Scene: Kate's office, week following the dinner. Megan is present.

Kate: "So, you actually stayed for the entire awards dinner. I owe Barry a departmental commendation for performance above and beyond. Please tell me it won't have to be posthumous."

Megan: "No. At least not on my account. I can't guarantee that there is no one else in the world who might have done him in. You haven't talked to Barry recently?"

Kate: "No, I haven't needed him for anything. He must have found something else to do today. Why, is something wrong?"

Megan: "Not wrong, exactly. Mind if I ask you something personal?"

Kate: "I guess not..."

Megan: "What's your status with Barry? He keeps talking about you being his girlfriend."

Kate: "Definitely an overstatement. We went out that one time you coerced us, he attended a fund-raiser with me because I needed an escort for the evening, and we attended a pops concert together once. He's OK, but the mainstay of the relationship resides in his overactive imagination."

Megan: "Are you interested in him?"

Kate: "He's nice enough to me, but there doesn't to be a lot of passion on either side. He's tolerable, but things certainly aren't moving very fast. Why the sudden interest? Was he talking about us?"

Megan: "A little. Nothing private, really. He said he liked you, but he figured a guy with his elusive background might be a liability to your political ambitions."

Kate: "I hadn't given it much thought yet. We are a long way from picking out china patterns. He's right, though. He has four kills this year, three of them hushed up, and he also shot one kidnapper and disarmed another. To the public, it might look as though I was with some black ops government assassin. A political opponent would have a field day with that. One question about how I used this office to keep my boyfriend out of trouble and I'm done."

Megan: "He didn't think your career would survive that kind of publicity, so he didn't see your relationship going anywhere."

Kate: "Probably right. Maybe that's why he never pushed harder to ask me out more. I guess he has a guardian angel complex."

Megan: "What?"

Kate: "Once in a while, you should try dissecting a personality with as much effort as you put into dissecting a body. Figure it out."

Megan: "Could you give me a hint?"

Kate: "From what little we know of his federal career, he was doing work for intelligence agencies. The kind of guys that tend to view themselves as the last bastion protecting the country from all the dark forces in the world. He came up here to watch over the family of someone who lost his life in the same line of work. Now he's been looking out for what is most important to us: my career and your daughter."

Megan: "I thought angels were supposed to be a benign presence. Halos, ceramic figurines, that sort of thing. Not annoying jerks."

Kate: "Focus. For me, he is apparently willing to forego whatever chance we might have at a relationship because he saw how bad it might be for my career hopes. For you, I doubt we would have tracked down Lacey in time without his help, and if you recall, you and I weren't really all that useful in securing her safety."

Megan: "I guess he could have just waited for the police to show up. But then we would have been hostages."

Kate: "As aggravating as he can be at times, he seems to be willing to put a lot on the line for us. Almost as if he cares."

Megan: "He's still annoying."

Kate: "You're his biggest target. Could there be a reason?"

Megan: "What do you mean?"

Kate: "He sends a lot of sparks in your direction. Any fire?"

Megan: "Well... After the dinner, as we were walking back to the car, he kissed me."

Kate: "I send you to one dinner, and now you steal my boyfriend?"

Megan (defensively): "Hey, he kissed me, I didn't kiss him. Much, anyway. I certainly wasn't trying to steal him from you."

Kate: "Relax. He's right that we were never going anywhere as a couple. Maybe this can balance the scales a little for my going out with Todd. How was the kiss?"

Megan: "Surprising. He claimed it as his hero's reward."

Kate: "I suppose he might be entitled to one kiss for all that. Are you going to go out with him?"

Megan: "I don't know. It was all so sudden and unexpected. He's always been so difficult to deal with, I hadn't ever thought of him that way."

Kate: "You know, if we're going by the difficulty of the personality, there would be a lot of sentiment around here that the two of you were made for each other."

Megan: "Very funny. If you're going to portray me that way, you might consider that just because dynamite and gunpowder are both explosives doesn't make it safer to store them together."

Kate: "Good point. We'll need a blast zone. At least Lacey approves of him."

Megan (considers): "There is that. Inexplicably, his goofy parenting advice has usually worked out. Lacey listens to him."

Kate: "So there might be a few items in his favor."

Megan: "Very few. Still, I can see possibilities..."

Kate: "Possibilities?"

Megan: "Well, if I decide that I can tolerate him, I know that I have clearance from you. He doesn't have to know that right away."

Kate: "What are you going to do?"

Megan: "Not that I'm saying I'm ready to go out with him, but if I do, I certainly think a modest amount of torture would start the relationship off on the right foot. Having him live in fear of offending you would be a great start."

Kate: "Hmm... I can see some possibilities for me there, as well. If he doesn't talk with me about it before going out with you, then I don't mind making him squirm for being a two-timing weasel. Not that we have ever been exclusive, and I've actually been on a couple of dates with other guys lately, but this could be a lot of fun."

Megan: "Great. It might be worth it just for this. Think he'll ask me out?"

Kate: "How could he resist? You are Dr. Hot Chick, after all."

Megan: "True. And I do have to concede that while his fashion sense is atrocious, he demonstrates outstanding taste in the caliber of women he has shown an interest in."

Kate: "Definitely. His type seems to be smart, beautiful and sophisticated."

Megan: "Let's hope he can come up with better date ideas than bowling and Chinese take-out."

Kate: "He shows a little more range in his repertoire than poor Todd. Maybe I should hang on to him for a while and see what kind of range he has in the bedroom before I give him up."

Megan: "Hey, let's not get into a spat over a guy again."

Kate: "All right. Still, you were the one who brought up torture..."

Megan: "What? I guess I can tell what was on your summer reading list."

Kate: "Just thinking that it might have been interesting to try a few shades of Gray, myself."

Megan: "I was planning on torturing him here at the office. Not in the bedroom. Just keep your scalpels sharp in case I need you."

Kate: "See, this is what I'm talking about."

Megan: "You are getting to be as bad as Barry. Next you'll be letting him ask us for a menage a trois."

Kate: "Hmmm..."

Megan: "Oh, please. The two of us at once? Way too much sexy for him to handle. We'd kill him."

Kate: "Got that right. Of course, I could always use a few more zombies for my army of the undead."

Megan: "Are you sure leading a zombie army is good for your political future?"

Kate: "Depends. Are they still allowed to vote in Chicago?"

(end scene)