Author's Note: I had a lot of fun writing this chapter, so I hope it turned out well. Super big thanks again to all who have reviewed thus far, and for those of you who are closet readers, I'd really love to hear from you! Please tell me what you think, and thanks to everybody for reading, too. Hope you enjoy this next installment!

The bedroom was surprisingly bright when I woke up. Although the blinds were always kept drawn to ward off unwanted attention, the sun's fierce late morning rays tried to push right through nonetheless--and unfortunately, they seemed to be winning.

Blinking a few times to awaken fully, I found myself half-draped across Derek's bare chest, one arm around his middle and head resting on the crook of his shoulder. I couldn't help but smile silently to myself when I saw that he was still asleep; we'd had one long and great night of sex, and I got the distinct feeling that we'd both been waiting weeks for just such an event to occur. And the best part was that we'd both been completely sober, which meant no annoying hangover to deal with this time.

Though our lust for each other had been more than satisfied yesterday, today was a new day, full of new possibilities, and I was looking forward to it.

"Good morning, Derek," I whispered softly in his ear. God, he looked even hotter when he was sleeping: his short, red-accented brown hair was hopelessly disheveled, and a peaceful expression played across his face. Still, he needed to be woken up, so I shifted a little to gently kiss his cheek and his neck.

"Hmmgh," he mumbled, now beginning to emerge from his deep slumber. To hasten things along, I pulled my arm from his side and ran my hand along his smooth chest, slowly moving down his toned abdomen before going even lower.

That finally elicited the desired response.

Derek shut his eyes tight and groaned, "Kara..." He opened his eyes when I placed my hand back on his stomach, and after a moment of sleepy staring he grinned at me. "Good morning to you, too, babe," he greeted. Then, with his voice dropping considerably, he added, "You're giving me a hard-on already, you know."

I grinned in return, our faces nearly touching. "Well, then, maybe we should take advantage." I leaned down as his grin widened and kissed him, glad to be savoring his taste once again. Derek responded in kind, kissing me back and sliding his arms around my waist as he rolled me onto my back.

"Ready for more, Kara?" he asked in an incredibly arousing tone of voice.

My grin turned into a smirk. "Only if you're up for it, Derek."

He chuckled. "Oh, I'm up for it all right." He was about to kiss me a second time when a loud snore reverberated through the room; it was coming from just outside.

"Aw, shit..." I muttered under my breath. How the hell had I forgotten?

Meanwhile, Derek looked at me, confused. "What was that?"

I gently pushed him off me before answering, and he turned over so that he was lying on his back beside me instead. I heard him let out a heavy sigh.

"Sorry, Derek, but my brother's home," I explained as I moved to face him. "He must've come in last night, after we fell asleep. I don't want him to catch us here."

Derek considered, his expression suddenly thoughtful. "Yeah, ok. I could see how that would be a problem."

I smiled at him. "Thanks for understanding, D. And don't worry, I promise to make it up to you later." Giving him a quick but deep kiss to assure him of my sincerity, I leaned across the other side of the bed to pick up my clothes and started to put them on. Derek did the same, but not before flashing me a wide grin.

"Damn, Kara, you're fucking great at bargaining."

I laughed despite myself, which made it really hard to hook on my bra. "Stop distracting me, Campbell, and hurry up. You'll have to sneak past him if you want to avoid having a really awkward situation on your hands." Phillip slept on the fold-out couch in the living room, so Derek would have to walk right in front of him in order to make it to the door. Good thing the only sound that would wake my brother up before his own biological clock was some kind of nuclear detonation. Even then, I suspected that the question as to whether or not he would actually awaken was up in the air.

"You should come with me, Kara." Derek said, sauntering over to me once were both dressed. He wrapped his arms around my waist, nuzzling my neck before adding, "I'm starving, and I'd love it if we went to breakfast together." He gave me a brief kiss on the lips, then looked at me, awaiting my answer.

That's when the usual inner conflict started up again. Me, too, was what I wanted to say to him, but I knew I couldn't. So, reluctantly, I replied, "Derek, I think I've been going out too much lately. You know I really enjoy being with you, but I just don't want this 'us' thing to blow the whole case. It's bad enough that you're leaving my apartment in the morning after your car's been parked outside all night, don't you think?"

Derek frowned. "Yeah, you have a point. But even though I'm pretty new around here, I do my homework, Kara. I know where we'll be noticed and where we won't, so we're safe if we stick to the places I recommend."

I raised a skeptical eyebrow at him. "You sure?"

"Guaranteed." He smiled. "Trust me. I've been on the force longer than you, remember?"

Yeah, but I've lived here my whole life, and I've seen what this place can do, I thought to myself. I didn't want to start a silly argument, though, and I truly was looking for any excuse that would make me feel like it was permissible to go. So, I kept quiet and happily agreed to the breakfast.

"Ok, Derek. I'll come with you," I said, smiling back. "Just let me write a note to Phillip real quick, so he doesn't freak out that I'm missing when he wakes up."

Once I finished writing the message, I stuck the bright yellow sticky note on my twin brother's forehead and carefully followed Derek out the door. We exited the rest of the apartment complex just as stealthily, lest someone important should see us together. When Derek and I made it to his sporty SUV, we both used the mirrors to quickly try to tame our hair before finally taking off.

He grinned like an idiot for a few minutes, then said, "I'm really glad you chose to come, Kara. This'll be great."

"Yeah, as long as our bosses don't see us. It'd be just my luck if Sarge happened to be patrolling near, uh...wherever it is we're going." I glanced at him. "And where would that be, exactly? 'Cause if you say Denny's, I'm going to have to do one of those stunt rolls out of the car. While it's still moving."

Derek laughed, impressively managing to shake his head while keeping his eyes trained on the road. "Nah, place is probably too full anyway--it's Saturday. And you, babe, aren't allowed anywhere near what we like to call 'normal civilization'."

"That why you passed up Starbucks our first date?"

"'Course. Major chains are notorious for having people in them."

Shoving him playfully in the arm, I grinned and said, "Cheeky asshole."

The rest of the short car ride was spent in comfortable silence, and Derek's restaurant of choice was soon in sight. It looked like a nice little cafe, flanked by a small parking lot on one side and a patch of green grass on the other. Towering trees surrounded the out-of-the-way eatery, giving it a kind of mountainy atmosphere; it was all I could do to keep myself from dramatically taking in a lungful of air.

"This place is beautiful, Derek. How the hell'd you find it?"

"You know, the funny thing about your hometown is that you never really learn all its secrets," he replied enigmatically. Walking around his car to join me, he smiled and added, "Sometimes it takes a stranger to show you what you've been missing. Come on."

So I followed him into the establishment, smiling to myself as I shook my head imperceptibly. Every time I thought I finally had this man figured out, he managed to find some new way to throw my analysis for a loop. It was sort of exciting.

Once inside, I was relieved to find only a few other diners gathered around the tables; still, Derek erred on the side of caution and had us sit in the furthest corner, just behind a wall that blocked our view from the window. I knew then for sure that he wasn't taking any chances, and that knowledge considerably lowered my level of anxiety. I'd never drop my guard, of course, but it afforded me some measure of peace with what I was doing.

But a part of me, perhaps the more rational side, said: Don't get too comfy, Kara. If you start loosing up now, you'll get sloppy, and sloppy equals dead--not only for you, but Phillip, too. Hell, maybe even Derek. And that's not something you want to have happen.

"Hi!" a bright and cheery voice suddenly greeted us. "What would you two like this morning?"

I looked up from my menu to see a young waitress--probably in her late teens--staring at Derek and I with a ridiculously large smile on her face. I guess life hadn't given her a sucker punch yet. Lucky her.

"I'll have a California omelette with some coffee and orange juice, please," Derek replied. "And a side of sourdough toast."

"Ok, sir! Good choice," the waitress said, happily jotting the order down on her notepad. Then she turned her attention to me. "And for you, ma'am?"

"Coffee and french toast, with extra cinnamon," I answered.

If it was possible, her smile grew even wider. "Great! I'll come by soon with your drinks!"

As soon as the young woman was out of earshot, I looked at Derek. "I think being that happy is criminal."

He chuckled. "She could definitely use some form of chill pill." Sobering after a second, a more serious expression formed on his face. "All right, I know how fond you are of getting right down to business, so here goes. You ready to hear this?"

"What?" I asked suspiciously.

His voice lowered considerably as he leaned over the table. "Rich told me yesterday that Sarge was wrong. They want you to work this for two more months, not two weeks."

At first I was too stunned to say anything. Eventually, though, the new information caught up with my brain, and I had to work to remind myself it wasn't Derek's fault. You know, all that stuff about not shooting the messenger and everything.

"Why? Why is this being dragged out? And please don't tell me it has something to do with Tommy, because--"

"It's Tommy," Derek confirmed.

Anger began to bubble up inside me, injecting a slight edge into my voice. "I can't believe Rich is allowing this. If we don't make our move quickly, those bastards will fucking walk, Derek. What's stopping the whole gang from skipping town, joining their head hancho in Vegas?"

He sighed. "Kara, listen: first of all, we've got Tommy tagged, even in Vegas. He can't so much as take a shit without us knowing about it. So, if he attempts communications with his people here, we'll know they're staging something--and if he's planning on saving just his own ass, we're already on him anyway."

I opened my mouth to protest, but Derek held up a finger.

"Let me finish. I know how badly you want this to be over with, Kara, and I understand the feeling. You figure you've got all your ducks lined up, but you just can't take the shot. It sucks. But it's only a few more weeks than what Hayden originally gave you."

"Derek, they're tacking on another month and a half. And by the time this is over, I'll have worked undercover for over a year." Shaking my head, I continued in a softer tone, "I don't mind doing my job, Derek; it's what I signed up for, what I enjoy doing, and what I agreed to do. I just want to make sure there's a good, solid reason behind keeping these creeps at large. That's all." Though I wouldn't mind having a real life and my identity back, either, I added silently to myself.

Before he could reply, the cheery waitress returned with our drinks and promised the meals would soon follow suit. Derek and I quietly fixed our respective coffees, each taking a sip before returning to our conversation.

In a motion that caught me off-guard, Derek suddenly slid his hand across the table and interlocked his fingers with my own. "We'll get them, Kara, don't worry," he said in a reassuring tone. "But we do have to wait for Tommy first. He's their leader, an indispensable asset to the prosecution because of his vast knowledge on the inner workings of his organization. He can name names and date dates no one else can, and we need him in order for this to be a true success. Not only that, but he travels with his entourage, and they've got plenty of useful dirt as well." Derek gave me a meaningful look before concluding, "Think how it'll feel to have brought down an entire criminal element, Kara. Top to bottom sweep of the whole damn thing. How many drug deals, murders, rapes will we prevent?"

I swallowed; he was right. "What about my parents?"

"If their murder is connected to these guys, Tommy will know. It'll come out during the interrogations."

"So it's just a waiting game now?"

Derek nodded. "Essentially, yes. Apparently Tommy was in Vegas for a little R&R as well as business, and one of his shipments was delayed."

"Yeah, sounds like for weeks. I don't expect he's too happy about that." The image of Jake mercilessly killing his customers flashed through my mind, and I shook my head. "I hope our own delaying doesn't cost anyone their life."

"Exactly, which is why Rich doesn't want you doing anymore recon for these last couple of months."

"Huh? Why?" I asked, perplexed.

He sighed before clarifying, "You've already collected all the evidence we need, Kara. If Rich let you continue surveillance, we'd only be putting you in unnecessary danger. So, he wants you to stay out of their way from now on, and to keep Phillip and yourself below the radar till the day of the arrest." He gave me a look. "Think you can handle that?"

I thought about it for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah. I'll find a way to keep my brother under check. But you're sure it's only going to be two months? No bullshit?"

"No bullshit this time, promise."

"And what about...will I still get to see you?"

Derek grinned. "Of course. Not so much professionally, as we probably won't have our liaison meetings as often. But I'll definitely make time for us."

I grinned back at him.

"Here's your order, you two!" the waitress' voice suddenly interjected. She placed our steamy plates of food on the table, then continued to smile in that weird ultra-happy way. "Enjoy!"

Yeah, some people really needed to lay off the caffeine.

The two of us lapsed into comfortable silence then, all but attacking our our meals because we were both ravenous; making love three times in one night tended to do that to you. But it was during the time we spent together over breakfast that a strange--but decidedly good--feeling went through me. It was only when Derek and I looked at each other from across the table and smiled that I finally realized what the feeling was.

I was starting to fall for Derek.