"Reagan, Janko, in here," Renzulli called across the precinct.
Jamie and Eddie shared a look.
"What'd you do, Janko?" Jamie asked as they walked.
"Me?" Eddie asked, insulted, "What makes you think this is my fault? Reagan, I'm insulted."
She held a hand over her heart and shook her head, eyes twinkling with mirth.
Jamie nudged her, "Cause you're the one that clipped the squad car against that fire hydrant the other day."
Eddie wrinkled her nose at the memory, "Not my fault. We were in pursuit. Had to get our guy."
Her partner snorted, "Yeah, and it had nothing to do with your terrible driving skills."
Renzulli cut off Eddie's response and their affectionate bickering.
"I need you two to be serious for a minute," he sighed, looking old and tired.
The partners shared a look and nodded.
"Yeah, what's up?" Jamie asked, holding his cap under his arm.
"I'm putting you two undercover, effective by the end of the week," Renzulli said.
Eddie's eyebrows shot up, "Undercover?"
Renzulli nodded and tilted his chin towards Jamie, "It's part of an op your brother is running. He and that partner of his will be here any minute to brief you two."
He wished them luck and headed off towards his office; they could all hear the phone ringing off the hook.
"Undercover?" Eddie asked, turning to face Jamie with a bright, but nervous smile on her face.
Jamie nodded, "Danny's been working a prostitution ring. It might have something to do with that."
Eddie beamed; she loved working undercover. Ever since that first success, Eddie had been bitten by the bug.
"It's so awesome that your brother thought of us," Eddie said, practically bouncing with excitement. She would never say it out loud, but working undercover was also a great excuse to be with Jamie in close quarters.
She was still defining her feelings for Jamie, but she knew that there definitely were feelings of the more-than-friends sort.
"Yeah," Jamie said slowly, "I wonder what he's gonna want us to do."
"Wonder no more, little brother," Danny said as he and Baez walked into the 12th.
"Hi Eddie, Jamie," Baez greeted them quietly, a shadow in her eyes.
"So what kind of undercover work are we doing?" Eddie asked, jumping straight to the punch.
Danny tilted his head towards the conference room, "In there. Don't wanna broadcast this too much."
They trooped after Danny, leaning against the wall as Danny shut the door behind them.
"We need to put you two undercover in a sex club," Baez said briskly, running a hand through her hair, "The faster, the better."
Jamie raised an eyebrow, "Sex club?"
Danny nodded, "The owner, Theo Smith, is running a sex slavery ring out of the place. We need more concrete evidence before we can get him."
"So..." Eddie said, "I'm going to assume that I'll be a prostitute?"
"That's so crass," Danny grinned, "You're gonna be a waitress at a high end sex club."
"So basically a prostitute," Eddie drawled wryly.
Danny and Baez shared a look and shrugged simultaneously.
"Sorry, Janko," Maria said, a tight smile forming on her face, "You're young, pretty, and blonde. Basically the poster child for a perfect sex slave ring candidate."
Eddie grinned without any real amusement, "I guess I should thank my mom and dad."
Jamie frowned deeply, the lines in between his eyebrows creasing, "This isn't a joke, Eddie."
He hadn't meant to snap at her, but his tone was harsh.
Eddie rounded on her partner and Danny and Baez wisely took a step back.
"I know it's not a joke, Officer Reagan," she hissed, eyes narrowing, "I know what I'm getting into."
Danny chose that moment to step back into the conversation, "What you're both getting into, actually."
"Both?" Jamie questioned quickly, chancing a sideways glance at Eddie. She looked just as confused as he felt.
"Both," Danny confirmed with a nod," We're not sending Janko in there alone. Jamie, you're going in as a prospective John."
His frown was now practically a permanent fixture on his face, "A John? Seriously, Danny?"
Danny nodded, once, sharply, "Yeah. You're gonna get in with Smith and get him to give you something we can work with."
Jamie sighed, his shoulders rigid with tension, "Fine. When do we go in?"
"Tonight, if that's possible," Baez said. She continued quickly when Eddie opened her mouth to protest, "I would rather give you guys more time to prep, but we really don't have a minute to spare."
"We're fine," Eddie jumped in before Jamie could protest. She wanted - needed - to go undercover again. She'd been bitten by the bug.
"This outfit is insulting," Eddie muttered under her breath, knowing the small microphone stitched into the collar of her shirt would pick her words up.
Sure enough, Danny's voice boomed through her earpiece a minute later, "Be glad it's not Jamie in that outfit. You've got much better legs."
"Shut up, Danny," Jamie muttered darkly. He sipped carefully at the partially full tumbler of whiskey in his hand.
He scanned the room, scowling at the red lighting and tacky furnishing. His eyes caught sight of Eddie's blonde ponytail, swishing against her back.
He knocked back the rest of the whiskey, needing some liquid courage to get through the rest of the night.
He squared his shoulders and strode across the floor, grabbing at Eddie's wrist.
She spun to face him, her mouth falling open in a surprised 'o'.
The look of apology in his eyes betraying just how uncomfortable he really was, Jamie said, "You, me, lap dance, now."
Eddie nodded and schooled her features into an expression resembling seduction. She led Jamie over to a secluded corner, knowing they needed to be out of earshot.
"What do you know?" Jamie asked, hands resting on Eddie's hips as she shimmied above him.
"Couple of the girls have already told me not to get on Smith's bad side," she said, grinning for show, "You?"
"I have Smith's number and he's supposed to give me a call within the hour with details," he frowned, feeling heat pool in his lower body. Eddie's dancing was distracting him.
"Good," she murmured, one hand twisting in Jamie's hair, "Danny will be able to record the call and we'll have him."
"Mm," Jamie grunted, subtly trying to get Eddie off of him so he could cool down.
Eddie frowned, "What are you-?"
She cut herself off as she looked down and noticed Jamie straining against his pants.
The tips of Jamie's ears went red, but he didn't acknowledge what Eddie saw.
For her part, Eddie deftly climbed off of Jamie's lap and bit down on her lip.
"I'll be..." she jerked her thumb over her shoulder and darted away, leaving Jamie slightly dumbfounded and struggling to contain himself.
"Shit," he groaned, dropping his head to his hands. He'd royally fucked up.
Danny and his task force rounded up Smith four hours later, thanks to Jamie and Eddie's help. The partners, however, went to their separate apartments after Danny and Baez released them.
Jamie, still embarrassed the next morning, brought Eddie a coffee and doughnut as a peace offering.
"Hey," he said quietly, trying to gauge Eddie's mental state.
"Hi," she said, offering up a crooked smile while scratching at the back of her neck.
"I brought coffee," Jamie said, unnecessarily holding up the to go cup.
Eddie accepted it easily. She took a tentative sip and then looked up at her partner, "Um, so about last night..."
Jamie shook his head, "It was nothing. I'm sorry about putting you in an awkward position."
Jamie watched as Eddie's expression fell into something resembling...disappointment?
"Oh," she hummed, "It was nothing?"
There was a pit of unease in Jamie's stomach as he lied, "Yeah, nothing."
Eddie couldn't meet Jamie's eyes. She'd been his partner for years now; she knew when he wasn't being totally honest.
The partners were quiet for a few beats, and then Eddie spoke haltingly.
"It's just...I thought," she frowned, a crease forming in between her eyebrows as she sorted through her thoughts, "It's...never mind actually. I was being stupid, I guess."
She toasted Jamie with her coffee cup, "Thanks for this, though."
She took a sip and Jamie recognized the end of their conversation. He regretted his lie; this would have been a good opportunity for Jamie to work through his feelings for Eddie.
Ruffling a hand through his hair, Jamie nodded.
"No problem," he said shortly, turning to head out to the locker room.
He stopped in the doorway and looked back at Eddie. She was looking down at her phone, the hunch of her shoulders making her look small and sad.
"Eddie," he said quickly, all of the words rushing out of him before he could pull them back, "I lied. I'm sorry. It wasn't nothing."
Eddie looked up, startled, but as Jamie's words sunk in, she smiled.
"I knew it," she said simply, standing up and taking a few steps towards Jamie.
"You...knew it?" Jamie asked, deflating slightly, "How?"
Eddie smothered a small smile, "You're not exactly the world's greatest liar, Reagan. You wear your feelings all over your face."
He scowled and Eddie rushed to amend her statement, "That's not a bad thing! Really, it's something I really like about you."
"Oh," Jamie said, confused about what exactly was happening.
Eddie suddenly looked around and became hyper aware of the fact that there were other cops in their vicinity, nosy cops.
"Can we maybe talk about this when we're not surrounded by busybodies?" Eddie asked, rubbing at the side of her nose, anxious about telling Jamie how she felt.
"Over dinner?" Jamie asked, trying for casual, but failing.
"I'd like that," Eddie beamed, "So we table this until the end of shift?"
Jamie nodded, "End of shift."
"It's a date," Eddie said cautiously, hoping she hadn't gone too far.
But Jamie grinned, showing off perfect teeth, and Eddie knew things were on a track she wouldn't mind riding to the end.
A/N: Hellooooo out there! Sorry for the lack of updates, I've been having a rough summer. But this is a prompt from auraauraaura here on FFnet and I kind of fell in love with it. My writing hasn't been the greatest lately, so I hope you guys will forgive this story for being a little funny with the timing and plot. I'm starting school in two days, but I hope I'll be able to get back to writing at least one thing a week.
But for now, please drop me a review and let me know what you think! Prompts are always welcome, as well :)