DISCLAIMER: I do not own, or have anything to do with Witchblade or anyone/anything associated with the show. The show and all of its charcters are the property of the WONDERFUL Top Cow, the amazing Ralph Hemecker, and - unfortunately - TNT.


Summary: A short scene between Jake McCartey, Danny Woo, and Sara Pezzini in which the trio are taking advantage of their very short-lived downtime at the precinct.

Spoilers: Between "Nailed" and "Lagrimas"



"Hey, guys!" Jake waltzed into the office, a tray of coffees in hand. "One for Danny..." Jake handed Danny his styrofoam cup, and then turned to Pez. "And one for Pez..."

Finally Jake pulled his cup out of the cardboard tray and took a long, cautious gulp, feeling the scorching liquid burn its way down his throat.

"How's your morning, Rookie? You look rather chipper today..." Sara suppressed a giggle at the sight of the jovial rookie detective who was bouncing around the office before her.

Jake grinned and nodded.

"Good, for once. How about you guys?" Jake pulled a rolling desk chair over to him from the corner and took a seat before propping his booted feet up on Pez and Danny's desks. "Any 'Big Cases' to tackle today?"

"None yet..." Danny eyed Jake warily. "But then, they day's just started...hence, the sitting around..doing nothing..."

"Cool." The trio grew quiet as Danny shined up the frames holding pictures of his family, Pez read over some small case files, and Jake toyed with the plastic stirrer in his styrofoam coffee cup. Suddenly, a thought occurred to Jake. "Hey, Danny?"

The Asian detective looked up from the photo of his daughter standing proudly beside her brand new bicycle. "Yeah, Jake?"

Jake wasn't sure how to proceed. "How's...how's Mija? After..."Jake trailed off, seeing the hate and rage bubble up in the senior detective's eyes. Danny shook off the seething hatred as much as he could, repeating a calming mantra to himself.

"All right, I guess," he shrugged. "As much as one could be after what happened..."

Jake nodded and averted his eyes back to his coffee cup.

"By the way..." Danny turned his attention to Sara, who looked up from her towering stack of case files. "How'd you know, Pez? How'd you know he was at my house?"

Pez fumbled for words.

"I...uh...I had a..."

"A hunch?" Jake supplied.

"Yeah, I guess you could call it that." Pez mumbled.

"Wow. I wish I could have hunches like that. Hey, Pez. Maybe you should work for the Bureau..." Jake blurted out, and the two senior detectives exchanged glances before looking at Jake as if he'd grown another head. Then Sara broke down into fits of laughter.

"You're kidding, right? Me? An agent? For the FBI?!" She laughed again, and this time Danny joined in.

"No, seriously! Your hunches that are somehow always right? C'mon, you'd make a helluva fed!"

"You tryin to recruit me, Rookie?"

Jake swallowed nervously. "N...No. Why?"

Pez shrugged. "No reason. But if it's all the same to you, McCartey, I'd love to stick around here and bust Dante's balls as long as possible..."

The three turned simultaneously to see Dante and Orlinsky carrying on a conversation over by the evidence lock-up.

"Well...have fun in that department, Pez..." Jake replied sarcastically, and Pez shot him a venomous glare as the object of their conversation burst through the office door.

"Petzzini. Woo. McCartey. I want you three to get over to the pier. We've got some kind of wierd...killing, I suppose. Three men were burnt to a crisp...almost like they were hit by lightning, except..."

"Let me guess - there was no lightning in the past week?"

"Good, Petzzini," Dante replied, drawing out the first word. "...but try the past two MONTHS." Pez nodded as was her custom at any remark from Dante. "Now hop to it - I've got meetings to attend to." Dante pulled his head out of the office doorway and retreated in the direction of the 11th Precinct conference room, where Orlinsky was waiting on him. Jake eyed them warily through the thin pane of glass.

"Well, back to work, huh?" Jake peeled his glance from the two after Orlinsky had glanced either way and shut the doors behind himself. The rookie stood up and returned his chair from where he had taken it earlier that morning, before grabbing up his jacket and holding the office door open for Danny and Pez.

"Figures...we get all the wierd ones...you ever notice that, Pez?" Danny called out over his shoulder as he shrugged into his overcoat and opened the front door of the precinct.

The trio's patrol car was directly in front of them once they had all filed outside, and they all piled in, Danny occupying the passenger seat, Jake taking up residence in the back, and as Sara got situated in the driver's seat and started the engine, she said - more to herself than anyone in the car with her - "Why can't it ever be normal?"