For the rest of the week, we work on Jack's case. Her dad eventually calls us back and tells us about a boyfriend that he never really liked. After going over the crime scene photos and looking at all the evidence, we determine the assailant was after something specific because all the things of value were left. There was money on the counter, even. Unfortunately, it looks like it's someone she knew.

Hours upon hours are poured into one case. It's like this every time. No one wants to get something wrong. It could mean the incarceration of the wrong person. That would be devastating for a lot of people.

It ends up being a long night. I don't end up staggering home until around ten. And since it's been a fourteen hour day, I'm utterly exhausted. By the time I walk through the front door, I could collapse there and sleep for days.

Instead, Ella is calling my name as soon as I put my keys down.

"What could you possibly want as soon as I walk in the door?" I ask as I take off my jacket. Henry's looks up from his spot on the blue couch that he's pretty much claimed since he officially moved his stuff in a couple days ago. I nod to him, "Hey."

He throws his hand up in a single wave and then returns to the book in his lap.

El skips into the room with a smile. Her hand points behind her and she says, "Could you help me out?"

Rolling my head to the side and stretching my arms out, I nod, "Of course, what is it this time?"

"You look tired," she comments offhandedly.

I nod, yawning, "I just worked fourteen hours. Can we get this over with? What do you need?"

"Well," she smiles as she starts walking backward to her bedroom, "I just got this really awesome area rug from one of the singers that is using one of my songs."

I sigh and rub the back of my neck (a habit I picked up from Dad), "So heavy lifting?"

She just skips back off toward her side of the apartment without a response.

"Hey," Henry says from the couch, catching my attention, "if you want, I can help her and you can lie down. You look really worn out."

It's an actual smile that hits my lips, "You would do that?"

He shrugs and his cheeks pink a little, "Well yea, I live here too now. I can help out. I know I look skinny, but I can lift stuff."

"I just meant-" I shake my head only to look straight into his crystal blue eyes. "You don't have to."

He stands from his spot and brushes his hands down his pants, "It's no problem really. I just thought that-" he looks up at me timidly, "that you've been working a lot and you don't really get much sleep." He shrugs again and points to the door where Ella left through, "I'll just- I'm going to go."

As he leaves, my smiles gets bigger and it has nothing to do with how amazing his ass looks in the jeans he's wearing.

"Oh," he stops just at her door and turn back to me, "I made spaghetti. There's some in the refrigerator if you're hungry." Before I can answer, he nods and turns his back again.

"It's really good too," I hear El shout from her room. "You'll love it."

It actually sounds perfect; a nice meal after a long day at work. I could get used to this.

Moving into the kitchen, I open the fridge to see he was right. In the mostly empty icebox, there's a plastic container holding his Italian entree. Right next to it there's another dish that I've never seen.

"What's the other bowl?" I shout to the other room.

It's Ella that answers, "It's dessert. Save some room for it. It's freaking amazing."

"What kind?"

"Pistachio cannoli," Henry pokes his head out of the room, "but I didn't really make those. I picked up the shells from the Italian market down the street and whipped up the filling really quick. It wasn't a big deal."

Then El pops her head out too, "Don't listen to Henry George Thomas; they're to die for. In fact, you better leave me one because I will eat it later."

All I can do is smile and shake my head. Turning my back to them, I stick the entire container of spaghetti in the microwave and turn it on. I've mastered the art of the microwave. I can heat up meals with the best of them.

As it turns out, the meal is even better than I expected. Henry is going to spoil us.

Before heading off to bed, I walk over to Ella's room to say goodnight. When I enter the doorway, I see El pointing to one side of the room and a slightly sweaty Henry on the other with a dresser half lifted. The taut of his slick arm muscles do something to my stomach and I have to take me eyes away from him.

"Are you sure you're alright in here, Henry?" I ask looking around the room that I just notice is completely rearranged.

He sets the dresser down and straightens up, wiping his forehead with the back of his hand, "Yea, it's really not a big deal. I'm glad to help."

Crossing my arms over my chest, I lean against the doorframe and turn my gaze to my tiny best friend, "You're not going to overwork him, are you?"

She hitches an eyebrow at me as a smirk lines her lips, "I don't know. What's it to you?"

Oh great, that's the last thing I need. Ella thinks she knows something.

I just shrug, trying to play nonchalant, "Wouldn't want him to be tired tomorrow."

"Oh, it's not a problem. Really," he breaks in, nodding, "tomorrow is Saturday. I don't have anything I have to do. I'll be okay."

"Tomorrow's Saturday!" Ella puts her hands to her hips and looks at me exacerbated. "We're supposed to go to Benny's."

Rolling my eyes, I stand up straight, "I'm working on a case, El. I can't go out. And believe me," I cock my head to the side, "I really need to go."

'Benny's' is this little bar down a few block that only few people know about. You have to have a membership or invitation to even get in the door. It's exclusive to the rich and/or famous. It's the only place we go to drink because no one really cares who's there. Everyone's too stuck in their own ass to pay attention to you.

It's also where I meet people to sleep with.

She stomps her foot, "You promised. You said we wouldn't miss another one!"

"Call Maya," I suggest. "She called me a couple days ago and said she was going to be in town this weekend. She even asked if we had any plans."

Maya Knight is like another sister to me. Her parents, Gabrielle Shutters and Tripp Knight, are close to my parents and Ella's mom. All three of us, Brie, and Maya's brother Toby used to be inseparable, but she decided to live off her parent's success. She's not a snob about it; she just likes being famous. Now she's mostly in Hollywood getting acting gigs. However, every time she's in town, it's like she never left.

"That bitch!" she shouts, but she has a huge smile on her face.

Henry clears his throat to get our attention, "I could leave if you'd like."

"No, no, no," I shake my head, "I'm going to bed." Before I turn around, I point at Ella, "She's probably already in town. Call her and see if she's staying here. It would be better than her just showing up. We don't have an extra room anymore. She'll have to sleep in here."

Ella claps her hands excitedly, "Okay, okay, okay, okay."

"Do you need me to stay somewhere else?" Henry asks over El's screaming.

I shake my head again, "No, you live here now. Ella can explain Maya to you. It's honestly not a big deal." Turning around now, I raise my hand in the air, "I'm going to bed, don't wake me up unless you're dying."

As I walk away, I hear my best friend telling our new roommate about Maya. Decidedly, it's going to be a long weekend. Hopefully, we can get this case solved and I can see Maya before she leaves.

-----

A loud scream wakes me from my sleep. Without thinking, I grab the pistol I keep behind my headboard and make my way out into the hallway. Keeping the gun ready, but pointed down, I peek around the wall that leads to the main room: nothing in there. I can also see into Ella's room and that her silhouette is lying in bed. I almost start to walk that way when I hear the second scream.

I see El's form shoot out of bed and turn on a light. Turning to Henry's room, I walk slow and carefully. When his door burst open, I pull my pistol up, pointing it at the person in front of me.

Suddenly, Henry is there with his hands in the air and eyes wide without glasses.

"Was that you?" I ask in a loud whisper and point my gun down again.

He drops his hands, but just shakes his head and points into his room.

Less than a second later, Maya appears in her skimpy underwear and bra with her curls huge and out of control, "Who is this, Blain? You can't just have your boy toys stay in my room without telling me. If you want to have your way with him that's fine, but why is he sleeping in my bed? Don't they usually leave after?"

Before I can stay anything, she takes a step around him, looking at me with a hitched eyebrow, "Not that I don't enjoy cuddling with a sexy gay man, but I'm in my underwear - if that matters - and trying to get in bed for the night." She lets out a huff of air, blowing some of her curls to the side, "Next time warn a bitch, alright?"

Shaking my head, I drop my hands to my side completely. Wiping my face with my free hand, I walk back into my room to set the weapon down on my side table and return to the hallway.

When I get out there, a light is on and I see Ella hugging Maya, but Henry (who I just noticed is only in his boxers, also) is standing awkwardly off to the side.

"Maya," she drops El and walks over to wrap her arms around my chest. And even though we're both only in our underwear, it doesn't really matter. Like I said, she's just another sister to me. "Nice to see you, but, next time, could you not wake me up by screaming bloody murder?"

"Yea, sure," she pulls away and looks up at me, "if next time you tell your boys to not sleep in my bed."

Ella giggles and pulls her silk robe closer to her, but doesn't say anything. She just moves over to Henry and wraps her arms around his waist, giving him a side hug. He just looks down at her with wide eyes, patting her on her shoulder.

"Second order of business," I announce and gesture toward him, "this is our new roommate Henry."

"Henry George Thomas," Ella squeaks with a smile.

I let my eyes rake down front his glasses-less face to his unexpectedly muscled chest and to his tan lean legs. Maya catches me and smirks, but doesn't say anything about it.

"I didn't sleep with him," I tell her.

She nods and looks over to Ella, who also nods.

"I'm Henry," he extends his hand toward Maya. When she takes it he says, "It's nice to meet you."

"Henry," I catch his eye, "this is Maya. The one El told you about earlier." Then I turn to my sleepy best friend, "Did you call her and tell her like I asked you to?"

In answer, she sticks her face into Henry's chest and shakes her head minutly. She's always like this when she first wakes up; cuddly. But if I'm honest, I'm not sure I like that she's cuddly with him, especially when he's only in his boxers.

Maya must catch on because she's pulling El away from Henry before I can say anything. And they're walking toward the other end of the house when Maya shouts back to us, "She can explain everything to me in the morning. You probably need your sleep. Night, boys!"

Then it's just Henry and me in the hall in our underwear. I don't miss when he hangs his hands in front of himself, but I pretend not to notice.

"That used to be where she stayed when she was in town," I explain because I feel like I have to say something. I'm not usually an awkward person, but I just chalk it up to being the middle of the night. "Do you know what time it is?"

He squints down at his wrist where he usually wears his watch. "Um," he says when he notices it's not there. He bends a little to look into his room, "It's three-forty-seven."

"Thanks," I say and I turn back to my room, hitting the hall light switch, "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Blain," he calls out quietly as I reach my door. I turn around and he looks at his feet, "I was just- I mean- Are you gay?" By the dim light coming from Ella's room, I can see his cheeks flame as he avoids eye contact, "You know, just what Maya was saying about you sleeping with me."

I chuckle slightly, but shake my head. He makes eye contact and I make a show of checking him out. When I catch his eye again, his whole face is red.

I can't help the smile on my face when I say, "Not exclusively."

~A/N~

Because I love you and the holidays, here is a chapter a day early.

Maya on the side. Yes, it is Danielle Peazer. Mostly because of the hair, but I think she looks like the Maya I picture.