TorC4

Harvey jumped up from his desk to fall into step behind Nash when he arrived at the SIU. “Didn’t Mr. Marshall invite you to dinner?” he asked sarcastically.

Nash pointed a finger back at him. “Get with your CI and find out everything he knows about Logan Marshall. Specifically, I want to know if he was associated with Hector Pele and Milo Karakas.”

“Pele? Wasn’t he assassinated recently?”

“So was Karakas,” Nash informed him.

Harvey’s eyebrows shot up. “And you think this Logan guy is behind it?”

“The kid’s smart and arrogant as hell. It wouldn’t surprise me at all to find out he’s behind both murders.”

“Should I be looking for triggermen as well?”

“Good idea. Move this one up on the priority list, Harv,” Nash instructed as he stopped at the bottom of the staircase. “What have you got on the pharmacy shooting?”

“The name of the manufacturing company is Nostradam Pharmaceuticals. A relatively new company, very high tech in the medical department, but they didn’t waste much money on security. I was able to hack into their files with little trouble. It seems that someone placed a very large order for OxyContin about two weeks ago, but I haven’t been able to find out who yet. They supply nation wide and the pharmacies are given an ID number. I’m still running down the list.”

“So what’s the bad news?” Nash asked. He could tell from the look on Harvey’s face that there was something more.

Harvey glanced around to be sure no one was close by. “The CEO of Nostradam Pharmaceuticals?” he began in a softer voice. “Samuel Chon.”

“Damn. Does Rachel know yet?”

He shook his head. “But I’ve got to tell her Nash. Samuel has been dropping in on Rach when she’s alone.”

“And Rachel isn’t worried because of their relationship,” Nash guessed.

“I’ve been trying to stay out of it, but with Jerry living with us now, I can’t. I know that Rachel wouldn’t do anything to intentionally endanger him, but she wants to believe the best in this kid. Maybe she needs something like this to see what Samuel is really like.”

“You sound fairly certain that he’s the one behind this.”

“I don’t know, Nash. That’s the problem.”

“Understood. Want me to tell her?”

“And have her find out from you that I’ve been investigating her son?” He shook his head.

Nash chuckled. “Good point.”

“Besides, I’ve still got a little time to look into it. Rach is going to be in court all afternoon on the Burgess case. Oh! By the way. I’m throwing together a surprise party for her tonight at Mama Z’s. The banquet room third floor. I figured, between both of our kids, she needs a night to kick back and relax.”

“I hear ya bubba. Count me in. It’s been far too long since I’ve had Mama’s cooking.”

* * *

“Hey Nick,” Nash said in greeting to his father as he walked down the steps into their apartment.

“Hello son.”

“Has Tory left already?” he asked in disappointment when he didn’t see her. He had wanted to surprise her, to give her an introduction into the private life of a San Francisco police inspector by taking her to Rachel’s birthday party. It would be the first chance that Victoria had to actually see his team relaxed and enjoying themselves.

“No, she’s running late.” Nick gave him a poignant look. “I kind of got the feeling that she wasn’t in that much of a hurry to get to Flash tonight.”

Nash gave his father a long look. “Did she give you any reason as to why?” He knew that Nick and Victoria had gotten quite close in the last few weeks. It had eased his mind in so many ways, but it made him a little envious of their relationship as well.

“You know Tory,” Nick returned. “I have never met a more genuine person who keeps so much of herself on the inside. She’s not about to admit that she’s scared.”

His eyebrows shot up. “What exactly did she tell you?”

“Don’t go getting your shorts in a bunch,” Nick shot back. “I may be old, but I’m not blind. I can see when someone I care about isn’t acting right.”

Nash held up a hand to stop him. “You’re absolutely right, Nick. I’m sorry.”

“This wouldn’t have anything to do with Milo Karakas getting murdered, would it?” When he could see Nash’s jaw set in a firm line and his eyes burning intently, he held up the newspaper with a smile. “Front page news, son,” he returned slyly. “And I already knew of Victoria’s association with Cruz Montipinia.” He hadn’t been able to get confirmation from Victoria, but one look at Nash’s face spoke volumes.

Nash couldn’t help but return the smile, then chuckle. Since Nick was diagnosed with Alzheimer, he would forget from time to time just how sharp his father really was. “Hey, you feel like getting out for a little while?” he asked. “A bunch of the people at work are getting together at Mama Z’s for Rachel’s birthday.”

“That sounds like fun.”

“All right, great. I’ll be ready in about half an hour.” Nash headed for his bedroom. The door slid open quietly and he caught Victoria staring at herself in the mirror of the tiny vanity table she had gotten.

Victoria jumped when she glimpsed Nash’s reflection in her mirror. She forced a laugh as she turned on her small stool, then stood to receive his light kiss. “I didn’t hear you come in,” she breathed.

“I noticed.” He slipped his arms around her waist as he pulled her close. “Has Logan Marshall got you so spooked that you don’t want to go to your own night club?”

“What?” She was thrown off by his question. She had never known a man who seemed so in tune with her. “Well, not him exactly,” she fumbled, then sighed heavily. She couldn’t even keep from opening up to him. It was frustrating and exhilarating at the same time.

She slid her hands along the lapels of his jacket. “For the longest time, I had pushed my feelings aside,” she told him. “I didn’t care what happened to me or around me.” She looked back into his eyes again. “You changed that.” One hand slipped over his shoulder and into his hair while the other reached up and lightly touched his face. She simply couldn’t keep herself from touching him. “I care about what happens to you, to me, to Nick.” She searched his eyes. “Just tell me that everything will be all right and I’ll believe you.”

“Of course it is,” he returned with an easy smile. He wasn’t about to tell her that her fears were justified where Logan Marshall was concerned. Nash could see the man was on the edge, willing to do anything to get what he wanted. Including murder. “That is, if you manage to survive one of the SIU parties.”

She blinked in confusion. “What?” She smiled when he chuckled. She knew that she was in for a new experience that night.

“Harvey is having an impromptu birthday party for his wife tonight. I don’t think you’ve met her yet. Anyway, it’s the perfect time for you to get to know the people I work with.”

“You’re serious?” she asked skeptically. “Is this a test?”

“Of course,” he teased her.

“Oh thanks!” She smiled up at him. “Just what I need. More pressure.” All fears were banished in the knowledge that he wanted to make her a part of his life. His whole life, not just his bedroom. “Have I told you lately how much I adore you?”

He pretended to think about it. “Not since I got here,” he told her sadly.

She pressed up against him as her fingers toyed with his hair. “Then I suppose I’ll just have to show you.”

* * *

Harvey walked into the house expecting to hear the usual cacophony of noise associated with a household containing a young boy and massive dog. He tossed his keys onto a small table, then hesitated, listening more carefully when he was met only with silence. He was just about to call out Rachel’s name when he heard her laugh from somewhere nearby. He smiled at the sound, then glanced down at the huge bouquet of lilacs in his hand only to feel a stab of guilt. Rachel’s favorite flowers were no longer just for her birthday. He hoped that they would soften the blow as well.

When she laughed again, Harvey could tell that it had come from the back. As he neared the back deck, he heard King bark, then Jerry laugh, followed once more by Rachel’s. He glanced down into the yard to see Jerry and King playing their own version of fetch as he slipped his arm around Rachel’s waist from behind. She curled against him as he kissed her neck. “Mm...you smell good.”

She smiled as she pulled his beret off, then buried her fingers deep into his curls. “I’m glad to see that absence still makes the heart grow fonder.”

He moved his attention to her ear. “My heart’s fond enough. I’d rather have you in my arms.” As he circled her waist with the other arm, he heard her gasp at the sight of the fragrant flowers.

“Thank you.” She beamed as she turned in his arms, crushing the blooms between them as they enjoyed a more satisfying kiss. “I missed you too.”

“How was court?” he asked.

“Long and boring, as usual.” She rubbed her thumb along his bottom lip to remove a smudge of her lipstick. For a moment, she was captivated as she stared at his mouth, then she impulsively kissed him again. “But it was worth it,” she continued with a smile as she removed the lipstick from his mouth once more. “It looks like we’ll get the conviction.”

“That’s great babe. Congratulations.”

“What about you?” she asked in return. “Anything exciting?”

“Nothing much.” He shrugged. “Just hunting down assassins of major drug lords while trying to track down a pharmaceutical company which may or may not be involved in a large shipment of a morphine-like substance hitting the street. All of which leads back to the death of Joe Schmo who got hooked on the prescription and decided to hold up the neighborhood pharmacy.”

“Oh. Just an average day then.”

“Basically. Yeah.”

She chuckled at him, then glanced down at Jerry out in the yard when she heard him squeal. They watched him together for a moment, laughing at his antics, before Rachel moved into the house to put her flowers in water. “Now you want to tell me which one of those things has put that look on your face?” she asked over her shoulder.

“What do you mean?” he returned, caught completely off guard by her comment. He thought that he had been behaving like normal.

She stopped to give him a dubious look before pulling a vase out from under the sink. “Come on Harv.” She smiled when she realized that he had no idea how easy he was to read. “If that expression on your face wasn’t enough, you’re tugging at your ear.”

He stopped instantly and slipped his betraying hand into his pocket. “I’ve really got to stop doing that,” he mumbled. He glanced through the doorway to make sure he could still see Jerry, then he looked back at Rachel preparing the flowers for display in the vase. “Actually, there is something that I need to talk to you about. That drug I mentioned is called OxyContin and I was able to track it back to the manufacturing company. It looks like someone hacked into the computer, made a massive order, then had it delivered to a pharmacy overnight. Coincidentally, the owner of that pharmacy died the same night when he walked in on a robbery in his home, or so the report reads.”

She looked at him for a long moment when he paused. She had an uneasy feeling that she wasn’t going to like where this was heading. “You’re thinking inside job?” she asked.

“Possibly,” he returned. “I don’t know for sure yet.”

“Okay,” she said, waiting for him to continue.

Harvey bit at his lip as he tried to think of an easy way to present his evidence, but he knew there wasn’t one. “Samuel owns the pharmaceutical company,” he blurted out. “It was his password code that entered in the major order which was why no one even questioned the amount.”

She took in a slow, calming breath. She hadn’t even suspected what he was leading up to, but she was able to catch up quickly with that disquieting bit of news. “You think he’s following in his grandfather’s footsteps,” she assessed as she folded her arms over her waist. “You think he’s behind the OxyContin distribution?”

Harvey shook his head. “I don’t know if he’s involved or not,” he admitted. “I just wanted to give you a heads up, to let you know that I was investigating Samuel. It’s not because of who he is, but because of the line of evidence.”

She nodded her head. She was glad that he wasn’t actually accusing Samuel of masterminding the scheme, but she knew that Harvey suspected him. He always did and he had good reason to. She knew that Samuel was trying to change, but she had seen far too many people fall prey to the luxury to resent Harvey’s implications.

“Dad!” Jerry burst onto the scene in a full run, landing with a thud against Harvey’s stomach.

“Oh!” Harvey yelled out, grabbing onto his son for a quick hug. “What are you up to, little dude?” he asked with his best parental face.

“Don’t worry Dad. I didn’t tell Rachel about the presents in my room.”

Harvey shot a look over at Rachel, then looked back down at Jerry. “You didn’t until just now.” He started tickling Jerry in punishment. Rachel’s birthday had been the perfect distraction for Jerry. Harvey had picked Jerry up from preschool that afternoon and they had gone on a whirlwind shopping spree which had significantly lightened his son’s mood. When Harvey looked back at Rachel again, she was smiling.

“Did someone say presents?” Rachel asked as she looked down at Jerry. “I’ll bet I can find them,” she teased and the young boy immediately took off to defend their hiding place.

“They’re not in my closet!” Jerry screamed as he sped down the hallway.

Harvey smiled as he watched Rachel chase after Jerry. He was touched that Rachel had put their discussing aside to make sure that Jerry remained oblivious. He sighed contentedly as he followed them at a slower pace. He had thought that the news of Samuel becoming a possible suspect would ruin her birthday all together, but she had taken it in stride.

A warm sensation started in his gut, then quickly coursed through his body when he walked into Jerry’s room to find his son and his wife in a pile of shredded wrapping paper. Rachel was sitting in the floor of his closet with Jerry in her lap as he showed her each gift he had picked out and explained why he had chosen it. “My family,” he whispered to himself, then nodded, eternally grateful.

* * *

“No!” Mama insisted as she pushed them toward the stairs. “I won’t have it. Newly weds should have privacy. There are too many people here.”

“What?” Rachel looked up at Harvey in shock.

“But Mama,” Harvey argued. “We don’t mind waiting. It was last minute...”

“Not another word!” she ordered, giving Harvey a wink when Rachel obediently mounted the stairs.

“That was strange,” Rachel commented as she looked over the railing to make sure that Mama had gone.

“Yeah it was,” Harvey returned, trying to make sure that they kept moving. He knew that it wouldn’t take long for Rachel to piece things together. They had just made the second floor landing and he quickly grabbed his jacket pocket when he heard the faint rattling.

“What’s that noise?” she asked, turning toward him. Instead of an answer, his mouth captured hers.

Harvey leaned her back over the rail with the most devastating kiss he could muster. He wouldn’t let her ruin the surprise. Not when they were so close. “Maybe using the stairs isn’t such a bad idea after all,” he teased, trying to keep her off guard.

Rachel smiled as she slipped her arms over his shoulders. “Harvey.” She took another leisurely kiss, looking back into his eyes when the sound of a door opening echoed through the stairwell. “Let’s take this up later.”

“Definitely.” His was grateful for the distraction because he was ready to leave their friends upstairs and take her back home to finish what they had started. He watched her profile as they mounted the stairs, an arm around each other’s waist. He could not be more in love. “You have got to be the most incredible woman I’ve ever met in my life.”

Rachel shot him a look. “Okay, what’s the punch line?”

“No punch line.” He shook his head, then smiled when she looked at him suspiciously. “I’m serious. Take this thing with Jerry. You jumped into that helicopter without a second thought even though you hate to fly and you didn’t even hesitate to give out confidential information on your multi-million dollar prototype when we needed to use it to find Anna.”

She chuckled. “Harv, that’s what the system was designed for. I’m not going to compare money I might get against a child’s life. Of course, now I have to listen to my attorney scream at me for unauthorized use of the system.” When she looked back up at him, he had a goofy grin on his face. “What?” she asked with a laugh.

“I mean it. It's not just the big stuff. It's the little things too. Like putting aside our conversation tonight when Jerry walked into the room." He turned to her when they reached the third floor. "You were thrown into full time motherhood and you've really been there for Jerry. I just wanted you to know that I noticed."
When she remained silent, he added with a lighter tone, "I have got the most beautiful, most talented, most intelligent wife in the entire city.”

She chuckled. “Such lavish compliments.” She ran her hand lightly over his cheek as he leaned forward to grab the handle on the third floor door. “You are going to get so lucky tonight.”

His eyebrows shot up. “Excellent,” he said softly as he swung the door open and ushered her in.

“Surprise!”

Rachel jumped back in shock at the sound. Harvey had captured her attention so well that she hadn’t even noticed anyone else in the room before hearing the cheer. He leaned in and kissed her cheek as she stood in stunned silence. “Happy birthday babe.”

“I don’t believe this,” Rachel finally managed after Harvey had ushered her over to Nash and Joe along with their significant others. “I’m not sure if I’m more shocked by the party or the fact that everyone actually took a night off to be here.”

Nash chuckled as he glanced around. “Most of the SIU is here as well as a few others.” He gestured to Victoria at his side. “Rachel, I’d like you to meet Victoria Castle.”

Rachel’s eyes widened. She had heard rumors of Nash seeing someone, but she had no idea that it had been Victoria Castle. “Let me apologize in advance for subjecting you to a station party.”

Victoria’s smiled broadly. “It’s definitely a new experience,” she returned as they shook hands. “Happy birthday.”

“What is with these earrings?” Nash asked as Victoria slipped her arm back around his waist. There were stars and thin silver wires going in every direction, almost completely covering her ears.

“What?” Rachel asked as she reached up and touched them gingerly. “I thought they would be perfect for the office,” she teased, then her innocent expression became an ear-to-ear grin.

“You look like you just got back from a Star Trek convention,” Joe interjected, getting a laugh from everyone.

Rachel slipped her arms around Harvey’s waist as she gazed up at him. “My son gave them to me.” She could practically feel the jolt that went through Harvey. “They’re prefect.”

“Enough said,” Nash returned and lifted his glass in toast.

“How did I get so lucky to get this woman?” Harvey asked loudly.

“We’ve all been asking the same question,” Joe shot back.

When the laughter died down, Harvey was already making their departure. “You’re going to have to excuse us. I’m going to get inappropriate with my wife on the dance floor.”

“Have at it.” Nash gave his blessing as he pulled Victoria closer. “I think Harvey has the right idea,” he whispered into her ear.

“Are you asking me to dance?” she asked.

“No. I’m asking you to get inappropriate.” He chuckled when he felt her hand skimming over his backside.

Her heart skipped a beat at the look in his eyes. “There’s something to be said about a man in jeans,” she replied huskily. He hadn’t been so casually dressed since their day sailing and she had to admit, she loved the look.

“Hey Joe,” Nash said, drawing his partner’s attention from his conversation with Inger. “Where’s he going?” he asked, pointing a finger at Harvey pushing his way through the crowd.

“I don’t know about Harvey, but here comes Rachel,” Joe returned. “Just ask her.”

Rachel hadn’t missed the expression on Nash and Joe’s faces as she made her way over to them. “Hey, what’s...?” Their drink order was instantly forgotten as she followed their line of sight. Her heart flipped in her chest when she looked across the room just in time to see Harvey shove Samuel through the exit. “Oh crap.”

Rachel could hear Nash calling out her name from behind, but her only thought was getting to the stairwell. Her heart was drumming so loudly in her chest that she could hear it growing louder in her ears. As she burst through the door, she stared in horror as Harvey and Samuel stood one landing below her with their guns pointing at each other’s face. “No!” she screamed, but her voice was drowned out by a rumble that grew louder with each passing second. She watched in horror as the landing that Harvey and Samuel stood on dropped out from beneath them. She didn’t even have time enough to scream when the floor beneath her gave way as well.

* * *