Disclaimer: I don't own the series or the characters.

Author's Note: This is my first attempt at this particular genre, so fair warning.

The warm golden light of the morning sun streamed through the blinds as Eddie Valetik sat in his office writing reports for his case files. In some ways, the P.I. almost felt like he hadn't left his job working as a detective for the LAPD. When he wasn't chasing his tail and following leads on his cases, there was always a mountain of paperwork to come home to. Fortunately, things had been extremely quiet this morning at Valetik Investigations. Berto was busy updating their computers while Monica was out running some errands. Eddie filed away some papers in his desk drawer, content to enjoy the peace and quiet of the morning... but it was never to be.

He heard a knock at his office door and looked up to see the familiar face of a petite brunette woman as she entered. Samantha Swift, the young actress turned rookie investigator carried a coffee cup along with a bag and she greeted him with a bright cheerful smile, "Good morning Eddie! I'm glad I caught you here."

"Sam?" Eddie answered in mild confusion, "This is a little bit of a surprise. I didn't expect you to be in this early."

Sam waved it off and placed the cup down in front of him along with the bag, "Ah, well I just figured I'd get a jump start on the day and hit up that new Italian cafe which opened up a few blocks from here. I got you a tall dark roast, two cream one sugar, just how you like it. Plus, I also picked up some of their famous chocolate biscotti which is, molto buono!"

She punctuated her exaggerated Italian accent with a playful chef's kiss gesture of her fingers. Eddie eyed the offerings and calmly took a sip of the coffee, "Oh? That's very sweet of you Sam. Thank you... and whatever it is, the answer is no."

She immediately gave a mild pout and huffed, "Oh come on, Eddie! I didn't even say anything yet!"

"You didn't have to. You've got that look in your eye," Eddie sighed.

"Really? And how can you tell?" she challenged him. He simply pointed to the sign reading Valetik Investigations on the outer doorway of the office.

"Whatever you're trying to bribe me for, the answer is still going to be no."

Sam crossed her arms indignantly, "You don't even want to hear me out?"

"Is that an admission of guilt then?" Eddie grinned in amusement as he smugly took a bite of a biscotti stick.

Sam plucked the cookie stick from his hand and poked him in the forehead with it, "I thought we were partners here. You immediately assume I have some angle? That I'm always putting on some kind of act?"

Eddie glared at the actress for a silent beat before Sam quickly shoved the cookie back into his mouth, "On second thought, don't answer that. Just be quiet and listen for a minute?"

She reached into her purse and handed him an envelope. Eddie put down his food and opened it curiously, "An invitation to the wedding of Megan Jenson?"

"She's an old high school friend of mine. Now a very successful veterinarian," Sam explained, "She's getting married to a rich banker this weekend and they're having this nice wedding at a ritzy place downtown and..."

"And you need a plus one?" Eddie inferred as he examined the invitation.

"Would you?" Sam asked hopefully, "Because it would be a total lifesaver."

Eddie grimaced and set down the envelope looking a little uncomfortable, "Geez Sam, I don't know if that's such a good idea. Wouldn't that make things kinda weird? Especially since we work together?"

Sam waved a hand and tried to play it off as nothing, "What? Nooo. Pfff. It's not like an actual date or anything. More like two friends and colleagues just hanging out and stuff... at a wedding."

"At a very fancy wedding," Eddie noted, "At a venue like this, I'm not sure I'd really fit in well. Don't you have any other Hollywood type guy friends who you can go with?"

Now it was Sam's turn to wrinkle her nose a little, "As for the few left who will still talk to me? They're either gay or thirsty creepos. Besides, this day is all about Megan and if I showed up with some other celebrity, I'd risk upstaging her, you know?"

Eddie nodded in understanding but still looked a little conflicted over the idea. Sam eased up and sighed, "Will you please just think about it? The wedding is at the end of this week so you still have a couple days."

Before Sam could say anything else, Eddie's assistant Berto Vasquez poked his head into the office, "Hey boss. Sorry to interrupt. But you've got a client waiting out front."

Eddie furrowed his brow, "I wasn't expecting anyone this morning. Did she say who she was?"

The younger Hispanic man nodded, "Yeah. Some young blonde woman named Megan Jenson. She said she was a friend of Sam?"

Eddie blinked in surprise and turned a suspicious eye toward his partner, "All right Sam. What kind of stunt are you trying to pull on me now?"

"I don't know what's going on. Honest!" Sam insisted as she followed him out to greet the woman at the reception desk.

Megan Jenson looked to be a young woman about Sam's age. She was tall and blonde with fair features and a slim build. She wore a red floral sundress and she removed her hat and sunglasses when she saw her old classmate. Megan rushed over and gave her a relieved hug, "Oh my gosh, Sam! Thank goodness! I'm so sorry I just came by unannounced, but I was desperate. I need your help!"

"Okay. Slow down girl. What's wrong?" Sam asked, trying to comfort her friend despite her own confusion. She led them into the section of the main office used as a conference room furnished with a larger table and chairs.

Megan sat down and wrung her hands nervously, "It's about the wedding. It's in danger of being completely ruined!"

"Why? Did the groom run out on you or something?" Sam asked.

Megan shook her head, "No. No. It's nothing like that. It's my wedding dress. It's been stolen! It happened just a couple days ago from the shop I bought it from. They were finishing the alterations, but then it was hit by a robbery and now I've got nothing to wear!"

"Does the dress really matter that much for getting married?" Berto murmured quietly to Eddie as they stood off to the side. Eddie hushed his tech and stepped forward.

"Miss Jenson, have you reported this to the local police? If it was criminal activity, I imagine they're probably better equipped to handle something like this."

Megan nodded, "Yes. But I doubt the LAPD is going to be able to find it in time. I'm sure finding an expensive wedding dress is not going to take the same priority as running down some big drug dealer on the street."

She turned to Sam, "That's why I decided to come here. You told me you've been getting into the P.I. business and that Mr. Valetik was a former cop. I know if anyone can find this dress before Friday, it's you."

"Say no more. We'll take the case," Sam said with conviction before Eddie gently grabbed her arm and dragged her out into another room.

"Excuse us for just a moment Miss Jenson," he said giving a polite smile before whirling around on his partner with a quiet hiss, "What are you doing?"

Sam proudly put her hands on her hips and stared him down, "Getting you some business, which you're welcome by the way."

Eddie pinched the bridge of his nose in mild exasperation, "Listen Sam, Megan already went to the police. Maybe we should let them handle things first and sort through the evidence..."

"Which I'm sure your friend Detective Rollins will be more than happy to do for us," Sam pleaded, "Come on Eddie. There isn't a lot of time left and Megan is a friend. She needs our help. Isn't that what you're all about?"

Eddie gave a deep sigh and relented with a nod, "All right. Fine. We'll take the case."

"I knew you'd see it my way. You're the best!" Sam answered brightly before she turned and marched back into the conference room. As Eddie began to follow, he saw Berto waiting expectantly by the door.

"Everything okay? What's the plan?"

"The plan is, we get to work on our new case," Eddie said clapping him on the shoulder, "You can start by getting into contact with Detective Rollins and putting together a file while I interview the client. We'll see if we can't solve this before L.A.'s finest does."

A short while later, Eddie and Sam sat down with Megan in the conference room listening as she offered them some information to start their investigation. Megan paused from across the table as she set down her coffee and biscotti taken from Eddie's office. "My dress was being finished at the bridal boutique shop downtown, near 12th and San Pedro's."

"Periwinkles? Oh that place is so cute!" Sam interjected, "I was thinking of looking there when I had been engaged and..."

Eddie cleared his throat and got her back on task pointing to the idle pen and notepad in front of her. He turned back to Megan across the table, "Miss Jenson, what else can you tell us about the robbery?"

"Well... the odd thing was, it seems only my dress and a couple others were taken," she said showing a picture of her dress from her phone, "It was among the priciest of the group."

Sam took a moment to admire the fancy dress and voice her approval, "Whoever took those dresses must have some good taste."

"I wonder if this was targeted, or if these robbers knew a thing or two about judging those goods," Eddie pondered.

"That's what Lydia was saying too," Megan said before explaining further, "She's my wedding planner and my Maid of Honor."

"Lydia Howe?" Sam asked curiously, "I remember her from school too. She went into a career in wedding planning, huh?"

Eddie stepped in again, "I'm sorry Miss Jenson, can we go back to what this Lydia Howe said? She knew about everything going on with the dress too?"

"Of course," Megan answered, "She was the one who was going to take care of picking up the dress for me when it was time. She was the one who recommended we go with Periwinkles in the first place. She's done lots of business with them before and the shop was well regarded with other wedding planners. But then she found out about..."

Sam stopped writing and looked up, "Meg?"

"Lydia said she learned that the store owner, Juliet Pryor had once dated my fiancee. She seems to think there's some kind of sabotage going on and that Juliet did something with the dress instead. Maybe because she's jealous?"

"And what do you think Miss Jenson?" Eddie asked as he thoughtfully scratched at the light scruff on his chin.

Megan simply scrunched her features and tried to not cry again, "I honestly don't know, Mr. Valetik. I just hope you can find my dress and set things right."

"Don't worry," Sam said coming to her friend's side to comfort her again, "I promised you we'd help you. That's exactly what we're going to do."

Eddie nodded and picked up their notepad as he rose from the table, "Thank you Miss Jenson. I'll check in with a few contacts but I think we have enough to get started. Why don't you head home and do your best to relax."

Sam looked over curiously as the former detective tucked away his handgun and tossed on his dark brown jacket, "Eddie?"

He gave a grin of excitement at the prospect of a new job and offered his hand, "Samantha Swift? Would you do me the honor of helping to get your friend's wedding dress back?"

Sam grabbed her dark leather blazer from the coat rack and followed him out the door with a smirk, "Well when you put it like that, how can any girl say no?"