It was 8:00 a.m. and the threesome was ready to start their day. Breakfast had been ordered and Rachel had begun to outline for Felix the division of labor. She and Hood were going to head out to the dairy. Although the dead cows had been removed, the alfalfa was still growing in the fields. Hood wanted to check out the scene of the crime so to speak.

After the dairy, they would head over to the local agricultural extension office; check in the representative from the USDA. Finally, they would make their way over to Cal State. Hood wanted to review the results of the necropsy and see the greenhouse where Gina had been working on her plants.

Felix had already developed a list of things he needed to find out about Rico Cipriani. He was surprised when Agent Young asked him to add two new names to his list, Simon Robinson and Wyatt Payne

"Robinson," Felix was puzzled. "Who's he again? I know that name is familiar."

"He's the chair of the Biological Sciences Department," Jacob put in. "He's the one Gina is having problems with."

Felix shook his head. "So? Why's he a person of interest? I mean, hell yeah, she was rude, but that hardly makes him a suspect in all this."

Rachel and Jacob exchanged a glance. "Um, it's a little more than that," Jacob said. "Wyatt told us last night that Dr. Robinson had, uh, made, um, advances toward Gina."

Felix cocked his head at Rachel and raised his eyebrow.

Rachel rolled her eyes. Honestly, how Hood could be so embarrassed by any mention of sex when he… She abruptly shut down that line of thought as she felt herself beginning to blush. This was exactly why she needed to keep their professional lives separate from their personal ones.

"Robinson made a pass at Gina. To get back at him, she made fun of him to some of the other people in the department. It seems that he's been out to get her fired every since. Wyatt thinks it anyone sabotaged the alfalfa, it would be him."

"He made a pass at her? You mean a 'have sex with me or your job is on the line' kind of pass at her." Felix was outraged.

Jacob shrugged. "According to Wyatt, he has a reputation for, um, approaching new female faculty or grad students. But that he normally doesn't retaliate when turned down."

"He does this all the time? And no one's reported him?" Felix's jaw dropped.

"Apparently, from what Hood and Wyatt said, this kind of thing isn't that uncommon." Rachel glared at Hood and Felix also turned an accusing stare on him.

"Hey, don't look at me. I never did anything like that." He looked at them indignantly. "And I never condoned any behavior like that when I was at Stanford. But unfortunately it does happen, and the victims rarely complain. They don't want to get a reputation as a trouble-maker."

"A trouble-maker," Felix sputtered. "You mean if Gina had complained, they would have blamed her? Damn, now you're making me feel sorry for her. No wonder she's so touchy, having to put up with crap like that."

"Yeah," Rachel agreed. "So see what you can find out about the guy. Any questionable activities in his past."

"Got it," Felix scribbled in his notebook. "Want financials on him?"

Rachel thought carefully. "If he's behind this, it's because it's personal. He has a grudge against Gina. But, yeah, it doesn't hurt to be through."

Felix ducked his head and looked at Rachel. "Now, you're sure you want a run-down on Wyatt? He seemed like a pretty nice guy."

"Yeah, I'm sure he's fine," she shot Hood a glare as he snorted. "But we don't know a hell of a lot about this case, about the set-up here. I don't think we should leave any stone unturned." Rachel paused thoughtfully. "Ya know, it might not be a bad idea to get some background on Gina too."

"Really," she insisted over Hood's sputtered indignation. "It wouldn't be the first time someone took a hit to their career for money. Maybe someone paid her to screw up her work."

Felix smirked as he wrote Gina's name in his notebook. 'Wonder if it was the Doc's idea to put Wyatt's name on the list. He didn't seem to like those "gold stars" Wyatt gave Agent Young last night.' He shot Agent Young a sly look. 'Wonder if putting Gina's name out there is retaliation? Or if it has to do with the way she was flirting with the Doc?'

Felix was sure that the Doc and Agent Young had a purely professional relationship. But sometimes… sometimes he wondered. He mentally shrugged, not any of his business anyway. As long as they kept solving cases the way they did, that's all that mattered.

The food arrived and their conversation focused again on the logistics for the day. Even though there was no indication that a crime had been comitted, Rachel thought it would be good politics for Felix to pay a courtesy visit to the local police department as well as calling the local FBI field office. In addition to keeping in the good graces of the locals, he might pick up some useful gossip about the situation at the dairy.

They weren't quite sure when they would rendezvous to share information. As Hood pointed out, his investigations weren't going to be as linear as Felix's. A lot would depend on the cooperation of the people they wanted to question. Hood also thought that he might want to re-run some of the tests that were performed on the alfalfa and the cows. While he had no reason to doubt the work already done, it never hurt to be double check everything.

"Eww," Rachel wrinkled her nose. "You don't mean you want to cut up a dead cow, do you?'

Before Jacob could reply, they were interrupted. Wyatt had come into the diner, Gina trailing along behind him.

"Don't worry Rachel," Wyatt crowded into the booth next to her. "You won't have to go through that." He casually reached over and gently pulled on her ponytail. "And I must say, I'm glad to see my star pupil looking so good this morning." He grinned, "You looked dead on your feet last night."

Jacob narrowed his eyes in dislike. "Why not? Why can't I examine another cow if I deem it necessary?"

"'Cause they've already destroyed them. Burned 'em all." Wyatt replied promptly.

The two agents and the scientist looked at Wyatt in amazement.

Gina had slid into the booth next to Felix, who courteously made room for her. "They had too. Normally, Mr. Cipriani would have sent them to a rendering plant, but in this case…" She shrugged her shoulders.

Rachel and Felix's head's automatically swiveled toward Hood. But Wyatt answered. "Since the cows died from eating the genetically modified alfalfa, the USDA stepped in. They said they couldn't take the chance of whatever killed the cows being transmitted to humans."

"How could that happen?" Felix wanted to know. "It's not like they were being sent to a slaughter house to be made into t-bones."

"It's simple Felix," Jacob said. "Cows are used for much more than as a source of meat. Literally hundreds of products are produced with the by-product of animal slaughter, from medicines, to cosmetics, to everyday foodstuffs." He pointed to the dishes in front of them. "Even sugar and creamer."

Felix slightly pushed his coffee away. "Say what?"

"Umhm, bone meal is used as a whitening agent in refined sugar and powdered creamers."

"Geez, Doc, now you tell us." Felix complained. "No wonder you always take your coffee plain."

Jacob smiled faintly, but his smile quickly changed to a frown as he processed this new information. "I was hoping to have some different samples to test. Like I said, I have no reason to believe that the first tests weren't conclusive, but still."

"Even so Hood," Rachel objected. "The cows have been dead for what, over a week. Decomposition would have made them useless by now."

"Not necessarily," Gina spoke up. "You may not be aware of it, but cows don't decompose as quickly as humans."

Rachel bristled at the rude tone. She opened her mouth to respond, but Wyatt cut her off.

"So what?" he was dismissive. "The cows are gone."

"Not all of them."

Jacob looked at Gina intently. "What do you mean?"

Gina flushed, uncomfortable at suddenly being the center of attention. "Mr. Cipriani, he, he buried one of the cows, Bella. It, she, was the prize of the herd, his best milker. He said he wanted her treated with respect."

"Christ, Gina," Wyatt swore. "Don't you realize, didn't Rico realize, that cow is a health hazard. What if it contaminates the water supply at the dairy? He could have put his whole herd at risk."

"We'll deal with that problem later." Jacob said decisively. "Right now this is good news." He looked at Rachel. "Do you think we can get a court order to dig up the cow if the farmer doesn't cooperate?"

"Unless they're repealed the Patriot Act when I wasn't looking, sure." Rachel smirked.

"Good." Jacob looked at his companions. "If you're finished, I suggest we get moving. We have a lot to accomplish today." He looked at Wyatt pointedly. "So, if you'll excuse us?"

Wyatt threw Gina an imploring look. Things weren't going as smoothly as he had hoped. For some reason, Dr. Hood seemed to have taken a dislike to him.

Gina looked at Jacob earnestly. "It's like this Jacob. We thought," she motioned to Wyatt, "that we should go with you today. Introduce you to people, sort of smooth your way?"

"Please Dr. Hood?" Wyatt leaned around Rachel, casually dropping an arm around her shoulders. "I'd love the chance to work with you, in any capacity. Gina and I could be useful. She knows the layout of the dairy almost as well as old Rico, and me, well, I know Rico. He likes, trusts me, I might be able to convince him to let you dig up Bella."

Jacob bit on his bottom lip and starred at Wyatt for a moment. He hated to admit it, but his dislike of the younger man stemmed from his attitude toward, his obvious admiration of, Rachel. He sighed inwardly. As usual, Rachel had been absolutely right. They needed to keep their relationship strictly professional when they were in the field.

It wasn't the first time, and it wouldn't be the last, that some man with whom they were assigned to work found her attractive; flirted with her. It would be irrational on his part to let their infatuation prevent him from accepting help from a capable source. 'After all, it's not like I'm jealous of the little twerp.'

"Fine," Jacob said abruptly. "Let's go."

They got out of the booth and headed for the door of the diner. Felix and Jacob rolled their eyes and exchanged a look at the way Rachel let Wyatt assist her from the booth, hold the door for her. They knew that if either of them had tried anything like that, they'd receive a tongue lashing. They were both beginning to suspect that Rachel's smiles were designed more to annoy Gina than to encourage Wyatt.

Rachel had been pissed by Gina's rudeness toward her. She had also quickly picked up on Gina's annoyance at any attention Wyatt or Hood paid her. She neither knew nor cared about the reasons behind the annoyance, but she was prepared to use it.

The group paused in the parking lot. "Ok Felix, I'll let you know when we change locations. Call me if you find anything significant. We'll plan to meet up later today." Rachel issued orders briskly.

"You got it ma'am." With a wave, Felix ducked into his car and pulled away.

Rachel had smiled faintly when Gina timidly suggested that Jacob drive to the dairy with her. Wyatt had enthusiastically supported that course of action, saying that Rachel could join him in his pickup. Ignoring Gina totally, she turned to Wyatt and shook her head. "Regulations," she murmured as she escorted Hood to their waiting SUV.

Jacob frowned at her. "You should be nicer to Gina."

"She needs to learn some manners." Rachel retorted. She glanced at Hood sideways. "She could take some lessons from Wyatt."

Rachel grinned to herself at Hood's grunt. They spent the rest of the short ride to the dairy in silence.

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Rachel looked around approvingly as they pulled up at Orchard Hill Dairy. "Nice, very nice."

The barn they had parked in front of was made of weathered red boards. The roof was gray slate and in good repair. Fences criss-crossed the meadows and they could see the cows out grazing.

Rachel and Hood exited the SUV and she sniffed the air experimentally. "It doesn't even smell too bad."

Gina rolled her eyes at Rachel's comment, but before she could say anything, Wyatt hurried into speech.

"Rico prides himself on running a model farm. His manure pits are state-of-the-art, along with everything else. It might look like an old fashioned operation, but everything here is first rate." Wyatt's eyes clouded over. "That's why it's such a damn shame that he might lose everything."

"It's not.." Gina began angrily, but she broke off, flushing, at the appearance of a young man at the barn door. He appeared to be in his mid-twenties and he was wearing jeans, a t-shirt and an unpleasant expression.

"Hey, bitch," the man called out. "What the hell are you doing here? My Pops told you to get off his land and to stay off. So you and your friends get back in your cars and get the fuck outta here." He advanced toward them in a threatening manner.

Gina swallowed audibly and tried to hide behind Jacob. Rachel took a step forward blocking Hood. Brushing back her jacket to expose her badge, she pulled her out her ID. "FBI," she announced. "I'm Special Agent Rachel Young," she jerked her head back toward Hood, "this is Dr. Jacob Hood. We're here to look around. We'd like to ask Mr. Rico Cipriani a few questions."

"Fuck off, bitch," the man sneered. "This is private property, so unless you got a warrant, you ain't looking at anything."

Rachel's mouth tightened in anger. Before she could react, an older man, dressed in jeans and a worn denim jacket came out of the barn.

"Freddie," the old man called out sharply. "You watch your language. Get back in the barn and help Vincent with the hay."

Freddie stomped back into the barn with a glare at the group clustered around the SUV. The older man shook his head in disgust. He turned to Rachel.

"I have to apologize for my grandson. He seems to think I need protecting."

"Mr. Cipriani? I'm Dr. Jacob Hood, I'm the Special Science Advisor for the FBI. I've been asked by the government to look into what happened to your cows." Jacob approached the man with his hand extended. He nodded to Rachel, "this is my colleague, Agent Young. I believe you know Drs. Dawkins and Payne?"

"Of course," Rico shook Jacob's hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you Dr. Hood, Agent Young. But I don't know what you can do, find out." He shook his head sadly. "My poor cows, it was a tragedy, but it was no one's fault." He looked over at Gina.

"Dr. Dawkins, Gina, cara, I owe you an apology. I should never have lost my temper with you, threatened you. I'm ashamed of myself."

Rachel narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean what happened was no one's fault? I thought you claimed Dr. Dawkins' alfalfa killed your cows?"

Rico held up his hands. "She didn't do it on purpose. It's not as if she deliberately tried to harm them. Sometimes," he shrugged. "Sometimes things go wrong. Experiments don't work out. Dr. Robinson explained it to me."

Jacob lightly laid a hand on Gina's shoulder preventing her outburst at Rico's words. He smiled at the man. "Yes, that may be. But I've known Gina for awhile and I'd hate to see her career damaged unless we were absolutely sure what happened here."

"Fair enough," said Rico. "What would you like to see?" He seemed doubtful. "The cows are gone, we had to have them incinerated. I don't know if there's anything here to help you."

"I'm assuming that you kept the cows being fed the alfalfa housed separately from the rest of the herd?" Jacob asked.

"Oh yeah," Rico bobbed his head in acknowledgment. "That way we wouldn't mix up the feed, made it easier on the barn workers."

"Wyatt here tells us that your manure pits are state of the art." Jacob tilted his head inquisitively. "Have you emptied them yet?"

Wyatt burst out laughing. "Good idea, Dr. Hood. How about it Rico, any of the cow's shit still here?"

Rico chuckled. "Sure, if you think that will help you. Anything else?"

"I'd like to see the fields the cows grazed, Gina told me some of her alfalfa was planted there. I'd like to take samples of the alfalfa, the grass, the water, and the manure." Jacob paused thoughtfully. "I'd also like a general tour of your operation if you don't mind."

"I always like showing people around," Rico replied genially. "Why don't we start in the barn here?"

"There is one other thing." Jacob hesitated. "I understand that not all of the cows were incinerated, that you buried one. Would it be possible for me to get tissue samples from it?"

"No," Rico stiffened. "No, I won't disrespect Bella like that. She was the prize of my herd. Not only the best milker, but her calves were good milkers too. Let her rest in peace." He stalked off toward the barn. "If you want a tour come on," he threw over his shoulder.

Rachel and Hood looked at each other and shrugged. They would tackle the old man later, see if they could convince him to cooperate. If not, then a court order would be needed. With Gina and Wyatt tagging along, they followed Rico into the barn.

"Freddie, Vincent, I told you to get that hay down from the loft," Rico barked at two young men loitering near the door.

The two scrambled up the ladder as Rico frowned at them. "My grandson Freddie and my grand-nephew Vincent. They're good boys, but I gotta ride 'em." He snorted. "They're like all kids nowadays, not used to hard work."

Rico began the tour of the barn, shooting irritated looks upward as bits of hay floated down on them like snow. They all ignored the drifts as best they could; Jacob casually brushed straw from his hair as he questioned Rico about the routines followed on the farm. Rachel had trouble suppressing her giggles.

Finally Rico had enough. "God damn it," he yelled. "Quit screwing around and get that hay down here."

"Sure thing Pops." Freddie called out.

"Jacob, look out!" Gina yelped, from across the barn.

Rachel instinctively looked up and was horrified to see a bale of hay teetering over the edge of the loft, directly above her and Hood. She automatically began to reach forward to push him out of danger. Before she could move, she felt a pair of arms circle her waist and Wyatt pulled her back against his chest.

"Whoa, you ok Rachel?"

Rachel stared in horror at Hood, sprawled face down on the barn floor. Cursing fluently she wrenched herself out of Wyatt's grip. She quickly stooped to check on his condition; she confirmed that he was conscious and stirring.

"You people should look were you're standing."

Rachel looked up in a fury to see Freddie grinning at them. He was climbing down from the loft and was half way to the floor. With a growl, Rachel surged to her feet and stormed across the barn toward him. Grabbing his arm, she yanked him off the ladder and slammed him face first into a stall partition. Twisting his arm around his back, she pulled out her cuffs and snapped them on him.

"You," she snarled, "are under arrest for the attempted assault of a federal agent and damaging federal property." Rachel pushed Freddie to his knees. "Now stay put."

She quickly returned to Hood, who was sitting up, rubbing his shoulder. Gina had her arm around him, trying to help him stand. Rachel unceremoniously pushed her aside. "Don't try to get up yet, does anything hurt?" Rachel breathed a sigh of relief as she quickly ran her hands over him, confirming that nothing was broken.

As she helped Hood stand, he leaned into her and murmured into her ear, "I thought we were supposed to keep our hands to ourselves in the field?" Rachel bit back a smile.

She regarded her charge with exasperation. "What? She," Rachel nodded to Gina, "shrieks like a banshee and you don't think to move?" Rachel leaned in closer. "Damn, you're bleeding, you've got a cut on your face."

"I hit the stall door on my way down." Jacob started to raise a hand to his cheek. "I must have scraped my face on it."

Rachel batted his hand away. "For Christ's sake, your hands are filthy. Don't touch your cut."

"You," she pointed to Gina, "there's a first aid kit in the SUV, get it."

She glowered down at Freddie and pulled out her cell phone. "I'll call Felix and have him send out the local cops. They can take him into temporary custody until I can arrange to have him transferred to a federal facility."

"Fuck, bitch, you're having the cops haul me off?" Freddie screeched. "I didn't do anything, it was an accident."

"Uh, Rachel, aren't you kind of over-reacting?" Wyatt asked, putting a hand on her arm.

Rachel shook off his hand. "If you," she spat out, "ever interfere with me doing my job again, I'll arrest you for impeding a federal investigation. Do I make myself clear?"

Wyatt's mouth fell open and he nodded dumbly. Jacob smiled at the sight.

"Freddie, shut your mouth." Rico ordered. He turned to Rachel, a pleading expression on his face. "Please, miss, Agent Young, don't do this. He's a good boy, he didn't mean any harm. Like he said, it was an accident."

Rachel wavered. In reality the incident was more a nasty prank than a real attack on Hood. The adrenaline was wearing off and it wasn't as if he had been seriously injured. Plus she hated to cause the old man any more distress. He seemed nice and he was already dealing with so much.

Sensing her hesitation, Rico decided to sweeten the deal. "Tell you what, you let Freddie slide on this, I'll let you dig up Bella."

A slow smile spread over Rachel's face. "Deal, but with one provision." She lightly kicked Freddie in the leg. "He helps us collect the samples Dr. Hood wants." She smiled down at Freddie nastily. "Especially the manure samples."

Rico burst out laughing and shook Rachel by the hand. "Deal, Agent Young. I'll even throw in his cousin." Rico looked up at Vincent who was peering over the edge of the loft. "You heard the lady Vincent, get your butt down and get ready to work."

Rachel uncuffed the sulking Freddie and turned to where Gina was fussing over Hood. She had his face in her hand and she was dabbing at his cut with a wipe. 'God, she might as well be cooing over him.' Rachel rolled her eyes and plucked the alcohol wipe from Gina's hand.

"It's a simple cut, for Christ's sake. You haven't got a band aid on it yet?" Rachel firmly swabbed the cut. She bent down and retrieved a band aid and antibiotic ointment. Smearing the ointment on the band aid, she slapped it on his cheek. She cocked an eyebrow at Gina. "See, hardly major surgery."

Hands on hips, she surveyed the occupants of the barn. "Now, do you think we could get those samples collected?"

They spent the rest of the morning collecting samples. There wasn't an inch of the farm that Hood didn't examine in detail. Rachel wasn't the only one to breathe a sigh of relief when Hood decided they didn't need to dig up Bella after all.

Rico himself had insisted on operating the backhoe to unearth the grave. But Hood had taken one look at the small stone surrounded by flowers and abruptly announced that tissue samples from Bella could wait.

It was after noon when they finally finished. Rachel was hot, tired, and dirty. She looked distastefully at her pants which were streaked with mud almost to the knee on one leg. She had slipped attempting to take a water sample and almost fallen into a stream. Even though she had made Freddie and his cousin collect the more disgusting samples, she didn't even want to think about what was trapped under her fingernails.

Jacob looked up from the notebook in which he was busily scribbling. "Now that we have our samples, I think we should check in with the local extension office before we head over to the university."

"No." Rachel said simply.

"What do you mean, no?" Jacob blinked in surprise.

Rachel looked at him impatiently. "We," she waved her hand at her soiled clothing, "are filthy. We are not going anywhere, seeing anyone until we have had a chance to clean up."

Jacob's eyes lit up with amusement as he took in Rachel's appearance. Not only were her pants covered in mud (and he suspected worse) but she had a smear of dirt on her forehead. Her hair was coming loose from her pony tail and dangled against her cheeks and there were still bits of straw in it.

His lips twitched and he managed not to smile, it would probably set her off. "Fine, so how do you want to proceed?"

Rachel checked her watch and pursed her lips in thought. "First order of business is a shower and clean clothes. Then we need to hook up with Felix, see what he's found out; maybe get some lunch." She looked pointedly at Wyatt and Gina. "We'll meet the two of you at the University around 3:00."

Wyatt began to protest, but it died at the look on Rachel's face. Mumbling that they would catch up with them later, Wyatt dragged Gina toward his pick-up. Jacob punctiliously made his farewells to Rico, thanking him for his cooperation.

Rachel threw a glance over at Hood as they drove back to town. His forehead was creased in thought as he reviewed what he had written in his notebook. "What? What are you thinking about? I mean, you don't have any more to work on than we had last night."

"That's not quite true." Jacob mused thoughtfully. "We started with the assumption that Gina's alfalfa was harmless; so several hypotheses sprung to mind. Unproven, yes, but potentially fruitful lines of inquiry. But now…" he shrugged.

Rachel frowned, "Well yeah, that's why I asked Felix to get background info on everyone involved. But we don't have that yet. Besides," She ran the morning's activities over in her head. "We haven't learned anything from the dairy, yet. We, you, still have to test the samples. What's different from what we knew last night?"

"I think after this morning we can rule out some lines of inquiry. The first hypothesis, the most obvious, was that the dairy owner had done something to either the cows or the alfalfa." Jacob shook his head. "You saw how proud he is of the dairy, the way he cared for the cows. I find it hard to believe he could kill off half his herd, let alone his prize cow.

Then there's Wyatt's behavior. Frankly, Gina's work simply isn't a threat to his career. But Gina seemed to think he would try to sabotage her work for personal reasons. Now, unless he's a much better actor than I give him credit for, he's been going out of his way to be helpful to us, to Gina, in this investigation."

Jacob shook his head. "In addition to his lack of motive regarding Gina, it appears that he has a great deal of respect for Mr. Cipriani. I don't see Wyatt hurting him, even if he was trying to sabotage Gina."

Jacob glanced at her sideways. "I also don't see Gina as doing this. You saw how frantic she was, is. I know you don't care for her, but I don't see her destroying her own career. She's worked too hard to get to where she is."

"Maybe," Rachel conceded, "but people have destroyed the things they should hold dear for money before. That's why I asked Felix for financials on everyone."

Rachel called Felix to let him know they were heading back into town. Felix had had a very productive morning and was anxious to fill them in on the details. He was thankful, after hearing Rachel's description of her appearance, that he hadn't been detailed to help out at the dairy. He agreed that it might be best to meet up after she had the chance to shower and change. The call ended as the SUV pulled into the hotel parking lot. Rachel informed Felix that they would meet him in the diner in 30 minutes.

Rachel quickly cleared Hood's room; she was anxious to get out of her filthy clothes. She had almost reached the connecting door to her room when she remembered to check if Hood had secured the hall door behind them. She turned and ran into Hood's chest. His arms went around her and he hugged her to him tightly; burying his face in the side of her head.

"Hood, no, we can't do this." Rachel tried to wiggle out of his embrace, but Jacob tightened his grip around her. "You need to let me go. I meant it when I said we can't have sex when we're in the field."

Jacob tipped her face up to his. "I know. I don't like it, but I accept that you're right; at least in this case. But." He sighed and buried his face in her hair again. "You realize," he whispered in her ear, "he was trying to hurt you today, not me."

"What are you talking about?"

"That bastard, Freddie. You were the one right under that bale of hay. If Wyatt hadn't grabbed you, pulled you out of the way; you could have been seriously injured." Jacob tried to pull Rachel even closer. "It only glanced off my shoulder because I was reaching for you."

"No, you were the one…."

"Rachel, don't argue, its simple physics; angles, velocity, the movement of matter through time and space. I know what I'm talking about. A bale of hay weighs between 60 and 130 pounds. Falling from that height, it could have snapped you neck if it hit you just right. It was never a source of danger to me, only you."

Rachel was shocked. It had never occurred to her that either of them could have been seriously injured. While she had been angered, she had considered it a malicious prank. "But…"

"Hush," he whispered. "Just let me hold you for a minute. I just need to feel that you're safe."

They stood pressed together for several minutes. Jacob holding her firmly against him with one hand, while the other ran up and down her back. He absently kissed the top of her head, as he breathed deeply letting the memory of the incident wash away.

Rachel eventually relaxed against Jacob; sighing with contentment, enjoying the feeling of his hands, his body, his kiss. She raised a hand to thread her fingers through his hair. Pulling his head down, she whispered in his ear. "Umm, maybe I've been hasty. Maybe we do have time for a nooner, after all."

She was rewarded with a gust of laugher against her ear. "A nooner? I don't think so. That would be like offering a starving man a light snack." Jacob pulled back and tipped her face up. "Temporarily satisfying, but in the long run incredibly frustrating." He lightly brushed a kiss across her lips. "No, I want you to much for that. I'm willing to wait until I can make love to you properly."

He pulled away from her, ignoring her growl of protest. "No, we have to meet Felix." He smiled as he nudged her toward her room. "You should go and have your shower; a nice, cold one."