The bar was empty aside from the nonfunctional drunks, a bartender and the quiet brunette man sitting at the edge of the counter with his head hung low as he stared into his shot glass as if it held all the answers to the world. Keith stood in the doorway, Lance parked outside listening to Christmas music happily inside a heated environment, doing bell ringing movements with his hands whenever a bell chimed. The stench of liquor and cigar smoke tickled Keith's nose as he placed down twenty dollars, "I'm paying for him." Keith nodded his head towards his quiet junior and the bartender nodded in confirmation.

The silence between him and Antonio wasn't awkward or tense, it was mutual. Antonio's mind had been running wild with hatred towards his senior when he learned that he was connected to Pyxis, and Keith's mind buzzed with endless possibilities of who could be behind all of these killings. "I don't need you to pay for my liquor." Antonio grunted and tilted back the shot glass of what Keith assumed to be vodka.

Keith watched as his junior winced slightly as the liquid was gulped down. "Why did Harry leave?" His question was sudden, no thought was put into it and he didn't even realize he had asked until Antonio looked at him with annoyance.

"He didn't want anything to happen to his family and anyways, he was getting too old to even be in the agency." He stated bluntly.

'Did Harry somehow know beforehand that Pyxis was only going to target families?' Keith frowned and began to stare at his hands as he fiddled with his fingers in stress. What gave Harry the impression over that before the recent killing? He had dealt with serial killers before without worrying about his family's safety.

"Aren't you worried that Pyxis might attack Lance or your friends sometime soon? Are any of them having kids or something Mr.Kogane?" Antonio sighed and set down the glass for the bar tender to fill it back up with his alcohol of choice.

Keith looked up and met his coworkers eyes in concern, of course he was afraid of something happening to his friends, but none were expecting. The thought of seeing them at his next crime scene created a gut wrenching feeling deep inside of his body that made him want to throw up. He couldn't let that happen to them, thankfully Pidge and Hunk weren't in the downtown city area but however Shiro, Allura, and Lance weren't as lucky. Since Pyxis had an interest in Keith, it made those three vulnerable to any attacks. With Shiro always working, Pyxis could start a fire that forced Shiro to leave Allura home alone and ripe for the killing. Keith knew Shiro could handle himself just fine in a fight, the man had always been fit even in college so he didn't think Shiro would lose against such a ruthless killer. But the one thing he couldn't help but shiver at the thought of, Lance fighting the killer. Lance, the cat lady stuck in a young man's body who likes to name his pets punny names and cuddle fluffy stuff while he dances and sings like an idiot, he would never last more than ten seconds in a fight with Pyxis if the police couldn't find him soon.

Lance was lanky, even if he did work out a little he would be no match to the man who destroyed an entire house fighting a grown adult alone. Lance was too much of a cinnamon roll in Keith's eyes, though he wasn't innocent (definitely not innocent) he was still too much of a softy to fight someone. He was all talk but no fight.

"Why wouldn't I be afraid, Pyxis knows my identity and he's probably looked into my past," Keith felt himself beginning to visibly shake slightly as he replied to his apprentice, "they use the stars and families to taunt me. They must know who my friends are and who my significant other is...the thought of them being hurt because of me makes me want to kill the bastard."

"Any sane person would think that Keith, but you're not all there in the head are you?" Antonio's words stopped his shaking suddenly, his attention was caught like a fish on a hook as he slowly met those cold brown eyes that stared deep into his soul. "When I read you the note Pyxis left for you, you reacted by becoming frightened; it was as if it had made memories surface. What were they?" He watched the man lean closer to stare at Keith. He was definitely toying with the black haired detective sitting next to him, that much could be seen with how he looked at Keith with amusement.

Keith fixed his tie slightly as he swallowed back air. "The answer to the question was suicide. Suicide is something we all hold personal feelings towards; some of us have lived through it, others have watched it happen around them." Keith closed his eyes for a moment and let out a shaky breath, "The point being, I'll tell you what you need to know about why I reacted how I did when the time comes. Currently," he opened his purple eyes slowly and stood up, "it is a personal matter and personal matters stay out of the work place...so if you'll excuse me I'll be heading home in order to rest a bit."

"Before you go here," As Keith turned to walk out of the bar, Antonio grabbed Keith's wrist and slid a photo into his pocket without meeting his eyes. "It's the picture of the vase you asked Irene to retrieve. It was on her desk but she didn't seem like she intended on bringing it to your office anytime soon so I just took it for myself."

"So you stole evidence?" Keith asked as he glared down at his subordinate.

"I borrowed it, it was meant to be given to our team in the end wasn't it?" He asked as he released his grip, "try to sleep well, I'm going to call a cab soon." He stated before tipping back another glass.

"Right...thanks." Keith mumbled and left the bar without a second thought.

~~~~~

"Christmas music is really cool you know, it's all cheery and cute and it gets you into the mood to be gracious." Lance talked loudly over the song Jingle Bells as he carefully guided the car through the city as it hailed.

The hail wasn't a concern for drivers, it wasn't any larger than marbles and weren't dense enough to put dents in a car. Keith was thankful for that most definitely, he didn't want to experience two separate tragedies that night by having his car become completely destroyed by mother nature. "No," Keith grumbled, "Christmas music is horrible and repetitive." He slowly pulled out the photo Antonio had slid into his pocket and stared down at it quietly.

"You don't like Christmas?" Lance asked him, he sounded as if Keith had just stabbed him in the back like the conspirators did to Caesar; he sounded betrayed.

Lance was always overdramatic but that night for some reason, the fact he was completely ignoring that Keith had gone to a crime scene to look at a dead family and went to the hospital to speak to an orphan really grinded his gears. He hated Christmas more than any soul should, it was his least favorite time of year where he just wanted to tear down those cheesy decorations and call the radio station to make them stop playing those god awful tunes that made him want to bang his head on the wall. He clenched his jaw slightly, he examined the photo carefully as he continued to think about Christmas to himself. It had been three days before the widely celebrated holiday would've blessed his family but he remembered how he had found all of his stuff outside in containers sitting on the snow with a note telling Keith he wasn't welcomed anymore in Jared's home. It was his wife's handwriting, Mary had the most beautiful script when she wrote notes; whenever she pretended to be Santa for him and Abigail as children she would write the longest note to thank them for the Christmas cookies they baked from scratch just for the make believe figure kids admired. His heart ached at the nostalgia, he never thought much about those days because he had no right to, what he did to the family that had welcomed him with their arms wide open had been horrible and left them with once bright and warm eyes that turned cold and dead.

"No, I hate Christmas..." He mumbled and slouched down into the leather seat where he sat.

Lance flashed him a crestfallen face. "You suck the fun out of everything don't you? First you don't want me to play my music in the car-"

"Because listening to your Spanish music or pop music on repeat is the worst form of torture anyone can bestow upon me." Keith cut off Lance with a bilious face as he narrowed his eyes.

Lance threw his left hand into the air and stuck out his bottom lip, "Okay, first off Mr. 'I'm Smarter Than Everyone Else' I think that Bomba Estereo is amazing! And don't you dare talk poorly about my girl Ariana, she's amazing and beautiful just like her voice!" Lance defended himself and glared down at Keith, "My music is better than that stupid Korean pop or Japanese- whatever the hell it is, they all sound the same to me dammit!"

"Yeah because The Beatles and Led Zeplin sound Asian." Keith said sarcastically, not wanting to admit to Lance that he did in fact actually listen to Asian music like he was inferring. "Now shut up and drive, I'm not in the mood to talk about such childish things with you."

Without hesitation Lance fired a question at Keith that took him completely off guard, "Fine if you want a serious question, are those papers on that woman in your office about your real mother?"

Keith looked at him with wide eyes and felt his heart drop into his stomach, "You...you looked in my desk?" He asked in a weak voice. His eyebrows slowly dipped into a frown as he nearly crumbled the photo in his hand in anger and frustration that hit him suddenly. "I told you not to go into my office!" Keith shouted as he pushed himself to sit perfectly straight in his seat.

Lance placed his hand back onto the steering wheel and rolled his eyes, "Yeah you did but I needed a box cutter at the time and that was the only place I could find one. Sorry for invading your privacy, I didn't look at anything else you had in there if it means anything to you. The box cutter was just sitting on top of her file and curiosity got the best of me." He looked guilty as his gaze softened slight and he sighed to himself, "Who is she anyways, she looks so familiar..."

"Areum Lanner, she's the wife of the cities mayor here. They have three kids together and she seems to have cleaned up her act finally..." Keith jerked his head to look out the window as he fell silent, it wasn't a topic he wanted to talk about but he understood Lance wasn't going to let it go so easily.

Lance slowly led the car down slightly as he looked out the windshield with sympathy. "I'm sorry Keith, but I bet she's still that same mother who cared deeply for you back when you were a kid; even if she traded her rags in for those beautiful dresses she wears all the time."

"Yeah, are we still talking about the same woman? My mother 'cared deeply' about me, enough to trade me for a few ounces of drugs just to aid her in her addiction." Keith mocked Lance rudely and brought the photo back up to his face to signify that he was done with the conversation about him and his past. The only reason he brought it up was because he believed he owed Kouki anything he asked for; after all he was the reason why he was an orphan now.

"Whatever Keith, believe what you want but-"

"Can you just shut up?" Keith exclaimed as the Latino boy distracted him from his work, "You never know how to shut your mouth do you! For one night can I just be able to think to myself without you breathing down my neck about stupid stuff? I want to solve this case and go back to how my life was before all of this even happened!" Keith suddenly shouted causing Lance to flinch slightly at the wheel, in his outburst Keith glared at the radio and pushed the off button viciously, "And for the love of god keep this stupid music off!"

The only noises heard within the car were the muffled sounds of the working engine and the heavy breathing of Keith as he glared at Lance in anger, "You don't know anything Lance, I wish you would just shut the hell up for once because your immaturity is just so god dammed annoying!"

Keith felt as if all his problems had been tossed to the wind at that moment, he felt powerful now that he released the stress that had built up inside of his body for the past week. But when he saw how dejected Lance looked as he bit his bottom lip, his momentary happiness faded away and got replaced with guilt. Lance's blue eyes were watery as he sniffed quietly to himself. "Lance I-"

Lance shook his head vigorously to silence the man beside him who stared at him with a woeful face. "No you're right Keith, I don't know anything. I should just shut up." He tightened his grip on the steering wheel and clenched his jaw, "But if you want to go back to how you life was before then that means we would be just friends again."

The reality of what Keith had yelled about hit him like a ton of bricks suddenly, he had told Lance he wanted to be by himself again, to be single and alone in his cold and colorless apartment that Lance had brought light to only three nights ago. Keith felt his body go numb as he stared and Lance with a blank expression. He didn't feel anything about that statement Lance had said, did he really never even like the man he was destined to be with? Was it just like one of his highschool hookups? It had to be, but he could read Lances face and actions and understand it wasn't like that for him. His face was dark as he bit his bottom lip and held back his tears from falling down his tan cheeks. His blue eyes were dull as he gently steered the car with a tight grip on the wheel.

Keith reached out slowly to touch Lance's shoulder, "Lance I didn't mean to say-"

"I didn't really like you romantically from the start anyways, I thought we had to act like a couple because you know 'it was destined' and all." The man laughed forcefully as he smiled too widely.

Keith pulled his hand back and understood what he was doing, there was no going back from this now that he had sealed the deal with his following words. "It was the same for me too Lance."

The only response he got was Lance squeezing his eyes shut in sadness before opening them back up to allow a tear to fall down his cheek. "We're gonna be good roommates huh?" Lance stated before reaching over and flipping the radio back on to show he was done with the conversation.

Keith felt guilty as he turned his attention back to the photo; it pained him too much to see his friend so upset. He stared at the photo as the silence between the two of them was ironically replaced by Silent Night. The family on the photo looked so gleeful as they smiled happily, the wife with her rosey cheeks looked directly at the camera, her eyes barely seen from her squinting. Behind them was the missing vase that looked expensive, it was blue and clear, most likely only for decoration much like any normal vase in someone's home that wasn't occupied by flowers.

He slowly turned the picture over in hopes to find something about when the picture was taken or who took the photo at the most but instead he was greeted by Russian writing on it in neat handwriting. Keith stared at it in confusion as his eyes floated over the different letters, none of it meant anything to him since he didn't know the language. Below it laid an English sentence in a less appealing writing.

'Waterford house of wicker vase.' It read, the handwriting was describing the vase from what Keith could piece together but both the Russian and English handwriting were by two completely different people and neither of them Keith recognized. He shoved it into his pocket and looked out the window, it was going to be tough translating the Russian but it was part of his job and it was better than going to the apartment with his roommate.

"Bring me to my office, I'm spending the night there."