Author's Note: Hello! I cannot believe how long it has been, I am so so sorry. Anyway, I finally found the motivation to write these characters again, so here's the next chapter! Already began work on the next, so hopefully it won't take as long, haha.

Recap: Cress and Thorne went undercover as a married couple to a gala to try and apprehend Ran Kesley's murderer. They ended up kissing and becoming injured by the killer. Cinder thanked Thorne for protecting Cress, and the two are friends now.

"So yeah, that's the story of how Cinder and I met," Thorne finished, grinning around at the table before him.

"It was not nearly that glamorous," Cinder stated, eating another onion ring. "For one, there was no army involved."

Thorne gasped, covering his heart with his hand. "Cinder! Are you doubting my truthfulness?"

"Of course she is, you criminal mastermind," Scarlet said, reaching over Cinder for the ketchup.

"You've got to admit," Iko smirked. "You don't have the best track record."

Thorne let out another indignant gasp of shock. He turned to the woman next to him, "Cress! Can you believe these accusations your friends are throwing at me?"

"Absolutely," Cress smiled, and the whole table laughed as Thorne pouted, pulling the basket of fries closer to himself. "Plus, I'm pretty sure I still have the video footage from that day saved somewhere in evidence, if you want me to pull it back up and verify your story?"

Thorne choked on the fry he was chewing, then took a giant gulp of soda. "No, thanks Cress, that's okay."

"You guys are funny," Winter giggled, resting her arms on the table and stealing an onion ring from Scarlet's plate. "We should really work together more often. This was very fun."

"Yeah, minus the criminal stuff," Cinder grimaced.

Winter nodded, stealing a fry off of Cinder's plate. Cinder scowled, but didn't say anything.

Wolf cleared his throat, drawing all of the attention toward him. "I just wanted to thank you all once again for what you did for my brother. My wife and I are very thankful we had such hard-working detectives on the case."

"It was our honor," Winter nodded at the couple. "And our sincerest apologies about your brother."

Wolf gave a solemn nod, and the group was quiet for a few moments. Wolf cleared his throat then addressed the group. "So, what other cases are you working on now?"

Iko heaved a groan, effectively breaking the tension and causing everyone to relax. "Nothing, unfortunately. Lots of paperwork."

"That's not true," Cinder stated. "Well, the paperwork part is, but we do have other, minor cases we're working. Tax fraud, stuff like that."

"Nothing exciting," Iko lamented.

Cinder grimaced. "Yeah."

"Well, that's a bummer," Thorne gave a deep sigh.

Winter looked at the group, "What actual police work do you have to do for those cases? Isn't it mostly tracking a virtual money trail?"

"Yes," Cress stated, sitting up a little straighter. "I track all the online activity, compile it for the team, and they make the arrest."

"See?" Iko waved her hand. "Boring."

"But much less boring than trying to clean and sell an apartment," Scarlet stated, glancing over at Wolf. "Which we're going to have to get started on as soon as this lunch is over."

There were collective sympathies expressed around the table. Everyone knew cleaning out Ran's old apartment couldn't be easy, but Cinder was happy to note that they seemed ready and willing to move beyond the pain and continue to live their lives.

"What Scarlet means is that we're going to prolong this lunch as long as possible," Wolf laughed, a deep grumble coming out of his throat. "Because cleaning is not the most exciting activity in the world. Who's up for dinner then?"

Iko nodded at the couple. "Perfect for me. The more partying, the less paper-working."

Thorne winked at Iko, "I like the way you think."

Iko grinned at him, and Cinder rolled her eyes. Just then, her phone buzzed. She sighed, looking at the number who had texted her. She pushed her almost-empty basket of onion rings to the center, where Wolf quickly reached over and grabbed the rest. Cinder stood up, locking eyes with Iko. The other girl nodded.

"Sorry guys, but we've got another case." Cinder waved her phone around, and Iko stood up, shrugging on her coat.

"Ooh, exciting!" Winter clapped. "Be careful."

"We will," Cinder nodded, then slapped some cash on the table.

Wolf and Scarlet immediately protested. "No, no, it's our treat," Wolf insisted, pushing the cash back toward Cinder.

"You did so much to help us, this is the least we can do," Scarlet said, making eye contact with everyone around the table."

"Thank you," Cinder replied.

"Hopefully we can do this again sometime," Cress added, pushing her chair back. "It was a lot of fun getting to meet you all properly."

"Agreed," Winter smiled.

"It's a plan," Scarlet confirmed.

"Wonderful," Thorne winked at the table. "Look forward to seeing you all again soon!"

The team waved to Winter, Scarlet, and Wolf as they left the tavern and headed toward Cinder's car.

"I call shotgun," Iko stated, already hopping into the front seat.

"Guess it's you and me in the back, huh?" Thorne grinned, nudging Cress with his elbow.

"Careful Thorne," Cinder admonished, causing both Cress and Thorne to blanch and move a step away from each other. "The doctor said Cress's injuries are still healing and that she should take it easy. No nudges."

"Of course," Thorne stated, his grin sobering.

Cress let out a sigh. "Thank you for the concern Cinder, but it's been two weeks. Really, all the wounds are pretty much healed by now. I think I can take a friendly nudge." Thorne glanced at her then away, opening the car door and slipping inside, Cress doing the same on the opposite side of the car.

"Hey, I'm just repeating what the doctor told me," Cinder defended as she turned on the car. "I don't want to risk my friend's heath ever again. Plus, if Cress is sick again, she won't be able to work her tech magic for us, and we'll lose one of our most valuable assets in apprehending criminals."

Thorne gave a gasp of shock, causing Cress to giggle. "I thought you said my charm and good looks were the greatest asset to this team?" Cinder rolled her eyes. "Or Iko's stellar ability to find the best desserts in the city. Not to mention Cress's unlimited supply of caffeine." Cress giggled harder, and Iko reached back to high-five Thorne, which he returned gleefully.

"Let's be honest here, Cinder's unparalleled leadership is the real asset to the team," Iko added. The others confirmed their agreement, and Cinder smiled, shaking her head.

"You guys are too much."

"You love it," Iko grinned at her friend.

"Maybe a little."

"Uh-huh," Iko smiled, slipping on her sunglasses. "So, what's the newest case?"

"Not sure yet," Cinder replied. "My boss just told us to come into the office immediately. Apparently this case is labeled as Very Important. He said he'll be sending the files to your tablet Cress, so you can check it when we get back to the office."

Iko wiggled in her seat. "This case is going to be so much better than paperwork!"

Cinder looked over at her friend, fighting back a smile. "You know, you'll eventually have to do the paperwork right?"

Iko pouted. "But that doesn't mean I can't postpone it as much as possible."

Cinder grinned. "Fair. Oh, and speaking of paperwork and finishing up cases," Cinder spoke a bit louder, addressing the duo in the back of the car. "Cress and Thorne, would you mind running through the unedited recording of you two from the gala with me? The edited recording you gave me to use as evidence against Strom was amazing Cress, but I think running through all the footage with you two would make sure you didn't miss something, and that way you can give me any insights on any nonverbal clues you might have picked up from Strom. Does that sound good? I figured I would wait to ask until we were all recovered from the event before running through it."

"Allof the recording you want to run through?" Cress asked. Her voice was higher than usual.

"I mean," Thorne gave a nervous-sounding laugh. "Is that necessary? I'm sure Cress caught all the important stuff in the edited version she sent you."

"I know, but it's best to double check, especially for a case this important."

"Right," Cress said, not at all sounding confident in what she said. "But um, well, it will probably take a lot of time, there's lots of things on the recording, and it might, well, be hard to get through it all? Together? Unedited?"

Iko turned around in her seat, looking at the two in the back. "Are you guys hot? Your faces are awfully red. I can turn up the air conditioner if you want."

Thorne spluttered out a cough and Cress made a strangled sound. "Nope, nope, we're good," Cress quickly assured her friend.

"You sure?"

"Uh-huh," Thorne replied.

Iko narrowed her eyes. "Why are you two acting so weird about this? Is there something on that recording you don't want us to know about?" Iko wiggled her eyebrows, grinning widely at the two."

"No!" Cress squeaked out at the same time Thorne shouted "Absolutely not!"

"I mean," Thorne amended, "Why would you ever think such a thing?" He gestured between Cress and himself. "Cress and I are just friends, obviously. I would never dream of doing something ungentlemanly, especially if, uh, the situation was super dire."

Iko squinted at Thorne. "Did you just use the word ungentlemanly?"

"Uh, yes, yes I did." Thorne pulled at his collar, shooting a glance over to Cress.

"You're right Iko," Cinder stated. "Thorne is definitely acting weird. You two want to tell me what's on that unedited recording you don't want me knowing about?"

"Nothing!" Cress responded quickly. Iko stared at Cress, her eyebrows raising. Cress blushed, looking down.

Cinder directed her efforts on Thorne. "Thorne, if you don't tell me right now, I'm sending you back to prison."

Thorne looked at Cress, "She wouldn't, right?"

"She would," Cinder responded.

Thorne's face was white. He clenched his fists, as if physically preparing himself for the wrath of Cinder and Iko that was to come. "Fine. Cress and I, uh we—"

"—had a run in with Liam Kinney!" Cress blurted out. The car immediately fell silent.

"Why didn't you want us to know Cress?" Iko asked, her voice much softer. Cinder used the rearview mirror to look back at Cress as she scrunched her shoulders together, pressing herself against the seat of the car. "Are you okay? He didn't hurt you, did he?"

"No, he didn't hurt me. Just wanted me to work for the band again, but I told him no. And I didn't want you to worry. Everything's fine, really."

"Okay," Cinder replied hesitantly, parking the car in the office parking lot. "But if he contacts you again, or anything, let us know immediately, okay?"

Cress nodded, and the group left the vehicle and walked into the FBI headquarters.

It was a quiet walk up to their offices, and Cinder heaved a sigh as they got to their floor.

"Hey honey," came a voice to Cinder's right. She saw Kai, grinning like a madman, sitting in an empty desk chair and looking impeccable in an original Emperor Clothing suit. "Ready to get to work?"

"Kai!" Iko screeched. He stood up just in time for Iko to practically tackle him in a hug.

"Iko," Kai grinned, hugging Iko back. "Lovely to see you, as always."

Iko stepped back, "And you're just as handsome, as always."

Kai chucked, blushing a bit, before going over to Cinder and giving his stunned girlfriend a kiss on the cheek. "Hey honey," he repeated again.

Cinder blinked. "Kai? What are you doing here? And drop the honey, pet names are still a no."

Kai gave a pout, which only caused Cinder to smile, as it was quite adorable. "No, actually, it's about your latest case. The victim's a good friend of mine, and I thought you guys might like some expert information."

"Hold up," Thorne stated, breaking into the conversation and holding his hands up in a time out signal before Cinder could question Kai further.

"Oh," Kai started, looking a bit bashful. "My apologies, I was so distracted by Cinder I completely forgot to introduce myself. I am Kai, the boyfriend to this beautiful woman beside me." Kai then looked over, and gave Cress a smile. "And hello again to you Cress."

"Hi Kai," Cress waved in response.

Meanwhile, Thorne was still staring at the group like an amateur thief caught in the middle of a robbery. "This is The Kai?"

"Oh, I get a capitalized The before my name," Kai smiled, wiggling his eyebrows at Cinder, who snorted.

"If I knew all it would take to make Thorne practically speechless was showing you to him, I would have brought about this meeting ages ago," Cinder said.

Now it was Kai's turn for his eyes to bug out of his head, "This is the criminal mastermind Carswell Thorne?!"

"Devilishly handsome criminal mastermind," Thorne was swift to correct. Cinder rolled her eyes.

"You have got to stop saying that. You've said those words as least twenty times this past week."

"Can't help repeating what's true."

"That's debatable," Cinder deadpanned.

"So Kai is actually Cinder's boyfriend?" Thorne asked the group. "And why did you think it necessary to keep me in the dark about this information?"

Cinder sighed, running a hand over her ponytail. "At first I didn't think it was good to give you any more information about my personal life than you already had, but eventually you not knowing who Kai was became an inside joke and too funny to actually end your misery.

"And Cress and I just followed Cinder's lead," Iko added. "It was pretty funny."

"Evil, all of you," Thorne eyed the group. Then he coughed, straightening out the buttons on his suit jacket. "Regardless of your scheming girlfriend," Thorne addressed. "It's great to finally meet you."

"Likewise," Kai replied, stepping up to shake Thorne's hand. "I've heard so much about you."

"Wish I could say the same," Thorne grumbled, and the women laughed.

"Did you really manage to steal a painting from Burke's private collection, the most heavily guarded residence on the planet?" Kai asked, his eyes gleaming.

Thorne gave a smirk, "Allegedly."

Iko translated, "Code for absolutely, yes, I totally did that but can't admit it in front of FBI agents or they'll throw me back in prison."

Thorne shrugged, in a 'what can you do?' gesture.

Kai shook his head, grinning. "You are much cooler in person."

Thorne beamed, slinging an arm around Kai's shoulder. "Look at that, Cinder's boyfriend already thinks I'm cool. I can't believe you thought introducing us was a bad idea."

Cinder rubbed her temples, "Jury's still out on that one. You haven't found out what his job is yet."

Thorne squinted his eyes at his newfound friend. "What do you do for a living?"

"I'm the CEO of Emperor Clothing."

"Aces!" Thorne exclaimed, a look of awe on his face. "You make by far the best suits. I remember wearing one of your suits when I invited myself to this exclusive winery and spent an excellent evening sampling wine and casing the property. Allegedly." Thorne coughed, scanning the amused faces of the agents around him. "I used to have quite the collection of Emperor Clothing suits, you know, before being arrested. Now I'm forced to wear knockoffs from the closest thrift store."

"We always have rejected suits lying around, so you're welcome to come and try on a few if you want to. I'm sure the board would be happy to have someone take them off of our hands."

Thorne grinned, "You, my friend, are the best."

"See," Cinder gestured between the two men, breaking up the burgeoning bromance. "This is why I didn't want you to meet. Kai, Thorne's already trying to con you."

Kai looked confused. "He just wants to try on a few suits."

"Definitely conning you," Iko stated. Cress nodded, lost in the new case file on her tablet.

"Hey, you can't fault me for wanting some high quality suits to work in. All these knockoffs are going to give me rashes."

Cinder rolled her eyes. "You and Kai can discuss this matter later. What were you saying about our new and very important case?"

"Right. Think we could talk in your office?"

"Of course," Cinder nodded, then led the group up. After they had all filed in, Cinder addressed Kai and Cress, who were sitting in the two chairs reserved for guests. "So, what's the case?"

Cress finally resurfaced from her tablet, where she had already begun digging up information based on the case file that was sent to her. Kai nodded at her, and she started talking.

"Victim is Camilla, the online clothing retailer owned by Queenie Camilla. All the clothing in their main storehouse located in the city went missing, which is thousands of dollars in clothing mysteriously vanished. Local police have no suspects. They pulled up the security camera feed, but it's strange. One moment everything is normal, and the next all the stock is gone."

"Weird," Iko muttered, perched on the edge of Cinder's desk.

"As soon as Queenie heard they were calling in FBI to tackle the case, she called me," Kai said. "I recommended she insist this team work the case, and I'm glad she listened to my advice. You are the best, after all."

"Thanks buddy," Thorne grinned up from his position on the floor, leaning against the leg of Cress's chair.

"Anyway, Queenie is devastated. She had a couple big commissions for a ball coming up that were stolen. Emperor Clothing has offered to replace any of our brand that was stolen, but other brands aren't being so nice. Without getting this inventory back, Camilla's might be forced to close."

"Well, we're going to try our best to apprehend the thieves and find the inventory," Cinder stated.

"And I'm here to answer any questions about the clothing market, and act as support to Queenie," Kai said.

"Perfect," Cinder nodded. "Cress, continue compiling a list of any and all possible suspects. Disgruntled employees, other retailers, the usual. The rest of us will go to the scene of the crime, see if we can't find any clues from there. Keep your phone ready Cress. And Kai? Call Queenie and tell her to meet us at the warehouse. We would love to ask her a couple questions."

"Of course," Kai nodded, and the team sprang into action.

…

Thorne moved through the empty precinct, his feet barely making any sound against the carpet. It was just past midnight, after all of the agents and cleaning crews left. From what Thorne was able to track, the earliest agents came in at 5 am, so it gave him ample time to break into Evidence and steal back most of his possessions. He didn't know how soon the FBI was going to move him to his own apartment, and Thorne wanted to get this done before that happened. He was finally done with cataloguing the movements of the guards, so now it was time to make his move.

Sure, Cinder wouldn't be happy, but Thorne figured he would have at least a couple days to hide all his things, as Cinder would no doubt be focused on their latest case and not the contents of the Evidence room. Talking to Queenie Camilla and seeing the crime scene didn't outright give them any clues, and Cress hit a dead end on the computer end of it. It was a tricky case, and Thorne wanted time to think it over, try to solve it so he could wow everyone tomorrow with his genius. After he got his stuff back, of course.

As Thorne was sliding down the hallway, he heard a sound that stopped him dead in his tracks.

Singing.

The person was pretty good, Thorne had to give her credit. However, having another person who was not a security guard in the building would complicate matters. Thorne crept up to the room the singing was coming from, and froze immediately in the doorway.

It was Cress, still in her sundress she was wearing earlier in the day. There was soft music playing from one of her computers, but Cress was belting out the lyrics, her body swaying to the melody as she rapidly typed into a computer.

Well. Thorne couldn't very well sneak into Evidence with Cress there.

Thorne continued to stare at her, watching as she paused her singing to take another swig of an energy drink. He could just go back to his bed and try to sleep…or he could not, and at least have a little bit of fun tonight.

"You have a beautiful voice Cress," Thorne commented, leaning on the doorway.

A shrill scream rang out, and Thorne found himself ducking as a stapler sailed through the air. It bounced off the doorframe above his head, then crashed to the ground.

"Not exactly the reaction I was expecting from a compliment," Thorne said from his position crouched on the ground.

"Carswell! Err, Mr. Thorne, Thorne?" Cress shouted, looking at him wide-eyed.

"Thorne will work just fine, but Captain is preferred," he winked at her, before lifting himself off the ground.

Cress blushed, before she looked at him again, her face full of confusion. "Wait, what are you doing here? At midnight?!"

"I live here, remember."

"Yeah, but why are you herehere? In my office?"

Thorne leaned back against the doorway, sticking his hands in the pockets of his leather jacket. "Couldn't sleep, so I decided to wonder around and explore a bit. Then I heard singing, and had to come check out the beautiful voice."

Cress reddened, then muttered. "Didn't even realize I was singing. Or that anyone would be around to hear me."

"Really?" Thorne raised an eyebrow.

Cress's blush deepened, as she spun around in her chair, so she wasn't directly facing him. "Sometimes I get caught up in work and don't even realize what's happening outside the lines of code."

Thorne glanced over at her bank of computers, seeing information flitting across the screens. "Are you working on the Camilla case?"

Cress gave a little sigh, "Yeah, I've been pouring over the camera footage, but still nothing's making sense. I was hoping to have a lead for Cinder and the rest of the crew to work with tomorrow when they came in, but so far I've got nothing."

"Speaking of," Thorne said, walking deeper into Cress's office. "Didn't Cinder tell you to head home several hours ago?"

Cress winced, then took another sip of the energy drink to her right. "Yeah. Please don't tell her I'm still here. I told her I would be home by nine, but well…" Cress vaguely gestured to the computers.

Thorne's eyes ran over the office, noting the cans of energy drinks, computers and tablets with multiple browser tabs open, and the sweatshirt draped over the back of Cress's chair. "You're going to stay here all night, aren't you."He asked, phrasing it less like a question and more like a statement.

Cress spun back towards him, tucking her feet up onto the chair and wrapping her arms around her shins. "Probably. The case is too important, especially since it's Kai's friend. Even if I tried to sleep, I know I would just keep running over the details and thinking of all the searches I could be doing…it's just better if I stay and sleep when the case is finished."

The corners of Thorne's mouth twitched upwards. "That's pretty hardcore Cress."

Cress coughed, her face turning pink. "Just doing my job."

Thorne shook his head. "No. You're being a tech wizard, is that you're doing."

"You're not going to tell me to go home?" Cress looked at him, then dropped her voice a tone quieter. "Or tell Cinder?"

Thorne patted the area over his heart and winked. "Your secret is safe with me. I want to see us catch whoever's doing this just as much as you do."

Cress exhaled, her shoulders hunching forward. "Thank you. So are you going to go back to bed now?"

"I don't know. Not really tired anymore." Thorne stared at her, cataloging the way her hand went up to play with the strands of her hair.

"Would you want to, uh, help me look into the case? Two heads are better than one, right? And you might have some knowledge I don't, since I didn't see the crime scene? You don't have to if you don't want to."

"Cress," Thorne stopped her, already walking further into the office. "I would love to help you."

Cress smiled up at him, gesturing to a chair near to the bank of computers. "You're sure?"

Thorne grinned at her and sat in the proffered chair, popping the tab on a nearby energy drink. "Absolutely."

…

Forty-five minutes later, Cress and Thorne were in full research mode. Cress was furiously typing into one of her desktop computers, and Thorne had commandeered one of Cress's tablets, compiling a list of suspects and their motives.

"What about her sister? I ran her name through one of your police programs, and it seems like she was arrested before on minor drug possession. Could have sold the clothes for money?"

Cress grabbed a handful of skittles from the half-empty bag, popping them into her mouth. "Has an alibi. She punched into her work that is located on the other side of the country."

Thorne let out a curse, typed a few things into the tablet, then finished off his second can of energy drink.

"This case sucks."

"Yeah," Cress agreed. "And looking into her competitors is getting me nowhere."

"Maybe we should take a break, clear our heads."

Cress grabbed some more skittles then nodded.

"Tell me Cress, how have you been?" Cress shot Thorne a wary glance, and he threw his hands up. "What? I thought we could pass the time while chatting like good ole pals."

"Pals?" Cress echoed, not bothering to hide her laughter.

"Cresssss," Thorne groaned, tipping his head back. "It's late, give me a break."

Cress giggled, "Fine. And I'm well, thank you for asking. How about yourself?"

Thorne looked back down at her, smiling. "I'm fantastic actually. Finally got to meet the enigmatic Kai after having lunch with the best FBI agents and store owners a criminal mastermind could ask for. And I'm ending the day in the company of the best tech genius around, so like I said. Pretty fantastic."

Cress blushed, looking down. Thorne grinned, reaching forward and throwing a skittle at her. "Thorne!" she exclaimed, quickly grabbing the bag of skittles and clutching it close to her chest.

He leaned back in his chair, fingers locking behind his head. "What? Had to get your attention somehow."

"Oh trust me, you had my attention," Cress muttered, spinning back towards her computers.

"Hey, hey, hey," Thorne protested. "Break time isn't over yet."

"What makes you think that?"

"The official guidebook to late-night case work breaks."

Cress snorted, an embarrassed flush immediately covering her face.

Thorne looked at her, eyes widening, "Did you just snort?"

"Nope, we aren't going to talk about it," Cress stated.

Thorne was already smiling. "Fine, fine. But just so you know, it was pretty cute." Cress said nothing, just tried to refocus back on the computers.

It was a few moments of quiet before Thorne asked, "So, how often do you normally do this? Stay overnight at the office?"

Cress hummed, eating more skittles and turning away from her computers. Break time could last just a little bit longer, she decided.

"A couple times a month, unless we've got some VIP cases. It used to be more, since I had this super comfy couch in the office that I could nap on when I got tired, but Cinder caught on and removed the couch to deter me from spending the night at the office."

Thorne's brow furrowed. "Wait, where do you sleep now? You do sleep, right?"

"Yeah, of course. I've got a pillow and blanket hidden in some file cabinets and I curl up under the desk. Works like a charm."

"Sounds cozy. But you know, if you ever need to nap, you're welcome to use the cot I sleep on in the conference room. It's not the greatest, but it has to be better than the floor."

"Thanks for the offer, but then where would you sleep?" Cress's mind instantly conjuring the picture of the two of them, cuddled up on the cot. She immediately banished the image. Totally not appropriate. They were coworkers! He was a (devilishly handsome) criminal mastermind! She was the tech genius! There was no romance whatsoever! Well, except for that mind-shattering kiss, but Cress really wasn't going to think about that now.

"I'd figure something out. Maybe I would be moved out of the conference room by then."

"Oh!" Cress exclaimed, his words bringing her back to the present and kick starting her brain. "I almost forgot to tell you, I think I might have found a permanent place for you to live."

"Really?" Thorne grinned, leaning forward.

"Wait, don't get your hopes up, nothing is at all finalized, I still have to run it by the higher-ups, but yeah."

"Where is it?"

"Uh, well, if you aren't comfortable with it, I can totally try and find another place, it's no problem."

"Cress," Thorne started, a note of wariness creeping into his voice. "Where is it?"

"Remember at lunch, when Scarlet and Wolf were talking about cleaning out Ran's old apartment? That got me thinking how hard it must be to sell, what with us finding a dead body in there and everything, so I looked up the relator page they put up for it, and I realized it was within one mile of the office. So I contacted Scarlet and Wolf about you maybe moving in there, and they were excited to not have to deal with showing the house, so they offered to give the FBI a discount if you wanted to stay there."

"Cress! You really are a genius! That's amazing, I would love to stay there."

"Really? Even with all the murder?"

Thorne waved a dismissive hand in the air, "Please, half the places in this city have had dead bodies in them, it's just a fact of life. Plus, did you see the size of the TV in that place? Totally worth any possible ghosts."

"You're crazy."

"Just adds to the charm," he winked. They were quiet for a moment, just smiling at one another, until one of Cress's programs finished running and elicited a loud beep.

They both jumped, and Thorne gave Cress a grin. "Guess break time's over, huh?"

"Yeah, time to get back to work. Ready to solve this case?"

"Definitely," Thorne replied, snatching another handful of skittles and picking back up the tablet.

…

It was hours later, still with no luck solving the case. Cress was typing away on her center computer, all attention focused on the details of Camilla's employees flitting across the screen. Thorne was on the other side of the office, staring at the ceiling and slowly spinning around in his chair.

Thorne broke the quiet as he made another spin on his chair. "Are we ever going to talk about it?"

Cress didn't look away from the computer. "Talk about what?"

"The kiss. From the gala."

Cress's fingers slipped off the keys, coding a strand of nonsense. "Why?"

Thorne's eyebrows scrunched together. "Uh, I don't know? I just keep thinking about it, you know, and thought maybe we should clear the air?"

Cress still wasn't looking at him, instead pretending all her attention was on the computer screen and ignoring the blush she could feel creeping up her neck. "I thought we already agreed to not discuss it unless it was absolutely necessary for a future case?"

"Yeah, but…" Thorne let out a whoosh of air. "Well, I want to make sure it won't make our working relationship awkward. Because I know you've been mainly working from home while you've been recovering so we haven't seen much of each other. But now you're back, and I just wanted to make sure things won't be uncomfortable between us. Because of the kiss."

"Oh," Cress whispered. She glanced back at Thorne, and found him leaning forward and looking at her, the chair no longer spinning. "No, I don't think it's uncomfortable, unless you do?"

"No," Thorne said, giving her a small smile. "FBI agents kiss all the time undercover, so it's no big deal, right?"

"Right."

"Even if it was a really good kiss, it was while we were working, so it doesn't count, right?"

"Ri-" Cress started, before Thorne's words caught up with her. "Wait, you thought it was a good kiss?"

Cress could see the barest hint of red on his cheeks. He ran a hand over his hair, then replied, "Yes, all life-threatening things considered. Did…did you think it was a good kiss?"

"Uh, yeah, it was good." Cress replied, "Great, actually."

Thorne let out a relieved little chuckle. "Well, that's good to hear." He leaned back in his chair. "It has been a really long time since I've kissed anyone, with prison and everything, so it's nice to hear I haven't lost all of my romantic sense."

Cress laughed, trying to desperately wish her blush away. "You're ridiculous."

Thorne gave her a grin and a wink, scooting his chair closer to her. "But, you know, I've been thinking about the kiss, and well, sort of wondering if it felt so romantic because of the dire situation we were in?"

"Oh?"

But Thorne continued on, moving his chair another foot closer to her. "And I couldn't help but think that maybe we should try the kiss again? Without all the life-threatening stuff, just to see if I actually do have any romantic sense left?"

Cress's eyes widened, the smile falling off her face. This wasn't actually happening. It had to be the product of the late hour, bonding over trying to solve the case, and the exorbitant amount of caffeine running through their veins, right?

"Thorne?" she questioned, watching as he got closer to her.

No, this was definitely, very real, Cress decided as she stared into Thorne's eyes. She knew she should pull farther away, distance herself and keep it professional. But stars, was he handsome up close. And it was late, the entire office empty besides the two of them. There wouldn't be any harm in it, right? And how crazy did she have to be to not take full advantage of the fact that an extremely attractive man wanted to kiss her after they had just spent the entire night talking and working together? She was only so strong, and it had been a really amazing kiss before…

So with that, Cress closed the distance between the two. Stars, Cress thought, he really had no need to worry about his romantic sense, because dang, that man could kiss. At that moment, Thorne's hands went to frame her face, bringing her closer, and Cress lost all form of coherent thought. Her hand moved up to run through his hair. Thorne shifted, his hand dropping down to her waist, tugging the two even closer together. Cress didn't protest, taking advantage of their new position to deepen the kiss, turning what could have been a nice, chaste kiss into a make-out session.

Not that either of them minded. It seemed to be quite the opposite, actually.

Cress could practically feel the electricity flowing between the two, and it was this thought that caused her to gasp and break the kiss.

"Electricity," Cress whispered.

Thorne looked at her, head titling in confusion, "Well, yeah." His voice was rough, and he kept glancing back down to her lips. "Don't know why that surprised you so much, it was pretty apparent from our first kiss." And with that, Thorne leaned back in, done with all the talking.

"Hold on," Cress swatted him away, a move she knew she would probably regret later. She quickly pulled up the security footage from Camilla's, her mind racing.

"Uh, Cress?" Thorne asked. "What's going on?" She felt him peer at the screens over her shoulder, and had to try and disguise the shiver she felt from having him so near.

"The people who stole from Camilla cut the electricity in the building, stole all the stuff, then turned the electricity back on once they were done. That's why the security tape goes from normal to black to showing everything gone. See," Cress pointed at the screen. "I can't believe I forgot to look at the timestamp. See how it's off?"

"Wow," Thorne breathed, and Cress felt it tickle her ear. "It was staring at us the entire time."

"I know," Cress sighed, then quickly pulled up the electrical output of the building, confirming her suspicions. Automatically, Cress pulled up the security tapes from nearby buildings she had already looked at earlier, speeding through to the right time she had just figured out. She enough, the culprits were right there, moving boxes marked with Camilla's logo. Cress began running their faces through facial recognition, already composing a file to send to Cinder.

"We solved it!" Thorne grinned, pumping his fist in the air.

Cress laughed, "All thanks to you."

"Me?" Thorne asked. "You came up with the idea about the electricity."

"Yeah, but I wouldn't have thought about it if we didn't have that mind-shattering, electricity-inducing kiss." At the reminder, Cress blushed, thankful she hadn't totally freaked out about what had happened yet.

"Well, if you ever need any more help thinking of things to solve any case, just let me know," Thorne said, his voice low.

Cress blinked up at him. "I'll keep that in mind."

"Good," Thorne smiled, and Cress swore he was leaning towards her again. She looked back at the computers, seeing the desktop picture of her, Cinder, and Iko. The thought of her friends wrenched Cress back to reality, and she shifted back, putting some space between her and Thorne.

"It's late," Cress whispered, glancing up at Thorne. "And we solved the case."

"Yeah, we did." He glanced away from her, coughing. "We'll pass on the information to Cinder in the morning?"

Cress nodded. "In an hour or two, actually. It's about time to start work again."

Thorne breathed out a laugh, and Cress gave him a soft smile.

"We should probably try and get a bit of sleep, huh?"

"Yeah," Cress agreed. Thorne nodded, then stood. As he was about to exit her office, he turned back, almost as if he was hesitant to leave.

"Hey Cress? Thanks for everything tonight. I had a lot of fun."

"Yeah, me too." Thorne gave her a smile, then turned back around and left her office.

As Cress curled up into her blanket to try and catch some sleep she knew wouldn't come, she couldn't help but wonder what tomorrow would bring once reality set back in.