Who the hell do you think you are; this is a federal investigation scene," a man in a brown suit demanded as he charged toward them.

Blair pulled out his most charming smile and his badge. "Blair Sandburg, Major Crimes. My captain is the one who called you in." The man physically took the badge of out Blair's hand before reaching over to Taggart and taking his badge as well. Taggart glanced over to Blair with an amused expression. Blair coughed to cover an urge to smile. He and Taggart probably had the most in common of any of the guys, and they had spent more than one lunch hour talking about how ridiculous some people got about defending their 'turf.'

"I'll need to call these in and get confirmation," the man said as he stared at the badges as though looking for an 'Acme Co.' logo on the bottom. Blair just nodded without comment. Trying to push in now would just make the man get his back up.

"So, want to go get coffee?" Taggart asked. Blair looked at the large man in confusion, but Taggart nodded across the street. A coffee shop with a huge glass pane in front had a perfect view of the crime scene. And in that window stood the indistinct form of a woman "You could use a little of that Sandburg charm," Taggart suggested.

"Oh yeah. Definitely feeling a need for coffee," Blair said with a smile. There was more than one way to skin a cat or get around a cranky FBI agent.

"What do you mean, what's up? We're just having coffee and thought you might like to join us," Blair said. After a morning of working with Agents Stuck-Up and Passive-Aggressive, Blair and Taggart had allowed themselves to be pushed out of the way again.

"I'll even spot you to the first cup," Taggart offered, and Blair thanked god he had gotten paired with the laid back man for this case. Brown or Megan or Jim would have told the agents off long before.

"So, we're just drinking coffee?" Jim asked, clearly confused.

"Oh yeah. Man, we do not spend enough time just chilling out and listening," Blair said with a nod toward one of the junior suits sitting at a far table eating lunch.

"Ah," Jim said with a small smile as Taggart got up to get a coffee.

"Hey, you want a sandwich with that coffee?" Taggart asked.

"Yeah, lunch would be good," Blair answered for Jim who had his head cocked to the side.

Jim tilted his head to the side for a second before pointing to the far corner of the lot. A dark van waited in the shadow caused by broken streetlight.

"Oh man, if they're going for subtle, I think they missed the mark."

"The FBI isn't known for subtle," Taggart pointed out. "So how are we going to do this?"

"Do what?" Jim asked. "I'm just doing my shopping."

Blair snorted. "Those agents catch you out there, and you're going to have a hard time convincing them that you normally shop 20 miles away from the loft."

"Then it's a good thing they don't know me, huh, Chief?" Jim said as he opened the door to Taggart's car and got out. "I'll let you know the minute I hear anything interesting."

"So," Taggart asked as Jim pulled the baseball cap down over his eyes and then sauntered into the grocery store looking like a single man on the prowl for a date. "Are we just going to wait?"

"Not a chance, my friend," Blair smiled. "Let Jim try and figure out what the FBI is doing while you and I look for the suspect.

"Simon's going to hang you out by your ears if we end up at cross purposes with the FBI," Taggart pointed out, and Blair smiled at him.

"Hey, they're the ones who told us to get lost. If I happen to show up where they are..." Blair shrugged to show his complete innocence in the matter. From the skeptical expression on Taggart's face, he wasn't impressed.

"That look may work on Jim, but you're going to need something better than puppy dog eyes if you piss Simon off," Taggart said, but then he opened his car door and pushed himself up and out without another word. Blair followed him out into the night.

The heavier of the two FBI agents answered. "We had reason to believe that the suspect was a member of law enforcement. After all, you were concerned enough about the lack of forensics evidence to call us, so you had to recognize that this was not a local issue." Blair cringed as Simon's back went stiff. If it weren't for the bright lights and cameras, he suspected Simon would have verbal skinned these two by now. Instead he answered in a tight, low voice.

"What I recognized was that this was a serious offender, and that these rapes were violent enough and often enough that the suspect had probably moved into the area from somewhere else. What I recognized was that you have a wider database and could help coordinate information from other departments. What I recognized was that my officers would benefit from having another pair of eyes on the case. What I refused to recognize is that you had any right to walk in here and shut my detectives out. What you did was out of line, and your boss can expect to hear from me."

"Look Captain, the job got done." The second senior agent, the man who had originally taken Blair's badge, stepped forward now.

"And when you say that, you damn well better say who managed to get that job done. Sandburg spotted the potential victim, Taggart was in the car that cut the suspect off, and Ellison and Sandburg together ran the suspect down. I don't hear where the FBI has anything to do with any of that."

"So your official..."

"When we file our official reports, they are going to reflect the truth," Simon insisted as he shoved a cigar in his mouth angrily. One of the agents opened his mouth to continue the arguments, but Simon turned his back and stormed away.

"Hey, Simon," he said as he walked into the office and put the file down.

"That the serial rapist case?" Simon asked, and Blair instantly went on the defensive. He didn't know what it was about the tone of voice, but he recognized something not good was coming.

"Yeah," Blair said slowly.

"Next time you think you're getting the runaround, you don't go off on your own."

"Simon..."

"Don't give me one of your longwinded 'buts', Sandburg. Why the hell do you think you have a Captain? You solve the crimes, I make sure you have what you need and that no one's giving you shit. So next time, you tell me before you go off half cocked and running your own operation," Blair opened his mouth to protest, but the similarities to what Roth had said to him so many months ago stopped him cold.

"You're right, like totally right," Blair finally said as he realized no captain, not Roth or Simon or even Taggart when Taggart had been a captain would have been okay with what he did. "Next time I'll let you know. I just forget to ask for help sometimes," Blair admitted with a shake of his head and a shrug.

"Shit. I understand that, Sandburg. And you need to know that you don't have anything to prove here." Simon looked up from the report, and Blair caught the earnest expression on Simon's face, an expression Blair had seen when he watched Simon talk to Daryl.

"If you need help, like any other detective in this department, you ask me first," Simon ordered quietly. With that, Simon swung his chair around and focused on his computer screen which Blair took as a clear dismissal.

Funny, he'd never before felt so good about getting his ass chewed out.