I feel so bad about my lack of updates but was seriously stuck on where to go next with this story. When I started, I hadn't thought past the whole Tidwell disappearing thing and didn't want to meander around on the next chapter. After some serious brainstorming, I've got some ideas on where to go so hopefully I can get back to updating regularly. I promise I will not abandon this story, I will finish it. Thanks for hanging in there and please review; it keeps me going when people besides me care.-

Crews and his car were still out there.

Dani growled in annoyance as she looked out of her front room window for what had to have been the tenth time that evening. She could just make out the dark shape of a lean torso, shoulders and a head from a street light not far from where Crews was sitting in his parked car. She hoped that bastard was comfortable because he was not going to come in here. No way. Not tonight. Not happening.

Moving away from the window, she was careful not to touch the curtains which she hadn't closed all the way leaving her a small gap for her to use so that she could glare at her partner without him noticing. She plopped down on her couch and leaned her head against the back cushion. She was tired, angry and really worried. She knew that most of the anger rolling around inside of her wasn't really from Crews' inability to do as she asked and leave her alone; it was from the fear of not knowing what had happened to her the night before. She had been a cop long enough to know that the 'I killed someone and didn't remember it' defense wasn't really a good one and that was her biggest fear when she thought about all the possible things that could have happened to her. She was afraid that she had killed someone. The only thing keeping her from sinking into the bottle of vodka currently chilling in her freezer was the fact that she woke up in a motel room without any clothes present. Also, her doctor had been fairly certain she was drugged. That suggested that someone had checked into that hole, carried her inside and left with her clothes.

Closing her eyes she thought about what she could remember from the day before. She remembered arriving at work a few minutes before Crews, checking her voice mail and e-mail. They had been working on a homicide that appeared to have been a robbery interrupted by the unfortunate timing of the homeowner getting home early from an aerobics class. That suggested that she was being watched or someone knew the victim and her routine. After Crews got there, they checked in with Davis and then received a call from forensics stating that they identified a usable print. It didn't take long to track down the suspect, a neighbor, who buckled in interrogation and admitted to killing the woman when she had surprised him with her early arrival home. Dani had just finished her report and Charlie was still clicking away on his keyboard by the time she was ready to leave. She remembered telling him goodbye and to be good on his day off which he just answered with a grin. Then, nothing, until she woke up that morning.

After getting off the phone with Davis, she knew that she would be spending her day off investigating where she had gone after work instead of taking it easy at home like both her partner and boss wanted her to. Since everyone at work would be busy with current cases and trying to track down the missing cop from New York, she knew that Stark and his partner would be assigned something else and it would be up to her and Crews to figure out what had happened to her. Davis seemed pretty blasé about reporting the whole thing to the higher ups and Internal Affairs, probably because she was being replaced and demoted, so Dani knew they would have a least a couple of days to figure things out on her own before others got involved. She also knew it would be easier, faster and more successful to be able to do leg work with Crews, who was like a blood hound when it came to clues even the most intelligent easily missed. She also knew that Crews was in protective male mode at the moment and would not be happy with her working on her own investigation on her day off.

Coming to a decision, Dani picked up her home phone and hit the speed dial.

"Hi Reese," Crews greeted after only a couple of rings, his voice resigned as though he were waiting for her to start shouting at him.

Dani couldn't help the smile that tugged at the corners of her mouth. She had called him not long after Davis had called her back saying that she spoke to Crews who told her that he wasn't budging. Even worse was the fact that Davis seemed to agree with his decision to sit in front of her house, at least for the time being. Dani could only sputter in outrage before Davis told her to calm down and just let Crews sit in his car in her street if it made him feel better before hanging up. She then called Crews and threatened to call 911 on his ass but Crews had calmly replied that he would just tell the cop he was fighting with his partner who wouldn't let him back into the house and it would spread all over the station that she and Crews were having some sort of lover's tiff since many thought they were sleeping together anyway. That had caused her to see red and she almost marched out of the house with the baseball bat she kept in her kitchen pantry ever since she was attacked and held hostage in her own house. Taking a deep breath, she had tried to ignore the feeling of satisfaction she would have gotten from breaking every goddamn window on the son a bitch's car and instead ranted at him for a couple of minutes, calling him every thing horrible she could think of not only in English but in her mother's tongue as well before hanging up on him. That had been a few hours ago and since Dani's temper had cooled down considerably.

"Crews," she replied. "I've come to a decision."

"Okaaay," he said, drawing the word out in confusion. "About what?"

"Tomorrow morning, after you go into the office and check in with Davis, I'll meet you in the station's garage and we can start trying to retrace my steps there," she said.

She was met with a brief silence before Crews spoke in a tone that sounded like he was finally starting to lose his temper with her. It made her smile. She was finally getting a reaction out of Mr. Zen.

"You will not be investigating anything tomorrow, Reese. You will be resting and trying to remember or think of where you might have gone after work so that I can investigate. Hopefully, we'll have located your car or someone will have turned on your cell phone to try to use it, activating the GPS," he said.

"You think you can stop me, Crews? You can't sit on my street all day to make sure I don't leave the house tomorrow. You have to go in to work so that we can figure out what's going on which will be easier to do with my help," she said.

He sighed loudly into the phone, again revealing his feelings on the matter.

"Only you, me and Davis know what's going on and you'll need help before I. A. steps in and takes my badge and gun before sending me on a long, permanent vacation." Dani said. "Is that what you want? You want me to lose my job? I can't screw up again, Crews, and being a cop is the only thing I know."

Again, she was met with silence. She smirked. If there was one way to bend Crews to her will, it was pulling the guilt card. Once she calmed down she decided that approaching Crews about her working with him the next day in anger would never work, he was used to her anger. Using guilt and manipulation, however, wasn't normally her way but that didn't mean that she couldn't do it or that it wouldn't work. It wasn't really even that manipulative because everything she said about Internal Affairs and losing her job was potentially true. She was lucky that she was Jack Reese's daughter and that Davis had backed her up over her drug problem because that could have been the end of her career.

"I'm going to go out and investigate tomorrow, no matter what. It would be safer if you came with me and we have a better chance of figuring this out together, you know that," she said.

She waited for his reply which was taking so long she wondered if he had hung up on her. Then she heard a knock on her door and hung up before going to answer it since she knew who it was. Opening the door, she was greeted by a not too thrilled looking Crews who was trying to cover up his displeasure with that small, plastic smile of his.

"If I take you with me tomorrow, I get to sleep on your couch tonight," he said.

Dani opened the door wide and stepped back to let her partner in, "Deal."