*

Jack looked up into an icy stare and realized that this woman was staking a claim.

"Move," she said, but it sounded more like a gutteral grunt.

Cutting his losses while he was slightly ahead, Jack retreated to the other side of the room, where Ed leaned against the window, watching the interchange with a grin.

"You're supposed to protect me from them," Jack hissed, sliding up next to him.

"Hey, man," Ed replied, shrugging, "I warned you about getting between Lieu and the coffee."

Jack shook his head. "She's like a predator in the wild."

"And you were competition for prey." Ed laughed, a sound that sent several of Jack's internal organs looping like they'd gone off for some crazy carnival ride - without him. He shifted subtly closer to Ed, so their bodies brushed all along the edges. Ed looked over quickly, trying to keep his face neutral, but Jack could read his eyes too well. "What are you doing?"

Jack shrugged - slowly, so his arm slid along Ed's. "Drinking coffee. Waiting for Detective Briscoe to show up."

"Uh huh." The worry was clearer in Ed's eyes now, but he didn't move away.

Jack grinned at him, but he knew better than to push his luck any farther. He and Ed had agreed that, when they revealed their relationship to the world at large, it would be because of a deliberate decision on their parts, not because they got stupid, got reckless, got caught. Right now, they were skirting a delicate line. Jack set his cup on the window ledge and folded his hands in front of him in a classic, 'See how well I'm behaving' pose.

Ed snorted. "Yeah right," he muttered. Pushing away from the window, he smiled warmly at Jack and brushed his fingers down Jack's arm briefly. "I'm going to see if I can hunt up Lennie," he announced.

On the other side of the room, strategically circling the coffee maker, Van Buren nodded. "Tell him if he's not down here in five minutes, we're starting without him - and he won't like what happens then."

"Got it." Ed disappeared from the room.

Van Buren regarded Jack, still leaning against the window. For a minute she looked like she was going to say something, but she settled for turning and refilling her mug instead.

"I'm, ah, sorry about the--" Jack waved vaguely toward the coffee.

She chuckled. "Don't apologize, Counselor," she said. "I just hate these early meetings. No offense, but this is too damned early in the morning to be dealing with lawyers."

Jack smiled appreciatively. "Ed says the exact same thing when my alarm goes off at 6."

Van Buren's eyes went wide, and Jack went frozen-still. Oh, shit.

Stupid, reckless, caught.

I am so sorry, Ed.