It had been a slow morning, leads all dead ends, no witnesses to question and for once Baekhyun was caught up on his paperwork. So instead of outright searching for mind-numbing work he was entertaining himself by tossing M&Ms at his partner who had abandoned his mountain of work to catch the candies like a well-trained dog.

Lobbing a blue chocolate candy across their office Chanyeol reclined so far back in his chair that it nearly tipped over landing the officer on the floor. Catching hold of the edge of his desk to save himself he still went for the candy. Baekhyun was laughing his head off as Chanyeol hacked and coughed nearly choking on the M&M.

“Got it,” he said proudly.

At that same moment the door to their office swung open to reveal the newbie Jongin wielding a manilla folder over his head like a trophy.

“Whatever you have is nothing compared to what I have here,” Jongin proclaimed.

Setting the candy package aside Baekhyun spun in his chair as he followed Jongin who made his way to his desk where he perched himself on the edge still holding up the file. Chanyeol crossed his arms atop his own desk as he eyed the unmarked folder. Baekhyun did his best to remain calm yet mildly curious as he faced the new guy instead of tearing across the room to read what was inside.

“Now what do you have? Another string of dead end leads?” Chanyeol questioned.

“Try a ballistics report,” Jongin said smugly.

Baekhyun's stomach flipped.

“Seokjin's?” Chanyeol asked turning suddenly chipper.

“The one and only,” Jongin smirked.

Leaping from his chair Chanyeol sang, “Kim Jongin I could kiss you!” He was at the man's side in seconds planting a dramatized kiss to his cheek.

Jongin swatted him away, hitting him with the file as he made a disgusted face. “Ew, gross.”

“Yeah Chanyeol hold off on the affection until we know how useful the results are, or until you two go out on that date,” Baekhyun joked.

“I'm straight!” Chanyeol countered.

“Says the man with three cats,” Baekhyun retorted.

“Leave them out of this,” he said defensively.

Baekhyun rolled his eyes.

Glancing between the two senior officers Jongin slowly said. “Okay, TMI. Back to the amazing matter at hand.”

“Is it that amazing?” Baekhyun asked.

“That bullet autopsy pulled out of Seokjin's chest was ran through ballistics and we got a match,” he stated.

Baekhyun leaned further toward Jongin now extremely curious to know what the man had inside the file. Chanyeol just as eager, if not more so. Opening the folder Jongin scanned a page, the tall, lanky Chanyeol reading over his shoulder.

“It's to a three year old cold case where Lee Seunghyun was shot dead right between the eyes. Street name Seungri, known to be associated with BB Loans as one of their main collectors,” Jongin listed off from the file.

“I know that case,” Baekhyun said. “I was a rookie on it. Seungri was found in an alleyway, he fell from the roof of the apartment building after being shot. We brought Kwon Jiyong in for questioning, but got no leads beyond that,” he explained.

“Well we have new leads, and I want to bring in Neptune for questioning,” Jongin said.

Chanyeol and Baekhyun both gaped at their underling like a third eye had just sprouted in the middle of his forehead. Recovering first from his stupor Baekhyun shook his head and reclined in his chair.

“If you can find him go right on ahead, but our men on the street haven't seen Neptune in weeks,” he said.

“He's clearly in hiding, which is a sure sign of guilt,” Jongin said enthusiastically.

“So you think Poseidon's right hand man killed him, and Seungri. Why?” Chanyeol questioned.

“Power, betrayal, the list is long and greedy. I'll piece it together when I get him into the station,” Jongin said.

Chanyeol made his way back to his desk and flipped open a file. “Remember those eager days as rookies,” he joked to Baekhyun. “Just had to prove ourselves.”

“Naw, I was naturally gifted,” Baekhyun smirked.

“I'm being serious guys,” Jongin complained.

“We know,” Baekhyun said with a grunt of effort as he stood from his chair. As he smoothed his gray suit pants and unrolled the sleeves of his white button down he added, “Just don't go getting yourself in trouble because you're eager to make a name for yourself. That's how officers get stuck on desk duty and as meter-maids. I know what our job is and we work hard,” he gestured to Chanyeol, “to fulfill it, but we can't always solve every case like we want to. We are bound by the law while the criminals we chase aren't. So just remember that you can only continue to do this job if you keep a level head and never step over the line our enemies skip with every day.”

Sliding on his suit jacket Baekhyun made sure he had his wallet before moving to leave the office. Jongin's bright expression dulled as he took in Baekhyun's words, Chanyeol staring in surprise at his partner. Baekhyun seldom got overly serious especially when dealing with underlings.

“Where are you off to?” Chanyeol questioned.

“Coffee run maybe grab some fried chicken,” he shrugged.

“Extra crispy!” Jongin called after him.

Baekhyun held up a hand in a minute wave to show he heard as he stepped out the door. He waited until he was in his car and ten blocks away from the station before he pulled out a secondary cellphone from a hidy-hole by the steering well. As he sat parked alongside the sidewalk he dialed a familiar number and held it to his ear. After two rings it was picked up.

“Yeah?”

“The new guy wants to bring in Neptune,” Baekhyun said.

“Can you stop him?”

“He's got too much circumstantial evidence to detour him,” he replied.

“Any idea where Neptune is?”

“No, and I'm hoping to keep it that way for now,” he sighed.

There was a low groan on the other end of the call then the man said, “If your people find him before mine do, you conduct the interrogation and brush off every thing he says as a blatant lie. Now dispose of this phone, D.O. will drop off a new one tomorrow.”

Just like that the call ended and Baekhyun climbed out of the car to dump the phone and get a bucket of fried chicken. Life was so much easier when Baekhyun didn't hire Jongin and it was just him and Chanyeol.

“Stupid kid,” he grumbled.

Xiumin lowered his phone with another groan, tossing it onto the coffee table as he leaned back against the couch pinching his eyes shut. Yejin peered up at him from her spot against his shoulder. His laptop sat on his other side, work temporarily forgotten with the news from the phone call. She had spent the last day and a half at his side – since Tao was not an option – to calm her fear and dull the nerves that had been rattling around inside her since the harsh realization of Suho's actions.

“The police are looking for Suho?” she questioned.

“I hate racing the cops,” he muttered.

“You can't bump up Yixing's escape?” she asked.

“Even if I could there would be no point if we don't know where his target is,” he replied.

Yejin slumped against his shoulder again as she leered at the paused screen of 'W' they had been watching before Xiumin's phone rang. She puckered as her hands wrung the remote a little too tightly.

“I hate that man so ing much,” she murmured.

“You're not alone,” Xiumin huffed. “Every person I have on his case is frustrated they can't find him and wants his head.”

“And what about you?” she inquired.

“His death can't come soon enough.”

Pleased to hear that answer Yejin played the show while Xiumin rubbed at his face before returning to his laptop. They stayed on the couch until Yejin decided it was time to make lunch, during which Yugyeom called asking if she could babysit Chiwon tomorrow, and of course she agreed. Seeing Chiwon's chubby face and bright smile would definitely help her mood, she just didn't have the strength or confidence to face all the kids at the daycare that morning, just thinking about going to volunteer was enough to almost bring tears to her eyes.

By the end of the day Xiumin had succumb and mixed Yejin a drink despite telling her relying on a vice to make things better was a bad trait. Yejin said it was just one time and to make it strong so she could go right to bed. He sat with her as she drank the Long Island Iced Tea, staring out the windows at the bustling city. They didn't speak, Yejin's mind wondering from thoughts of her being hunted to worry of Tao then remembering Tao's bad TV show facts. Somehow she found her mind back eight years on March twenty-sixth (and part of the twenty-seventh) replaying the events over and over stopping just before her world came crashing down.

Yejin stomped her foot in frustration. How could she lose Tao, he was a lanky giant, was it even possible to lose someone like that? Apparently so since Yejin was alone in a sea of people who moved around her as she just stood in their way. Groaning she turned for the balcony across the massive room to stop the bumping and foot stepping she was receiving. Once outside in the afternoon sun she leaned against the railing staring out at the beautiful courtyard below.

“I hate museum functions,” she grumbled out loud.

“That makes two of us.”

Glancing to her left she spotted a boy, more of a young man, leaning against the railing with a rather glum expression. He was handsome, though his cheeks still held some baby fat, and his hair was dyed an emerald green.

“So why did you come? I got tricked by my dad saying it would be fun,” she said.

“Dragged in by a friend,” he replied.

“Terrible friend,” she jested.

“The worse part is it's my birthday,” he added with a sarcastic smile.

“Oh that's an awful friend,” she declared.

“Tell me about it,” he muttered.

They lapsed into silence for a few minutes, Yejin stealing glances at him while he stared down at the fountain in the courtyard. She bit her bottom lip as she mustered the courage to speak again.

“Wanna ditch?” she asked.

“Ditch?” he chuckled.

“Yeah, I know this neighborhood that's having a spring time festival thing. It's better than painting gazing and snob talk,” she offered.

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