"Coffee"

It was barely 8 in the morning when Catherine parked her rental car in her reserved spot at the Firm's garage. As she climbed out, she took a deep breath and inspected her surroundings, nodding with approval as there was no trace of either her car or the broken pieces of it. She needed to go over the last files of some other dubious characters who were associated with Byron and were therefore under investigation. In this case her lack of social life helped her, she was going to put her free time to good use.

She walked pass the elevator's doors and into the firm's main floor expecting too see no one else around, as she walked past the meeting room heading towards her father's office, and now hers, her eyes got caught in the most unexpected scene; a well toned male body lifting up a large metal grill plaque up to the ceiling. Her eyes traveled from his feet up to his neck, and then she saw his head turned towards her. She blushed. It was Noland Hillhouse, the man who saved her the night before, and he just caught her staring.

"Good... morning." He said half amused and half constricted with the heavy weight.

"Good morning Hillhouse, what exactly are you doing?" She said, finally walking into the room and resting her suitcase and coat on a side chair.

He chuckled and she saw his face red as his arms tensed while he pushed up one more time. The big metal grill seemed to belong there, exactly over the long light tubes.

He made sure the grill was safely placed, and then jumped off the chair he was using as a ladder. "I made the stupid mistake of trying to hang a map from it. I learned my lesson." He wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand and then loosened his tie.

It was saturday morning, no one in their sane mind was going to come to the office, yet he was there and elegantly dressed as if he was heading to court any time soon.

"What are you doing here? And this early above all?" She managed to ask and he turned around to face her.

"I went through some of the police reports on our case and wanted to go over other things and do some research. My apartment is too small, I usually come here on saturdays to use the meeting office when I need the space. I can vacate it if you were planing on having a meeting."

She shook her head and turned around towards the door. "No, you can stay and work all you want, I was just a bit surprised. I didn't expect to find anyone else here. I will be in my office going through some files." And with that said, she picked up her things and walked away.

He stared at the half open doors with a smile, shaking his head. Apparently she was just as dedicated at her job as he was, not that it surprised him, as she was after all, the dedicated and passionate daughter of Edmund Galloway, who seemed to follow his footsteps closely. He then turned around and took the wide paper he had tried to hang up, and put it against the big board where he secured it with the help of some tape.

At around 10 in the morning, he decided to take a small break and headed to the snack bar area, turning on the coffee machine and preparing himself a cup. He wondered if she would like some as well, and decided to take the opportunity to check on her as he had promised Felix he would, so he slid another cup and filled it too.

She was closing another file and putting her notes aside as she took a deep breath. She still couldn't believe he caught her staring at him, the fact that she dared to do it alone was making her blush again. She had never been sexualy agresive towards the opposite sex; it didn't come natural for her to tease or flirt, and she usually found the evident approaches of men quite annoying. She didn't like when men were so obvious towards their intentions, and it generally felt like they only had one thing in mind. But what happened this morning took her by surprise, she didn't know why or how, but her cheeks flamed when she thought about it again.

A gentle knock on the door drew her attention up. The door opened and he was there leaning against its frame with a small smile and two cups of coffee. He was sipping from one and he offered her the other in a gesture.

"I thought you might like something warm."

She nodded and forced herself to smile, as nervousness usually made her frown. "Thank you."

He walked into the office and gave her the cup, which she held with both hands and took it to her lips. She took a deep breath and her eyes shut down instantly; a few seconds had passed before she opened them again and she found herself blushing as he was smiling down at her.

"I am sorry..." she blurted out. "I find the smell of coffee even more pleasurable than the taste itself... I am weird like that, I guess."

He chuckled and walked back to the door. "You just haven't tasted real coffee. But I agree, sometimes the smell alone of coffee gets me up in the morning."

"It does?" She asked now curious.

He leaned against the door briefly as he nodded. "Yes, there is a bakery and coffee shop two doors down from my building, every morning the whole block can smell what they are doing. At exactly six am on tuesdays and thursdays, they start working on their coffee bean roast, the smell is so intense, it reaches you even with the windows closed."

She smiled widely. "That sounds wonderful."

"I will try to remember to bring you some of their house blend if you would like to try." He said as he took the doorknob and pulled it behind him, almost to a close.

"Thank you, maybe I would like to try it one day." She agreed.

He nodded and then quietly closed her door, leaving her alone with her thoughts once more. She closed her eyes and took another deep breath, she imagined herself waking up to the smell of freshly brewed coffee and a warm pair of arms around her. Her eyes snapped open and her cheeks flushed a deeper shade of red. She had to focus on finishing the files.

It was around noon when Noland finally gave up on his experiment; he had envisioned the full scene develope in front of the renowned hotel, the key witnesses, the way it all began. But the pictures of the scene didn't match the story of the witnesses. It was his job to find the truth before taking any of it to court, so he took this very seriously. No matter how many angles he looked at this, there was no way Crown and Pelletier alone could have done so much damage in what supposedly took less than 5 minutes of fight. He would have to begin a different approach with his client after he talked with Gregory about his thoughts.

He picked up everything he had spread across the table and on the walls; methodically stacking reports with reports, pictures with files, and witnesses statements. Finally, he slid them on the boxes he had previously labeled and then took them to his office. He almost put them on his old desk then he remembered he had moved up on the ranks and chuckled as he walked to the new office. Old habits die hard.

When he was ready to leave, he stood in front of the elevator and thought he should go check on Catherine one last time before he left. Just a wave, to let her know he was leaving. He retraced his steps and headed to her office and knocked. There was no answer. He knocked again and this time he called her name.

"Catherine?" He said as he pushed the door slowly.

He smiled as he saw why she didn't reply; she laid on the couch asleep, a folder over her chest with a hand on top of it, her other hand hanging on the side. He thought she was obsessively cute and he couldn't help himself from staring at her a few minutes. He then walked to the bathroom and pulled out of the cabinet one of the three blankets that her father usually had in storage for winter, the old man was smart enough to put the blankets on his lap and feet in his long working nights. He carefully pulled the folder away from her, lifting with a hand hers, and then leaving the folder on the side table. He made sure the blanket covered as much as possible and caught one glimpse at the thick bracelets she had on her wrists. They were elegant, but didn't match her style, he knew she was forced to wear them.

He stood there, watching her pull tight to the blanket as she fell deeper asleep; he couldn't stop smiling. When he walked out of the room, he dialed Felix's number and waited for him to pick up.

"Hi Noland, how is your weekend going?" He said in a cheering tone.

"Hello Felix. I am doing ok, came by the office to go through some papers, trying to test a theory that didn't work out, you know, studying our new client."

"You will need to take weekends more seriously if you plan to keep up with us." Felix chuckled. "Too much work is not the right way to live life either if you can't enjoy the perks of it."

"What can I say, I am too old to change my ways." He smiled and shook his head.

"Well, it will be a bonus for us then. What can I do for you?" He said slipping his english accent slightly. He usually managed to keep a neutral one but with Noland, talking friendly, there were hints of his origins ever so often.

"Catherine is here too. We were both working here separately. I am about to leave and thought I should mention it to you."

Felix sighed and took a moment before he spoke. "That girl... I will go get her out of that place before it consumes her as it did with her father. Do you mind waiting for me to get there?"

Noland sat in the small private waiting room before her office and picked up more files to entertain himself while he waited for Felix. It was odd, he would usually say no to babysitting someone no matter their age... He usually hated wasting his treasured time, but he found himself comfortable with the role, realizing she wasn't intentionally putting herself at risk, but rather the circumstances just seemed to be against her.

Felix arrived and he stood up to shake his hand. "Thank you again Noland, I am going to find a way to repay you for this, I promise."

He shook his head with a smile. "You don't need to, remember, I did it because it was the right thing to do, and I am glad I was there at the right time to do it. You know me, I am not searching for any other kind of rewards."

Felix nodded as he knew this to be true; Noland had been known always to be an honest and truthful man.

"She fell asleep though... so... if you don't need anything else, I am leaving."

"No, nothing else, thank you again Noland, I will see you on Monday."

"Monday? You are not leaving this weekend?"

"I had to postpone my return; when my friend that works at the police station filed our assault report, he said that Byron disappeared, his whereabouts are unknown. I don't like how that looks, and we can't worry Edmund with this. I am looking after her, although I don't think he would be stupid enough to come at her."

"Does she know?"

"Not yet, I was going to tell her at dinner, she promised to meet me there."

Noland sighed, he was beginning to hate his old boss. "I understand. I promise to keep a closer eye on her as well."

Felix smiled and shook his hand firmly. "I wish there were more of you, thank you again. Have a great weekend."

"I will try. Bye."

On his way to his apartment, he kept thinking Byron had gone insanely desperate to get to the point of harassing Catherine; she was innocent, hardworking, dedicated, beautiful... he blinked in surprise to the course of thoughts he began to have. 'What am I thinking?' He said to himself and tried to shake it off. But then a big smile crawled to his lips as he remembered her beautiful blue eyes rounded wide as they laid on him while he was working on the ceiling grill. He shook his head as his phone began to ring.

"Gregory, your timing is perfect." He admitted as he picked the call.

"Really? What did I won?" Gregory's smirk could be felt through the line.

"We will see about that... I got some things to talk to you about our new stellar case, some things don't match up and we need to review them before court this Monday noon."

"Right... you went to the office again, didn't you..." It was not a question, it was a simple statement. "Buddy you need to get laid or something, you should have come with me to the party... the ladies! Oh my... you missed quite the chance."

Noland chuckled, his friend always tried to set him up after his divorce, over two years ago. He was decent enough to wait around a full month before he started to invite him out and about all around town. The truth was that he didn't see it in himself to go out and try to pick up one night stands, he knew most of his lack of interest was thanks to his ex, who slowly through the years filled him with stress and transformed every single love making experience into a task rather than a pleasurable experience. She would huff or sigh and roll her eyes each time he made an approach, which became a turn off for him, and even though she would open up to him, he felt like he was fucking a ragged doll instead of a human being. Nowadays he got by with watching some porn and jacking off once or twice a week, if he felt like it, and that was all. He never knew why his wife had turned so cold on him through the years, and he gave up trying to figure it out, leaving it at one of those great mysteries of the universe.

"Anyway, want me to stop by your apartment later? You can talk to me that idea of yours before the football starts."

Noland chuckled. "Beer's on the fridge. You call for the pizza."

"See you in an hour!"

On the other side of the city, Catherine sighed as she tried to understand the motives behind Byron's behaviour.

"I strongly suggest you to consider hiring security. It is not a joke, he is serious."

"I am not a big personality uncle Felix. I don't like to draw attention to me. And I know he is serious; I just can't believe how far he is taking this. I don't even understand what he wants."

He put his arm around her and pulled her to his chest, holding her tightly as she snuggled and sighed. "Security is not just for the famous or elite; and you will make me and your father worry if you don't look after yourself more. You need to step in the big girl shoes. As to what he wants, I have no idea, but I he obviously has some information about the new case, and I don't like it. Luckily we have Noland and Gregory in charge of it, and they both are simply the best, they will dig into everything and uncover anything there is to be uncovered before it is too late."

She shifted slightly in his arms at the mention of Noland, her mind instantly transporting to his smile and his toned body earlier at the office.

"What is wrong? Are you feeling ok?" Felix perceived her slight body reaction.

"Nothing uncle..." She blushed but pulled back from his arms and smiled. "Ok, I will take your advice and call for some security company and hire someone."

He smiled and caressed her cheek softly before giving it a light pinch. "Let me help you with that, ok? Then once I am sure you are safe, I can go back to London."

She nodded with a smile; not many knew he was her uncle, and they prefered it that way. The truth was that Felix was Edmund's half brother, and even though they never hid their family ties, they were never openly displaying the proper familiar titles either.

"As for Byron's note on the windshield of my car, do you want me to give it again to that police officer that is friends of yours?" She said while holding the unmistakable handwriting of Byron in paper.

He took the paper out of her hand and read it again out loud. "I know things... Crown's case will be your firm's nightmare soon. You need me Cat. I will be waiting for your call when you see the mess you are all getting into." He then slid it into the envelope it came from, holding it from the tip, he looked around and picked the plastic bag in which they brought their food, he then wrapped the envelope in it, after making sure it was clean, using only the outside of the bag, and then slid it into his pocket. "Good thing about an old crook like me, is that I know the ropes... stacking evidence in a private investigation is going to be the nail in his coffin sooner if not later..."

She sighed shaking her head and smiling at him. In his young days of a teenager, and part young adult, he was often getting himself in trouble and breaking the law, his checkered past definetively proved to his advantage when he went to study law and became a lawyer. Something she strongly admired in him was that he never hid his past to anyone who asked, and he always saw a way to twist things and transform them into something useful.