After agonizing over it for most of the night, Casey was still upset by what she'd done the night before. She stood on her deck sipping a cup of coffee, much like she'd done last night when she held a wineglass.

Leslie had obviously been upset by it. Could you blame her? She'd practically manhandled her. It was totally inappropriate. She would never have done that if her partner were male. And a male partner would never have done that to her.

But she did it. She grabbed Leslie. She grabbed her and didn't let her go. Worse, she held her as if...well, as if it were an embrace.

"Jesus Christ," she whispered. What the hell is wrong with you?

Yeah, Leslie had been upset. They'd hardly spoken the rest of the night. And Casey had been too embarrassed to apologize properly. But she would do that today. First thing. She would apologize. And hopefully, Leslie wouldn't bring her up on sexual harassment charges.

"Idiot."

But her plans to get to work early in the hopes that Leslie would be there too failed when she got caught in traffic. By the time her police scanner gave the location of the accident, it was too late for her to take an alternate route. Now, twenty minutes late, she hurried into the squad room, nearly knocking Sikes down as she burst through the double doors.

"Where's the fire, O'Connor?"

"Sorry, man. Traffic was hell."

"There was an accident on Garland," Leslie said.

Casey met her eyes across the room, nodding. "Yeah." She made her way to her desk, her nerves nearly getting the best of her.

"I hear you guys thought you had our killer," Tori said.

"Huh?"

Leslie smiled at her. "I was telling Tori how I was ready to sprint from the bushes and arrest this guy before you stopped me."

Casey felt her cheeks flush and she tried to act normal, but knew she was failing.

"Yeah. Our lone excitement of the night."

"I like the idea of cruising Deep Ellum though," Tori said. "Although I don't know if we can match you on off nights."

80.

*"Yeah, I know. Sam would kill me," Casey said.

"Sam would understand. It's Sikes I'm worried about."

They all turned to look at John.

"What?"

"You know what," Tori teased. She looked back at Casey. "John's in love."

"Oh, my God! Are you kidding?" She was pleased at the blush that covered John's face.

"I'm not in love," he said.

"Sure you are. You've had what? Four dates?"

"Four dates? With the same girl?" Casey glanced at Leslie. "John is one and out, normally."

"Well, how wonderful, John. Congratulations."

He glared at Tori. "I'm going to kill you."

"I think it's sweet."

"Shut up."

Casey laughed. "Don't be embarrassed, Sikes. Everybody should fall in love at least once."

"Yeah? What about you?"

Casey shrugged. "I'm still waiting. It'll happen someday." Her smile vanished. "I hope." She looked up, surprised to find Leslie's eyes on her. She glanced at the others, but Tori had picked up the phone and Sikes had turned to his computer. She motioned to the hallway. "Can I talk to you?" she asked quietly.

Leslie nodded and got up, following Casey down the hall and into the ladies' room.

Casey turned as soon as the door closed, facing Leslie.

"I need to apologize," she said.

Leslie frowned. "For?"

"Come on. We both know what for. It was inappropriate. I'm sorry."

Leslie raised her eyebrows. "What part, Casey?"

81.

*Casey dropped her head. She wasn't making it easy, was she? "If you were a guy, I never would have done that. And if your partner were a guy, he never would have touched you that way."

Leslie took a step closer. "Touched me that way?" she repeated.

Casey nodded. "I crossed the line. I don't know what happened. I just...I just did it. I grabbed you without thinking."

Their eyes met, holding. Casey tried to guess what was going through Leslie's mind.

Was she remembering the way Casey had pulled her close, had pressed her body to her own? Casey swallowed, trying to clear her head, trying to forget how it felt.

"If it's all the same to you," Leslie said, "I'd just as soon not talk about it."

Casey shook her head. "No. It's not all the same," she said. "Please, we've got to talk about it. I feel like an ass. I just want to say I'm sorry and I want you to say you forgive me and we'll forget all about it."

Leslie turned her back to Casey. "And we'll just forget all about it, is that right?"

"Yes. It won't ever happen again. I'm sorry."

Leslie turned back around. "So the fact that I had a...a reaction to your touch doesn't matter?"

It was Casey's turn to stare. "What? "

"Maybe I should be the one apologizing."

Casey walked closer, her hand reaching out to grasp Leslie's arm. "What are you talking about? I did it, not you. You could file charges against me."

Leslie smiled. "Is that what you're worried about? Sexual harassment?"

"It's crossed my mind."

"Was it sexual harassment?"

"No, of course not. I swear. I don't know what came over me."

"And I don't know what came over me."

Their eyes met again and Casey was startled by what she saw there. She was unable to look away.

"I...I just had a...a moment," Leslie said quietly. "I thought you could tell. I thought you knew."

82.

*Casey couldn't drag her eyes away. All she remembered was the feeling of Leslie trembling in her arms. A trembling she assumed was from fear. "I guess...well, I guess maybe I had a moment too then."

They both broke into smiles and Casey relaxed, feeling somewhat relieved. At least Leslie wasn't pissed at her.

"Okay, so we had a moment," Leslie said. "And we won't talk about it anymore, right?"

"Right."

She nodded. "Okay. I can live with that."

But when the door opened and Tori walked in, they both took a step away from each other. Leslie's eyes darted from one to the other.

"I was just leaving," she said, then bolted from the room.

Tori stared at Casey, eyebrows raised. "Everything okay?"

Casey nodded. "Yeah, sure. We were...we were just having a moment."

Tori grinned and walked toward one of the stalls. "Yeah, Sam and I used to have moments in here all the time."

Their eyes met and Casey felt her face turn red. She followed Leslie from the room, hearing Tori's quiet laughter mocking her.

"Hey, Mac called," Sikes said when she returned to her desk. "Positive match on the knife wounds. And he said they got tox back on your homeless guy. He said to swing by if you wanted to chat about it, or he'd just e-mail you."

"Thanks. I think I'll swing by." She looked at Leslie. "You want to go?"

She noticed her hesitation and didn't blame her, but she nodded. "Yeah. Let's walk."

But their silence was unnerving and Casey finally stopped. "Look, are you mad at me?"

"No, of course not."

"Are you sure?"

Leslie took a step closer and Casey felt warm fingers grip her arm. "We're fine, Casey. But please, let's just forget about it, okay? aCause it's all fine." She squeezed her fingers tightly one more time, and Casey watched as her hand slipped away.

We'd be more fine if you'd quit touching me.

83.

*Leslie turned. "What?"

Casey's eyes widened. "Oh, my God. Did I say that out loud? I thought I thought that."

"Thought what?"

"Thought what you thought I said."

"Huh?"

She laughed. "I thought...well, never mind."

Leslie stared at her, then bumped her shoulder lightly as they started walking again.

"You know, with a little perfection, we can take this comedy act on the road."