Alec sighed, dutifully rose, and walked into the Chief's office.  "Yes?" he asked as he remained standing and at attention.  Humphrey ignored him and continued reading something in front him.  Alec knew the Chief's sadistic habit of making you stand there forever before acknowledging your presence.  The Chief would rip into anyone who dared try to get his attention before he tired of his game.

 

 Finally the man looked up.  "File these!" he snapped gesturing to the stack on the corner of his desk.

 

 "Yes, sir."  Alec picked up the sizeable pile and once again regretted that Seth had called in sick.  He smirked slightly as he walked back to his desk, remembering it was actually Joe Friday's landlady who had called.  The rookie apparently had the flu and a 102 fever to boot.  He had tried to come to work, but had collapsed in the hall.

 

 Well, no one can doubt his dedication, Alec thought as he began to sort the files.

 

- - - - -- - - -

 

 Two hours later, the pile had shrunk to five folders.  All were stamped unsolved and Alec was taking his time reading through them, trying not to laugh.  Four of the five were reports of officers trying to arrest one or more members of the super heroine group "The Others."  The best had to be where the officers had "cornered" Shashani and she had waved at them with a smirk, then simply disappeared.

 

 The last file was also the oldest of the group though it only dated back to February 2001.  Opening the file, he was surprised to see it was a homicide/arson file.  Even more surprising was the fact that the five girls were the main witnesses.  Reading slowly he wondered why they had never mentioned this.

 

 He stopped at the description of the gunman and read it several times.  A small smile tugged at the corners of his mouth as he realized who the gunman was.  When Zarbon had explained to Matthew his version of how he had met Tonya, Alec had fully believed it.  He now realized Zarbon had embellished the truth just as much as everyone else.

 

 As he began to flip through the transcript of Tonya's account, Alec decided he couldn't allow the file to remain at the station.  He walked back to file the other reports, and picked up the video portion of the last report.  Placing it with the folder, Alec turned his attention to his own paperwork and spent the rest of the night typing reports and answering the phones.

 

- - - - - - -

 

 Casually, slipping the report into his jacket, Alec checked out and drove home.  He was tired, but the tape in his pocket intrigued him.  Surprisingly, everyone was in the kitchen and greeted him as he walked in.

 

 "Anyone interested in watching a video?" he asked smirking at Tonya feeding Zarbon pieces of a banana.

 

 "Of what?" Jessica asked.

 

 "Not sure, but it should be interesting," Alec answered, pulling out the folder and tape.  "I read pieces of the script."

 

 "That's a police file," Sebastian said surprised.  "You stole a police file?!?"

 

 Alec shrugged.  "It was an unsolved case," he answered.  "They'll never miss it."  He showed the date to Tonya, whose eyes widened.  "May we watch it?" he asked.

 

 "Why does it matter if she says no or not?" Sebastian asked.  "We shouldn't watch it without the person on the tape's permission!"  He stopped and thought about what he said then looked at Tonya closely.

 

 "I don't care," she said quietly.  "We can watch it in the entertainment room."

 

 Everyone followed Alec to the den and settled into their favorites spots.  They waited patiently as Alec rewound the tape, then pushed play.  The screen was black for a minute, then displayed an interrogation room.  The door opened and in walked Tonya followed by a cop.

 

 "The officer will be with you in a moment.  Please have a seat."  Then he left Tonya alone.

 

 She remained standing watching the door, then looked around the room, and finally stared at the camera for a minute.  Taking a seat at the table, she pulled a pack of cards out of a pocket in her coat and began to play solitaire.  Tonya was well into the fourth game before the door opened again, admitting a rather heavyset officer.

 

 "Hello Miss D___," he drawled.  "I am Officer Stowts.  I'm here to get your statement about the incident at the Mall."

 

 "Hi."

 

 "Please state and spell your full name," he said, his pen poised to jot down the information.

 

 "Including my middle name?" she asked as she moved the jack of diamonds onto the queen of spades.

 

 "No, the initial will suffice."

 

 "Tonya E. D___," she replied. "T-o-n-y-a E. D___."

 

 "Birth date?"

 

 "February seventh, nineteen eighty two."

 

 "Address?"

 

 "1277 Rainbow Garden Drive, 62209."

 

 "Telephone number?"

 

 "827-1145, Extension 2782."

 

 "Extension?" the officer asked glancing up.

 

 "That's direct to my room.  If you don't have an extension number it just rings to the phones in the study, kitchen, and den and anyone may answer," Tonya answered moving the two of hearts to lie on the ace.

 

 "I see.  So you're a student at the University of Tequila Heights?"

 

 "Yes.  I'm a freshman."

 

 "All right," he said then looked at her. "Why were you at the mall today?"

 

 "There were a bunch of sales and my friends wanted to go."

 

 "But you weren't with them when the incident happened.  Why not?"

 

 Tonya shrugged.  "They were in a shoe store and I didn't need shoes.  I was getting bored, so I stepped outside to people watch."

 

 "So you where standing there and saw the gunman shooting at Professor Stein, so you stepped in to stop it?"

 

 "Ummm...no..." Tonya said shaking her head.  "I was leaning against the pillar by the food court when Professor Stein ran up.  He was looking behind him, so he missed the steps, and fell."

 

 "When did you see the gunman?"

 

 "A girl in the food court screamed and then I saw him.  He raised his gun to shoot the professor so I tried to stop him."

 "Why did you try to stop him?"

 

 "He was going to kill Professor Stein," Tonya said as if that explained it all.

 

 The cop just looked at her for a moment with an eyebrow raised.  "Just because of that?" he finally asked.

 

 Tonya looked completely shocked.  "Isn't that enough?"

 

 "So what happened next?"

 

 "Professor Stein got away, the gunman escaped my hold and knocked me down.  Then he left."

 

 "Why didn't he shoot you?"

 

 "You'd have to ask him, but he said something about me not being his target, so he wasn't going to kill me."

 

 "Can you describe him?"
 
 "Umm," she chewed her lip for a moment. "About six feet tall, well built, and nicely tanned.  His black hair was braided much like mine is and the end reached to the small of his back.  He was wearing a white shirt, blue jeans, cowboy boots, and a tan trench coat."  Tonya felt a thread of guilt beginning to snake through her.

 

 "Did you see the color of his eyes?"

 

 Tonya closed her eyes for a second as the memory of those beautiful orbs looking at into hers washed over her.  "Gold...Amber...I think he was wearing contacts," she answered reopening her eyes.

 

 "That isn't a normal eye color," the officer said frowning at her.

 

 "I know that!" she snapped, feeling slightly defensive.  "Unless he was an alien or part cat, his eyes should have been blue, green, brown, or a combination of the three.  But his eyes were golden."  She glared at the man across the table daring him to contradict her.

 

 He looked at her steadily.  "Were you attracted to this man?"

 

 Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped as a blush stole across her cheeks.  "Pardon me?" she asked her voice rising slightly.

 

 "Did you find this man attractive?"

 

 Tonya just stared at the cop for a minute before her pride kicked in again.  Her eyes narrowed as she raised an eyebrow.  "So what if I did?" she asked carefully, anger tinting her voice.  "He was built like a Greek god and had the sexiest Australian accent I've ever heard.  In a society that worships beauty and strength, he was a perfect specimen."

 

 "So you thought he was cute?"

 

 Tonya rolled her eyes, then leaned back in her chair and folded her arms.  "Only if you spell cute F-I-N-E," she replied hotly.

 

 The officer looked confused for a moment as he respelled the word to himself.  "What color were his eyes?"

 

  "Gold," she said shortly as her tail tighten in anger.

 

 "All right.  If you'll excuse me, I need to go talk to the Chief for a minute."  Tonya nodded and he left. 

 

She resumed her game of solitaire and had finished six games by the time he came back with Humphrey in tow.  He made her repeat her story and description, comparing it to what he had already written.  Humphrey accused her of lying about the whole incident and things got entertaining.

 

 Tonya and Humphrey got into a huge spat and the group laughed at some of the insults been exchanged.  But the gang about died laughing when Tonya began to spout meaningless phrases in German and Spanish in a very nasty tone.  It sounded like she was cussing the chief out, but in truth she was barely covering the basics.

 

 Finally Humphrey said she could leave and Tonya was quick to scoop up her cards.  She marched out of the room like she was a queen; her head held high and her shoulders straight.  Then the tape ended.

 

 "No wonder Humphrey's not fond of you," Sebastian said.

 

 "And what was up with the 'Only if you spell cute F-I-N-E" line?' Jessica teased with a laugh.  "One might think you had a crush on that guy."

 

 "I found the lines about him being built like a Greek god and being a perfect specimen more interesting," Sally said grinning broadly as Tonya's already pink cheeks turned even redder.

 

 Zarbon hugged the embarrassed girl and kissed the top of her head as she hid her face against his chest.  "I've always wondered what you thought of me after that first meeting," he mused aloud.  "I thought it would have been something closer to 'That asshole just tried to kill me!'"

 

 "Ha!  You probably had her as soon as she saw the gun," Alec said smirking.

 

 "It's true!" Poopsie laughed. "She said he was cute while she was still on the floor!"

 

"Well at least we didn't spend our first encounter tying each other to a chair," Tonya retorted looking at Poopsie and Alec.