Rafe couldn't help but be excited. This was the biggest case he'd had in a while, and he was an inch away from closing it.

The murders around the university had been big news- they always were. No matter how many disasters plagued that school, the press still loved getting their hands on the gory details of any new goings on. And the last few weeks had been big.

First, the president of the university's daughter, Jane, a student, had been found with a slit throat in the middle of the library. That had caused an uproar, a press nightmare, and numerous migraines for one Simon Banks, who had given the case to Rafe and Brown, hoping they could, if not actually finding the guy who did it, at least be high-profile enough to satisfy the president and the press.

And then another girl had been found, throat slit, in the back row of a class that was still in session. It was credited to the same killer, and the mysterious, public crime scene had been the source of a fever of panic and a greatly increased skip rate in the student body.

Rafe and Brown had worked their butts off on this case, occasionally joking with each other that if Simon had realized it was going to get this big, he would have given it to Ellison and Sandburg. This was a case that would normally have gone to the other partnership in Major Crimes, the more high-profile team. But they did what they could, comparing notes on the two murders endlessly, grilling witnesses, the professor of the class, students, anyone who might have known anything. As with any high-profile crime, they had received several
anonymous phone tips, most just jokes, but they followed each one to the end, willing to go any distance to track the killer.

Both the dead girls had been wearing matching earrings. Nothing too fancy or noticable- just matching little red hoops. Rafe had noticed it completely by chance. And then a tip: a far-fetched phone call speculating about a sorority house on campus and the strange things going on with the girls involved. They had researched it just long enough to find out that neither girl was either a member or pledging the sorority, and then moved on to other possibilities.

Brown had been out for the last few days with the flu, but Rafe had forged on, going to the campus again and again and interviewing witnesses.

And now, since he was in the neighborhood, he stopped to pay a visit to Sandburg and sat in on the last few minutes of his class. As always, he was struck by the rapt attention the students paid to the enthusiastic teacher. He grinned knowingly at Blair's enthusiastic lecture, watching the grad student describing some ancient tribal ritual of greeting the morning sun, and then Blair noticed him sitting in the back, and broke off his lecture to wave enthusiastically. Unprofessionally, Rafe couldn't help thinking as the entire class turned to see who their teacher was greeting.

Blair wrapped up the lecture quickly after that, sending the class out a little early, and Rafe hung behind to talk to him.

"How's the investigation going?" Blair asked, his cheerful demeanor fading slightly once they were alone. "The students are really scared, man. Half the class has stopped coming."

Rafe paused. That was only half his class? Blair must attract a lot of students. "Truthfully, not so great," he admitted. "There just isn't that much to go on."

Blair tensed then, and Rafe wrapped up the conversation quickly, noticing his sudden discomfort.

As he went back to the arts building, Rafe found himself pondering Blair's change in attitude. He knew, and Brown knew, that Jim and Blair wanted this case. It was high-profile, it was challenging.

It was probably, Rafe told himself, the kind of case they would walk into and walk out ten minutes later with some guy in handcuffs. With Blair getting shot or kidnapped somewhere along the way, of course.  Rafe knew that Simon wanted to give Jim and Blair the case- he had talked to Rafe about it briefly the day before, calling him into his office when he first got there.

Rafe thought over that conversation with a twinge of anger.

"What's up, Cap?" he'd asked, surprised at the summons.

"How's the U investigation coming?" Simon had asked bluntly.

"We'll get there, Captain. It's a little thin right now, but-"

"You think you could use some help?"

Rafe had paused then. "Help?" he asked curiously.

"Yeah. Ellison's wrapped up his biggest headache, he could spare some time to go over there with you and see what you've got."

That had sounded too much like Simon was sending Jim to check their work over. "Thanks, Simon, but I really think we've got it under control right now. We've been over everything dozens of times, we haven't missed a thing."

Simon had paused then, as thought pondering his next words. "There could be some things you haven't noticed. I'd like Ellison to come down with you and take a look."

Feeling stiff, Rafe had found himself wishing Brown was there to snap at the captain. Rafe never did feel too comfortable with that. "Not today, Simon. I've got a pretty tight schedule. Oh, as a matter of fact..." Rafe had made a show of looking at his watch, and had ducked out of the office, and the station, quickly.

And now he walked across the campus, wondering how much Blair's stiffness had to do with the fact that he also thought Ellison would pick up things the other two had missed.

What was this? When had Ellison become some sort of super cop? When had it been decided that if Jim could see the notes Rafe and Brown had, he would magically spot some clue that would zoom them in on the guilty party? That he would take one look at the body and know who had done it?

Rafe was the first to admit that Ellison and Sandburg had a faster turn-out rate than he and Brown- than any detectives in the precinct, so far as he knew. But come on. That didn't have to mean....

No, he should stop. Jealousy never got nobody nowhere. Maybe that's all it was. He was jealous of the higher-profile life Ellison and Sandburg had found themselves in, and now he was getting resentful.

A girl approached him suddenly. "Hey, you were in Professor Sandburg's class, weren't you?"

Rafe shook himself out of his thoughts. "Yeah, Blair's a friend of mine."

She had that shy grin and slightly flushed look that told Rafe she thought he was attractive. "Oh, really? He's a great teacher."

Glancing at her as he walked, Rafe noticed something. She had on earings, little red hoops. "Those are nice earings," he stated plainly.

"Wha...? Oh. Thanks." She fingered one hoop with a giggle.

"Where'd you get them?"

"Uh. I'm wearing the hoops, right?"

He nodded patiently.

"Yeah. Um, I was pegged by an Omega sister. This is sorta the badge they give us, so everyone knows who we are."

"Pegged?" Rafe slowed down. "What does that mean?"

"Well. Dawn, she's the sister that pegged me, I helped her out on this massive final exam in psychology last year. So she was gonna sponsor me to be an Omega, but I wasn't really interested. I'm really into schoolwork, you know? So she pegged me instead. Everyone knows I'm a friend to the sisters, even if I'm not one. So most of the other sororities leave me alone, and I get to go to most of Omega's parties."

"Really?" Rafe's thoughts were going a mile a minute. That anonymous tip about the sorority- it had been something with Omega in it, hadn't it?- had suspected the sorority of some strange things. And both the girls had on those earings. They had both been pegged. Now all he had to do was find out where the two facts connected. "Do you think I could talk to that girl who pegged you? Or someone in charge at Omega?"

She had frowned, confused. "Why would you want to do that? Say, who are you? Are you really Proffessor Sandburg's friend?"

"As a matter of fact, I am. But I'm interested in the murders."

"Umm. Yeah, look, I gotta go."

Rafe knew he was on to something then. "What's your rush?"

"Look, I can't talk about those murders, okay? Not to anyone. I don't know who...I mean, you're too cute to be a cop, but...I gotta go,"

And Rafe watched her run off, his heart pounding. Yes! This was something! He had something to go on now!

Time to pay a visit to a sorority house.

Blair walked down the campus the next day, eager to get out of there and back to the station to see what Simon had said about Jim's formal request to take over the Ranier investigation. Blair wanted this case. He wanted to find the man who had put his students into such a state of fright that they missed his classes in larger and larger numbers. He wanted to find the man who killed innocent girls in the middle of the day in a public place, proving that nothing, no one, and no place was sacred.

He was so absorbed in his thoughts that he almost didn't recognize the man in the middle of an approaching crowd of women as Rafe.

He stopped when he finally did realize who it was, and gaped. Rafe was dressed too casually to be at work, in jeans and a t-shirt, his hair carelessly blowing around. He looked like any other student. So what was he doing there? And who were the girls he was walking with?

Rafe's eyes strayed to Blair as he laughed too loudly at something one or another of the girls said. He waved casually. "Hey, Professor!"

Blair blinked, then ambled over to the group. "Hi," was all he said in return, not sure exactly what was going on.

"Surprised to see me?" Rafe asked with a grin.

Blair hesitated, stammering for the right response.

"It has been a while," Rafe continued easily. He turned to address the girls around him. "I took one of Professor Sandburg's classes when I was still here. Professor, how's it going?"

"Um. Fine. So...what are you doing here?"

"Oh, I just came by to check out the old campus, you know," Rafe waved airily. He then got a sheepish look on his face. "Can you believe, I was looking for the old frat house and walked right in on a bunch of women,"

The girls giggled around him.

Rafe grinned at them all, pulling out his charm full force. "Hey, I think I'm going to talk to the Prof. See you ladies tonight, eh?"

They threw out various responses, continuing on their path as Rafe led Blair away.

"What is going on here?" Blair blurted.

"Look, Blair, the murders around here have something to do with the Omega sorority, only I'm not sure what it is yet. So I'm going undercover, kind of, to see if I can figure out what's up. Nothing serious. Only...don't tell Simon, okay? He'd blow a gasket."

"Rafe, is this a good idea?"

"What? Oh, sure. Just a casual investigation. I even got invited to some party the girls are throwing tonight."

"The big first week of spring party?" Blair had heard countless students gushing about how big a deal it was, how they wished they could be invited. He himself had been invited by a student he was tutoring. He hadn't been planning on going, but... "Not a bad assignment, Rafe."

"Not yet," Rafe grinned.

Blair couldn't help but feel disappointed- that meant Jim hadn't gotten the case turned over to them. Or maybe he had, and Rafe didn't know it yet. Either way, it wasn't good. "I have to get to the station. Be careful, alright?"

"Yeah, living on the fast lane here." Rafe gestured at the green of the campus. With his hair being mussed by the breeze and the carefree smile on his face, he looked too much like he belonged there.

"Sandburg, get over here!"

Blair sighed and wandered over to Jim's desk, wondering where else Jim thought he would go. "How's it going, big guy?"

"We've got a lot of work to do. We have to go down to the morgue and look at those two bodies, and then we're hightailing it back to the U."

"Simon gave you the case?" Blair asked, brightening noticably.

"Just told me a minute ago." Jim nodded in confirmation.

Blair resisted the urge to cheer out loud. At last, they would catch this guy! "Alright! Where do we start?"

Jim grinned. "Slow down, Chief. First we go over these notes, then we'll go catch us a killer."

Blair accepted the files offered to him and saw Rafe's name at the top of one. Rafe. He'd have to remember to call Rafe and tell him.

But first he had a crime to solve.

Jim was stumped. It had been too damned long, all the evidence was gone. There weren't any traces of evidence left on the girls' bodies, no clues at the sights. Nothing Jim could pick up. He had spent a frustrating afternoon looking at every last speck of dirt, and had drawn a blank.

"I don't know, Chief. We'll just have to come back tomorrow and start from scratch."

"What about the theory Omega was involved somehow?" Blair asked as they drove back towards the loft at the day's end.

"I don't know. It is thin, but it's something. We'll look at it tomorrow."

"How about tonight?" Blair filled him in on the party that night quickly.

Jim smiled for the first time in hours. "Not bad, Chief. Sure, you get out there, see if you overhear anythiing. Any chance I can get in?"

"Not unless you've got a sister to vouch for you. Sorry, man,"

"Alright, but I'll be on the campus. Just remember to keep the cell phone with you and call if you overhear anything suspiscious."

"Sure thing."

Blair was practically bounding in his excitement, up to the loft, through dinner, and out again to go back to the campus. He was looking forward to this party now- now that he knew he had a chance to solve the murders that had haunted the campus.

Jim dropped him off near the sorority house, and drove off, just in case anyone was watching. Blair knew he would circle around and park somewhere nearby, ready to rush to the rescue if Blair was in any danger.

As Blair entered the loud party, he grinned. The only think he could see here that would be dangerous were the amount of grins he was getting from girls who were, or could conceivably someday be, his students.

"Hey, Professor! I'm glad you came!" Lashandra Sullivan, the student who had invited him to the party, came bounding up.

"Hi, Shan. Not bad," he commented, looking around at the crowd of Rainier's who's who students, the huge amounts of food and drinks, the fun everyone was having.

"Doesn't suck," she shrugged in response. "Nothing like last year's, though."

Blair grinned. Last year's spring party had ended sometime the second night, if he remembered right.

"Oh, Prof, you have to meet this guy, he says he knows you." She grabbed his arm and dragged him into the crowd.

Blair went readily enough, grinning and waving at everyone he knew. A cup of some liquid or another appeared in his hand, and he found himself moving to the music. God, he did enjoy this. For all the times he spent with other teachers, he forgot that he was also a student, and he was entitled to party and destroy brain cells like all other grad students.

And then his grin faded. "Rafe!"

The detective was dancing with one of the girls, dressed in his GQ best, attracting even more looks than Blair did. At the sound of his name, though, he paused, looking around. He saw Blair and his eyebrows shot up. "Hey, Professor. What're you doing here?" he asked, cheerfully enough.

Lashandra still held Blair's arm possessively. "I invited him," she told him with a grin.

"Shan, I thought you were saving yourself for me?" Rafe gave the girl a charmingly hurt smile.

She practically blushed. "Anytime you want it, Rafey."

Blair gave the detective an incredulous look. Rafey? Shan? He'd been with these girls for a day now, and he was acting like he belonged there naturally. Blair envied, for a moment, his comfort and ease. Jim always commented on Blair's ability to adapt in any surrounding- he should have seen Rafe right then.

But then another thought occurred to him. Why was Rafe at that party? He had been planning to go to investigate, but this wasn't his case anymore.

And then he shut his eyes briefly. Damn. Of course Rafe was there. Blair was supposed to have called him and told him this was Jim's case now, and he'd forgotten. "Uh. Rafe, can I talk to you for a minute?"

Another carefree smile. "Hey, Teach, you do remember that I don't go here anymore, right? You can't threaten to fail me if I stay out too late or anything."

Blair smiled tightly. "I remember."

"Good. Lead on, kemo sabe. I'll be back, Alicia." He shot a smile back to his dancing partner and followed Blair to the edge of the room. "I have to tell ya, Blair," he chatted as they walked. "This is one of the funnest assignments I've had in a while."

Blair moved until they were aginst the wall, in a relatively unoccupied corner, and turned a serious look to the other man.

Rafe, still bopping his head to the music, misinterpreted his frown. "Oh, hey, don't worry. I'm working here, I promise. I've already got a pretty good idea of what the motive was-"

"Rafe, Simon turned the case over to Jim."

Just like that, Rafe's smile dropped. "What??"

"This afternoon. I was supposed to call you, this is my fault."

"Simon did what?" Rafe didn't seem to comprehend. "He gave Jim the investigation?"

Blair nodded. "Yeah. We were over here some today, and he sent me here tonight to see what I could find out. I'm sorry you came all the way out here for nothing."

Rafe fell completely still and silent for a moment. "I see," he said slowly. "He sent you here. I'm off the case."

Blair shifted uncomfortably. "I'm sorry," he said again. "I should have called."

"No problem, man," Rafe assured him. But his voice came out soft, almost distractedly. "I guess I should go, huh?"

Blair shrugged. "You did get invited, and this is the party of the year," he said with a smile.

Rafe didn't return it. He started turning, still sounding far-off and distracted. "Yeah. I should go. Good luck, Blair."

Blair watched him fade into the crowd. That was weird. Rafe should have gotten a kick out of the fact that he could now enjoy the party without having to scope for clues. Maybe he was worried Blair would get himself hurt. That would figure.

Blair took a sip of the tepid liquid in his cup and grimaced.

Somehow he had the feeling he'd just done something really wrong, but he couldn't figure out what it was.

Rafe pushed his way through the crowd, keeping a plastic smile on his face for the sorority sisters who spotted him in the crowd.

Simon gave Jim this case. The case Brown and Rafe had been exhausting themselves on for two weeks. The case that had driven Brown home, sick, and kept Rafe up too many nights. Now. Now that Rafe had a good lead, now that he had finally gotten a break. Simon had taken that lead and given it to Jim and Blair.

He couldn't fathom it. Why? Why would Simon have done that? Why would they be so certain that Rafe couldn't solve this case himself?

No, no. Don't do that. No self-pity here. It wasn't necessarily that they didn't think Rafe could do it.

They just thought Jim and Blair could do it better.

He felt a sense of injustice at the whole thing, but he forced it under, disgusted with himself. Why was he so concerned about who solved the case? As long as it got solved, he should be happy. And if Simon really thought that Jim and Blair could handle it better, get the killer behind bars faster, well, maybe they could. So Rafe should have been happy to let them take over. Right?

No. He wasn't anywhere close to happy. But maybe he was unhappy at the wrong people. It wasn't Blair's fault he had taken Rafe's place in the investigation. It wasn't Simon's fault if he trusted the partners with the highest turn-out rate. Maybe it was just Rafe's fault for not being any better at it. Maybe he had been so inefficient this whole time, Simon had been forced to give Jim and Blair the case. Why else would he have done it?

Damn.

Rafe ducked out the door before any of the wandering faces that followed his movements got up enough courage to approach him. He really didn't want to talk to anyone right then.

He made his way around the back of the house, where he had parked his car in the lot reserved for the Omegas and their brother fraternity's members. (They would be THRILLED if he parked there, they had assured him.) He moved steadily, not taking in anything around him, over to his car and pulled out his keys.

"Man! This is gonna be great!"

Rafe ducked at the sound of the voice. A few car lengths down, hidden from his view by a black truck, some guys were getting out of their cars, ready to join the party.

Some gut feeling told Rafe he wanted to listen to this.

"Which one are you going for?" Another voice asked.

"Who knows? I can't even keep track of all the new ones."

"Just remember to play it cool in there." A third voice piped up. "Reg is supposed to be here, and he'd flip if he found out."

"Screw Reg," the second voice answered. "Who's gonna tell him? Jane?" he snickered.

Rafe stiffened. Jane? The first victim. Was this-

"Just shut up about her, alright? I can't believe you had the pres's daughter nailed. It's your fault the cops are all over the place."

"That's daylight, Rob. This is night time." A laugh, and the voices soon trailled off.

Dropping his keys in his rush, Rafe quickly jogged after them, back to the party. Were these really his killers? Just average frat boys? No. That third guy had said he'd HAD her nailed, not done it himself. Whatever nailed was.

Nailed, pegged. He couldn't remember frat life being so frought with terminology in his day.

He saw the door ahead open, and the three men going in. He put on a burst of speed and caught the door before it shut. And there they were, still clumped together, wandering over towards the drinks, flashing cocky smiles at everyone who looked their way.

Rafe quickly picked out the third voice, the only one who had sounded slightly concerned about what they'd been doing. He was smiling as big as the other two, but had an air of apprehension around him.

Rafe looked around for Blair. The grad student wasn't in sight, probably off dancing, trying to talk clues out of the girls. He turned back to the men, who were quickly starting to break up, going off to dance or get some food, or socialize.

Rafe hesitated. This wasn't his case anymore. He had no authority here. He should find Blair, or go out and find Jim- he knew the detective had to be around somewhere, keeping an eye on his partner. He should tell them what he knew and let them take it. Right?

No. No way in hell. If they thought he was really that ineffective an officer, he'd have to start proving himself somehow. It didn't matter who solved it, right? As long as it was closed.

So he started off, towards the third guy- Rob, his friend had called him.

Plastering a huge smile to his face, he went right up to the guy and clapped him on the back. "Hey, Rob!"

The student stopped his raid on the bowl of chips, surprised. "Hey, man," he greeted after a minute.

"Rob? You know Alicia?" Rafe lowered his voice conspiratoraly.

His brow still creased, Rob nodded. "Of course, man. Why?"

"She wants to see you. Outside," Rafe wagged his eyebrows meaningfully. Alicia was the vice-president of the Omegas. She was the most untouchable woman on campus, if what he had gathered listening to them chat earlier that day was true.

Sure enough, Rob seemed to forget he didn't know who the hell Rafe was. "Really?"

"Yeah, man. Come on." Rafe started off.

The kid behind him hesitated, looking around for his friends.

"Come on, Rob. It's ALICIA," Rafe stressed.

Rob burst into a goofy grin. "Aw, man. Wait until Sean hears." He followed Rafe obediently through the crowd.

Rafe led the way out the front door, then back around towards the parking lot.

"Where we going?" Rob asked, unconcerned.

"I think she wants to take you for a drive. You know?"

Rob smirked.

God, college guys still never got tired of stale innuendo, did they? Rafe led him back behind the first row of cars, scanning the parking lot surreptisiously to make sure no one else was around.

"Where is she?" Rob followed his sweping gaze.

"Probably inside dancing," Rafe replied with a shrug. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his badge with a
grin. "Cascade PD, Robbie."

"Aw, shit."

"Yeah." Rafe nodded his agreement. "Now, do me a favor and join me in the car over here. I want to talk to you about a little thing called nailing."

"Shit," Rob said again, turning to bolt back towards the party and the safety of his more confident friends.

Rafe grabbed him easily and slung him up against his own car. "Do that again, Rob. Give me an excuse to drag you to the station and question you."

"Come on, man. I didn't do anything. What's the charge here?"

"Try murder."

His eyes grew huge. "Murder?" Suddenly he tensed, jerking himself out of Rafe's grasp and throwing a punch.

Rafe ducked it easily, grabbing his arm as it whizzed by his head and twisting it behind him.

Rob sucked in a breath, but recovered, ramming his free elbow into the detective's midsection, and jerking himself away when Rafe doubled over. "You don't know what you're doing, cop."

Rafe threw himself into a tackle, hitting Rob in his chest and mowing him down to the ground. Landing on top of him, Rafe almost managed to avoid the knee that twisted up to meet him. Pain lanced through his leg as he didn't get out of the way in time, and he rolled off of the student.

Rob got himself up quickly, and threw another punch at the officer, catching Rafe on the mouth.

Rafe felt blood running down his chin as his lip split, and he growled. No wonder none of the other Major Crimes officers trusted him- he couldn't even take out a college kid. Anger, at himself, at this punk who had just split his lip, at everything, suddenly forced him to his feet. He lunged, fist flying, hitting the student in the jaw, and following with a quick jab at his stomach.

Rob fell to his knees clumsily, hands grasping his midsection, and Rafe pulled his revolver out of it's spot hidden at the small of his back. "Alright, Rob. I'd stay down on the ground if I was you. You don't want to give me an excuse."

Rob looked up, ready to snap about his rights, but the look in the detective's eye silenced him, and he stayed where he was.

"Tell me about the murders, Rob."

Rob sank down to a sitting position. "Man, you gotta believe me. We never killed anybody."

"Oh really? Attacking me wasn't the best way to convince me of that." Rafe crouched. "Why don't you relax, Rob. We'll sit here and have a nice conversation. I'll fill you in on your rights, you can tell me what exactly was involved in having the president's daughter nailed."

Rob slumped, defeated. "Man. Don't I get a lawyer or something?"

Rafe shrugged. "If you want, we can go down to the station and I'll book you, for assaulting a police officer if nothing else. Your lawyer can meet you there."

"Book me? Aw, shit. My parents would kill me. Alright, alright. Look, if I tell you what I know, will you let me go?"

"I'll put in a really good word for you." Rafe replied agreeably.

"Man. Alright, look, I never killed anybody. It's the sisters, man. The Omegs."

"You're saying the Omegas are killing their own members?"

"No, man. Not members. Just the pegged girls."

"Alright, tell me what all this means."

"Okay, look, when a girl gets pegged, she has to be a stand-in for the Omegs."

"What do you mean?" Rafe's gaze went back to the building when the sounds of music suddenly became louder. Just some frat guy barfing on the porch. He turned back. "Start talking."

"Okay, okay. See, our frat and the Omegs have a deal going. We help each other out, you know? Give each other whatever we want."

"I hate it when people are vague, did I mention that?"

"Look, man, it's simple. Sometimes we want a meal, we go to the Omeg house. Sometimes they need favors, they come to us."

Rafe got a thought. "Tell me this eventually has something to do with sex."

Rob swallowed. "Well, what do you expect? Sometimes we want a litte companionship. Same for them, alright?"

"Yeah, yeah. So is that what you mean by stand-in?"

"Sure. If we want a few favors and the Omegs can't or don't want to do it, they send one of the pegs."

Rafe shut his eyes briefly in disgust. This was why he'd never bothered pledging anywhere. "So tell me about nailing."

Rob shrugged. "If a peg doesn't cooperate, we nail em. Report them to the Omegs,"

"That's all it is? Reporting them for not cooperating?"

"That's enough, man. The Omegs are seriously uptight about their image. You should see this place at pledge time. If a peg doesn't work out, I dunno, I guess they get rid of it."

Rafe shook his head slowly, suddenly tired. This was too much. Sorority girls killing fellow students because they wouldn't do their dirty work for them? "You expect me to believe all this?"

"Ask Alicia, she's the one we report to."

"Really?" Rafe straightened, gazing back towards the dance hall. "Alright, Rob, here's the situation. I'm gonna handcuff you to my car here, and you're going to sit tight and keep nice and quiet until I come back out for you. Do I have to tell you what can happen if you don't?"

"No, man." Rob's eyes burned with anger, but Rafe knew he wouldn't be going anywhere.

Jim Ellison was not in a good mood. He'd been sitting there only a short time before his head started throbbing with a migraine.

He had tried following Blair into the party with his senses, keeping track of his friend's heart beat, but the concentration of filtering out the roar of noise had been too much, and Jim's temple was screaming it's protest.

He kept his eyes on the building patiently, though, knowing he could be there for quite a while. Occasionally a student or a group of kids would wander in or out, and he flinched every time the door opened, feeding his headache with the music pouring out.

And then his eyes caught on a familiar figure, jogging around the side of the building.

"Rafe! What the hell are you doing here?"

Rafe slowed. Yeah, he'd been right. There was Jim Ellison, sitting in his truck, calmly watching the house. He changed course, going over to him. "Jim! Listen, I've got some-"

"What are you doing here?" Jim demanded. "Don't you know there's an investigation going on here?"

Rafe pulled back, surprised. "Uh, yeah, Jim, I did. I have to go in and find Alicia."

This was not helping his headache. "I don't believe this. You're interfering so you can locate some girl you met today?"

Rafe felt his anger reigniting, ignoring the fact that Jim was probably tense. And probably right, the way Rafe's track record was going. But still, he had no right to yell at him before he knew what was happening.

"Simon told me you were fighting to keep this case." Jim accused, climbing out of the truck to stand beside the younger man.

"Jim, shut up. You don't know what's going on here."

"You're right, and I don't want to know. Blair's in there trying to find answers, and the last thing he needs is you showing up and distracting him."

Rafe took a deep breath, facing the angry, pale-looking officer. Jim was rubbing his temple distractedly. Headache, Rafe guessed. Poor friggin guy. "Look, Jim," he started, then stopped. What could he say? Jim was right, he had no right to be there. Why Jim decided to point that out to him, he didn't know. Rafe knew he shouldn't be oversensitive to the no-nonsense detective, but Jim wasn't exactly catching him at a good time. Rafe found himself deflating. "Jim. My car's parked in the back. Go over there and look at it for me, you'll find what you need." He turned slowly and started off, away from the building and the parking lot.

"Rafe?" Jim's anger faded with the realization that he was being too big a prick even for him. It was replaced by confusion. "What are you-"

"Damn it, Jim, just go look. Trust me for once." And he started off again.

Jim watched him go for a second, wondering briefly where he was going. Then he grabbed his cell phone and jogged towards the back parking lot.

Blair liked Alicia. She was fun, she was smart, and she had insights in her reports that most students not majoring in anthropology missed.

And she was a great dancer.

"So these murders are a real bummer, huh?" Blair shouted as they danced.

"Yeah, really." Alicia was flushed, smiling, looking not at all bummed. "You think they'll ever find out who did it?"

"I think so," Blair answered, confident in his partner.

Speaking of his partner...Blair suddenly saw a familiar cropped head of hair floating it's way through the crowd. What was Jim doing in here?

"What's wrong?" Alicia asked as Blair stopped moving.

"Come on, I'll introduce you to my roommate." Blair led Alicia by the hand over towards Jim.

Ellison finally spotted his partner heading right for him. "Blair, look, I've got a good idea who-"

"Jim," Blair interrupted quickly, knowing if he reminded everyone at this point that he was an observer with the police, no one would talk to him. "This is Alicia."

Jim's eyes grew, and he reached over suddenly, taking her arm and pulling her away from him. "Alicia Smith, you're under arrest for the murders of Jane van Garr and Sarah Becker."

Alicia didn't protest, didn't do anything. She just stood looked at Blair, a betrayed look in her eyes.

Blair watched in shock as Jim pulled out handcuffs and bound his dancing partner's hands. The activity around them fell to a dead stop as the students watched the popular girl being arrested.

Jim started moving her towards the door, and Blair followed, still stunned. As soon as they were outside Jim glanced over at Blair, the amazed look still in his eyes. "Someday you're gonna have to tell me how you knew it was her, Chief."

Blair smiled weakly. Someday he'd be interested in learning that himself.

Simon showed up about ten minutes later, in response to Jim's call. He appeared in the midst of the black and whites that had shown up, putting a stop to the party of the year, going right to where Jim and Blair stood with a grin on his face. "Great work, you two. Finally I'm going to enjoy my morning talk with the chief. You say this was some sorority girl?" Simon shook his head. "How did you know?"

Jim put a hand on Blair's shoulder. "Ask Sandburg."

Blair looked over at Jim. "No, how DID you know?"

"We got a confession from some frat kid who knew what was going on." Jim answered brightly.

"Good. Hopefully we can wring a confession from the girl and not even have to go to trial!" Simon glanced over at a van pulling up. "Channel 6. Ellison, you wanna take the initial interview?"

Jim grinned over at Blair. "How bout it, Chief?"

"Go on, Jim. I'm a little wiped out."

Jim grinned agreeably and went to meet the press.

Simon clapped a hand on Sandburg's shoulder. "That was top work, Sandburg. I mean it,"

Blair beamed at the rare praise from his captain. "Thanks, Simon. I'm still not exactly sure of everything that happened," he confessed.

"No problem, you and Jim can wait until tomorow to write a report. I'm just glad it's-" Simon stopped abruptly. "Rafe? What're you doing here?"

Blair turned. Sure enough, there was Rafe, approaching from the trees, a strange look on his face. "Just wanted to see what happened," he answered.

"We've got our killer," Simon reported happily.

"That's great," Rafe said flatly.

"Alicia Smith," Blair reported. "Can you believe it?"

"Where's Jim?" Rafe asked instead or answering.

Blair gestured towards the news van, where the sentinel stood chatting with a well-dressed woman reporter.

Rafe took it in without response.

As he took in the quiet detective's profile, Simon suddenly saw the swelling of his lip and a smear of blood still on his chin. "What happened to you, Rafe? What are you doing here, anyway?"

Rafe turned away from Jim to look over at Blair. A resigned look in his eyes, he shrugged. "Nothing important, Simon. Nothing at all."

Blair watched the normally cheerful detective as he turned and trudged off towards the parking lot. "That was strange," he said to Simon.

"Yeah." Banks opened his mouth to say something, but Jim's voice stopped him.

"Simon, Blair! Come on, she wants to get all of us in this."

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