Chapter 2

He took another drag off his cigarette, as his bright azure eyes watched the big black behemoth pull up to the gate. It had taken all damn night, but he had finally spotted him. Detective Jean Havoc, had been tailing Greed all night long. He was determined to catch him in some act of criminal behaviour. But, sadly, Greed was far more careful than Jean had thought. Once the car had pulled through the gates, Jean had gotten out of his old beat up green Camero and walked over to the wall next to the gate. Leaning there he peered round a couple times to catch glances of the house and the car. Havoc watched as Greed and his lackeys, went about their business, but then Greed turned and looked back at the gate. Jean ducked behind the shrubs, his pulse sped up. Had he spotted me? He thought. Then when nothing more happened, Jean dared another peek, only to find the car gone and the front stoop empty.

"Damn, I waited all night, for that." Jean muttered to himself, pushing his hat up a tiny bit on his head.

He wore a camel colored suit, that was wrinkled from being sat in his car all night long on his impromptu stake out. His Fedora was mostly the same color as his suit and tilted forward a bit to shade his eyes, save for the dark chocolate brown band, that matched his snake skin boots. His cream shirt was undone a little and his navy blue tie was loose around his neck, still with the knot in it. He hated to look unkempt, but being in his car all night long, would certainly have that effect. He wasn't vain by any means, but he knew, that the ladies loved a smartly dressed handsome man. And it was known publicly that Detective Havoc, loved the ladies. But secretly, some of the men too. He would often be found, frequenting the red light district of the city, in both the straight and gay establishments. Jean just loved to have variety in his life. Even if that meant much of what he got up to, had to be kept on the down low.

He walked back to his car and got in, slamming the door shut as that was the only way to close it properly. He idly thought to himself, that he really needed to either upgrade his car or get this one fixed. As he took a drag of his cigarette, almost to the butt, he pinched it between two fingers and rolled down the window. With an easy flick, the last remnants of the little white stick flew through the air and landed in the gutter on the other side of the street. Before that had even landed, Jean was digging out another from his slightly crumpled pack. Popping it between his teeth, he flicked the wheel on his lighter and the flame ignited, searing the end of the cigarette till it burned an angry red color. He then started his car, that sputtered into life and tried, more than once, to cut out on him. He pulled slowly from the curb and passed the main gate to Greed's place. With a final look and a fleeting thought, of something he really shouldn't be thinking of, Jean pressed the gas peddle more and accelerated down the street.

As he drove, Jean wondered just how he was going to escape the wrath of his boss, when he finally showed up to work today. Since, his little stake out, wasn't sanctioned by the top brass. He had done this off his own back. Perhaps, he thought as he drove to the up and coming part of the city, that bordered the shopping district, he could just sneak in without being seen. He knew that if he was to get away with this, he would need to freshen up and get a change of clothes too. He couldn't go into the station wearing yesterdays wrinkled duds. That would be a dead give away. Though, he knew it wouldn't be easy to get passed his boss or the receptionist either...that woman had eyes like a hawk. She always seemed to know what he'd been up to, or into, as the case may be. Jean grinned as he started to concoct a plan to distract her from over analysing him when he got into the office. A little of the Havoc charm, ought to do it, he thought.

It was a good hour and a half, before Jean reached his neighbourhood. It was still in the process of being rejuvenated, with lots of building work and refurbishment work still ongoing. He had to weave the car a bit, to avoid hitting the collection of large equipment that was being used by the workmen to do their jobs. Once beyond those, Jean pulled into his small drive, as the garage door opened automatically for him. He stopped the car around an inch from the wall, as the door lowered behind him. The room went from light to dark again and it was any wonder he didn't trip over or walk into something, with the lack of light. But Jean had done this a million times, so he easily found the door that led into the stairwell. He took the steps quickly to reach his top floor, loft apartment. Opening the door, he stepped in and shut it with the heel of his boot, while at the same time hooking his hat on the hat stand by the hall table. Of course it wasn't really a hall, but it served as one.

The whole apartment was open plan, with the only areas closed off into rooms, being his bathroom, bedroom and the spare room, that served as his gym/guest room. It wasn't a large place by any means, but it suited Jean. He had a nice simple kitchen along the wall to his right, with a window in the middle above the sink. His clutter covered dinning table, sat just on the fringes of his kitchen floor, with it's white and black diamond tiling. The rest of the flooring was oak wood, with nicks and gauges out of it in places, that only added to it's charm. Beyond the dinning table, sat his living room, with two big brown plush suede couches and a dark brown wooden coffee table in the middle of an old shaggy looking rug, with the television sat on the wall opposite one of the couches. Windows framed either side of the television and there was another next to the over crowded bookshelf opposite the second couch.

To the left of the living room, was the first of the closed off rooms, his bedroom. Through the open door you could see a large messy bed within, a couple free standing closets and matching bedside tables. One of which held his classic style alarm clock, the type with the big bells on the top. Further along the wall, you had the bathroom door and then nearer the 'hall', you had the guest/gym room. There was a bed in the guest room, though it was burdened with dumbbells and other small gym equipment. His bathroom was always clean, though it did look like a man lived there, with all the newspapers tucked into the book rack by the toilet. One man and his reading upon the porcelain throne. All in all, the apartment was pretty neat, considering it was Jean who lived here. He never professed to be the tidiest person in the world. Making his way toward his bedroom, Jean was already undoing his tie and slipping it from around his neck with one hand, while working open the rest of the buttons on his shirt with the other hand.

Entering his room, he threw the tie onto the bed, the shirt joining it swiftly as he slipped it from his shoulders, his white tank top followed next as he pulled it over his head. He worked his belt loose, as he toed off his boots, loosing his balance a bit and letting himself drop unceremoniously onto the end of his bed. He discarded the pants and his socks too, then slipped out of his brown boxers. Now in nothing but his birthday suit, Jean made for the bathroom, hopping into the shower for a quick freshen up. A few minutes later and a nice steam was filling the room, as Jean carefully lathered his body with the soap. Rivulets of suds ran down his flesh, over his chiselled abs and his firm pectoral muscles. Jean was no slouch, when it came to keeping his body in shape. He worked out everyday, without fail. Once done with his body, he moved to quickly wash his shaggy blond hair, that was most often times hidden by his hat. Once the shampoo was sufficiently lathered up, Jean stepped fully under the streaming hot water and let it wash over him, rinsing away all the suds and leaving his sexy body gleaming with the sheen of water on it.

Jean stepped from his shower and wrapped a towel around his waist, grabbing another to dry his hair with. He wandered out into his kitchen, rubbing his hair with the towel using his right hand to do it. With his left hand, he opened the fridge door and grabbed a can of Red Bull, the box with the left over pizza in it and a half eaten Baloney sandwich that was wrapped in foil. As he continued to dry his hair off, Jean flipped open the pizza box to reveal three slices left of his favourite topping...Meat Feast, with extra spicy Chorizo on it. He then cracked open the Red Bull and took a long swig of it, downing almost the entire can in one go. Finally satisfied with the dryness of his hair, Jean slung the towel around his neck and proceeded to devour the left overs set out before him, while finishing his drink and going for a second from the fridge. After eating his makeshift breakfast, Jean set about getting dressed again. After fully drying off, he tossed the two towels aside, opening a draw he pulled on a pair of dark blue boxers, then a black tank top was slipped over his head and across his strong chest.

He then shut the drawer and made for one of his closets, opening it to reveal, a whole rail full of suits that looked miraculously similar in color. Ranging from Camel right down to light beige and cream. Seemed Jean, didn't put much stock in having different colors for work. He picked a hanger that held a mid beige shade of suit, slipping into the pants and adding his belt with the specially made buckle, he had gotten himself upon being promoted to Detective. It was a gaudy little thing, with the image of a busty woman on it. Not very professional, but he loved it. He then reached in again, to the rail behind the first one, fishing out a clean shirt. The one he got, was a pale green color, almost like that of the grass on a golf course fairway. He slipped the shirt on, then did the buttons up and looked on the back of the closet door, to choose from the range of ties there. He picked a pale gold one and set about making the loop, before adding it around his neck and turning the shirt collar up, then back down once the tie was in place.

Putting on his gun holster and sliding into his jacket, Jean then went back into the bathroom. A swipe of his hand, to check his stubble rating and he deemed it not worth shaving for today, so he just splashed on a bit of cologne and roughly combed his wayward hair, before going back for his boots. Pulling those on, he was ready to face the day. On his way out the door, Jean grabbed his Fedora and popped it on his head, before locking up and making his way back down to his car. A quick clean out of the gathered fast food garbage, tossing it in the trash can by the door, Jean got in and started the engine. The door opened again automatically and he reversed out and down the small drive, back onto the cluttered street, ready to head to the station...and the chance of either being caught out by his boss, or the bosses favourite receptionist. He switched on the radio and idly listened to the daily news being read out, in between older tunes from when he was a young kid.

Ah, the memories. He thought to himself, as he drove to the center of the city.

000

As he pulled into the parking lot that was situated at the side of the police precinct, Jean was greeted by the attendant there, Denny Brosh. A young man, only a few years younger than Jean was himself. Denny had longer blond hair, that stopped just above his jaw line, with bangs that framed his face. He was always a might nervous, but ultimately a cheery soul. And it was no small secret, that he harboured a deep affection for a particular receptionist in the office. Maria Ross worked along side the boss's favourite spy, Riza Hawkeye. As Jean stopped the car to be greeted by Denny, they exchanged the usual courtesies and then the conversation turned to something more in the joking nature.

"Morning detective Havoc." Denny said cheerily, getting his clipboard and writing up a slip to put in the window of Jean's car "When are you gonna upgrade to a new car sir? Isn't thing old thing a junker by now? Hahaha."

"Mornin' Denny." Jean replied with a pleasant smile, then he burst out laughing "Hahahahaha, yeah well on the wage I pull in, there's little chance of me upgrading to anything other than another junker." Then he patted the steering wheel "Besides, this baby has life in her yet."

At that moment, the car sputtered and died on him, making him blink and desperately try to get it started again, as cars honked behind him. Jean was about ready to flip them the bird, when the Camero started with a cough.

"Yeah, seems like she does, hahaha." Denny retorted, as the car jerked a bit, before moving into the lot, with a small cloud of smoke trailing it.

"Yeah, yeah smart ass." Jean waved as he drove into the lot "Have a good day Denny." Jean called, then added with a yell "And get to asking that girl out already! Hahaha!"

At the last comment, Denny Brosh fumbled with his clipboard, before dropping it and annoying the hell out of the guy who had been behind Jean. Leaving Jean to laugh at how typical the boy was. He found a parking spot and pulled in, shutting off the engine and getting out, into the warm sunshine. He slipped a pair of sunglasses on, tucked his hands in his pants pockets and made his way inside. It was now or never. Time to face the music, as they say. He entered the main doors and quickly ascended the wide staircase that led up to the first floor, that held the Investigations and Homicide Divisions. To the untrained eye, it looked like one big room with many desks sat behind the main reception one. Of course, to those who worked there, it was easy to tell one division from the other. Namely there were two distinct private offices. On opposite sides of the big room, one on the left of the stairs and one on the right.

The one on the left, was for Investigations, headed by Captain Meas Hughes. The other on the right, was for the Homicide division, headed by Jean's boss, Captain Roy Mustang. The two men were old academy buddies, so they worked well together in such close quarters. Both of their respective teams, were highly trained, well respected men and women. Jean neared the top of the stairs and caught sight of Riza Hawkeye, Captain Mustang's little spy in the office. Jean sauntered up to the front desk, placed one arm on it and leaned all suave like against it, tipping his hat up a little and his sunglasses down his nose a bit to peer over the top of them. He let his bright azure eyes, rake over Riza as she sat there doing her paper work. She wore a dark navy blue skirt suit, with a slightly frilly white blouse and black two inch high heeled shoes, with her hair pinned back but still mostly loose. It made her look professional and pretty at the same time.

He had to come up with just the right opening line, to catch her off guard and make sure she didn't interrogate him over his lateness or the fact he probably looked like he hadn't had any sleep. Which he hadn't, and not for the best of reasons either.

"Hey there beautiful...how's your mornin' been going then? Hm?" He asked, voice like silk and an unlit smoke hanging from his lips.

"My morning has been fine." Riza replied, never once looking up and then added "And your late, you haven't slept and you smell like left over fast food, Jean."

"Uh! No way!" Jean self consciously sniffed his clothing "I showered not too long ago and I put cologne on too! You telling me you can still smell it?" He asked, stunned she could tell.

"I can tell on account of your car always stinks after you spend all night in it and no matter if you clean yourself and change your clothes, it still permeates every inch of you and it is disgusting Jean." Riza finally looked up at him, her deep coffee brown eyes beholding him with a stern look, she knew and she wasn't about to let it drop either "What were doing last night? Spying on that guy again?"

Jean was in shock, literally. She had pegged him down to the last detail. How the hell did she do that! His mind screamed. But he had a new pressing issue, she was asking questions, he truly didn't want to answer.

"No." Was the simple answer Jean gave her, before he started to make his way round the front desk, intending on going to his and relaxing a bit till he absolutely had to do something else.

That wasn't about to happen, just yet. Captain Mustang suddenly threw open his office door and barked loudly across the room.

"Havoc! My office! Now!" Then he wandered back into his own inner sanctum, leaving the door open for Jean to enter.

"Uh oh..." Jean muttered to himself, as he flinched when Mustang yelled at him, slowly making his way over to the open doorway, he tapped on the door frame "You screamed chief?"

Captain Roy Mustang. A handsome man, not as tall as Jean but still held himself with grace and poise. His dark obsidian eyes could strike fear into any new recruit. However Jean, had worked with him a long time now and was pretty much immune to any of his boss's tricks. Roy Mustang, with his ebony hair, that seemed neat yet messy at the same time, was stood behind his desk glaring at Jean with his hands planted firmly on the wooden desk top. His outfit of choice was black pants, with the matching jacket slung over the back of his leather desk chair. Crisp royal blue shirt, with his red/black diamond print tie tied loosely round his neck, from too much yanking on it while stressing out. Spit shinned black shoes and his black/brown Fedora hung on the coat rack with his long navy blue trench coat.

The man had taste, as all his gear, was designer stuff.

"Get in here, shut the door and explain yourself Jean!" Mustang barked again, his expression leaving no room for argument.

"Is that an order, Captain?" Jean replied smirking, he knew it was a bad idea to wind up his superior, but it was too much fun.

"What the hell did you think!" Mustang roared "That I was inviting you to do so! Yes, that was an order!" he shouted even louder, his temper getting away from him a bit.

Jean did as he was ordered to. He entered the office, shut the door and promptly parked himself in one of the chairs that sat in front of the desk, putting his feet up on it too, with that same smoke stick hanging from between his teeth. Mustang fumed, slapping away Jean's feet from his desk.

"Don't be so cocky Jean." He told him, then leaned over the desk more, his tone got low to the deck "Now, explain to me why...why you were following the head of the H gang, without prior authorisation for a stake out? And it had better be good Jean..or else it will be your badge."

"I was working off a hot tip boss." Jean said, nonchalantly gesturing with his hand "I heard something was gonna go down with Greed and his cronies. And as I didn't have time to get authorisation, I just went with it." He met Mustang's glare "Problem with that Chief?"

"My problem, Jean, is that your actions meant I got a call today from Greed's lawyers." Mustang grit his teeth, he hated being backed into a corner, without a way out "And they threatened this whole department, on account of your actions, you idiot!"

"Oh..." Jean paused for thought, that made things a bit stickier than he first thought they might get "Listen boss, I never thought he would actually see me. I guess after being in my car all night long, I got a little bit sloppy. It won't happen again." he said, azure meeting obsidian and holding the stare.

"It had better not, or else I am putting you on suspension. You hear me Jean?" Mustang pointed at him for emphasis "I won't have one of my team putting this whole department in jeopardy. Am I clear?"

"Crystal, boss." Jean nodded, then got up to leave, stopping by the door he said over his shoulder "By the way, I did see him go to all his business's and not for social calls either."

"Really now..." Mustang said thoughtfully, then snapped "No more stake outs without my say so Jean...got it?"

"Roger that chief." Jean replied, walking out the office with a grin on his lips, info always seemed to ease the situation.

Jean moved to his desk and settled in his wooden backed chair, making it creak under his weight. He reluctantly started in on his paperwork, that had piled up since he was late. That, and there was a lot from the passed couple weeks on this desk, under all the mess. It was going to be a long day.

000

The early evening temperatures were muggy and the buildings still held the heat of the day. Jean wasn't happy. He had been hoping to get out of work early and head home to crash out and sleep the whole night through. But it seemed, that wasn't to be. He wasn't currently at home or sleeping or even comfortable. He was at some Research and Development facility, on the northern most edge of the city, looking at the body of some scientist lying on the ground outlined in chalk. He was sweating in his suit, a line of wetness under the sweatband of his hat and trickling down his face. He wiped a palm over his face and watched as one of his colleagues looked over the scene in more detail. This guy, Vato Falman, was a stickler for details. But Jean was glad to be paired with him. That meant, Jean could do what he did best, talk to the witnesses.

Though there was a distinct lack of witnesses to this horrible event. The guy had been slashed through, like with a sword or some other highly sharp object. Well, that was how it looked to Jean. Vato on the other hand, was determined to analyse every last tiny shred of evidence, before making his report to Captain Hughes. Who would then in turn have a meeting with Captain Mustang. There were only a handful of people gathered around the taped off area. Jean had to be very careful not to step in the dead mans blood, which was pooled around his body like a crimson pond. It was slick still, meaning the guy hadn't been dead long, as the blood had yet to coagulate fully. His clothing was soaked in the stuff too. He was laying face down, in the most public area possible...the parking lot. Right next to what Jean had been told by the terrified receptionist who had found him, was his own vehicle. A pretty nice ride, Jean thought idly, a black Chrysler 300c sedan. Not bad for a scientist, he grinned.

The terrified you woman in question, Miss Sheska, was currently shaking and being watched over by the medics. He walked over to her and placed his right foot on the bottom step, that was just under the open doors of the ambulance. Jean then leaned his right forearm on his thigh and gave her a gentle smile. This was why he was good at questioning the witnesses, he was a smooth talker with most all people. That was one of his skills, one of his traits and he used it to the very best of his ability. With sometimes stunning effects. He couldn't count the number of times, he'd been given phone numbers from women, while conducting an investigation. Indeed, being a charmer, had it's perks. But for now, he was simply using that charm to relax and ease the fear of the young girl before him. She looked to be the nerdy type, so he went easy on her, being sweet to calm her down. She had shoulder length slightly wavy brown hair and matching chocolate eyes, that were framed by glasses.

"Hey there Miss Sheska, I'm Detective Jean Havoc." He said in a kind tone of voice, to which she gave a meek smile "I just want to ask you a few questions, okay? There's nothing to be scared of, I promise, I don't bite...hehe...alright?" he chuckled.

"A-alright, I'll answer what ever I can sir." Sheska replied shyly, still shaking a bit as she looked up at him with scared eyes, but his tone and the chuckle had her relaxing more "I don't think I can help with much though, I barely knew him."

"That's alright, anything you can tell me will be helpful alright." Jean said, then placed his left hand on her shoulder and used his thumb to rub gently "It's gonna be just fine, I know things like this can be scary, but just try and relax."

That simple touch of hand to shoulder, had her release some tension. Jean could feel her body loosening up under his gentle touch. Of course, Jean was skilled in other areas of relaxation but for now, this was enough to quell the poor girls fears.

"Alright, I'll do my best." Sheska replied, looking up at the handsome man with a bit more of a smile this time.

"Okay then, lets start simple shall we..." Jean said, pulling his pen and pad from his inner jacket pocket "Prior to an hour ago, had you seen the victim before in the facility at all?" he asked her.

"Yes, on occasion." Sheska replied with a nod "I work the front reception desk, so I see all the staff as they come and go." she picked at the blanket around her.

"Had you ever spoken to him? Or were you ever aware of what his job was here?" Jean continued, scribbling things down as he was told it.

"N-no, he would just walk in and head right to his office. I'm just a simple receptionist after all." There was a soft nervous giggle, signs she wasn't as scared now "I think he was involved in the Bio-Chem side of the facility. They have at least three different departments for that, each one does something slightly different to the other two. But I don't know exactly what, I'm sorry." she told him.

"Haha, don't worry, it all helps with my investigation." Jean reassured her, then scribbled those notes down "So Bio-Chem huh? Do you know if there was ever any competition between the three sections? Maybe a rivalry?" Jean looked up at her, keeping his expression soft.

"Oh, alright..." Sheska giggled a bit and even blushed a little too, she'd never had a man be so sweet to her before and he was a looker after all "Hmm...well I know that the Owner of the facility, encourages competition, to get the best out of her staff. Something about, survival of the fittest or something like that. So I suppose there would be a little rivalry, in the healthy sense." by now she had her finger to her chin in thought.

"I see, well yeah healthy rivalry is always a good way to increase productivity I guess..." Jean replied, then he came to the nitty gritty of his questions "So you were on your way to your car, about to leave for the day when you found him? What alerted you? Did you see him or the blood first?"

"Well I..." Sheska pulled the blanket closer to her and her voice got so quiet, it was hard to hear her "I saw his feet and the red pool...and I thought he had fallen and spilled something..so I went to see..and he...he was..I'm sorry! I can't!" she suddenly broke down, cupping her mouth and crying.

Jean rubbed her shoulder again, trying to calm her once more, since he had effectively upset her. She seemed to calm slowly, but he chose to finish off the questioning for now, he wouldn't get much out of her if she was prone to getting hysterical when asked about the discovery of the body.

"It's alright, that will be all for now okay." Jean soothed her "I may need to talk to you again, would that be alright? At a later date?" he asked her, gaining a nod in answer "Alright then, thank you for your time Miss Sheska."

Jean turned to walk back to Vato, when he stopped dead in his tracks. Barely having placed his foot back on the ground, he was struck by the most stunning sight he had seen in his entire life. A vision so lovely, he was speechless and dumbstruck. Now Jean was never prone to falling head over heels at first sight, he truly had never believed in that stuff till now. There she stood. Surrounded by at least five men in black suits. Most of which, held briefcases. That meant one thing and one thing only. Lawyers. Jean hated them. They were a law enforcement nightmare. They seemed to be talking amongst themselves and scanning over the scene.

But she, stood stock still and glared at what was before her. She wore a traditional style Kimono, that was mostly Burgundy red in color, with a pale blue fading into dark blue at the bottom and a black Panther seemingly stalking around the edge of the garment. At her left side, sat a sword in it's sheath. It looked to be quite long and, Jean wagered, it might have been a Katana. The sheath was decorated with a sweeping silver Dragon emblem and it looked as though that pattern, continued onto the hilt too. It was all in black and silver, very stylish. Highly dangerous too. Her feet were clad in stiletto boots, they looked to be the knee high kind, with a zipper up the inner edge. Her hair was the color of pure sunshine. Long, flowing to her mid back and sweeping over the right side of her face, covering one eye. But the one Jean could see, the eye that glared at the events unfolding before her, made his heart stop for a second. The coolest of ice blue eyes, surveyed all.

Vato came over and stood next to Jean, they both looked at the group of men, lead by the beautifully stunning, yet terrifying looking woman with the sword at her hip. The lawyers clucked around her, arguing back and forth. But she seemed unperturbed by their bickering's. She noticed Jean and Vato watching her. Her frown deepened, as she gave them both a disgusted expression. Vato sighed, Jean almost gasped. He was love struck, for the first time in his life.

"Vato...who is she?" Jean asked his colleague, as he absent-mindedly licked his lips "And why is she surrounded by those lawyers?"

"You mean you don't know Jean?" Vato sounded shocked, his deep straight laced tone wavered a little bit "That is the owner of this facility...Olivier Mira Armstrong, current head of the Armstrong family and..." he hushed his voice "Suspected leader of the M Syndicate.

"What!" Jean spun his head to look at Vato "Are you serious! SHE is the head of the M Syndicate? That..." he looked back at her "...vision of ultimate beauty...is a criminal?"

"Yeah she is, and keep your damn voice down Jean!" Vato scolded him "But it's not confirmed. She is too careful to be found out like that. And don't get any ideas, Romeo, she is completely out of your league."

Vato then slapped Jean's back and threw him off balance enough, to make him loose his footing a bit and look...rather the fool.

"Hey! Says who Vato?" Jean retorted as they went back to the spot where the body had been, since the coroner had now removed it and it was on the gurney in a body bag "I can get any woman I want...I'll have you know." he said confidently.

"Hey ya know, those who blow their own trumpets, wind up the losers in the end Jean." Vato warned him, then laughed "I know she wouldn't go for you...your too much of a pretty boy for her tastes. She likes her men, big and muscular...so I've heard."

"Oh yeah? Muscular huh?" Jean said, pondering it "I can do that...I work out anyways, wouldn't hurt to amp it up some." he laughed.

"Your incorrigible Jean, you know that?" Vato retorted, as he set about photographing more things "You won't win her...I guarantee it." he said over the click of the camera.

"Is that so?" Jean said, then glanced at her again, saying in a lower more thoughtful tone "We'll see about that..."