Andy and Julio silently walked through the parking garage to Andy's car. Both were lost in thought. It was never easy searching a fellow officer's home, but when there was a personal connection, it was even more difficult. Add the fact there had been a tragedy in that house with the death of a child, and all bets were off.

At least that was what Andy thought was going through Julio's head, so he didn't speak for the first few miles as they drove along. Somewhere either ahead or behind them, the rest of the team was traveling to the same location. Andy wanted to give Julio time to process whatever he needed to process. The snickering was not what he was expecting.

Julio snickered, then chuckled, then laughed out loud.

"How does she do that, Sir?"

"Do what?"

"How does the Captain say those things with a straight face? And how did we not bust a gut in there? When she said 'I'm not the kind of person that likes to get bogged down in all the rules', I thought I'd entered the twilight zone. The Lieutenant kept looking from me to you, and she just sat there like it was nothing."

Andy started to chuckle, "Yeah... I gotta remember that one and bring it up some time. I think if we were having any other kind of conversation, we all would have cracked up."

"No kidding. She has to know what she's saying, right? She doesn't talk without thinking."

"Don't worry about the Captain, Julio, she knows exactly what she's doing. I wouldn't put it past her to have in the back of her mind an idea of putting us on the spot."

"I don't know... would she risk us blowing that one up on her?"

"How long have we known her? Years. She'll use anything to her advantage and justify it afterwards. And come on..." Andy couldn't help gesturing with one hand as he steered them through traffic, "how are we going to be able to call her on that whopper? Everything, and I mean everything, she does is calculated. She knows the language so well she can twist it any way she wants."

"And she's smooth. I didn't even understand what she said until after the shock wore off."

Andy nodded his head, continuing to smile at the memory. "It's a good thing your buddy Diaz doesn't know her reputation, or she would have given us away right there. No one in the LAPD who's even heard of her would be that stupid."

"You kept a straight face, Sir. She turned to you to keep talking and you didn't miss a beat."

"Yeah...well... I've gotten a little used to her. We do a lot of interviews together, and I think she gets a kick out of saying things to push people's buttons, and only we'll pick up on it. More than once I found myself smiling over something she said. The guys we're interviewing don't even know what hit them, and they walk right into her trap."

"Black Widow."

Andy laughed out loud. "Just do yourself a favour and don't ever say that to her face."

"You kidding, Sir? I'm not stupid."

They kept smiling and drove along in silence until Julio got another thought.

"Sir, did you have any idea she was like this when she was monitoring us a few years back?"

Andy sighed in thought, and finally shook his head. "Nope."

"Not even a hint? You spent more time with her than anyone."

"Nope," he said again. "I wish I did, though. I would have enjoyed the ride a lot better if I knew underneath we had our very own stand-up comic."

"She's more queen-of-satire than stand-up, Sir."

"Yeah... you got a point. I just take it as a warning. When she starts to comment like that about me, I gotta straighten out 'cause I know I'm being an idiot. When she's doing it to someone else, I just sit back and enjoy the show."

"I'm going to have to start looking for it."

"Just don't make a point of looking, or you'll end up on the short end of the stick."

"Duly noted, Sir."

They continued driving in silence, until Andy started chuckling himself. "She's met my ex-wife."

"Sir?"

"I said the Captain's met my ex-wife. At my daughter's wedding. The Captain came and she met my ex."

"And why are you telling me this, Sir?"

"Just to say, she's pretty good at putting people in their place with that humour of hers. My ex didn't even know what hit her. After years of hearing how awful I was, it was kinda nice to have someone on my side."

"And the Captain did that?" Julio was surprised.

"Ah... well... once or twice, and really only for my benefit. It made the whole thing a lot more enjoyable."

"Really? I'd never picture her doing that," Julio shook his head. "The Captain is never boring, I'll say that for her, Sir."

"Nope," Andy smiled, "boring is not a word I would ever use."