A/N: So glad to be writing for these two again, very happy that my inspiration's come back with the new series! I've got the next 4/5 scenes pretty much written out too, so hopefully I'll be updating fairly regularly from now on...

Set mid-way through 01x02, after Mitch and Jamie's conversation with Aspen the zookeeper.

Jamie tries not to feel too uncomfortable at the loud screeching and hollering of the different animals around her as she watches Aspen walk off. It's strange, but a sense of unease falls over her, as if the animals are watching her. Observing. Calculating. It's incredibly disconcerting.

She looks up at Mitch to see if he's giving off any indications of feeling the same but he seems distracted by his own thoughts as he walks beside her.

His hands are shoved in his pockets again; his strides long but slow enough to allow Jamie to keep up. He's reluctantly offered to take her for coffee while they wait for Aspen to organize the experiment on one of the lions later that evening, so they wander off in the direction of the exit.
"So," Jamie starts, looking up at him as they head out of the African mammal exhibit and past the reptile house, the two of them carefully winding their way through masses of children and prams and families, "you and Aspen seem pretty close."

She's not even sure why she says it. Probably just to get a rise out of the man on her right; Jamie's found, in their very short acquaintance, that Mitch Morgan is a remarkably easy man to tease.

Mitch merely shrugs and comes to a steady halt, and Jamie stops beside him to wait for an answer. A howler monkey bellows in the distance but she ignores it in favour of concentrating on Mitch.

"We've worked together for about 5 years, so yeah, we're friends I suppose."

Jamie scoffs at him as he says the words. He immediately turns to face her, a scowl evident on his brow.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Jamie laughs at the expression on his face. It's a good distraction from the squawks and roars and howls of the animals in the enclosures that surround them. She feels goosebumps rise up her arms but tries to pay them no mind. Instead, she smiles at Mitch and answers his thinly veiled accusation.

"Nothing, it's just… well it's pretty clear that Aspen has a little bit of a crush on you there Mitchell."

She emphasizes his full name to prove a point and she's satisfied to see Mitch cough and stuff his hands even deeper into his pockets as he stands before her.

"Look, Aspen's just a friend. She's just a bit…" He pauses as he tries to find the right word, "eager on occasion. She seems to think I need to associate with people more, so she likes to keep an eye on me."

Mitch, Jamie notices, is blushing slightly, just a fraction, around his ears. It's quite endearing and she grins, eyeing him mischievously.

"So you and she have never…?"

She trails off, but the implication is there. Mitch merely rolls his eyes and huffs.

"No," he says emphatically. "It's not, it's not like that."

He glares at Jamie a little, who holds her hands up in surrender.

"Hey, I was only asking," she replies, a smile on her lips and a shake of her head as a means of apology. Jamie honestly hadn't meant to hit a nerve, so she instantly pulls back. "I didn't mean to offend you."

"Whatever," Mitch answers, before he carries on towards the zoo exit. "Let's just go get some damn coffee."

He walks off briskly, leaving Jamie behind for a second, and he refuses to look back. Jamie laughs to herself at his attitude, then quickly follows.

Mitch is waiting for her just outside the exit, a frown on his face as he watches a family carrying bags of stuffed toys and souvenirs towards their car. He gestures towards the street to their left without speaking and Jamie quickly falls into step beside him, content to walk in silence.

They escape to a small cafe a couple of blocks from the zoo. Jamie slips into a booth at the far end of the room, while Mitch disappears and joins the queue to get their coffee. Jamie watches him carefully, takes in the way he stuffs his hands in his pockets, the almost bored look on his face, the way he runs his hand through his hair in irritation as the man in front of him takes an age to place his order. She's known very few men like Mitch Morgan, Jamie thinks, as she sees him finally reach the counter and order. He's determined and smart, she can tell, but Jamie's not entirely sure he's on her side. Not yet anyway.

It's reasonably quiet in the cafe, just the usual hustle and bustle of students and LA tourists. Mitch eventually reappears and slips a tall cup of coffee in front of her as he sits in the seat opposite. Jamie dumps her usual amount of milk and sugar into her coffee, while Mitch takes his black.

They sit in silence for a few minutes, both of them sipping their respective drinks. Mitch taps his fingers against the Formica table, while Jamie keeps her hands wrapped around her cup, welcoming the heat that radiates through it. She wonders, as she people watches out of the cafe windows, just how everyone can be so calm about the zoo incident. It had only been a couple of days before, and yet tourists and visitors are still flooding into City of Angels as if nothing had happened. It frustrates her no end and she furrows her brow in annoyance. Mitch, cup halfway to his lips for another drink, spots the look and tilts his head questioningly.

"What's up?"

Jamie just shakes her head in dismissal of his question.

"It's nothing, just thinking."

"Right."

They lapse into silence again, before Jamie, finishing her drink, looks back up at Mitch.

"So what's the plan? Y'know, if Aspen can get a lion for us."

He shrugs slightly.

"I guess the first thing would be to check the neural oscillations of the lion using an electroencephalograph and then…"

"Yeah, okay, hold on a second there," Jamie interrupts, holding her hands up and shaking her head. "I don't know what that means. Not all of us are experts in veterinary pathology Professor; think of who you're talking to…"

Mitch takes in Jamie's confused look before he nods and continues. "I'll check it's brain waves using an EEG," he explains, before he elaborates. "I'll do that to see if there's anything unusual present; brain waves are normally a good indicator if there's anything amiss in the transmitters across an animal's body; epilepsy, tumours, strokes and the like, plus it's non-invasive. Then I'll take some blood samples, see if there's any trace of this 2 4-D chemical you mentioned. If the lions have been ingesting it in their food for the last couple of months then there'd be some evidence in their blood work."

Jamie nods, mainly because she has no idea just how they're going to prove a link between the 2 4-D and the change in animal behavior to anyone, even if they find something. But, she figures, Mitch Morgan is probably the best person to help her in that regard; he seems to know what he's doing at any rate.

After Mitch outlines what he plans to do if Aspen can get them a test subject, he surprises Jamie completely by asking about the research she's been doing into Reiden. Jamie smiles and starts explaining about how she'd found out about 2 4-D in the first place, about the chemical spill in Folsom, about the far reaching fingers of Reiden Global and their products.

Mitch, surprisingly, seems genuinely interested in what she has to say, and it's halfway through their second coffee and a half eaten basket of fries, that Jamie realizes they've been having an in-depth discussion about the company that killed her mother and her hometown. It's apparent, Jamie thinks, as Mitch stretches slightly and glances at his phone during a lull in conversation, that he's been intrigued by Reiden's activities just as much as she, but he's never had the urge to investigate fully.

Jamie looks out of the window, noting that the sun's starting to set outside, the dimming light casting long shadows on the buildings opposite the cafe. A trail of people are walking down the street and the traffic outside is starting to pick up; the zoo must have closed and the visitors are now heading home. She glances at her watch and realizes that she and Mitch have been sitting in the booth for a good hour talking about this and that. It's been… nice. Especially when the time's been spent with a man who'd told her only the night before that he preferred it when people weren't around. Jamie ponders just what that could mean when Mitch's phone suddenly starts to ring and she watches as he digs it out of his pocket and glances at the Call ID.

"Aspen," he mutters, ignoring the grin that crosses Jamie's face. Instead, he answers the call and continues to have a very quick conversation; it's over before Jamie can really think about it.

"We can head back to the zoo now," Mitch says, signaling for Jamie to stand and precede him out of the door. "Aspen's got us a lion cub for the evening."

"A lion cub?" Jamie asks, a broad smile spreading across her lips, "how cute!"

Mitch just sighs dramatically, places a warm hand on her back, and encourages her to exit the cafe and set off towards the nearby lab, where they'll hopefully find something that will help their investigation.

Jamie gets the feeling that tonight might just be the kick-start to this whole thing that she's been looking for.