Halloween came upon them quickly and Rob's frat was going to be hosting a mega party for the occasion.

"So what are you going to be?" Rob asked Ryan who was sprawled on her stomach across her bed doing some English lit homework before getting ready.

"It's a surprise," she answered, not looking up.

"You're not even going to tell me? Your favorite roomie?"

"Nope," she replied, still looking at her book.

"Why not?" he asked curiously.

"Because it's more fun this way," she answered, looking up and flashing him a mischievous smile.

"Have it your way," he grumbled, looking through his dresser.

"And what are you going to be?"

"It's a surprise," he said, mocking her tone while pulling a tee-shirt out of the bottom of his drawer.

"What's that?" she asked, her heart stopping as she saw the three significant letters on the tee-shirt.

"My costume," he said, holding it up. It was a navy blue tee shirt with yellow letters across reading F.B.I.

"Where'd you get that?" she asked, trying to ignore the tightness in her chest.

"Ah, they sell them for like three for ten dollars down in D.C," he said, pulling off the tee-shirt he was wearing.

"Oh," she said, relieved.

She settled back down, realizing that she had seen them at street vendors. Her eyes went to his chest. He had well defined pecs and as her eyes slipped lower he had very nice six pack abs.

His body was more impressive than she thought from above his tee-shirts. He'd never changed in front of her before.

It was nice that he'd come to such a comfort level with her to be able to partially undress in front of her. And here she was checking him out, she thought guiltily. She looked back to her book quickly.

"I couldn't think of anything else," he said, pulling the shirt over his head, "I picked up a water gun. Looks pretty real, check it out," he tossed the black plastic gun, he had pulled out of a white plastic shopping bag, at her.

"And handcuffs, and a badge," he said with an amused smile, pulling out the play set he'd gotten at the dollar store.

"Cute," she said looking at it, but her eyes blurred as she tried not to look or react.

"So, you going to tell me now?"

"Not a chance."

"Fine. I'll see you at the party then," he said, grabbing his toys from her.

"Find me if you can," she called teasingly after him as he left the room.

But when he left the room her smile faded. She shook her head at the thoughts running through her head. No, it wasn't possible, she thought, dismissing them.

Then slowly, she got up to gather what she needed for the Halloween party, the thought still toying with her in the back of her head.

****

He couldn't find her. Some F.B.I agent he was. He peered into the eyes of pretty much everyone at the party and he couldn't find her. Damn, she was good.

After a while, he sat back on a couch with a brew as he watched, as many watched, a gorgeous creature in a Catwoman costume dance with one of the frat guys.

Rob, for about half a second, considered that the Catwoman could be Ryan, as she had an awesome body like her, but she didn't move like Ryan. She was seductive in her dance. He'd never seen Ryan dance, but he thought it be much more demure than that.

Ryan had a rocking body and she showed it off, but she was still a sweet, innocent girl. Guys flirted with her all the time.

She'd been on a few dates with some of Rob's frat brothers, but she'd never had a guy stay overnight. And she'd never stayed overnight at any guy's place. She was always in her own bed at night. Rob was thankful for that. He didn't know how he'd handle that.

He supposed at some point they'd have to discuss it. He had no plans to bring any girls home, he was on assignment and he wasn't going to date some eighteen year old. And if he had to for the job, he definitely wasn't going to bring them back to his dorm room.

But Ryan, eventually, might. When she met the right guy. He knew she was the type of girl that wouldn't sleep around. She'd not necessarily wait for marriage, but she'd wait until it was with a guy she seriously cared about.

Rob shook his head to clear it of thoughts of Ryan and studied the couple that everyone was watching. The guy that Catwoman was dancing with was as hypnotized by her as was every other guy in the room.

Most of them were getting swatted on some part of their body by their offended dates.

Rob figured it was about time to do his job, so he started mingling in the crowd, listening in on conversations and dropping hints to those he suspected may know something.

Some eyes met his in understanding, and he knew they'd come to find him when they could get the info to him more discreetly.

He, at some point, became followed. He knew this. He felt it. He slipped outside and sat down onto a wooden bench on the deck. The figure sat down beside him. He looked over and it wasn't a drug dealer as he suspected.

"Nice night," the Catwoman said huskily.

"Yeah, sure is. It's getting hot in there," he said, pulling at the neckline of his shirt, fanning himself, as she crossed her legs covered in tight black leather.

Her stomach was flat and bare, and her breasts were encased in a small black leather top that barely covered anything. She had an excellent Catwoman mask covering her head and face completely except for around her lusciously painted dark red mouth. A little cat collar was around her neck.

"Are you alone, handsome?" she purred.

"Yeah. Sure am," he told her, wondering why she had singled him out.

"Couldn't get a date?" she asked teasingly, looking him up and down, her dark green eyes asking what the problem was.

"I didn't want a date," he answered simply.

"Why not?" she asked surprised.

"Then you're stuck with the same person the whole party."

She laughed, "And you like to bounce around from girl to girl?"

He cleared his throat, seeing the disapproval in her eyes.

"No. I just didn't want a date tonight."

She smiled like she didn't believe him.

"What's your name, I don't think we know each other, do we?." he asked.

"Catwoman."

"I meant your real name."

"I can't tell you. I'm part of the contest."

"Ah. My roommate is doing that too."

"Oh, yeah? What's he dressed as?" she asked, turning to look at the house.

"Wouldn't tell me," Rob answered with a smile that she had said he. Little did she know that his roommate was a she.

"Good for him. Why didn't you disguise yourself more? It's really fun."

"Ah, I'm not really into dressing up."

"Party pooper," she said with a little pout.

"I guess I am." He said with a chuckle. "I'm Rob, by the way," he said, taking her black gloved hand in his and shook it gently.

"Pleasure," she said with a little purr.

He chuckled. "You're pretty good at that."

"Thank you," she answered with a smile.

They talked for at least an hour about college, about life. And it was the best hour of his life. He never knew anyone could be as intelligent and so sexy at the same time.

She knew about politics and knew about rock-n-roll at the same time. She had a lot of the same interests as he did. Yet they argued a bit on some other subjects. He never knew he could have such a damn good time at a college frat party.

"Tell me, gorgeous, can you dance?" she asked later.

"Sort of. Not really. I can handle a slow dance," he said, listening to the music which had turned into one.

"Come on then," she said, standing up and pulling on his arm to get him up.

"Only for you," he replied and followed her inside admiring the view from the rear.

"So, do I know you?" he asked, feeling as he'd known her his whole life.

"Maybe," she answered teasingly and put her arms around his neck.

He wrapped his arms around her scrumptious little waist. His hands rested on her bare lower back. Her skin was warm.

"Will you tell me when the party is over?" he asked, looking into her eyes.

He could tell she wore contact lenses. Were they to see? Or were they part of the cat disguise? He wasn't sure.

"Maybe," she answered, brushing her body up to his.

"So, you want to be a FBI agent when you grow up, Rob?" she asked, putting her hands on the lettering on his chest.

He smiled at that comment. And at the obvious flirting she was doing with him. "I don't know. I don't really know what I want to do," he answered his standard answer.

He'd decided to be an undeclared major so he could see what other classes he could take that would spark his interest enough to get him through having to take college classes a second time.

"Might suit you. You look like you're physically fit for it," she said running her hands across his shoulders.

"You have intelligent eyes. I can tell you're smart enough for it," she said, looking into his eyes.

"Thank you," he said, meaning it, and he looked into hers.

"And I find law enforcement incredibly sexy," she purred as her fingers traced the letters on his chest.

"Is that so?" he asked, swallowing.

Her body was pressed next to his. It was a perfect fit. As they moved to the music, it was like they anticipated each other's movements.

He had been seduced by a woman before, but the way the girl looked at him, the way she brushed against him, ran her hands up and down his back, across his shoulders and chest, he'd never been so turned on as he was at that moment. She looked at his neck, running her gloved finger up and down the sides. A shiver ran through him and went straight to his groin. Damn, he was in trouble.

"Am I making you uncomfortable?"

"Uh, no. Not at all." He adjusting his hands on her back, betraying his nervousness. He shouldn't be doing this. He shouldn't be wanting some college girl. Make that two college girls.

"I can be a bit assertive, I know. I'm sorry to embarrass you."

"No, it's okay," he said. He was a bit embarrassed. No one had hit on him as hard as she was doing.

He'd been hit on before, a brush of the hand, a hand on the shoulder. But she was tracing every inch of his upper body with her hands, her fingers.

"It's just that I've been watching you all night. Actually, I do know you, you're in one of my classes, and I have just been attracted to you for so long."

"Who are you?" he asked, desperately wanting to know. She could be anyone as he had lecture style classes with over five hundred students in them.

"Not yet," she said, her hand sliding behind his neck, and pulled him down into a kiss.

He thought he'd been kissed before, and kissed damn well. But this was something that must completely set some kind of record for kissing well. He felt like he'd melt just there on the spot.

And he shouldn't be feeling that way. He was the guy after all; he was supposed to be making her feel that way. It was like they were the only two people in the world. He could grab her and pull her down to the floor and make sweet love to her.

She pulled away and Rob got a few pats on the back as some guys passed him by.

"Uh, wow. That's all I can say," he said, touching her masked face lightly. She looked away.

"Look, um, I'd really like to see you again," he said, pulling her even closer if that was possible.

"I would too," she said kissing him again quickly.

"Can I ask you something though?" he asked a bit worried. He had seen high school kids crashing college parties, and that was all he needed to get a girl younger than eighteen to be the one he had to choose. Eighteen was the bottom line. And damn, that was really pushing the line.

Twenty one, in real life, would be his usual absolute limit on how young he'd ever go, and even that made him cringe.

"Anything," she purred, putting her hands on his chest.

He swallowed at her touch. It was like lightening jolted through his chest down to his groin.

"I know it's not polite to ask a lady, but I'm going to do it anyway. Um, how old are you?" he said. She looked away. "That young?" he asked concerned.

"Well, actually, I think I might be a tad older than you. Would that be a problem?"

He smiled. "Not at all." He answered, hoping she thought she was really older than him.

"I'm..." She said and kissed him lightly. "Twenty..." she said and kissed him again "...one," she said, kissing him a third time.

He breathed out, relieved, and then kissed her again, passionately.

****

She disappeared on him. She was there when he went to get drinks and was gone by the time he came back.

He'd asked around, but no one had seen her leave as no one had seen her come. And no one at all knew who she really was.

He'd found Ryan, one of the many sexy witches made up in green face paint. She asked him what was wrong when she saw the look on his face.

He lied and said that he had a headache from all the smoke, legal, and otherwise, and that he was heading back to the dorm.

****

Ryan found him lying in bed staring up at the ceiling. "Hey," she said, tossing a gym bag on the floor and sat down on her bed.

"Hey," he answered, not looking at her.

"Guess what?"

"What?" he asked, rubbing his eyes sleepily.

"I won most creative."

"How the hell could you win most creative?! You were like everyone..." he turned and looked at her. "else," his voice trailed off and he stared.

She was wearing a pirate's outfit. He blinked, "Weren't you a witch?"

She laughed. "That's why I won. Look," she said opening her bag.

She started pulling out costumes, a clown, a witch, a pumpkin, a sexy Mrs. Santa. He wished he could have seen her in the last outfit.

As it was, the sexy pirate getup was showing off her assets quite well. He tried not to look. He really did. Of course he failed, but he had tried. For a second.

"Didn't you get tired of changing all the time?" he asked with a laugh as she dumped the contents of the bag on the floor.

"Yeah, but it was worth it," she said with a pleased smile.

He shook his head. "You're nuts."

"That's yet to be proven," she said, pointing at him, as she started cleaning up the mess she'd made. He laughed.

"How's the headache?" she asked in a concerned tone as she began to pull off her boots.

"Easing off," he answered, watching her pull off those sexy knee high stockings girls wear, exposing her smooth bare legs.

It took everything in him to hold back from just reaching out to touch one to see if they were really as smooth and soft as they looked.

"That's good," she said, taking off the belt around her waist that carried a small plastic sword.

Rob sucked in a breath as he wondered if she was going to completely undress in front of him. They'd been getting along extremely well and he believed they were comfortable around each other.

He wondered how comfortable she felt. Enough to slip out of the dress and get into bed with him?

Rob pinched the bridge of his nose and rubbed his eyes to try to erase the image.

"I'm getting a headache myself. All that smoke," Ryan said, walking over to the bathroom.

"There's some Tylenol in the cabinet," Rob called to her after he could breathe again.

"Thanks," she answered from the bathroom.

After he heard the tinkling of pills in a bottle and the running of water as she took the medicine, the door closed. He fell asleep waiting for her to come back out.

****

Sometime in the middle of the night he woke to the vibrating of a phone. He heard Ryan groan.

"What?" she whispered into the phone. "Oh, hey, hot stuff," she said yawning. "Fine. Thanks, darlin'. But it's three in the morning on the East Coast. Call me in a few hours," She said and slid the phone under her pillow.

"Bastard," she muttered, pulling the covers over her head.

Rob laughed. She called the guy hot stuff, darling, and then called him a bastard.

"Sorry that he woke you too," Ryan muttered.

"No problem. Boyfriend?"

"Ex," she admitted after a hesitant moment.

"You keep in touch with your ex's?" he laughed in surprise.

"Only the good ones," she sighed.

"There are good ex's?"

"Don't you have any?"

"Nah, I never stay in touch with my ex's. We never parted on good terms."

"Why's that? You cheat?"

"No! I'd never do that! I just... I don't know...I'd get too involved with other things and kind of forget the time when we're supposed to be meeting and that sort of thing. Girls aren't too forgiving of that."

"What other things?"

"Work."

"You have a job?!" it was her turn to laugh in surprise.

He cleared his throat. Careful. "Well, you know summer jobs and stuff to help pay for college."

"Well, that's good you're committed to your education."

"Yeah, I guess."

"Besides you've got the rest of your life after college for girls."

"Yeah, I guess."

"So, what was with you and the Catwoman?" she asked, propping herself up on her elbow.

"You saw that, huh?" he asked embarrassed.

"Everyone saw that. That was some kiss."

"Tell me about it," he said with a sigh, and ran a hand through his hair.

"So, who is she?" she asked dramatically, drumming the palms of her hands on the bed.

"I don't know," he admitted with another sigh. He wish he knew. He couldn't believe that she had just left like that!

They'd been having a great time, enjoyed the most incredible kiss he'd ever experienced, and she just took off without a word!

"You don't know?"

"She wouldn't tell me her name," Rob said, turning to face her.

"What? Why not?"

"I don't know. I thought she would later, you know, after the contest stuff. But she took off before they even did all that. She just disappeared on me. I mean, why would she do that?"

"She turns into a pumpkin at midnight?" she teased.

"I'm serious," he complained.

"Sorry. I don't know. Maybe she had a curfew or something," she answered quietly.

"But why wouldn't she say goodbye at least? Tell me her name for God's sake. I mean you don't share a kiss like that and just take off! God!"

"Maybe she was scared."

"Scared of what?" he asked incredulously with a laugh. Catwoman had been all over him. She wasn't scared in any way.

"Falling for you," she answered simply.

Rob smiled embarrassed and looked away. "You're a hopeless romantic," he told her, pounding his pillow to try get comfortable again. Or to avoid looking at her.

"I can dream," she said with a sigh, and settled herself back down.

They were quiet a few minutes before she spoke. "Hey, Rob?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry she took off like that. You didn't deserve that."

"Yeah. Thanks."

The phone vibrated again. "What?" she grumbled.

"Doug...Dougie...he's... dead," Gus' voice crackled through the phone.

"What?!" Ryan shrieked, sitting up.

"No," she whispered, putting her hand to her head, hoping she heard wrong. That she was just tired. "No, he can't..."

Gus sniffled. "He was shot. The...the bastards turned... on him. He never saw it coming," Gus' voice was choking on the words.

She heard the hard truth in his voice. In the sound of his crying over the phone. "Doug's dead, angel, he's dead."

She sobbed, "Oh, God. God. God. No," she said, crying.

Rob sat up quickly, "Ryan, what's going on?" he whispered.

She shook her head to quiet him. She wiped at her face with her free hand.

"I wanted you to know. I know that I'm not supposed to call you now, but I had to let you know. You had to know. God, Miranda..." Gus' voice cracked and she could hear him crying softly.

She should be there with him, to comfort him. To have him comfort her. Doug was their brother and he meant the world to them.

"How are you? You okay? You're not hurt?" she tried to keep the panic out of her voice.

"I'll be fine. I...got to go. Corrine's here..oh, God, I have to tell Corrine," his voice broke again.

She heard him take a deep breath, "Oh...um...I, uh, I, um, called Kyle and... and Law already. They know. You take care of yourself, angel. Watch your back. Please...just watch your back," he said, his voice cracking again. "I can't..." His soft tears had turned to sobbing.

Miranda sobbed too. They both cried for another minute. "You too," she finally answered, wiping her eyes.

"Gus?" She bit her lip at the silence. He had hung up.

"Shit," she cursed, lying back on her pillow, trying not to cry.

Doug. He had two little boys under the age of six. He loved those boys. Sweet Doug, dead.

He was the first one to call her angel. Then the other guys on the team kept it up. Their guardian angel they called her, as she looked out for all of them, mothered them, loved them, and put them in their place when they needed it.

As an agent, injuries, death shouldn't phase them. They had to suck it up. Emotions weren't to enter into things. They were supposed to not feel anything.

Do the job. Be the job. Screw the job, she thought, and cried for her friend, her brother.

Slowly, she came to the realization that she was being held. That warm hands were rubbing her back, and soft, soothing, words were being whispered in her ear.

Her tears finally ran out and she pulled away wiping her face.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Rob reached to draw her back to him. She shook her head.

"Come on, talk to me, maybe I can help," he said, touching her lightly on her shoulder.

"Can you bring back the dead?" she demanded angrily, turning to face him, tears streaming again down her face.

"Oh. God, I'm so sorry," he said, squeezing her shoulder. "Family?"

"He was like family. A brother," she whispered, trying to calm her breathing.

"An accident?"

"No." She looked away. She didn't want to talk about it. To make it true.

"Sorry, I shouldn't be so nosy," he said, wiping another long stream of a tear that slid down her cheek.

"He was shot. Drug dealers," she answered, needing to tell someone. To be comforted by someone.

"Really?" He looked at her in surprise.

He didn't think she could be associated with anyone involved with drugs. She was so sweet, so innocent to know of such matters.

"Yeah," she answered turning back around so he wouldn't see her wiping other tears away.

He could see she was hurting. He knew the hurt. He'd seen many friends get shot. Some had died in the line of duty.

His own brother had succumbed to the power of drugs and had been killed as well. That was the reason he'd become an FBI agent, to get rid of the scum that did that to his brother.

"My, uh, brother was killed. He was an addict. Some bad deal happened, got himself shot," Rob confided to her.

She looked at him. "God, I'm sorry, Rob."

"It's okay, it happened long time ago. You know, they tell you it was their decision to get into that life. They know the danger. And they expect that will make you feel better somehow. Like it was their fault. But it's not," he said softly, reassuringly.

"Yeah."

"You okay?" He put an arm over her waist so it was on the opposite side of her body.

He leaned on his hand on the bed, so he could look over her body to see her face.

"I'll be okay. Thanks, Rob," she said, lightly rubbing the arm that crossed over her waist.

"Hey! Wait a minute," he said annoyed.

"What?" She looked at him confused.

He pushed on the bed. "Yeah," he said, and then laid down next to her. He bounced a bit.

"What are you doing?"

"You got a better bed than me!" he said, looking over at her accusingly. like it was her fault.

"Please, I did not." She wiped her tears away, trying to pull herself together.

"Bull. I've got bruises on my back from where the springs have been poking me the past two months," he said, turning on his side, so he'd have more room on the small bed.

"Are you comfortable?" she asked, turning to him amused that he'd made himself cozy in her bed. She knew he was trying to take her mind off of Doug. It was nice of him to do.

"I figured you could use some company," he said, putting an arm around her.

She scooted in towards him, putting her forehead to his chest. He ran his hand up and down her back. He meant it to comfort her, but it was comforting him.

He'd been incredibly attracted to her, but he'd never actually really touched her. They'd given each other a pat on the back, a quick little hug, but nothing like this.

And now, her head was resting on his chest, his hands were on her back, and he liked it more than he expected. He'd gotten used to having her as just a friend.

Her hand slipped around his waist and up to his back doing the same as he did. Gently gliding up and down. He felt his heart skip a beat and start racing.

He closed his eyes he put his cheek against the top of her head and breathed her in. She smelt so good.

It was nice having a woman in his arms again. He gently kissed the top of her head.

She looked up to him and he couldn't help but kiss each teary eye lid. He studied her eyes as hers studied his as what the next step would be.

He moved slowly down to her mouth. She kissed him back gently. It was so gentle it drove him crazy. She opened her mouth to him and his tongue slipped in. What he found was even more surprising. As she kissed him back it was as if her tongue was making love to his. So gentle, so sweet, giving and taking at an erotic pace.

It was different than Catwoman's kiss, which had been so sexual, it was obvious she would like to have sex with him.

This kiss, was about real caring about each other, and it turned him on even more. His hands slid down her back to her rear, gently caressing the soft curves.

Her hands slid under his shirt and up his back. They glided up and down as before, but this time with some bite, as her nails would sometime dig into his skin.

He didn't mind at the slight sting as he moved to her soft neck. He kissed along the sides. He ran his tongue slowly up the front length of her neck and met her mouth again.

Her leg wrapped around his waist bringing them even closer together. He slipped a hand under her shirt. He ran his hand around her hip, squeezing at the bone, and moved up her stomach.

He heard himself moan as her tongue met his, again, so softly. His mind was spinning, he couldn't think, he just wanted to touch her, to feel her, to taste her.

"Rob. Rob, stop please." She took his hand away and pulled back her leg. Her hand went to her forehead.

"I'm sorry," he said, pulling away, wanting to kick himself. Or worse.

"No, it's not you. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done this. I wasn't thinking. Emotions. I'm very sorry," she said, touching his cheek. He'd only meant to comfort her.

He nodded. He'd taken advantage of a vulnerable girl. "I'm sorry too. God, I don't know what came over me," he said, sitting up.

"I'd...I'd better get back to my bed," he said, turning to get off the bed.

"Rob," she said quickly. She hadn't meant to hurt his feelings.

"Yeah?" he asked, not turning back.

"That was nice," she said, touching his back lightly.

"Yeah, it was," he said softly as he got up, crossed the short distance to his bed, and climbed back in.

She closed her eyes. He's eighteen. Eighteen. Damn it, if he hadn't been, if she wasn't on duty, if she wasn't grieving for Doug , it would have been a different story. Who knows where she would have let it take them.

She knew that was the problem. She wanted him and she wanted him bad. But it couldn't work between them. He was much too young!

Rob closed his eyes and tried to control his breathing. Twice in one night he'd fallen for a girl, each in their own special way. Each so arousing. Each so young.

He cursed himself. He didn't know why he was allowing himself to feel that way. Was he that desperate for a woman's company that he'd stoop to a college girl?! But these girls were so incredibly hot. So incredible, period. He tried to justify it to himself.

He rolled over and tossed the covers over his head, praying for a big drug bust, and soon, so he could get out of this living hell.

****

When she was sure Rob was asleep, Ryan got out of bed and slipped on some jeans. She climbed onto the desk, opened the window and stepped out onto the fire escape.

She sat down on the top step and dialed on her cell.

"Marcus. Doug's dead."

"I heard. I'm so sorry. I know Masters was a good friend of yours," Marcus answered.

"I want to go to the funeral."

"No can do," he said firmly.

"Marcus, please."

"You've got a job to do, Jones. And you need to do it. Doug Masters was one of the best. He understood the risks that come with the job. And I know that you do too."

"I need to go, Marcus! Doug was like a brother to me. You know that!" she insisted.

"What you need to do is take a deep breath and remember why you got into this business in the first place. It's to put scum like those who killed Doug, and your father, away. That's the best thing that you can do for him now. Watching his body being put in the ground won't do him any good, and it certainly won't do you any good. You won't be any good to me or to this investigation after seeing your brother being put in a grave. I know you're hurting and you want to be there, but you know he would understand. And he'd want you to be safe in your job. If you're a mess, you won't be safe. You won't be alert to things you normally would be. I'm sorry about Doug, I am, but I can't allow you to put yourself, and possibly others, in danger by going to your friend's funeral."

"I know you're right," she said, wiping tears away. Seeing Doug being put into the ground? She didn't think she could handle that.

"You hang in there. I'll see if they'll let one of your other boys call you."

"You don't need to do that. I'll be fine. Just let them know that I'm fine. And they...they need to watch their backs. And that I love them," she answered, trying to control the tears.

She couldn't let Marcus hear her overwhelming grief. He'd pull her completely from the job.

"Will do. Get some rest now."

Miranda hung up the phone and put her hands to her knees. She then leaned over putting her head to them. She yelled into them, screaming silently.

After a few minutes, she took a deep breath and sat back up straight. She would be strong, she told herself, for Dougie, she'd be strong, he'd want her to be. Do the job. Be the job, she commanded herself.

Something made her look down and she saw two familiar figures. With a cry, she scurried down the fire escape until one of them caught her in his arms.

She wasn't sure which of them it was, and it didn't matter, as a second pair of arms came around them both. They held each other tight until they all ran out of tears.

Then they climbed up onto the fire escape and stared at the stars until Miranda finally fell asleep in Kyle's arms, her head against his chest, and her legs across Lawson's.

The next morning she woke up in her bed, as if they'd never been there.