| Cold As Ice Episode 9 |
| "My, my, my... aren't you lively this morning?" Harvey smirked as he watched Rachel slam down the phone onto her desk. "What's the deal?" "The deal is, Van Guard is dead." Rachel stands there, hunched over her desk and seething. "What? You've got to be kidding me." Harvey can't believe what she has just told him, the case has just fallen apart with one phone call. "We've got to go down to the warehouse, Nash is out sick," she pauses a moment, "he's probably with Beth Collins." "Yeah, probably." Harvey can sense a twinge of animosity in Rachel's voice, "your car or mine?" Rachel and Harvey walks towards the doors of the SIU without saying another word. Both were too furious about the turn the case had taken to speak. ** "Beth, we need to talk." Nash sits himself down on the side of the bed next to Beth, as she leans up upon her pillows. "What?" Beth couldn't imagine what was so important that he had to wake her up to talk about it. "Van Guard was found dead this morning. In the warehouse." Nash didn't know any other way to tell her, so he told her the truth. She sat up, apparently in shock. "Oh my god!" She got up from her bed and started pacing around the room, wondering what she was going to do. "Beth, what's wrong?" Nash looked up at her as she paced, worried she was going to take this a lot harder then he thought. The man had hit her, but she obviously still felt something for him. Beth looked at him intently, and tried to paint on a less obscure face."Nothing is wrong Nash, in fact, everything is going ot be fine." Nash looked back at her, a little confused by her statement and the seemingly quick change in mood. There was something a little shady about this, or maybe she was happy to be finally free. Either way, he was going to see her through. ** "So, what do we got today?" Harvey looked up at Antwon from his desk. "Well, you can come back to the Van Guard warehouse with me. Rachel's there still, with the coroners. I just had to run some labs." Harvey didn't know why Antwon wasn't there earlier, and he wasn't really looking for an explanation at the time. He wanted to get these labs and get back to the site. "Look, I'm sorry I wasn't in this morning. It was something with my ma," he pauses a moment, "I'll go back with you and see if I can be of any help." "That's fine. Listen, I know that it was probably an emergency --- but could you call next time?" "Yeah, sure." Harvey organized the stack of files and walked away from his desk with Antwon. He had no reason to doubt Antwon's story, but it did seem kind of sudden. ** "Excellent medical analysis, Inspector... or is it Dr... McCabe?" John smiles at her, trying to spark a reaction. "Thank you. Are we done here?" She looks at him hopefully, she wants to get out of that warehouse and get some fresh air. Harvey glances at her after dismissing another SIU officer who had needed him to sign off on a piece of evidence. "Actually, Rachel, I was hoping I could talk with you. Do you have a moment?" John can see he has obviously caught her off guard, but waits for a reply. "Sure." Rachel slips off the rubber gloves and walks with John towards the warehouse doors, away from the crowd of investigators and officers. "What's up?" "Rachel, I was wondering if you'd care to join me for dinner this evening?" He waits a moment, "I know this is short notice, and if you have other plans --- I'll completely understand." He stands before her, with a sincere expression upon his face as he waits for her answer. "You know, I am normally a very diligent person and would be spending hours working on this case tonight..." Oh great. Being hit on by a co-worker, this was the last thing she needed, another office romance. She was tempted to turn him down. "Do you like Italian, or do you prefer something else?" He smiles at her, hoping an offer of dinner sounds better than pouring herself over files accompanied by beers and pizza. "I heard there's a fantastic Mediterranean restuarant on Pacific." His wife had told him that, recommending they go there for their anniversary a few months back --- but Rachel didn't need to know that and neither did she. "Mediterranean. I'll meet you there at 8:00?" "I'll pick you up at 8:15." That would give him enough time to stop at home with the kids, greet the wife and get cleaned up. "I'll see you then." Rachel smiled and walked out the doors. Harvey looked over in John's direction, sensing what had just gone on and regretting the missed opportunity. ** "Beth, I'm going to need to you to come into the SIU later on for questioning. By tomarrow if you can." Nash knew she probably wasn't their suspect, but it was customary and he had to do it. "Nash, I can't. I just can't go in there." She wasn't about to be pressured into admitting anything or giving anything away. "Listen, I promise I will be there with you. We're just going to ask a few questions and get your name cleared." He was trying to calm her down, just enough to convince her to come in. "What? Why do you have to clear my name?" She was hoping she wasn't pointing a finger to herself with her previous actions and whatever she may have said. "We have to question everyone, just to be safe. It's nothing against you." Beth stood across the room from him, tense and very stressed. What was she going to do now? ** "John, dinner was great. Thank you." John looked over at her as she eyed her car in the SIU parking lot and got ready to open the door. "Its a shame we have to end the evening so early." He looks at his watch and notices it is only a quarter till ten. John had intended to go home with her, or at least stop for drinks before he'd have to head back to his own place. "I've got an early morning." She didn't really want to go home just yet, but she knew she'd have to be back at the SIU bright and early to update the team on her findings. Rachel also wanted a chance to talk to Harvey, but she knew that might have to wait depending on how the work load went. "I've really got to go." "Can I see you again?" John was sure she'd say yes, from what he knew --- she wasn't attached or spoken for. To him, what his wife didn't know wouldn't hurt her. "If you're lucky." Rachel meant yes, but in her own way, she felt she had to keep her distance. She wasn't going to rush into anything with him, not after the Nash fiasco. "I'll get back to you on that." He leaned forward to kiss her before she got out of the car. Rachel got out and walked towards her own car and began to unlock the door. "I'll take that as a yes." John looked at her and smiled before driving away. ** "Harvey, good work from you and McCabe yesterday." Nash walks over to Harvey's desk and stands there a moment, waiting for some reaction or response from Harvey. "Well, we just had to go in and wrap things up." Harvey knows they really didn't do much yesterday, Rachel did most of the medical jabber with the coroner and he just stood there inspecting the crime scene. "Rache is working on her final analysis." "Suicide?" asked Nash inquisitevely, Beth had been sure that he would've killed himself to get out of this mess. She told him that as soon as he found her after he heard of the murder. "Maybe not, Rachel has a hunch..." Harvey didn't want to tell Nash Rachel's hunch just yet, but he definately thought that she was onto something. "Really? Huh... tell McCabe to get a hold of me later on, I want to talk to her about this." "Will do." Harvey wasn't exactly pleased that Nash couldn't take it upon himself to find Rachel and go talk to her, that now he was Nash's personal secretary or was it that he was the liasion between Nash and Rachel. But, he'd do it anyways. It would give him a chance to ask Rachel about her date and see if she had anything new. ** "I see you got the flowers," he smiles and gently touches one of the roses. "Can you go out tonight, or does duty call?" "So, are you officially wining and dining me now?" Rachel smiled at John as he sat down in the chair in front of her desk. "Am I getting any warmer?" John reached for her hand across the desk and waited for her reply. "If I didn't know better, I'd assume you've had this planned out." She laughs at the thought, this is the first time in a while a man had tried to win her over in such a manner. This certainly wasn't Nash's method of approach. "I must admit, I've had my eye on you for a while. It was just a matter of getting to work with you, since rumour has it --- that's the way to your heart." John could tell by the change in Rachel's expression that he had gone a little too far with that comment. John had only heard through the SFPD rumour mill about her and Nash being together, she didn't specifically bring it up or discuss it. ** Later that afternoon, Nash has sent Anton and Harvey on a 'wild goose chase' of sorts looking for the missing file from Van Guard's books. Antwon looked at Harvey as they sat in the PT Cruiser, waiting for the perfect moment to approach. "So, what's the situation with you and McCabe?" Harvey looks at Antwon and laughs for a moment, "you know John Reynolds?" Antwon thought for a moment, "yeah. He was there with us yesterday afternoon. Works for the SFPD, main branch." Why was Harvey bringing him up? "He beat me to it." Harvey smiled, and laughed at the thought he would've actually mustered up the courage to ask Rachel out himself. "What? You let the coroner beat you? Oh, Harvey." Antwon laughed, the thought alone was hilarious. Harvey had wanted to ask Rachel out for quite a while, he finally gets the chance, and he is beaten by the SFPD coroner. "C'est la vie. Come on, we've got work to do." Harvey and Antwon get out of the car and head towards the county's business bureau to do some final research on Van Guard. ** Rachel finally made it out of work, but she was already noticeably late. If curiousity hadn't gotten the better of her, she would've been there. Even though she was initially against going out with John, what did she have to lose? Rachel leans in to give John a kiss as she approaches the table, "sorry I'm late. I went back to the warehouse after work and I had to do a little digging." John smiles to show he understands her fascination with her work, "and? Did you find anything?" "Nothing concrete, but I was going to head back to the lab at the SIU after dinner." "Oh," John mumbles in a disappointed manner. He had specifically cleared the evening so he'd be free to be with her, but this wasn't working out as he planned. "Harvey, Inspector Leek, is going to meet me there so we can run some forensics on the prints." "Sounds like a fun evening." He gives a weak smile, wondering how she can be so tirelessly devoted to her work. "You can join us if you'd like, since it crosses into your territory." She wasn't completely sure Harvey would want him there, not that she'd mind having an extra set of eyes, but she could tell he was disappointed that she'd be cutting their dinner plans short for the evening. "I wouldn't want to interrupt your work." She smiled at him, knowing he probably wasn't thrilled with her suggestion or the change in plans. "You wouldn't be interrupting," she paused, "I'd suggest we get a drink afterwords but I don't know what time I'll finish." "You call, and I'll meet you there. Okay?" He reached for her hand across the table, he was so different from the other men she had dated. She didn't know why he was so eager to spend all this time with her, not wanting to miss spending part of an evening together. It was different, but she liked it. "All right, I'm not promising it won't be late..." Rachel wasn't sure if he lived alone or with roommates, she wouldn't want to call too late and wake anyone. "I'll give you my pager number and also cell phone, that way you are sure to find me at whatever time you'd like." He wasn't sure exactly what her intentions were for the evening, but he knew he wouldn't be returing home any time soon. He'd stop by his own office and run a few errands, hopefully by then she'd be done so they could continue with their evening. ** "Hey, have you seen Rachel? I was expecting to hear from her this evening." Harvey looked up at Nash, seriously annoyed at his new position of acting as their liasion. "She's downstairs looking at some new material from the crime scene." Harvey really wished he hadn't mentioned Rachel's hunch to Nash, he was going to be on their backs 24/7 now. Nash glances down at his watch and waits a moment, "it's late. I'll just talk to her tomarrow morning. Can you close up shop?" "Sure." Harvey really didn't want to, but he figured it might give him a chance to talk to Rachel since his opportunity was ruined earlier by John dropping by. Nash looked up at Harvey and smiled, walking back towards the SIU doors. ** "Are you serious?" Cassidy looks at Antwon with a sarcastic look of disbelief. "I'm telling you, he is absolutely crazy about her." Antwon has had a drink or two already, but still has his wits about him. "And I mean everything about her." "You've got to be kidding me. What about her? Is it mutual?" Now she was curious, she finished off her beer but was well prepared to stay and order another one just to get the full story. "You tell me, you work with her." This got Cassidy thinking, she has never mentioned anything before about him. Wow. Could she have missed something this big? "I'm shocked. I mean, I always thought the two would be compatible --- but if there's interest, wow." Antwon looks over inquisitively at Cassidy, "you think they'll hook up?" "I don't know, I really don't." She didn't want to see either one of them come away with a broken heart. But she did have to admit the thought of those two together was adorable. He was one of her father's oldest and dearest friends, and this was the partner she had grown to love as a friend and see as a mentor. Was there a chance for them? ** Nash looks up at Beth, who seems just a little too calm and at piece since Van Guard's demise. Beth has already told him what she plans to do with the money she would be entitled to --- an exisiting clause from their prenuptial agreement. "Care to join me for a late dinner, Captain?" She was hopeful, now nothing and no one could stand in her way of persuing Captain Bridges. "I should probably get going, I just wanted to drop the papers you gave me by." "Please, Nash. Stay." She was now getting a twinge of urgency and desperation in her voice in her voice. Nash looks at her for a few moments, waiting for an explanation concerning her request. A worried look consumes her face, and leaves Nash wondering if there is more to the story than she is willing to divulge. "Beth, is there something you're not telling me?" ** "Hey, " Rachel paused as she looked up at John, "I was just about to call you." Rachel got out of her chair and stood up, she gathered the papers on her desk. "I figured you'd be about done. Are you ready to go?" John looked at her stacking the papers and marking each folder. "Or should I pull up a chair?" John laughed as he watched her struggle to move a little quicker. "I'll just be another minute." He was certainly persistent, she'd have to give him that much. "No rush. We've got all night." John sat back, relaxed, in the chair in front of her desk. Harvey looked down over the balcony to see the two quietly chatting as Rachel finished her paperwork. There was just something about John that bothered him, he didn't know quite what it was. Rachel's luck with men didn't help his confidence much at all where this guy was concerned. Harvey watched a few moments longer. "Done." Rachel had the files neatly stacked and sorted on her desk and she was slowly sliding her coat over her shoulders. She paused a moment, "Harve! I'm leaving..." She waited a second for a reply, but then continued. "Let's get out of her, you can tell me about your 'finds' over drinks. Shall we?" He leaned in to kiss her, and loosely draped his arm around her waist. Something really bothered Harvey about John as he looked on, and he was determined to find out what it was. ** |
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