Evan Cassidy surveyed the apartment from the hallway for several more seconds as he glanced down and double-checked the address. He had been surprised when he had found Lulu's last place of residence, the room above her family's restaurant, vacant. He didn't have to wonder where the extra money had come from because drugs always had a unique way of providing high-paying, low-class jobs for anyone who wanted one.

He told himself he would reserve judgment until he at least learned the details of the situation. There was no reason to let what had happened between them affect his new assignment. New assignment, he thought wryly. That was an understatement. After a full ninety minutes of being subjected to Commissioner Scorpio's verbal lashing, he had been saddled with the unfair assignment of babysitting Lulu Spencer.

He thought about knocking. It would be the polite, universal way to get her attention. Then he thought about how she had run from him when she thought he was asleep and that made the decision for him. He was surprised when the door handle twisted easily and pushed it quickly open. She looked up, startled, and that was about the time she started to scream.

"You!" Lulu pointed as she backed up towards the lone, dirty window. "Get away from me!"

"Now, Lulu, just calm down." Evan held his hands up in surrender.

"Calm down? Are you crazy?"

"I'm not trying to scare you. I have to talk to you."

"Over my dead body. Get out."

"That's not going to happen." Evan closed the door behind him. "Now will you please stop screaming? The last thing I need is to explain to your landlord the connection I have with you." He let the threat hang in the air, knowing he would never do it to her. He watched her eyes narrow in response.

"You wouldn't dare." She fairly hissed. Her mind began to race, trying to remember all the self-defense moves her father, Patrick, and Lucky had tried to teach her over the years. Of course the one time they had tried to teach her something useful and that would be the thing she'd forget. Evan didn't try to hide his grin. "I could have you arrested."

"Could you make sure either Harper or Ennis does it? I still owe Wilson some money."

Her eyes flashed in anger, advancing on him like a cat on the prowl. "You bastard. What? You're a narc? You're a narc and you did what you did to me? Forget the cops. I'll blow the whistle on your little sting my damn self."

"Well it's a little late for that I'm afraid." Evan answered coolly.

"Poor baby. Did you screw someone else's girl and have to blow your cover to save your own ass?"

Evan wasn't going to play this game with her. The five years he had on her had taught him not to waste his time on trivial things. Yes, they had had sex. Yes, he regretted it. "Tell me why you were at the club that night."

"Wild sex and Jell-O shots. What else?" Lulu shot back flippantly.

"I'm not kidding. This is some very serious stuff you've gotten yourself into." Evan warned.

"I already have a father. I don't need a lecture from the likes of you."

"And just what does that mean? You know nothing about me." Evan reminded her. "Beyond the biblical sense I mean."

"That's exactly what I mean." Lulu stalked closer to him, keeping her voice even. "Since apparently you were on the job, then you were sober that night. You knew I wasn't. You knew and you slept with me anyways. Any man who would do something like that is in no position to lecture me on the way to cross the street; much less what kind of people I hang out with."

"I'm not proud of what I did." He stopped talking before he gave too much away. His reason for being there that night didn't matter. Besides, she wouldn't believe him anyway. He could make up a lie or two about what made her so attractive to him, admit that he hadn't been anymore sober than she had been, but what difference would that make? "But I don't want to be fishing your body out the ocean because you're too proud to ask for help."

"You aren't listening to me Officer. I don't need your help."

"It's Detective actually and I don't remember asking for your permission. Whenever you go out, I'm going to be right behind you. I'm going to mess up your plans and your drug deals or whatever they are. You're not getting rid of me." Evan assured her.

"Well see about that." Lulu promised him coolly. She may have hit a rough patch here, but above all else, she was a Spencer. She could probably evade his cop ass before she started walking.

"I look forward to the challenge." Evan made his way to the door. "Either you tell me when you're going out or I'm going to be a constant pain in your backside."

"I hope you like getting ditched."

"Does that mean you'll tell me the next time you go out?"

"Does it look like I want you near me?"

"Well, let's see..." Evan slowly circled her. "Your head is cocked which means you're hiding something. You're shifting from one foot to the other. Obviously uncomfortable. You're biting your bottom lip which, while it could be a habit, it's a nervous one." He stepped closer, towering over her. "Do I make you nervous, Leslie Lu?"

"You make me sick." She promised him.

"I knew I could count on you." Evan smiled slowly. "I'll see you around."

"Not if I see you first."

*****

"Calm down. This could be a good thing." Dara tried to explain to her increasingly agitated client. Judge Hendricks's declaration after a morning of testimony that she had made her decision and would render it after lunch had taken everyone by surprise. Dara had barely begun to start on her own list of witnesses. According to the judge's clerk, the report from the social worker had come in earlier than expected. Apparently when Judge Hendricks had said she would consider the report, what she had meant was it was going to be one of the deciding factors. "This could go our way. You said the visit went well."

"I thought so. But it wouldn't be the first time I was completely wrong about something." Lucky shrugged as he paced in the hallway outside the courtroom.

"Can't you do anything with him?" Dara exasperatedly asked Elizabeth. "Force him to look on the bright side? As a lawyer I'm supposed to be the downer. Not my client."

Elizabeth shrugged her shoulders. "I've been trying since this whole thing started. This is about as positive as he gets when it comes to this."

"Fabulous." Dara rolled her eyes. Sighing she glanced down the hall, spotting Diane Miller and the Grimes coming down the hallway. Standing up, she smoothed out the wrinkles on her skirt and put a warning hand on Lucky's shoulder. "I don't care if you have to bite your tongue till you spurt blood; you will at least fake it for the next few minutes or I will quit on you."

Straightening her back, Dara pasted on her best fake smile. "Ms. Miller, best of luck."

Next to the word insincere should be a picture of the smile Diane Miller gave, Dara decided. "You too Ms. Jensen. You too."

Elizabeth stood behind Lucky and pressed her hand tightly into his, hoping against hope he wouldn't say anything. It would do nothing but cause another fight, one that would most likely come back to bite them both in the ass. If the judge decided in their favor, at some point Cameron would want to know about his mother and her family. As much as it would please them both to cut both Tony and Lisa out of their lives, in the long run it wouldn't be good for Cameron, a fact that had caused more than one late-night discussion between them.

Lucky opened his mouth to say something, anything to wipe the smug expression off of Tony's face. How could the man look so confident? There was just an equal chance that he could be the one to lose everything. Something else was going on; there had to be. At that exact point, Peter Crane, the clerk he had spent countless hours staring at throughout the entire trial, stuck his head out of the courtroom.

"Good. You're all here. Judge Hendricks is ready for you all."

"Shall we?" Dara asked brightly, smiling her best imitation of a beauty pageant smile, gesturing to the door Peter was holding open for them all. It surprised her absolutely none when Diane and the Grimes walked right past without a word being spoken. "I will so miss this friendly rivalry." She muttered under her breath as she motioned for Lucky and Elizabeth to go on. "You two first. This is going to be your victory not mine."

"From your lips to God's ears." Elizabeth whispered.

"I'd say it louder for Diane to hear it, but we don't want her to start a fight right before she's going to lose." Dara murmured.

Elizabeth fought back the giggles that threatened to erupt. The last thing they needed was for the judge to see her laughing right before she announced who was going to get custody of Cameron. It might go against the whole responsible mother figure vibe she had been trying to give.

Judge Hendricks swooped into the room giving them just enough time to assemble behind their respective tables and stand at her entrance. Waving her hands in the hair, she stated briskly, "Sit down. Sit down."

Waiting until all the parties were settled, Judge Hendricks pulled slightly on her pearl earring. Taking a breath, she folded her hands underneath her chin. "There are many things that I take into consideration when it comes to the custody of children. The safety of the child, the stability of the home, the emotional availability of all parties concerned. In this case, there were no glaring signs that one home would be better than the other."

"That being said, there were many factors that went into this decision. I do not consider issues of custody lightly. While I feel the Grimes have demonstrated ample concerns regarding the raising of their grandchild in the media spotlight and the events that led to his attempted kidnapping, I am also equally certain of the explanations of Mr. Spencer. And for the record, I am not basing this decision solely on the events of the past few months. That would be a disservice both to Cameron and all parties involved."

"It is the opinion of this court that the events of the last few months are arbitrations, not the rule. It is also the opinion of the court that it is highly unlikely these scenarios will be repeated again. Furthermore, it is also highly unlikely that Cameron being raised in a different set of circumstances would have prevented these events. Even being raised by the Grimes, the fact remains his father is Lucky Spencer. And I am not convinced the media discovering Mr. Spencer had a child he was not raising wouldn't have been a bigger story than what appeared in the papers."

Looking between both lawyers, Judge Hendricks smiled. "I am convinced that no matter what the decision that I have made, Cameron will be loved and well taken care of. That is a good thing. I don't have many children that come through my courtroom that I can say that about. However both parties have come to ask me to make a decision and that I must do."

"In reviewing the totality of the evidence presented and the report from an independent third party, the court finds that there is no reasonable evidence to alter the existing custody agreement. From all reports Cameron Spencer is a happy, healthy child who is doted on by his entire family. And while I may question Mr. Spencer's business tactics, it does seem he has changed his ways in the past year. For the better I might add. The addition of Ms. Webber and two new siblings in his life has not seemed to be detrimental to Cameron. He appears to love being a big brother and has formed a unique relationship with Ms. Webber. And while I do not doubt the love and concern the Grimes have for their grandchild and they have my deepest sympathies for the situation they have found themselves in, the court simply sees no reason to uproot the child at this time. Therefore the ruling of this court is primary custody. The minor child Cameron Lucas Spencer shall be returned to his father no later than a week from today. The court does expect there will be continued visitation between Cameron and his grandparents until such a time when Cameron is deemed old enough to make the decision himself." Judge Hendricks reached for her gavel and knocked it against the oak desk. "This case is closed."

Author's Notes: We totally psyched you out with the title didn't we? Aren't we just little stinkers?

Previews:

How had it come to this of all things? He was actually scared she would walk away from him. If he thought he had missed her when he was in Tucson, he didn't want to start to imagine what would happen if she actually left him. Scratch that. He knew what would happen. He'd eventually fall into old patterns and end up dissatisfied because none of them would be Maxie.