Title: Discovery

Author/pseudonym: Fluffy Rabbit

Fandom: Sentinel, Daryl/OFC Jim/OFC Rafe/OMC

Rating: R

Status: New Complete

Archive: To WWOMB

Series/Sequel: First in series

Other websites: No

Disclaimers: The Sentinel guys belong to Petfly, the rest are mine.

Warnings: AU, serial killer.

Notes: Unbetaed, anyone willing please let me know.

Summary: none

author's note: I orignally wrote this story because I was thinking what if this happened. Well here's the story I hope you like it. Feedback is welcome.

Discovery
By Fluffy Rabbit

Poker night was in full swing, Taz thought opening the front door and hearing laughter coming from the dining room. She supposed that she should make a brief appearance if only to reassure her brother that she'd got home safely. Maybe now would be the right time to tell him that she'd been dropped from the gymnastics team at school, pass it off as being no big deal after all she'd got a place on the track team which was way cooler. Only it was a big deal. She'd worked hard to get on the team in the first place, put in a lot more hours of training than anyone else. And what for? To get dropped because Melanie Warren's dad had waved his cheque book in front of the coach. At least Melanie Warren didn't like track so she had omething that she could pour all her physical energy into without having to worry about being kicked off the team.

'Hi.' she said entering the dining room on her way to the kitchen.

'You're late.' Detective Brian Rafe said looking up from the cards that he was holding and at his sister.

'Max's mom was late picking us up from the centre,' she replied, 'She dropped me off right outside, and waited until I'd opened the front door.'

'So how's the gym team going?' Detective Henri Brown asked.

'I got dropped from the team a couple of weeks ago.' Taz replied.

'Why didn't you tell me?' Brian asked.

'You've been busy recently. I'm cool about it. I'm on the track team instead.'

'What event?' Henri asked.

'Two hundred and four hundred. Plus I'm going to try out for the relay team. You know what the coolest thing is?'

'No.' Henri replied.

'I get to train with my best friend,' she said, 'Plus everyone knows that all the seriously cute guys are into track and field.' Not that they ever paid her any attention, no they were all too busy following Melanie Warren around.

'You haven't forgotten that we're going to get your birthday present tomorrow have you?' Brian asked tossing several poker chips onto the pile in the middle of the table.

'How could I.' smiling at him before going into the kitchen.

************

'So you're still getting her that puppy.' Henri said.

'Yeah,' Brian replied, 'A pedigree chocolate labrador. Took a while to find one. Luckily Dobson in Vice has a dog that's had puppies. I've been promised the pick of the litter. She's already bought the bed and food

herself. And read just about every book they had on puppies in the library.'

'Would never have thought of you as being a dog owner.' Captain Simon Banks said knocking the ash off his cigar.

'It's going to be Taz's dog not mine.' Brian replied.

'Which means it's going to cause chaos,' Henri grinned, 'Sleep on the couch, get dog hairs on all those designer suits of yours.'

'She's taking it to training classes,' Brian said, 'I've already signed them up.'

***********

v 'Couldn't you have dressed a little better?' Brian asked the following morning when his sister came out of her room dressed in faded jeans, a baggy t shirt and a pair of trainers which should have been thrown out long ago, dragging a worn-out blanket behind her.

'Puppies have accidents,' Taz replied, 'And he might get car sick.'

'If he is, you clean it up.' Nobody was going to be sick in his car, because he'd never be able to get the smell out of the leather seats.

'Relax Bri, he'll probably sleep all the way home. Wrapped up in this,' picking the blanket up and folding it neatly, 'I've been thinking of names for him.'

'What if it's a girl?' he asked.

'I want a boy. We've got the pick of the litter so I can have any one I want right?'

'Right.' smiling at her. This was more like the old Taz, he thought, recently he'd sensed that she had something on her mind. Not that she ever talked to him about how she was feeling.

**************

Taz's heart sank when she saw the black mercedes parked outside of where she was getting her puppy from. Melanie Warren had beat her to it that meant that she was going to have to take whatever puppy was left. No matter what she did Melanie Warren came along and spoilt it. At least she hadn't got her hooks into Max yet, but she suspected that it was only a matter of time before she did. After all there was no way that she could possibly compete with Melanie's long blonde hair and flawless complexion.

'Well if it isn't the freak geek.' Melanie Warren smirked when she saw Taz.

'Melanie,' Taz said politely, 'I didn't realise that you liked dogs.'

'Daddy says I should have some. And these are pedigrees, not that you would know anything about that.'

'Well I just came to get my puppy.' Taz said clenching her fists until the knuckles went white.

'They've all gone.' Melanie gloated.

'Except for one,' Robert Dobson said from behind them, 'He's not the biggest one, but then his father wasn't when he was this age and he turned into the best dog I've ever had.'

'I don't care as long as he's healthy.' Taz said.

'Why don't I show you him.' Robert suggested, leaning over into the puppy pen and carefully taking out the smallest puppy in it.

'A runt for a runt.' Melanie sneered looking at the tiny puppy in Robert's hands.

'He's not a runt.' Taz snapped, she didn't care how big he was because he was her puppy. And no matter what Melanie said he was the best puppy in the world.

'Why don't you hold him for a while.' Robert suggested handing the puppy to Taz.

'You are so sweet,' Taz said softly, cradling the puppy to her chest, 'Now all I have to do is give you a name.'

'I wouldn't bother if I were you. Daddy'll buy it for me.' Melanie said.

'Not this one he won't,' Robert said, 'It's not for sale.'

Taz looked at him, why was he even bothering to let her hold the puppy then.

'He's a gift.' Robert said.

'You can't just give him away,' Melanie pouted, 'It's not fair, daddy'll pay you five hundred dollars for it.'

'It's okay, she can have him,' Taz said, 'Bri'll find me another puppy.' handing it back to Robert. Nobody was going to turn that amount of money for a puppy, she thought, walking away from the puppy pen. Yet again Melanie had taken something that she'd wanted away from her.

'Don't forget your puppy.' Robert said.

'But...' Taz began as she turned round.

'He's all yours if you still want him,' Robert said, 'I promised your brother you could have one. Just take very good care of him.'

'I will,' smiling at him, as she returned to take the puppy off him, 'I won't ever let anything happen to him.'

'A thousand.' Melanie said.

'So what are you going to call him?' Robert asked ignoring the mini tantrum that Melanie was throwing.

'I don't know,' she admitted, 'What was your first dog called?' Maybe that would give her some idea as to what she should call hers.

'Mitch after my best friend.' he replied.

'Then I'm going to call him Max after my best friend,' she said, 'You like that boy.' stroking the puppy's head.

'You can't do this,' Melanie whined, 'She's a geek.'

'And you're a spoilt brat,' Robert said, 'Your brother's got my number if you need any advice about Max.'

'I'll get you for this Rafe.' Melanie pouted.

***********

'He's small.' Brian said looking at the puppy his sister was holding.

'He'll grow,' Taz replied, 'And I've given him a name.'

'What?'

'Max.'

'You do realise that you're going to have to take very good care of him. He's your responsibility.'

'I know that,' she replied, 'I'll even take him to a training school.'

'You're already signed up for one.' he said.

'Would it be okay if I called Max and asked him over so that he could see his namesake?'

'Max is a he! I thought...' This threw a completely different light of her just going off with Max when she felt like it. She wouldn't be going anywhere else with him until he'd met him.

'That Max was a girl,' finishing his sentence for him, 'He is going to love that.' She could just imagine the look on her friend's face when she told him about her brother's assumption.

'Taz, I think that we need to have a talk about you and this Max,' Brian said, 'About just how good friends you are.'

'We're buddies that's all.' she said. Not that she would mind if Max asked her out on a real date.

'You're sure about that. Guys don't always see things the same way girls do.'

'I know that, H's mom told me all about the difference. That if a guy doesn't respect you stay well away from him.'

'In that case I think that you should invite him over.' Brian said.

'You're not going to make a big deal out of this are you?' Taz asked. The last thing she wanted was for her brother to embarrass her best friend.

'Of course not.' he replied.

Taz looked at him, he might say that now but he wouldn't be able to help himself. As soon as he met Max he'd start asking all sorts of embarrassing questions. Her brother really needed a life of his own so that he wouldn't be so interested in hers. She couldn't remember the last time he'd had a date or spent any length of time with a woman. In fact the only person he spent any length of time with apart from her was H.

There had to be a woman out there who would like to be with someone like her brother, she thought. He was smart, funny, honest, and so what if he overdressed all the time there wasn't a great deal that she could do about that. Maybe she could take out a personal ad for him because she knew exactly what she wanted from a potential sister in law. Someone who would love Brian and take care of him when she wasn't there. She didn't want to see him end up as a sad and lonely old man.

*************

At some point definitely before Max arrived she was going to have to tell Brian just who exactly Max really was. Or he was going to get a huge surprise when he opened the door and saw him standing there. Especially as Max's dad was coming with him.

'Max isn't his real name,' she said watching her puppy sniffing at a pair of Brian's slippers, 'It's his nickname. Every time he orders a burger he has it maxed. You thought H could eat, just wait until you see how much Max can put away. I guess it's because he takes after his dad.'

'So what is his proper name?' Brian asked.

'Daryl,' she muttered, 'Max come here.' tapping the floor next to her.

'As in?'

'Banks.' She was in serious trouble, she thought.

'You're dating Simon's son? Does he know?'

'I doubt it,' Taz admitted, 'And we're not dating. You know it is possible for two people of the opposite sex to be just friends.'

'And just how long have the two of you been friends?'

'Since I started going to the Stone Centre. We sort of drifted together with us both having cops in the family. Sometimes there's no-one else we can talk to.' It wasn't easy having a parent or guardian who was a police officer, or sitting at home at night wondering if they were going to come home or whether there would be a phone call asking you to go to the hospital. Even worse was the fear of the knock on the door in the middle of the night to tell you that they wouldn't ever be coming home again. She'd been lucky she knew that, Brian had never got really badly hurt so far.

Daryl hadn't been that lucky though, some pretty bad stuff had happened to both him and his dad.

'Taz, you know that you can always talk to me don't you.'

'Sure I do, but you're not always here. And Daryl doesn't get to see his dad that often and his mom's always too busy with her latest "friend" to listen to him when he needs to talk about stuff.'

'So you listen to him?' Brian asked.

'Yeah, and he listens to me. Somehow between the two of us we make sense of all the crap that goes on.'

'You would tell me if there was anything wrong wouldn't you. If the two of you were...'

'Bri, we're not doing anything we shouldn't be. Besides he's kind of shy around girls.' Except for her that was and that was probably because he saw her as a guy.

'But you're a...'

'I don't do girl stuff. Well except for the gym team and I got dropped from that.' she replied.

***************

This house was very familiar, Simon thought pulling up behind the red dodge viper parked outside of it.

'Are you sure that this is the right house?' he asked, maybe his son had made a mistake with the address.

'Yeah, mom dropped Taz off here last night,' Daryl replied, 'Why?'

'This is Rafe's house.'

'He's Taz's brother,' getting out of the car, 'She's having a tough time at school.'

'If she's in some sort of trouble...' Simon began.

'She's not in any trouble. There's this girl who keeps harassing her. She's the one who got Taz kicked off the gym team.'

'I thought that she was dropped.' At least that's what she'd told her brother the previous night.

'Taz doesn't want her brother to make a big deal out of it,' Daryl said, 'But everyone knows that this girl's dad paid the gym coach five grand for Taz's place on the team. Rumour has it that she's going after Taz's place on the track team next.'

'Maybe she was better than your friend,' Simon suggested, 'Sport is very competitive.'

'Dad, Taz won this huge trophy a couple of months ago. And this girl doesn't even bother going to practice. If it was just that she was better than her Taz wouldn't mind. She'd work harder to get her place back. It's the way that she got her place on the team. What's the point in training when you know that someone can buy your place.'

Simon looked at his son, he had a point, he thought, there wasn't much point in working hard and doing your best if you could just hand over a cheque and get what you want.

'Have you spoken to your principal about this?'

'He wouldn't believe us even if we had proof. This girl's dad has a lot of power.' Daryl replied.

**************

'Max, no,' Taz said scooping the puppy up before he had a chance to squat on her slippers, 'We do that outside.' carrying him out of the living room, and through the kitchen before opening the back door and putting him on the ground outside. She was going to have to keep a close eye on him until he learnt that he had to go to the back door if he wanted to go out. 'Good Max,' praising him when a puddle formed under him, 'Whose a clever puppy. Come here boy.' Max walked unsteadily over to the back door, then tried to get up the back step that was taller than he was. 'Here you go,' bending down and picking him up, then putting him down on the kitchen floor, 'Want some dinner? I've got some nice puppy food for you,' opening the bottom cupboard closest to the back door, 'And Maxie has got his own dishes, yes he has. He is such a lucky puppy.'

**************

He'd better get that, Brian thought when he heard the doorbell go. This would have been a lot easier if it was a total stranger who was Taz's best friend. He would have been able to find some fault with them and ban Taz from ever seeing them again. But it wasn't a total stranger, it was Daryl. Simon's son, his boss's son and that could cause him some serious problems at work. It wasn't that he didn't like Daryl, he was a decent young man who had never been in any trouble, but in his opinion Taz was just too young to have boys as friends never mind having one as her best friend. When he'd been growing up girls where what you dated, you certainly didn't have them as your friends. Hopefully Simon would see things the same way he did and they'd both be able to talk some sense into Taz and Daryl.

****************

'Rafe.' Simon said when the front door opened.

'Simon, Daryl, or should I say Max,' Rafe said, 'Come in Taz is in the kitchen feeding Max.' It was going to get confusing with two Max's, he thought so he was going to call Daryl, Daryl.

'Max?' Simon asked entering the house followed by Daryl.

'Taz's nickname for me,' Daryl explained, 'It's like everyone calls Taz Taz even though it's not her proper name.'

'So what is her proper name?' Simon asked.

'I don't know,' Daryl admitted, 'Even the teachers call her Taz.'

'It's Johanna Hope,' Brian said, 'Not that she'll answer to it. Daryl why don't you go through into the kitchen it's...'

'I know the way.' Daryl said finishing his sentence for him before heading in the direction of the kitchen.

****************

'Hi.' Daryl said entering the kitchen.

'Hi,' Taz replied, 'So what do you think of him?' looking at the puppy who was busy filling his stomach.

'He's small.'

'He was the only one left. She was there and she bought all the others.'

'So how much was he?' casually leaning against the door frame.

'Nothing, he was a gift.'

'She must have loved that.' he said,

'She threw a fit, said her dad would pay a thousand bucks for him,' Taz said, 'Can you imagine what it would be like for him living with her?'

'Pretty bad,' Daryl replied, 'I think it's sort of cool that you gave him my nickname.'

'You're my best friend so why wouldn't I?'

'I just thought you might want to call him something else.'

'Like what?'

'I don't know. Maybe David.' he suggested.

David! Why would I want to call my dog David?' That just didn't make any sort of sense to her at all.

'You know after David Peters. The two of you have been seen together a lot.'

'And that means what exactly?' she asked frowning slightly.

'Ross said that David Peters was going to ask you out.'

'He did,' Taz replied, 'But I turned him down.'

'You did! Why?'

'Well for a start he's a total creep, and secondly he's dated MelanieWarren. Like I'd ever date someone she had.'

'So you and David Peters aren't...'

'Totally no way,' she said, 'But if the right guy asked and he hadn't dated Melanie then I'd probably say yes. Not that there's much chance of that happening though.'

'Why not?' Daryl asked.

'Because they're all chasing after Melanie and the rest of the Barbie clones.' It would be a long time if ever before she got that sort of attention.

*************

The one thing that was instantly noticeable about the photos in the living room was a lack of recent ones of them with their parents, Simon thought.

'They died when Taz was two.' Rafe said when he noticed what Simon was looking at.

'You can't have been much older than Daryl at the time.' Simon said.

'A few years older,' he replied, 'And I had some help. My uncle took Taz in while I went to the academy. Then H's family sort of adopted us. Taz is a good kid so I must have been doing something right. She's never given me any serious trouble, an honour roll student, straight A's all the way through school. And now she's tutoring at the Stone Centre.'

'That explains why Daryl's grades have gone up since he started going there,' Simon said, 'You should be proud of her.'

'I am,' Rafe replied, 'There are a lot of kids from "normal" families who aren't doing half as well as she is. In fact she'll be graduating soon, two years early.'

'Daryl talks about her a lot according to Joan,' he said, 'If I'd known it was your sister I would have...'

'Likewise. The thing is what are we going to do about it? Taz is too young to be seeing anyone right now. Maybe in a year or two.'

'How old is she?'

'Sixteen next month,' Rafe replied, 'Last week some boy asked her out but she turned him down.'

'Rafe, they're just friends.' Simon said.

'And how many girls did you have as friends at Daryl's age?'

Simon looked at him, he had a point, he thought. But between him and Joan they'd raised Daryl to know the difference between right and wrong and to always respect other people.

'I don't like telling Darly who he can and can't be friends with, unless there's a damned good reason. And I can't think of one.' Taz was the sort of friend he and Joan actually encouraged Daryl to make.

'If it wasn't for the age difference I wouldn't have a problem.'

'It's only two years which isn't that big a difference,' Simon said, anyone would think that Daryl and Taz were dating instead of being friends.

*************

'You know what you said about all the guys chasing after Melanie and the Barbie clones.' Darly said walking over to where Taz was now sitting on the kitchen counter.

'Yeah.' she replied kicking her hells against a cupboard door.

'Not all of them are. Believe it or not there are some guys who wouldn't touch Melanie Warren or the Barbie clones with a ten foot pole.'

'Only because she hasn't wiggled her butt in their direction yet.'

'That's not true.'

'Sure it is. I've seen it happen. No guy has ever turned her down.' Why would they when Melanie would give them everything they wanted. No-one could compete with Melanie and the Barbie clones, they had it all and would do anything to keep it that way. 'I've even seem you looking at her.'

'No way.' he replied.

'Yes way. She's beautiful, so why wouldn't you look.' It was only natural that he would, after all he was a guy and that's what guys did.

'She's not beautiful inside. The way she treats you is really bad. You should tell your brother.'

'Which would do no good at all. Bri would make a big fuss about it and then he'd get kicked off the force,' Taz said, 'A couple more months and I'll be rid of her.' She could handle it knowing that once she'd graduated she wouldn't have to see Melanie Warren on a daily basis.

'So are you going to do this going to work day thing?'

'If Bri lets me I will,' she replied, 'I still haven't told him that I want to be a cop yet.'

'There's no rush, you're going to have to wait a couple of years before they'll let you into the academy,' Daryl said, 'My mom doesn't even want me to be one, and my dad says that I have to go to college first.'

'I'm going to college, eventually all cops will have some sort of degree. The crooks are getting smarter so the cops have to be even smarter than them.' smiling at him.

**************

'Would you like some coffee?' Brian asked, it would give him the perfect opportunity to check on Taz in the kitchen. It wasn't that he thought that she was doing something that she knew she shouldn't be, but he wanted to make sure that she knew that he was going to be keeping a close eye on her and Daryl from now on.

'Please.' Simon replied.

*************

Rafe was being too over protective, Simon thought, still having raised his sister by himself he was bound to be. Not that that was going to make it easy for Daryl to continue his friendship with Taz. Perhaps there was something that he could do about it, maybe suggest that they had a third person with them when they went anywhere at least until they went to college. In his opinion trying to stop them from being friends wasn't going to do anything except make them even more determined to see each other.

************

'Everything okay in here?' Brian asked entering the kitchen and seeing Taz sat on one of the counter.

'Yeah,' she replied, 'I've fed Max, I'll put him out in a few minutes. I can't wait until I take him for his first walk.'

'He has to have all his shots first,' he said, 'Why haven't you offered Daryl a drink?' He'd taught her better manners than that.

'He knows where they are if he wants one.'

'Third shelf in the fridge.' Darly said moving slightly as Max began sniffing his trainers.

'I know where everything is at his mom's,' she said, 'And H knows where we keep all the snacks.' As far as she could see there wasn't that big a difference between H knowing and Daryl knowing, 'Mrs Brown was here every time Max came over.' She had a pretty good idea what her brother was thinking, that Max was coming over when there was nobody else there.

'Let me know next time okay.' Brian said.

'Okay,' smiling at him, 'Have you decided whether I can go to work with you or not yet?'

'My dad's letting me go,' Daryl said, 'There's going to be a crime for all the kids to try and solve.'

'Doesn't it clash with your school trip?'

'Going to work day's after that,' Taz sighed, 'You know it would be pretty cool to hang out with you all day.'

'We'll see. I'm sure that Cap, Simon doesn't want the department over run with teenagers.'

'It's just going to be me and Taz in Major Crimes,' Darly said, 'My dad'll even let us hang out in his office if we want to.'

*****************

This really sucked, Taz thought getting onto the bus. She'd planned on sitting next to Daryl on the way there, instead Melanie Warren was and to make matters even worse she was flirting with him. Daryl shrugged his shoulders apologetically as she walked past him to the rear of the bus. Still at least she'd be able to spend some time with while they were at the camp site. That was something that they hadn't been able to do recently, not alone anyway. Ever since her brother and Daryl's dad had found out that they were friends they'd both been keeping a pretty close eye on them. Like they were even going to think about doing something that they shouldn't while they were being watched.

'I don't see how you can like someone like that,' Melanie pouted as all her efforts to flirt with Daryl failed, 'She doesn't even wear eyeliner.'

'Exactly.' Daryl replied, that was just one of the reasons why he liked Taz as much as he did. She didn't act like all the other girls at school, she wasn't afraid that she was going to ruin her makeup or break a nail if he wanted to shoot hoops with her. With Taz what you saw was what you got. He didn't even mind that some of the guys at school teased him because he was friends with a girl. They were the ones missing out, he thought, and it wasn't as if there was huge queue of girls waiting for him to ask them out.

'But she's ugly.' Melanie whined playing with her long blonde hair. Daryl smiled politely at her, after his parents had taught him that if you couldn't say anything nice it was better not to say anything at all. Taz wasn't ugly though, she was pretty and she was fun to be around. He knew that it was only a matter of time before some other guy realised that and asked her out, she would say yes and that would be the end of their friendship.

********************

The house was just too quiet without Taz in it, Brian thought letting Max out into the back garden. Still he supposed that he'd better start getting used to it because sooner or later Taz would be leaving home. Hopefully later thought, because she was still too young to be living away from home.

H would say that he had to get a life, that somewhere out there just waiting for him to come along was the perfect woman. The only problem was that he didn't want to find a woman. It had all been so much easier when Taz had been younger, after all there were very few women who were prepared to taken on a little sister. Now though there was no excuse for him to turn down dates, except that he didn't want to go on them. and how was he supposed to explain it to Taz, explain that she was more likely to end up with a brother in law than a sister in law. She was going to be really upset that he'd kept something this big from her, after all they weren't supposed to have secrets.

*******************

'I hate mud,' Melanie whined as her heels sank into the ground, 'My shoes.'

'Why do you think we were supposed to wear boots?' Taz asked from behind her, fighting the urge to push Melanie face down in the biggest mud puddle that she could find.

'Come on,' Daryl said taking hold of one of her arms and pulling her away from where Melanie was, 'You don't want to get sent home when we've only just got here do you?'

'Nah, she's not worth it.' Taz said walking away as Melanie struggled to get her shoes free of the mud.

'Daryl.' Melanie screamed as the two of them walked away.

********************

Nobody treated her like that, Melanie thought, finally getting free of the mud. Especially when one of those nobodies was Taz Rafe. She was a geek, an ugly, parentless geek. Well she was going to show her what happened to someone who dared to try and take something away from her that she wanted. She might have got that stupid puppy, but she wasn't going to get Daryl. She was going to have to up the ante, flirting with him just wasn't going to cut it this time. No, she was going to offer him something that nobody had ever turned down before. The geek couldn't possibly compete with that, hell she was probably still a virgin.

********************

'You shouldn't let her get to you.' Daryl said.

'I can't help it, she does it on purpose,' Taz said, 'I mean what sort of person wears high heels to go camping in. With any luck the mud'll suck her under.'

'We could always put a snake in her bed.'

'I don't like snakes but I couldn't be cruel to one.' she laughed.

'I was saving the seat next to me for you but...' he began.

'It's okay, sitting at the back was okay.'

'All she did was talk about herself,' he said, 'After the first ten minutes it got boring. She didn't even notice when I fell asleep.'

'Shows how dumb she really is.' Daryl had never fallen asleep when she'd talked to him, but then she'd never droned on and on about herself. All of which went to show just how vain and shallow Melanie really was. Still it was that same shallowness and vanity that got Melanie so many dates, 'I'd be really careful around her.' Personally she wouldn't trust Melanie as far as she could spit, but apart from giving Daryl a friendly warning there wasn't a great deal that she could do.'

'I'm not interested in her.' he smiled.

'That doesn't mean that she's not interested in you. Last guy she got her claws into still paying for it.' she reminded him.

'Not going to happen to me.'

******************

'Thought you'd be at home enjoying the peace and quiet.' H said when his partner sat down at his desk and began doing paperwork.

'Just thought I'd get caught up,' Brian replied, 'If you have a problem with that?'

'No problem, just figured that with Taz away first thing you'd do is invite some lucky lady over. There's been a lack of them recently.'

'You ever stop to think that maybe I don't want a woman.'

'You're joking right. It's going to get pretty lonely when Taz leaves home.'

'She won't be doing that for a couple of years,' Brian replied, 'And I can always get a lodger.'

'You with a lodger, believe it when I see it buddy,' H laughed, 'I give you six months max when Taz's left home before you're engaged or married.'

'Not going to happen.' To begin with he couldn't get engaged to someone if he couldn't marry then, he thought. And he certainly wouldn't be as desperate for company as H was making out when Taz left home. But he would be able to invite someone back to the house without any awkward questions being asked. Although in order for him to meet someone he would have to go out. It had been along time since he'd last gone to a bar with the intent purpose of finding someone that he wanted to date and then eventually sleep with.

Things had probably changed a lot since the last time he'd dated a man. Now there were all sorts of disease out there, looking back at his younger wilder days he could see that he'd been damned lucky to catch anything. Attitudes on the force hadn't changed a great deal though, the streets could still be a very dangerous place for a gay cop who was out. Still nobody knew he was, and he'd dated enough women since joining the force that nobody would suspect it.

******************

Looking around the log cabin Taz realised that she'd been lucky to have one all to herself. No doubt any potential room mate had decided that the stigma of sharing with the geek would be something that they could never get rid of. Not that she minded being on her own, she could do as she pleased when it came to deciding what time she went to sleep. And if she felt like it she could stay up all night if she wanted to, something Brian would never have let her do at home.

Unpacking her overstuffed back pack, she came across the notebook and pencil case she'd packed. Now that she had some time and privacy she could work on a personal ad for her brother. Sitting on the edge of one of the beds in the cabin she opened the notebook and stared at the clean sheet of paper while she tried to sort out in her mind what it was that she wanted to say. Taking a pencil out of the case, she began to write.

'Wanted,' she said aloud, 'By tall,' five foot eleven was tall, she thought, it was when compared to her five foot five, 'Attractive,' even she knew that her brother attractive, 'Man in his late thirties, Female companion for evenings out and possible romance.' Well she didn't want anyone who was only interested in a short term fling answering, after all one day she would like some nieces and nephews to baby-sit for. 'Must like teenagers and dogs.' That said just about all she wanted it to say for the time being, and she could always alter it later. If the final version of the ad didn't work she could always suggest that he date guys.

'Damien, she thought, dredging up a memory from the recesses of her mind. He'd been Brian's best friend long before H had. They'd done everything together, now she was starting to realise just what exactly everything had included. Brian was gay! No Bi, he had to be Bi because she'd met some of his dates and they'd all been women. Not that any of them had stayed over night or for more than one or two dates. She'd always thought that it was her fault that they hadn't stayed around longer, but maybe it wasn't.

Tearing the piece of paper she'd written on out of the notebook she scrunched it into a ball and dropped it into the bin at the side of the bed. When she got home she was going to have to ask Brian some really searching questions.

*************

'Sorry that seat's taken,' Darly said as Melanie tried to sit next to him at the lunch table, 'Taz'll be here soon.'

'She's not here now thought,' Melanie replied sitting down next to him, 'Did you know that she stole my puppy? He was the cutest little thing. Daddy was going to pay a thousand dollars for him. Now Detective Dobson's looking for a new job.'

Darly looked at her and pushed his lunch tray across the table. She wasn't going to go away quietly, he thought, and Taz was going to be pretty upset that Melanie was trying to butt into their friendship.

'He's going to get me onto the track team to make up for it,' she smirked, 'So someone's going to have to get dropped.'

'Melanie, go away.' She was only telling him because she knew that he would tell Taz what she was going to do. What really sucked was the fact that he knew that there was nothing that they could do to stop her from getting Taz kicked off the team. At least Taz still had the Stone Centre, that was until Melanie found out about it.

Melanie had to be really insecure to hate Taz as much as she did. After all Taz had never done anything to her. They didn't eve hang out with the same people. Come to think of it the only person Taz ever hung out with was him, she didn't seem to have any other friends. Maybe she just preferred it that way, because she was pretty serious at school. Not that she didn't know how to have fun as well.

***************

She wasn't going to lose her temper or get upset, Taz thought on entering the lunch room and seeing Melanie sitting next to Daryl, because she would be playing straight into Melanie's hands if she did. Once Melanie decided that she wanted something or one, she wouldn't let anyone get in her way, no matter how many people got hurt in the process. And it looked as if she'd decided that she wanted Daryl.

He just didn't stand a chance against Melanie when she was in full seductress mode. By the time they went home in three days time Melanie would have chewed him up and spat him out, just like every other guy she'd ever dated. Daryl was her friend, her best friend, well the only friend that she had, but she wasn't so sure that she wanted to be the one who put him back together after Melanie had finished with him.

If she'd been prettier, or even taller she might have been able to put up some sort of fight against Melanie. But she wasn't and Daryl wasn't even remotely interested in her romantically. So for the time being she was just going to have to stand by and wait to see what happened.

*******************

A self satisfied grin spread across Melanie's face when she saw Taz taking her lunch tray over to a table where the rest of the geeks and misfits were sitting. Finally she'd learnt that no matter how hard she tried she was never going to be accepted as normal. People like Taz Rafe were there to be used and stepped on while you were going up the ladder of success. Of course they were never allowed to climb that ladder no matter how smart they were or how hard they tried.

There were always ways to stop people like Taz Rafe from getting anywhere in life, daddy had taught her that. After all it wasn't as if Taz had any family to push her name forward. No, all she had was a brother who was a lowly detective. By the time she'd finished with her Taz would be lucky to get a job flipping burgers for minimum wage.

*****************

'Another one bites the dust,' Harold Barclay said pushing his thick rimmed glasses back onto his nose at Taz sat down at his table, 'Sorry he's a friend of your isn't he.'

'Yeah.' she replied.

'Couple of days and she'll have dumped him.'

'I know that.' Everybody knew that Melanie never dated the same guy for more than a week.

'Bet you didn't know that he was the sixth this month.' he said.

'Sixth!' She'd never even dated a single guy yet. And Brian would kill her if she tried dating six guys in a month. Doing something like that was the right way to get yourself a reputation, something that you couldn't get rid of quite so easily. 'Why do guys keep going out with her if they know that she's just going to use them?'

'Because she gives them what they want.'

'You mean she...' Harold nodded. 'There is no way Daryl. I mean it's sick.' She didn't even stand a chance of keeping Daryl away from Melanie when Melanie was prepared to go that far. 'How do you know?'

'My brother dated Melanie last year,' Harold replied, 'A broken heart wasn't all that she left him with if you get my meaning. Do you want that?' watching her push her food around her plate with her fork.

'You can have it,' pushing the tray towards him, 'I'm not very hungry now.' Daryl could find himself in serious trouble if he wasn't careful, she thought, but with Melanie looking as if she was going to be hanging around him all the time she wasn't going to get much of a chance to warn him about the trouble that he might be getting himself into.

****************

'Isn't that sweet,' Melanie mocked, 'She's found a little geek friend to play with.'

'Quit having a go at Taz,' Daryl snapped, 'It's not as if she's ever done anything to you.' moving his chair away from Melanie's when he felt a hand touch his thigh.

'She's not like us,' she replied, 'People like her are never going to be accepted. It's better that she learns that now.'

Darly looked at her, nobody had the right to write off anybody else, he thought. Especially not when that person was his best friend.

'Just what exactly is wrong with Taz?' he wanted some solid reason why she didn't like Taz, to have the nerve to assume that she would never be accepted.

'Where do you want me to start?' she asked, 'She's ugly, a geek. And just look at what she's wearing. Those clothes look like something a bag lady would throw out.'

'This is a camping trip not a fashion show.' he reminded her.

********************

'At least someone cares.' Brian said as Max raced up to greet him after opening the front door. Not that a puppy helped to fill the growing feeling of loneliness inside of him. Eating a lot alone wasn't some thing that he was looking forward to. Normally he and Taz ate together mostly to make sure that they both ate something. Mealtimes were also when they talked about their days. Not that he always told her the truth, there were some things that she didn't need to know about, the dead bodies, the junkies. He'd do his damnedest to keep her from ever seeing those. Taz was a lot better at school work than he'd ever been. There'd be no pounding the beat waiting for a chance to get her gold shield. No, she was going to go into either business or science. Some job where she didn't have to worry about getting shot at. He'd decided along time ago that she wouldn't be having anything to do with the darker side of life.

*************

Yawning Taz opened her cabin door. An early morning and an afternoon of trekking through the woods were starting to take it's toll on her. Closing the door behind her she looked it just in case anyone was in the mood for playing practical jokes. After turning on the lamp she closed the curtains before getting ready for bed.

Putting her sweats on she thought about how little time she'd been able to spend with Daryl. Melanie had clung to him like a limpet all day. She'd even tried following him when he'd needed the bathroom during their trek through the woods. Right now Daryl was probably taking full advantage of what Melanie was offering. Still that was up to him, it wasn't as if she could force him to stay away from her. At least tomorrow she wouldn't have to put up with Melanie simpering over Daryl because they were going caving and Melanie wasn't booked to go on the trip.

***************

He'd made a terrible mistake, Brian thought entering the club. This wasn't really his sort of place. He wasn't even sure why he'd even come here, maybe to try and erase a little of the loneliness that was starting to overwhelm him. His heart skipped a beat when he saw a familiar figure from the station standing at the bar with a group of young men. He had to get out of here before he was seen otherwise the fact that he'd been here would be all over the station by lunch time tomorrow.

Too late! Blair had seen him and was coming over. Better have an explanation ready, he thought, and it was going to have to be a damned good one.

****************

'Hey Rafe,' Blair said, 'Fancy seeing you here,' grinning at the obviously uneasy detective, 'Come here often.'

'First time,' Brian replied, 'I was just going, not exactly my type of place if you know what I mean.'

'Why don't you stay for a drink? H was saying that you could probably use some cheering up with your sister away.'

'The house does feel empty,' he admitted, 'And clean and tidy.' There was no life in it with Taz away.

'So what do you say to a beer?' Blair asked.

'Sure why not.' He didn't have anything to lose and he could always leave after he'd drunk it.

***************

'Oh god.' Brian groaned the following morning. His head felt like there was a jack hammer in it and his tongue had suddenly grown fur. Stumbling out of bed he staggered across the bedroom and towards the bathroom.

Blinking at his dishevelled reflection in the bathroom mirror, he turned on the cold water tap and splashed some onto his face. Feeling only slightly better he opened the bathroom cabinet, took two aspirins from the bottle in it and swallowed them. He was going to need a lot of black coffee, he thought leaving the bathroom. And then he was going to have to try and remember just how exactly he'd got into this state.

******************

Sitting at the kitchen table cradling a mug of strong black coffee vague memories of the night before started coming back to him. He could remember accepting Blair's offer of a beer and of being introduced to the young's man friends. In particular he remembered a young man about Blair's height with short dark curly hair, who had seemed more than a little interested in getting to know him better. He hadn't been able to say anything with Blair being there otherwise he would have asked for his phone number. After that there had been a few more beers and a few more after that. He could definitely remember being put into a cab at some point late in the evening so he couldn't have done anything too embarrassing, he thought. Still he couldn't help but wish that he'd been able to pluck up enough courage to ask that young man for his phone number.

********************

'You know just because they're moving your desk in today it doesn't mean that you've got to do the same.' Tommy said taking a box from the rear seat of the dark blue jeep.

'The sooner I do it the less likely I am to change my mind.' Jessica replied getting out of the front passenger side of the jeep.

'I still think you're pushing yourself too hard.' watching her use her walking stick to steady herself.

'I'm going to be teaching a couple of classes a week. Maybe give the odd outside lecture, that's all.' She was going to ease herself into teaching.

'Just remember that you get tried easily and no carrying heavy objects.'

'So tell me more about this guy you met last night.' changing the subject before he could give her another of his lectures about taking better care of herself.

********************

Taz's heart sank when she saw Melanie joining the group that was going caving. There went her chance to spend time with Daryl, she thought. And it looked as if Melanie had got her claws well and truly hooked into him. Well she certainly wasn't going to waste anymore of her time on someone who was dumb enough to get involved with Melanie Warren. Brian would be happy about it thought as he'd been wanting her to spend less time with Daryl.

**************

'Oh look, your little friend's sulking,' Melanie cooed clinging to Daryl's arm despite his best efforts to shake her hold off him, 'I wonder why? She couldn't possibly be jealous of me could she?'

'Melanie, for the last time, leave me alone,' Daryl snapped finally shaking her hold off, 'I'm not interested.' And he never would be.

'Nobody turns me down,' she pouted, 'You and the little geek are going to regret this.'

'You don't even know when to shut up.' he said walking over to where Taz was standing.

********************

'Hey Blair,' Tommy said entering Blair's office, 'Sol's coming, takes her a little longer to get around these days than it used to,' putting the box that he was holding down on the empty desk in the room, 'I really appreciate you giving up some of your office space to her.'

'No problem.' Blair replied.

'She shouldn't be in your way too much, she'd only teaching part time for the next couple of months.'

'Anything I need to know?'

'No sage burning, no strong after shave and don't even think about raiding her desk for snacks.'

'Anything else?'

'She's pretty flexible regarding everything else.' Tommy replied.

*******************

'Talking about me again?' Jessica asked limping into her new office, 'Why don't you make yourself useful and make me some of that foul tasting tea you like so much.'

'Yes boss,' Tommy laughed, 'That's the closest she'll come to admitting that she likes it.'

'Watch it I'm armed,' waving her stick at him, 'Blair, it's good to see you again.'

'You too.' he replied grinning at her.

'So what can you tell me about this man Tommy met last night?' she asked.

'Which one?' Blair asked.

'Five eleven, hazel eyes, designer casual ring any bells.'

'Rafe!'

'Is that his first name or last name?' limping over to her desk and sitting behind it, 'My balance is still a little off. So if you find me face down on the floor I'd really appreciate a hand up.' on seeing the concerned look on Blair's face.

'No problem,' he replied, 'I hate to break it you Tommy, but Rafe's straight.'

'Still it couldn't do any harm to give him your phone number in case he changes his mind.' looking at her brother.

******************

'How much longer are you going to ignore me?' Daryl asking walking alongside Taz.

'I'm not ignoring you,' she replied, 'I just don't want to talk to you right now. I'm sure that Melanie would be more than happy to listen to anything you have to say.'

'Taz...' he began.

'Look you want to hang out with Melanie that's fine. Just don't expect me to pick the pieces up afterwards.' she snapped.

'I don't want to hang out with Melanie.'

'Why not? You did yesterday.'

'I tried getting rid of her, but she wouldn't go away.' If it had been a guy bothering him like that he would probably have hit him, but hitting girls was wrong.

'Yeah right,' she muttered, 'You do know that you're the sixth guy she's dated this month.'

'I'm not dating Melanie.' She sounded jealous, he thought, but she couldn't be because they were just friends. Recently though with Melanie chasing him he'd begun to think that maybe he should be dating someone. A lot of guys his age were on their third even fourth girlfriend and he'd dated a grand total of zero so far. He hadn't even kissed a girl properly, although he wasn't going to admit that to anyone. The only problem was that any girl he dated wasn't going to want him hanging out with Taz and he didn't want to lose his best friend. 'I'd never date anyone who didn't like you.'

'Who you date is nothing to do with me.' Taz frowned.

'Just because your brother...'

'Leave Brian out of it. No wonder he doesn't want me dating when there are so many jerks around.' marching off ahead of him.

********************

He'd really blown that, Daryl thought, it had all come out mixed up. When it came to talking to girls he always messed up. This time was worst of all because he'd upset his best friend. Somehow he was going to have to say sorry to her. Which wasn't going to be easy as she probably wasn't going to speak to him ever again.

It was at times like these that he really wished he'd been about to talk to his dad about things. His dad probably had some great advice as to how he could put things right with Taz, but he couldn't call him so he was going to have to do it by himself.

*******************

'Yes,' Jessica said when the office door opened and a rather stout African American man entered, 'If you're looking for Blair I'm afraid that you've just missed him. He's gone to lunch.'

'Actually I'm looking for Dr Angel,' he replied, 'Captain Joel Taggart, Cascade Police Department.' taking out his badge and showing her it.

'Is this about the parking tickets? Only the car was stolen and written off nearly two years ago. I was promised that there wouldn't be any more.'

'This isn't about parking tickets,' he reassured her. 'You're Dr Angel?' looking closely at the young woman sitting behind the desk.

'I was when I got up this morning,' smiling at him, 'What can I do for you Captain Taggart?'

'I'm currently working on a serial homicide case. And you were recommended by the FBI office in Seattle.' he replied.

'Really!' she said, 'Do you have the case notes with you?' Tommy wasn't going to like this one bit, she thought, but she couldn't turn them down when there were people's lives at risk.

'They're at the station, regulations.' he said.

'In that case I need to need note for my brother. He tends to worry if he doesn't know where I am every minute of the day.' reaching for the pen and notepad which sat on the left hand side of her desk. Quickly she scribbled a note and stuck it under her mug, knowing that would be the first place Tommy would look for one.

'If you're ready?' Joel asked.

'I just need to get my bag and a couple of reference files.' she replied. They were bulky but not that heavy, she thought, and there was no need for her to take her stick with her because she wouldn't be walking that far. And people always assumed that just because she had trouble walking there was also something wrong with her brain.

*****************

When it came down to it all guys were jerks, Taz thought, and they were all only after one thing. Well she wasn't ever going to do that. As far as she was concerned they could go to the Melanie Warren's of the world for that. She'd thought that Daryl was different, and he'd turned out to be just like all the rest of them, out for what he could get from her.

And if he dared to try and apologise to her, she'd really let him have it. Nobody treated Taz Rafe like that and then still expected to be friends with her. She'd make some new friends, find a new best friend who didn't want anything from her.

****************

Leaving her stick behind had been a mistake, Jessica thought, following Joel out of the lift. She hadn't walked that far and already her legs felt like they were made of lead. All she had to do was keep going until she could sit down. Tommy was really going to rip into her for thinking that she was upto taking part in an active case.

Still it was too late to back out now when she was actually at the station and people were relying on her to help them solve the case. Perhaps once she'd seen the case notes she'd be able to point them in the right direction.

**************

'It's right this way,' Joel said pushing open the double doors which led to the bullpen, home of Major Crimes, 'Some of the crime scene photos are very graphic.'

'I don't have a problem with that,' she replied, looking at a few photos wasn't going to do any harm, 'I've worked graphic crimes scenes before.' on seeing the look of doubt on his face.

'Simon, that is Captain Banks will want to be in on any theories you might have.'

'That's fine with me.' She didn't want to tread on anyone's toes, especially when she might be working with them again the future. She really had missed working out on the streets on a case. And it was only now just sinking in that she might never be able to work on a case like she used to.

'Do you mind me asking how serial homicides you've worked on?' Joel asked.

'Alone or with a team?' Jessica said.

'Alone.'

'I'd have to say about six. But if you include the serial rapes and burglaries it's be close to a hundred,' she said, 'Don't let my age fool you, I do know what I'm doing. And I was trained by one of the best profilers in the field.

*******************

'Enter.' Captain Simon Banks growled when there was a knock on his office door. He hoped that it was good news because he was tired of handling calls not only from the Chief of Police but the Mayor's office about the total lack of progress in the "Delivery Man" case.

'Dr Angel's here to go over the case notes.' Joel said stepping into his office.

'Good, send him in and find Connor.'

'Her.' he corrected Simon, stepping to one side to let Jessica enter the office before going to find Connor.

******************

'Captain Simon Banks,' he said standing up and holding his hand out to the young woman who'd just entered his office.

'Dr Jessica Angel.' shaking it briefly while giving him a faint smile. v 'Please sit down doctor. Would you like some coffee?'

'Please, strong black,' dropping her bag by the side of a chair before sitting down, 'I have to admit that I'm more than a little surprised that you don't have anyone from the FBI working on the case.'

'At the moment they're unable to spare anyone,' he replied pouring her a mug of coffee, 'And you came highly recommended.'

'By Walter Edwards no doubt.'

'Yes,' he said, 'He mentioned something about you having special talents.'

'Did he?'

'I'd be interested in knowing what they were.' handing her the mug of coffee he'd just poured.

'I solve puzzles, have a very high IQ,' Jessica said, 'My senses are also better than average.'

'Dr Edwards said something about you have an assistant.'

'My brother, he's a forensics expert. If I'm heading up a case he works with me...' turning her head moments before the door behind her opened.

******************

'Connor,' Simon said, when a tall red haired woman entered his office along with Joel, 'This is Dr Angel, she's going to be helping you with the "Delivery man" case.'

'I prefer Jessica,' Jessica said, 'Or Doc.'

'Doc,' Inspector Megan Connor said, 'How much do you know about this case?' sitting down next to Jessica.

'Not a great deal I'm afraid,' she admitted, 'We've only just moved to Cascade.'

'The first victim was discovered a month ago,' Joel said placing a case file in front of her, 'Since then there have been four more victims.'

'That you know about,' opening the file in front of her, 'Never assume that the first is the first.'

'He's sent us letters telling us where to find each of the victims,' Megan said, 'Each one was found three days after going missing. They're not out of order.'

'That's not what I meant,' Jessica said, looking at the autopsy photos, 'To get as good as he is takes time and practice. See how clean the cuts are,' showing the picture she was looking at to Simon, 'You don't just pick up a knife and do that straight away.'

'You said he,' Megan said, 'None of the witnesses reported seeing a definite gender going into any of the victims homes.'

'Try picking up Captain Taggart,' Jessica suggested, 'You couldn't even if you wanted to because he's heavier than you. No offence meant Captain.'

'None taken.' Joel said.

'Statistically speaking women are less likely to become serial killers than men,' Jessica said, 'You're looking for a man who is used to lifting heavy weights. Whether it's to do with his job or for recreation. He's very charming. He has to be to get his victims to drop their guard and let him into their homes with virtually no questions asked.'

'If he exists who was his first victim?' Megan asked frowning slightly.

'He exists don't doubt that for a minute or you'll never find him. As for his human first victim, it could be an unsolved homicide, a stabbing.'

'Great,' Megan muttered, 'Do you have any idea how many unsolved homicides there are every year in Cascade?'

'Probably a lot.' she admitted.

'You said first human victim.' Joel said.

'He wouldn't have started with people first, too higher a risk of getting caught before he'd had a chance to perfect his art. I'd look into cases of mutilated animals, anything bigger than a German Shepard. See if any large mammals have gone missing from the zoo or whether fisheries and wildlife have found an increase in dead bears etc. What he did wouldn't be noticed at first, not if you didn't know what you were looking for.' Jessica said picking her coffee up and taking a sip of it.

'You sound as if you admire him.' Simon said disapprovingly.

'He's clever, knows exactly what he's doing and how to avoid leaving evidence behind.'

'Sending letters isn't that smart.' Megan gloated.

'Are you sure that they're coming from him?' Jessica asked, 'What about the grammar and punctuation?'

'Have a look for yourself.' Joel said handing her another file.

'He didn't write these.' looking briefly at the first letter in the file.

'How can you tell? You didn't even read it.' Megan protested.

'The man you're looking for is highly educated, possibly to a degree level. He's very precise, proud of his work. A perfectionist. He would never send a letter with so many simple spelling mistakes in it,' Jessica explained, 'And the handwriting's different on each of the letters,' opening the evidence bag that the first letter was sealed inside, 'It's blood. I'd have it DNA typed and checked against the victims. Also check the handwriting against samples of the victims. I wouldn't put it past him to get them to write the letters for him.'

'You can tell it's blood just from smelling the air in the bag?' Megan asked.

'Blood always a coppery scent to it.' she replied.

********************

It was just a cave, Taz told herself, entering it with the rest of her group. Then why did she have a really bad feeling about it? She'd been caving before when she'd visited her relatives in South Africa. And the cave had to be safe otherwise they wouldn't have been allowed to go exploring in it. Not that that did anything to reassure her when she looked back towards the entrance which was rapidly disappearing into the distance as she ventured deeper into the cave.

*************

'This is so cool.' Daryl said looking around, the light from his helmet lamp bouncing off the rock formations in the cave, 'I've got to get my dad to come down here.'

'I want to go back,' Melanie whined as she almost slipped, 'It's slimy and it smells.' And was not the sort of place someone like her should be seen in at all.

Daryl shook his head slowly then began walking faster in the hope that he could catch up with Taz and maybe get her to listen to his apology.

**************

'I'm going to kill her,' Tommy said after reading the note he'd just found under his sister's mug, 'She knows damn well that she's not supposed to be walking around without her stick. Never mind running round the city chasing psychos.' Of all the stunts she'd pulled recently, this had to be the dumbest, he thought. If she wasn't careful she was going to end up back in a hospital bed. 'She'll run herself into the ground working the case. Then when it's over I'm the one supposed to put her back together again. She's been having trouble controlling her senses recently.'

'What do you mean by trouble?' Blair asked.

'They've been spiking,' Tommy said, 'Touch has been normal for the past two years. I think that the others are trying to compensate for it.'

'Tommy, just how many heightened senses does Jess have?'

'You know Jess, she's always been able to hear and see better than anyone else.'

'So that's two...'

'Then the others got better after she hit puberty.'

'Oh man! We've got to keep her away from Jim.' Blair said.

'Your roommate!'

'And my test subject. Put the two of them in the same room and KABOOM.'

***************

Detective Jim Ellison did a double take when he saw the small white jaguar laying stretched out in front of the door to Simon's office. He closed his eyes briefly and when he looked again saw that it had been joined by his spirit guide the black jaguar. Walking over to his desk a smile crept across his face at he watched the big black cat first sniff at then begin to nuzzle the neck of the smaller white cat which was ignoring it completely.

Relaxing his guard, he realised that if the white cat had posed any threat to him his spirit guide would have dealt with it. Sitting down behind his desk he carried on watching the interaction between the two cats. The larger cat tried to get the attention of the smaller one by alternating between nuzzling and pacing up and down before the smaller one. Until finally the smaller one had had enough of being bothered and flicked it's tail sharply across the nose of the larger cat before getting up and walking straight through the door of Simon's office.

'Guess she's not interested.' Jim muttered. It had come to something when his spirit guide had more chance of getting a date than he did.

************

If she looked at him then he'd think that she'd forgiven him for hanging out with Melanie instead, Taz thought when she saw Daryl walking alongside her. It was going to take a lot for her to forgive him, that was if she was able to. Hearing what she thought was a rumbling noise she stopped and began looking around. Seeing that there was nothing wrong she dismissed it was her imagination playing tricks on her and began walking again.

'Taz...' Daryl began, what was he supposed to say without making things even worse between them than they already were, 'You can ignore me all you want but I'm not going away until you've listened to me.'

'Just get it over with.' she snapped.

'I'm sorry okay. I'm not, never have been or ever will be interested in Melanie Warren or anyone like her,' he said, 'If you don't want to be friends anymore that's okay. I mean I haven't behaved much like your best friend since we got here.'

'No you haven't. Friends are supposed to stick together. Instead you went off with her,' Taz said, 'After everything she's said and done to me, you still chose her. Well I hope that you'll both be very happy together. Just don't come crawling back to me when she's dumped you.'

'For the last time I'm not dating Melanie Warren. I wouldn't date her even if her dad paid me to,' Daryl snapped, 'I'd have to be pretty dumb to do that.'

'Maybe you are,' walking faster to get away from him, 'I don't know whether I still want to be friends with you or not.'

'Taz.' he called after her.

'Just stay away from me.'

*****************

He'd made things even worse with apology, Daryl thought, so maybe he should have backed off and left her alone for a while. At least until she'd cooled down, although right now he doubted that she would. And he could just imagine what his dad would say when he told him that he and Taz weren't friends any more, he was really going to be disappointed with him for treating his best friend like that.

Even worst was the fact that right now Melanie would be telling everyone that she'd broken him and Taz up. There were going to be guys asking Taz out all the time now, and she was bound to say yes to one of them. Now who was sounding jealous?

**************

'Doctor.' Simon said sharply when he saw the glazed look in her eyes. He'd seen that same look in Jim's eyes when he zoned.

'What?' Jessica asked blinking.

'Are you all right?' Joel asked.

'Just got caught up in my thoughts that's all,' she replied, 'Right where were we?'

'Lack of evidence at the crime scene.' Joel reminded her.

'Forensics have been over all the crime scenes with a fine tooth comb and they didn't find anything that didn't belong there,' Megan said, 'We even got Jimbo and Sandy to see if they could work their magic.'

'Jimbo and Sandy?'

'Detective Jim Ellison and his partner Blair Sandburg.' Simon explained.

'I'd like to talk to Detective Ellison.' Jessica said.

'This isn't his case,' Megan said, 'And he didn't find anything.'

'I'd still like to talk to him. Just to get another viewpoint of the crime scene,' she said, 'In a case like this it's the little things that will add up, not the big things.'

'You'll have plenty of opportunity to talk to Detective Ellison later,' Simon said, 'Now do you have any idea who he's going to go after next?'

'Not yet,' she admitted, 'But it's going to be soon. I don't think he's working to any set time table, such as the lunar cycle.'

'So we still don't have anything solid to go on.' Megan said.

'This isn't a precise art,' Jessica said, 'It's more like doing a jigsaw puzzle with no picture and most of the pieces missing. Given enough time I will find you something to go on.'

'After how many more victims?' Megan asked.

'I'm going to need a desk and a couple of hours,' ignoring Megan's question, 'By then I might have something for you. I'll also need a list of everyone whose been at the crime scenes, forensics, medics. If someone was there I need their name on that list.'

'Why?' Simon asked.

'So I know who to exclude,' she replied, 'I have feeling that he knows what procedures you follow when collecting evidence. He could also have been back to the crime scenes. A civilian would stand out.'

'To laugh at us?' Joel asked.

'To gloat is more likely. He'd also be there to make sure that he hadn't left anything behind. And if he did, well there's damned good reason for trace evidence being there, he was officially at the scene.'

'You're saying that he could be a cop!' Simon growled, the chief and the mayor were going to love that theory, he thought, 'Do you have any idea of the panic that would cause if the papers found out?'

'We wouldn't be able to do our jobs,' Megan said, 'And how many serial killer cops have you come across?'

'One so far,' Jessica admitted, 'And I can't discount any possibility in case it's the right one.'

******************

'Blair, what exactly does KABOOM mean?' Tommy asked following Blair out of the lift.

'Just that it would be a very bad thing for Jess and Jim to be together in the same room,' Blair replied, 'Jim can be pretty territorial. He's an ex-army ranger. He feels threatened and...'

'You mean Jess could get hurt!'

'She's not exactly able to defend herself right now is she?' If Jim felt threatened and lost it she was going to be in serious trouble.

'Jess would never threaten anyone. Not unless they threatened me or her first,' Tommy said, 'She's very protective of me sometimes.'

'Because you help her with her senses right. You should have told me that all of them were enhanced.'

'They're just better than everyone else's. And she has a hard enough time of it being as smart as she is. I don't want people treating like she's some sort of freak. Including you.'

'Trust me I won't. But I would like to run a few tests, maybe compare her to Jim. See if gender has any effect on them.'

'You'd have to ask Jess, but no pushing it if she says no.'

***************

Rafe couldn't help but stare at the young man who'd just entered the Bullpen with Blair. He was even more handsome than he'd looked the previous night. And those jeans he was wearing looked as if they'd been painted on, the dark green shirt he was wearing only served to enhance the brilliant blue of his eyes.

Suddenly aware that H was looking at him, he stopped staring and went back to doing his paperwork. He'd been too obvious in showing his interest on the young man. Especially when that interest wasn't going to be returned.

*****************

'He's cute.' Tommy said looking in Rafe's direction.

'I wouldn't say that to Jim,' Blair said, 'Not if you still want to be standing afterwards.'

'Not your roommate, your friend from last night,' he sighed, 'Although if your roommate's the big macho blonde I'd line him up for Jess.'

'The idea is to keep then apart, not throw then together.' Blair reminded him.

'Pity, she could use some romance in her life. Been seriously lacking recently. Well forever to be honest.'

'You could always get her together with Rafe.' Blair joked.

'Not her type, too dressed up.'

*********************

There was that noise again, Taz thought, and she had that bad feeling again. Something strange was going on but she wasn't sure what. It was too late to turn back now and it would spoil it for everyone if she made a fuss. Looking back she realised that she was quite a distance away from the rest of the group, which Daryl was heading up with Melanie just behind him. She couldn't even see Mr Smith who was supposed to be in charge. Stopping she waited for everyone else to catch up with her.

********************

'Where's Mr Smith?' Taz asked.

'He must have gone on ahead.' Daryl said.

'I haven't seen him for the last half an hour. I think something might have happened to him.'

'It's not our problem.' Melanie said callously.

'Of course it's our problem,' Taz replied, 'He could be hurt. I'm going to look for him, but the rest of you should go back and tell someone.' They just couldn't leave someone down there when they might be hurt.

'I'll go with you,' Darly said, 'If he's hurt you're going to need help getting him out of here.'

'We need you to get us out of here.' Melanie whined.

'All you have to do is go back the way we came. It's a straight line, I doubt that even you could get lost following a straight line,' Taz snapped, 'Harold, I want you to keep everybody together on the way back. And tell them what's happened when you get back to camp.' Harold was probably the most sensible one amongst the rest of the group.

'I'm not doing anything he says.' Melanie protested.

'Fine, don't,' she snapped, 'But if you get lost it's not my problem.'

'I'm going to tell my dad and he'll fire your brother.' she threatened.

'I don't give a damn about your dad. He can go fuck himself for all I care,' moving towards Melanie, 'And you can do the same.'

'You can't talk to me like that.' Melanie whined.

'Yes I can,' Taz replied, 'Come one Daryl.' turning and walking away from Melanie.

'Harold do as she says.' Daryl said before hurrying to catch up with Taz.

********************

'Guess this means we're friends again.' he said walking along side Taz.

'For now,' she replied, 'She'll probably get lost and blame me.'

'Maybe,' he admitted, 'You really let her have it though. She won't bother you for a while.'

'Yeah right, I showed her up in front of all her friends. She's not going to forgive me for that in a hurry.' Losing her temper had just given Melanie more ammunition to use against her.

'You stood up to her, that counts for something.'

'Not a lot.' she admitted. Brian was going to be really upset with her because she was going to be reason that he was going to be fired. Still at least Daryl had volunteered to go with her to look for Mr smith. Not that it proved anything, he probably just wanted to play hero so that Melanie wouldn't dump him as soon as she'd dumped all the other guys she'd gone out with.

***************

Hearing her brother's voice coming from outside the office she was in made Jessica's heart sink. She was really in for it, if she was lucky he wouldn't drag her out of the office and straight home. He might even wait until they got home before really ripping into her. By the time he'd finished with her she'd be lucky to if he let her walk to the bathroom on her own. Still maybe he had a point about her trying to push herself too far. She was starting to feel really tired now, but she had to keep going. Falling asleep over case files just wasn't an option that she could take right now. There were too many people relying on her, just like there always were.

******************

'Hey Jim,' Blair said, standing in front of his partner's desk, 'You feeling okay?'

'I'm fine Chief,' Jim replied more than a little confused as to why his friend was asking him that particular question, 'Aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?' looking at the nervous looking young man standing next to Blair.

'Sure, Jim, this is Tommy, Tommy, Jim. Tommy's sister's going to be helping Joel and Megan with their case.' Blair said.

'She's a profiler, and teacher.' Tommy said.

'They could use the help.' Jim said. Well that answered the question of who the white jaguar belonged to, he thought.

'You want to go to the break room?' Blair asked.

'Not at the moment,' he replied, 'Why don't you just tell me what's going on Chief.' His friend was nervous about something because his heart beat was all over the place.

'I just don't think that it would be a good idea for you and Tommy's sister to meet up right now. Not until I've done some research.' Blair said.

'Trust me Chief , it's not going to be a problem,' Jim grinned at him, 'If it was I'd be in lock up right now.'

'So no adverse reactions?'

'None, I take it that your friend here knows all about it.'

'I help her,' Tommy said, 'She's not a threat to anyone, she shouldn't even be working on this case.'

'I wouldn't worry too much,' Jim reassured him, 'Joel's not the sort to push, and I'll keep an eye on her.' Would be nice to talk to someone else who had enhanced senses, maybe her guide was just as big a trouble magnet as his was.

'Maybe the two of you could get together over dinner,' Tommy suggested, 'She gets a bit lonely sometimes. And she makes a mean burger.'

'When?' Jim asked.

'Tomorrow night.' he replied.

'That's fine with me.' It looked as if he'd been successful where his spirit guide hadn't.

******************

"I don't think he's down here.' Darly said,

'Maybe you're right.' Taz replied, they'd been walking for the past half an hour and hadn't seen any sign of him. 'We'll have a break then head back.' slipping her backpack off and sitting down on an outcrop of rock.

'Think the others have made it back okay?' he asked sitting down next to her.

'Should nearly be there by now. We'll probably meet up with the search team on the way back.'

'So how come you know so much about caving? I can't see your brother being into it.'

'No, Brian hates the outdoors,' she said, 'As for how I know so much. My uncle's a geologist. Every time I visit he takes me caving. Usually a lot warmer than this though.' shivering slightly as she opened her back pack and took out a bar of chocolate.

'Think you can forgive me for being such a jerk?'

'Maybe,' she admitted, 'But that doesn't mean I'm going to share my chocolate with you.'

'I've got my own.' smiling at her.

***************

This was the perfect opportunity to get her own back on both Taz Rafe and Daryl Banks for the way they'd treated her, Melanie thought. But first she was going to have to get Harold Barclay to do as she said. And as much as she was going to hate it she would have to let the little geek touch her.

******************

'Harold,' Melanie purred sidling upto him, 'I think you're so brave leading everyone to safety like this.'

'R,Really.' he stuttered while blushing heavily.

'Really, not just anyone could take charge like you have. They were pretty selfish to leave everything to you to do.'

'Someone had to go and look for Mr Smith.'

'I really admire people who are as brave as you.' Already she could feel her stomach churning from being so close to him. 'There's no need to tell anyone that they went looking for Mr Smith is there.'

'I have to, they could get into trouble.' he replied.

'They just wanted to spend sometime alone.'

'Why would they want to do that?' Harold asked.

'Why do you think ?' Melanie replied, 'I mean dark romantic cave, nobody else around. And David Ross said that Daryl didn't go back to their cabin last night. So I wouldn't worry about them too much if I were you.'

'I don't know.'

'Harold, they're not going to be very happy if you send a search party after them. You wouldn't want them to get into trouble would you?'

'The most I can give them is a couple of hours,' he said, 'If they're not back...'

'It doesn't take that long.' smiling at him.

***************

'Did you hear that?' Taz asked as a rumbling sound rang out.

'Yeah,' Darly replied, 'Maybe we should get out here mow.' as dust began to fall from the ceiling along with small pieces of rock.

'I think you're right,' standing up and slipping her backpack on, 'No point in hanging around here...' looking up she could see a crack rapidly forming in the roof of the cave and a large piece of rock which looked as if it was going to fall at any minute.

'What?'

'Run.' grabbing hold of one of his arms and dragging him deeper into the cave.

'The other way.' he shouted as piece of rock narrowly missed him.

'Too late.'she screamed as there was a deafening roar behind them as the roof caved in.

****************

'Joel, will you make sure that Dr, Jessica has everything she needs,' Simon said, Connor I want you to help her go through all the case notes.'

'Actually I prefer to work alone,' Jessica said, 'And I'm sure that your officers have more important things to do than baby-sit me while I go through some files.' She really didn't like anyone other than Tommy watching her when she was working.

'This is our case not yours,' Megan said bluntly, 'You need someone to any questions you might have.'

'If I have any questions I'll ask them once I've gone through all the case files.' 'I'd still like Connor to assist you.' Simon said.

'You're the boss.' Jessica said.

*****************

She was beautiful, Jim thought when he saw the young woman following Megan and Joel out of Simon's office. It was no wonder that his spirit guide had been so interested in getting to know hers better. And he could see why she wasn't any threat, she was limping. Having dinner with her wasn't going to be any hardship for him, although she might nor think that spending the evening with a middle aged cop was such a good thing.

******************

'Will you excuse me for a minute,' Jessica said, 'I just need to talk to my brother about something.'

'Your desk is the one in the corner.' Megan said frowning slightly.

'I shouldn't be too long.' she replied. She had a right to talk to Tommy if she wanted to, besides he was going to end up working on the case with her. Sometimes he even gave her her best ideas as to how to proceed with a case.

'Make sure you're not.'

*******************

She had a serious attitude problem, Jessica thought walking over to where her brother was stood with Blair. She wasn't a novice at profiling cases so she didn't deserve to be treated as one. Hell she wasn't even getting paid for helping them out so they were going to have to cut her some slack, especially when she started teaching.

*******************

'You're not supposed to be here,' Tommy said, 'And you're not going to be for much longer.'

'Why? It's not as if I'm going to be running around the streets,' she replied, 'All I'm doing is looked at case files. Which I can do sitting down. And you are.' looking past her brother at the muscular blonde man sitting behind the desk.

'Jim Ellison.' he replied smiling at her.

'Jessica Angel.' smiling back at him. He was seriously cute, not that she could let herself get distracted while she was working on a case. She had to keep an even keel otherwise her emotions might start to influence her view of the case she was working on.

'The two of you have a lot in common.' Blair said.

'So I heard,' she replied, 'Is seven thirty okay?'

'It's fine.' Jim replied.

'Good, now if you'll excuse me I have to go and try to catch a serial killer.' heading towards the empty desk in the corner of the Bullpen.

***************

'She's not usually like that,' Tommy said, 'Once she's working on a case all her social skills tend to disappear along with her ability to sleep.'

'Sound familiar?' Blair asked looking at Jim.

'I'd be very careful if I were you Chief,' Jim warned him, 'I know where you sleep.'

'I'd better go and keep an eye on Jess, make sure that she doesn't run herself into the ground on her first day,' Tommy said, 'Blair has our address.'

***************

Slowly Taz opened her eyes and found herself face down on hard rock. At first she was confused as to where she was and what she was doing there. Daryl! Oh god, he'd been right behind her when the roof had caved in. By running the way she had she'd killed her best friend. Tears welled up in the corners of her eyes and then began their slow journey down her cheeks.

She should have accepted his apology because she hadn't really been that angry with him. Now he was gone and she wouldn't ever have a chance to tell him that she forgave him for being such a jerk. And what was she supposed to tell his dad, that it was all her fault, that Daryl hadn't volunteered to go with her to look for Mr Smith then he'd still be alive.

A wave of panic washed over here when she realised that she might be trapped in here until she died. Which wouldn't be long if there wasn't any air getting in. Suddenly she wished that she wasn't so smart because then she wouldn't have been able to calculate how long she had until she suffocated. Hearing a faint moan coming from just to the left of her, she peered into the darkness trying to see what was making it.

'Daryl?' she asked tentatively, there was another moan, 'Is that you?' She was going to have to move in case it was him. He could be hurt, she thought. Using her arms to push herself up onto her knees she crawled to the left of her, putting a hand out in front of her to feel for anything that was there. Her hand brushed against something that felt like fabric with a buckle on it. A backpack! If it was then he was face down just like she had been. Sitting down she slipped her back pack off. Her fingers fumbled with the fastenings as she tried opening it. With any luck the torch that she'd packed would be all right, failing that she had matches and candles. Brian had laughed at all the extras she'd packed , well now it looked as if she'd been right to. Feeling around in her backpack her fingers finally wrapped around the torch. Pulling it out she switched it on, aiming it in front of her.

It was Daryl, she thought looking at the dust covered figure laying in front of her. Shining the light from her torch upto his head, she took a deep breath then she saw the small pool of blood on the floor. He'd hit his head, and that could be really serious. Next she shone the light down the rest of his body until it reached his feet. Good, she could move him if she had to because there wasn't anything trapping his feet. Moving up to his head she touched his face.

'Daryl,' she said softly, 'Wake up,' moving her hand to his shoulder and shaking it gently, 'Daryl,' louder this time prompting a moan from him, 'You have to wake up. I forgive you.'

'Taz...' as he tried turning his head in her direction.

'I'm right here,' she reassured him, 'Can you tell me where it hurts?'

'Everywhere.'

'Okay, I'm going to turn you over, but if it hurts you have to tell me.' She'd worry about getting his back pack off later. Carefully she began rolling him over onto his back, 'I'm sorry.' she murmured when she saw the look of pain on his face.

'S'okay.' Darly moaned.

'You hit your head pretty hard.' looking down at the bump on his forehead and the deep gash on the right side of his face. So that's where the blood had come from, she thought. 'Help shouldn't be too long, but until then you're stuck with me.'

Back hurts.'

'That's probably your backpack digging into it. When you're feeling upto it we'll get you sat up and take it off.' But it might be a while before he was upto doing that though.

*************

'He's interested.' Jessica said softly when she caught her brother looking across the Bullpen at where Rafe was sitting.

'He's straight,' Tommy replied, 'Blair said...'

'You shouldn't let that stop you. Ask him if he wants to go for a beer tonight.'

'I couldn't.'

'Couldn't! From the man whose got me a date with a total stranger. If you don't ask him I will.'

'Okay, I'll ask him but later. You know how homophobic cops can be.'

'Yeah I know,' she replied, 'But it's only going for a beer. Whereas I have to cook.'

'Just don't poison the poor man.' Tommy joked.

'I've never poisoned anyone. Except for when I made that pork curry, and I told you not to eat it.'

'You made such a lovely nurse though,' he said, 'But a lousy patient.'

'Maybe if your bedside manner improved.'

'Like you would know all about bed and manners.'

'Look just because I've chosen not to date for a while it doesn't mean that I don't know anything.' Not that she was really in much state to do much at the moment.

'Be honest Jess, you've never dated. Other things have always been more important to you. First it was studying then it was work.'

'And I'm still a geek,' Jessica said, 'Always have been, always will be.' He'd always found it easy to get dates, while guys wouldn't even look twice at her. She just wasn't the dating type, but she'd go ahead with tomorrow night , be nice to Jim and then never see him again.

**************

He looked a little better, Taz thought when she'd finished cleaning his face up. There were going to have to be careful with the food and water they had because they couldn't be sure of when help might come. By now Harold and the others were probably back at camp, it's take a while for a search party to be organised though. And then it could take hours for them to dig through the rock which was blocking their way out of the cave. At least the air didn't seem to be running out yet.

'Feel like trying to sit up now?' she asked.

'Yeah.' Darly replied weakly.

'It's going to hurt.' She'd do her best to try not to hurt him, but she was probably going to anyway.

'Just do it. I'll be okay.'

'Think you're upto standing up? Only the wall over there looks pretty smooth,' flashing her torch over to where she meant, 'You can rest your back against it.'

'I can try to,' he replied, 'I'm going to need some help though.'

'You've got it.' Now came the difficult part, she thought, once he was on his feet she'd be able to get him over to where he could sit down. Kneeling down next to him she helped him to sit up so that she could take his back pack off. Putting it down next to hers she draped his left arm around her shoulders while wrapping her right a around his waist. 'On the count of three okay. One two three.' she said standing up dragging him to his feet.

'My leg.' Daryl moaned raising his right leg slightly off the floor.

'It's okay, we don't have far to go. I'm not going to drop you.' No matter when she wasn't going to do that.

**************

After a lot of struggling Taz got Daryl settled against the wall. Retrieving both back packs from where she'd left them and sat down next to him.

'How's your head?' she asked going through his back pack to see what he had in it.

'Doesn't hurt that much now,' he replied, 'I'm sorry for being such a jerk.'

'It's okay,' she said, 'This is all my fault. We should have run the way you said.'

'Taz, it was an accident. Things could be a lot worse.'

'How?'

'I could have been trapped in here with Melanie,' he replied, 'How much use do you think she'd be?'

'Not much,' Taz admitted, 'I can see her whining about getting dirty. That if the roof didn't go back up she'd tell daddy.'

'You find anything useful in there?' he laughed.

'A couple of things. I might be able to make a splint for your leg. I'll have to wreck the straps on your back pack though.'

'Not as if we're going to be hiking anywhere soon,' Daryl said, 'Taz, I don't know much about this survival stuff, so...'

'I understand, but I'm not going anywhere without you. We both get out of here or we both stay. No middle ground.' Even if there was a way out she wasn't just going to take off and leave him behind, not when he was hurt. She wouldn't be much of a friend if she did that. 'You going to be okay if I turn the torch off. Don't want to run the batteries down too soon.'

'As along as you keep talking to me I will.'

'Sure I'll talk to you.' she reassured him before turning the torch off and plunging them into darkness.

*****************

'Something just doesn't feel right.' Jessica said putting the case file she'd been studying to one side.

'What do you mean it doesn't feel right?' Megan asked.

'Like there's something missing,' she replied, 'How many people have had access to these files?'

'I don't know.' Megan admitted.

'Well I need a list of everyone who's touched them.' If she could just figure out what was missing then she might have a solid lead for them to work on.

'Maybe you should take a break,' Tommy suggested, 'Have a coffee, get something to eat. You haven't eaten anything today. You're going to get sick if you don't eat. I'll have to call him if you get sick.'

'You wouldn't!' Jessica said, 'He'd make split pea soup and make me eat it.'

'It's your choice, either take a break or I call him.'

'Okay I'll take one. Just don't call him,' she replied using the desk she was sitting behind to push herself upright, 'I need to use the bathroom anyway.'

'And don't forget to get something to eat.' Tommy reminded her as she began limping towards the exit.

'Yes dad.' she replied.

**************

'Who were you going to call?' Megan asked.

'The only person who can put the fear of god into her,' Tommy replied, 'Dad.'

'She's scared of your dad!'

'Actually she's scared of what he'll do if he comes. He's not exactly your average dad. He and Jess are complete opposites.'

'And?' sensing that there was more to it than that.

'Have you ever met Naomi? Blair's mom.'

'I've heard about her.' she admitted.

'Well our dad's a lot like her. He has a tendency to embarrass Jess, he doesn't mean to though,' Tommy said, 'I don't think she's forgiven him for ruining her sweet sixteen party.'

**************

He couldn't come, Jessica thought entering the break room, because she would never be able to live it down if he did. It wasn't that she didn't love her dad, he just went over the top most of the time. She supposed that she could always say she was adopted, she'd done it in the past. But then she'd hurt his feelings.

He might even bring someone with him which would be even worse. Yet another of his long line hippy bimbos, as a child she'd never been able to keep track of them all or their names. Sometimes there'd been more than one woman a week passing through his bedroom. Which was probably why he called them all Babe, after all it was a lot easier than trying to remember who he was sleeping with that night.

She hadn't like most of them and the ones she had, well. She'd learnt that that it wasn't good to get too attached to anyone other than Tommy because people moved on after a while.

***************

'Taz, you still there?' Daryl asked, she'd been pretty quiet for a while now.

'Yeah, I was just thinking.' she replied.

'About what?'

'Brian, he's going to be really worried when he finds out. And he doesn't have anyone to help him deal with it.'

'What about H? They're partners.'

'That's not what I meant. He needs someone to look after him when I'm not there. I don't want him to be on his own anymore.'

'So what you going to do? Find him a girlfriend?' he asked.

'Or...' it was probably better if she didn't say what she was thinking in case she was wrong.

'Or what?'

'Bri used to have this friend Damien. This was like way before he became a cop. They were best friends, did everything together.'

'And?' Daryl prompted.

'We didn't live in a house then. We lived in an apartment. Damien would stay in Bri's room, sleep in his bed.' He had to have some idea where she was going with this, she thought.

'Whatever it is you can tell me. I told you all about my mom and her friends.'

'Okay, but this stays between just the two of us,' Taz said hesitantly, 'I walked in on them once and they were kissing.'

'Your brother was kissing another guy!'

'Yeah.'

'So what happened to this Damien guy?'

'I don't know, he just left one day. He and Bri must have broken up,' she replied, 'Since then he's only dated women.'

'So he's gay!'

'Bi, I suppose.'

'You know it's not such a big deal.'

'It is if you're a cop. I mean what would your dad say, or even worst Melanie's.' Taz said.

'My dad's cool about a lot of stuff. As long as your brother does his job he can't really say anything,' he said, 'Melanie's dad's a different matter. He had Detective Dobson fired because she didn't get all the puppies.'

'That sucks. I should have let her have the puppy.'

'No way,' he said, 'You ever wonder where her dad gets his money? I mean five grand for the gym team place, and the puppies weren't cheap.'

'Guess being Chief of Police pays allot' she replied, 'Has to, keeping Melanie in lipstick and nail polish must cost a fortune.' Not to mention all the designer clothes she wore.

'A problem your brother doesn't have.'

'Wanting to look like an over painted doll isn't high on my list of things to do.' she replied.

'You ever notice how sickly she smells?' he asked.

'Oh yeah. It's like someone's dumped a bottle of perfume over head.'

'How come you never smell like that?' Daryl asked.

'I just don't want to. I have got perfume. Mrs Brown gave me a bottle for Christmas, I'm saving it for a special occasion.' she replied. Not that she could think of one off hand though.

**************

'So how do you know them?' Jim asked looking at his partner and friend.

'Naomi,' Blair replied, 'Their dad's a friend of hers. We stayed with them a couple of times when I was growing up.'

'Friend?' He knew all about Naomi's friends.

'They had this on off thing going on for a while. I thought maybe Naomi would settle down for good. Their dad's a great guy.'

'So what happened?'

'Naomi screwed up big time,' he replied, 'She thought they should know how their mom really died. Thought their Karma would be totally damaged if they didn't know.'

'And?'

'She went into pretty graphic detail,' Blair said, 'Jim, they were five at the time. Jess hasn't stayed in the same room as Naomi since then.'

'Can't say I blame her Chief. Your mom can be a little difficult to handle...' So is this guy a potential candidate?'

'Could be. He knew Naomi before I was born,' he relied, 'But Naomi says she doesn't know so...'

*******************

Of course she doesn't know, Jessica thought, pouring herself a mug of coffee in the break room, because she'd been too high on drugs to remember who she'd slept with the month Blair had been conceived. But it sure as hell wasn't her dad, he was the only one who hadn't slept with Naomi during that month. She'd heard all about Naomi's exploits during the sixties from her dad and some of his friends.

Growing up she'd actually felt sorry for Blair having Naomi as a mom. He'd been dragged all over the place, dumped with total strangers whenever she'd felt like taking off. No matter how much her dad had embarrassed her over the years, he'd always been there for her when she'd really needed him, even if Tommy was his favourite.

************************

'You ever think about dating?' Taz asked using the straps she'd got off Daryl's back pack to fashion a splint for his leg, 'What sort of person you'd date?'

'Sometimes,' he admitted through gritted teeth, 'So what would he be like?'

'I don't know.' she replied.

'Why did you ask then?'

'Not exactly a lot else to do in here. I'll remember to pack a radio for the next time we get trapped in a cave.'

'How about a cell phone?'

'Rocks too thick, signal would never get through it. If I had one which I don't.' When they were out she'd ask Brian if she could have one for Christmas.

'I want to know what he'd be like.' Daryl said.

'Do I really have to tell you?' Taz asked.

'Yeah, if you tell me I'll tell you.'

'Well...' she began hesitantly, 'He'd be tall, because just about everyone is taller than me. Have a sense of humour. I guess he'd be a lot like Brian.'

'White, middle class.'

'Not necessarily. As long as I'm happy he could be purple with yellow spots,' she replied, 'It's your turn now.'

'Someone like you,' he said, 'That I could be friends with. My mom and dad weren't friends. Not like we are.'

'I think there's a big difference between being friends with someone and marrying them. But I can see how it would make things easier. You'd have a lot in common to begin with, similar backgrounds, values.'

'Just like us.' Daryl said.

'Yeah, just like us.'

'So if someone like me asked you out, you'd say yes?'

'I guess so. Could we talk about something else now.'

'Why?'

'I just don't want to talk about it anymore,' she snapped, 'So just drop it.'

'Taz...' he began.

'I've said drop it.' turning the torch off and moving away from him.

***************

He'd upset her, Daryl thought sitting there in the darkness. He hadn't meant to, and he couldn't afford to upset her because she was his best friend and she was his only hope of making it through this okay. Melanie had claimed that Taz was jealous, she'd even sounded jealous to him. But that was ridiculous, Taz was the sort of person who would tell someone if she liked them more than just as friends, she hadn't said anything to him about that though.

So maybe he did like her more than as a friend should. Not that he'd said anything to her, it wasn't easy to tell your best friend that you might be in love with them. What was love anyway? He'd asked his dad that once and he hadn't been able to give him a definite answer, just that he would know what it was when the time was right.

What if she'd only been pretending to be jealous to annoy Melanie. If he said anything he could ruin their friendship. For the time being he wouldn't say anything to her. Being friends with her was more important that anything else right now.

**************

Looking at the names on the list Megan had got her Jessica frowned. There was one name that was listed for every case file. So it wasn't anything solid yet, but it did warrant a closer look at the officer involved.

'Well?' Megan asked impatiently.

'I think I've found something,' Jessica replied, 'One person has been at every crime scene and has handled every case file.'

'So?'

'So since when did record clerks attend crime scenes?'

'They don't'

'Exactly. Of course I haven't found any solid proof against him. But with a little digging you should be able to find something linking him with them.'

'You're sure it's him?' Megan asked, 'We can't just go around arresting people.'

'I've given you a potential suspect, which is a lot more than you had two hours ago,' Jessica snapped, 'You know my brother was right, I shouldn't even be doing this. I'm not getting paid for it. And don't start telling me about not accusing people wrongly.'

'We have to be sure.'

'Do you know what sure really gets you?'

'No.' Megan admitted.

'It gets you two years of agony. Because people like you don't always listen to people like me. You have a suspect so go do your job because I've done mine for the time being.' Did she really think that she would just pick any name at random to get it over and done with as quickly as possible.

'I will but if you're wrong...' Megan began.

'It's him, or someone very close to him. He might even have helped them,' Jessica said, 'I should be at home resting not putting up with crap from you.' standing up, 'Blair has my phone number if you need any more help.'

'You can't just walk off an investigation.' Megan protested.

'It's your investigation not mine,' she replied, 'And in case you hadn't noticed I can't run round the city chasing suspects.' trying to limp away from her.

'Just because...'

'Because what?'

'You screwed up your last case.' Megan shouted.

'For your information I didn't screw up,' Jessica shouted, 'It was someone like you who did. And I've spent every day of the past two years paying for it.' Megan looked at her in stunned silence. 'Two weeks that bastard had me, two weeks. The fucking cops wouldn't even start looking for me until Walter put a gun to the head of their Chief of Police and threatened to blow his brains out if he didn't put an APB out on me.'

'The file said...'

'What that I accused a thirty year old desk sergeant of being a serial killer?' Jessica asked, 'Didn't mention the fact that there was a stack of sexual assault complaints against him did it. How about the fact that he was engaged to the Mayor's daughter at the time?'

'No,' Megan admitted..

'I was in what was supposed to be a safe house when he grabbed me. After walking straight past all his cop buddies he took out four FBI agents. And even then they wouldn't look for me because they were still so sure I was wrong. They ignored all the evidence, and he killed three more people after he grabbed me,' she said, 'He even held poker games for his friends, while he was holding me. One of them even saw me and said nothing about it. Two paramedics fainted when they found me. They had to use fingerprints to identify me because no-one recognised me.'

'I'm...' Megan began, aware that everyone was looking at her.

'What sorry, that's a first. I'm still waiting for one from those bastards who screwed up. Now if you'll excuse me I'm going home.' Jessica said pushing past her.

*************

She'd really screwed up, Megan thought, and there was nothing that she could say that was going to make matters any better. She was going to be hauled over the coals by Simon for this.

'You go anywhere near my sister again and I'll personally kick your butt all the way back to Oz,' Tommy said glaring at her, 'She doesn't need some jumped up sheep shearer telling her how to do her job because she is the best there is. By the way I will be reporting you.' walking off to find his sister.

*************

She had no money and no way to get home, Jessica thought, getting out of the lift on the ground floor. There was no way that she could walk home as her leg was hurting her too much. And to make matters worse she was starting to hallucinate again. There in front of her she could see the small grey jaguar that she'd been seeing for the past several weeks. She couldn't help but smile when she saw her spirit guide Soliel circling the cub as if to stop it from wandering off. Who it belonged to she didn't have clue, just that it needed protecting until it was big enough to look after itself. Moments later it was joined by a black wolf cub. Now that was a new development, she thought, he was unsteady on his feet as if he hadn't been born too long ago. Maybe he hadn't, spirit guides had to come from somewhere so there was no reason why they weren't born like normal animals.

Although what she was seeing was amazing, there was something wrong. The two cubs should have been playing together instead they were totally ignoring each other. Even when Soliel nudged them towards each other they moved apart the moment she went to nudge the other one. She was going to have to talk to Tommy and see if he couldn't work out what was wrong. Because apart neither of them were going to survive long enough to grow up.

****************

Where was that light coming from, Taz thought, looking around. Checking to make sure that the torch was switched off she found that it was. That meant that there was light getting into the cave from somewhere outside. Looking across at Daryl she could see that he was fast asleep. And he looked a lot worse than he had when she'd just had the torch to use for light. Now that she had some proper light to work by she could patch him up a lot better than she'd been able to so far. She might even be able to start digging them out now that she could see properly.

After digging out the water bottle she'd opened earlier and her first aid kit she got up and moved over to where Daryl was. He looked so cute when he was asleep, she thought. There she'd finally admitted to herself that she thought Daryl was cute. Not that it meant that she forgave him for the way he'd treated her or anything. But he needed her to take care of him right now. Casting a quick glance at her watch she realised that it was a lot later than she'd thought it was. And that help was taking it's time coming.

**************

'Mom.' Daryl moaned when something cold and wet touched his face.

'It's Taz,' she said softly, 'Go back to sleep.'

'What time is it?' he groaned.

'Four in the afternoon,' wiping the dried blood off his face, 'Help's taking a little longer to get here than I thought. But it will get here. We just have to sit here and wait.'

'How long?' trying to stretch then regretting it when his body protested.

'Could be tomorrow,' she admitted, 'Last time...'

'Last time!'

'This isn't the first time I've been trapped in a cave okay,' she said, 'It was warmer than this though.'

'No wonder you're not freaking out.' he joked.

'Wouldn't do any good to.'

'So where was it and when?'

'South Africa when I was ten,' Taz replied, 'Believe it or not it was my first visit to my uncle on my own.'

'You went all that way on your own when you were ten!' disbelief showing in his voice.

'Bri couldn't get away because of this big court case and H wouldn't have been too welcome there at the time. I was okay, except I ended up sitting next to this really old lady who ate mints the whole way there.'

'My dad wouldn't let me go all that way by myself even now,' he sighed, 'What's it like there?'

'Now or before Mandela?'

'Both.' Daryl replied.

'I guess it depends on where you go and who you meet. Like anywhere else really. My uncle knows some really cool people.'

'So how come you got trapped in a cave?' moving to get more comfortable as he suspected that it was along story.

'There was a cave in. I got stuck on one side and my uncle on the other,' Taz said, 'Luckily I was carrying the food and water. It got really boring after the first three days. Not a lot to do in a cave except sit and wait to be rescued. Good thing I brought a book with me this time.'

'Why? You can't read it without using the torch and I thought that we were saving that.'

'It's light enough in here to see without the torch.' Maybe he'd got a bigger bang on the head that she'd originally thought if he couldn't see the light. She couldn't really say anything in case it scared him. 'How's your leg feel?' changing the subject.

'Feels stiff. So how come you can see in the dark and I can't' Daryl said.

Well, I, er I've always been able to.' It wasn't exactly a complete lie, she thought, she'd always had better eyesight than her brother and it had got even better after she'd been trapped in that cave.

**************

Zoning in the middle of a police station lobby was not a good thing, Tommy thought when he saw his sister standing there staring into space. She'd over done and now she was paying the price. Once he'd brought her out if he'd get her home. Then it would be straight to bed for her where she'd be staying for at least the next twenty four hours. And she wouldn't be working on anymore cases.

If she didn't listen to him then he was going to have to call dad. Because he'd make Jess listen to him. He'd last spoken to him to tell him that Jess had changed careers and gone into teaching at Rainier. He'd been so pleased that finally she'd seen sense. Now he was going to have to break the news to him that Jess had taken on another case, one which was similar to the one which had almost got her killed. This time though he wasn't going to let her down, if anyone wanted to get to her then they were going to have to go through him. And he had a gun.

*************

'Jess,' Tommy said gently touching her on the arm , 'Time to go.'

'Where?' she asked.

'Home, you need to get some rest.'

'Maybe I do,' she admitted as the scene in front of her faded, 'My leg hurts.'

'That's what happens when you push yourself too hard. You should never have agreed to take on the case.'

'All I've done is look at case files,' she reminded him, 'And I found them a possible suspect.'

'We're going to have a long talk about this when we get home.'

****************

'Does this mean we're friends again?' Daryl asked when Taz had finished cleaning his face up.. He hoped so.

'I don't know maybe,' she replied, 'You want a drink?'

'Yeah, you got anything to eat?'

'Some chocolate and a couple of apples.'

'I'll have an apple.' he said.

'You only brought chocolate.'

'I'm not the expert at getting trapped in caves.' he joked.

'You won't be laughing when we're licking lichen off rocks.' handing the bottle of water that she was holding.

'No way am I licking anything off rocks.'

'When you're hungry enough you'll eat anything.' she said going to get him an apple. Hopefully it wouldn't come to that though, she thought, help had to come before it got that bad. Right now there was a search party being organised, or at least she hoped that there was. Harold was sensible enough to have got everyone else back safely and to have told someone where they'd gone. But she wouldn't put it past Melanie to try and throw a spanner in the works just to teach her and Daryl a lesson. If that was the case then they could be trapped for a very long time. Not that she could tell Daryl that, because it was her fault that they'd got trapped in the first place.

'Taz are you okay?' Darly asked.

'Just thinking.' she replied.

'I wish you wouldn't do that.'

'What think?'

'Go quiet like that, it's unsettling.' he said.

'Sorry, so what do you want to talk about?' handing him the apple she'd just got him. She wasn't really in the mood to talk but if that's what he wanted her to do then she would.

'Why did you want me to drop it earlier? You know when we were talking about who we'd date.'

'There was no point in talking about it. No-one is ever going to want to date me.'

'That guy asked you out.' he said.

'For a dare. I'm a geek, nobody dates geeks.' she sighed.

'Taz, you're not a geek. Just because you're smarter than most people it doesn't make you a geek.'

'Daryl, I've never fitted it,' Taz said, 'No matter how hard I've tried to I just can't. I'm not like other people and never will be.' There she'd finally admitted it to someone else.

'Then don't try to fit in. I like you because you're not like everyone else.'

'Sure right.' she muttered. No matter what he said she knew what the truth was.

'So you were just pretending to be jealous of Melanie.'

'You really don't want to know the answer to that.' Because if she told him then that would be the end of their friendship for good.

'You weren't pretending were you?' he asked.

'No, I wasn't pretending. There now you know the truth. Happy now,' she snapped, 'Now you can have a good laugh at just how pathetic I really am.' moving to the other side of the cave that they were in.

**************

She hadn't been pretending, Darly though, that meant that she had to like him more than just as friend. That was good because he liked her as more than as friend as well. So why was she still so mad with him. Somehow he got the feeling that this was one of those "I'll never understand women" moments that his dad had told him about. No matter what he said or did at the minute it was going to be wrong, but that didn't mean that he shouldn't try to get her to understand how he felt about her. He should just go ahead and tell her because he couldn't make things any worse between them than they already were.

*****************

'Taz, I'm not laughing okay,' he said staring into the darkness at what he hoped was her, otherwise he was going to be talking to a rock wall, 'And I don't think you're pathetic. If anyone is, it's me.' She obviously agreed with that because there wasn't any denial coming from her. 'We're friends, we should be able to talk about anything right. At least I always thought we could. Guess I was wrong. Just some things you can't tell me right.'

'Guess so.' came a hesitant reply.

'I really do like you, not just as my best friend. Maybe, that's if you wanted to we could go on a date date.'

'Maybe,' Taz said, 'If Brian would let me that is. Which he won't.'

'Because it's me?'

'No, he just doesn't want me dating anyone. He says I'm too young.'

'But if he let you, would you want to?' A simple yes would do he thought.

'Depends.'

'On what?' he asked.

'Where you were planning to take me,' she replied, 'Wonder burger isn't going to cut it.'

'You know I only get twenty bucks a week allowance.'

'You'd better start saving up then.' she joked.

**************

'Drink it while it's hot,' Tommy said handing Jessica a mug of tea, 'It'll help you to relax.'

'Just for once couldn't you make proper tea?' she asked sniffing the contents of the mug, 'This smells like pond water.'

'It's good for you so drink it.' It would also help her to sleep, something that she hadn't been doing a lot of recently. Maybe after a good night's sleep she would think again about working any more cases.

'Why is everything that smells and tastes bad good for you? Wouldn't it be a lot easier if pizzas were good for you, or how about hamburgers.'

'Of course it would. But life wasn't meant to be easy.' And she knew better than anyone just how true that was. 'And don't think that distracting me is going to work, you're still going to have to drink your tea.'

'Did you know about that Jim guy?' drinking her tea down in one go.

'Jess, I swear all I knew was that Blair had some test subject, not who or what he was,' Tommy reassured her, 'You know that I would never...'

'It's okay, I believe you. From now on I will try and do a better job,' tears forming in the corners of her eyes, 'I just get so tired sometimes. I want the pain to go away for just a little while so I can remember what it was like before.'

'It will,' taking her now empty mug off her, 'You have to be patient. Time is the only thing that is going to make it better.' She'd never had much patience except when it came to working on her cases. And her patience had been pushed to it's limits again and again over the past two years. He didn't like to see her so down. Maybe she'd feel better tomorrow night after she'd had a chance to talk to Jim. After all he was the only other person who understood that it was like to see the world totally differently to everyone else around them. 'Do you want me to run you a bath?'

'Yeah, might loosen the muscles up a bit,' she replied, 'Do you think he's cute?'

'Who are we talking about?' Tommy asked.

'Jim.'

'He's a bit too macho for my taste, but yeah he could be considered cute.' smiling at her.

******************

'Chief, if you want to go see your friend, make sure she's okay,' Jim said, 'I've just about finished for today.'

'I think I should. Tommy could probably use someone to talk to,' Blair replied, 'I didn't know that she had all of them until...'

'It's not a problem. you'd know if it was.'

'So you like Jess?'

'She's nice.' Jim admitted, and he wouldn't mind getting to know her better if he had got the chance to. 'Has a tough job.'

'Had, she's teaching now, or will be from after half term. She's sharing my office.'

'She could use someone to keep an eye on her.'

'Tommy's done a pretty good job of it so far. At least she doesn't have to hide what she is as well as you have to,' Blair said, 'Might be nice for her to have someone she could talk to. And she might have some techniques you could use at crime scenes.'

'What makes you think that she'll want to teach me anything?' The last thing she probably wanted or needed right now was him bothering her.

'Because helping other people always helps distract her from her own problems.'

***************

Something was wrong, Harold thought, Daryl and Taz should have been back by now. Maybe he should have stood up to Melanie when he'd had the chance to. Now if he said anything about where they'd gone he was going to get into serious trouble. Not that what Melanie had done was worth that much trouble. Beside it would come down to her word against his and he knew who everyone would believe. He'd give them unto it was dark to be back by, then he'd go looking for them himself. If he couldn't find them then he was going to have to tell someone in case they were hurt.

***************

The little creep was having second thoughts about not saying anything, Melanie thought when she saw Harold wondering around. Not that anyone would believe him if he said anything, after all he was just a friendless geek where as she was very popular. Still she couldn't take the chance that someone might think that there was something wrong and decide to check where Daryl and Taz where for themselves. Not that she'd done anything wrong, they'd decided to go and look for Mr Smith no-one had asked them to. And it was their fault if they'd got hurt or anything. She was going to have to keep a close eye on Harold for the time being though, just so he knew that it would be better for him not to say anything. And if he dared to, well then both her and daddy could make life very unpleasant for him.

***************

'Ellison, Sandburg.' Simon bellowed as Megan left his office. He was going to find out just what exactly had taken place in his department between Connor and Dr Angel. The young profiler had admitted that her senses were better than average and she'd zoned in front of him. There was still a lot that he didn't understand about the whole Sentinel thing that was going on with his best team. But if something was going to affect it then he needed to know before anything happened.

***************

'You bellowed.' Blair grinned as he and Jim entered Simon's office.

'Close the door,' Simon growled, 'Dr Angel...'

'She didn't start it,' Jim said defensively, 'Connor did, she...'

'I know exactly what Connor said. But that doesn't excuse Dr Angel walking off the case.'

'Jess didn't have any choice,' Blair said, 'Megan backed her into a corner.'

'After she'd given her a suspect,' Jim reminded him, 'The only one anyone's been able to come up with.'

'I'm well aware of that fact,' Simon said, 'Also that Dr Angel zoned. Is she...'

'She was a full Sentinel, but now touch is normal.' Blair said.

'Are there going to be any problems that I need to be aware of?'

'I don't think so do you Chief?' Jim said.

'Not unless she has to work with Connor again,' Blair replied, 'Sentinels and red heads don't mix.' earning him a cuff round the head from his partner for that comment.

'Joel'll be handling all contact with Dr Angel from now on. As well as apologising to the Dr for Connor's attitude problem.'

'That might be better coming from Jim,' Blair suggested, 'You know Sentinel to Sentinel. It's his tribe that's insulted her. And you never know when you might need her help in the future.'

'Just make sure that she knows that Connor's been reprimanded for her behaviour.' Simon said dismissing them.

****************

A real date date with Daryl, Taz thought, that would be really cool. But there was no way that her brother would let her go on one. By the time that they got out of this cave she'd be lucky if he let her go to school by herself. Still she didn't have to tell him that it was a real date she as going on. After all he was used to her hanging out with Daryl now.

Looking at her watch she realised that less than an hour had passed since the last time she'd looked at it. Another couple of hours and it would start getting dark outside. Already she could feel the air in the cave starting to get cooler. She'd be fine if the temperature dropped because she could get up and move around to keep warm. Daryl wasn't going to be so lucky though with his injured leg. It was going to be upto her to try and keep him warm.

Getting up from where she was sitting she walked across and sat down next to Daryl.

'How you doing?' she asked.

'Okay,' he replied, 'But I'm going to need the bathroom soon.'

'Oh!' That could be a bit of a problem, she thought as he wasn't going to be able to stand up on his own, well to do it. 'We'll work something out when you really need to go.' But what, she wasn't exactly sire of at the moment.

'I'm starting to feel cold.' he said.

'It's the damp,' Taz said, 'I'll see what I can sort out. By the way how much do you like your backpack?'

'Right now not a lot.'

'So it's okay if I rip it apart?'

'Sure.' he replied.

'I'll buy you another one when we get out of here.' she promised as she began to work out the best way to take his backpack apart so that it would be of the most use to him.

****************

Closing her eyes Jessica let the warm water relax her aching muscles. A long hot bath always helped her when she'd had a stressful day, and today had been pretty stressful. Just about the only things that had stood out as being good were seeing Blair again and meeting his very handsome roommate Jim. She just hoped that she would get another chance to meet him and hopefully talk to him about how his senses affected his life. Maybe he had some idea how she could adjust better to having one sense missing because she hadn't done very well on her own so far. Tommy was doing his best to try and help her, but he just didn't understand what it was like.

Running her hand through the water she could remember how it had used to feel against her skin, the way the bubbles had always tickled her. Rembering wasn't the same as feeling though and never would be. It was the memories of how things felt that was the hardest for her to deal with. Maybe all she had to do was be patient like Tommy had said and it would come back to her.

*************

'Nice house.' Jim said sarcastically pulling up outside of a rundown looking house on the edges of one of the less popular neighbourhoods in Cascade.

'It's just temporary,' Blair replied, 'The house they've bought is still being decorated. Now that is a nice house.'

'This place is nearly as bad as that warehouse you were living in.'

'Jim, it's not that bad.' getting out of the passenger side of the classic blue and white truck.

'She deserves to live somewhere better than this.'

*****************

It just wasn't right that she was living in a rundown place like this, Jim thought following Blair up the garden path to the front door. With a lot of work it could probably be made habital. Her guide hadn't been doing their job very well if this was the best that they could afford to rent. On the battered front door he could see specks of dark blue paint which showed what colour the front had once been. He just hoped that their security was better than the front door.

*****************

'She's not working on anymore cases,' Tommy said bluntly on opening the front door and seeing Blair and Jim standing there, 'So you can tell that jumped up...'

'Tommy, we're here to apologise,' Blair said, 'And I've done a lot of research. There might be something in it to help Jess.'

'You'd better come in them,' he said, 'She's having a bath, it helps to relax her muscles.' There was very little point in trying to hide just how bad it was from them.

'Is she taking any thing? Only...' Blair began.

'Medication can affect her senses,' closing the front door behind them, 'Blair, I've been taking care of her my entire life.'

'Doesn't look like you're doing too well at the minute.' Jim said looking around. There were boxes stacked waist high against all the walls in the hallway.

'We've been here less than a week,' Tommy said, 'The house we've bought will be ready next week. So there wasn't much point in unpacking.' leading the way through into the living room.

'Nice furniture,' Jim said staring at the battered couch and threadbare chairs, 'Don't tell me the good stuff's in storage.'

*******************

'This is the good stuff for now,' Jessica said entering the living room wearing a pale blue towelling robe with a towel wrapped round her head, 'For the time being, no point in bringing new furniture into a place like this.'

'Feeling better?' Tommy asked.

'Yeah, why don't you make some proper coffee while I get dressed,' she suggested, 'And I want proper cream in mine, not that low fat gunk you keep trying to pass off as cream.'

'It's better for you.' he protested.

'One mug of coffee a day with real cream isn't going to clog my arteries,' she sighed, 'And I'm sick of things being good for me.' heading through the living room to one of the bedrooms at the rear of the house.

****************

This wasn't good at all, Megan thought, their prime, only suspect in the "Delivery Man" case was on vacation in Cascade National park. That was a lot of ground to cover in a search. He was due back tomorrow but she didn't really expect him to come back of his own volition. After all he had to know that his luck would run out sooner or later, and that it was only a matter of time before he either made a mistake or someone connected him with one of the crime scenes. Which was exactly what Dr Angel had done after looking through the case notes once.

She still couldn't understand how both she and Joel could have missed something like that, they'd been working on the case since the beginning. Maybe they should have taken a step back or asked one of their colleagues to go over the case files. Instead they'd been helped by a woman she'd insulted afterwards.

*******************

'Dogs,' Joel said from behind Megan, 'She was right about the missing dogs. There are a stack of missing dog reports from a three block radius around his house. Along with a a report of a pot bellied pig going missing from it's run.'

'Dogs do run off.' she said.

'One street lost six in two days, three of those were chained up. The chains had been cut.'

'Did they find any of the corpses?'

'Only the pig's. It had been mutilated just like she said,' he replied, 'You find anything on him.'

'I spoke to his supervisor, reliable, hardworking, tends to keep himself to himself, lives alone and has a degree.'

'We should bring him in for questioning.' Joel said.

'There could be problem with that. He's gone camping in the National park,' she replied, 'Apparently he's volunteer guide. Take groups through the caves.'

'Damn, we have to get a search team ut there now.' heading towards Simon's office.

'Why?' following him.

'There's a group of students from Cascade high camping out there. Daryl's with them.'

'Simon's Daryl?'

'Yeah.' Joel replied.

'He's going to spit the dummy over this.' Megan said.

***************

'Feel any warmer now?' Taz asked when she'd finished arranging what had been Daryl's backpack underneath him.

'A little.' he admitted.

'It should stop the ground from leeching the heat out of you for a while.' After that she would have to think of something else.

'They've started looking for us haven't they?'

'They should have. I can't hear anyone coming though.'

'How could you it's solid rock?' Daryl said.

'I meant I can't hear anyone digging. I think I might try moving some of the rocks myself. See if I can't get us out of here any faster.' It was something that she should have thought about earlier but she'd been busy taking care of him. Making sure that he was all right was her main priority.

'The roof could come down,' he warned her, 'And we don't know how far back down the passage it collapsed. Could be all the way back to the entrance.'

'Maybe there's another way out. I doubt it's the first time there's been a cave in down here,' Taz said, 'I can't just sit here not doing anything.' Suddenly she'd got that bad feeling back. She wasn't sure why but suddenly it was very important that they made some sort of attempt to get out of there before it was too late.

*************

No-one would notice him sneaking off, Harold thought, slipping his backpack on. There weren't many people around and it was starting to get pretty dark now. Taz and Daryl should have been back long before now, he'd given them more than enough time to get back even if one of them had got hurt. After leaving a note for his cabin mate telling them why he was gone and where he was going he left the cabin not realising that he was being watched by a figure in the shadows.

****************

'You're sure he's out there?' Simon asked snapping the cigar that he was holding.

'One of the rangers saw him arrive,' Megan replied, 'They're going to patrol the students camp area until we've found him. The chances are...'

'I want those students out of there now. The least thing we want is one of them getting injured if he's there and decides to resist arrest,' he growled, 'Is Rafe still here?'

'I think so,' Megan replied, 'Why?'

'His sister's on the trip. Her and Daryl were both booked to go on a caving trip today.' The young detective wasn't going to take the news very well, he thought, he was very protective of his sister, almost to the point of obsession.

'Will he tell his parents or...' she began.

'There's just the two of them,' Simon replied, 'I want Ellison out at that campsite ASAP. And see if Dr Angel would be willing to join us. We need to know how he'll react if cornered.'

************

Not now, Jessica thought, when she saw her room morph into a cave. In it she could see the cubs she'd seen earlier, only this time there was no sign of her spirit guide. A shiver went down her spine when a large black bird descended from nowhere and began attacking the cubs. The little jaguar cub stood it's ground while trying to defend the wolf cub from the bird which kept swooping with talons extended. Unable to move she was forced to stand there and watch while the bird repeatedly slashed the jaguar with it's razor sharp talons. Until finally the little cub sank to the floor in a pool of it's own blood. The bird then turned it's attentions to the wolf cub.

She couldn't let it happen, Jessica thought when the scene faded. The world needed more Sentinels and guides not less. But she didn't have a great deal to go on to try and find them. They could be anywhere, but usually her visions related to the area where she was at the time. She was in Cascade, therefore they had to be in Cascade. It was still a big area to search though. Tommy wasn't going to be too happy if she suddenly decided that she had to search the entire city for a potential sentinel and guide. Then there was Jim to consider, he didn't see her as a threat because she was injured, but that didn't mean that he wouldn't consider the cubs to be a threat to him. Still they needed help and he was the only one who could provide it. They'd just have to work everything else out once they'd found them. Besides at the minute they were in danger from that bird.

*************

Brian sat there, his face pale as he listened to what Simon was telling him. His little sister could be the next victim of the "Delivery Man.' He should never have agreed to let her go on that trip, he thought, because if he hadn't then she would have been safe at home which was where she belonged. Well it would be the last time she went anywhere without him.

*************

'Rafe, Brian,' Simon said, when he got no response from the young man sitting opposite him, 'It's going to be all right. We're not even sure that he's out there.'

'Taz is all I have,' Brian said softly, 'If anything....'

'Nothing is going to happen to her,' he reassured him, 'Right now her and Daryl are probably drinking hot chocolate in the Ranger's station wondering what all the fuss is about.' They'd better be, he thought or heads were going to roll.

****************

Everything looked totally different in the dark, Harold thought, doing his best to follow the path in front of him. He was certain, well as certain as he could be that he was going the right way. At least Melanie hadn't seen him leave, not that that would stop her from causing trouble for him when she found out that he'd gone looking for Daryl and Taz. Maybe if he hadn't been such a coward earlier Daryl and Taz would have been back by now.

Seeing a figure walking towards him he breathed a sigh of relief. It looked as if one of them was coming back, he thought. It was only when he got closer to the figure that he realised that it was Mr Smith. Obviously they'd been mistaken when they'd thought that something had happened to him. Not that that did anything to reassure him that Taz and Daryl were all right.

********************

So that's what he was up to, Melanie thought, ducking behind a bush so that she wouldn't be seen by either figure on the path. Well he was going pay for telling on her. It didn't even strike her as strange when Harold left the path, after all she had no intention of following him any further. Coming out from behind the bush she began to make her way back towards the campsite.

********************

'You're sure that this is a short cut?' Harold asked nervously. They didn't seem to be going in the right direction to get to the caves.

'Trust me it's the quickest way to get there,' David Smith replied, 'I spend a lot of time out here, know the area like the back of my hand.'

'They will be okay won't they?'

'There's no reason why they shouldn't be, You'd be surprised by how many side tunnels there are in those caves. If you don't know where you're going it's easy to get lost.'

'Shouldn't we tell the Rangers?' Harold asked, 'So they can look for them.'

'Who do you think told me that they were lost. Your teachers know about the note you left so it's okay.' Harold looked at him doubtfully, he had left a note which was bound to have been found by now. And they were supposed to check that everyone was there at bedtime so someone was bound to notice that he was missing along with Taz and Daryl.

****************

'Ellison,' Jim said opening his cell phone, 'We'll be there in about half an hour. I think she should be willing to help. Daryl's a smart kid, he'll be okay.' closing his cell phone.

'Problem?' Blair asked on seeing the concerned look on Jim's face.

'They've tracked the "Delivery Man" suspect to the National park,' he replied, 'A group of students including Daryl are camping out there. Simon wants us to get over there, and he would like Dr Angel's help.' He didn't know her well enough to call her by her first name yet.

'It's cold and wet out there,' Tommy said, 'Do you have any idea how that affects her? Her leg muscles tighten up, then if she's lucky after a couple of days she'll be able to limp around again. Jess can't do the physical stuff anymore.'

*****************

'Don't you think that's upto me to decide?' Jessica asked entering the living room wearing a pair of faded jeans and a thick sweater, 'If I'm right those kids are in serious trouble.'

'What do you mean?' Blair asked.

'I'll explain later,' she replied, 'I might not have touch but the rest just fine. With two of us out there we should be able to find them a lot faster.' Hopefully before it was too late, she thought.

'Jess...' Tommy began.

'I have to do this so don't even try to stop me. Are we going or not?' walking through the living room.

'That's it I'm calling dad. Maybe he can talk some sense into you because I obviously can't.' Tommy yelled.

*****************

I'm not looking.' Taz promised, holding Daryl up as he relieved himself in a corner of the cave. Watching him do that was not high on her list of priorities at the minute. Still it wasn't his fault that he'd had to go and needed help to.

'This is really embarrassing.' Daryl said staring straight ahead.

'Pretend I'm not here.'

'That's not going to work,' he replied, 'It's kind of hard to ignore you.'

'I'll take that as a compliment.' she joked, although she knew that he hadn't meant it as a joke. Still he was right, he could hardly ignore her when she had her arms wrapped around his waist. Of course she was being very careful not to make sure that she didn't touch anything even by accident that she shouldn't.

'You should,' readjusting himself before doing up his zip and button, 'You're beautiful and smart and funny. I'm lucky that you'd even say maybe to going out on a date with me.'

'No, I'm lucky that you asked me,' Taz said, 'You ready to go sit down.'

'Yeah,' he replied, 'Taz, I'm sorry that I can't be more help.'

'Daryl, it's okay. You're hurt that's not your fault,' she reassured him, 'I even promise to visit you in hospital. When we get out of here.'

'My leg doesn't feel that bad now.' hopping with her help back over to where he'd been sitting before.

'I'm going to try moving some more of those rocks.'

'What's the point? We're not going to get out of here anytime soon.'

'You can't think like that. We will get out of here, it's just a matter of time,' helping him to sit down, 'Why don't you get some sleep. You look like you could use it.'

'What about you? I'm not the one whose doing all the heavy stuff.'

'I'm okay for now.'

****************

'Jess, what's going on?' Blair asked as Jim drove straight through a red light.

'I've had a couple of visions today,' she admitted, 'The cubs were so cute, not getting along but that comes with time.'

'Cubs!' Jim said.

'A wolf cub and a jaguar cub,' she said, 'Probably won't get a chance to grow up if we don't find them first. You know until meeting you I thought I was the only one.'

'Sentinels are rare.' Blair said.

'But why are we rare?' Jessica asked, 'Wouldn't it be better if there were more of us? Just think how much better the world would be if there were Sentinels on street. Crime would go down. Purely from a reproduction point of view what are the chances of two Sentinels meeting up?'

'Very slim.' Blair admitted.

'Could we just go back a step?' Jim asked, 'What have cubs and the "Delivery Man" got in common.'

'He's after the cubs. He's going to kill them if we don't stop him.' she replied.

*****************

Suddenly from behind him a hand grabbed him across the throat. Struggling for breath, Harold tried fighting back.

'Stop that.' Smith snapped reaching into his back pocket with his other hand and pulling out a hunting knife, it's blade still stained with blood. On it's handle were five roughly cut notches. Tightening the hold that he had on Harold's throat he brought the knife round and plunged it straight into the centre of Harold's chest.

A scream rang out, then Harold slumped forward as Smith released the hold that he had on his throat. After rolling him over onto his back Smith knelt over his latest victim and grinned when he saw the look of absolute terror in his eyes as he ran the knife lightly over his throat.

'Please.' Harold begged.

'Certainly.' Smith replied running the blade against Harold's throat. This time leaving a trial of dark crimson blood in it's wake.

***************

On hearing the muffled scream Taz began clawing frantically at the rock which was barring her and Daryl's exit from the cave. Time was rapidly running out for them she thought, help wasn't going to come. Instead something else was going to come for them. She didn't know what just that it was going to hurt them.

***************

'Taz, what's wrong?' Daryl asked on hearing another piece of rock hitting the wall opposite him.

'We have to get out her now,' she snapped, 'It's not safe here.' looking around her.

'You mean there's going to be another cave in.' Accepting what she was saying as true.

'Something worse,' moving away from the blocked exit when the heavy scent of blood seeped through it, 'Blood, I can smell blood.' backing away until she was crouching besides Daryl.

'It's okay, you're just having a panic attack,' he reassured her, 'Take a deep breath.' stretching out a hand and placing it on her back.

'My skin hurts.' trying to rip her jacket and shirt off.

'Listen to me,' he said firmly, 'I need you to tell me what's going on. Because that's the only way I can try to help you.'

'I don't know,' she admitted her eyes scanning the cave for anything that shouldn't be there, 'This didn't happen last time.'

'Can you hear anybody out there?'

'No, but he's coming. I can smell him, he smells of blood.'

'Take a deep breath and try to relax.' He didn't have a clue what was going on with her, but she was his best friend therefore he had to believe that she was telling the truth until he found out otherwise. 'Whatever is going on we're in it together okay.' rubbing her back.

**************

'What do you mean you don't know where they are,' Simon growled, this was not what he wanted to hear, 'Do you realise the danger that they could be in?'

'Mr Banks, there is no need to shout,' James Frost said, 'I'm sure that both our son and Miss Rafe are perfectly all right where ever they are.'

'But you don't know where they are,' Brian said, 'If anything's happened to my sister you'd better start running now.

'Mr Rafe, quite frankly I wouldn't be surprised in the least if your sister hadn't orchestrated this little disappearing act in order to attract attention to herself.'

'Taz wouldn't just take off like this,' Brian protested, 'Something has happened to her.'

'When was the last time anyone saw them?' Simon asked.

'When they left with the rest of their group for the caving trip. Everyone else came back early,' Frost replied, 'Miss Warren said that they'd decided to go exploring on their own. You have to understand that we can't keep track of them all the time.'

'So as far as you know they could still be in the caves.' Simon said.

'It's possible,' he admitted, 'But it's also possible that they've gone into the woods.'

'You'd better pray that they turn up safe and sound,' Simon warned him, 'Or you could be facing serious charges.'

**************

Looking up when she got out of the truck Jessica could see a huge black bird circling in the sky. It was the bird she'd seen in her vision.

'He's here,' she said pulling her jacket tighter around her to try and shut out some of the cold, 'We have to find them fast.'

'Where?' Jim asked scanning the area with all his senses.

'Over there,' pointing towards a large group of trees, 'He knows where they are.'

'Jess, are you sure?' Blair asked.

'I'm positive,' she replied, 'We have to hurry.'

'You're not going anywhere,' Jim said, 'It's going to be dangerous.'

'That's why I have to go with you.' beginning to walk towards the trees she'd pointed at.

'Chief, find Simon and tell him where we've gone.' Jim said following Jessica.

****************

Taz rubbed her eyes when she saw the two large cats suddenly appear in front of her. She moved even closer to Daryl who was still rubbing her back in an attempt to get her to clam down. This was not good because she was hallucinating now. Maybe it was something in the cave that was doing this, but why then wasn't Daryl going through whatever it was as well. There were only two differences between them that she could think of, he was hurt and she wasn't, she'd also eaten chocolate before the cave in. It had to be the chocolate, someone had spiked it. Melanie, she wouldn't put it past her to do something like that. Luckily she hadn't eaten the whole bar.

****************

'Feeling better now?' Daryl asked, his voice full of concern.

'No, I'm seeing things now,' Taz replied, 'I think she spiked my chocolate.'

'Who? Melanie?'

'She's the only one who has a reason to. You know how much she hates me.'

'Is there a golden haze?' he asked hesitantly, because if there was then she was in serious trouble.

'No, no haze. Just two pumas, one white and one black.'

'Pumas!'

'It's okay they're not real. The only heartbeat I can hear is yours.'

'Guess that means you're dead.' he joked.

'This isn't funny Darly,' she snapped, 'They won't let me become a cop if they find out about this.'

'You know that you can trust me. I won't say anything about this okay,' he reassured her, 'It'll be our secret. Just tell me what to do and I'll do it.'

'I don't know what to do,' Taz admitted, 'It's coming and I don't know what to do.'

'You have to relax, getting stressed isn't going to help.'

*******************

She had to keep up with him, Jessica thought as Jim got ahead of her. Whatever was after those cubs it was going to take the both of them to stop. Tomorrow she was really going to pay for doing this, but if they were in time then it would all be worth it. And just because she wasn't a full Sentinel anymore it didn't mean that she had to stop caring about those who were. Maybe that was what she was supposed to do with her life now. Learning to deal with heightened senses wasn't easy. And she wasn't ashamed to admit that in the beginning she'd thought about taking her own life, but then things had got better and she'd learnt to cope. Just like she was having to do now.

******************

He could smell the blood, it's coppery scent heavy in the air. Extending his vision he could see the body laying half hidden in undergrowth. Reaching it, he crouched down besides it, feeling for a pulse he already knew he wasn't going to find.

'He's dead.' Jim said.

'Is it...' Jessica began, catching up with him.

'It's not Daryl.'

'That means he's in the caves.'

'You think Daryl's a Sentinel!' Simon wasn't going to be too happy about that. As it was he had a hard enough time dealing with him.

'There's a girl with him. She's the Sentinel. She's terrified because she knows that it's coming for her.'

'And it is?' he asked.

'Pure evil.'

'We're after a man, not some figment of your imagination.' he snapped heading off again.

'We'll see.' she said following him.

***************

'Sandburg, where's your partner.' Simon growled when he saw the young man running up to where he and Rafe were standing.

'He and Jess have gone after him.' Blair panted.

'Which way?' Rafe demanded.

'Back there, through the trees. They think he's after someone.'

'Daryl's missing so's Rafe's sister.' Simon said solemnly.

'We have to find them.' Rafe snapped.

'Brian, running around blindly in the dark isn't going to do any good,' Simon said placing a hand on one of the younger man's arms, 'Jim will find them.' Hoping that his belief in his friend wasn't misplaced.

'Rafe, you have to trust Jim. Right now he and Jess are the only ones who can find Daryl and your sister in time.' Blair said.

'Taz...'

'Is going to be fine.' Simon reassured him.

*********************

'What's coming?' Daryl asked now that Taz seemed to have calmed down.

'Can't you feel it? It's dark, sucks all the light into it.' How was she supposed to describe something that she couldn't see.

'You said that it smelt of blood. Whose blood?'

'Harold's,' she whispered, 'Maybe if we're quiet it wont find us.'

'Taz, what does it want?'

'Us, it's coming to kill us.' That was the only thing that she was certain about at the minute.

'Why? What have we done?' alarm showing in his voice.

'I don't know. Maybe it knows that I'm different. I'm sorry I want to protect you but I...' It was almost on top of them now.

'T...' a hand clamped itself tightly over his mouth before he had a chance to say anything else.

'Ssh.' taking her hand off his mouth. Maybe it would be happy just to kill her, that way Daryl would survive. His survival was all that mattered to her.

******************

Gritting her teeth as a flame of pain shot through her knee Jessica carried on running after Jim. They had so far to go and so little time in which to get there. She wasn't going to let those kids down even if it meant that she never walked without a limp again.

******************

We shouldn't have let her do this by herself, Tommy thought, pulling up next to Jim's truck. Who else was going to put her back together again afterwards. And his dad would never forgive him if he let anything major happen to Jess again. Spotting Blair standing with two men he headed over to where they were stood.

******************

'Tommy, what are you doing here?' Blair asked.

'Jess is out there,' he replied, 'And my dad's on his way. So I figured that I'm going to need some police protection when she finds out that I called him. She's doing okay, hell she's keeping up with your friend.'

'How...' Rafe began.

'We have this bond because we're twins,' Tommy said, 'She is very good at finding people alive. There was this one time....'

******************

It was so close now that she could almost touch it, Taz thought, moving even closer to Daryl. Dying in a cave wasn't the way she'd imagined her life ending. At her age most people didn't think that they could die, but she knew differently. Somehow she'd always thought that she would die where she could see the sun. There were so many things that she'd never had a chance to do and never have now. No date with Daryl, no first kiss. Oh god who was going to take care of Brian when she was gone.

'I don't want to die here,' she said with tears running down her cheeks, 'It's not fair I haven't had a life.'

'Taz, don't cry,' Daryl said, 'You're smart, think of something.'

'I can't,' she replied, 'It's too big and too strong for me to stop on my own.'

'We're in it together remember,' he reassured her, 'Your brains, my brawn. If this thing's coming then we can't just give up. No matter what Melanie did you never gave up.'

'I could fight Melanie,' Taz said, 'But I don't think that I can fight this. I can't see it.'

'No, but you can smell it, hear right.'

'Yes.' brushing away the tears with the backs of her hands.

'Why can you hear it now when you couldn't before?'

'Because it's not it that I'm hearing.' she sniffed.

'Then what is it?' he asked.

'People.'

'So we just have to hold on until they get here then. We're going to be fine,' he reassured her, 'How about we go to Playland when this is all over?'

'It's going to cost you more than twenty bucks to take me there.' She knew that he was trying to distract her so that she could think of something that might help them get out of their current situation.

'After this my dad'll give me a raise,' he replied, 'Of course my mom's going to blame him for all this as usual.'

'At least you're not going to be grounded 'til you're a hundred. I'll be lucky if Bri lets me go to school without an armed escort,' You know who we have to blame for this don't you.'

'Melanie Warren,' he said, 'Not that there's a lot that we can do about it.'

'Right now there isn't,' Taz said, 'But she's not going to get away with doing this to us.'

****************

With that leg of hers she shouldn't have been able to keep up with him, Jim thought running through the cave. That fact that she was only a few seconds behind him was damned impressive.

'Almost there.' he said.

'Yeah,' Jessica replied, 'Then it really begins.'

'We'll see.'

*****************

Looking out of her cabin window at all the activity going on Melanie couldn't help but smile. The Geek and Daryl were going to be in serious trouble for causing this. They probably weren't even in the caves anymore, she thought. for one brief moment she toyed with the idea of telling someone that Harold had gone to look for them, then she decided against it. After all it wasn't her fault that the idiot had got lost. Who was she, the patron saint of geeks. No-one would say anything about talking to him though, not if they knew what was good for them. And if they did, daddy would take care of it like he always did.

*******************

'Tommy...' Blair began while Simon and Brian were getting coffee.

'He doesn't need to know what really might happen to her,' he said, 'That his sister might end up dead if she's lucky. Blair, I've been through the other option. Trust me it's no fun at all.'

'Jess said at the station...'

'It came down to finger prints or DNA testing to id her. I was there when she was found. Every day of my life I've seen that face looking back at me and I didn't recognise her. There was so much blood, the paramedics were slipping on the floor. And do you want to know what the worst part of it all is?'

'Only if you want to tell me.' Blair replied.

'He's still out there somewhere. They gave the bastard bail and he ran. Eight murders and they let him out. Just goes to prove that knowing the right people will let you get away with murder. '

'Does Jess know?'

'Yeah, she knows. Spent most of the first year trying to find him from her hospital bed. Now she doesn't talk about him unless pushed.'

***************

'Sandburg,' Simon bellowed, 'We have a photo of this guy.' Blair and Tommy made their way over to where Simon and Brian were standing.

'Oh shit, you, I have to go to Jess.' Tommy said looking at the picture Simon was holding.

'Why?' Simon snapped grabbing hold of one of his arms to stop him from running off.

'It's him,' Tommy snapped, 'The bastard who. You need to get armed officers in those caves now.' shaking off the hold Simon had on his arm and running off into the night with Rafe swiftly following him.

***************

Hefting a torch in one hand Taz took a deep breath when she heard signs of movement coming from the other side of the blocked exit. Someone or thing was trying to get in. A torch wasn't going to provide much protection against what was out there, but the only other thing she had to use were rocks.

'It's here isn't it.' Daryl said, even he could hear rocks being moved.

'Yeah, helps not far away though,' she replied, 'Think you could try and run for it if you had to?'

'Taz, I can't even stand on my own. Besides I'm not leaving you here to face it alone.'

'The cats are getting really agitated,' watching them pacing up and down in front of the blocked exit, 'Especially the white one. I think she knows it's out there.'

'Think they can stop it?'

'Maybe, at least it's going to take it a while to get in here. That roof caved in pretty good.'

'Told you that we'd be okay didn't I,' Daryl said, 'They're going to get to us before it does.'

****************

With almost superhuman strength Smith tossed rocks to one side. Two more victims and he'd disappear just like he had last time. Only this time there wasn't anyone to stop him. Hearing footsteps echoing behind him he worked even harder to remove the barrier which stood between him and his victims.

The world was going to be a much better place without freaks like them in it. He only had one regret and that was that he hadn't finished off that bitch he'd grabbed two years ago. Still he could always pay her another visit in a couple of years time. But right now he had to take care of these freaks before they had a chance to grow up and breed.

******************

Almost stumbling Tommy ran blindly into the cave. That bastard wasn't going to get his hands on Jess again. And if he had anything to do with it the only way that man would be leaving would be in a body bag, even if he had to shoot him himself. He was prepared to go to prison if he had to in order to protect her. But that guy was a serial killer, a very dangerous man, there was more than enough evidence to convict him of at least ten murders. No jury would shed tears for a man like that.

********************

'Freeze Cascade PD,' Jim shouted drawing his weapon when he saw the figure in front of him moving rocks, 'Put your hands up where I can see them.'

'FBI,' Jessica said from behind Jim, 'I'd shoot him if I were you. He's not going to surrender. Old Sparky's waiting for him in Texas.'

'You can't shoot me.' Smith said.

'I don't see anyone around here whose going to stop me. Do you Jim?'

'No.'

'For all we know you've already killed those kids. And whose going to miss a piece of scum like you.' He wasn't going to walk away this time, if she had anything to do with it. It either ended here and now or with him being strapped into an electric chair.

'You know this guy?' Jim asked.

'I got to know him very well during the twelve days I spent with him. We'd be doing the world a favour by shooting him. Would have a really good case for self defence as well. You've killed what fifteen people.'

'Thirty.' Smith boasted.

'Thirty people, and destroyed how many others as well,' reaching into the back of her jeans and pulling a gun out, 'I'd do it in an instant.'

'That's murder.' Smith protested dropping the rock that he was holding.

'So's what you've done,' Jessica replied, 'Daniel Jones, I'm arresting you on charges of serial homicide and bail jumping. Anything you say, you've heard it all before,' aiming the gun she was holding just to the left of his and squeezed the trigger. 'Just in case you thought I wouldn't do it. Cuff him.' covering Jim as he moved towards where Smith was kneeling.

*********************

'What was that?' Darly asked.

'Gunshot,' Taz replied, 'It's okay, they've caught it.' dropping the torch she was holding.

'You're sure they have?'

'Yeah, I'm sure. We'd better shout for help.' Although she got the feeling that the people outside of the cave could hear what she was saying.

'Help,' Daryl shouted at the top of his voice, forcing Taz to clamp her hands over her ears, 'Sorry.'

'They can hear us so just tone it down a little.'

*********************

'Suppose we'd better dig them out.' Jessica said hitting Smith across the back of his head with the butt of her gun.

'That's assaulting a prisoner.' Jim said.

'I'm not a cop.' she laughed.

**********************

'You guys okay in there?' Jessica asked climbing through the hole that now led to where Daryl and Taz where.

'Daryl's leg's hurt,' Taz replied, 'And he hit his head pretty hard when the roof caved in.' looking at the young woman who was now in the cave with them. 'Did you get it?'

'We got it. You don't have to worry about it anymore,' Jessica reassured her, 'He's cuffed and out cold. Jim, we need a medic in here to check Daryl out.' calling behind her.

'I'll do it,' Jim replied squeezing his not inconsiderable size through the hole, 'I was a medic in the army.' when he saw the look of confusion on Jessica's face.

'You check Daryl out and I'll try to explain a few things to our new sentinel here.' And she was going to have to hurry because she could already hear others coming.

*********************

'Sentinel?' Taz asked as Jessica crouched down next to her, 'What's one of those?'

'Something very special,' Jessica replied, 'You can see the cats right?' looking across at where the two jaguars were busy sniffing each other.

'I'm hallucinating again.'

'No, they're spirit guides. The white one's mine, and the black one's Jim's. You are not hallucinating or going mad. What you have is enhanced senses. Right now you're feeling a little weird and very scared right.'

'Yeah, I think Melanie spiked my chocolate.' Taz said.

'Trust me what's happening is perfectly normal.' Jessica said, 'Just takes a little while to get used to that's all. And you've got people to help you to do that. Including your friend Daryl over there. He's your guide. We'll go into that later. All you need to know for now is that you can't tell anyone, especially not your brother. The wrong people find out and it's, well you just can't okay.'

'But I'm sick.'

'No you're not. You're just very special. Do you know what that guy wanted to do to you?'

'Kill us,' Taz replied, 'Because I'm different.'

'That's right, bet you thought about letting him kill you so he'd leave Daryl alone.'

'Maybe.'

'Making sure that your guide is protected comes before anything else,' Jessica said, 'These are the rules for now, and you have to follow them no matter what anyone says okay.'

'Okay.' Taz replied reluctantly.

'You don't mess about with your senses at all. It can be very dangerous if you don't know what you're doing. We will teach you and Daryl how to handle them, but it's going to take some time. You can't date anyone either, it's for your own safety. sometimes your senses overload and you blackout,' Jessica said, 'And finally spend as much time as you can with Daryl, it will help you to keep things under control.'

******************

'My dad is going to...' Daryl began, 'He won't believe any of this. Then I won't be able to help Taz and...'

'Your dad knows,' Jim reassured him while feeling his leg to see if anything was broken, 'He might not be very happy about it though.' As soon as he was sure that Daryl was all right Simon would be shouting at everyone in sight not that that would change a thing.

'Guess that explains why Taz got so pis. upset when Melanie Warren kept butting in between us.' he said.

'Could be.' Jim admitted.

'I didn't do anything to encourage Melanie though. Even told her to leave me alone, and quit having a go at Taz. Not that it did much good.'

'Some people are like that.'

'You don't need to worry about me,' Taz said moving to crouch down next to Daryl, 'I'm going to take care of her so good not even her precious daddy'll be able to bail her out.'

'You can't use what you are for revenge,' Jess said, 'Only end up hurting yourself if you do.'

'But she's the one who got Harold killed by that thing.' Taz protested.

'She could smell the blood.' Daryl explained.

'You don't go anywhere near her is that clear,' Jessica said, 'She comes upto you, you walk away. We will take care of it, legally.'

'That's not going to be easy,' Daryl said, 'Melanie really has it in for Taz. She got Detective Dobson fired for letting Taz have one of his puppies when she wanted them all. Her dad's the Chief of Police. The cops can't do...'

'Trust me, Chief of Police is nothing compared to some of my friends,' Jessica smiled, 'Friends who owe me some pretty big favours.'

'What are you going to do?' Jim asked, 'Chief Warren has a lot of power. And we're talking about people's jobs here.'

'Firing a detective over a puppy is a misuse of authority.' she replied.

'Her dad spends a lot of money. He paid five grand for Taz's place on the gym team.' Daryl said.

'I thought you got dropped.' Jim said remembering what she'd said at the poker game at Rafe's.

'Telling Bri wouldn't have done any good. Would have only got him fired, I have to take care of my brother.' Taz said.

'Any rumours from the station Jim?' Jessica asked, 'You must have heard something about him.'

'I don't go around listening to other people's conversations on purpose.' Jim replied.

'Pity, it's amazing what you can overhear in the bathroom.' smiling at him.

******************

'Jess,' Tommy shouted when he saw the cuffed body laying on the cave floor, 'You okay.' sticking his head through the hole in front of him. The link that he had with her told him that she was, but he wanted to see for himself that she was.

'Yeah, never felt better Bro,' she laughed, 'If you move back we'll get out of here.'

'What about that...' he began.

'He's not going anywhere except prison,' she replied, 'Daryl, think you can walk out of here with a little help?'

'I'll help him,' Taz growled as she helped Daryl up off the floor, 'He's my...'

'Tommy's my guide so it's okay to talk in front of him,' Jessica reassured her, 'And I think he should be the one to explain it to your brother.'

'Who is?' Tommy asked moving back from the hole so that they could get through it.

'Rafe.' Jim replied.

**********************

'Taz.' Brian shouted rushing over to where his sister was helping Daryl stay up right.

'Calm down Bri, I'm fine,' Taz replied, 'Well nothing that a a hot bath and some food wouldn't fix.'

'You could have been killed,' anger showing in his voice, 'That is the last time you ever have anything to do with Daryl.'

'Rafe, it's not Daryl's fault,' Jim said, 'There was a cave in, Could have happened to anyone.'

'It happened to my sister though,' Brian protested, 'If he hadn't dragged her...'

'Don't talk about Daryl like that,' Taz snapped, 'It was my idea to go looking for Mr Smith not Daryl's so if it's anyone's fault it's mine.'

'We were taking a break before heading back when the roof caved in,' Daryl said, 'If Taz hadn't dragged me back there I'd be dead. And she took really good care of me because I was hurt.'

'Do you think that we could get out of here now? Only I could really use a cup of coffee.' Jessica said.

'And a hot bath, your legs aren't going to thank you for this little escapade.' Tommy said.

'Believe it or not they don't ache as much as they did earlier,' Jessica grinned, 'Guess a good work out's just what I needed to get them working again.'

********************

'Simon, he's fine. Just a little bruised,' Jim reassured his Captain and friend, when they met each other in the cave, 'But we are going to have to talk.' Something that he wasn't really looking forward to at all.

'What about...' Simon began.

'He's cuffed and had his rights read him,' Jim replied, 'Rafe and Dr Angel's brother have him under guard.'

'Thank god you apologised to her and she agreed to help us out.'

'Acutally I never got a chance to apologise to her.' Jim admitted.

'I would have agreed to help anyway,' Jessica said from behind Jim, 'But I think dinner tomorrow night would go along way to making up for what Detective Connor said.'

'You're making burgers.' Jim reminded her.

'You owe me an apology and I intend to get it out of you. And home made burgers aren't going to cut it. Expecially when I'm the one making them.'

'Jim, take the doctor out to dinner. That's an order.' Simon smiled.

END