Standard Disclaimer: I don't own Glee or any other character, book, etc. referenced.

Sorry for the delay y'all. School's been kicking my ass, yada yada.

As always, thank you thank you THANK YOU for the reviews, follows, alerts, etc. I love that y'all are hooked on this side project of mine. Keep your thoughts coming, I love hearing where you think this will go!

Enjoy!

"Evans, it's me. Remember that favor I mentioned a few months back? Looks like I'm gonna have to call it in after all. Give me a ring as soon as you get this."

Sam pocketed his phone when the voicemail ended, stepping off of the elevator and walking down the hallway to his office. He raised his hand in hello to Lauren who handed him a stack of messages as he passed her desk. A quick glance to the top of the pile hinted at the severity of the message he just listened to.

"Mornin darlin'. Get Officer Abrams on the line please."

His secretary nodded. "Sure thing, boss."

Sam walked into his office and closed the door behind him, hanging his jacket on the hook. As he walked over to his desk he shifted through the papers in his hand, mentally planning out the first half of his day.

Connect with Abrams. Catch up on emails. Schedule some meetings. Get together with Puck and Mike. Talk to Mercedes…

The thought of the woman made him smile. Dinner last night had been great. After the moment by the window, they kept their hands to themselves and spent the rest of the evening just talking. The conversation flowed effortlessly, touching on everything from the benefits and pitfalls of international trade sanctions to historical discrepancies in the new batch of Marvel comics. Throughout the night she proved to be as witty as she was intelligent. She was damn near perfect. Grinning, he took out his phone and typed up a quick message.

Good morning, beautiful. Just wanted to let you know that 1. I've got this stupid grin on my face that won't go away; I blame you and 2. There is no way Tony Stark could beat Clark Kent in hand to hand combat.

He shook his head as he hit "Send." Even in her absence she commanded his attention and he was more than happy to give it.

The buzz from his desk phone broke into his thoughts and he picked it up.

"Yeah?"

"Officer Abrams is on the line."

"Great, thanks. Put him through."

He rubbed his neck as he waited to be connected.

Sam first dealt with the officer when he, Mike and Puck started the business. Their first client was traveling out to Los Angeles for an album release party and, given both the firm's infancy and the level of threats that the client had received in the weeks leading up to the trip, Sam contacted Artie to let him know that they would be in his neighborhood as both a professional courtesy and a way to lessen the red tape should anything go sour. From then on, the two maintained a friendly business relationship and, given the number of favors he racked up over the years, Sam didn't think much about it when Officer Abrams called him a few months back with hints of a future request. He'd put the conversation in the back of his mind… until now. Given the number of times the man had tried to reach him, something told Sam he wasn't going to like what he had to say.

"Officer Abrams here."

"Artie," Sam said, leaning back in his chair and placing his feet on his desk. "How are you?"

"Sam," the man answered, "give me a minute."

Sam waited as the background noises he heard at the start of the call were suddenly cut off, a telltale sign that Artie closed the door to his office.

"Thanks for calling me back," the officer said when he returned to the line.

Based on his tone, Sam could tell that this was not a social call. "Not a problem. What can I do for you?"

"I need your help on a case."

Sam reached over to pick up the baseball lying on his desk and tossed it in the air. "Sure thing. I owe you a few."

"Are you familiar with Klauss Donovan Mitchell?"

Sam nodded, his eye focused on the catch and release of the ball. "Vaguely. Big shot trafficker right?"

"The one and only. We're in the middle of an investigation and have a chance to lock this guy up for good. Only trouble is Mitchell's ensured that our key witness won't be testifying."

"Damn. Sorry to hear that," Sam said, wondering where he came into the picture.

"Remember how I said a few months back that there was a potential witness that I may need you to keep tabs on? Given the way Mitchell operates, I have reason to believe that she may need a set of eyes on her."

Sam placed the phone's headpiece between his ear and shoulder, freeing up his second hand for his makeshift dexterity test.

"Shouldn't be a problem. Send me over some files and I'll add it to the top of the case list."

"Already in your email."

Sam dropped his feet to the ground and moved closer to the desk, scrolling through his email until he found the one Artie was referring to.

"Got it." He double clicked the file to unzip its contents and waited as they loaded onto his computer. "I'll pass this on to Mike and he'll assign one of our guys."

"Not good enough," the officer replied. "Sam, I need you on this one."

Sam raised an eyebrow as he glanced at the folder contents now available to him. Everything was saved under a case number. No names. No identifiers. Of course not. If nothing else, Officer Abrams was thorough.

He double clicked the first file.

"Artie, I really wish I…" His voice trailed off as a photo opened up onto his desktop.

"Sam?"

Sam couldn't answer as he stared at the brown eyes smiling at him through the screen.

"Sam?" It wasn't until Artie called his name a second time that he resumed breathing.

"Artie, let me call you back."

He didn't wait for an answer as he placed the phone back in its cradle, never taking his eyes off of the photo on his screen. Smiling back at him was the face of the woman he had just spent the evening with.

Heart racing, he clicked another file in the set.

His eyes scanned the document and certain words jumped out at him. Witness. Boss. Closet. Murder. Relocated.

He quickly picked up the phone and dialed out to the front.

"Lauren, get Officer Abrams back on the line. Now."

"Yes sir," his secretary said.

He waited a few seconds before he was connected.

"What the hell is going on?," Sam asked when the officer answered.

There was a pause. "I take it you've read through the file?"

"Enough to make me want to hear this from you. Explain."

There was another beat before the officer outlined the case from start to finish.

Sam's heart tightened in his chest. "Does she know that Mitchell got to St. James?"

"No, we just found his body and we don't think –"

Sam cut him off. "Does she know that we're having this conversation?"

"No, she doesn't," the officer replied, "And she won't know about any of it either."

"What do you mean –"

Now it was his turn to be cut off. "Keep in mind that this is my case Evans. If you speak to Ms. Jones about this I'll have you arrested for witness tampering and impeding an open investigation."

The two men were silent as their egos and pride battled it out.

Sam was the first to speak.

"What do you need me to do?"

The officer sighed. "Just keep your eye on her. I don't think she's in any immediate danger, but there's no way of knowing what St. James said once Mitchell got a hold of him. We'll keep tabs on him and his people on this end, but on your end, I know you're the best."

"Ok."

"I need your word that I can trust you on this, Evans. If you can't handle it, let me know and I'll go else-"

"I said 'ok' Abrams. You have my word. I'll keep her safe."

"Okay, good. I'll keep you posted if anything comes up on my end and I expect the same from you."

"Wait," Sam said before the officer hung up, "You want my help, so we do this my way. You keep me posted every step of the way, not just 'if anything comes up'."

"Evans, I don't report to you."

"No, you don't, but you're calling me in because, like you said, I'm the best. This is how it works - weekly updates on where the case stands. And don't give me that BS about that being unreasonable because I'm willing to bet that you're putting all of your resources into this one, correct?"

There was a pause.

"You're correct."

"Good. Looking forward to our next conversation. Have a good day Officer."

He moved to take the phone from his ear when he heard Artie mutter a curse.

"Wait, Sam… there's something else."

Sam waited as he heard the officer let out a deep sigh.

"I think there's a mole in the precinct. There's no other way that son of a bitch could have found out we had St. James."

Sam swallowed the lump in his throat.

"Any idea on who it could be?"

"I've worked with all of these guys. Trained damn near all of them. I can't see any of them doing it, but it's not looking good."

Sam nodded. "I'll look into it."

He hung up and let out several shaky breaths, staring at his computer. Steeling himself, he reached for his notebook.

Just then his phone buzzed and he looked down at it, opening up the screen to the message waiting for him.

Ummm sir - 1. You're not exactly Mr. Innocent. Just finished up a budget meeting and couldn't stop smiling even though the presentation bored me to tears and 2. He most certainly could. All he'd have to do is add some kryptonite to his chest piece and bye Kal-El.

Sam placed the phone gently on his desk and went back to work. He didn't even try to kid himself that this was just another case. He knew how these things worked and, while he trusted Officer Abrams and knew he had the best intentions, he wasn't the only character at play. Mercedes could very well become a means to an end in the department's quest to put Mitchell away and if they weren't going to put her first, he damn sure was.

A/N: Kinda short, but yeah. That happened. Also, just in case you didn't get Mercy's last response, Kal-El is Superman's birth name. His major weakness is kryptonite and he's easily defeated once its in his presence. Tony Stark aka Iron Man has a chest plate that keeps him alive, so, hypothetically, if he put a tiny bit of kryptonite in it he wins. She's such a nerd :) No wonder Sam's swooning.