"It seems we have a little bit of a problem." Dante muttered. "Do either of you know what I am talkin� about?" Sara and Jake remained silent, glancing in different directions. "That�s what I thought. Well, let me bring you up to speed on a couple of issues." Dante sat back in his chair. "It seems that two of my detectives continually take little vacations. Another problem is their work isn�t getting done and they have a case involving one dead hooker that has yet to be investigated. Frankly, I could give two shits less about some dead hooker but the press is all over our asses to find the guy who did this. And where are my detectives who are on the case? Well, they are too busy having some love fight to be concerned with their work."

"Caption," Sara began.

"Shut up Pezzini, because I really don�t want to hear it!" He barked, pulling his chair closer to his desk. "I blame myself for this damn mess. I should have known it was going to be a disaster putting you two together. Next time, keep it in your pants McCartey and this won�t be a problem. As for you Pezzini stop crying about every little fuckin issue. And since you two can�t seem to separate your personal lives from your professional ones I�m splitting you up."

"Caption, please don�t do that," Jake said.

"I have to. It isn�t a good idea to have lovers working together. Your emotions will get in the way of your rational thinking."

"We aren�t lovers," Sara told him. "And Jake was sick with the flu that is why he was out."

"Then explain your untimely illness? You were gone for a damn week." Sara could say nothing to defend herself. "That�s what I thought. Forget it, I�ve had it with the two of you. You guys fucked up hard core this time. I�m switching partners and I�m switching detectives on the decapitated hooker, its obvious you can�t handle it. Oh and be thankful I don�t put you on desk duty. You�re dismissed." Sara and Jake walked out of the office, and as they did all eyes were upon them.

"Do you have a problem?" Sara snapped and everyone went back to work. The two walked to their office. Jake slammed the door and Sara fell into her chair. She rubbed her temples, wondering what her next move would be.

"Now what?" Jake asked. "Sara he can�t switch us."

"He is." Jake began to pace nervously.

"Well, he can�t. I need you." Sara raised her eyebrow. "Well, I-I mean I don�t understand the changes that are happening and I need your help."

"Dante�s right," Sara muttered, as she continued to rub her temples. "We have been acting like children. Not to mention the whole station has been talking about us. It was only a matter of time before he switched partners."

Jake�s head fell against the door. "Sara, what do we do?"

"I don�t know."

**

Dante drew the blinds to his office, and dialed the phone quickly. He did not need to get caught.

"Well?" The voice on the other line asked.

"It�s done. I don�t agree with it, but its done."

"No one asked for your opinion in the matter, Caption Dante. Just remember what I said. If you do not follow my orders as I have instructed you will regret your poor choice of judgement." The line went suddenly dead and Dante placed the receiver on the hook.

***

"Pezzini!" Dante yelled, as he stuck his head out of his office. Two days had passed since his announcement. Sara wondered if he could have found her a new partner in such a short span of time. "Get in here!" She obeyed without a word and walked into his office, closed the door and glanced to her right. There stood a man in his mid thirties dressed in a business suit. His hair was dirty blonde and he had dark brown eyes. He smiled showing off his perfect, white teeth.

"Meet your new partner." No other introduction was needed for Sara knew all about the man standing before her. In fact, all the women officers were warned about him. His name was Lloyd and his reputation of misadventures with women was notorious. It was said there was an accumulating file on his misbehavior and he was supposedly transferred from two other stations.

Sara glanced over at Dante who sat down in his chair with a smug look. She had an overwhelming desire to walk across the room and knock the smile from his face, but she contained herself.

"Is there a problem Pezzini?" Dante asked, folding his hands together.

"No, sir."

"I didn�t think so. You�re dismissed." She left the office and Lloyd was quick on her heels. As he followed after her, he was saying something but Sara was trying her hardest to block out his mindless chatter.

"Want one?"

"What?" She asked annoyed, because he had thrown himself in front of her and she could not pass through the door to enter her office.

"A tic tac." He waved the small plastic container in her face.

"No." Sara pushed by Lloyd. He shrugged then popped a tic tac into his mouth. She stopped suddenly when she saw Jake cleaning out one of his drawers and throwing items into a large brown box.

"Hey." Jake muttered, without looking up.

"What are you doing?" Sara asked, although she knew what he was doing. Jake stood up.

"Dante�s moving me. We can�t work in the same office if we aren�t partners." He looked over at Lloyd, who was leaning against the doorway. "You�re Lloyd, right?"

"Yea," he muttered, with a quick nod of the head. "So are you almost moved out?"

"Almost." Jake looked at Sara and she rolled her eyes. -Nice partner you�ve got there.- He said, mentally, as he began placing more objects into the box. Jake was moving more slowly now.

-Shut up.- Sara sat down at her desk. Jake grinned, despite the situation. Lloyd strolled into the office, which caused them both to look at him as if he were intruding.

"Don�t worry," Lloyd said. "I�ll take good care of her." He placed his hand upon Jake�s shoulder.

Jake jerked away from the man�s grasp. "Excuse me?"

"I know she�s your girl, and I just wanted you to know that she�ll be safe with me."

"She can handle herself."

"Stop talking about me like I am not here," Sara grumbled, annoyed.

A smirk slowly slid across Lloyd�s face. "I know how to treat a woman." Jake made a fist and grabbed Lloyd�s expensive black suit then slammed him into a wall.

"Jake!" Sara snapped. Jake released him and Lloyd slid down the wall. "Jesus Jake, what the hell did you do?" She asked, walking towards them.

"I didn�t hit him that hard." Jake said. "Honestly, I didn�t." Sara examined the dent.

"You knocked him into the wall so damn hard there is a mark."

"But I didn�t." Jake tried to defend himself.

"It might be another power brought on by the witchblade," Sara muttered, as her hand ran over the indention. Her eyes fell to Lloyd. "You might have to be a little more careful now. You�re lucky you didn�t punch him, you might have broken something."

"No big loss."

"Jake, listen. Dante likes you. He isn�t after your ass, he wants mine. He�s always hated me and this might be a way to get rid of me. Don�t screw yourself by losing your temper."

Jake looked down at her. "The same thing can be said for you too, partner." The words came out before he had an opportunity to stop himself. "Sorry."

"Don�t worry about it. You better get moving before more rumors start to fly. Hey, if something happens and you need me just call, OK?"

"Sure." Jake picked up his box. "I�ll see ya around." Sara nodded and watched as Jake slowly left his old office. It saddened her deeply to see her partner leave, but there was nothing that could be done. Perhaps, if she prayed to the God she used to believe in as a child, a miracle would occur and Jake could replace her new hormonal partner.

"This sucks." Sara walked over Lloyd and headed towards her desk to finish some work.

*******

~This sucks,~ Sara thought as she sat in an undercover car with Lloyd. Her new partner was humming the theme song to MASH and shaking his container of tic tacs. ~I should have been nicer to Jake, at least he wasn�t annoying.~

"Hey partner, do you want a tic tac?" Lloyd asked, popping another mint into his mouth. Every time he called her partner it made Sara�s stomach turn. They had been partners for three painfully long weeks.

"No, thanks." She did not look at him. ~Where the hell is that son of a bitch. The sooner he shows up the sooner I get to distance myself from the freak. I guess it is true what they say, you don�t know what you got till its gone. Is that a song? I�m pretty sure it is. I�m gonna knock his teeth down his fuckin� throat if he keeps humming that damn song.~

"God! Will you stop?" Sara snapped, looking at him for the first time in four hours. "That is annoying!"

"What?"

"Your humming."

"I didn�t know it bothered you." Lloyd fell silent for a moment, then he began to speak again, much to Sara�s dismay. "So how are you and Jake? Do you two live together?"

"It�s none of your damn business."

"I�m just making friendly conversation." Lloyd placed his arm around the back of her seat. Sara uneasily shifted her weight and moved closer towards the car door in case a fast getaway was needed. Her eyes glanced down at the witchblade but the stone did not indicate danger. "So.."

"Stop talking. I have a headache and you are making it worse."

"OK." He removed his arm from her chair and ate another tic tac. Sara glanced at her watch. She was tired, bored and a little uneasy.

~I wish Jake were here.~ She thought to herself . ~I can�t believe I just said that.~ In her moment of desperation Sara closed her eyes and concentrated on her ex partner. Maybe she could link her mind to his.

***

"Yea, hold," Jake muttered, trying to be pleasant. He punched in the right extension and cursed under his breath. Dante had placed him on desk duty until further notice. Jake was placed in an isolated corner of the police station where he answered endless phone calls. "I hate my job, I hate my job," he said, his head down on his desk.

"McCartey, I�m glad I caught you," Dante said, walking towards Jake�s desk. The young officer looked up at his superior with a puzzled expression. He wanted to ask Dante where else he would be. Jake still had five more hours to answer the phone.

"What can I do for ya caption?" Jake asked, hoping that he would be placed back on the streets.

"I wanted to talk to you about Pezzini."

"Sir, I really don�t want to talk about her," Jake began but Dante raised his hand to silence his employee.

"I don�t care. We need to talk about this. Listen Jake, I want to warn you that Pezzini is a little tramp. She will bring your career down if you aren�t careful. You need stay away from her. Trust me you aren�t the first guy she has done this to. She has destroyed a lot of men�s careers." Jake opened his mouth to protest but Dante continued. "That is why I split you two up. You don�t need it written in your record that you were sleeping with your partner. It will destroy all your chances to move up."

"I could understand that if something was going on, caption, but we don�t have a relationship." Jake was tempted to add that Sara barely spoke to him half the time and kept him uniformed on most cases they worked on, but he thought better of it. Such information would make Sara look bad and give Dante the evidence he needed to fire her. Jake did not want to be responsible for her termination.

"Good. I am glad to hear that." Dante smiled and the phone rang. "You better answer that."

"Sir when do I get away from this desk?" Jake asked, hoping the answer would be soon.

"When you can learn not to sleep with your partners." Dante walked towards his office. "We have a policy on that Officer McCartey."

"Son of a bitch," Jake cursed. He wouldn�t have been so adamant to protest his current situation if he had been wrong, but this was different. Jake had never had slept with Sara, he thought about it, but never followed through on his desires. Now he was being punished for something he had never done, and that angered him.

He answered the phone. "What?" The line went dead and Jake slammed down the phone. "I hate my job!"

***

"Damn."

"What?" Lloyd asked, confused.

"Oh, nothing." Sara did not understand why she couldn�t contact Jake. She had been able to pick up on his thoughts before, and with little effort. But now that Sara was concentrating she was unable to link with his mind. Annoyed with herself and frustrated Sara turned on the radio, hoping the time would pass more quickly.

"What are you doing?" Lloyd flipped off the radio. "We don�t need the radio on." Sara was about to protest but out of the corner of her eye she saw someone standing by an alleyway staring at the car. She noticed it was Danny and was thankful for the opportunity to leave her partner.

"I�ll be right back."