Colin unlocked the door to his apartment and tumbled into bed, barely taking the time to slide out of his shoes before he burrowed under the covers and fell asleep.

He was awakened a short time later by his phone ringing. Because of his fatigue, the harsh jangling of the phone jarred him more than usual. He stumbled over to the phone, banging his shin on the doorframe.

"What!" He growled into the phone.

"Colin?" Bonnie's voice floated over the line, a welcome change from Hudson's gruff voice.

"What?" Colin repeated, using a more controlled tone.

"Oh, good. You're back in. Listen, there's been another murder."

"What!" Colin sat down on the table by the phone, the wood creaking under him. "But...but..." He closed his eyes, his mind racing.

"I was wrong. He hit the south part of town again." Bonnie sounded so despondent that Colin almost forgave her for leaving him the night before.

"So I stayed out there all night...for nothing." His voice trailed off as he thought about having to spend another night out on the streets.

"Yeah..." Bonnie's voice had a slight upward lilt in it, as though she was remembering her words to him the night before and smiling about it. It won't get you anything!

Colin cleared his throat. "You weren't all the way wrong."

"What?" The smile was gone from her voice, replaced by a confused slide.

"You said staying out was useless."

Colin heard a little huff on the other end of the line. "Not in those words...but yes, I did." There was a moment of silence while Colin searched for something to say, unsure whether to apologize for his behavior the night before or to just brush the incident aside. Then Bonnie spoke again. "Did you get any sleep?"

Colin glanced at his watch and groaned. "Not really."

Bonnie made a sympathetic sound. "I'm sorry."

Colin's eyes narrowed. Is she apologizing for last night or for my lack of sleep? "So am I," he said finally, hoping that covered his part in the process of apologizing. "It's all right, but I can think of lots better ways to spend the night. With you, for one." He held his breath, wary of how Bonnie would take that sentence.

She made a laughing sound - not quite a giggle. "Glad to know I'm preferable to the pavement."

"Really, Bonnie," Colin said earnestly, "I...missed you not being with me."

"In your bed?" Her tone grew slightly cold.

Colin closed his eyes again. "No, just...with me. You know...because we're partners." There was another short pause. Colin felt his stomach turn in apprehension. He wasn't sure what he would do if Bonnie quit on him.

"You still want to be partners?" She asked slowly.

"Yes," Colin answered without hesitating. "Yes, I do." He suddenly frowned. "Why did you call me in the first place?"

"Oh...why...oh! The murder. Hudson called me an hour or two ago after calling your place. You weren't there, I assume?"

"Yeah, I wasn't. I've only been here for...eh..." Colin glanced at his watch again. "Less than an hour."

"You poor thing." Bonnie sounded sympathetic but businesslike. "You know, I think you need a proper breakfast."

"I have breakfast," Colin protested, but was quickly cut off.

"Not proper breakfast foods. If I remember correctly, all you had was cereal and oatmeal."

"I happen to like cereal and oatmeal," Colin replied testily, not sure where this was headed.

"I don't care what you like." Bonnie's voice had regained its normal bright sound. "Are you coming to my place for breakfast or do I have to come over to yours?"

Colin sighed and drew one leg up under him. "I'll come over there...if you insist."

"I do. You're my partner and I'm going to make sure you don't starve. Oh, I gave you my address, didn't I?"

Colin furrowed his brows, then unfurrowed them. "Yeah. Yeah, you did. Last night...or the night before...I don't remember. But yeah, you did."

"Ha. See you around, then. Be prepared to talk about the murder." Bonnie hung up briskly, leaving Colin staring into the phone wonderingly...or sleepily, rather.

"She's cooking me breakfast," he murmured finally, getting up to get ready.

***

Colin glanced at the number on the door in front of him and knocked. He shifted from one foot to the other, his stomach growling and his eyes threatening to close again. He rubbed his fists against his eyes and quickly jerked them away when he heard the door opening.

"There you are," Bonnie was saying, holding the door open for him. He sniffed the air, smelled some sort of meat, and felt his mouth water.

"Here I am," he managed. His first glance swept around the hall and kitchen where Bonnie was leading him, his second took in the apron Bonnie wore tied over her dress. He couldn't see the cheerful print of the fabric, but his view from behind her did allow him to see the effect that the strings of the apron had on Bonnie. It sort of made everything above and below the tie stand out. Especially what was below the tie.

No trenchcoat hiding that figure now, he thought, taking a seat at the table. "So...what's on the menu for today?"

"Sausage and biscuits," Bonnie answered briskly, turning and poking something on the stovetop with a fork. "Oh, and eggs."

Colin sat back in his chair. "The angels just started singing."

Bonnie glanced back at him, an odd half-smile on her face. "Angels? Were you trying to flirt?"

"Uh...no? I just like sausage and biscuits and eggs, so hearing someone mention them is...well...heavenly."

"Ah." Bonnie brought a plate of sausage to the table. "I see." She pushed the plate over to Colin and returned to the stove. "So. The murder. Hudson told me it was just like all the rest."

Colin stretched out his fingers to take a sausage, then pulled his hand back. You can wait. "How does he know it was like all the rest?"

"He went over there, apparently."

"Why would he do that? That's our case."

"Maybe he thinks we're not doing a good job of it." Bonnie's voice was slightly muffled as she bent over to peek at the biscuits.

Colin laughed wearily. "And he's right. We're not. But we don't have anything to go on!" He rested his elbows on the table and propped his fists under his chin.

"Mm." Bonnie shut the oven door and stirred something in a pan on the stovetop. "Do you..." she paused, tilted her head to one side, and continued. "Do you think we should...well, quit?"

Colin jerked himself upright. "What? Quit?"

Bonnie came over to the table, bearing a steaming pan of eggs. "We're not making any progress, Colin. Maybe we should cut our losses." She went back to peer at the oven.

Colin stared at the slightly gelatinous mass of yellow eggs. "Did...did Hudson suggest quitting?"

"No...but he sounded discouraged. Like he actually understood how hard of a time we were having."

"Ha. Hudson doesn't understand anything." Colin reached out and jiggled the handle of the skillet, causing the eggs to wiggle in response. "What did you tell him?"

"I said that you had been staking out uptown. He didn't ask why I wasn't with you."

"Oh, don't worry. He'll ask us about it the next time he sees us."

Bonnie pulled a pan from the oven and set it on the table, then slid into a chair across from Colin. "That sounds ominous."

"It is." Colin reached for a biscuit, then stopped and glanced at Bonnie

"Go ahead." She was already serving herself some eggs.

He smiled and took two biscuits, dropping them quickly on his plate and blowing on his fingers. "They're hot."

"They're fresh from the oven." Bonnie deposited a biscuit on her plate, cut it open with a knife, and began to stack the eggs and sausage delicately on the bottom half. "What about quitting?"

"No, of course I don't want to quit. But I don't see how we can go any further. What about you?"

"Me? I feel the same way, honestly." She squashed the top of her biscuit and took a bite.

"So...what happens to you if we quit? Me, I go back to being a struggling P.I. You?"

"I go back to being a non-existent female P.I. with no exposure." Bonnie shrugged as she spoke, but the catch in her voice betrayed her attempt at carelessness.

Colin frowned at his biscuit as though it was the problem and as if he could eradicate it by glaring at it hard enough. "We could ask Hudson for a different case. Sweep this one under the rug, pick up another one?"

Bonnie's eyebrows furrowed. "But we can't just 'sweep it under the rug.' These people need answers!"

"Answers that we can't give them," Colin reminded her. "And no one else will be able to get the answers, either. There's just not enough to go on."

"But there's been another murder. That's four. If the killer had stopped at three, maybe we could think about quitting. But I don't think we should."

"Why not?" Colin set down his biscuit, still frowning.

"We owe it to the families to try as hard as we can, don't we?" Bonnie asked simply. "We have resources they don't."

"We may have more resources, but that doesn't mean we're any closer to figuring out who killed these women."

Bonnie was silent for a moment. "You actually want to quit."

"Yes, I want to quit." Colin realized his tone was gruff-sounding, so he paused and took a deep breath. "You said earlier that maybe we should just cut our losses. And now...you want to keep going."

Bonnie met his gaze solemnly. "I would want to keep going if there was a way to keep going. But...it doesn't seem like there is. So..." She trailed off, looking down at her plate.

She's really bothered by this, Colin realized. He shifted in his chair and sighed. "So. We'll tell Hudson we want out and ask him for another case. And we'll tell him that if any new info crops up, we want back in. How does that sound?"

Bonnie thought for a moment, then nodded. "Fine."