Logan POV

Alex instructed me to sleep in, but it doesn't always work like that.

I mean, I wanted to sleep longer.

And I was definitely relaxed and comfortable.

But my mind was still working overtime.

Or rather, it was working again.

It shut off for a little while, but it started again around seven.

And Liz and I hadn't even gone to bed until one-thirty.

And that's not exactly when we went to sleep.

"So, your assistant thinks I'm hot?" I teased her as she unwrapped a piece of Godiva chocolate.

"Yes, she does. And so do I. You've got some serious skill with your…night stick."

I barked out a laugh and then stole the chocolate from her fingertips, popping it into my mouth before she could take it back.

"That was mine," she stated firmly.

"Come get it," I challenged.

And let me tell you.

Liz never backs down from a challenge.

And I don't know if it's the threat of Ross or just that I love her so damn much, but whatever it is, lately I've had the endurance of an eighteen year old.

I plan to take advantage of it while it lasts.

So that's why it was after three before I finally drifted off to sleep, which means I was less than thrilled to wake up and find that not even four hours had passed.

And as much as I'd like to think I have the ability to close my eyes again and fall back asleep, I'm a realist.

It just wasn't going to happen.

When I slipped out of the bed, I saw that the notification light on my cell phone was flashing, so I snagged it from the nightstand and then headed for the kitchen.

Once the coffee was brewing, I looked at my phone and found that I had an email from Bobby.

"Phillip Downey of Brighton Beach is on the friends list of Samantha Wright. He lives three blocks from the stolen Volvo and has a juvie record for GTA. That means killer number two is going down today, so nix the noon start time and call me when you get this."

I normally wouldn't call him so early, but since the email had come through about thirty minutes ago, I decided to go ahead and do it.

"Goren," he answered, sounding somewhat sleepy and yet he'd still picked up quickly.

"You're still working?"

"From home. And I slept for a little while first. So you got my email?"

"Yeah, you think this is our guy?"

"It's a good possibility. Alex is going to try to get us a warrant, but she didn't want to push her luck by waking anyone up to ask for it, so…probably around eight or nine, okay?"

"Hey, I'm up anyway. May as well be catching a killer, right? So how much trouble did you get into last night?"

"For staying late?" he asked in amusement.

"For disobeying a direct order. I think that's called insubordination," I joked.

"She's used to me by now."

"Uh huh. And you guys probably did some kind of telepathic hocus-pocus so that she'd know exactly what you were up to, right?"

"Being attuned to each other isn't the same thing as telepathy. I can't literally read her mind."

I snorted out a sound of disbelief and so he conceded, "Okay, sometimes I can."

"That's what I thought. Okay, so call me when Alex gets the go-ahead on the warrant, and I'll come pick you up."

I hung up with Bobby and then decided to take a shower and get dressed so that I'd be ready whenever he called back.

Liz was still asleep when I finished, and since I'd already killed the first pot of coffee, I thought I'd slip out and get some of the good stuff for her.

And maybe something for breakfast.

Twenty minutes later, at just about eight o'clock, I headed down the sidewalk on my way back to Liz's place.

As I approached the steps, I practically skidded to a halt when I saw Ross standing at the top of the stairs, poised to knock on the door.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," I called out.

He only rapped on the door once before my words registered with him, and then he stopped himself and turned his head towards me.

And I have to say that I got a tremendous amount of satisfaction from the look on his face.

The usual distaste and superiority was combined with disbelief and disappointment.

"Detective Logan," he stated, turning fully around to face me as I reached the steps and walked up to stand next to him. "You're telling me not to knock? Are you her personal guard dog or something?"

"No, I'm just saying…she's not a fan of unexpected company. Especially early on a Sunday morning after having a late night."

"So then what are you doing here?" he asked humorlessly.

"Me? Oh, I'm the reason why she had a late night. And I'm definitely not company," I said with a smile as I held up my keys, shaking them lightly in front of his face before deliberately selecting the right one and using it to unlock the door. I started to go inside and then I paused and said, "But I'll be sure to tell her you stopped by."

I punctuated my statement by slamming the door closed on him, and then I turned around to find Liz standing in the hall.

"Who're you talking to?"

She was dressed only in my shirt, yesterday's button-down, and I was hit by a wave of lust for her, one that made me glad I'd picked up a box of chocolates when I bought breakfast.

And the thought of ravaging her while Ross was still standing on the other side of the door…let's just say the adolescent possessive side of me took over.

I set down the cardboard tray that held two cups of coffee and the little bag from the bodega and then I pulled her into my arms.

"Mike?" she asked as I started kissing my way along her neck.

"Oh, yeah…it's…um…Ross."

"What's he doing out there?" she questioned, and at the same time, he knocked on the door again.

"Don't know…don't care," I murmured.

I moved my hands up into her hair, holding her in place while I proceeded to kiss her with unabashed purpose.

The knocking continued, because of course he knows we're home, and so I finally broke off the kiss and looked at her, shaking my head.

"I guess I have to give him points for his doggedness."

"You don't have to give him points for anything. Let me get dressed and I'll go talk to him."

"Or I can just get rid of him," I offered hopefully.

I'm not sure why it wasn't really bothering me that he'd dropped by.

Maybe because he was on one side of the door, and I was on the other.

And Liz was on my side, practically naked.

"After I have you against this door," I added in a suggestive tone.

She looked like maybe she was considering it for a moment, but then she shook her head.

"Let me deal with him. And then I want to see what you brought me for breakfast."

"I've got chocolate in there, too," I said invitingly.

"Oh yeah?"

"Uh huh. And I might not have very much time. Bobby's going to call me within the hour."

"I'd better make it quick then."

She kissed me one more time and then went down the hall to get dressed, so I opened the door and stepped back outside.

"She'll be out in just a minute," I told Ross, who was still lurking on the front steps with the annoying stick-to-itiveness of a door-to-door salesman.

I looked down and saw that he was holding the Sunday edition of the New York Times.

"I guess you planned on waiting out here for a while," I remarked.

"It's for Liz."

"She gets it delivered. I took it inside an hour ago."

"Oh."

"So, what's your plan here, Ross? Because I'm trying really hard to be cordial, considering how you used to be my boss, but I've got to tell you…cordial's only going to last so long."

"Are you threatening me, Logan? That sounds about right. You never did learn how to be a grown-up, did you?"

"And you never learned how not to be an ass," I said as I stepped closer to him.

"Mike."

Liz and her impeccable timing.

I eased back from Ross and then turned to find her standing in the doorway.

"Give us just a minute, will you?" she asked me.

I looked her over, loving the fact that she'd put on a pair of jeans but stayed in the shirt that was obviously mine, and then I cast one last warning glance at Ross before I moved past Liz, back into the house. She grabbed onto my t-shirt as I passed, stopping my progress briefly.

"Five minutes," she said quietly, and then she reached up and kissed me.

It was quick and fairly chaste, but it still spoke volumes towards our level of intimacy, and I wanted to look at Ross one more time, just to flash him a boastful smile, but I didn't.

This wasn't about me one-upping him.

It's just about me and Liz.

So I slipped inside, only I didn't close the door all the way because I had to stay and listen.

Liz wouldn't expect anything less from me, especially considering the last time he'd had her alone, he'd kissed her.

I could feel my blood pressure rising just from thinking about it, so I shoved it out of my mind and settled in for my round of eavesdropping.

"What are you doing here, Danny?"

"I wanted to try again. I know I screwed up by coming on too strong."

"So you decide to drop by at eight o'clock on a Sunday morning? Did you expect to find me more receptive? You're lucky I was even here at all."

"I made a call," he admitted. "I found out that you're not on the schedule this morning, but you're on call later, so…"

"You checked my schedule?"

"Some people might find my persistence endearing."

"Or creepy," I muttered.

"Some people would call it stalking," Liz said, and I smiled at how close her thoughts were to mine.

"Liz…"

"Look, I appreciate the effort, really I do. But this vision you have of the two of us together…it's not going to happen. I told you that."

"Right. Because you're with Logan."

And damn him for sounding so baffled about that, as though she couldn't possibly love someone like me.

I eased a little closer to the door, waiting to hear her response.

"I am. You saw him."

"Yeah. And you gave him a key? You never gave me a key."

"That's because I was never in love with you, Danny."

"And you're in love with him? Really? Or did you just give up trying to find the right man? Because you know…"

"I'm in love with Mike," she interrupted, and I could tell by her tone that she'd had enough. "Get used to it, because that fact isn't going to change."

"Even if he has a thing for Eames?"

I should've known this was coming.

Fortunately, Liz knows me better than that.

"You don't know what you're talking about."

"I think maybe you're the one in the dark," he said smugly. "When I went by 1PP on Friday, I walked in on the two of them."

And of course, he'd try to make it sound as sordid as possible.

I'd love to pull his LUDs and see if he was the one tipping off Channel 7.

"Walked in on them. In her office?"

"In the captain's office," he clarified, obviously not wanting to concede that it's Alex's office.

The dickhead.

"They were hugging," he declared as though he was the prosecuting attorney in a murder trial and he'd just unveiled the smoking gun.

"So what? They're friends. I'm sure that's a foreign concept for you, but it's not for me."

"Still…overlooking the fact that they were acting in a grossly unprofessional manner, I have to wonder where you fit into this picture, Liz. He's not a one-woman man. You're only setting yourself up for heartbreak."

"Danny, you don't know Mike. And you don't know me anymore. So, thanks for dropping by, but I think we're done."

"Liz…"

"Move on," she said, and from the sound of her voice, she was now standing right outside of the door. "You're driving down a dead end here, and the next time, I can't promise Mike will be quite so nice."

Good, because I'd hate to be responsible for her breaking a promise.

He said something in response, but I couldn't hear it because I had to move away from the door as she pushed it open and came inside.

"Don't even try to pretend like you weren't listening," she said, rolling her eyes at me as she closed the door behind her.

"Oh, I'm not. I heard just about every word," I replied as I advanced on her.

"So do you think he got the message?"

"If he didn't, his IQ must have dropped substantially while he was in witness protection," I stated, putting a hand on either side of her head and effectively trapping her between my body and the door.

"Well, it's possible. He can't seem to grasp that I'm in love with you."

"I'm having trouble with it myself. Why don't you tell me again?"

So she did.

Repeatedly, while I took her hard up against the door, like I'd wanted to do earlier.

And after we finished, we drank cold coffee and ate our chocolate and muffins while I filled her in on Bobby's latest break in the case.

"Alex is going to go on air with the information?"

"No. She's going to keep the focus on the Schuler case so that we can keep quietly working the Facebook angle."

"Smart. Risky, but smart."

"She left it up to us," I admitted. "So hopefully, we're right."

"How's your plan coming to keep Alex in her office?"

"It's done," I said with a smile. "No one needed convincing. Alex is the real deal."

We talked for a few more minutes about the potential outcomes of the big-wig meeting tomorrow, and then my phone rang.

"Logan," I answered.

"The judge turned down our request for a warrant," Bobby said. "It looks like we're going to have to finesse him."

"Hey, finesse is my middle name," I replied.

The warrant had been a stretch anyway, so I wasn't too concerned.

"Are you sure? I thought it was trouble."

"No, that's yours. Keep it straight, will you, Goren?" I joked. "I'll be there in twenty."

"I'm ready," he replied confidently. "Let's go find Jared a cellmate."

TBC...