Rob woke up at five in the morning as usual. He had an internal alarm clock. It drove him nuts sometimes as there were days he wished he could just sleep in, but his body just wouldn't allow it. He had too much energy to burn. He looked around the room remembering where he was. He looked over at his roommate sleeping soundly in the bed next to him.

He got up. The covers had come off of Ryan. Her smooth looking, long legs were bent up in a half fetal position, and her arms hugged herself to keep herself warm in her sleep.

Her tee shirt had crawled up and he could see her flat stomach, the curve of her waist, her hip bone. A nice place to nibble on, he thought.

He swallowed pulling himself together. He bent down and pulled the comforter back over her. She opened her eyes slowly and looked at him sleepily.

Damn, he could fall into those sweet, dark blue eyes, he thought, as his heart picked up a beat.

"Thanks," she said softly.

He nodded. She closed her eyes. He straightened and went over to the bathroom. He closed the door and leaned against it."Shit," he muttered.

Here he was, thirty years old, falling for a girl practically half his age. He brushed his teeth, giving himself a lecture.

He grabbed his gym bag from their room and headed for the bedroom door.

"Where you going?" Ryan asked, picking her head up.

"Gym," he answered, holding up his bag.

"Mind if I come too?"

He shrugged. He was hoping to work off the thought of her. So much for that.

"Let me just clean up a bit," she said, getting up.

"I didn't know you worked out," he said as he listened to her brush her teeth.

He heard her mutter some answer. "What?" he asked, not making out what she said.

She came out of the bathroom, pulling up her hair into a long ponytail.

"I said, you didn't think I was born with this bod, did you?" she asked, shaking her hips as she stepped into her sneakers.

"Our little secret," he answered, looking it over with admiration.

"You gotta stop doing that, Rob," she said, as they left their room.

"Doing what?" he asked as they crossed the small living room.

"Looking at me like that," she answered, looking into Joe and Larry's room, where she saw limp sleeping bodies.

"Like what?"

"You know what."

He smiled because he did know how he was looking at her. He couldn't help it. She had an incredible body. An incredible face.

"Sorry. I'm a guy. You've got a nice bod, we're going to look," he said, locking the door to their dorm suite behind them.

"Well, don't be so obvious about it then," she said as they walked down the hall.

"Am I embarrassing you?" he asked, suddenly feeling bad for checking her out. He thought she was enjoying their little flirtation.

"I don't embarrass," she said, lifting her chin and adjusting the bag on her shoulder as they walked down the stairs to the lobby of the dorm building.

He looked at her with a smirk. "You look embarrassed."

"Okay, I'm embarrassed. I'm not used to people looking at me like that all the time," she muttered.

"You and Joe were doing it all day yesterday," she answered, crossing her arms over her chest.

She was fine with it in the beginning, but then it went on all day. She needed to establish boundaries and respect as she'd done at work and with her squad mates when they first met.

It was one thing to have guys on the street do it and it was over within minutes. It was another thing to have the guys that were living with her to do it all the time.

With Gus, it had always been fine, they'd established that they had the hots for each other from practically the second that they had met.

Her other squad brothers checked her out for the first week as well. But they soon backed off as Miranda had put them in their place whenever their eyes wandered below her chin, which usually came in the form of whipping their asses in whatever training they did that day.

Gus made his intentions clear to them from the beginning as well. Back off, she's mine, his eyes had told them the minute they all laid eyes on her. It had been flattering and insulting all at the same time. Gus learned quickly, as well, that she may have been his, but she was her own person too, and she wasn't putting up with crap from him either. He respected her after that, whether it was in their job or in their relationship.

Rob opened the glass doors to the sidewalk outside. "I'll work on it. Just need to get used to having you around. I'm not used to having such blinding beauty next to me all the time." 

She scoffed at his remark. They walked for a few minutes in silence.

"You know, you were checking me out, too," he said with a smile, trying to break the awkwardness.

"Was not!"

"Were too, don't deny it," he said, pointing at her. She blushed.

He laughed. "Aha! I knew it. So, don't be blaming it all on me!"

Ben was flattered, actually. He knew he was a good looking guy. People told him all the time.

He thought he'd seen her checking him out, but then doubted himself. Her blushing confirmed it, and Ben relished the pleasure it gave him that she found him attractive as well.

"Okay, okay, you've got a nice bod, too," she admitted.

He put his hand to his ear. "Sorry, what did you say?"

"Rob," Miranda complained, looking away embarrassed because she did find him incredibly hot, and she knew better to be doing so.

"Okay, I won't torture you any further. We're just a couple of hotties giving the rest of the campus some serious competition," he said grinning as they hiked up the hill to the field house where the gym was located.

She laughed.

**************************

Hottie was right, she thought as she watched him working out on the weights. She'd watched guys before. Most of the guys on her squad were superbly well built and attractive, but they were like her brothers; they trained together and bunked together, they would die for her and she would for them.

Miranda hadn't had many serious relationships; her job didn't allow for that. Her on and off relationship with Gus was on the serious off status now. He had decided it was high time for them to stop torturing themselves. Gus broke it off for good and headed for California to get as far from her as possible.

Gus was one of her squad, one of her blood brothers, and it had killed her when he had left over a year ago. He had been her safety net, Miranda knew that, and she had been his.

She knew it was for the best that they ended things, but it still hurt. She wasn't what Gus really wanted. Oh, he said she was, but she knew she wasn't.

He wanted a woman that could be a stay at home mother, who would be the President of the P.TA, a soccer mom, and a wife who would have dinner ready on the table when he came home from work. She couldn't be those things.

Sure, she wanted to be a wife and mother, someday, but not the way Gus wanted. She needed to work. She needed to catch bad guys. It was as much in her blood as it was in his.

Yet, he couldn't understand why she wouldn't give it up even for him, even for their potential kids.

Miranda had thought about having kids with him. Gus would be an awesome dad, there was no doubt about that.

And she loved him, God, she had loved him, enough that she had considered marrying him, but she didn't love Gus enough to where she'd be able to give up being who she was.

Miranda knew that they'd both end up hating each other for it. And she could not bear to ever hate being with Gus or have him hate being with her. She'd rather have him as a friend than not have him at all.

Their other squad mate, Doug, had initiated Gus' decision to move. His wife had family in California and she wanted to be near them. Corrine had followed Doug and their squad as needed around the country.

Now, it was time for them to settle down in one place, and Corrine wanted it to be with her family. Doug was able to put in for a transfer to Dan Francisco to be close to them, and then Gus decided he would go with them. It was a chance for him to get away from Miranda. He couldn't live and work with her, when he couldn't be with her.

Gus' decision had sealed the deal for Doug. He really didn't want to move, but he was willing to try for his wife. And, if one of his squadmates would still be near him, then he was willing to go.

That's how close they were. They were like family to each other, and every decision that one person made affected the rest of them. If Gus hadn't had moved with Doug, then Lawson or Kyle would have. They had both said as much to Miranda, and she had completely understood why.

It was amazing how their lives were drastically changing over the years, pulling them each in separate directions. They were no longer "The A Squad". But they'd always be her boys. And she would always be their guardian angel, watching over them.

And here she was, on a new assignment; over Gus, she was sure that she was as she was totally attracted to Rob.

It had been quite a while since she had been really attracted to anyone else; her luck that it had to be an eighteen year old boy.

Miranda pulled her eyes away from Rob and his well defined muscles. She forced herself to focus on the TV set, hanging in front of her treadmill.

************************

Ben had watched her running. Ryan's mind was somewhere else. But she was also focused on her workout. He was impressed at her stamina. He'd seen her start off, walking on the treadmill, and then she steadily worked up to an incredible run.

It was no wonder that she had such great legs, he thought as he watched her.

He watched as she cleaned off the machine and then headed over to work out on a stair climber. She looked so graceful, it looked like it took no effort at all for her, but the sweat that stained the back of her tee shirt showed different.

Ben climbed onto a cross trainer and began to ski, trying not to watch her. He wasn't sure how he was going to get through the first semester not being able to touch her.

***********************

The first month passed quickly, and Rob and Ryan made it through Rush week and were selected by the most popular fraternity and sorority. They assimilated into the groups quite well.

The fraternity and sorority, that they joined, were ones that teamed up together for events and parties, so Rob and Ryan were able to hang out with each other often.

The university still hadn't done anything to correct their living arrangement and neither Rob or Ryan brought it up again, as they were liking their current living situation. They got along as if they'd known each other their entire lives.

The phone rang often, and Rob cringed every time he picked it up, as it usually was a guy on the other end asking for Ryan.

He had enjoyed their time alone together but more and more she was seeing other guys and spending less time with him.

He supposed that was fine as he was supposed to focus on his investigation. And he was, he had an in at the frat house, and he was setting up a buy soon.

He sighed when the phone rang again. He picked it up. "Ryan's answering service," he said sarcastically. He heard a guy laugh.

"Is she there?" the voice asked.

"She's in class." Rob answered, annoyed that it was in fact another guy for her.

"Could you tell her Doug called?"

"Doug what?" Rob asked, writing it down.

"She'll know," he said mysteriously.

"Doug. She'll know. Got it," Rob said as he finished writing it down.

"What's your name?" the guy asked suddenly.

"Rob," Rob answered, taken aback.

He thought the conversation was over with his taking a message. It usually was as no guy wanted to talk to him.

"Is she doing okay, Rob?" the guy asked with concern in his voice.

"Yeah, she's fine. Why wouldn't she be?" Rob answered puzzled.

"Sorry," the guy chuckled. "I'm out of town. Old friend. Just wanted to see how she's doing."

"She's great," Rob answered with a shrug, not knowing what else to say.

"Great. Tell her to call me when she gets the chance, okay?"

"Sure, no prob." Rob said and hung up the phone with a frown.

************************

"Hey," Ryan greeted him, when she came into their room a half hour later.

"Hey," Rob answered, looking up from the report he was typing for the case into his laptop. He quickly closed it.

"Um, some guy, um, Doug... called," he said, looking up at her.

"Oh?" She asked indifferently, kicking off her shoes into the closet.

"Doug who?" she asked thoughtfully, as if she knew more than one.

"He said you'd know," he answered, studying her.

He noticed her eyes widen a bit as she realized who he was referring to. Rob wished he knew. Something was between the two of them, that was for certain.

"Oh! Right," she said and unzipped her backpack. "That Doug. Yeah, thanks."

Rob watched Ryan pull out a book and she slid onto her bed. "Aren't you going to call him back?" he asked, eying her as she got comfortable on the bed.

Usually, with a message, Ryan immediately picked up the phone and called the person back.

"Um, yeah, but later," she said, flipping her book open nonchalantly.

"He seemed worried about you," he said, studying her.

"Did he?" Ryan asked flipping a page.

"Yeah."

She glanced up at him with a frown,"Did you tell him I was fine?"

"Yeah."

She looked back at her book, "Good." She flipped another page.

Rob knew she wasn't reading as her eyes didn't move from left to right, they just looked in one place. The detective in him told him something was up. Rob didn't want to pry, but he was concerned.

He didn't want to see her hurt. Had this guy hurt her, he'd...he'd... he didn't know what he'd do. Disconnect the phone, maybe, he thought, as she slowly pulled the left side of her hair across to the other side with her right hand, exposing her long beautiful neck in an unknowingly seductive way.

Okay, he'd hop on a plane to wherever the guy was and slug him for hurting her, he thought.

Ryan looked over at him as if she felt him watching her. "What?"

"Nothing," he said defensively.

"Why are your eyes boring into me then?"

"Admiring the view is all," he said with a smile.

Ryan wrinkled her nose and turned back to her book.

"You don't think you're good looking?"

She shrugged,"I'm alright," she said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Damn, you're modest," he said, blowing out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. "You don't notice guys falling all over themselves when they see you?"

Ryan looked up at him. "There's more things in life than looks."

"Yeah, but it sure helps the ride," he answered with a wink.

"You..." she said and stopped with a shake of the head.

"What?" he asked curiously.

She shook her head. "Never mind. Can we drop it?"

"Anything for you, beautiful."

Miranda rolled her eyes and turned back to her book. She was going to say that he meant more to her than his looks, but when Rob looked at her with his beautiful eyes, she couldn't get the words out because she knew she shouldn't say them to an eighteen year old, no matter how much she liked him.

When Rob was asleep later that night, Miranda crept over to the large window above the desk and gently slid it open. It was an emergency exit, so it was large enough for a person to easily get through.

She climbed up on the desk and then slipped one leg and then the other carefully on the metal fire escape. She slid the window gingerly back down.

Sitting down on the top step, Miranda took a deep breath of the warm night air. She took out her cell phone and dialed. "Hey, Dougie."

"Hey, angel! I didn't blow things for you, did I?"

"No, of course not, you're always careful," she answered, rubbing her forehead.

"Look, we're going in pretty deep in a couple of days. I just wanted to see how you're doing before we do. We're not going to be able to call you then."

"And by we, you mean you and Gus?"

"Yeah, we're still partners. And Gus is fine, I know that's what you want to ask. And I want to know how you're doing. You don't usually do solo cases, you doing okay on your own?"

"I'm doing good. Real good. Piece of cake."

"You making friends?"

"Yeah. My roommates are cool. Especially Rob. We get along really well. You'd like him."

"That's great! Glad you won't be too lonely in it yourself."

"I'm alright."

"Okay, angel. I'll let you go. I just wanted to hear your voice. I'll give you a call when this case is over. Take care of yourself."

"You too. Say hey to Gus for me."

"Will do. I love ya, angel face. You be careful. I'll give you a call in a month or so. You need anything, you give Law or Kyle a call."

"Yeah, I will. And I love you, too. Watch your backs. I won't be there to do it for you."

"We will. I gotta run, angel. Bye, now."

"Bye."

Miranda leaned against the railing and looked up at the stars. Was he doing the same on the other side of the country? Probably. She and Doug would often sit silently out on their deck, just looking out at the stars. She smiled at the memory.

She sighed. "Ugh, life," Miranda muttered, realizing they would never do that again, at least not on a regular basis. On visits, sure, but that wasn't the same as when they all lived together.

It would never be the same now that Doug and Gus had moved so far away. And now that she and Gus were no longer a couple.