pm

As Mike Logan walked out of the bathroom, his senses were hit with two distinct items. The first was the incredible scent of some sort of Italian food that caused his hungry stomach to rumble in appreciation. The second was the sound of music, loud music. Following the sound of the music through Kate O'Hara's apartment brought him to the kitchen and the source of both the smell and the sound.

He stood in the doorway, watching as Kate prepared dinner, while singing along with the Aerosmith song coming out of her cd player. As she tore lettuce over a large bowl, she was doing this incredibly sexy pelvic roll move in time to the music. This was the true Kate, the Kate that a scant few people at One Hogan Place even knew existed, the Kate that he fell in love with years ago, but hadn't really seen since they started seeing each other again. He was glad to see she still existed. As the song faded out to silence, he cleared his throat.

Kate spun to face him, hands full of lettuce, looking like a child caught with her hands in the cookie jar. "How long have you been standing there?" she asked, blushing bright red.

"Since about the second verse," he said, stepping to her. "It's been a long time since I've seen you let go like that."

"Yeah, well," she blushed, allowing him to slip his arms around her. "I do still do it from time to time1" He cut her off with a kiss,

"I'm glad I caught the show." he said, kissing her again.

"Mike!" She laughed. "I'm holding lettuce."

He pulled back and looked at her, "Never thought about using lettuce."

Still laughing, she squirmed out of his arms and deposited the lettuce in the bowl, then wiped her hands on a tea towel. She then turned back to him. "You need to put the hormones on hold, Romeo. Dinner will be ready in fifteen minutes."

"Fifteen minutes will work," he returned, pulling her back into his arms.

"Not for me it won't," she said, with a smart ass grin.

"Is that a challenge?"

With a laugh, Kate gave in, "If my dinner burns…"

"I promise…it won't."

8:45 pm

"Told you dinner wouldn't burn," Logan said, picking up the last piece of garlic bread from the serving platter and biting into it.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," she laughed, from across the table. "You're lucky it didn't. Nona Cataldi would come back from the grave to kick my ass if I burned her lasagna recipe."

"Why don't I doubt that?" he laughed. "I met the Cataldi side of the family. They're tough."

"And they haven't changed. Speaking of which," she said, taking a sip of her wine, "I need to go home next weekend. Dad's got stuff going on at the restaurant and I promised I'd go down."

"When are you heading down?"

"Friday after work, you want to come with?"

Logan stared at her for a moment, wondering why the thought of facing Pat O'Hara scared the crap out of him.

"I promise, Mikey, Dad's cool. He doesn't want to kill you anymore."

He raised a brow. "Anymore?"

"You messed with his only daughter, it's a gut response. But he's okay now…"

"I'm not working this weekend…I guess I could go," he responded, knowing that she wouldn't have asked if she didn't really want him to accompany her.

"Don't sound so thrilled," she said. The ringing of a cell phone caused them both to look towards the breakfast bar, where they'd left their phones. "That's yours," she said, reaching over and picking up his phone.

"If it ain't Silvera I'm not answering," he dismissed.

Kate looked at the read out on the phone, "its Gina." She looked up at him, "Who's Gina?"

"Old girlfriend," he replied. "Wonder why the hell she'd be calling?"

"Why don't you answer it and find out?" she challenged, tossing him the phone.

Logan caught the phone and looked at it. He hadn't talked to Gina since New Years. She was a nurse at the prison and they'd been seeing each other on and off for about a year. There was nothing serious to it, just a hook up now and then and when he and Kate started up again, he'd told Gina he was done. She took it well and they went their own ways. Until now. Curious, he answered the phone.

Kate stood and cleared the dirty dishes from the table. As much as she wanted to sit there and listen to his side of the conversation, she wouldn't allow herself to do it. After all, she reasoned, if she were truly going to trust him again, this would be the place to start. As she put away the leftover lasagna, Logan walked into the kitchen.

"Everything okay?" she asked, without looking at him.

"Not really," he began, "Gina's a nurse at the prison. Seems something's going on out there and two detectives from Major Case were raking her over the coals about it. She's all upset."

"What detectives?" Kate asked, finally looking at him. She could tell his ire was raised, she could see it in his eyes. She forced down the irrational jealousy she felt and waited for his answer.

"Goren and Eames. You know them?"

She nodded, "Goren's very…thoughtful, methodical…he's not a hothead like you."

"Thanks," was his dry reply. "He likes to strong arm witnesses?"

She shrugged. "Like I said, he's not really a hot head like you are. He tends to play with their minds. He's an interesting guy."

"All the same, she's really freaked out. Gina's a good girl. If there's something going down, I know she isn't involved."

Willing her voice to remain neutral, she said, "So, let me guess. You're gonna go pay Goren and Eames a visit to find out what's going on?"

No matter how hard she was trying not to show it, Logan could tell she was not pleased with the situation. "Katie," he began, "She's a friend. We had a real loose kinda thing going on and when you and I started, I told her I was done. But, I told her that if she ever had any problems to call."

"And she did," she concluded.

"Don't be pissed."

"I'm not, Mike, really. If she's a friend, then you need to help her out."

She never was good at hiding her emotions from him and this time was no exception. "You're pissed."

"No, but I will be if you keep pushing it," she returned, walking out of the kitchen.

He followed her a moment later to find her blowing out the candles on the dining room table. She turned around and looked at him. "Do you need to go?"

He shook his head. "I told her I'd talk to them tomorrow and give her a call." As she walked past him, he reached out and caught her arm, pulling her to him. "Katie, I told you. I love you. I'm only helping a friend. You've gotta believe me. I'm not the least bit interested in her any more."

Kate studied his face. She could tell by the way he looked her in the eye that he was telling the truth and willed herself to relax and trust him. "Okay, Mikey. I believe you."

"You're trying to believe me," he corrected, his tone gentle. "I'm not going to do anything to screw this up, Kate. I promise you." He smiled at her. "Trust me?"

Despite the warning buzzers in the back of her mind, she returned the smile, "I will trust you, .this time."

"Thank you," he said, kissing her softly.

"Just don't screw it up."

One Police Plaza

February 24, 2005

11:55 pm

Bobby Goren watched as Mike Logan walked out of the interrogation room. He stood and approached the dark haired detective.

"Logan," he began, causing him to stop in his tracks. "I just wanted to say thank you."

"No need," Logan dismissed, shaking the man's hand. "Who knows, we may be working together again some day."

"I hope so," Goren seriously said, then, "I think Gina Lowe is hanging around in the lobby. You gonna see her home?"

"I've got a black and white waiting to take her," he returned. "I need to go see my girlfriend."

"I thought Gina was…"

"Was," he corrected. "My girlfriend is…connected to NYPD. She probably already knows exactly what happened tonight."

Goren nodded, "And you've got some explaining to do. I get it. I can get Ms. Lowe home, if you need."

"No, its okay, thanks Goren."

"See you around, Logan," Goren said, walking off.

"Count on it," Logan returned, walking out of the squad room. As he entered the hall, Gina approached.

"Mike," she nervously began.

"You okay?" he asked. She looked shaken up.

"I will be," she nodded, taking his hands. "Thank you, for sticking by me, for standing up for me."

"It's okay," he dismissed, "I told you to call if you needed anything."

"You know," she said, giving him a coy smile. "I'd love to see you again, Mike."

"Gina, I'm seeing somebody."

"I know, you told me. Your old girlfriend," she shrugged, "But, Mike, I think we could have something special."

"I'm sorry," he replied, slowly pulling his hands away. "It's nothing personal, but I don't want to screw up what I've got."

"She must be something special."

Logan allowed a smile. "Yeah, she is. Look, I've got a squad car waiting to take you home. They'll make sure you get in safe and sound."

"Thank you, Mike," she said, leaning up and pecking his cheek. "If it doesn't work out with your girlfriend, you know where to find me."

"Yeah, I do," he said, "Now, you go home. Get some rest." He nodded at the uniformed officer who was standing by the door. "Officer Nulty here will get you back out to Staten Island, okay?"

"Okay, goodbye, Mike."

"Bye, Gina."

He watched as Officer Nulty escorted Gina down the hall. Hearing footsteps behind him, he turned to find Kate walking towards him with a strange expression on her face. Her wild eyes told him she was totally freaked out, yet she wore this strange half smile. He wondered if she'd observed his conversation with Gina. As he opened his mouth to ask her, she spoke.

"Just what the fuck did you think you were doing?"

Logan was exhausted and her accusatory tone did nothing for his mood. "Excuse me?"

"You could've been killed tonight…"

"We were okay," he dismissed, cutting her off.

"Bull shit!" she hissed. "I know what went on, and not just the filtered crap that was on the 10 o'clock news, either."

"Who tipped you off?"

"I have my sources," she shot, "Don't change the subject."

"I know I went into this whole thing just to help Gina, but it turned into something big. I couldn't walk away."

"I know you couldn't. But damn it, Mikey, stirring shit in a prison where the guards are as just crooked and more dangerous than the prisoners?" She shook her head. "And not even in your own jurisdiction."

"What do you want me to say, Kate? I got involved and it took off. And guess what, it felt good to be working on a real case again. And yeah, for a minute there, I wondered what the hell I was doing, too, but it worked out."

"Just like that."

"Not just like that…" he paused, willing himself not to fight with her. "Do you have any idea what it's like to be out on Staten Island? Yeah, I'm in homicide, but come on…" He shook his head. "I've been out there for 10 years, Katie and no matter who tried to pull what strings, there was no coming back. But now, after this…"

"You think this will change their minds?" she asked, wondering if anyone had actually said anything to him about transferring.

"Deakins seems to think it could. Between all the pushing Van Buren and Cragen have done and what Deakins said he'd do, this could be it. I don't wanna get my hopes up, but shit, it's probably going to be as close as I've come."

"I know how much it would mean to you, Mikey," she sincerely said.

He looked around the hall, "Let's talk about this somewhere more private, okay?"

"My place works," she said, taking his hand. "Let's go."

Apartment of Executive ADA Kate O'Hara

February 25, 2005

1:45 am

"You still pissed at me?" Logan asked.

From her position above him, her legs still straddling him, Kate laughed, "Could you wait until I catch my breath to start this up again?"

"Sorry," he returned, "I figure I'd catch you while you were still basking in the after glow. You're usually mellower."

"You do know that you're the most frustrating man I've ever known, don't you?" she asked, looking down at him.

"And that's why you love me." He flashed her a smile.

"I do, you know," was her quiet reply. "Love you, I mean."

"You sure about that?"

"Yeah. I know, I haven't said it yet," she admitted.

"I figured you'd get to it when you were ready."

"Yeah, well, I gotta admit, you wouldn't have heard it out of my mouth earlier this week."

"I know," he agreed. "I know you really had to work at trusting me, especially when I went to Gina's apartment."

"Yeah, but you know what? This time around, you haven't given me reason not to trust you," she sighed, slipping her leg over him and laying on the bed. "I literally sat here picturing you hooking up with her and then got pissed at myself for not trusting you. But tonight, none of the shit from before mattered any more." She rolled over to face him. "I mean, I'm sitting in my apartment, minding my own business and get this call to tell me you're at the prison and there's a situation."

"I still wanna know who called you."

"I'm not revealing my sources. You never know when I might need them again, especially if you find your way back into Manhattan."

"Could you handle working with me again?"

"I don't know," she smiled, "I'm sure you'll still frustrate the shit out of me."

Logan smiled, tracing his hand along her hip, "And I'm sure we'll still fight. We were really good at that."

"We were really good at making up too."

He kissed her, then pulled back and studied her face. There was something else bothering her. "What?"

"Did you know I was standing in the hallway when you were saying goodbye to Gina?" she asked.

"No, I didn't know you were there until I heard your footsteps. How much of the conversation did you hear?"

"Most of it," she admitted.

"You heard what I told her."

"I did," she agreed, then, kissed him. "And I was hoping you'd tell me you weren't aware of my presence."

"Hell no!" He laughed. "If I'd have known you were there, I'd have laid a killer lip lock on her."

"Wise ass!" She shook her head. "You're lucky I love you."

"Yeah, I am, aren't I?"