Chapter Six

The sun rose slowly, casting long shadows that mingled and bordered the golden light of day. The house was quiet except for the occasional sounds of sleep. Deep breathing, the shifting of weight as someone moves, and every once in a while a small snore, followed by more readjusting. Kate and Daniel lay on the living room couch, Daniel sprawled across it, limbs flung about with no regard of comfort, and Kate, her head in the crook of his shoulder. Daniel shifted slightly, his left arm draping over her, his hand coming to rest on her hip. Kate had long since flung an arm over Daniel's chest, hugging him tightly as she hooked her left leg over Daniel's right.

They slept in this state for a few hours until the sun rose farther into the sky, and a ray of light crawled across Kate's face and reached her eyes. She shifted and made an unsatisfied noise, causing Daniel to stir. Kate opened one lazy eye and shut it again. Then both eyes flew open as the realization of the situation dawned upon her. 'Okay Kate. You're at Daniel's house. On Daniel's couch. On Daniel. Oh god.' Kate thought to herself, floundering for a logical step forward. She could smell his scent, feel the prickly bristles of his "not quite there" beard, hear his heartbeat, and feel the warmth of his hand on her hip. She was at a crossroads, either try to move without waking Daniel, or stay where she was, and cave to her hidden desires. Kate knew that the former was the more logical, rational, and noble of the two, but the latter was so appealing in that moment, that she chose to give in, and snuggled even closer to Daniel.

Daniel was in a similar predicament. He had awoken when Kate had, and upon finding himself in said situation, was similarly torn in two. 'Kate. There is a Kate next to me. Scratch that, on me. What do I do?! Oh god.' At this point in time, Kate snuggled closer to him, and Daniel felt a tightness in his chest. He tried not to move, to breathe, to think even, but he was smarter than that and knew that was impossible. He could feel every inch of her, her cheek on his shoulder, her hand on his ribs, her thigh on his. He was in a paradox of epic proportions, with a feeling dangerously close to his heart saying yes, and his logic, skepticism, and stubborn will saying no. It would be so easy to move his hand up her side, to brush her hair away from her face and kiss her hairline. So easy...

"Kate?" Daniel asked, breaking free from fantasy, and back into reality.

"Yes Daniel?" Kate replied.

"What are we doing?" He asked simply, his expression almost one of shock.

"Lying on the couch." Kate said simply, her face similarly contorted as Daniel's.

"Ah." Daniel said in return. When neither of them moved, Kate took the reins of the conversation.

"So...are we just going to get up and pretend this never happened?" She asked him, still unmoving.

"Probably." He replied, unable to come up with a better answer.

"Pity." Kate said, her expression turning to one of mocking thoughtfulness.

With an alacrity that appeared almost anxious, both Daniel and Kate rose to a sitting position, blushing furiously. Neither could look at the other as Daniel mumbled something about breakfast and Lewicki, and Kate acquiesced, having no clue what he had said.

After a rather awkward breakfast later ( involving a silent and taciturn Daniel, a overly chatty and cheerful Kate, and a highly confused Lewicki ), Kate's phone rang as Daniel helped Lewicki clean up the plates.

"Moretti." Kate said, answering the phone as Daniel snuck a peek at her over his shoulder. There was a pause. "Alright. Hold him there, I'm on my way." She hung up the phone and turned towards Daniel and Lewicki. "That was Probert. Harry was just picked up downtown. He had a nine mil on him."

"Look Harry, we have an eye witness who places you at the scene, a dead girl, and the gun we found on you. If we test that gun against the bullet found in Joyceans body, how much you want to bet we have a match." Kate told Harry, sitting in the FBI interrogation room, the camera rolling, with Daniel sitting behind the one way glass, listening and watching.

"I told you what happened! I pointed the gun at Joycean, I didn't mean to pull the trigger. I thought I didn't!" Harry was hysterical, crying and tugging at his hair, unable to sit still at all. Daniel was highly tempted to burst in and stop everything, but Reardon had been firm in her views on the subject.

"I just don't understand why we are putting this poor man through all this!" Daniel said to Probert, who stood next to him.

"Because he's a dangerous criminal who killed a girl. We just want to get the facts straight before we turn him over to the Chicago PD." He replied, feeling little to no distress at the handling of the mentally ill suspect.

"He's in hysterics for god's sake! He has type 1 bipolar, he's already gone into the mid-stage, push him much more and I don't know what he'll do!" Daniel pleaded, shooting to his feet. "Get Kate out of there. Let me talk to him. You'll get nothing of use from him in this state!" He gestured passionately at Harry, looking Probert in the eye. Daniel had never liked Probert. Something about the guy just unnerved him. Maybe it was because Probert struck him as the "follow orders and never question" type, maybe it was because he just rubbed him the wrong way. The only thing the two had an accord on was Kate. Probert was Kate's partner, it was his job to protect her, and Daniel trusted him with that. Probert looked at Daniel with a searching gaze.

"Fine." He said, knowing for a fact that interrogation was getting them nowhere. He strode over to the door and opened it, sticking his head in. "Kate. We need a word." Kate's eyebrows raised as she stood and entered the room. As soon as the door was closed, Daniel spoke.

"Kate, that man is a wreck. He's a type 1 Bipolar. He's gone into the mid-stage, he's going to be no use to you like that." Daniel said, trying to play more to her logical side than her emotional.

"Mid-stage?" Probert asked, his tone doubting the existence of such a thing.

"The mid-stage is when someone with Bipolar Disorder is both in a Hypermanic state and in a Depressed state at the same time." Kate said, both impressing Probert and Daniel. "I figured that regular interrogation wasn't going to work. Tag, you're in." She said, flashing Daniel a perfect smile.

Daniel thanked Kate as he entered the interrogation room. Harry was hugging his knees in his chair, rocking back and forth as he muttered incoherent babble. Daniel's sympathy was strong as he slowly sank into the chair opposite him.

"Harry, my name is Dr. Daniel Pierce. We're just going to talk a little okay?" He asked, hoping to reassure Harry. The effect was anticipated, though not desired.

"NO! I don't want to talk anymore! I told you everything! Why won't you leave me alone?!" He cried passionately, slamming his hand down on the table.

"Harry, I'm not here to ask questions. I've heard you're side of the story, I understand you were not at fault. I just want to talk about you." He said calmly, pulling out his reading glasses and putting them on.

"What about me?!" Harry yelled. Daniel knew he was starting to get angry now, and he was almost to the brink of violence. He worded his next sentence carefully.

"What do you want?" Daniel asked, keeping his tone sincere and kind.

"To get out of here, what do you think?!" Harry said, still angry, but levels less.

"No I mean, what do you want from life? To...have a good job, a family, friends. Because if we don't understand what happened, you're going to be locked up in a mental institution for a long time." Daniel said softly, a pleading nature to his voice. Harry sat silent for a moment, Daniel's words sinking in.

"I swear...I didn't mean to hurt Joycean. I...I just wanted to scare her. I loved Joycean. She was...my world. But she didn't even know that I existed. I just wanted her to see me." He said, sobbing into his already filthy hoodie.

"Is that why you...left the blood in her apartment Harry? Did you want to get her attention?" Daniel asked carefully, not wanting to upset the boy more.

"What...what blood?" Harry asked, obviously confused.

"He's innocent Doc. It's in his face. No way could this guy kill Joy." Fourteen year old Lewicki said, placing a hand on Daniel's shoulder and leaning on the table.

"What are you talking about?" Daniel asked the young Max.

"What are you talking about? What blood?" Harry asked, even more confused.

"Come on Doc. Think! Use that brain old man. Connect the pieces." Young Lewicki then pointed at Harry and said "He has no idea about the blood. Go to the source. Connect the dots."

Lewicki was gone as Daniel stood and left the room, telling Harry he could go as soon as they finished up some paperwork. He pulled open the door to the back room and entered, shutting the door behind him.

"I don't know what you think you're doing Pierce but-" Probert began but Kate cut him off.

"Roger enough. The guy has been through hell, I'm not about to send him back into it. Daniel, I hope you got something worthwhile." She crossed her arms, looking intently at Daniel.

"I did, and I think I know who killed Joycean, Cameron, and James. But I need to be sure. I need you to drive me somewhere."

Daniel and Kate arrived at Joycean's apartment late in the afternoon, with the sun low in the sky. Daniel stepped out of the car and immediately headed towards the apartments, Kate trailing after him. The apartment it's self was still taped off, and Kate let Daniel inside with no hesitation. The blood in the shoddy apartment had long since been cleaned up, but the stains were still very apparent, and Daniel didn't need it to get what he needed. He stood in the middle of the room, looking for something he couldn't he couldn't quite see.

"Don't just look Doc. Don't just see. Feel. What does this mess feel like to you?" Lewicki asked, walking into the room leasurely.

"Controlled." Daniel said out loud.

"What?" Kate asked, confused. Daniel turned towards her and gestured wildly about the room.

"This mess, isn't just a mess. Really look. It's highly controlled." He pointed to the kitchen counter. "The way things are strewn about, the patterns of the blood, and everything else. Whoever did this was not emotional, as you would expect with a mess like this." He stooped down and hovered over the stains all over the floor. "Who ever did this was cold, calculated, and meticulous. Clever enough to make it look like a violent crime, but not invested enough to do it properly."

"You're saying that there is no way that Harry could have done this crime because-"

"Because the killer was devoid of emotion." Daniel said. "There is another killer, and now I know who it is. And I have a plan."

Thank you so much, to everyone who has readEmotion so far! I just hit the 1,000 views mark and am so excited! A big thank you to BiggerOnTheInside95, DHudson, EricTheRead, HannahbananaJane, Linna82, Neit Kitten, Nizuna Fujieda, OlatzAM, SnowballIV, TheInvisibleQuesion, Tom-Ato13, hamrensel, magicbanana123, semisqeetie50, babyscardinal, and msbookworm93.

A special shout out to Tea and a Notebook, who's Perception fics continue to inspire and delight me, and DaisyDay, my new friend, and another wonderful Perception author who gives me a standard to live up to. Thank you all!