They stopped off at the opticians on the way home so that Jayden could collect his new glasses, which meant running through some basic tests while Lucas lurked in the background as though the eye doctor was an assassin.

Man, what a difference they made. He wasn't too happy with his rushed choice of frames this morning, but they were able to get lenses ground and inserted in under four hours so he made do. He could always get a new pair later on, when there was less of a rush.

This was his main bugbear with glasses, though. You had to try on new pairs to see if you liked them, but you couldn't really tell, because until you got your new glasses you couldn't damn well see. If he had time he took selfies then scrutinized them, but today had been a bit of a blur.

Truth be told he was still in shock from yesterday's attempt on his life. Even Alan had asked whether he should be meeting with his attorney instead of taking a day or two off to recover, to which Jayden had explained that spite was a great motivator.

Someone out there wanted him to drop his lawyer so much that they were willing to kill, and that just made Jayden want to fight them all the more. They were trying to bully him, and he didn't let bullies win.

They made it back home without incident, though. He greeted Tony on the way in, went up in the elevator surrounded by big men in suits, and only once he was safely back in his apartment did the team relax. Most remained outside so that he was, once more, alone with Lucas.

Lucas who was a better father to Tamsin than Jayden's own biological father had been to him.

God, that was hard to see. He'd never been so close to a real-life, in-your-face example of the kind of parenting he should've had but never received. He always told himself that things weren't so bad there, that at least he had a father who was physically present, who put a roof over his head and food on the table, who hadn't seemed to have a problem with his son's sexuality...

But he had, hadn't he? All those years he'd kept it quiet, then one day he just had to out his son to the entire board, and for what reason? Because the way that had gone, it sure seemed to be little more than bitterness, and now Dad was dead Jayden couldn't ever ask what the hell had gone through his head that day.

What made him betray his own son.

He poured a glass of water from the dispenser, then turned to Lucas. "Can I get you anything?"

Lucas shook his head. "I'm fine. Thank you."

Jayden drank half the glass, then eyed Lucas with a smirk. "Not even a blowjob?"

Lucas tutted at him and checked his watch. "Shift change in two hours."

"Fine. After that, then?"

Lucas actually cracked a small smile which warmed his eyes. "I mean, if you're gonna insist..."

Jayden laughed and squeezed Lucas' arm, then meandered out to the living room and sank into a chair, then fished out the TV remote. "Okay. We've got like ten million channels. What do you wanna watch?"

"Nothing," Lucas murmured. "It's a distraction."

"Man I can't just sit here staring at the walls for two hours, and I can't really go out because it makes your job harder for no good reason. I've got no more meetings today, I'm not hungry, and I'm out of a job. There's literally nothing I can do to pass the time other than turn the TV on."

Lucas at least looked sympathetic to his plight. "I do understand. You aren't confined to quarters, though obviously I do appreciate you making it easy for us by staying home."

"Yeah." Jayden sighed. "Not much we can do about it, huh? Unless-"

His suggestion that they at least start making out if they weren't gonna get naked was cut off before he could even start it by the ring of the landline.

Jayden rose and headed to the nearest phone to answer. "Hullo?"

"Mr. Deus, it's Tony. I have a visitor in the lobby for you. Miss Jo-Ann Hart?"

"Oh?" Jayden blinked. "Send her straight up. Thanks, Tony."

He hung up and frowned to Lucas. "Jo-Ann's here," he explained. "My secretary. Well, the board's secretary really, but she's still acting as mine in private. She's actually the one who hired you guys."

Lucas nodded at that and tapped his earpiece. "Lady coming up in the elevator is the client's secretary. Check ID for Jo-Ann Hart."

Jayden didn't ask if it was necessary. He was just saddened that it was.

Still, what could make Jo-Ann risk discovery by actually coming here herself? And during working hours? He checked his cellphone, and it wasn't even close to 6PM yet, so she'd made some excuse to leave early so she could come here.

The wait felt interminable, but eventually Lucas opened the front door and let Jo-Ann in.

"Wow," she breathed as she skirted Lucas' looming form. "They sent you the big ones, huh? Mr. Deus! It's so good to see you!" She came in for a hug, and squeezed him so tightly he almost couldn't breathe.

He returned it, though more gently. Jo-Ann was almost twice his age, but she still ran the New York marathon every year, and she could probably break him in half. "Jo-Ann! Not that it isn't always a pleasure, but aren't you taking a huge risk coming here?"

She stepped back and nodded. "I claimed family emergency. By tomorrow morning I'm sure I will have figured out the nature of that emergency." She moved through into Jayden's office and set her purse on his desk. "I have something for you."

Jayden followed, picking up his water on the way and sipping from it. "Something good?"

"I don't think so. I'm sorry." She opened her purse and tugged out an envelope, then weighed it in her hand before she offered it to him. "It came up from the mailroom an hour ago. I think it's the same kind of envelope as the other one."

She didn't need to say the words, because the moment Jayden took the envelope from her, he knew exactly what she meant.

The other death threat.

He took a deep breath and released it slowly, then put his glass down beside her purse. "I see what you mean," he muttered. "Same paper, same postmark." He ran his thumb over the paper, but it was distinctive enough just to look at. The quality was there.

Lucas cleared his throat. "Maybe I should open it."

"You think they're sending me anthrax now?" Jayden laughed, but sobered quickly. "Shit. What if they are sending me something toxic?"

Lucas reached for it. "Only one way to know."

Jayden bit the inside of his cheek, but he handed it over.

"I like the new glasses," Jo-Ann said.

"Oh?" He blinked. "I wasn't really sure about them."

"They make you look very serious."

Jayden snorted. "That's what I thought, too."

Lucas backed away from them, then ran his thumb under the flap and tugged the envelope open. He pulled it apart slightly so that he could check inside, then eased the paper out with care, tipping it so that anything trapped between sheets should be shaken down into the envelope itself.

Then he held the paper at arm's length and opened it.

Jayden didn't see anything fall. No powder, no dust, nothing that could reasonably be considered a contaminant. "Is it exciting? Do they want me to renounce my sins and promise never to speak to Alan again?"

Lucas' eyes darted back and forth, then he inclined his head. "Basically. Here." He came back to the table and set both letter and envelope down, face-up.

It was the same style. Care had been taken to cut words and letters out of newsprint to make up a message.

YOU WERE WARNED.

YOU NEVER DO AS YOU ARE TOLD.

Jayden sucked in a breath as his knees buckled. Jo-Ann caught his elbow and turned him away from the desk so that when he sat he didn't just fall onto the floor.

His head span and his heart beat so fast it was like it was trying to run away from him. His palms felt sweaty within seconds. A wave of nausea crashed through him.

He thought he'd been scared yesterday, but this was something else. This felt personal.

Someone knew him and still wanted him dead.

He blinked rapidly and tried to tear his eyes away from the letter. Lucas saved him from it by picking it up and tucking it back into the envelope.

"Oh, God," he whispered.

Lucas frowned softly. "I'll contact the PD," he said. "Let them know we've received this."

"What can they do?" Jayden wrapped his arms around himself like he could somehow shut out the world by doing so, but it didn't work. "It's been through so many hands there won't be prints on it. And even if there are, don't the cops have to find the person they belong to somehow anyway?" He pushed his new glasses up his nose. "Jo-Ann, can you maybe find out when this got to the mailroom? See who delivered it? Find out if it came by USPS or a courier or some other way?"

Jo-Ann nodded. "I can do that tomorrow." Then she hesitated. "You're not planning on playing detective, are you?"

Jayden forced himself to stop fidgeting with his glasses. "The way I see it, the cops have got plenty to do and not a lot of information to do it with. There's nothing wrong with running a parallel investigation so long as we don't screw up any evidence. All we have to do is stay on the right side of the law and call them with whatever we find - if anything at all. Right?" He looked up to Lucas.

Lucas slowly rubbed his jaw as he looked toward the envelope. "I agree that it seems personal," he finally murmured. "It could just be engineered to look that way, but with a genius on the case it might actually get solved. I obviously mean me," he added, deadpan, before Jayden could interrupt him.

Jayden felt his spirits lift a little. "You have any experience doing investigation work?"

"In a sense," Lucas answered. "Largely limited to finding the target before neutralizing that target. You?"

His heart began to sink again. "None," he admitted, "other than, you know, applying scientific method. You ask a question - in this case, who is trying to kill me? Then you construct a hypothesis and test it. After that it's just a case of testing each and every hypothesis until you find he most likely answer."

"Right," Lucas said. "If you're set on this, then we may as well do it properly. We sit down, bang out our theories, then we come up with a plan for testing to make sure you're sufficiently protected throughout."

"Okay." Jo-Ann grabbed her purse and squeezed Jayden's shoulder. "You two figure that out, I'll call you tomorrow once I know how this letter got into the building. Until then, stay safe, okay?"

Jayden looked to her and mustered his strongest smile. "Thanks, Jo-Ann. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Me either," she said softly. "Speak to you soon." She gave Lucas a polite nod as she walked around them both, and then she was gone.

Jayden was silent until he heard the front door close, then he looked to Lucas.

Lucas' gaze flit downward a moment, then he nodded. "She's in the elevator."

Jayden nodded weakly, and his shoulders sagged. All his bravado fled, and there wasn't that much of it to start with. His breath came quickly, and his eyes stung.

Lucas stepped closer. "Are you okay?"

He waved his hands helplessly. "What did I ever do, huh? What did I do to deserve being killed? I'm just a scientist, for crying out loud. I haven't hurt anyone, I sure as hell never tried to kill anyone. All I ever wanted was to be my own man, do my own thing, and this..." He gulped air so hard that he swallowed some, and had to burp to let it out. "Oh God, this isn't right. I don't know what to do!"

It was overwhelming. Now that Jo-Ann was gone, now that he didn't have to hold himself together, it was going to drown him and there was nothing he could do to save himself.

"Jayden." Lucas' voice was strong.

Close.

Jayden hiccupped and tugged his glasses off so he could rub his eyes. "What?"

Warm, powerful hands cupped his cheeks.

Soft, insistent lips pressed against his own.

Lucas kissed him gently but deeply, holding his head steady and closing his eyes as his tongue brushed against Jayden's and their breaths mingled.

Jayden's thoughts all crumbled down to dust. The letter, the threats, the shooting, it all fell to nothing until all that remained was Lucas, and when the kiss ended, he swayed faintly in Lucas' hold.

"Better?" Lucas rumbled.

Jayden took a moment to breathe, and then he smiled a little. It wasn't much, but it came naturally now that Lucas had made the world a better place.

"Yeah," he whispered. "Thank you."

It wasn't perfect. Not yet. But it was better than it had been.

That would do for now.