Thank you to Deb for the permission to use the Sweetcheeks universe,
and for the beta. Set between Sweetcheeks VII & IX.

"I hate going to your sister's weddings."

"Kathy--"

"No, listen to me. This is what, number five? Although if she actually makes it to the altar, it'll be three."

"Kath--"

"And I can't find my shoes."

"Your shoes."

"My shoes! I have one pair of good shoes, and I can't find them."

"When did you have them last?"

"Five months ago, when I took you out for our anniversary." Kathy tugged her overall strap back into place and glared at her partner. "And you told me I looked like a twelve-year-old boy."

"Well--"

"Exposing your secret pedophile nature."

"Look, Kathy, just forget the shoes. We'll go see Jim when we get to Cascade; I'm sure he'd love to go shopping with you again."

"He'll make me buy heels."

"Jimmy will do no such--"

"He will too, and I hate shopping."

"No, you don't--not when it gets you away from my sister and talking sports stats instead."

Kathy grinned up at the taller woman. "You know me so well, Carolyn Plummer. You know me so well."

* * *

"Hey. Kathy. Wake up."

"Mmf."

"Up! Come on."

"Just five more minutes..."

Carolyn looked down at the woman leaning heavily on her shoulder. "Did I tell you Cassie Wells works in Cascade now?"

Kathy's eyes snapped open. "What?"

"Jimmy told me. He asked me what he'd done to deserve her."

"Mmmf." Kathy closed her eyes again.

"Come on--get up--the plane's landed--Kathy!"

* * *

"I'm not going in there."

"You've been to the station a hundred times."

"Not when Cassie's there."

"Oh, for pity's--"

"Look. I didn't want to come up here for this. Your sister drives menuts, your cousins like to play Tease the Dyke, your mother barely speaks to me, I have no shoes, and to top it off, Cassie 'I want to be your lover, Carolyn darling' Wells has taken up residence in the city. Not to mention the PD. So no."

"Jimmy's here."

"Mmmf."

"Come on, Kath."

"Jim and I were friends, OK? But I haven't--you--you married him. OK? You married him. I like him, yeah, he likes me, FINE. But--you even slept with him, Caro."

"It was a career decision. You know that. For him and for me. And you agreed before we did anything." She waited, but got no response. "Are you coming in with me or not?"

Kathy sighed. "Fine. I'll come in." She unbuckled her seatbelt, then looked over at Carolyn. "Wonder if he's still doing his butch act."

Carolyn grinned. "I don't know. Probably."

* * *

The Major Crimes bullpen was empty, but Simon was in his office, and Carolyn left Kathy at Jim's desk while she went to say hello.

She raised her hand to knock on the door, but paused when she heard a familiar voice in the hallway.

"So I said 'Sweetheart, we have got to talk about your habit of pestering my boyfriend. He's not interested.'"

"You didn't," another voice answered. "James, tell me you didn't."

"But I did. I'm going to scratch her, I swear I am."

Someone who'd stopped looking at her from behind Jim Ellison's eyes, even when they were alone.

"Jimmy," she said, and watched him tense, his body straightening--and then he relaxed as Blair touched his arm.

"Carolyn," he said, and smiled, walking over to her. "What brings you to Cascade?"

"Wendy."

"Getting married again?"

"Got it on one--baby girl."

He swallowed and looked down briefly, and she touched his arm. "Hey. It's good to see you again. I mean--you. I thought--I thought you were gone for good."

He flashed her a grin. "Sweetie, you know me better than that." He leaned down and kissed her.

"Ahem."

Jim turned his head and blinked. "Oh, hello, little boy. Do you need help?"

"That's 'big boy' to you, Ellison." Kathy narrowed her eyes at him, then smirked. "I think you upset your boytoy."

"Blair's not a boytoy. He's too butch to be a boytoy," Jim said, almost absently, rubbing Carolyn's shoulder with his thumb, apparently oblivious to Kathy's glare.

"Blair would like to be introduced," said Blair, who was sitting on Jim's desk, looking interested but not at all upset.

"Blair, Kathy. Kathy, Blair. Kathy was Carolyn's maid of honor--"

"Oh, so you're the girlfriend?" Blair hopped off the desk and walked over, holding out his hand. "Nice to meet you."

Kathy eyed the outstretched hand for a moment, then shook it firmly. "You must be Jimmy's keeper."

"He doesn't need a keeper anymore. Used to, when I first met him, but he's loosened up since then."

"So..." Carolyn said. "You guys are--together?"

"Of course," Jim said.

"Since when?"

"Since I talked him into bed, darling."

Kathy frowned at them. "I swear, you two--so, Jim who are you gonna scratch?"

"That bitch Cassie. She can't keep her hands off of Blair. When she thought I was straight, she never touched him, but then she found out and suddenly she's all over him."

Kathy and Carolyn both laughed. "She did the same thing to me," Carolyn said. "First she didn't get promoted--I got hired instead. Then she found out I was a lesbian and wouldn't get near me. Then she found out I had a girlfriend--she wouldn't leave me alone. No dice--way too femme for me. Almost as femme as you, Jimmy."

Jim preened.

"So you sent her to us?" Blair asked. "How fair is that?"

"Blameless! Fess up, Carolyn, you told her to come to Cascade."

"I--"

"And, speaking of fessing up, when you told me James here had 'intimacy' issues--" The two of them drifted over to Jim's desk, gesturing at each other.

"Jimmy," said Kathy, "I need to get a pair of good shoes. Will you help?"

He tore his eyes away from Blair and Carolyn. "Big boy, anything to get me away from them before they start telling stories about me. My nerves can't take it."

"Avoidance. Avoidance is good." They headed for the door, Jim grabbing his jacket from the hook.

"We're going shopping, sweetcheeks," he said. "You two behave."

Absently, Blair waved at him, his attention obviously on Carolyn.

"We'd better hurry," Jim said. "They're going to start, any minute now."

"Fine, fine, come *on*. And no heels, Jim--I'm not wearing any damn heels, you hear me?"

"I hear you, no heels--but you need heels, you're short, darling--"

"No heels!"

"Fine, fine--but I demand style. You must have style."

"These. Wear these, Kathy--they're--"

"Girly."

"But--"

"They're silver. And open-toed. No."

"But--" Jim tucked the shoe back into the box and looked up at Kathy. He rested the box on his thigh and sighed. "What's wrong?"

She sat back in the chair and frowned.

"You were married to Caro. I just--find that hard to take. You slept with her."

Jim ran his fingers through his hair, light glinting from the clear polish. "It was--it isreally, really hard, Kathy, being a gay cop. Being out and gay and a cop. If Blair and I weren't so good at what we do, we'd probably be dead, or out on the street." He swallowed and looked off into the distance. "Caro and I--we needed the protection. We both did. Would you rather she had to live with being harassed and hurt and not having backup than--well."

"I know that. I know all that, Jimmy. I still don't have to like it."

"I've had to live with it," he said, quietly, finally meeting her eyes. "It's worth it. Being me is worth it. Blair is worth it. But it hurts. Carolyn and I...that was a time when we couldn't do it. We couldn't. You know that."

"Yeah. I know. You know what? I don't care." She kicked him in the chest with her bare foot, and he lost his balance and fell backwards, catching himself on one arm, still holding the shoebox against his leg with the other.

This close to him, Kathy was aware of just how big Jim was. She'd forgotten that--forgotten, also, how strong he was, and how dangerous he could be. He'd been so closed off when he was married to Caro, she realized, that he'd never really shown anger. Never really shown...anything.

He moved away from her. "I care. I care that any of us had to go through that. I care that I can't keep things in a locker in the gym anymore. I care that I'm with a man who could decide, easy as flipping a switch, that I'm not worth the pain of being perceived as gay." He stopped and swallowed. "I care that you got hurt. I care that you and Caro almost didn't get through it."

"We broke up, Jimmy. If she hadn't followed me to San Francisco--"

He sighed. "I know. I do. I'm sorry." He ran a hand through his hair again. "Maybe you and I should have gotten married instead."

"Are you kidding? You're sweet, baby girl, but you'd make me a horrible wife."

"Oh?"

"You're bumpy in all the wrong places--and it's just too obvious that I wear the pants." She shrugged. "Go find me some shoes. Some real shoes."

"You have no taste," he complained, but got to his feet and summoned a confused-looking salesman. The two of them disappeared into the wilds of the store, and Kathy put her head in her hands and tried to calm down.

Jim reappeared with a pair of black, square-toed shoes in hand. "Hey," he said, softly.

"Hey," she answered. "How 'bout them Jags?"

He smiled at her and tossed her a shoe.

* * *

Kathy smiled sweetly as Johnny Plummer yelped in pain and clutched his shin. She leaned over and murmured to Carolyn, "I will never knock Jim Ellison's fashion sense again. These shoes are great."

"Just don't break any bones," Carolyn replied, and Kathy gave her hand a tight squeeze under the table, her eyes for once clear of shadows.