Four: 2008 and 2009

March 20th 2009

"Right…" Lilly started, running her hand through her short blonde hair, exasperated all ready. They were going to have all kinds of fun opening up this one. "We got a sixteen year old pregnant girl, shot in the head about a month before her due date in 1979… her boyfriend originally went down for it… he's still doing his time… a Dean Farrell…" she pulled out the mug shot. Jeffries raised his eyebrows. Dean Farrell certainly looked like he would have been capable of Mary Beaumont's murder. He was a good three or four years older than her, with a shaven head and some impressively angry-looking tattoos across his right shoulder. "Theory was he found out the baby wasn't his, that she'd been cheating on him… her blood was found on his shirt, though he said they had had a fight the night before, but he'd never gone after her… but the guy went AWOL the day after her body was found, just made him look even better for it…"

"So what's the development? Why are we opening it now if it was closed in '79?" Kat asked, snatching a handful of potato chips from Vera's packet, making him scowl. Lilly looked towards Scotty, and for the second their eyes met she felt a tinge of regret, but quickly swallowed it. This wasn't her, she wasn't like this, all mopey and doe-eyed.

"Friend of yours in NYPD found a body yesterday, Mary Beaumont's niece. There was a note attached the body saying 'she and Mary are only the first' and as Dean Farrell now has a permanent residence in Pennsylvania State Penitentiary, we're looking at another do-er."

"Friend of yours?" Vera asked, turning to Scotty.

Scotty shrugged. "A case we worked a while back… I had to speak to one of the CSI detectives in New York City. I guess she's calling in her favour."

Stillman thumbed through the Mary Beaumont file. "Lil, Scotty, you get down to the prison and see if Dean Farrell has an alternative theory to offer us."

Her heart lurched for a minute. It was a twenty minute drive to the prison at least, and in the car with Scotty… she sighed. "Boss, I was thinking I might go down to visit Mary Beaumont's father… he's listed as being in a nursing home in Philly."

Stillman looked at her for a second, frowning. "You opened the case, Lil; I want you talking to the prime suspect. Nick and Kat'll go down and speak to the father."

Lilly opened her mouth as if she was about to say something, but then thought better of it. Vera and Miller shared a look, his eyebrows furrowing slightly, her lips pursed. Scotty seemed to be finding his hands very interesting.

"Will, if you could liaise with the detectives at NYPD… with a threat attached to the body like that, it's possible that the killer might be looking at more victims… this case needs to take utmost priority…"

There was nodding from his five detectives, more reluctant from either end of the table, where his two youngest members sat, scowls on their faces, deliberately avoiding each other's gaze. If they thought he didn't realise there was something going on there, they clearly thought he was a fool. Ever since the Christmas party, barely weeks after Lilly's experience being run off the road, something had been different between them. They'd all noticed, but no one had said anything, remembering the time when Scotty had been seeing Lilly's sister and how they'd righted themselves eventually. But recently, it had been steadily getting worse. Lilly was his best detective, and although this didn't seem to be clouding her judgement in any way, he missed a time when he'd been able to send Rush and Valens out on a job as a perfect team.

The aforementioned detectives were approaching Scotty's car across the parking lot, determinedly not saying a word to one another. Lilly almost let a smile touch her lips when they both headed for the drivers' seat and she had to back away, but she remembered herself at the last minute and climbed into the passengers' side, slamming the door loudly. Scotty put the key in the ignition, buckled his seatbelt and turned to her.

"You ain't gonna be able to ignore me forever, Lil."

A bitter smile touched her lips. "I thought I was doing a pretty good job of it."

He sighed, exasperated, and sat back in his chair.

"We can't keep doing this."

She looked pointedly out of the window. "I don't see why not." She knew she was being childish, but it was self-preservation driving her. She didn't often let herself into situations like this, and now that she had, closing off was the only way she could find to deal with it. Scotty ran his hands through his short hair.

"I'm sorry, Lil, ok? But… it wasn't just me…"

She shook her head, laughing dryly to herself. "That's not the problem, Scotty… you know that's not the problem."

He shrugged. "No, I don't. I don't have a clue what your problem is… I can't… I can't get you… I don't understand why you've gone all cold again…"

She could have retaliated, but instead she simply turned to look at him, eyes as cold as always, unreadable, unreachable. "Are we going to see Dean Farrell or not?"

Without so much as a sigh this time, he turned the key in the ignition and pulled out of the parking lot.

All I Want For Christmas Is You – Mariah Carey

December 23rd 2008

It was cold on the balcony, but she needed some air. The couple of glasses of brandy and the egg-nog she'd had forced on her were making her head spin a little, and everyone inside, hugging her and telling her how glad they were that she was back to work – they were getting a little suffocating. She just needed to take a breath of the cold, dry air outside, only for a moment, alone.

Someone leant up against the balcony next to her, and she was about to groan when his voice invaded her thoughts, and she smiled slightly.

"How you doing?" he asked softly, nudging his elbow against hers, "It's kinda crazy in there, huh?"

She nodded, turning to look at her partner, who was giving her that smile and leaning there like there was nowhere else he'd rather be in the world.

"I hate Christmas parties." She said dryly, and he laughed.

"I didn't exactly take you for the type that enjoyed them…in fact, Lil, have you even been to one before?"

She shrugged. "I usually try and work the late shift."

He nudged her again, and this time he didn't pull fully away, so they were still touching slightly.

"Seriously… how're you holding up?"

She rolled her eyes at him.

"What?"

"That's only what everyone's been asking me for the last two hours."

He smiled, "Well… you seem to get yourself into these dangerous situations… what I'm trying to say, Lil, is…" he trailed off, looking down at his hands. "I know what this job means to you, but it's only been three weeks since your accident…"

She looked at him, cold, direct. "Accident implies it was unintentional, Scotty."

He shook his head. "What I'm saying is… are you sure you're all right, now?"

I watched you pulled out of that water, he thought, I thought you were gonna die.

She seemed to recognise the concern in his eyes, and nodded slowly, hesitantly putting a hand on his arm. "I'm doing great. I've had worse, remember?"

He didn't want to let the shooting even cross his mind.

"It's just a bit… close in there." She said softly, "I'm fine, but I don't want everyone fussing."
He nodded. After six years of working together, he knew that about her. While she was minimal effort, minimal maintenance on the outside, he had a suspicion she was far from it deep inside, far more broken.

"You wanna skip this, get out of here?" he asked, stepping away from her slightly, hands coming to rest in his pants pockets, giving him the air of an awkward schoolboy, if just for a second. She cocked her head to one side, looking at him with a slight smile on her face. He shifted from one foot to the other.

"There's a bar just across the street… probably more our scene…"

She looked down at her dress pointedly, and Scotty shrugged. "That's not a no."

That smile, again. Maybe it was the brandy and the egg-nogs, maybe it was that three weeks ago she'd been being pulled out of a submerged vehicle, maybe it was that he was the only person who'd tried to break her out of this party, but she turned the smile up a notch, and walked through the door with him.

I realise this is more of a shippy chapter, but there's definitely some LS running through this story along with the case... and I might even throw in some Smacked if you ask nicely ;)

Ok, I lie. I'll put it in anyway... can't help myself :D