Suck it up Lover - Nick Fowler AU

Part 9

After Phoebe had locked herself in the bathroom and further attempts to talk to her would have been pointless, he had headed off to work.

Knowing that he would only be sitting in front of the computer for the next few days and that he wouldn't have to go on any field missions, he had decided to wear a casual outfit.Quite simply a Bordeaux colored shirt, dark grey jeans, white sneakers and a black leather jacket.

Arriving at the office, he unpacked the shopping he had done on the way and with the newly bought toothbrush, he brushed his teeth at the sink, which was located in the back corner of the office - after all, he had not been able to do this at home, since Phoebe had not let him into the bathroom.

"Don't you have water at home?" he heard a voice behind him.

He turned around with a jerk, his mouth rimmed with the foam from the toothpaste, and he saw Megan standing in the doorway with coffee and a paper bag in her hand.

"Um. What are you doing here?" he asked Megan as he rinsed out his mouth.

"Um.. Working? Here, I have a coffee for you, so your abnormally white teeth can change color a bit too, Mr. Hollywood."

"I wasn't expecting you today, after yesterday -"

"After yesterday, I need work to throw myself at. Stop treating me like a baby. I'm not arguing with you now either, I've already been through that with Lexie," Megan interrupted him and dropped into her black office chair, spinning it once in a circle before crossing her legs cross-legged and starting her Computer.

"Okay.", Nick said hesitantly as he sat up at his desk.

They both studied the victims' files again, independently and without exchanging a word, only with the difference that one more had been added.

"Brainstorming?", Megan interrupted the silence.

"What?"

"Brainstorming - tells you something, I hope." she grinned as she stood up and moved to the whiteboard. "Let's write down what we've got so far, maybe you've noticed something that's escaped me and vice versa."

In large letters, she wrote the three names - Amanda Claire (27, San Jose, CA), Judy Kempter (30, Fort Worth, TX), Samantha Princley (24, Tucson, AZ) - on the whiteboard.

"Three victims - Three states, all between 24 and 30 years old, all beautiful women, but all have different occupations and come from different social classes. No common interests, hobbies or clubs - nothing. They seem so randomly selected but yet it looks like he has his own pattern."

"Exactly, the pattern and motive we don't know yet," Megan said as she tried to write pattern and motive as a caption, but due to the whiteboard being mounted pretty high on the wall and her being the size of a 12-year-old, she couldn't manage it.

"Let me do it," Nick pulled out one of the pens.

"Well, at least you could have written this nicely and not so illegibly."

"You go through the medical records again and I'll hack the bank accounts - it can't be that the banks won't give out the information - something's fishy there," Nick gave the further procedure.

•••

"I've got something!" exclaimed Nick after two hours of further research.

"Mhm..." was the closest thing to a response from the office, however.

When Nick looked over to Megan's desk, he could find her empty cup and plate full of crumbs, but there was no sign of Megan.