"Absolutely no way!" Casey exclaimed. "Not a chance!"

Derek looked baffled. "Why not?"

"Do I look like I belong to the Playboy mansion?"
Derek glanced up and down at her and smirked. "You really want me to answer that?

Casey glared at him. She was wearing a pink silk shirt and a grey pencil skirt. The outfit fitted her figure neatly, but she looked smart and sophisticated – not at all coquettish.

"You're on dangerous ground Venturi." She warned. The accompanying tilt of her head made him think twice about jocularity.

They were standing in the parking lot of the Department building the day after they had been introduced to Bea. Derek had brought Casey down here to show her the car he had arranged for her to use. Her own car had been brought in and was being stored under lock and key until such time as Casey was no longer under threat from Sal.

The car Derek had ordered Casey was a small, but well-built sports car in a deep grey colour. It was sleek but not extravagant and the engine was powerful; the controls quick and responsive. Derek had ordered it because it would get her out of trouble in a chase. Nevertheless, Casey was right. The car would look pretty good with an attractive woman laid out on its hood…in Derek's eyes one particular attractive woman.

"I…" he started. Casey leapt in.

"Fast cars, fast women…I'm not a fast woman."
"No. I know. I've been in the car with you driving." Sometimes a quip was just too good to resist whatever the "danger".

"Der-ek!" Casey sighed, exasperated.

Derek met her eyes and grinned. "Come on. You'd miss it if I didn't bite." He stated.

She shook her head – but her mouth was turned up in a small grin of her own. Derek went on as he stepped closer to her.

"I know you like your old car…"

"…it wasn't old, Derek. I've only had it a year." She protested.

"…but," he ignored the interruption and reached up to stroke her cheek. "It's no use in a chase." His voice whispered low and seductive. "It's too big, it has the turning circle of an eighteen wheeler and your only chance of outrunning the bad guy is if there's a following wind and you're on a downward slope – oh and if he gets a flat." Derek pressed a kiss against her neck

"That's unfair!" She objected and twisted away from him.

"Casey." He put a hand on her arm to stop her running too far. "You stick to sutures, and I'll stick to high speed chases, okay? I know what I'm talking about. I've been a target for a very long time. Like it or not, you are a target now too: a very visible target. You're not only a member of my family; you're the most important member of my family. Sal would like to make my death as painful as possible so if he gets to inflict pain on my nearest and dearest in the process he will do. I want you to stand a chance of getting away from him." He stopped and his expression became pained. "I'm not losing you."

Derek stepped close to her again and dropped his lips to her ear. "It's taken me long enough to work my way into your pants I'd rather like to stay there."

Casey felt his breath on her neck and the warmth of his proximity in the chilly underground parking lot.

"I bet you would." She said, a dark seductive look of her own in her eyes – and there was the coquettishness!

Derek pressed a kiss on her neck.

"Believe it or not, I didn't organise this car for you so that I could fantasise about you spread over its hood."

"Really?" Casey's tone queried but disbelieved. Her fingers crept around him to stroke the back of his neck.

Derek snorted softly and kissed her ear. "Your ego is as big as mine, isn't it?" he checked. Casey laughed, liking the attention he was paying her, even if she didn't like the car. She knew what his game was, he was trying to distract her - but that didn't mean she wanted him to stop.

But stop he did.

Derek straightened and took her hand, pulling her around to the driver's door.

"It's fast, it's compact and it's non-descript. It's perfect. I want you to get used to driving it for a few days and then I'll get one of the guys from Traffic to take you on the skid circuit and teach you some evasive manoeuvres." He finished with a flourish.

"Do I get a choice in this?" Casey asked.

"Nope."

She sighed, leaned against the car with one elbow and looked up at Derek, irritation still causing a fire in her eyes – irritation and something else. Resting as she was against the sports car, unwittingly she was already fulfilling a fantasy of his…

…which only deepened when she ran a finger down his shirt.

"Tell me, honey." Casey said, taking a deep breath so that her breasts pressed against the silk of her blouse. "These evasive manoeuvres? Do they work on you?"

Casey didn't have lunch with Derek. Aware that he had spent too much time out of the office recently, Derek turned his attention to his overloaded in-tray instead. It was sort of a moot point anyway because Casey did have a lunch date with someone else…Bea.

The appointment was actually in Bea's office on the outskirts of town so Derek suggested Casey drive herself in her new car, protection detail following along behind. Sensing that she wouldn't win the argument about the vehicle or the detail, Casey saved her energy for more important battles that she knew would come one day. She took her purse from Derek's desk, pressed a kiss on the top of his head and paused dramatically.

"Oh!" She said in a tone that said she was surprised by something. Derek looked up.

"Oh what?" he frowned.

"Erm…" Casey hesitated as if trying to hide something, watching his reaction from the corner of her eye.

"Erm what?" Derek pushed cautiously.

Casey straightened, shrugged and murmuring something about hair loss remedies (with a ruffle of his hair) she waved goodbye to Derek and Spike - and left.

Derek ran nervous fingers through his (completely fine) locks and deepened the frown.

Spike laughed. "She's winding you up. There's nothing wrong with your hair."

His friend sighed. "It's a sore point. My dad's dad had a bald patch like a monk and George was starting to thin a bit last time I saw him."

Spike chuckled. "You'll be fine. You don't get baldness from your dad's side of the family?"

"Really?" Derek perked up.

"Really. So no tonsure for you." Spike confirmed. "Hereditary baldness comes from your mother's side of the family."

"Fuck!" Derek scowled again.

"Oh?"

"Abby's dad was as bald as a coot." He said, leaping up and dashing after Casey to find out if she really meant it.

Derek interruptions aside, when she eventually got under way, Casey didn't rely on her sense of direction. The new car had a navigation system in it like Casey's existing car. Or rather it had a more state-of-the-art one and the female voice pre-programmed into it sounded like it was trying to take you to bed rather than Wal-mart. Making a mental note to change the voice settings in the near future, Casey typed in the address Jazz had given her the previous day and let the car guide her to Bea's office.

As she drove she considered the diminutive woman who she had met the previous day. Bea had been unlike any other woman she had ever met because she didn't fit a profile at all. Her clothes sense was raw and confrontational; the sort of look you would expect from someone who worked in a tattoo parlour or a bar.

But then Bea's occupation was a complete contrast. She was clearly a very intelligent person. That's not to say that her look made her look unintelligent, just that…well that members of the legal profession rarely dress like that!

Then there was the whole Jazz thing. Neither Casey nor Derek knew the story behind what seemed like an unlikely pairing. Casey was convinced however, that they had been a pairing at some point. She wondered when it had started and when, and how, the story had ended. Then she remembered the hurt in both their eyes and she wondered if it really had ended.

Bea's offices were a bit of a shock. They were large, smart and in quite an affluent end of town. After she had parked in the allocated lot, Casey double-checked to make sure she had the address correctly written down because there was a disconnect between the girl she had met yesterday and the type of person she expected to work in this building.

Finding the address was indeed accurate, Casey grabbed her purse, locked her car and entered the glass and steel building.

"Casey McDonald to see Ms Evans." Casey announced to the main receptionist who smiled briefly and picked up the phone. After a short conversation with someone who she suspected was another receptionist, Casey was directed to the third floor reception area. This time, the receptionist was actually a secretary and the atmosphere was much quieter. It was also warmer.

"Dr McDonald." The secretary, a pleasant lady in her late sixties smiled warmly. "Bea will see you now."

Appreciating the informal appellation for her employer, Casey smiled warmly back in return at the lady who looked like someone's grandmother and followed the direction of her gaze to an open door off to the right. Casey walked towards the door and then froze when she reached the opening.

Inside the smart, expensive office was a short lady in an immaculately tailored suit, natural-coloured pantyhose and Louboutin pumps. Her hair, a rich glossy black was pulled tightly back into a French pleat and she was wearing a pair of frameless designer glasses that Casey – used to Derek's vernacular - could only describe as "hot – in a librarian sort of way".

The lady looked up as Casey approached.

"Oh! Hi Casey!"

Casey's jaw dropped as she stared – and then apologised profusely.

Bea grinned. "S'ok. It gets most people like that the first time they see me at work. Of course my work colleagues also freak out when they see me off-duty."

"Sorry, Bea." Casey apologised again. "I just…wow!"

Bea motioned for Casey to sit on the formal-looking brown leather sofa at one side before picking "her" armchair. Casey sunk down onto the sofa and her eyes again expressed surprise when the "formal" sofa proved to be incredibly comfortable, both soft and supportive at the same time.

Her companion smiled.

"People usually ask me which is the real me, the rocker chick or the uptight librarian, but the answer is they are both me. I just keep the two parts of me very separate."

Casey nodded in understanding.

"There's a practical reasoning behind it too, though. My job is employment law, and I'll be honest and say most of the injustices in the world of work tend to happen at the lower end of the social scale. You know warehousemen being forced out because they are active members of the union, fitters hurt because of cost-cutting. Those types of people aren't comfortable in a high end office talking to a woman in $500 shoes. They only really relax and open up in a bar over a game of pool. I go to them rather than let them come to me. I keep the offices going because their employers don't respect a tiny girl in an Origin of Symmetry t-shirt. For them I have to "come" the cool-headed, sharp-eyed lawyer who graduated top of her class – the one who won the major law-suit against Philip Morris."

"You won a law suit against Philip Morris?" Casey was impressed. Bea nodded.

"I was newly qualified and they underestimated the tiny new girl." She explained. "Now. Let's hear about your situation and I'll see what I can do to help."

Casey took a deep breath. She didn't want to let her emotions get away with her in front of this strong woman but it was still quite raw.

"It's complicated." Casey said.

"Oh? I gathered from Jason that it was quite straight forward. Your boss made a pass at you that you rejected and in retaliation he reported you for making the pass. Is that not how it happened?"
Casey sighed. "No. That's exactly how it happened. It's just… well I know that you are going to ask me questions about why I went to dinner with the guy and why I am on first name terms with him. All of that is complicated."

Bea shook her head. "Casey, the truth is always black and white. We try to colour it and dilute it but when you focus properly all you are left with is hard realities. Understanding how truth works is what makes the difference between a good lawyer and a bad lawyer: an innocent man's attorney if he is doing his job properly knows how to strip away the extra colouring leaving stark facts. A guilty man's attorney knows how to swirl and mess the picture with murkiness, destroying the clarity that a jury needs for conviction. The question is do you want me to represent you as an innocent or not?"
"Innocent of course!" Casey exclaimed. "I didn't make a pass at him. I couldn't have. I don't…look at men…I…" Casey didn't know where to start.

Bea raised an eyebrow.

"You don't look at men? Does that mean what I think it does? Only you looked pretty cosy with Derek last night."

Casey's eyes widened. "What? NO! I like men just as well as the next woman. I just…" Before she could form the words she wanted to, there was a knock at the door and the secretary from outside came in.

"Oh hi Gamma! Come in!" Bea said. The elderly lady who was far from frail entered the room pushing a small trolley loaded with a selection of food clearly designed to be eaten without detracting from the conversation going on. Everything was neat and easily picked up. There was nothing messy or likely to drip, and although there were smart plates and cloth napkins, there was no cutlery.

"Is this sort of food okay for you?" Bea asked. "Gamma makes it herself so it's all fresh."

"It's perfect." said Casey, smiling at the older woman who returned the smile, quietly turned and left the room. "She seems very efficient." Casey commented.

Bea glanced towards the door. "I'm lost without her. She taught me one of the biggest lessons of my career – prejudice leaves you with a half life. Being open to everyone being equals is far more rewarding. My old secretary got pregnant and decided to become a stay-at-home mom so she left. With the amount I am out of the office I desperately needed a secretary I could rely on and my failure to find a replacement one almost cost me my business. Then one Sunday lunch I was moaning to my family about it and my grandmother cut across what I was saying and called me prejudiced. At first I was annoyed but then I listened. I was young and naïve and so determined not to be prejudiced that I had overlooked what she was saying – namely that she had been one of the most senior secretaries at my grandfather's legal firm for many years before the employment law forced her to retire because of her age. Shortly before that Sunday lunch the law had changed. She called me out on the prejudice I showed when I failed to offer her a job."

"So you offered her a job there and then?" Casey asked.

Bea shook her head. "Nope. I told her to submit a resume and I be in touch with an interview time."
"You interviewed your grandmother?" Casey gasped.

"Hell yes! She was right in that I had been wrong to not consider her. She was wrong to assume that I would just give her the job. Of course her resume was perfect, she interviewed really well so I gave her the job. Now we're both happy. How old do you think she is?" Bea asked.

Casey thought for a moment. "69?"

Bea chuckled. "Oh she'd love you. She's 77."

"Wow!"

"Gamma has an assistant these days who she is training up to continue after her because we both know this can't last forever, but she swears this is keeping her young. She's very protective of me."

"She's a good cook too." Casey said, taking some food onto the offered plate.

"She is. It was her idea to keep this sort of format: small and non-messy items so that it doesn't stop the flow of conversation."

Casey nodded.

"Now! Let's get back to complicated. I want you to start at the very beginning. How did you get your job?"
Casey shook her head. "That's not the very beginning." She objected. "Erm… Bea…As my lawyer, you're sworn to secrecy, right?"
"Yes. Why?"

"Because in order to tell you about my job, I need to tell you about why I'm in Ottawa."

"Okay…"
"And that information is…sensitive."

"Painful?"
"No. Classified sensitive." Casey said and launched into the tale of Derek's death and subsequent events.

Bea made notes and listened without comment until just before Casey got to the part where Steven got her the interview in Ottawa.

"So you came to Ottawa for a vacation, found Derek again and decided to stay."

Casey nodded. "Eventually. There was a bit more to it. But yes, I'd lost him and found him again. Think about it, if you lost someone you loved dearly and then had a chance to have them back in your life in some capacity wouldn't you be prepared to route your entire life around their's?"

There was a long pause.

"Not everyone is as lucky as you are Casey. Derek still wanted you." Bea's voice was bleak.

With a sinking feeling, Casey realise she had accidently hit the nail on Jazz's head.

"Jazz?" She asked quietly.

Bea nodded and then coughed and pulled herself together.

"All water under the bridge." She said in a tone that said it wasn't but that it was too painful to go on about. Casey took the hint and carried on with her own tale.

"I came to Ottawa because "Mikey" lived here and I was curious about the city. I stayed here because I was offered a job at the hospital and it gave me the opportunity to be close to Derek."

Bea made another small note. "And you lived…?"
"With Derek." Casey said. "I continued to sleep in his bed – completely innocently – and started work at the hospital."
"And it was Robin who approached you about the job?"
"Yes. I'd wanted information on Jazz's condition and Steven, a friend from London, called in a favour to get me a tour of the hospital."

Casey expected some questioning about the "favour", what she didn't expect was Bea sitting forward suddenly.

"What about "Jazz's condition"?" she demanded, her eagerness to know making her fore-go the usual Jazz/Jason conflict.

"When he was in ICU." Casey explained as if it was obvious. Bea's eyes widened in panic.

"He was in ICU?" She gasped.

Casey nodded.

"I thought you knew." She said.

Bea shook her head. "We only talk if we absolutely have to. And our families don't talk to each other at all." There was sadness there again. "What happened?"

Casey explained about Jazz getting shot in the leg and how it was touch and go for a while. She told the girl before her about the severity of the injury and how he still used a stick most days and that he would probably need physiotherapy of some description for a very long time to come.

When Casey had finished, there were two wet tracks running down Bea's cheeks.

"I never knew." She whispered.

"I'm sorry." Casey said.

Eventually, when the moment had passed they moved on and completed the interview. Casey was surprised at how relaxed she felt in Bea's company. She had not intended to share as much information with her new lawyer as she had. Instead of quoting just facts, Casey had talked a lot about how she had felt at the time. She put it down to the time they had spent together the previous evening – and the fact they clearly both knew what it meant to love and lose.

Bea nodded occasionally at Casey's explanations for her actions.

"They will try to make out that you either wanted to punish Derek or that you were really after Robin." She informed Casey.

Casey snorted. "That's just ridiculous. When I said I don't look at men I meant that I had no desire to look at anyone else. I love Derek. I have loved him for a very long time. I went out that night because Robin had been nagging me for a long time, promising to give me some good career advice. Yes it got me out of the house in the middle of an argument with Derek, but we had been arguing for several days and I didn't run straight to Robin. I decided to go to the dinner to get him off my back. I wasn't in the mood for the meal before I went and I certainly wasn't in the mood by the end of it. He kept making snide comments about "Mikey". It irritated me so I wanted to leave early."

"He knew about Derek?"
"Not exactly. "Mikey" or rather "Derek" was always hanging around the hospital. It was obvious there was something going on between us. And then the first time that Robin suggested dinner – to discuss my job offer, I insisted on Derek coming too."
Bea looked stunned. "Let me get this straight. You, Derek and Robin had dinner together?"

"Yes."

"At your insistence?"

"Actually it was at Derek's insistence and I was more than happy about it. He was nervous after the whole Papillion thing and he wasn't ready to let me out of his sight." She smiled. "Bless him. So he invited himself along."

"Okay. That's good. Taking a chaperone with you is good. It's a shame that you and Derek weren't talking or you could have taken Derek with you on the second occasion."

Casey shook her head. "No. Robin was adamant that it should be just the two of us."

Bea cocked an eyebrow. "Really? That's interesting. Now, who came close to you while you were eating? Who might have over heard your conversation?"

"Only the waiter." Casey sighed. And the Maitre d' will have heard me initially declining Robin's offer of coffee but how on earth would he remember me? He must have seen dozens of people since then."

"It's worth asking though." Bea said. "Someone might have been watching."

"The really stupid thing is that someone was supposed to be watching me. I've got a permanent protection detail following my every move." Casey said.

Bea looked interested. "And?"
"And they saw nothing. Derek checked. In fact he went ballistic because they were still parking the car when the incident happened in the coffee bar."

"Parking can take a while." Bea shrugged.

"Bea, the restaurant and the coffee shop are walking distance from each other. They couldn't park because they decided to drive between the two places rather than walk the way we did. That's what has Derek pissed."

There was a knock at the door and Gamma poked her head in.

"Are you ready for me to clear?" She asked. Casey looked down at her plate in surprise. Yes, she really had eaten everything on her plate!

"Thanks Gamma!" Bea smiled up at her secretary. "Gamma, this is Casey. She's a friend of Jason's."

A frown crossed "Gamma's" face and Bea smiled sadly.

"Not that sort of friend. She's more a friend of Jason's co-worker."

The frown cleared and Gamma's once again smiled at Casey.

Almost immediately the frown returned. "Did he contact you?" Gamma asked Bea pointedly. Casey was slightly surprised at the tone which was more parental than subordinate. Clearly Gamma didn't hold back with her granddaughter/employer.

Bea sighed. "Yes Gamma."

"I thought you decided you weren't going to have anything to do with him?" Gamma pointed out.

"It's not that easy Gamma." Bea tried to explain.

Gamma nodded. "I see. You two are going to spend the rest of your lives chipping little bits out of each other aren't you? Well, I've said enough on the subject. You know my feelings and…"

Bea appeared surprised that her grandmother was willing to discuss her boss'private life in front of an almost stranger.

"Gamma…Casey is a client."

The elder woman suddenly looked horrified. "I'm so sorry, Dr McDonald." She said and quickly whipped the last items onto her trolley and took herself off.

"Sorry." Bea apologised. "Gamma is normally really professional but Jason has always been a sore point with her. Well, for the last ten years at least."

Casey sat forward.

"Bea, forgive me. I know it's none of my business but I like you and I think we could be friends. As your friend I've noticed that you've come so close to breaking down so many times in the short time I've known you. Derek would say that I inspire that sort of reaction in people so I really hope I haven't offended you today. I just want to say that…"

"It's not you, Casey. It's Jason."

Casey nodded. "Just what exactly is he to you, Bea?"

Bea was quiet for a moment.

"He's my ex-fiance." She replied.