Shredded wheat:

It strikes me that Life has a good chance to grow into a decent fic fandom if given half a chance. So far, it's been mostly vignettes, but there are crimes of the week for casefiles, ongoing conspiracy arc, thorny interpersonal relationships, moral ambiguity up the wazoo, flawed yet awesome characters -- all good things that'd spawn fic. For USTy het, you have Charlie/Dani (with the added partnership kink), Charlie/Constance (the love that daren't speak its name, etc.) For slash, you have Charlie/Ted, who are BASICALLY MARRIED, plus all the stuff they had to endure together while in prison. For variety, you can pair anyone with the Lt., who also makes up one of the three major female characters for femmeslash bonanza. Plus, everyone is just so damn pretty.

Sooooo... I loved how Charlie freaked out at his house and bolted up the stairs, basically leading them straight to something he wanted to hide. I just love that he hit a moment where he felt he was in danger and all bets were off. Charlie Crews doesn't get tripped up very easily or often.

Which makes me wonder, besides the possibility of anyone involved in the conspiracy getting wind of Charlie's investigation into the conspiracy, and it looking bad because Ames is now dead, and it being kinda creepy, is there anything illegal about what he is doing and keeping in that closet?

Grapefruit and honey.

Vonnie, I've already been plotting out in my head how it'll go down if and when Dani discovers the wall. I even have a soundtrack. I think this is the first show in a while where I've actually realized that I needed fic in a bad way. It's just so rich.

Not illegal, but I believe it was part of his financial settlement that he was supposed to stay away from anything involving his case, including Ames.

I know Connie wanted Crews to just take his money and walk away, but I took that as a personal desire, that it wasn't Constance the Lawyer talking.

I think that he mostly wants to hide the fact that he's investigating (and suspects) every single one of them. He doesn't mind violating the terms of the settlement, he doesn't mind being caught violating the terms of the settlement, but the investigation is the most important thing in his life. It would kill him if they made him stop investigating the crime.

Vonnie, I've already been plotting out in my head how it'll go down if and when Dani discovers the wall. I even have a soundtrack.

Hee! Awesome. I sort of liked how it went down in "Trifecta." I doubt we'll have angry sex, but at least she'll kick the shit out of him then will ask, "what can I do?"

but the investigation is the most important thing in his life. It would kill him if they made him stop investigating the crime.

Oh yeah. For all his outward joviality, Charlie has a mental (metaphorical) wall set up the wazoo. He's guarded as hell and there is a level of calculation in every move he makes. And he's using his wall -- the literal Wall of Conspiracy -- as a mental clutch to sustain him, to fuel him, and get him focussed. If he lost that before he could figure it out, he'd fall apart.

More on Constance: as much as her character is bugging me lately, I still adore the actress' voice. It's just gorgeous.

Charlie/Dani (with the added partnership kink), Charlie/Constance (the love that daren't speak its name, etc.) For slash, you have Charlie/Ted

So Chani, Chance (or Chanstance) and Ched?

Too bad he doesn't have friend named Bud...

runs away

I CAN HURT YOU WITH MY BRAIN.

OK, not really, but I can totally rat you out to the anti-portmanteaux police! And they're going to come and take you away in the deep of the night to a special hell, where you'd be stuck with a legion of 13-year-old girls wearing bedazzled tube tops and pink Hello Kitty hairbands for ALL OF ETERNITY.