A/N: Sorry this one has taken so long. I wrote about six different chapters and decided that none of them were exactly what I wanted to post at this point in the story. Also, this is completely unbeta'd. If you notice any mistakes please feel free to PM me about them. I haven't posted an unbeta'd chapter in a long time, though I know they always have mistakes anyway. Anyway, I wanted to write a happier chapter. I kinda think I failed, but angst is in my blood. I hope you enjoy it anyway.-LLK

June 10, 2006. 4:00 PM; EST

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Tess let the large glass door swing closed behind her as a smirk spread over her face and she fumbled through her purse for her phone. She trusted her feet to get her back to her car as she focused on the screen of her cell, searching for Greg's name so she could call him. He was bound to be asleep and on top of a double shift but this news was just too good to wait.

She was putting her key in the driver's side lock on her car when he answered the phone. She smiled sadly at his groggy tone as she heard him trying to wake up to talk. Finally she couldn't contain herself any more, “they bought it!”

“Wait,” Greg said, his tone was confused and concerned sounding. “Who bought what?”

“They gave me a contract!” She almost shouted it into the phone, her voice was high and her tone was more of a squeal.

“They bought it?!” As Greg slowly started to grasp the conversation at hand his tone grew more excited. “They bought it? You're getting published?”

“Yeah!” She was almost crying in excitement as the engine of her car turned over. “ They told me that they liked it and liked the idea for the whole series. I have thirty days to give them a draft and then with some promoting it should be in stores by early December. Louie, my agent, even told me that they'd talked about buying the next book already. So if this one sells well I'll probably have a contract for book two by March.”

“Wow! Tess, that's amazing!” Greg told her. All traces of sleep seemed lost in his voice, all that was left was a sheer pleasure for her. “Man we—we've got to celebrate!”

“Well you can take me out to dinner when I'm there next week,” she said, teasing him. “But we can't do much about it until then. It's kinda tough to celebrate something from across the country.”

“Still, Tess, that's amazing news,” Greg said, she could hear the smile on his voice now. “I mean, you're really getting published. You've been trying for years... Wow! Congratulations.”

“Thanks Greg,” she smiled. She listened quietly for a while as he talked about how wonderful it was that she was getting published. He babbled away her whole car ride, as she pulled in to her driveway and started to shut down her engine she decided to turn the conversation on to him. “So, how's your friend? Did he get to go home today like you thought?”

“Yeah,” Greg told her. His voice cracked a little as he finished the story, “we all went to his house after shift and gave him a small welcome home party. We were only there about an hour though, he's recovering from a gunshot after all; we didn't want to wear him out.”

“I'm glad he's okay,” Tess commented slowly. “It was really frightening when he got shot.”

It had frightened her, more than she let on. The idea that it could have been Greg instead of his friend was very real to her. Knowing that someone important to her fried had had his life in jeopardy was hard enough. What if something happened to Greg in the line of duty? She wasn't sure she could sit idly by from three thousand miles away and watch.

She knew that having been so bothered by the whole episode was a bit on the paranoid side, but she couldn't help it. Greg and his colleagues all worked for the police department and that meant they dealt with criminals. Greg could have been wounded in an interrogation room just as easily as Captain Brass had been shot in that hotel room by that suspect. What if someone returned to a scene and attacked him like had happened to that girl years before? What if? What if..? She respected him for what he did but the truth was she felt selfish from time to time, she'd far rather know her friend would be safe than ever see him catch another murderer.

“It was,” Greg agreed, though she suspected, for another reason. “It was good to see him home and his daughter, Ellie (the prostitute), is staying with him. I actually think it might be out of concern for him and not for personal gain.”

“That's good,” Tess agreed. She knew how little Greg had thought of Ellie over the years and no amount of her dwelling on his everyday peril would stop him from ranting about her when he got on the subject. “I've always told you I thought there was probably a pretty good person under it all when it came to her.”

“I'm still not convinced,” Greg spat back. “The way I was brought up you're there when your family or friends need you.”

“She is there, Greg.” Tess chewed her lip. “It just took her a little longer to figure out that's where she needed to be than it would most people.”

“I guess,” he conceded. Neither spoke for a while as they both sat and contemplated the bigger picture. Finally Greg broke the silence with a very sobering question. “Hey Tess, if it was me would you come out here?”

“Yes.”

“Even if you couldn't find a sitter for Jamie?”

“Yes.”

“Even if it was my own fault?”

“Yes. That's what friends do, Greg.”

“I love you, you know that right?” Greg asked her, chuckling a little.

“I know,” she answered with a cocky gait to her voice. Though they didn't say it often, they both knew that they shared a very unique and strong friendship.“I love you too.”

I was thinking about it and there's no reason I can't take requests with this story. If there's a particular scene from their friendship that you're interested in seeing (their meeting, first in person visit, a break up for one or the other, etc) I don't see why I couldn't write that if you asked. Either way, please review. -LLK