RJ Gannon walks through the halls of the Llanview PD, his least favorite place, with a bag full of burgers and fries from the local fast food joint. He strolls through the hallway, past the main room where all the detectives' desks are. His eyes narrow as he focuses on John Sykes, on the phone, sitting at his desk just outside Commissioner Buchanan's office.

"Like a good little watchdog," he mutters to himself as he heads for the stairs, going up a floor to the offices of his brother Hank, the DA, and...Tea, the ADA.

Tea's office door is closed when he gets there. He looks to see if she's around. One of the paralegals walking by notices him.

"Looking for Tea?"

"Uh...yeah...you wouldn't happen to know if she's in?"

"Yeah, she's in there...she's had the door shut for a while, though. I'd knock first."

RJ scrunches his lips together. "Yeah, okay, thanks," he says, as he raps on the door...no answer.

He takes a quick glance around to see if anyone's watching before he tries the knob. He pushes the door open slowly, and peeks inside. All he sees is a desk with small mountains of paperwork on it, and... Tea, head down on the desk, resting on her arms. RJ looks at her, a little worried at first, before noticing that she's breathing slow and even...she's sleeping.

RJ grins, and quietly steps in, closing the door behind him. He walks over to the desk and puts the food down. He stands above her, not quite sure how to wake her without scaring her. He finally decides to go for the direct approach, and taps her on the shoulder.

She jumps, sitting up suddenly. "Mmmm...ohhhhh, man..." she groans, rubbing her eyes.

"Waky, waky, sleepyhead." RJ smiles, taking a seat in front of the desk.

"Ohhh, shut UP, whoever you are." She continues to rub her face. When she finally opens her eyes and focuses, she sees him sitting there grinning.

"Oh, hi RJ..."

He makes "tsk-tsk" noises at her. "You know, you really should lock the door if you're taking naps on the job."

She smiles a tired smile. "Gonna tell on me? Get me fired?"

RJ puts folds his hands together diabolically. "Mmmmm. I certainly could. But...I might be willing to forget I saw anything."

She puts her elbows up on the desk and rests her face in her hands.

"If?"

"If...you have lunch with me." He grabs the bag of fast food and opens it. The smell of grease and fries wafts out and fills the room. Tea closes her eyes blissfully.

"Mmmmm...now THAT is a lovely smell. Deal." She breathes it in, and uses her hands to bring it closer to her.

RJ smiles his broad, winning smile, and laughs evilly. "Yes! I knew she'd cave to junk food!"

Tea opens her eyes, fully awake now, and starving. "Oh, bring it ON, baby!" She pushes some of the mounds of papers out of the way to make a clear spot.

He giggles as he empties the bag on the desk. They each grab a burger, fries and a few packets of ketchup. RJ looks around.

"Hey...you wouldn't happen to have a soda machine in this hole, would ya?"

Tea's eyebrow shoots up at the "hole" remark, but she still smiles. "Actually, we do."

"Great, where?"

"It's downstairs, in that main hallway...need change?"

"Na, my treat."

"Oooh, big spender."

He gets up. "Be right back. And don't eat my burger."

She eyes his still-wrapped food. "Well, you better hurry. Dunno if I can control myself."

He laughs again, and runs out. Tea opens a few packets of ketchup and squirts them out into a little dipping pile. Then she grabs a fingerful of fries, dunks them and shoves them in her mouth. Then she unwraps her burger and kicks back in her chair.

RJ hauls down the stairs and back down the hall. He spots the machine at the far end, and starts fishing in his pocket for change. In the detectives' room, Sykes gets up from his desk and heads out to the main hall, looking through a file. He comes out just as RJ gets there and...smack, right into each other.

The two men back up at the same time, both realizing whom they've run into. RJ frowns. Sykes frowns right back.

RJ coolly counts the change in his hand. "Sorry, man...didn't see you there."

Sykes continues to stare daggers. "Not a problem."

RJ smiles a politely fake smile and walks off. Sykes stands there, thinking for a minute. Then he decides to follow RJ over to the soda machine, giving him a strange look when he sees him plunking change into the slot. He leans against the other side of the machine.

"Mind if I ask what you're doing here, Gannon?"

RJ rolls his eyes, shaking his head as he finishes dropping quarters in. He turns to Sykes, annoyed.

"Look, SYKES, it's a free country. Can't I even purchase a beverage without being harrassed by you?"

Sykes grins, enjoying getting on RJ's nerves. "Sorry...it's just that...this is the last place I'd expect to see YOU hanging out in."

Now it's RJ's turn to grin. He punches buttons, and the machine starts clunking.

"Yeah, well...believe it or not, I actually have friends here."

"Really? BESIDES your brother?"

The cans of soda roll out one at a time. He bends down and grabs them both, looking up through his long braids to see Sykes, arms folded and waiting. He speaks in the most grating and sarcastic way he possibly can.

"Heh, heh. You're a laugh riot, detective. Well, I'd love to stay and spar, but..."

And then, flashing one of those fake smiles...

"...I'm having lunch with the ADA."

Sykes' smug little grin disappears.

Without even waiting for a response, RJ turns, strides off back down the hall, leaving Sykes standing there, silently fuming. RJ takes the stairs back up, two at a time, smiling the whole way.

He walks back in to Tea's office, and sees her lounging in her chair, thoroughly enjoying the junk food fiesta. She holds out a hand for her soda, and RJ tosses it to her as he sits down and unwraps his burger.
She notices his mischievous little grin as she dunks a few more fries in the ketchup.

"What took you so long?"

RJ pops the top off his soda. "Oh...I ran into your boyfriend downstairs...literally."

Tea does the same, and takes a gulp. She looks at RJ strangely.

"Who...John?"

"How many OTHER boyfriends you got here?"

She laughs, casually. "I don't have ANY."

RJ gives her a knowing look. "Come on, Tea. Fess up. You and the ex-commish got a THANG goin' on."

She sits back in her chair and stretches her arms out, sighing.

"No, RJ...we don't."

He raises an eyebrow. "Well...if you say so."

"Why...did he say something to you?"

"You mean other than the usual insults?"

Tea takes another sip. "You REALLY don't like him, do you?"

He leans forward. "No offense, Tea, but you and the rest of this town, are all suffering from convenient memory loss. The guy tried to send me up on MURDER charges."

Tea looks down, embarrassed. "No, I...I remember..."

"There's no reason why *I* should like him." He thinks for a second.

"...or anybody else, for that matter. He should be run out of town on a rail."

She looks at him sympathetically. "I don't know what to tell you, RJ. He's been a good friend to me."

"Did you ever wonder WHY?"

She shifts around in her chair, getting uncomfortable. "Not really."

He starts cleaning up, throwing wrappers in the bag. "Maybe you should."

She grabs the bag away from him, getting annoyed.

"I am getting SO tired of people talking around things when they speak to me. You got something you wanna tell me? Then do me a favor. Just SAY it."

He sits there, speechless for a second, taken aback...then sighs and leans in closer. They sit there, elbows to elbows, staring deeply. He drops his usual tone and speaks softly to her.

"Sorry. You're right...real friends should just say what they mean."

"People IN GENERAL should just say what they mean."

He nods. There's a short silence as he tries to find the words.

"Look, Tea...I'm just...really concerned for you. I get the WORST vibes from him. And it's not just because he tried to frame me for a murder I didn't commit...although that should be MORE than enough to get the loser kicked off the force and put away."

He stops for a moment to gauge Tea's reaction. She just sits there, listening calmly.

"Everyone knows I'm no boy scout...but I've certainly learned how to read people over the years. And I'm telling you, there is something not right with that guy."

She sniffs. "Oh, well then he should be perfect for me, right?"

RJ gives her a "get serious" look. "I don't mean 'not right' in the Todd way. Todd's a completely different story. I don't even WANT to know what his deal is. But Sykes...Sykes is shady."

She throws her hands up. "What does that MEAN, RJ? Shady like being-involved-with-the-Senator-kind of shady? Everyone knows all about that now, and it's done. It's history."

"NO, Tea...I mean shady like he's-got-plans-for-YOU-kind of shady."

She wrinkles her brow. "Not to be rude, RJ, but...what's it to you? Even if we WERE together, why should you even care?"

He sits back, looking away for a moment. He knows that part of the reason for warning her is just to get back at Sykes. And another part...is that he likes her, and wishes that she would notice him, and be drawn to him the way she's drawn to Sykes. But the overall part, the real reason...he decides to just tell her.

"I care about YOU, Tea. Now I don't pretend to know what you and Todd went through, but I know it was heavy...major...it broke your heart. And I just...I just don't want you to get hurt that badly again."

She blinks slowly, affected by his words. He leans forward again, and rests his hands on hers.

"If you never listen to me about anything else, hear me on this one. DON'T trust him."

She glances down, then back up, into his eyes. They're wise, and honest. She knows he's a true friend, and in her gut, she feels he may be right. They smile at each other, and share a calm, comfortable silence.