In Deep

"Officer Reagan, meet your next uncover assignment." Declared Detective Adler as he led Jamie into the captains office.

Jamie's eyes were immediately drawn to the petite brunette sitting in front of the captains desk. She looked up at Jamie as they entered and he could see she had light hazel eyes that perfectly matched her long caramel hair. She was beautiful and Jamie, feeling intensely drawn to her, found himself unable to take his eyes off her.

"Officer Reagan this is Elizabeth." The captain introduced her.

"Jamie." He said as he extend his hand to her.

"Everyone calls me Lizzie, nice to meet you." She replied smiling as they shook hands.

"Lizzie has come to us with an offer of help, you've no doubt heard about the young woman murdered outside Amore nightclub a few weeks back. Lizzie believes she can help us get a cop on the inside and you have been selected for the assignment. You will pose as her chronically unemployed boyfriend and Lizzie will use her connections to get you a job at the club. Once employed at the club you will witness illegal dealings and you will need to document them so we can leverage the owner to tell us which of his boys killed the girl. In a mob owned club like Amore nothing happens without the boss, Vincent Cardello, knowing about it. So, Officer Reagan, are you willing to accept this assignment?" Jamie's captain asked.

"Yes Sir, what connections?" He asked Lizzie.

"Reagan, why don't you clock out a little early today and take Lizzie here for a cup of coffee, she can fill you in and you two can work out the details of your undercover relationship." He spoke before Lizzie could answer.

"Ok Captain." Confirmed Jamie and he preceded to lead Lizzie out of the office and through the precinct. As they got to the corridor he stopped.

"You ok to wait here while I get changed out of uniform?" He asked.

"Of course." Replied Lizzie smiling.

He came out of the locker room ten minutes later to find her browsing the precinct noticeboard.

"Anything interesting?" He asked as he came up beside her.

"Not really, so where to?" She asked.

"Anywhere you like." He replied smiling.

"Well, you work in this neighbourhood, surely you know a nice place to take your girlfriend for coffee." She teased grinning.

"Actually, babe, I think I know a place you'll like." He said grinning back.

"Well, lead on." She replied laughing.

They walked the one and a half blocks to the diner making comfortable small talk, they took a seat in a booth in the back and Jamie waited until the waitress brought their orders and left, before asking the question again.

"So, you have connections?" He asked, curious.

"Yeah, I went to college with Vinnie's twins, I'm pretty good friends with Isabella and Mario always had a thing for me." She explained.

"You think that's enough to get me in?" He asked.

"There's also the fact that Vinnie knows my father."

"Your father?"

"Anthony Moretti." She answered and watch as his eyes widened hearing the name.

"You're Anthony Moretti's daughter? The mafia don, the most notorious mob boss on the east coast, that Anthony Moretti?"

"Yes." She confirmed looking away.

"And Sal Moretti?"

"My grandfather." She replied.

"And Tony Jr and Carlo?" He couldn't help but ask.

"My older brothers." She answered, her eyes now glued to her drink which she stirred absentmindedly.

"And you want to use your family connection to help the cops?" He asked still processing.

"Yes..." she said quietly.

"Why?" The question escaped his lips before he could stop it. Hearing it she finally looked up and stopped stirring her coffee.

"Look, I left home the day I turned eighteen, changed my name and haven't had any contact with my family since but I realised awhile ago that it's not enough to just distance myself and stop living that life, to be a good person you have to actually do good." She explained, he said nothing, just stared at her so she continued.

"I saw the story on the news about the girl being killed outside the club and saw someone who, a few years ago, could have just as easily been me. I know enough about that world to know the cops were never going to find who killed her and given who my family is I'm in a unique position to be able to help...her family deserve answers." She finished, he just kept staring.

"Jamie, you're staring."

"Sorry, it's just...I think what you're doing is amazing, it's incredibly selfless." He gushed.

"Don't think I didn't hesitate, I mean, getting involved in anything to do with my family and that world, makes me nervous, not to mention the inherent danger in messing with "the family" but your captain agreed to my condition so I'm ready to help."

"Condition?" He asked.

"Just that anyone working on this case will say I had no idea you're a cop, that the police found out who my family is and sent you in to seduce me to get close to Vinnie. You know, for my safety." She explained.

"Right, of course, but what happens when this all goes to court, you can't say that on the stand, it's perjury."

"It won't, that's the one bright side, if you can call it that, of going through Vinnie, if you get something on him he will cut a deal but he'll also lean on the killer to confess so he won't have to testify in open court. Hey...you're staring again." She noted.

"Sorry, again, you know a lot about this stuff, don't you?" He asked interested.

"It's a side effect of growing up a Moretti, I know way too much about things I wish I didn't." She sighed, sensing her discomfort he changed topics.

"We need to come up with the story of how we met, so, how did I sweep you of your feet?" He wondered aloud.

"What makes you think you did the sweeping?" She laughed.

"Point taken, so where did we meet?" He grinned.

"A bookshop." She said quickly.

"Really?"

"Yeah, and we both reached for the same book." She grinned.

"It's not a movie, it has to be a believable story of how we met." He smiled back.

"Fine, what, a bar then, so boring." She fake sighing.

"We can make it interesting, how about I came to your rescue when a drunk guy was bothering you?" he suggested.

"Ok, and then I offered to buy you a drink to say thanks and the rest, is history." She finished smiling.

"Sure, sounds good." He agreed smiling.

"So when was this?" She asked.

"Huh?"

"How long have we been seeing each other?" She clarified.

"Oh, well, you tell me, long enough that it's getting serious but not too long that it's weird no one's met your boyfriend."

"Well, it's been awhile since I've seen Izzy, so maybe six months?" She suggested.

"Sure, that's works, so Lizzie, tell me about yourself." He asked with a grin.

"What do you want to know?" She replied.

"Everything." He asked genuinely.

"In that case, you're going to need something stronger than coffee."

Five days later Jamie found himself walking down the hallway to Lizzie's apartment. He knocked on the door and straightened his jacket nervously. Seconds later the door opened and in the doorway stood a smiling blonde girl gesturing for him to come inside.

"Hi, you must be Jamie, I'm Sarah, Lizzie's roommate and best friend." She said as she led him into the living room of the apartment.

"Hi, nice to meet you."

"Lizzie, your ridiculously good looking fake boyfriend is here." She called down the hall.

"Coming." Jamie heard the reply from the other room. He turned as Lizzie came down the hallway wearing a deep purple cocktail dress and strappy black stilettos.

"Hi Jamie." She said shyly.

"Hi, you look...beautiful." Jamie swallowed hard.

"Thanks, you're not so bad yourself." She replied as the pair stood frozen staring at each other.

"You both look great, now go have fun." Sarah chimed in snapping them out of the moment.

"Right, are you ready?" He asked, she simply nodded. He held out his arm which she took and they headed out into the night.

After a night of talking, drinking and meeting Lizzie's old college friends including Izzy and Mario, it turned out Vinnie wasn't at the club that night. However Lizzie got herself and Jamie invited to join Izzy and Mario to have lunch with their dad at his house the following weekend. After a few obligatory dances Jamie and Lizzie made their way outside.

"I'm sorry Vinnie wasn't there tonight, he usually is." Lizzie apologised as they walked to the car.

"Hey, it's ok, you couldn't have known, and besides you got us invited to lunch with him next weekend, which is probably better than trying to ask him over the music. Lizzie, you did great tonight, it's just going to take some time to get what we need to leverage Vinnie, we may have keep this relationship going for awhile, do you think you can handle that?" He stopped and turned to her.

"Keep pretending to be your girlfriend? Jee, I don't know, could be tough, I guess I'll muddle through somehow." She teased beaming a smile that made his heart beat a little faster.

"Wow, nice place." Exclaimed Jamie as he and Lizzie pulled into the driveway of Vinnie's palatial home the following Saturday.

"Yeah, turns out, crime does pay." She commented as Jamie parked. They got out of the car and headed to the door. Before either could knock it swung open revealing the twins.

"Hey Lizzie, hey Jared, come on in." Greeted Izzy standing aside.

"Hey Izzy, hey Mario." Said Lizzie smiling.

"Hey, we're having lunch on the patio." Explained Mario gesturing down the hall. The four of them chatted as they walked through the expansive house. As they stepped out on to the patio Lizzie could see Vinnie sitting at a table on which lunch had been set out. As they approached he ended his phone call.

"Lizzie, long time no see, how have you been?" He greeted her warmly as he stood up.

"Hey Vinnie, I've been good, how about you?" She asked as they hugged.

"You know, can't complain and who is this?" He asked turning to Jamie.

"This is my boyfriend Jared, Jared this is Vinnie." She introduced the pair and they shook hands.

"She's is quite something isn't she." Vinnie smiled.

"I'm very lucky." replied Jamie. Vinnie told everybody to sit and tuck in to the generous amount of food laid out on the table. The group fell into comfortable conversation catching Lizzie up on all the goings on of people she used to know. She filled them in on what she had been up to since they last spent time together.

"Oh, you know who I ran into the other day? Rudi." Mentioned Mario.

"My cousin." Lizzie clarified for Jamie.

"How is young Rudi these days?" Inquired Vinnie.

"Not so young anymore, he's good, he's working for Lizzie's dad and he's got a hot girlfriend." Mario explained. Jamie noticed a slight change in Lizzie at the mention of her father but she shook it off and used Rudi as an opening.

"Vinnie, remember a few years ago how you gave Rudi a job at the club to help him out." She asked.

"I do, hard worker that kid."

"I was hoping you could do the same for Jared."

"You're in need of a job?" He asked Jamie.

"Yeah, I've been looking for a while but haven't had any luck."

"I see, well, Lizzie, I'm always happy to help you, you know that, but I know you keep your nose clean these days and the sort work I could find for Jared isn't exactly above board, are you ok with that." He asked.

"As long as I don't have to see or hear about anything "not above board", as you put it, I can just tell myself he has a normal job like everyone else." She confirmed.

"Alright, Jared let's take a walk and see what we can do."

"Sure." Jamie said as the two men left the table.

After walking around the perimeter of the garden discussing where Jared might be most useful, Vinnie and Jamie came back to the patio to find Lizzie and the twins had made themselves comfortable in the gazebo by the pool. Jamie took a seat next to Lizzie as Vinnie headed inside to take another phone call.

"So, how'd it go with dad?" Asked Izzy.

"Good, we're all set, I start on Thursday."

"That's great babe." Commented Lizzie and gave Jamie a celebratory kiss. As soon as Jamie felt her lips on his he wrapped his arms around her and deepened the kiss.

"Jeez, get a room you two." Mario teased causing Lizzie and Jamie to break their kiss.

"I guess that means we'll be seeing more of you around the club, huh Lizzie."

For the next several weeks Jamie worked weekends at the club and Lizzie made obligatory visits as his girlfriend. Eventually after six weeks of gathering evidence Jamie's captain decided they had enough to pick up Vinnie. A few days after they arrested, processed and talked to Vinnie, Jamie called Lizzie and asked her to meet him at the same diner where he had taken her for coffee the day they met.

"Hey Jamie, how are you?" Lizzie smiled as she slipped into the booth across from him.

"Hey, I'm good, you?" He asked smiling back.

"I'm good, so what's going on?" As she asked a waitress placed a coffee in front of her.

"Latte, two sugars, right? Same as last time." He said by way of explanation.

"Yeah, thanks." She smiled.

"I wanted to let you know we picked up Vinnie, you were right, he flipped, and you were also right about him leaning on the killer, Alessandro confessed this morning."

"Alessandro killed that girl?" She asked surprised.

"Yeah, apparently he made a move on her that night, you know, kept buying her drinks, then later when he tried to take her home she rejected him, he didn't take it well." He explained.

"That's awful." She sighed.

"Yeah, I know, but thanks to you he's going to pay for what he did, because of you her family will get justice." He smiled genuinely impressed by her.

"I'm just glad it worked, for once who my family is worked for me and not against me." She said blushing.

"I know what it's like, people treat you differently because of who your family is." He smiled.

"It's nice to find someone who knows what that's like. Except for Sarah, the few people I've revealed my real identity to have either run for the hills or never been able to look at me the same way." She said smiling gratefully.

"Lizzie, if I've learnt anything about you these last couple of months it's that you are nothing like your family, who they are doesn't define you." He said as he took her hand, her eyes widened.

"And the last thing I want to do, is run." He added as he slid out of the booth and joined her on her side so the table was no longer separating them.

"Jamie." She said nervously.

"I've really liked getting to know you these last two months, I know we were supposed to pretend to like each other but from the moment I met you, there was no need to pretend." He explained.

"Jamie, I like you, a lot, and I've enjoyed these last couple months way more than I should've. I know our family's don't define us but they are our family's and as much distance as I put between me and mine, I will never stop being a member of it. You're a cop, your whole family is in law enforcement, it would be a bad idea to connect your family to mine in any way, I'm sorry." She explained getting upset.

"We have lived our whole lives, having to deal with who our family's are, and doing or not doing things because of that, I'm tired of living that way, I want to be with you, just me, not my family, not a Reagan, just me, Jamie, and I want to be with you, just you, not your family, not a former Moretti, just Lizzie and nothing you tell me about your family or your past or who you used to be will change my mind, I promise, I won't run." He said now holding both of her hands. She searched his eyes trying to find some uncertainty or doubt about them seeing each other but couldn't find any. She could see he had made his mind up and nothing she could tell him was going to change it.

"Ok." She said finally.

"Really?" He asked.

"Yes, Jamie, I want you to be with you too." She had barely gotten the last word out before he captured her lips with his. She placed her hands on his shoulders and kissed him back passionately. They sat in the booth kissing until they could no longer ignore the need to breathe. They broke apart but remained close.

"Jamie, I'm not like other girls you've dated. I've lived that life, I tried really hard to be a Moretti, I got pretty good at it, and even though I've changed a lot since then, I never lost that...edge." She explained smiling suggestively.

"And you don't think I can handle that?" He asked a little surprised.

"Well...it's just...your kinda of..."

"If you call me a golden boy..." he grumbled before she could finish.

"You get that a lot huh?" She laughed.

"Yeah.." he mumbled.

"I just want to be sure you know what yourself getting into." She grinned.

"I do." He claimed confidently.

"Ok, in that case..." She paused, leaning in close to whisper in his ear.

"My place or yours, golden boy?"