Two months earlier...

"So you really taking this job?"

"It's not everyday you get offered your own task force."

Greg moved when Sofia needed to get to her desk drawers, "No...but its LA."

Stopping her packing, Sofia turned to look at the young CSI, "Greg...are you trying to talk me out of this?" she was surprised when Greg went silent and ducked his head. "Greg?"

"It's just... Everyone here still treats me like I don't know what I'm doing. I know I'm new at this but I'm not stupid."

Now Sofia was just confused, she sat down in the chair and pushed across the floor so she was in front of the young man perched on the desk.

Greg continued, "You never did that."

"You gotta give it time."

"It's not just that. I don't wanna be here anymore - I killed a man, Sofia. I don't want to be reminded of that."

Sofia didn't say that she felt the same, that she too was running away, "Your a good CSI, Greg."

"Wanna tell your Captain that?" he grinned.

Sofia smiled when she saw the old Greg, "You hitting me up for a job, Sanders?"
"C'mon....It's LA!"
__________________________________________________________

Detective Sofia Curtis was standing outside her partner's house, squinting in the bright LA sunshine. Finally giving up on the bell she started pounding on the door with her fist. When that failed to get a response, she knelt down to the mailbox and yelled whilst banging with the butt of her handgun, "Jake! Open this damn door!"

Her request was granted as a very groggy Jake Barret unlatched the door. Sofia rolled her eyes as she let herself in. She stopped dead when she saw the state of Jake's place, "What happened?...And what's that smell?" she moved over to the windows and threw one open - earning a muffled groan from Jake who had collapsed onto his couch.

"I'm ill." he explained, only lifting his head up long enough to let the words out.

Sofia sighed as she smiled, "Yeah, yeah..." she pulled his legs off the sofa and sat down, "Get dressed - we've got a call."
__________________________________________________________

"Do you know what time it is?"

Sofia glanced at the clock on the dash before returning her gaze to the road, "Ten am."

"Exactly," Jake was interrupted by a coughing fit, "We work the third watch. Three pm until eleven pm."

Sofia had put up with his complaining since they'd left the house - she was praying they were nearly at the prison, "Well, you'll have to explain that to the bad guys won't you, Jake?"

He didn't really have an answer to that, "I'm just saying..."
___________________________________________________________

Sofia reached out a hand in greeting, "Warden, I'm Detective Curtis...this," she'd turned to introduce Jake but he'd disappeared. A quick look found him wandering around a loading bay, "Never mind...We're with the Fugitive Recovery Unit."

"Sam Newman was missing from morning roll call." he offered by way of explanation, handing over a file.

"How long?"

"We think he was posted last night."

Sofia did a double take, "Excuse me?"

Jake had finished being nosy, "Is that some kind of slang I've never heard?" he asked Sofia.

"Ah...No, sir....We think he was posted out of the facility." the warden answered.

Sofia was still a little confused, "You mean 'stuck in an envelope with a stamp stuck on his head' posted?"

"Yes, ma'am." The warden looked completely serious and embarrassed, Sofia stared at Jake in disbelief.

"This you kick me out of bed for?" he groaned.

Warden Davis led the Detectives to the post room of the prison, "We shipped a load of license plates out this morning," he jumped down into the loading bay, "we think that's how he got out."

"You don't check for inmates?" Jake asked sarcastically.

Sofia shot him an angry look, "What my colleague means is....don't you scan everything that leaves the prison?"

"Usually...we physically check the crates and seal them, then they're x-rayed on the way out."

"But not this time?"

"Uh...It's broken ma'am...we're waiting on someone to come fix it."

"You said you seal them?....How'd he get past that?" The warden shrugged and Jake looked away in exasperation, "So he either hid in the crate, you missed him at lock down and when you checked the crates...or he escaped after lock down and sealed himself into a crate."

"We're overworked and understaffed, Detective. We checked the crates and counted the prisoners in at lock down." Davis gave a 'what more can we do' shrug and walked away.

"I'm in some hellish penal twilight zone...." he replied, throwing his hands in the air. As he walked back to the car past Sofia he whispered, "...and I'm ill..."

Sofia just set her jaw and steeled herself for the rest of the day "Here we go..."
__________________________________________________________

As Jake stalked back into LAPD, Greg decided to talk to Sofia, "A uniform came up and said they'd found a crate you'd be interested in - they took it to CSI."

"Ahh...There's a job for you. Go find Clare Ryan and bring her up to the briefing room."

"Who's Clare Ryan?"

Sofia smiled, "Ask."

Greg had a look of complete bemusement on his face, but to his credit he headed off to CSI in search of Clare Ryan.

When Greg saw the huge lab that the LAPD used he was impressed; although it was a joint facility with LA County. He caught the attention of the nearest person and asked for Clare Ryan. He got sent towards a small lab at the far end of the facility and knocked on the door of an equally small office, "Uh..excuse me? Are you Clare Ryan?"

Brown eyes looked up at him over glasses perched on the tip of a nose, "Who the hell are you?"

"Er...Greg Sanders. I'm a CSI. From Vegas. Detective Curtis," he stammered out before she cut him off with the wave of a hand.

"Who?" the scientist looked confused.

"Greg Sanders,"

"Who's Detective Curtis?" she clarified.

"Sofia Curtis...?"

"Oh, right, mini-Barret...yeah. Sofia said she was getting me some help...You're it?"

"Yes, ma'am."

Clare studied her new colleague intently, "Was there a reason you came to see me or did you just want to say hello?"

"Sofia said to come up to the briefing room - something about a crate?"

"License plates, straws and sweat." Clare replied, dumping her file on top of the nearest pile and uncurling herself from her chair, "I had a fun afternoon"

Greg decided that Grissom wasn't so weird after all.....
___________________________________________________________

"Jake? This is the part where you brief us." Sofia pointed out. It sounded harsh but she'd had just about enough of his whining.

Jake sat up and muttered something under his breath, earning him a glare from Sofia. Chris Huggins pretended to read the file in front of him. "Sam Newman. Convicted for murder in '99. He is currently in the wind." He slumped back down into the chair.

Clare Ryan was stood in the doorway, "Well..I see you are your usual eloquent self, Jake. That was truly enlightening." Sofia smirked, while Clare sat down and continued, "Now, do you want the good news or the great news?"

"If the next words out of your mouth aren't 'this is all a terrible dream' and I'm going to wake up back in my nice little field office I'm not going to listen."

Clare looked across the table at Sofia, "What's wrong with Groucho?"

"He's got Jake-flu." Sofia explained with a roll of her eyes.

"Ahh, I see. You're gonna love this, big boy. I pulled 261 different sets of prints off the license plates. To save you the trouble of running them all down, I've got 3 sets from the stickers they sealed the crate with. Sit down, newbie, I'm not done," Chris wasn't quite sure how she'd noticed him brace his hands on the table - seeing as she never looked up from her report, "I also confirmed that your felon was indeed in the crate and that someone would have needed to help him get out."

Sofia reached across for the report, "Can you go with Chris and talk to these prison officers?" She was referring to two of the three names that came back from the stickers, "Greg, you can come with me to find this accomplice."

"What about me?" Jake whined, sounding like a little boy lost.

"Do I have to think of everything? Find the other name on that list. And for God's sake ease up on the menthol - this place stinks!"
___________________________________________________________

"So where do we start?"

Sofia was rummaging through a box from Newman's original case, "We start with his friends, family and colleagues."

"I'll check names against the visitors log and phone records - if he planned this then someone had to know where to pick him up."

"I'm gonna keep Jake company, he's feeling bad enough already." she said, satisfied that Greg was going in the right direction. She was about to leave when she caught his half smile, "What?"

"Nothing.."
__________________________________________________________

"Where's your boyfriend?" Jake griped as Sofia watched him from the doorway.

"Aww...you jealous, Jake?"

He pretended to consider the question, "Only if he's seen you naked."

Sofia couldn't quite conceal her smirk, "Someone's feeling better."

Jake absently waved a bottle of pills at her, "Drugs..." he was studying a copy of the prison visitor logs, "I went cross-eyed running the prints through the computer...Then a thought struck me,"

"Did it hurt?" off Jake's puzzled look Sofia waved her comment away, "Never mind."

Jake shook his head and continued, "Anyway...Newman's brief visited him a lot - he was getting ready to lodge an appeal - but, she also visited another inmate who was released the day before the escape."

"Sealed him in then walked out a free man?"

"Exactly."

"Did the prints match?"

"No prints - he was released after his conviction was quashed and one of the terms was that his record was wiped clean."

"Who'd he hire...Cochran?" Sofia asked, leaning over his shoulder, "Didn't they teach you to write at Quantico?" she grimaced as she picked up the pad Jake had been using to take notes. Dropping it back down to the table, she cocked an eyebrow, "I presume there is a name in there somewhere."

Jake checked his watch, "Wanna take me out to dinner?"

Sofia smiled, "Get your coat..."
___________________________________________________________

"Greg?"

"Yeah...?"

"You've got a crime scene - Jake just called and said they got a car needs processing."

"What about you?"

"Hey...you don't wanna do it...."

"No!...I mean, I'll go, I just thought you'd do it."

"I'm going home."
___________________________________________________________

"What took you so long?" Jake barked at Greg as soon as he opened the door to his car.

"I got here as fast as I could."

"Process the car, I need to know who was in it."

Greg grabbed his case and headed for the car, a voice came to him out of the dark and made him jump about three feet in the air, "I need you to print the wheel to give us a driver and see if there's anything to tell us who else was here." Sofia scrambled out of the back seat and stared at Greg catching his breath.

"I'm just getting used to all this...."

"Madness? I know, it gets a bit hectic on a chase. Just don't let Jake get to you."

"He doesn't pick on the new cop...." Greg murmured.

Sofia passed by Greg on her way back to her car, "Huggins didn't save his life - unbelievable as it may seem, he respects you."

"It's just..." Greg trailed off as a glint of metal caught his eye, "Cellphone."

Sofia stopped and raised and eyebrow, "What?"

Greg stretched down under the seat and pulled out the offending item. He scrabbled to regain his balance and back out of the front passenger side, waving the phone triumphantly he handed it to Sofia. She in turn grinned and turned back to her partner, "Hey Jake! Get this back to the lab..."
___________________________________________________________

The next morning, the team reconvened for a briefing. Essentially they were bringing each other up to speed on their respective tasks from yesterday. With escaped fugitives, its vital they are apprehended before they have a chance to leave the jurisdiction. Sam Newman had been on the run for twenty one hours.

"Huggy...what did the POs have to say?"

"Huggins."

"S'cuse me?"

"My name, sir...." Jake made a Do-I-Look-Like-I-Care face and Chris cleared his throat before he continued, "They confirmed that they were indeed responsible for sealing the crates and that everything was in order when they executed their duties."

Jake's brow had been furrowing deeper and deeper as Chris had been speaking. He looked across the table to Clare for some help, "What did the POs have to say?"

Somewhat amused, she translated, "They check out. Their prints were supposed to be there."

"So we're going on the assumption it wasn't an inside job?" Sofia said, looking up from a report.

"Anyone check out the truck driver?"

"Model employee with an exemplary record. He's in Cedars-Sinai."

"Did you swallow a dictionary?....What do you mean he's at Cedars?"

"He was found on a building site off Pacific Highway."

"Sofia, take the OED and question Mr UPS."

Sofia pulled Chris out of his chair before he could open his mouth and guided him to the door.

"Right....What else have you got?"

Clare smiled at Jake's take-charge attitude, she knew Sofia would snap him out of it soon enough. "Greg's still working on the cellphone but he did get you a name on the car. A Mr Edward Decker was at your mystery felon's house."

"I'm liking the mystery prisoner for this,"

Greg burst through the door, "No longer a mystery, my liege." He was waving a report in the air as he sat down next to his fellow CSI, "I cross referenced the visitor logs with names from the original case files...One name kept popping up - Javier Weston. I ran him through the LAPD database and he popped up in a case involving Paul Francis. Guess where he was sent to prison?"

"Rooming with Sam Newman?"

"I think he's the mystery prisoner...There must be some record of him there."

"Any leads on Weston?" Clare was reading through Greg's report.

"There's an address but I don't know how recent it is."

"Shall we find out, gang?"
__________________________________________________________

After speaking to the responding officers, Sofia and Chris went up to the Nurses' Station at Cedars-Sinai, "I'm Detective Curtis, this is Detective Huggins. LAPD. Can you tell us where Danny Francis is?"
__________________________________________________________

"Aren't we supposed to have coffee and donuts?" Greg asked.

"No."

"But we're on a stakeout...." he whined.

Jake scowled at Greg as he reached for his cellphone and answered, "What?!"

Sofia took a moment to answer, "Danny Francis has got dumb-fell-over syndrome. He didn't see anything."

"Did you say Francis?" Jake was slapping Greg on the arm to get the case file, flipping through he found what he was looking for, "Go back and ask him if he's got a brother, then get over here."

Sofia stared at her cellphone, "Idiot! How the hell am I supposed to know where 'here' is?"

"Everything alright?" Chris asked.

"No....just normal." she turned sharply and headed back to Danny Francis' room.
___________________________________________________________

Greg jumped when Sofia tapped on Jake's window, for his part, Jake just opened an eye. Sofia waved a hand at the window. "He wouldn't tell us."

Jake sat up and opened his other eye as Sofia and Chris got in the back seat. "Who wouldn't tell you what?"

"Francis wouldn't tell us if he had a brother." Sofia was starting to get irritated with Jake's perpetual bad mood.

"He suddenly felt the urge to plead the fifth amendment,"

"Shut up!" Jake hissed.

"Don't take your bad mood out on him, Jake!"

Jake spun round as best he could in the driver's seat, "I was talking to all of you."

Greg turned to fill the others in on their stakeout, "Javier Weston visited Sam Newman and Paul Francis in prison," when Jake scowled at him for the third time that evening he lowered his voice even more, "We think Paul Francis is our mystery felon that helped seal in Newman. Barret wants to see if we can find Weston - he might be the accomplice."

"If we can get him to the PD and match his prints to the car then it'll be confirmed - Clare called earlier to say she matched Newman's prints in the car." Jake finished.

"You want to take him in?" Sofia was just checking that Jake had officially gone nuts.

"He's our best lead on Newman."

"It wouldn't be wiser to put surveillance on him?"

"He's had nearly forty hours, I doubt he's still in the state."

Sofia silently nodded, Weston would put them on the trail - he'd probably know where Newman was going.

"Someone's here." Chris pointed out the window that had just opened.

"Saddle up."
___________________________________________________________

They'd parked up across the road about fifty yards from the property in question. Chris and Sofia were putting on their vests and radios. Jake was briefing Kramer and asking for backup to meet them at the house.

"He really doesn't like me, does he?"

"Don't worry about it, Chris. Jake doesn't like anybody." Sofia gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze as she walked forward to Greg and leaned in the window, "Stay in the car. Do not get out of the car. Do not open the doors. Do not open the windows."

"Yes, mom." Greg smiled.

"I mean it, Greg....If you get hurt...."

"I know, I know."

"The paperwork is a bitch."

Suddenly, Jake was shouting and gunfire erupted from the house. Chris ducked down behind the car and Sofia did the same. On the other side of the car, Jake darted forward to the cover of a tree on the sidewalk. Sofia was doing her best to lay down fire but Jake wasn't moving towards them, "Oh, Christ...." she cursed under her breath, knowing exactly what was about to happen, "Jake! Don't you dare!" It was too late - as Jake took off towards the back of the house.

Sofia and Chris made it around back in time to hear the screeching of tyres as Weston took off. Jake was standing in the middle of the street cussing like a sailor. Sofia made short work of closing the distance between them, "What the hell was that?!!"

"He's gone!"

Sofia grabbed Jake by the shoulder and pulled him round to face her, "You could have got yourself killed! You DO NOT go charging into a gunfight! Are you listening?!"

"It was one man with a pistol, Sofia! I'm a cop...I chase bad guys with guns!"

Sofia took a breath and half turned to Chris, "Go and get the car."

"Why...You not...?" Chris pointed in the general direction of the house, confused as to why they couldn't all go back to the car.

"I said get the car, Chris!"
___________________________________________________________

"What happened?" Greg asked - half concerned about the gunfire, half excited about the chase.

Chris shut the door and started the car. After a moments thought, he killed the engine. Greg gave him a questioning look, "We don't really wanna go back there yet."

"Is he dead?"

"Weston? No. Detective Barret? I really don't wanna be in his shoes right now.....Do they always fight like that?"

Greg laughed, "You better believe it, newbie."

Chris' door suddenly flew open and Sofia was standing next to him, "Call Dispatch and put out an APB on Javier Weston."

Chris pulled out his cellphone and made the report,watching Jake scuffing his feet as he walked slowly back to the car. He could only imagine the dressing down his superior had got.

Sofia addressed Greg while Chris was talking, "Get back to PD and find out what Clare's got - we need a new lead." Sofia took out the keys for her car to drive back to PD. Jake said something as they approached the car and even the Dispatcher Chris was talking talking to heard her yell, "Get in the DAMN CAR!"
__________________________________________________________

Kramer was starting to question her sanity. What on Earth had possessed her to team Jake and Sofia together? She'd had the Chief of Police, LA County Sheriff and IAB in her office within fifteen minutes of the botched raid. And to top it all off, no-one had seen hide nor hair of the two Detectives since. Just as she was about to put an APB out for her missing officers, World War Three walked into their office. Kramer was not in the mood for this.

"You're not in charge anymore, Sofia!"

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"You can't tell me what to do!"

"You fouled up that raid, Jake. You let him get away!"

"WHAT?!"

"You were to busy playing the hero - if you'd have waited for backup we'd have him in holding right now!"

"ENOUGH!" Two heads whipped round at Kramer, "I did not bring you back here to tear strips off each other."

A mumbled 'Sorry' came from both detectives.

"We've run out of leads." Jake admitted as he sat down.

Kramer held up a hand to stop whatever remark was forming on Sofia's lips.

"Barret?" Jake looked up at the older uniformed officer who waved an impatient hand, "Other Barret..."

This time, Sofia looked up at the door, "I take it you mean me?"

The uniform grunted in reply, "Do you want to know about your APB or not?"

"What?"

"Weston's in holding - we just picked him up."

Sofia and Jake were out of their seats in seconds, Sofia paused at the door, "My name's Curtis."

Her former uniformed partner chuckled as he watched the two detectives fly down the stairs to holding, "You keep telling yourself that, kid."
__________________________________________________________

I swear I didn't know." Weston was still protesting his innocence after two and a half hours of questioning.

"Even if you didn't know Newman was planning an escape...You are still complicit to intimidation and smuggling contraband out of a state facility."

"Both of which are superseded by a charge of felony stupid for shooting at police officers."

"There's no such thing." Weston replied, looking smugly at Sofia.

"You will be charged with attempted murder against myself and Detective Curtis here." Jake picked up his notes and stood.

"Hold on! What?" Weston was looking a little less smug now.

"Did I stutter?" Jake asked Sofia with mock seriousness.

Sofia stood up, "This is your last chance. Tell us where he is."

Weston looked at the two detectives and then back towards the door, "I can't - He's on a real trip. He said he had to take care of business."

"What a cliché..."

Sofia waved for the officer outside, "Take him to booking - attempted murder - we'll be there in a minute."
__________________________________________________________

"So we have nothing...." Sofia was recounting the largely fruitless interview to the rest of the team, which consisted of Clare as Chris and Greg had disappeared.

"We've got incompetent prison officers and a terrified druggie - I didn't think Newman was dangerous...."

"He was jailed for murder, Jake."

He made a face at Sofia, "There's murder and then there's murder."

"So, what now?" Clare raised her mug to down some more coffee but decided that she'd probably had enough.

Jake and Sofia exchanged looks and then shrugged, "He goes on the board." Sofia declared.

"The US Marshall's will keep the trial witnesses safe and LAPD will keep an eye on the prosecutors.....There's nothing more we can do." Jake explained with a shrug.

"Well.....that sucks." Clare scoffed.

"You think he'll bother?" Sofia leaned back in her chair and tapped her pen on the table, "He's better off going to ground."

Jake merely raised an eyebrow as he let out a sigh.

The ensuing silence was interrupted by Chris and Greg, both of whom were looking very pleased with themselves.

"What?" Jake barked, entirely unhappy with losing his fugitive.

"We found him." Chris explained.

"What?" Sofia was slightly worried at the 'we' part of that statement - Greg was not here to chase suspects.

"Chris got me to go through Weston's things while he was in holding. He had a lot of receipts from the same place for the last three days."

"So?" Jake leaned forward, suddenly a lot happier than he had been moments before.

"The place gave us a rundown house in Brentwood - and I use the word house generously." Chris answered.

"You and I can do a recce.....Greg?....Can you brief Jake on what you've got? We need a solid lead."

"Oh, no....I'm going with you..." Jake insisted as he moved for the door.

Sofia stared at Jake, her anger from earlier still bubbling, "Organise an assault team, brief them on the situation and wait for confirmation. If he's there - we're going to do this properly and we're going to get it right." she punctuated the last remark with a stab of her pen in Jake's direction. Jake returned the stare and a conflict of emotions played across his face; he hated the idea of backing down in front of the others but he knew Sofia was right. With an imperceptible tilt of his head, he silently agreed and they went their separate ways.

"So...what do we do now?" Greg turned to Clare expectantly.

"Now we let them do their job - we're like satellite navigation." Clare said as she picked up her notes and headed back to her office.

Greg frowned before jogging to catch up, "We're what?"

Clare smiled as she hit the elevator control, "All we can do is point them in the right direction - they're the ones who have to get there."

"You sound like Grissom."

"Bugman Grissom?"

"You heard of him?"

Clare laughed, "Greg...everybody's heard of Grissom. The man has the interpersonal skills of a rock - and he can't hold his liquor." She disappeared behind the elevator doors before Greg had a chance to ask for more details...
___________________________________________________________

"All teams are in position, we have a positive sighting of the target in this building."

Jake looked over Chris' shoulder at the two-storey block, "How many people are in there?"

Sofia started shaking her head, "We pulled the owner out of a bar a few blocks away - he says there's no one else staying there."

Jake was fiddling with the radio in his ear as he listened to his colleagues. He wasn't happy with all the unknowns: they didn't know if Newman was armed, they didn't know if he was alone, they didn't know if he was ready for them...But he was a convicted killer and he needed to be off the streets. "We'll make entrance," he motioned to himself and Sofia, "Huggins can take a team to the rear alley - if he bolts that's where he'll go." With nods from Sofia, Chris and the SWAT leader, Jake clicked off his safety and led the way.
___________________________________________________________

Sofia rounded the corner at the top of the stairs and approached the first room to her left. A SWAT officer went ahead of her to clear the room, when she heard the loud "Clear!" she entered and immediately turned and yelled, "Jake!"

Jake was moving through the ground level when he heard her call and bolted up the stairs. He stopped at the first doorway and cautiously entered with his weapon raised.

"He's gone, Jake." Sofia waved an arm at the body lying on the floor.

Jake knelt down and searched for any ID on the well dressed victim. Producing a wallet he let out a small stream of obscenities.

"What is it?"

Jake handed a card to Sofia as he threw the wallet at the wall in frustration. Reading the ID, Sofia looked to the ceiling and then fingered the toggle on her radio, "Dispatch....this is 5-king-90F...Show Code 4A. Be advised suspect Sam Newman is GOA and we have a probable 187...10-55D."

"Detective Curtis, 10-4...Coroner en route."

Chris heard the radio chatter and met his superiors as they exited, "You got a DB?"

"One of the prosecutors." Jake answered.

Sofia suddenly grabbed for her radio, "Dispatch, be advised 5-king-90F is mobile."

"10-4."

Sofia yelled at SWAT and took off for the car. Jake was a few steps behind, trying to pull out his cell, "Huggy, you're driving." he called over his shoulder as he tossed the keys.

"Where are we going?" Chris asked as he ran to the driver's side.

Jake held up a hand as his call got through, "This is Detective Barret of the LAPD Fugitive Unit. You have a code 99. We believe Sam Newman to be en route - we are mobile code 100 with SWAT." Jake listened for a few moments then snapped the phone shut as Sofia directed Chris to their destination.
___________________________________________________________

Sofia and Jake were deep in conversation with the SWAT leader when Chris finished talking to the US Marshalls outside the witness' house. They swore Newman hadn't been anywhere the house - pointing out they'd have moved their charge to a safe house.

"I'll go in with a SWAT team - you two can cover the house with the others. We could only have missed him by minutes, and we blew every light on the way here."

The three detectives went to take up their positions. Sofia was stopped by a hand on her arm, "Keep your head down." Those four words said a lot more than be careful.

"Watch your six, preacher." So did those.
___________________________________________________________

"We are code 4A."

Jake sighed with a mixture of relief and exasperation. Newman wasn't there. He made his way to the front door where Sofia was leading out SWAT, "Maybe he just wanted the DA."

Sofia looked up to answer him but instead she pushed past, yelling, "There he is!" She took off down a side passage that ran by the house. Jake was two seconds behind her, with Chris hot on his heels.
___________________________________________________________

"LAPD!" Sofia was just about keeping up with Newman when he went over a wall. Taking a quick look behind her and seeing no one, Sofia decided to follow. As she hauled herself over the six foot tall divide, she was grabbed by her bulletproof vest and landed on her back - her gun skittering across the concrete.

"LAPD my ass!" Newman sneered. He reached around to his back and pulled a knife from his waistband, "I was saving this for the bitch inside....never mind."
___________________________________________________________

Jake had lost sight of Sofia and came skidding to a halt at the dead end. Chris lowered his weapon as he caught up.

"Where the hell did they go!" Jake yelled as he spun round looking for an answer.

Sofia heard him, "Jake!" It came out shakier than she'd expected. Not that she had much time to think about that as Newman took the distraction as his cue to lunge.

Sofia's shout of pain was enough for Jake to holster his gun and launch himself over the wall. Chris radioed for backup from the SWAT team and followed. Jake saw the knife and charged Newman - knocking him off his feet. He wrestled with Newman's right arm, trying to keep the knife down. Newman came up swinging with his free arm and caught Jake with an elbow to the side of his face before hauling both of them to their feet. Newman spun and Jake was thrown back into the wall. A shot rang out from above Jake's head as Chris fired. Both Jake and Chris charged Newman and pinned him down long enough to cuff him - with Jake taking particular delight in the pain the gunshot wound was causing in Newman's shoulder. As soon as he was sure Chris had control, Jake moved back to Sofia. She was crouched back against the wall clutching her upper arm, her teeth clenched against the pain. Jake clamped a hand over the gash.

"Sonuvabitch, Jake!"

"Someone get EMTs back here!" Keeping his left hand on Sofia's right, Jake stepped over and sat down to her left. She looked down at his arm across her chest and then up at him. He understood straight away, "Oh please..." he waved at the cut on his face that was rapidly swelling, "I'm not in the mood."

Sofia leaned her head on his shoulder and watched Chris deposit Newman into the waiting hands of LA SWAT.
___________________________________________________________

Greg was already working on another case when Clare stuck her head in the lab, "They got him."

"They're back?"

She shook her head, "I just heard he was in custody - no details yet." Watching the young man blow out a breath, she added, "We got him, Greg. That's what matters."

"Tell that to the guy in the morgue."

"That's someone else's fight."
__________________________________________________________

"It's a good job LAPD has a good medical plan." Kramer stood in the doorway of the exam room. They both looked rough - Sofia was pretty pale and Jake's left cheek was swollen with a lovely gash under his eye.

"Shh!," Jake hissed, "She's asleep."

"You said it was just a few stitches." she reprimanded.

"I was misinformed..." he let out a yawn and stretched his arms above his head.

"What's happening?"

"We're waiting for my x-rays."

"The Chief's given you guys a couple of days - I suggest you take them."
___________________________________________________________

"How does it go?...'You could have got yourself killed'...yadda yadda..."

"Shut up, Jake."

"Oh, c'mon! I don't get to enjoy this a little?"

Sofia looked up and took a bite out of her burger. Jake laughed and handed her another beer as he sat down on the sofa next to her. "I can't remember the last time I slept." he groaned, wiping a hand across his face - he instantly regretted the action and let out a hiss of breath.

"You came charging over that wall like a man possessed." Sofia had stopped eating and stood to go into Jake's kitchen.

The sudden shift in moods wasn't lost on Jake, "You were hurt." he said matter-of-factly.

Sofia turned and looked at him. They had been at each other's throats since the start of the case, but when it was 'backs against the walls' time - it was as if they could read each other's mind. "Would you have done it for Chris?"

"Procedure says I should have waited for backup and found another way in." he evaded the question to some degree.

"That's not what I asked, Jake. Stop playing games."

"No."

"You know the Chief wants Kramer to split the team."

"Why?"

"Our 'unprofessional conduct'....We let our personal feelings affect our work."

Jake caught the hidden meaning in her words, "Sofi....I can be your friend, I can be your colleague....but you can't ask me to stop this," he waved a hand between them, "because I care - a whole lot more than I'm supposed to."

"I think that's the point."

"So what do we," Jake was cut off by Sofia's finger on his lips. She searched his eyes for permission before replacing finger with lips, her arms following a familiar path around his neck. Jake responded by snaking his arms around her waist and pulling her closer. The need for air forced them apart and Sofia lent against Jake, resting her head against his unmarked cheek.

"We're gonna regret this in the morning..."

Sofia lifted her head, "We'll see."

Jake steered them back into the living room and onto the sofa, hitting the play button on his stereo's remote as he went. The last conscious thought he had was that he hadn't been fighting with Sofia but with his feelings for her; he caught some of the words of the song that was playing and thought they were strangely appropriate...

'Oh turn around and I'll be there,
Well there's a scar right through my heart but I'll bear it again,
I thought we were the human race,
but we were just another borderline case,
And stars reach down and tell us that there's always one escape...'

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