Kate's disappointed sigh went unheard as the man collapsed over her shoulder, his filthy breath panting hotly into her ear.  Following a moment of recovery, he pulled away and quickly zipped his pants, slapping Kate's thigh in silent approbation before making his way out of the supply closet.  Kate slowly picked up her clothes scattered on the closet floor and redressed herself.  The familiar shame and hatred boiled in her stomach, and she breathed a stream of curses as her gaze carefully swept the offices around them.  No one was looking.  She grabbed a sheaf of paper anyway and made it to her desk, easily sliding into her trademark, no-nonsense gait.  Slipping the paper into a drawer, Kate carefully examined her reflection in the window through the corner of her eye.  She looked faintly rumpled.  Her spirit felt like a crumpled reciept.

“Beckett, does it take you that long to get some paper?”

Her attention slid in front of her desk.  Standing there was the head of homicide, the very man who a few moments before had left the unseen red slap mark on her thigh.  She shrugged lightly.

“Sorry, sir.  I had to go to the ladies’ room, and you know how that’s all the way down on the first floor.”  She gave him a cold smirk and opened a case folder, turning her gaze to its contents.  Her hate for the man simmered around her heart.

“Well, Kate, just make sure that you try to keep those sort of things brief.”

She nodded curtly, not looking up at him.  He moved away without another word.  She sighed deeply and focused her attention on the case before her.  It had been stumping the homicide unit for a week.  Mostly because Kate herself had recognized the victim as a hit put out by Falcon, and had accordingly botched all the fingerprints pulled from the scene.

Only one man knew that she ever did this.  She quieted him with sessions in the supply closet on a regular basis.

 “Beckett, someone’s here to see you.”

“Wh-what?”

She looked up to see one of the younger officers raising an eyebrow to her.

“A guy’s here to see you.  Says he has some information for a case and only wants to talk to you.”

She drew her eyebrows together as she got to her feet, smoothing her skirt before following the officer to this mysterious man.

James had been waiting downstairs for quite some time, ready to confront the woman he knew was behind the death of the man that had been in the papers recently. Some well connected friends of his saw her and a few other people commit the crime. Why the cops had not yet figured it out, he did not know. All he knew was that one of the woman worked at the police station, probably as a janitor or a desk clerk. When the man from upstairs came down, and said,

"Miss Beckett is ready to see you now," James heart picked up a pace or two. Apparently she was higher up than he thought. This was going to be interesting, he thought, with a flick of his hair. Riding the elevator he lit a cigarette and calmly made his way behind the man.

Entering Becketts office, the man mumbled to her a moment before turning to him. His smug smile as he exited led James to believe that there was more going on than he knew.

"So. Soooo." James said casually, sitting down and flicking his ashes into the coffee cup sitting on the desk, smirking at Becketts shocked face and waiting until the hiss of the ashes faded away into nothing.

The shock on her face lasted for only a moment.  She snapped it back into lines of stern annoyance as she motioned to the chair in front of her desk.

"What do you want, thief? I don't even know how you're out.  I thought I arranged it so you'd be spending the next few years at least in the pen."

She surveyed the man as he sat across from her.  He breathed cigarette smoke into the thin cloud above their heads.  He didn't look much different from the night he had broken into her house, although she hadn't noticed that night how brightly his eyes shone.

"Well what brings you here, anyway?"

James waited a moment before answering, taking note of the lines of frustration on Miss Beckett's face. It was clear that she'd not been sleeping much, but it also appeared something else was eating her. He shrugged and flicked his hair to the side, snuffing out the cigarette on the bottom of his boots and sticking it behind his ear.

"I think you already know." James watched as Beckett raised her eyebrow and stared at him blankly. Apparently, she didn't know. He wasn't about to give away his ace in the hole, though.

"As to how I got out... Pff. I've got contacts all over the legal system, from security guards to the supreme court. I highly doubt there's any crime I could commit that I'd be locked up for long for, short of..." James paused for a moment, building up the tension by slowly re-lighting his cigarette. "Murder."

Kate raised an eyebrow, leaning back in her chair.

"No, Mr. Terranova, I most certainly do not know what you're here for.  Well, I was told that you had some information on a case I'm working on.  Now, which one? And you had better not be wasting my time."

Her eyes flickered over the man.  He couldn't have been there the other night...could he?  She had been sent on an assignment that got a bit sticky the other night.  Who'd have known that the jeweler had decided to stay late that night out of all of them?  She'd had to shoot him cleanly through the head and make her way out with half of the jewelry she'd anticipated on snatching.  When she'd been leaving, she could have sworn a man's shadow moved in the alley.

"Why so formal? Please, call me James."

James smirked a little half smile in Becketts direction, extending his hand for her to hold. After a moment or two of silence, and a lip twitch or two from the woman across from him, he decided to withdraw his hand and lean back in the chair. It was surprisingly comfortable.

"The case that's been in the papers, of course. That murder... mystery?"

James said, throwing another smirk in the woman's direction. He wondered whether the sudden flushing of color from his face was merely his imagination, or something more.

"I know what really happened, Beckett."

Kate blinked once, then leaned in with a small, teasing smile.

"Really, now? The jeweler's robbery, eh?  And just what happened, if I may ask?"

She stared into his eyes, challenging him.  Despite her confidence, her heart beat hard in her throat.  There was no way he could make a positive ID on her.  Hell, even if he could she was sure she could shut him up with enough money.  He wasn't here out of the kindness of her heart.

With another casual flick of his hair, James stared Beckett in her eyes, and he felt himself soften for a moment. After seeing her naked, how could he blackmail her? Her body was so... No. No, he had to do it. It was for the best. If it would shut her up forever about the breaking and entering, it was worth it.

"You fucking know what happened. I was there. And I know you were there, too. It may have been night time, but I know a face when I see one. I read in the papers about not being able to find any fingerprints? I'd hate to have an investigation started from the FBI over why there happened to be none..."

James smirked, sure he had this argument won. He was really just looking for her to drop the charges completely, and possibly go for a cup of coffee some time. After all, he had already seen her naked.

Kate tilted her head, her nostrils flaring in gentle curves.  It didn't look like he was bluffing.  In one swift movement, she reached into her desk and pulled out a silver cigarette case, laying it on the desktop.

"Please take one, Mr. Terranova.  I'm sure they're much finer quality than what you're used to."  She smirked, snapping the case open.  Kate pulled one out with her slim fingers, watching James carefully as she put it to her lips and lit it.  After releasing a lungful of silvery smoke above their heads, she stared straight into his eyes.

"Well, I'll play along with you.  Let's say that you did see something that night, and that something looked like it might have to do with me."  She took another careful drag on the cigarette, her eyes narrowing.  "What would it take to make me disappear from that scene?"

"What would it take, eh? Well for starters, I don't want to deal with the people on my payroll anymore about that break in incident. I've gotten out of jail once, I'd rather not have to do it twice. Cost me a lot of money that one did."

James lit another cigarette, sighing and breathing out a thin stream of smoke through his front teeth, straight up into his hair, making the front of it ruffle. Leaning back on the chair on two legs, James stared at Beckett and wondered if she'd go for the next bit. He also wondered if she would die from a heart attack when he proposed it.

"Also, I'd like to take you out to dinner."

"Fuck you."

She drew her eyebrows closely together, her eyes sparking angrily beneath.  There was no way she was going to fork out for his debts.  And dinner?  What was he playing at?  She slowly closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry.  First reactions aren't always the best reactions.  Now..."  Her eyes snapped open, their deep brown color still boiling with repressed anger.  "I'll...I'll pay whatever it is you need me to pay.  But not a penny more."  She rose to her feet and walked around her desk, blowing smoke on top of the man's head.  "As for dinner...no.  My time is not for sale like some common...some common whore."  She swallowed hard, imagining she could still taste her supervisor's spit still lingering in her mouth.  I should really stop kidding myself, she mused bitterly.

"For sale? No, no... You'd be paying for yourself ma'am." James said coolly, wiping a stray piece of perfect hair away from his darkened eyes. Lack of sleep was catching up to him, and he desperately wanted to get this over with. Police stations never were his favorite place to hang out, especially just after being released from prison.

"In fact, you don't even have to pay off anything more than your cup of coffee. I've already got my lawyers paid off, and more than enough spare change laying around to do whatever I please. I, like you, am not scant on money. I am, however, scant on company. A lonely soldier in a never ending war, it gets old to be honest."

James sighed, looking defeated. The circles beneath his eyes looked more pronounced now than ever. He lit another cigarette, calmly blowing circles up into the air, smiling underneath his burly facade as Becketts eyes followed them until they disappeared on her ceiling. Her eyes too looked like she needed some rest.

Kate watched the man for several moments, blowing a thickening cloud of smoke into the air above his head.  He looked at least as tired as she did.

"I guess I could arrange it so that no one delves deeper into your theft." She glanced at the clock.  "And...I'm free for lunch.  There's a café around the corner if you would care to join me."

She patted her skirt down and stubbed out her cigarette before making her way back around her desk.  She grabbed her suit jacket and slipped it back on, her fingers deftly buttoning it as she continued to speak.

"It's the best I can offer you.  I'm a busy woman if you'll believe it, and if I'm getting any kind of lunch I'd better leave now."

James got up and followed Beckett out of her office. He thought it was kind of odd, she already knew everything about him, his address, his social, and his name... and he didn't even know her first name. Sighing to himself, he lengthened his stride to match hers, ignoring the looks they were beginning to get from her co-workers.

Going around the corner to the place where they were going to have lunch, James smiled and ordered a coffee and a ham sub, extra cheese. Setting the money on the counter, he looked to Beckett and said

"Whatever you want, I don't care. Though I'd rather not break my fifty."

He flipped his hair out of his face once again, as Beckett began to order.

"Beef stew with a thick slice of rye and a cup of black coffee."

Her eyes flickered over to her companion as he muttered something about not wanting to break a fifty.  Kate rolled her eyes and tossed a ten onto the counter.

"It's fine...James."  His first name was somewhat bitter on her tongue. "I've got it."

They didn't say anything as they waited for their food, merely sneaking glances at one another when the other wasn't looking.  Just as the exhausted waitress unceremoniously clunked their plates down, Kate's liquidy brown eyes connected with James's hazel pair.  In an unexpected moment, her cheeks broke into a faint blush.  Both hesitated to break the eye contact, but finally Kate turned her head to her stew, quickly burying her attention in the meal.

The small talk the two shared gradually picked up pace through the meal, until the two were chuckling somewhat awkwardly over an off-color joke.  Kate glanced at the clock and pushed away from the counter.

"Well...James.  I must go back to the office.  I'll take care of that business we discussed earlier right away."

He nodded and swung his hair away from his eyes in a way that was beginning to look almost cute.

"Well, you know my number, my dear Beckett, if you care to lunch together once more."

She hesitated, pulling her purse up close to her body.

"S-sure."

Kate hurried out of the diner, her skirt whipping around the corner as she unconciously recited his number beneath her breath.