little unsteady;

“Alright, cool… got it. Makes sense.” She made sure to keep her face neutral as she thought about Cameron. Fuck.

“Family and all so naturally those cases are off limits. But all of the other cases are open for you to choose from.” 

Noelle was very anxious but she was doing a good job hiding it. She shook her head at the question. “No, no, I’m ready, let’s do it.”

“Alright, well you do have an office now and I did set some case files on your desk. You just can’t touch the Brady case and Johnson case.” He stated, looking over at her.

Bianca chuckled lightly when he brought work back up but she nodded in agreement anyway because she hoped that they could all have this motherfucker locked away for good soon. “Yes. No work talk.” And no ex talk either - she wasn’t going to make one mention of Abi or Kelly or Nikki. She knew Leo had been through a lot the last year and whatever. She lifted her glass. “Let’s say goodbye to this crappy year!” She laughed.

Leo was glad that she agreed to not talking about work anymore. He needed the night away from all of it. “Promise.” And hopefully the exes wouldn’t be brought up. The only one that he really knew about for her was Brad and well he got it and understood if she didn’t want to talk about him. “Let’s do it.” He lifted his glass as well, clanking it with hers before taking a drink.

Bianca grinned. “Well, y’know - I’ll always be around to drag you away from the desk when you get too stuck..” Though she knew she could be as work heavy as him. “Can’t have you missing the New Year.”

“Which might happen more than what you think.” Leo grinned, chuckling a little bit. “Well hopefully it’s better then this year. We need a good year and hopefully we can also catch the son of a bitch that is doing all of this.” He shook his head. “Sorry no more talking about work.”

“Ready to jump into things or do you need another day?” He questioned, looking over at Noelle for a moment. “Choice is yours.”

It was the middle of the reception when Leo got the call. He was actually having fun with Bianca. There was a big chance that he liked her a lot. And it was nice having fun with her. But of course that was interrupted and not just by Jackie interrupting the wedding. A body that was all he got out of the phone call. “We have a problem.” He told Bianca softly after he hung up the phone. “But Lauren has to go on her honeymoon so we got this.” He told her again before making the decision to head over to Lauren. “Hey. We’ve got to go. It was a lovely ceremony but we do have to go. Nothing for you to worry about boss. I’ve got this.” He told Lauren before leaving the reception.

The body had been placed right in front of the station. It was a bold move he had to admit that. But maybe they messed up and they caught something on cameras but he strongly doubt that. “Check the cameras, close the area off.” He told some officers. This was going to be a long night but he could do this for Lauren. She needed the time away and not to worry about whoever this was. The body was pretty much decayed at this point. “Someone get me some gloves.” Once he got a pair, he moved over to the body. He reached into the guys pocket, looking for some id or some sort. Once he found a wallet, he took it out and opened it up.

Bianca looked back at him, wishing she could read his mind. She considered him one of her best friends and she just wanted to help but she always felt quite unable. “Loosen up a bit, you might have more fun than you think you will.” She chuckled, giving him a nudge as they made their way through the entrance.

“Alright, that was actually fun before everything.” Leo chuckled lightly, looking over at her for a moment. “Would you like to get a drink now?”

“Not gonna happen.” Lauren said immediately. She was tempted to throw a bitch or a fucking in there somewhere but she had to remain professional. “If you want to ever see the light of day again, you’ll eventually cooperate. Or say goodbye to caviar and yacht trips and hello to communal showers and prison food.” She turned away and stormed for the door, annoyed at this woman’s entire existence. She wondered if Leo was considering but there’s no way she could ask Emma to do that… right?

Once they were out of the room, Leo looked over at her for a moment. “It might be the only one way and I know she has been through a lot.” He sighed a little bit and ran a hand through his hair. “But it’s your call, Lauren. She’s a strong woman and I think we should leave this choice up to her.”

“Oh…yeah, I’m okay…sort of,” Petunia replied as her cheeks flushed with a bit of embarrassment. “I’m starting to think I’m not cut out for biology.” Although, to be fair, that text she got from -A wasn’t helping either.

"Sort of?" He questioned, raising a brow slightly. Make a face when she mentioned biology. “I don’t think any of us are.” Leo tried to joke lightly. “I can give it a shot if you want a hand.” He offered.” 

“Pretty much all. I don’t think it matters to them.” Bianca sighed. They just wanted something to put in their papers. “Yeah.” She nodded, glancing down at her hands. That had been a hard one. “Well, I mean, it was standard. There were clear marks on her, we asked if she recognised the sick fuck, she took us through the events. She seemed traumatised. It was awful.”

Lauren wasn’t sure she wanted Brendan to keep putting himself in the middle of this but she supposed she was grateful to have Victoria here now. She’d deal with the husband another time. She rolled her eyes when the woman mentioned Brooke. “You’re not getting within five feet of Brooke. Either you talk to us, or you go back into a cell until you do.”

Victoria rolled her eyes. “Fine. Might be best if I don’t see her.” She huffed and crossed her arms. “If you guys won’t allow me to see Brooke. Then I wish to see the other one. The one that accused my son of those horrible things and then took his life. If you want anything from me, you will let me speak with her.” 

Leo glanced over at Lauren for a moment before back at Victoria. “Back to the cell it looks like. I’ll have an officer bring you there.” He didn’t like the idea of Emma speaking to this woman especially after what Duncan did. He read the file and seen the photos. But he was considering it.