"So why aren't you opening the door?" August asked, a slight smirk toying at his lips.

"I will I um...I just..." Her statement trailed off and August sighed.

"The Captain doesn't know I'm here. Doesn't want me here either...and he's gonna take your badge if he sees me." August answered for her. "I'll hide. Get the door."

Angela gave him an apologetic look and turned to head for the door.

When she opened it, the Captain raised a curious brow at her. "Is there someone else in here?" He asked, stepping into the room.

Angela quickly shook her head. "No. Of course not."

"Right." He sighed and glanced around the room. "I've been receiving word...or rather, just hearing through the precinct a lot of whispers and quiet conversations. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?" He turned to look at her, raising a thick gray eyebrow.

"No. I don't recall anything." She lied, knowing that all the talk was about August.

He nodded. "Okay. Well if you hear anything, let me know." He spoke.

"Will do."

He nodded once more and left the room, shutting the door quietly behind him.

As soon as he left, Holmes locked the door.

"You lie a lot." August spoke behind her.

She turned to see him seated at her desk. "Where'd you hide?" She asked.

He shrugged. "Oh ya know...somewhere." He answered vaguely.

"Duh. But where?" She pried.

"Doesn't matter. It served its purpose." He shrugged again. "So are we gonna go find Aaliyah Hemlock, or are we just gonna sit here and wait for her to die?" He stood from the chair he was seated in and walked around the desk.

"Yeah. Let's just give the Captain some time to...go back to his office." Holmes nervously spoke. "That was too close."

August rolled his eyes. "Why do you do it?" He asked her.

"Do what?"

"Lie." He answered. "Why do you lie to everyone? To me, to Saunders, to the Captain? Why?"

"We need your help August. You're making this go a lot quicker and quite frankly, the Captain doesn't want you here but you already knew that."

He nodded. "Yeah...So why am I here? Who cares if I can help...it'll end up costing you your badge...just like I lost mine."

Angela sighed. "August..."

He shook his head and gave her a fake smile. "Whatever. It's not that important. Let's go find Aaliyah Hemlock." He waited for Holmes to open the door, which she did, peeking her head out into the busy precinct.

"Okay. Let's go."

The two detectives rushed out, grabbing Saunders on the way to the car.

"Captain's been asking about all the talk." Saunders spoke when they reached the parking lot.

August glanced at Holmes and opened the passenger seat. "Get in, Ang."

She glanced at him and shifted her gaze to Saunders. "I'll explain on the way to Hemlock."

Saunders nodded and claimed the back seat. "Let me guess..." He started once August got in the car. "The Captain didn't actually say August could come back."

Holmes sighed and August nodded. "See, Ang? I told you you're a terrible liar. You've got to stop lying to people...especially your team." August lectures as he backed out of the parking space and began to drive.

Saunders scoffed. "So why are you here then?" He asked August. "If you know that she was lying to you the whole time?"

August cast a glance at him in the rear view mirror. "I can't solve another cat lady case." He admitted, leaving out the critical part of the answer. 'And I still love her....so if she needs my help, no matter how much I pretend not to want to help her, I'll be there.' His mind tacked on. 'I still love her. That's why I keep the ring. That's why I can't hate her for how she treated me.'

"That's all? You can't solve anymore cat lady cases?" Saunders asked.

August shrugged. "Well...what were you expecting to hear, Joshua?"

Saunders shuddered. "Don't call me Joshua." He mumbled.

"Why not? It is your name." August returned.

"See, these are the things I didn't miss." Saunders retorted.

"Wow. I feel the love." August sarcastically tossed in as he stopped the car at the curb of a gray home. He parked, turning the car off. "So, How is this gonna work?"

"We all go...that communicates urgency." Holmes answered.

"Or you know, she'll be terrified." Saunders commented.

"Why would she be-" Holmes started.

"There are three of us...all of us armed." Saunders explained.

"Two of you armed." August corrected. "I'm not allowed a weapon because I'm not on the force." He shrugged.

"So you go." Angela suggested.

"Yeah..." Saunders agreed.

August sighed. "Yeah, okay." He unbuckled his seat belt and opened his car door. "Keys." He called, tossing them for Angela to catch.

She caught them and watched as he shut the door behind him, taking a deep breath and straightening out his suit jacket. He buttoned it, clearing his throat as he started for the door.

Raising a hand, he knocked just loud enough for it to be heard throughout the home.

The door was pulled open a few seconds later to reveal a young woman.

"Good evening, Ms. Hemlock." August greeted. "I'm uh...Detective August."

She raised an eyebrow, scanning his appearance. "Detective, huh?"

He gave a soft nod, smiling slightly when she smiled at him. "Yeah. Well...complicatedly so." He admitted.

"Complicated? How?" She asked.

Her voice was soft, smooth, and calm. He shrugged. "Perhaps a story for another time." He smiled.

"Are you assuming there will be a time other than this?" She asked him curiously.

"Well...I hate to put a damper on the mood but now isn't a good time to share that story." He admitted. "I um....well I have some slightly alarming news."

"Alarming?" She repeated.

"Yes. There is a man out and about in the Los Angeles area." He began shoving his hands in his pocket. "To put it simply, he's a serial killer...and you could possibly be his next victim."

"Possibly? How possible is possibly?" Hemlock asked.

"Uh....98.924%." August answered. "So with that said..I have two other detectives with me on the case and we were thinking of relocating you. Putting you under police protection and making it harder to find you...and impossible to get to you."

"Would you be there?" She asked him.

He gave her a smile. "I mean, I'm not armed so I can't protect." He admitted, raising empty hands in surrender.

"Who said I wanted you there for protection?" She asked.

August raised a curious brow. "Oh?"

"Oh." Aaliyah returned. "So what do you say?"

August chuckled and tugged at his tie lightly, loosening it. "I um...we should probably get you somewhere safe." He answered, avoiding her previous seductive suggestion.

He'd just told this woman that she was the target of a serial killer...and she wanted to have sex with him. Not exactly the response he was expecting.

"Right. Well, I guess I'll go pack. Come in?" She stepped aside and August stepped over the threshold of the home, allowing her to close the door behind him.

Back at the car, Angela was watching the two intently. "She's smiling a lot. Why is she smiling so much?"

Saunders chuckled.

"Is she flirting with him? Is he flirting with her? Why are they smiling so much?" She continued to ask.

"I think someone is a little jealous." Saunders spoke.

"I'm not jealous." She returned, perhaps a little too loud.

"Yeah, okay. You own every right to be. He's your ex of what? Three years?"

"Well...we didn't quite reach the 3rd anniversary." Holmes admitted. "He broke it off a week before."

"So why do you still want him?" Saunders questioned.

"I was the reason we broke up." Angela admitted. "I suggested it...he just executed it."

"So you broke up with him, then?" Saunders asked.

Angela continued to watch the two at the woman's door. Her eyebrow rose when the woman stepped aside to let August in and shut the door behind him.

"They're gonna have sex." She mumbled.

"No they're not." Saunders replied. "That's unprofessional. August is at least professional if nothing else."

Angela raised an eyebrow and cast him a knowing look. "They're gonna have sex." She repeated.

"And that bothers you, huh?" Saunders questioned.

"No." She lied.

Saunders fell quiet. He knew that she was lying, he could see it all over her face. She still loved August, even if she didn't care to admit it.

The door to the home opened shortly after the car fell silent and August rushed out, his suit jacket unbuttoned, his tie off, and his belt unbuckled. He was breathing heavy, his bottom lip busted and his forehead dripping blood.

"What the hell happened in there?" Holmes asked.

"He...he took her." August panted. He took a deep breath and before he could open his mouth to say anything else, he passed out on the concrete beneath him.

Saunders opened his door and drew his gun. "Make sure August is okay. I'm gonna see if he's still around here."

Angela nodded, rushing to August's side and checking his pulse. "You're alive." She mumbled in relief. She examined his face, her eyes lingering on his bloody lip and then raising to the gash on his forehead.

Her eyes lowered to his shirt and she spotted a red spot, seeping through the cut light blue material. Her eyes went wide and she quickly unbuttoned his shirt, her eyes falling to a gash in his side, where it looked like he'd been cut.

She mentally apologized to him for tearing his shirt before she tore the material to press it onto his wound.

Saunders returned shortly after, his eyes falling to the man that lay on the ground. "He put up a good fight for an unarmed man." He spoke. "But from the looks of it, he got cut, hit his head on a mirror, which shattered, and probably took a punch to the lip. Whoever took her was careful....minus the fact that there's blood everywhere. He left however he came. He's long gone."

Holmes frowned. "What do we do with him?"

"Get him to a hospital?" Saunders suggested.

"He's fine. If we take him to the hospital, the Captain will know he was here." She said. "Let's just take him to my house."