Note: Wow, it's been a while – I can't believe that I haven't posted in so long! Here is another chapter to let you all know I'm still alive! I do have at least nine more chapter to post but I will be going through EVERYTHING all over again to make sure it's all up to snuff, since I haven't even looked at this fic in a while.

Not beta read. Any mistakes are my own. I know there is some OOCness but let's just chalk it up to my artistic license as a writer!

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Chapter One

I wasn't that far off on my estimation. It took five days to catalogue all the body parts, from heads to toes: what could be found of them that is. And that was with me prodding Masuka into working double the usual pace and through our normal breaks, excluding lunch.

Going his usual pace would have tacked another two or three days on to that, and that would have been a nightmare. As it was we wound up spending 10 working hours in that morgue - I was starting to see double from all the squinting and my wrist was aching from all the writing. So when we finally finished on that fifth day it was a relief to leave the portable morgue for the silence and safety of my apartment.

I looked forward to taking a nice long shower, maybe throwing back a bottle of beer while I watched an old movie, before falling into bed early and sleeping late the next morning.

But you know what they say about best-laid plans and all that. Almost as soon as I got in and toed off my shoes to get ready for that much-needed shower Rita was at my door with Astor and Cody. It was just turning ten, way too late for them to be out for anything other than an emergency – and that was confirmed by the dry tears on Rita's face.

"What happened?" I ushered them in despite my fatigue and she quickly settled the groggy half-asleep kids on my couch. She pulled me to my bedroom and closed the door behind us.

"Paul stopped by." Paul. Ex-husband. Right. I had almost forgotten about him. "He was drunk. He wanted to see the kids."

"It's past their bedtime." I pointed out. She let out a choked laugh.

"I had to coax him into my room to shut him up, and he tried to rape me. Again. I hit him with a bat." Wait, she what? And then she was crying again before I could consider that statement. Softly, but it still made me uncomfortable. She folded into my waiting arms and I just patted her back until she calmed.

"It'll be okay. We'll file a report first thing in the morning. Until then, you and the kids can stay here with me. We'll get the locks on your door changed and I'll figure out something to keep him away." She nodded into my chest. "I'll get the cot out – you can get them settled on who sleeps where." Cody wound up on the cot, Astor on the couch, and Rita slept in my bed in my arms. She wasn't hurt, thankfully, but she was very upset. Which made me upset.

Paul had to be dealt with, and soon.

How frustrating.

My cell phone woke me up the next morning just as the sun was rising. Rita rolled over as I answered it with a groggy hello. "Fucking-A Dex." Good morning to you, too, Debra. "This case just went fucking national. The fucking FBI sent their best agents in to – "

"Wait, what? Slow down." I blinked the sleep away and sat up.

"Aren't you listening?" She sounded frustrated. Sorry, Deb.

"You just woke me up, I had a late night last night. Sorry. Repeat, please."

"The fucking FBI is in town." Well, this was not good. "The samples Masuka sent in when you guys finished last night? There are over 20 fucking sources. At least. I think LaGuerta said upward 30." Again – 46, but I'm not counting. "This is reaching Ted Bundy proportions, here, Dex! It attracted the FB fucking I. Fuck! Anyways, I just got the call from the Captain. Meeting at ten – they told me to tell you to be there along with Masuka." I glanced at the clock. Barely six. Only Deb would be this enthusiastic about waking me up so early.

"And you had to call me now to tell me, and not in another hour or two?" There was a rustling on the other end of the phone as I grumbled.

"Who are you talking to, Debs?" I tilted my head as another voice came over the phone. A male voice, rough with sleep. And was he calling her 'Debs'? It sent a chill down my spine that I couldn't figure out. Deb tried to cover the phone, but the male voice seemed to perk up and suddenly I wasn't talking to Deb anymore. "Dexter! You know, I've been waiting weeks to meet you. For some reason Deb won't set us up."

"Rudy! Give me the damn phone!" So this was Rudy Cooper, Deb's latest boyfriend. Huh.

"Hi, Rudy. I'm sorry about my sister, she can be a little stubborn." I heard her cursing in the background, probably me because I was the one dragging my feet when it came to meeting her boyfriend-of-the-month. What can I say, I'm a cynic – so far she hadn't kept one for very long and our meetings where always so… uncomfortable. "Maybe we can meet for lunch some time this week." I offered. "Have her bring you by the station, unless we get road blocked by the Feds." He laughed, and it sounded almost familiar.

How confusing. It was too early for this.

"I'll try to do that." He promised, and then Deb was back, saying a hasty good-bye, and I was left to shush Rita back to sleep. But now that I was awake, I couldn't go back to sleep myself. And getting up would wake the kids. I would have to lie there. Boring.

Rita woke at seven and I started breakfast while she roused the kids. I made them pancakes – I was the master at pancakes, having made them weekly for family dinners since I was able to reach the stove – before changing into some clean clothes and calling the precinct to report Paul. At eight, a patrol car stopped by to pick Rita and the kids up and I assured Rita of her safety. "I have a huge meeting – that Butcher case – so I can't be there, but Officer Roy will check over your home and stay with you until you can get the kids somewhere safe. I'll call someone to replace your locks by this evening."

"Okay. Thank you, Dexter." She pulled me down into a hug and a brief kiss. "Talk to you tonight?"

"I'll try to come over." I promised. When they where gone I tidied up the apartment before getting my stuff together and heading to the donut shop to pick up double my usual order – who knew if the Feds would want some donuts, I wasn't going to chance it in case they did – and finally pulling in to the station. The lot now housed several black SUVs. Navigators. How very not subtle of them.

Typical Feds.

I buzzed myself in, offering the receptionist a donut as per usual, before taking the elevator up to homicide division. Where Deb was waiting to snag a donut, beating a close-second Masuka to one of the crullers. I took pity on him and showed him the other box, and he grabbed one of those crullers with a grin. "So the FBI took over our conference room." Deb said as some of the other officers came over to grab their morning snack.

"I saw the cars."

"Fucking show offs." She mumbled. "They've got four of their top agents in there – including Frank fucking Lundy – and they brought in a team of their own analysts." I frowned.

"Sorry Dex, but they took over your lab." Masuka said around his cruller. My lip twitched at the thought. Oh, they wouldn't find anything incriminating in there, that's not what I was worried about, but I strongly disliked my system being messed with. Order turned to chaos. It would take a while to re-do everything AND get the stench of Fed out. "Don't look so put out. They took mine, too." He didn't sound too happy either. Good.

"They even brought in their top team of profilers. Fucking profilers!" I froze in the act of putting my burden on her desk. Profilers? "Can you fucking believe it? We have a case that caught their attention!" Profilers where only brought in on the high profile cases – serial cop killers, snipers, terrorists… and apparently regular serial killers with high body counts.

Whip smart on their own, deadly as a team: many serial killers where brought down by profilers. Things just went from shit to fucking shit, as Deb would say.

"Sounds interesting." I said half-heartedly. "Think they want any donuts?" Before Deb or Masuka could say anything, LaGuerta appeared with Captain Matthews at her side. She scanned the quieting room.

"Okay. I need everyone to join us in the conference room." She said sternly. "Everyone that works this floor – that includes you, Dexter. And Masuka. Everyone." Deb and I shared a look and followed the small crowd to the conference room.

"So, Rudy sure sounded interesting over the phone – when are you going to bring him by?" I whispered as we filed in. Deb elbowed me in response and I huffed as we found seats. I recognized Frank Lundy at the front of the room, but not the other three agents. LaGuerta and Matthews joined the agents as everyone settled in for a long meeting.

And by long, I mean last-the-whole-day-without-getting-anywhere long. The entire meeting kept me on the edge of my seat, but as it turned out that they where just getting started here. I don't know why I expected anything else – they'd only been in Miami for less than a day.

Other than a body count they had nothing to go on – they where still sorting out DNA and getting names. Masuka and I where assigned to help their people assemble the bodies as names and DNA profiles faxed in – the detectives and officers where going to start researching as the names came in. Calling around, talking to family, getting records.

Other than that it was a lot of hot air – blowing steam – and telling everyone to stay vigilant and out of the news. There was no mention of the profilers, but as I filed out with everyone else I could see one of the smaller interview rooms closed off. They must have been holed up in there, doing who knows what. It made me nervous.

"Dex!" I flinched as Deb took a hold of my arm. "So, thanks to you Rudy is demanding I bring him by for lunch this coming week. I told him you would be too fucking swamped with bodies for the next few days, but he suggested a Friday lunch. That gives you four days to play with the bodies with Masuka. That work for you?"

"Uhm, yeah. Sure. Lunch on Friday sounds great. Just warn me before you pop up so I can, you know, clean up. It's pretty messy in there." I agreed. Then, I said louder: "Donuts on Officer Morgan's desk if anyone wants one!" Because I wasn't taking them home and none of the Feds looked friendly enough to offer any to. I hoped they heard me.

"Come on Dex, we can get a few things started in the temp morgue." Masuka stole me from Deb and I went along with him, snatching my bag on the way. It was only four; I could work for another hour or two before I had to go over to Rita's. Remembering Rita and her lock problem, I put in a quick call to a lock guy and secured an appointment at her house for seven that night.

The temp morgue was exactly as I had last seen it, only now there where five other lab geeks – the Fed team, apparently - surrounding the fax machine and several large dry erase boards around the perimeter. As Masuka and I suited up, Frank Lundy appeared and started walking amongst the tables. He was almost as unsettling as the still-missing profilers. Masuka and I joined the other geeks by the fax machine.

"Okay," The tallest Fed Geek said as we arrives. "Names are coming in slow but we have a few. What we're going to do is label the tables with the names we do have, and then start swapping body parts."

"Sounds easy enough." I said as we where handed lists. Three names. Next to each name was the number of each corresponding body part. "How do we do this?" Only three names so far, and seven of us.

"I'll man the fax machine in case anything comes in. Break into pairs and pick a name." Okay. I paired with Masuka out of habit and we got to work assembling Rick Jensen. Slowly, bodies started to emerge from the carnage and by six we had the three bodies more or less together. Some pieces where missing, probably never to be seen again thanks to the great big ocean.

I took my leave of the Geeks and headed over to Rita's place to meet the locksmith. Rita was already home, and I shouldn't have been all that surprised to find her crying again. I could barely understand her as I sit her down at the kitchen table, but the gist of it was that Paul was now claiming that she attacked him. That she invited him in and then whacked him one for no reason.

The bastard was trying to get partial custody of the kids and was claiming her to be unstable. Or so said the report filed at the station mere hours after I had called in that morning.

Bastard.

Even as the locks where changed and I dialed up my own attorney – yeah, I had one, Miami Metro policy for all employees – I fumed. Rita and the kids may be my cover, but I had grown to like them in my own way. Like with Deb, any feelings I had centered around them. Paul had to go. And I had to plan.

But first I had to comfort my girlfriend and her kids. The kids where easy enough to distract – pull out a deck of cards and just start playing. Go Fish, War, I even started to teach them some poker. We used bottle caps to bet with. Rita, however, watched us with sad eyes so when we finally put the kids to bed it was time to put on the caring boyfriend mask.

"Nothing is going to happen." I assured her, only half sure myself. Without knowing what I would do with Paul, it was hard to assure her of anything. "It's his word against yours and even if he has is AA/NA sponsor behind him, you're the battered wife – sorry! – here and he has a rep so his word isn't going to hold up very well." She folded into my arms.

"I just wish he would go away."

"Well, life doesn't work that way. I wish it did." I murmured. What a liar I was sometimes. "We'll just have to make sure we don't give him any ammunition to use against us. And my lawyer is pretty good. I mean, his reputation is. I haven't actually had to use him yet." I admitted. "We'll figure something out. Paul won't get the kids, and he won't do anything to you either."

"How did I manage to find such a nice guy?" She asked as she hugged me. Me? A nice guy? Right. "Thank you. For sticking with me through all of this. You could have left us so easily. Especially now that Paul is actually out. I still can't believe he came over here and threatened you!"

"What kind of boyfriend would I be if I just upped and left when things got rough?" I tilted her chin up and kissed her. "And he didn't so much threaten me as remind me that he was around and unwilling to lay down for me to bulldozer him. I didn't actually feel threatened." I assured her as she relaxed. "I can stay late, tonight, so do you want to watch a movie?" I asked when I pulled back.

She nodded, so I turned the TV on and found a comedy that she would enjoy. I settled back to just relax for the next hour and a half and then I would take my leave of them and go home. Maybe to finally get some rest.

TBC

Rough Count

Pages: 8

Words: 2,729