AN: It's been quite a while since I've written any fan fiction, but these two wonderful shows have reawakened by muse. This is a crossover story, but you don't need to be familiar with Forever to read this. I'm writing it more as a Miss Fisher's story with the main character from Forever thrown in and there will be plenty of exposition on him and his background for anyone not familiar with that show.

Warning: This story will contain semi-graphic details of murder, so if that bothers you, you probably shouldn't read. Or, you know, watch the show.

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Melbourne - May 31, 1929

"Good morning, Hugh." Phryne Fisher's clear voice filled the station as she greeted the young constable at the front desk before making her way, uninvited, through the half door and back to Inspector Jack Robinson's office.

Jack watched her surreptitiously over the newspaper that he had been perusing and marvelled at the events that had led them to this point. If you had told him a year ago that Miss Phryne Fisher, Lady Detective and constant irritating thorn in his side would become such an integral part of his life - best friend, crime solving partner, and more, though not as much more as he wanted - in such a short time, he'd have locked you up in the mental ward and thrown away the key. He could admit that even in those early days, he'd been intrigued by her and that he had been in no way immune to her charms and flirtations, but he had never imagined that they would, or even could, become such a solid team.

He gently tossed the newspaper onto his desk as she sauntered through his door and with a weary smile, greeted her, "Good morning, Miss Fisher."

"Morning Jack! You look terrible." Her usual lack of tact made him smile a little wider as he rolled his eyes and responded.

"Well, thank you." His tone dripped with playful sarcasm, "I'm always glad to get your opinion on these things." He let his eyes sweep briefly over her before continuing, "You look wonderful, as always, but then you were not up all night trying to catch a murderer." His eyes dropped to the paper and he gestured vaguely in it's direction.

Under normal circumstances, Phryne would have happily grabbed at the rare direct compliment as an opportunity for some heavy flirting, but even through the sarcasm and playfulness in his voice she could hear how tired he was. Surveying him briefly from where she'd leaned up against the side of his desk, she noted the obvious tension in his shoulders, the bags under his eyes, and the general rumpled appearance of his suit. Letting his earlier comment go, for the moment, she looked down at the newspaper and grimaced at the headline: "2nd Body Discovered; Police Have No New Leads".

She pulled herself away from the desk with a sigh, turned, picked up the paper and sat herself down in the chair across from Jack, speaking as she did so, "How can they expect any leads? Poor woman's only been dead a day. They've barely completed the autopsy." His expression became one of incredulity, once again stunned by how quickly she got hold of confidential information. Spotting the look, Phryne grinned and shrugged, "Mac was over for breakfast."

With a small shake of his head, Jack leaned back in his chair, watching her as she finished reading the article. When she had completed the perusal, she folded it and threw it back onto the desk, the force of the throw giving away her resentment at the story's contents before her words could, "I don't think it's fair at all that they get to blame the police for this murder. They make it out as if you've all just been sitting on your hands for the last two and a half weeks, when that couldn't be further from the truth. Just look at you," she took a silent moment to do just that, noting again how tired he was while simultaneously appreciating his rumpled look - his hair unstyled and ruffled from the many times he'd run a frustrated hand over it, the slight stubble on his cheeks and chin, and the loosened tie and single undone button at the top of his shirt - before continuing, "These women died outside your jurisdiction, they aren't your cases, but still you and the rest of your department have toiled away trying to find this deranged killer. How can the paper imply you aren't doing your jobs?"

He simply shrugged. The question was rhetorical; she knew as well as anyone that the paper didn't care that they were working their tails off on this, it just wanted the sensationalism. In Jack's opinion the newspaper was largely at fault for the panic that had been caused ever since Helen Baines had been found dead two weeks earlier. It was a slow news cycle - the dock strikes had ended and the string of robberies that had been making headlines for the entire month of April had been solved (thanks to Miss Fisher) - so the local papers had picked up on the dead woman immediately, frightening the public with gruesome headlines and graphic crime scene descriptions. There was no shortage of gore to go around and the discovery of the second body in the early hours yesterday was not going to help the general concern.

On May 12th, the body of Helen Emma Baines, a prostitute and sometime fruit seller, had been found less than a block away from the City North police station. She had been stabbed, in the location where she had been found, more than three dozen times. Jack hadn't been to that scene, but he'd seen photos and even without the color and smell of the real thing it was disturbing. Her husband had been the first suspect, but quickly alibied out, and there had been no other serious suspects. No witnesses, no one who was coming forward to say they'd seen her past 10:00pm the night before, and what little evidence had been left at the scene was useless. Other than the extreme violence of the crime, it really wasn't special. Prostitutes often fell victim to the gangs, drugs, or their own clients. It was a cold case, or would have been if the paper hadn't picked up the story, until they found something new.

And now, a second woman. And an even more disturbing scene. Jack had been to that one. It still wasn't in his jurisdiction, but he had no other active cases and had been acting as a sounding board for the head of City North, DI James Troughton, since the first case. He'd lost his breakfast at just the smell of blood and viscera that had permeated the alley (less than a hundred feet from the first scene) where Edna Marie Clarkson, prostitute, mother of 5, had been killed and her body mutilated. Her throat had been opened by two powerful strikes and her stomach slashed open to the guts. Numerous other cuts marked the body, most, but not all post-mortem. He hadn't been the only seasoned homicide detective in that alley to void their stomachs and he was sure that he wasn't the only one unable to eat for almost 24 hours after. He'd seen awful things in the war, but this…

Jack shook himself out of his morbid remembrances. Miss Fisher had picked the newspaper back up to read some more and he took the opportunity to look her over. He hadn't been kidding earlier when he'd said she looked wonderful, but a closer examination (which he wasn't tired enough to believe went unnoticed by her shrewd senses) revealed bags under her eyes which could not be completely hidden by her deft hand with the make up. He also noted that her hair was less shiny and perfectly coiffed than usual and he suspected that she wasn't eating enough, she seemed to be losing a bit of weight. She may be willing to give the police credit for the man hours they'd been putting in, but he knew full well just how hard she'd been pushing to get this solved as well. Up at all hours, running herself, Bert and Cec ragged around the city, using her less than entirely above board tactics, to dig up information that might not be accessible to the authorities. Not that she'd been particularly successful.

Her fire for this particular case had been ignited by two separate items: Like him, the extreme violence of the act had driven her (he had refused to show her the crime photos himself, trying to shield her from the horror, but Mac had been less coddling, not only showing her the photos, but walking her through the whole of the coroner's report), but the second item had spurred her on even more. An off hand remark by a desk sergeant as he headed home for the day had been overheard by the Lady Detective: "It's been 5 days, we've got nothing, I don't know why we're pushing so hard. She was just a hooker." Hearing a victim referred to as not worth the department's time and energy had not set well with Phryne (nor with Jack, who'd given the man a warning and note in his record as a result) who had looked one step short of pummeling the man before Jack had pulled her by the arm into his office. She'd railed for a few moments before calming down and had been fixed on the case ever since.

Finishing her reading, or possibly just tired of his unanswered staring, Phryne tossed the paper back onto his desk and caught his eye. They looked at each other for a few silent moments, before she stood, brushed down her dress and grinned at him.

"Well, I have a harbormaster to speak with and a journalist to harangue, so I'll be off." She turned to the door, hand outstretched for the handle before pausing and looking back at him with a slight frown, "You should go home Jack, get a couple of hours of sleep and a meal. Come back when you're rested up a bit."

He nodded, acknowledging and appreciating her concern for his well-being, and stood as well, "You're right." He continued speaking before she could cut in with a comment or two about how she always was, "I could use the shut eye," he looked down at himself, "and a wash."

Her eyes narrowed and her mouth turned up in the sly, predatory smile that never failed to get his heart rate up, "Let me know if you need any help with that." She gave him a slow once over before turning, opening the door with a flourish, and sashaying out.

He stood watching the empty doorway for a moment before shaking his head, "That woman," he muttered to himself, "is going to be the death of me." Throwing on his coat and hat, he headed home, leaving instructions with Collins that he should be called immediately if something new came up.

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AN: I appreciate reviews and feedback very much.