A/N I know, I know, I'm supposed to be working on 'Somebody Like Us'. And I am. But I got sidetracked, and this appeared from nowhere! I really hope you guys aren't too mad at me! :) I figure at least now you've got something to read in between times. It's right at the very beginning of Season 3, right after The Woods. But it has nothing to do with that whole storyline...Also, I decided to rate the whole thing as 'M' for Mature. You'll see why later...So anyway, enjoy! On with the story!

Disclaimer: Hopefully by now you will have worked out which parts belong to me! If not, just to make you happy, nothing of great importance belongs to me.

deg·ra·da·tion

1. The act or process of degrading.

2. The state of being degraded; degeneration.

3. A decline to a lower condition, quality, or level.

***

Nick Vera threw himself down in the seat at the break room table, groaning.

"What kinda sick pervert beats up a ten year old girl for no reason?" he said angrily. Will Jeffries rubbed a tired hand over his face.

"No idea, Nicky. This is why I hate catching hot ones."

Vera looked towards the side room, where Scotty could be seen taping photos to the whiteboard. The faces of eight young girls stared back, their happy smiled a stark reminder of what those families had lost.

"Is Valens alright?" the burly detective asked, his voice tainted by a rarely heard compassion. Jeffries followed his line of vision.

"He's still walking on eggshells around Lil. But he's also fightin' some sorta Catholic guilt over what happened with George," he said. Vera frowned.

"Remind me how that was his fault?"

His colleague chuckled.

"It wasn't, but Valens has this idea that maybe if he hadn't slept with Chris, maybe if he'd been a better friend, then Lil wouldn't have gone up in that attic."

"Well, sleepin' with your partner's sister ain't exactly a smart move," Vera muttered. Stillman came out from his office, walking through the empty bullpen to join them. He sat down with a sigh, wearily removing his glasses and rubbing his eyes.

"Hey, boss," Jeffries greeted in a deep voice. The lieutenant smiled slightly, and looked towards his youngest detective.

"Is he still staring at that board?"

Vera chuckled.

"Oh yeah."

Scotty Valens was brooding. He had been ever since his partner had flown out of the Homicide department without so much as a glance in his direction. Sighing heavily, he stuck the final photo up on the board, and stood back to stare at it blankly. The rage inside him finally boiling over, he slammed his fist into the wall over and over again, not even flinching at the pain in spreading through his knuckles. Lilly had flinched. When she'd been standing outside after shooting George, and had turned her head to see them standing there, she'd flinched. She thought he hadn't noticed.

The pain in his hand finally caught up with him, and Scotty swore loudly, remembering the empty look on the faces of the dead girls. He'd seen that look before. Recently, it seemed like he couldn't escape from that look.

Slamming his fist into the wall for a final time, Scotty stomped back to his desk, grabbing his cell phone. He punched the numbers in, glaring viciously at the screen and ignoring the concerned looks from the break room.

"Hello?"

"Am I not good enough for you?"

Lilly sighed in relief.

"Scotty."

"Yeah, Lil," he snapped, "Scotty. You know, your partner."

"Why are you shouting? Has something happened?"

"Dammit, Lil!" Scotty exploded angrily. She paused, waiting for a moment.

"You're mad at me," she stated softly. Scotty laughed bitterly.

"Damn right I'm mad at you!"

"Well maybe if you stop yelling at me, you could tell me why?" Lilly replied, irritation evident in her voice.

"Oh, you wanna know why I'm mad? I'm mad because somethin' is goin' on with you, an' you won't tell me what's wrong!"

"What exactly do you want to hear, Scotty?"

"I wanna hear you admit that you need me!" he yelled. A vast ocean of tense silence stretched between them. Eventually, Lilly took a deep breath.

"I have to go. I'll see you tomorrow."

"No, Lil, wait..."

The sharp click resounded in his ears, and Scotty snapped his cell phone shut, pressing it to his forehead.

"Crap."

Throwing the phone back onto his desk, Scotty tried to escape the feeling of wanting to draw Lilly into his arms and never let go. It was like trying to chase a rainbow- you know it's there, but it always seems to be just out of reach. Physical contact was something they avoided like it was the plague. He could count the number of times he'd touched her on one hand.

The handshake when they'd first met.

The hand on her shoulder, pushing her back down into her seat before he launched over the table at the first mention of Elissa.

The others refused to spring to memory. Scotty rubbed his hand through his hair, feeling the steady thump of his heart in his chest. Fuck. Could this day get any worse? We have this fucked up case that's still hot, I've pissed Lil off, an' now she probably hates me more than before. Stillman stuck his head out of the break room.

"Valens! There's a cup of coffee with your name on it!"

Sighing once again, Scotty nodded, leaving the white boxes on the table and moving to join his colleagues. Jeffries and Vera exchanged glances at the dejected slump of his shoulders.

"How can you guys be so damn calm?" Scotty snapped, barely restraining himself from slamming the door.

"Valens..."

"You're jus' sittin' there like nothin' has happened. There's some sick pervert out there beatin', an' stranglin', and doin' God knows what to little girls, and you're all jus' sittin' around drinkin' coffee!" he yelled. Stillman barely blinked at the outburst.

"Sit down before you fall down, Valens."

Breathing heavily, the younger detective closed his eyes, sinking down onto the sofa.

"Sorry," he muttered. The others chuckled.

"How's your hand?" Jeffries asked pointedly. A faint smile tugged at his lips, and he shrugged.

"I guess it hurts."

A cold lump landed in his lap, and Scotty opened his eyes. Vera grinned, nodding towards the icepack.

"Trust me. It helps," the burly detective said. His colleague chuckled, gently pressing the ice to his fist. After waiting for a few moments, and watching the tortured thoughts brewing behind Scotty's eyes, Jeffries cleared his throat.

"Hey, Scotty. How's Lil doing?"

"She seems a bit...preoccupied," Stillman added seriously.

"This case is a bitch," Scotty said quietly, "maybe she's jus' feelin' down."

"If you say so," Vera muttered, scoffing quietly. The young male detective shrugged.

"I'm pretty sure she's doin' OK," he lied.

"Pretty sure?" Stillman pushed firmly. Scotty sighed heavily.

"OK, no, she ain't fine. She ain't been fine since she killed George. He stripped all of her down, an' left nothin' behind, but I ain't exactly in a position to help her, am I?"

"But, Scotty..."

"Why are we even talkin' about this anyway?" Scotty snapped, "I screwed up. I got it. An' I lost my best friend 'cause o' that, so maybe we can just leave it?"

Jeffries sighed, exchanging sad glances with Stillman.

"You ain't lost her, Valens," Vera said, his voice uncharacteristically serious, "you just sorta...misplaced her."

Scotty shrugged morosely.

"Yeah, well. They might as well mean the same, 'cause Lil hates me."

A long time ago, he'd been a pleasant little boy, chasing after pleasant little girls. Now he was an unpleasant middle-aged man, chasing after little girls.

He'd corner them. It wasn't hard. Then the punches came. The first one always gave him that...rush. That rush of excitement that sent heat down to his darkest parts. They never fought back. Only one fought back.

The clock was ticking.

Over, and over, and over...tick...tock...tick...tock. He was waiting. He'd never forgotten what their screams sounded like. Screams were like fingerprints...each one of them different. There were the ones who tried to stay quiet, thinking maybe he'd let them go if they didn't cry out. He never let them go...

...unless he made a mistake.

So here he was, waiting. Tick, tock. Waiting for the right moment to rectify that mistake.

Unbeknownst to her partner, Lilly was also drowning in misery, and her argument with Scotty hadn't done anything to lessen the ache in her chest. With an overdue sigh of relief, the blonde detective collapsed onto her bed, drawing her cotton covered legs up under the sheets. She sunk into the pile of pillows, and her eyelids fluttered shut. Finally, she thought, stretching up to switch off the light.

Sleep had never come quickly to Lilly Rush, and it seemed tonight was no different. The memory of the eight murdered girls made bile rise up in her throat, their screams echoing in her ears, and her eyes shot open again. I guess there's no sleep for me tonight.

The detective tried to shake the dark, heavy feeling in the pit of her stomach. As she sat up and switched the light back on, Scotty's words reappeared in her mind.

"I wanna hear you admit that you need me!"

Fighting back tears, she reached for the case file that sat on her bedside table.

"No. No, I don't need you," she whispered to herself. Flipping the file open, Lilly rubbed her tired eyes and began to read.

"Susan Milbank, aged ten..."

Stirring his spoon around in the mug, Scotty watched the coffee swirling round.

"So how'd we get these cases exactly?" he asked, frowning down into his drink. Stillman folded his arms.

"Mrs Sylvia Arnold, mother of the third victim. Heard about the Caitlyn Jeffers case. Connected the dots."

Vera shook his head.

"Ain't a surprise she heard about it. It's been all over the damn news."

Jeffries chuckled.

"You mean you actually watch the news?"

"Ouch! Cuttin' me real deep, Will."

Scotty waved a hand in the air, setting his mug down and standing up.

"Yo, shut up!"

The police scanner crackled from the centre of the table.

"...possible officer down. Gunshots fired. Bus needed to…"

The radio lost signal, fading out and then back.

"…repeat, squad needed to a house fire, 27 West Street…"

His face turning pale, Stillman turned to Scotty, finding his young detective already halfway out of the department. Vera watched him sprint through the doors.

"What's his problem?"

Jeffries frowned, turning to his boss in horrified realisation. The words stuck in his throat as he opened his mouth to speak.

"27 West? Isn't that…?"

Stillman nodded.

"That's Lilly's place."

OMG, did I just leave that chapter with a cliffhanger?! What's the world coming to? ;) I forgot to mention at the top of the page that this will eventually be Lilly/Scotty, but there's a whole load of stuff that's planning to get in the way first. I really hope ya'll will take a moment to leave a review! Think of it as a birthday present for Kathryn Morris!