Thanks to anyone who reviewed, it really makes my day. This chapter picks up exactly where the last one left off (as most of them do), with Scotty and Lilly leaving the hospital. Just a side note, from the beginning of the story until now, about a week and a half has passed in Cold Case world. Not a lot of time.

This song is by Marianas Trench, featuring Kate Voegule.

Disclaimer: I have a computer that doesn't function quite as fast as it should, some spare time on my hands, and an inexplicable love for these characters. Sadly I don't own them.

Chapter 13: Good To You

As Lilly and Scotty made their way toward her house, Scotty attempting to drive within the speed limit for once, Lilly felt herself starting to drift off to sleep. She huddled deeper into Scotty's suit jacket, inhaling the sweet, spicy scent she now associated only with her boyfriend. Scotty slowed the speed of the car even more to give Lilly more time to sleep before he had to wake her.

Keeping one hand on the steering wheel, and using the other to tuck his coat more tightly under her chin, Scotty began to think about all the events of the past twenty four hours, which contained more ups and downs than any day during his entire time with the Homicide squad of Philly. It started with a glorious morning that Scotty hoped to replay everyday in the future. Waking up, watching Lilly sleep, making her coffee, driving her crazy in the shower, joking with his colleagues while eating sweet doughnuts and drinking good coffee. It was as close to a perfect morning as he could imagine.

And it had all gone downhill from there.

Scotty had known, known when he saw Wayne Simms looking like a caged animal in that interrogation room, that it wouldn't take much to light his fuse, which is exactly what Lilly did. Not that she should be blamed. Oh, hell no. Not in the slightest. Because she'd done exactly what a detective should've, roped him in and gotten information, perhaps not in the safest of ways, but that was the job. And then… in a flurry of fists hitting soft flesh, Lilly was on the floor, the detective in her completely gone.

Scotty cursed under his breath as he ran another red light. He didn't know if it was the fact that it was 7 in the morning on a Saturday, when he would usually be sleeping in or if he was impossibly distracted by the beautiful blonde next to him, but his driving was definitely suffering. Fixating his eyes back on the road, Scotty tried his hardest not to get into a car wreck.

Kat had convinced him to take Lilly to the hospital and on the way he'd spilled his secret to her and thank God he had. Kat knew and Lilly knew that Kat knew, and the world hadn't caved in, they'd sidestepped that particular landmine. While Lilly was off getting all her tests, Scotty had collapsed on some unknown patch of hospital floor, which ironically was much more comfortable than the chairs provided by the hospital, and slogged through the plethora of thoughts in his mind. Finally, he'd come to the conclusion that there was no protecting her from this damn job, nor was there any parting Lilly and her job. That left thanking the universe that nothing horrible had happened and moving on, which is what Scotty resolved to do.

And then he saw that x-ray. The one that made him recognize Lilly's broken jaw. Quietly, Scotty cursed his numerous childhood broken bones. The times he'd fallen off his bike, jumped off a dining room table, decided he could fly from the top of the jungle gym, and looked at the pictures the doctor brought him with interest… but he'd never broken his jaw, never even come close to it in fact.

All of that made him think that there was more to this injury than what met the eye and the doctor seemed to agree with him. She'd encouraged him to ask her about it. Scotty chuckled. She obviously didn't know Lilly, and her reluctance to talk about her past, especially something like this in her past. She broke her jaw. She broke her jaw. She broke her jaw. Even now Scotty couldn't help but stare at the woman next to him and wonder.

It could be nothing. It could just be a childhood accident like his. But Scotty knew the kind of childhood Lilly had. One that was not likely filled with bicycles and jungle gyms like his had been. She'd tried to tell him before, only to give up when he didn't want to hear it. But now, now that they were together, Scotty found that he couldn't not know. He just needed a way to ask, hopefully a gently encouraging way that told her he cared, and he wouldn't judge. Pulling up to Lilly's house, Scotty turned to find that Lilly was not only fast asleep, but that her head had disappeared beneath his coat so that only a fan of corn silk blond hair was visible.

Scotty was glad for a temporary distraction and focused on getting Lilly inside as comfortably as possible. He walked over to her side of the car and pulled her out of the seat easily. Walking slowly so as not to slip on the ice that adorned the stairs to her front door, Scotty cursed winter in Philly. It was still a month from Christmas, and yet it was as if the city was in a deep freeze. Scotty reached into Lilly's bundle of clothes in the hospital issued plastic bag and extracted her house key, unlocked the door, and carried Lilly into the quiet house.

The cats immediately circled his ankles, giving Scotty a look that said, what the hell did you do to her? Rolling his eyes and stepping over the cats, Scotty made his way up the stairs and into the bedroom he and Lilly had shared for the past week.

He put her down on her side of the bed, and Lilly immediately rolled around and snuggled deeply into the covers.

Scotty crouched down and spoke to her sleeping form, "I gotta go Lil." He said regretfully.

Semi consciously, Lilly reached out with one hand and found Scotty's face. "No…" She murmured, her eyes still closed.

Pressing a kiss to her hand, Scotty sighed, "Sorry Lil." He hated that he had to leave her here on her own, when she might need someone to take care of her.

On his way out the door, Scotty scratched Tripod and Olivia behind the ears, giving both cats instructions to take good care of their owner.

Will Jeffries was deep in thought about Scotty Valens and Lilly Rush. He'd known for a while that the two of them had a deeper connection than most partners. He'd also known that after the shooting, Lilly was busy trying to forget and Scotty was busy blaming himself. They'd both been coming into work weary, haunted, hopeless.

And then sometime a week ago, that had changed.

Lilly had stopped coming to work looking so careworn and Scotty had that shit eating grin plastered on his face all day. Now those two events were just too coincidental to be unrelated. When Valens refused to talk about his hot date, when he and Vera usually bragged nonstop about their various conquests, Jeffries had known that he and Rush had somehow worked it through their stubborn minds that there was something between them.

Jeffries was happy for his co workers. Both Scotty and Lilly had had a few difficult years, full of near death experiences, and the deaths of loved ones. For them to find happiness in each other would make everyone's lives more joyful… well as soon as they got used to the idea. Will took a moment to congratulate himself on figuring out the relationship that Scotty and Lilly were obviously doing their best to keep a secret.

When Kat sidled up next to him though, Will remembered the way she'd gotten everyone out of the hospital room when Scotty showed up, the secret conversations she and Lilly seemed to be sharing, the knowing look on her face, as opposed to Vera and Boss's bewildered ones when Scotty picked Lilly up off the floor… Holy crap. Kat knew as well. She knew and she wasn't telling anybody.

Now Will knew Kat, and she also knew that anything to torture Valens with was alright with her. For her to be keeping their secret… oh, this was going to be fun.

"You notice anything different about Valens and Rush lately?" Will Jeffries turned to his colleague Kat. They were standing outside of Wayne Simm's house, having accompanied CSU to the scene.

"Besides Valens being a more overprotective idiot than usual?" Kat replied smoothly. "Nah."

"Really." Jeffries replied, raising an eyebrow at her. "I must just be seeing things then."

Kat's detective instinct immediately perked up, "What? You know somethin' you ain't tellin' the rest of us Will?"

"I could ask you the same thing." He replied without missing a beat.

"Don't know what you're talkin' about." She said, shaking her head.

Will sighed, "Kat… I know that Scotty's in love with Lil."

Kat's head snapped up so fast that her neck cracked, "What?" She said furiously, rubbing the back of her neck. How had he guessed? And more importantly, how could she keep him from finding out that he'd guessed the truth?

"Come on Kat. Have you been seeing the same look I see that Valens gets when he so much as glances at Lil? Now if that ain't love, I don't know what is."

Kat stared at him, "That don't mean anythin's goin' on."

"You notice that Lil's been happier too?" Will asked knowingly.

Kat scowled, Will had her there, and she knew it. Still, she had a secret to protect. A secret she promised to keep for them. "It could just be sex." She reasoned.

"Please." Will scoffed. "Those two have been making eyes at each other for years. It was about time. When did you find out anyways?" He added, ignoring what she said.

"Hey, just 'cause two of our colleagues decided to start sleepin' together like a couple of teenagers, which in itself is pretty damn disturbing, don't mean squat. You got no proof that they're in love." She countered.

"You sayin' they aren't?" Will asked.

"I'm sayin' that it's definitely just sex on Rush's side. No way that girl is stupid enough to get involved with Valens. Remember his first week in homicide?" Kat was lying through her teeth. Whatever feelings Scotty was feeling, she was convinced that Lilly was in just as deep. But if she could convince him it was just sex, maybe she could buy the two of them some more time.

"All his 'informants'? Yeah I remember. Valens has always been a scrappy detective-"

"-who confuses himself with Casanova?" Kat supplied sarcastically.

"-who for some reason has fallen in love with his partner and is now finally realizing that she feels the same way." Will corrected.

"You thinkin' about the same partner I'm thinkin' about? Lilly Rush? The Ice Queen Homicide Barbie? She strike you as the type of person who could fall for Casanova?" Kat asked with her eyebrows raised.

"You willing to wager a dozen doughnuts on that Kat?" Will challenged.

"You got yourself a bet." She replied. "One dozen doughnuts says Rush is havin' sex with Valens, he's in love with her, and this is all gonna end ugly." Kat hated having to bet against them, knowing how happy they were together, but if this was the only way to get Jeffries to drop this, then bet against them it was.

"And I say, they're gonna come clean to Boss and go steady." Will said.

Kat laughed. "'Go steady'. Yeah, that's what they would do if this was 1950, and if there was any possible way there was anythin' more than the physical between them."

Just then Scotty reached the crime scene, walking up to them looking surly. "What do we got?" He asked impatiently.

Kat and Will exchanged a look, "What we got is some pretty solid evidence that Simms is guilty of Holly's murder." Kat replied.

"Then let's get that son of a bitch." Scotty said, turning around to stalk back to his car, presumably heading to the DA's office to add another charge to the indictment.

As soon as he was out of earshot, Will turned back to Kat. "Love is in the air" he hummed quietly.

"Oh, shut up."

Lilly woke in the afternoon, completely starved and still dressed in that loose hospital gown. She sat up in bed, groaning at the headache, and started to hobble slowly toward the shower. Scotty had gone to work. She knew that from the few seconds she was conscious a couple of hours ago. That gave her enough time to take a shower, clean herself up, and cover up her bruises so that when Scotty came home, he would stop looking at her like some poor victim he needed to save.

A few minutes later, Lilly was standing in front of the bathroom mirror, critically eyeing her disheveled hair, facial injuries, and tired appearance. You look like crap, Rush. She thought. Then she turned around, and stepped into the shower, letting the hot water rush over her body. It was a few minutes before she realized that the water was scalding her skin, and another few minutes before she made a move to adjust the temperature.

When Lilly finally decided to get out of the shower, the water had run cold and she was shivering. As she wrapped a towel around herself, she fervently wished that Scotty was still here. His arms around her served to warm her far more than a single towel ever could. With some difficulty, Lilly pulled on a pair of loose fitting jeans and a cotton long sleeved top. She ventured into the kitchen, in search of some food, while simultaneously filling her cats' food bowls. Then Lilly plopped down on the couch, let the TV drone mindlessly in the background and waited for Scotty to come back.

The sky was darkening when Scotty knocked on Lilly's door. It had been almost 12 hours since he last saw her, but at last he was home. The door opened, and Scotty assumed it was Lilly who threw it open, but he wasn't sure because before he could get his bearings, a small, blonde bolt of lightning had instilled itself in his arms.

Scotty grunted at the sudden impact before recovering and returning the embrace with equal measure. "How d'you know it was me?" He couldn't help but ask.

"I just did." Lilly replied with a smile, inhaling Scotty's aftershave happily.

"What if it was a stranger?" Scotty asked again, a grin on his face.

Lilly shrugged into his shoulder, "I got a gun."

Scotty chuckled, wondering, not for the first time how the universe had decided he deserved to be so ridiculously happy around someone and despite everything that had happened in the past 48 hours, he found a completely inexplicable urge cross his mind. The urge to say the three magic words that words that would change everything, and the need to hear Lilly say them back.

"I'm starving Scotty." Lilly murmured into the side of his neck.

Scotty pulled back, "So eat somethin'" He said, confusion etched on his brow. Those weren't the three words he was hoping for, but he'd take them.

"There's nothing to eat," she whined, "and you spoiled takeout for me."

Sighing, Scotty took her hand and led her into the kitchen. They began to rummage through her cupboards in silence until Scotty spoke up, "Okay, the way I see it, you got two choices. Macaroni and cheese, the frozen kind, or the kind from the box."

Lilly grinned, "The frozen kind is better."

Ten minutes later, Scotty and Lilly were seated on her sofa, eating thawed macaroni and cheese. The conversation soon turned to the case.

"What d'you guys find at the scene," Lilly asked around a mouthful of food. She was trying to appear nonchalant, as though it was just another case, just another victim, just another suspect. But her heart was slamming in her chest, and she was surprised that it wasn't written all over her face. Tell me what I wanna hear, Scotty.

Scotty looked at her sideways. He knew she didn't care about the details, the forensics, the microscopic cell that would definitively incriminate Wayne Simms. She didn't care because at that moment, she wasn't Detective Lilly Rush. She was Lilly, just a woman, who wanted to hear that the man who'd hurt her wouldn't ever had a chance to hurt anyone else ever again. A chance to have her safe, secure feelings reinstated.

A tendril of blond hair had slipped out of her hair elastic and was attached to the cheese in her frozen entrée. He brushed it out of her food and ducked to meet her gaze, wanting to see her relieved look when he told her, "He's goin' away for life."

Lilly's shoulders slumped with relief. "Oh thank God." She looked up at him, a grin playing on her lips, "I was worried you guys couldn't figure it out without me."

Scotty set aside his dinner, and leaned in closer to her. "Oh, I can think of one thing I can't do without you." Scotty's lips met hers gently, his tongue teasing her lips open and his hands roaming her body, tugging at her clothes.

Lilly groaned, feeling heat pool between her thighs and desire shoot up her veins. She raked her nimble fingers through his hair, ignoring her throbbing wrist, just as Scotty knocked her dinner off her lap, not knowing, not caring where it landed. Lilly laid down the couch, letting Scotty rid her of her shirt and reveal her pale pink bra. He straddled her, kissing his way down her neck, across her collar bone, down between the valley of her breasts, as he expertly unhooked her bra.

He made his way back up to capture her lips in another kiss, more urgent than before. Their tongues battled for dominance, simultaneously giving up when the need for oxygen became overwhelming. Lilly found the place right below his earlobe, which she'd recently learned was ridiculously sensitive, just as Scotty kissed his way along her jaw.

Suddenly he stopped, feeling for the first time a raised edge of bone on her jaw on the left side. He paused, a frown plastering his face and worry temporarily pushing the desire from his mind. Scotty sat back on her thighs, considering for a second whether he should ask her right now.

"Scotty?" Lilly looked up at him for confusion. She wondered why he was studying her like a case, and at the same time wondering why she was half naked and he still had all his clothes. Well, one of these things she could fix. She reached up, unzipped that gray hoodie he seemed to like so much, and in one fluid motion ripped his t-shirt up over his head, making him equally semi clothed.

As Lilly drank in the sight before her, Scotty noticed for the first time the black and blue patches that marred her body from yesterday's events. In that instant he decided not to ask her. He knew better than to dig up the wounds of years ago, when the wounds of yesterday had not yet healed. Scotty also knew that he may not be able to fix anything about what happened to her as a kid, but the wounds laid out in front of him now, those he could fix. Maybe someday, when their young relationship was more mature, when the happiness they'd found was less fragile, he'd get up the courage to ask.

For now though, Scotty would settle for pressing gentle kisses to Lilly's bruises, every contact with his lips soothing the ache. His hands found the waistband of her jeans, and then her jeans were no more. Scotty continued kissing every inch of skin he could reach, determined for them both to forget the rest of the world and if the delighted sounds she was making were any indication, he was succeeding. Mission Accomplished.

Honestly, you guys expected Will to find out right? I mean, he's the quiet observant kind that doesn't miss a thing. That leaves Vera and Boss in the dark. Of course, he doesn't officially know... and Scotty and Lilly have some explaining to do.

Also, the Wayne Simms storyline is far from over. I have some pretty epic stuff planned so please keep reading.

As for the broken jaw stuff, Scotty knows, and that's going to be important later, but not the focus for now. I figured there was enough angst and the next chapter is almost purely fluff. :)

This is a long A/N.

Oh yeah, please take a second and leave me a little review. Apparently I'm not immune to the 'Eeeep, it's a review. *claps and giggles*' thing. Oh well, no one's perfect.