We were driving in silence for quite some time. Kalina said that she would drive me home. I asked if she wanted to carpool so I could talk about the case before getting on the train. We had to stay later so we could finish the paperwork and document everything that happened on the case.

“Are you always so stoic?” Kalina asked, keeping her eyes off the road.

“What do you mean?” I said, tapping my legs to the beat of the music.

“You’re always quiet, and at times you are a bit hard to read. Which is a compliment since I thought I could read anyone.”

“Oh thanks. My father told me I have two eyes, and two ears but one mouth. So, I should listen more than I speak.” I said looking out the window. We were coming up to a hot dog stand. The person working the cart was fighting off a flock of crows. He swung a bag of rolls with hot dog buns as some birds hovering over him while the other birds removed the cover and flew away with a hot dog in their mouth.

“Your father was a wise man.” Kalina said, turning onto my street. “I thought you would be a little beaten up that you weren’t able to catch the killer on the first try. But you must have understood even though we lost the battle we are closer to winning the war.”

We pulled up in front of my condo complex “Yeah, I guess you could say that. Thanks for the ride and thanks for everything Kalina.” I said

She nodded and a waved as I closed the door. She smiled before driving off. As a turned and greeted the new doorman I walked onto the elevator. I received a text from Syd. “Hey there big detective give me a call when you are finished with your case.”

I tapped the little phone next to her name. Then my phone started to dial her number and called her. Before the dial tone went to the second ring “Hey Tom! How did the mission go?”

“Uh well we didn’t catch him but were much closer to ending this case and putting him in jail.” I said the elevator door dinged for my floor.

“Wait is the elevator to our complex?” Syd said.

“Yeah, I’m just getting home.”

“Tom! Why didn’t you tell me! I’m coming right now.” Syd said hanging up the phone. Although I was against it, she had moved into my complex while I was away at boot camp.

I opened the door to my condo and took off the smart glasses and placed them on the kitchen island. I grabbed a cup from the cabinet and poured myself a glass of water from the fridge. Right before I could take a sip, there was a knock on the door. I put the glass down and walked over to the door.

When I opened it, Syd was standing there with two boxes that had Penultimate written on top. “Are those what I think they are?” I said gesturing her to come in.

“Only your favorite thing in the world.” Syd said walking to the kitchen. She placed both boxes on the kitchen island. Her eyes grew wide as she looked at the glasses on the counter. “I didn’t know you wore glasses! Were you wearing contacts this whole time?” Syd placed the glasses on her face

I locked the door and walked over towards her across the island. It had been such a long time since I’d seen Syd in person. She had bangs now and her hair was a golden brown. Her eyes were a hazel green and freckles decorated her face. Had she always been this cute?

Standing in front of her now I reached over and tapped the button on the side of her glasses. “These aren’t real glasses, I helped create them with a few engineers back at the agency. It's so I can have a basic crime scene unit with me.”

Syd’s eyes grew wide, “That’s so awesome, your like some super software detective!”

“Thanks, that’s just a prototype. We are working on putting the bone conductive headphones into the arms, so we don’t have to wear earpieces.” I smiled, picking up the glass of water I took a sip. When I finished, I continued “Excuse my manners, do you want something to drink?”

Syd frowned and put the glasses back on the counter “Alright what is wrong with you?” She said.

“What do you mean?” I said walking over to the cabinets with the cups.

“You can put on your stoic façade in front of everyone but not me Mr. Morningstar. Now Spill it.” Syd said taking the cup from me and filling her glass with water.

I started to laugh, “You still can read me like a book.” I took a sip from my glass and then told her about everything that happened while on the case. “I keep rewatching the footage all the clues were right in my face, if only I had just listened took a second to think. We would have caught him, and I wouldn’t feel so guilty I let a killer back out into the world to claim another victim.”

Syd took a sip of water; I could tell she was trying to think of something to say because it was an unusually long sip. Coming up for air she said “Hmm from what it sounds like you did a very good job, so you don’t have to beat yourself up too much. Even your boss said that you did a very good job for it being your first case.”

“Yeah, your right, I guess you’re right.”

“I am right Tom. You were even like this back in college, sometimes you are your own worst enemy. What do I always tell you.” Syd said in her mother’s knows best voice.

“Take it one step at a time.” I said. I didn’t want a solution, I just wanted to stay miserable for a bit longer. If I knew you were going to lecture me, I would have told you to stay in your unit.

“That’s right!” Syd said clapping her hands. She opened the boxes she brought. Sitting inside was the most beautiful thing ever. It was like God himself came down, felt pity for letting humanity suffer and decided to give us one more gift. The circular pastry sat in its box still flaky and soft covered in peanut butter. It was the Cinnamon Bun I couldn’t eat so long ago. My one true love. “I remember you went through so much trouble to find this cinnamon bun, only to leave town because of the mafia.”

I couldn’t take my eyes of the beautiful creation in a cardboard box. “Oh, how I’ve waited so long to see you, sweet love of mine.” I said with drool coming down my mouth.

“You know I wish you would look at me the way you look at this cinnamon bun.”

“Oh, you’re still here, sorry about that. You know how lovers can get carried away when they talk to each other.” I said wiping the drool from my mouth.

Syd closed the lid to the cinnamon buns and started to walk towards the door. “It looks like my words of wisdom were not appreciated. You can have this back when I get an apology.”

I reached over the island and screamed “Wait comeback with the precious!”