Between the Lines

"No."
"Oh, come on!"
"You're disgusting." Adam said, rolling his eyes as he sat down at the break room table with a mug of coffee.
"Yes, and I embrace it." Steven said dramatically, holding out his fist in a Shakespearian slash helplessly hopeful passion. Perhaps the same thing.
"You know, I'm terrified that you were hired as a serious man here." Adam joked, smiling before taking a sip of the coffee. The coffee at the station was ridiculously disgusting, but after a few years, they tongue hardens and soon loses its "god-awful" and "what-is-this-shite" buds and adapts.
"I don't care; just answer the bloody question." Steven persisted.
"I am not passing on that kind of personal information." Adam said firmly.
"What kind of personal information?" Prudence asked as she walked into the break room, joining the two men.
"Which women he's banged here at the lab." Steven answered before Adam could reply with a far more dignified answer, to shoot a sarcastic remark towards him; which left Adam hanging with an open mouth.
"You're disgusting." Adam and Prudence said in unison, shaking their heads. Prudence smiled.
"So, what, in the lab, or, women who work here?" Prudence joked, sitting down at the middle of the table, between the two who sat on either end. Steven grinned, nodding his head in approval.
"Oh, no, not you, too!" Adam exclaimed, frowning. Steven smiled, leaning towards Prudence.
"Yes, she's my lovely." Steven teased, stretching his arm across Prudence's shoulders. She grinned and then he returned to his position on his chair.
"Now, then, which?" Steven said again.
"None, you idiot." Adam said, rolling his eyes.
"Have you ever seen a man with this much self control? He deserves his own 'Natural Habitat' special." Steven said to Prudence, getting a giggle. "And now, we look into the mating habits of the chaste-man..." Steven continued, imitating the stereotypically gentle voice of nature show host. Prudence smiled.
"Okay, that's enough of that now." She said, chuckling, waving Steven off.
"Why, thank you." Adam smiled at Prudence, ignoring Steven.
"So, do you two like each other at all?" Prudence asked, looking between the two men.
"Not really, no; we've had fun the past years just at each others throats, it's great." Steven said, smiling. Adam cracked a wide grin, unnoticed by the other two.
"So, you're the new girl?" Steven asked after 10 minutes of conversation. Prudence nodded. "My name's Steven Bair, sexual harrassment sponsor, lovely to meet you." He joked, kissing Prudences hand which she thought he had taken to shake. She smiled.
"Prudence Warren, nice to meet you." She said as he let go of her hand.
"That's beautiful." Steven said in a sincere voice. "Ain't it beautiful, Adam?" Steven called, turning to Adam who had been peacefully eating his lunch until now.
"It's beautiful." Adam said, smiling. Prudence smiled at Adam's nonchalant tone.
"Now, fair lady, my break is over. Off to work, with me." Steven playfully bowed to Prudence before leaving the break room.
"Steven's quite a character." Prudence smiled, watching as Adam ate quietly. There was a small bit of red sauce on the corner of his mouth. Adam caught on when he noticed her staring. He wiped it away with his finger.
"I'm not used to eating this kind of stuff, especially with people watching me." Adam said, playfully grinning at Prudence, who blushed. She glanced at his lunch and saw it in a tupperware container. There was chicken, rice with carrots and green beans, and mashed potatoes. Nearly gone, though.
"Girlfriend prepared a home-cooked meal for you?" Prudence teased. Adam let out a one-huff laugh, almost like he didn't believe the word 'girlfriend'. A pause, and then he replied.
"Yeah, I guess." He said, smiling a bit to himself, taking a forkful of rice into his mouth.
"Aw, then, she's a keeper, isn't she? Lovely cook?" Prudence asked, then began to worry if she was prying.
"Not exactly what I look for." Adam said simply, taking a sip of his coffee. Prudence nodded.
"Well, did anything show up in the second search of the flat?" Prudence decided to quickly change the subject. Adam shrugged.
"Not much. We had a few questions with Elysson's family, though. Apparently, her little cousin had been catsitting for the weekend. Something about 'getting pet-practice' for the dog she wants to get." Adam explained.
"So, that explains the cat's absense... We've got nothing." Prudence sighed, leaning back against the chair in defeat.
"You know what," Adam began as he started cleaning up his things. "We'll sift through things that we already have and try to find something. To get the heat from the family off our backs, at least." Prudence nodded as Adam walked out.

Prudence sat back down at her desk, and stretched one last time before settling in, readying herself to look through hours of files.
"Hello!" Prudence yelped as a voice came from right by her ear.
"Doesn't anyone care about personal space anymore?!" Prudence exclaimed, rolling away in her chair. She rolled her eyes as she laid her eyes on David, the man-child who she was stationed next to.
"Sorry. Well, anyway, while you were on break, someone put some evidence on your desk for you to process, and -"
"You took something off of my desk?" Prudence growled, cocking one eyebrow. David nodded.
"Anyway, I think I'll be able to help your case out... I compared the blood sample from your victim to the epithelials found on the guns slide, and they're not a match." David explained. Prudence smiled slightly.
"That puts me in a better mood... Now, how the hell do you know about my case?" She said, smiling as she stood from her chair. David smiled, and gestured for her to follow him.