The civilian aide was back. This time though he was delivering to everyone in Major Crime. Half the detectives had puzzled expressions on their faces, the rest were laughing. For the aide had delivered a miniature Klingon holding a small heart with "thank you" written on it in one hand and a small bag of candy held in the other.
"I know what a Klingon is, but why did we all get them?" asked Megan.
"Seems the Police Commissioner's niece is grateful to us for saving her and her family a couple of weeks ago. This is her way of thanking us," answered Simon.
"That was nice of her."
"Uh huh."
"Could have been worse. She could have made them little cars covered in garbage and trash cans," joked Henri.
"I'm never going to live that down, am I? Don't answer that. I only took out a few garbage cans. Let's talk about Jim's driving instead."
"No," was Jim's only response to his partner's comment.
"No offense Sandy, but it's a given that Jim's going to destroy the vehicle he's driving."
How did the conversation get turned to me, wondered Jim. Then Jim saw his way out-- Daryl had finished interviewing Joel.
"How'd the interrogation go Joel?"
"Daryl did a very good job," replied Joel.
Daryl knocked on the door to his father's office, then went in. Ten minutes later he came out. "I'll see you for dinner Wednesday night, Dad. Later, detectives." Then Daryl was out of Major Crime and to the elevator before anyone could say anything.
"He's moving at warp speed."
"By-product of being a college student."
"I see."
Joel and Megan were softly discussing something at his desk. "Rafey," laughed Joel. Rafe ignored them.
"I think we've heard a romantic tale from everyone," commented Joel. "I really do like slow days in the office, gives us time to bond," he joked.
"Not everyone," replied Megan, who was looking at Jim.
Jim, on the other hand, was trying to look busy by finishing up the last of his case reports. While he had been listening to everyone throughout the day, he was hoping they'd just forget that he'd been quiet. Guess not, he thought. He also thought about pleading with his partner to get him out of this, but then why would Blair do that, he had not helped Blair get out of his.
"Okay, Jim, we've shared, now it's your turn," Simon insisted.
"I'd rather not," Jim replied, hoping his stoic expression hid his thoughts.
"Come on, man. We've shared ours. What's your most memorable 'romantic-like' moment you've shared with someone you thought was special?" Rafe encouraged.
"Well." Jim's expression showed that he was trying very hard to find something he would be willing to share. After a few more moments of anticipatory silence, he continued. "I guess it was just after I transferred into Major Crime, when I first met Carolyn," he began. Stoic, reticent Ellison, was about to come forth with something very private, something he probably would never have shared, had not others spoken first. "I had picked up some evidence at a crime scene and, after tagging and bagging it, I took it down to forensics. She was arguing with Walters, you remember him? He retired about five years ago?" Those who knew the man in question nodded, but some of the others shook their heads in puzzlement, "Well, he was something of a character," Jim explained.
"Oh, yeah. A real character," interrupted Joel. "If you told that man that the sky was gray, he'd say it was orange. Possibly the most contentious, obnoxious, infuriating, far worse than Cassie..."
Jim took a deep breath. "I was dropping off evidence and hoping to maybe run into Carolyn when I heard voices from her office. It was kind of hard not to. They weren't being very quiet..."
...Jim paused at the door to the area that housed the forensics team of the Cascade PD. He looked around for a member of the team handling the Hanson murder, more than happy to have the bloody material off of his desk and in the hands of forensics. Just as the thought struck that he hoped Carolyn would be in, he heard voices from her office.
Carolyn Plummer was reading Walters--aka Mr. Contentious--the riot act. Jim leaned against the door, enjoying the scene in front of him.
Walters was purple with rage. He looked like he was going to have a heart attack as he opened and closed his mouth, looking like a large purple fish. But Carolyn wasn't letting him get a word in edgewise.
"Walters, I don't give a damn who you think you are, but you do NOT get in the way of my people! They are there to do a job which can ultimately make YOUR job easier. I will NOT have you yelling at them, especially at the crime scene. All that does is slow down the process and get everyone upset," Carolyn raged.
"Lt. Plummer," the now embarrassed man started.
"Just hush. You've obviously had your say. It's my turn now, Detective."
She was, in Jim's opinion, magnificent. Walters had a habit of arriving on a crime scene and badgering the forensics people to the point where they missed pieces of evidence, or upset the newer people who then refused to deal with him afterwards.
Carolyn saw Jim, and stopped her commentary. "Get out, Walters. You'll have our report on the Carlton case when it's ready. Yelling at my assistants won't get it done any faster."
The detective glared at Carolyn, unable to form a suitable comeback. The man actually left without saying anything, a shock to those in the outer room.
"Hi, Jim. Sorry about that." Carolyn waved him into her office as she dropped into her desk chair.
"No problem. From what everyone upstairs says, he's had that coming for some time."
Carolyn smiled at the detective. "So what can I do for you? Or are just here to watch the afternoon side show?"
Jim stared at her, the evidence bag momentarily forgotten as a thought formed in his mind. Pushing it away, he recovered and held out the bags. "More stuff from the Hanson case. Maybe this will be enough to at least get the warrant to search the cousin's house."
The forensics officer took the bags with a soft "ick" and dug around on her desk until she found the correct paperwork. "Maybe so. I hope so. You must still think the cousin had something to do with it."
"He's definitely hiding something. But we're not going to know what until we can get in the house ourselves. My hunch is that he killed Brad Hanson to keep Hanson from going public about the thefts."
As they chatted about the case, Carolyn logged the new evidence and both officers signed the transfer of evidence from Major Crime to Forensics. Not having an excuse to hang around any longer, Jim moved towards the door. He paused as he got there, his instinct taking over, before his brain could stop it.
"Carolyn?"
"Yes, Jim?"
Taking a deep breath and feeling a bit fearful of the answer, "Would you like to have dinner with me Friday night?"
There was a long pause, or at least it seemed long to Jim. Silently he berated himself for even asking the question. The woman barely knew him, why would she want to go out with him?
Just as he was ready to run from the room in embarrassment, she answered him. "That would be wonderful, I'd love to have dinner with you."
Jim's expression became a mixture of delight, surprise, and fear. "Great!" he stammered slightly. "There's a new restaurant that's opened downtown, in the Harbour Court building. 7:00pm sound good?"
Carolyn stood up from her desk, evidence bags and forms in hand. She stopped as she reached the spot where the stunned detective stood. She kissed him lightly on the cheek. "That sounds great. See you then." She disappeared down the hallway.
Jim decided that Friday would be a long time coming.
Friday, late afternoon
When did someone curse my Friday and make it a Monday? Jim thought morosely, trying not to see the stares and looks of disgust coming from anyone that passed within six feet of him.
Jim had been assigned to investigate a homicide that thanks to the over abundant rain, had resulted in a rather messy floater. As the body was being pulled from the water, Jim had the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time and when one of the straps on the rigging broke, releasing the body, it had erupted all over him.
Worse yet, it was Jim's first floater, and he did some serious contamination to the crime scene. By the time he got back to the station he was fairly rank, and Simon banned him from the bullpen until he had gone down to the locker room, showered, and changed into his sweats.
It didn't help that the only sweats he had were the set he had been working out in every night after shift during that week.
"Still, its better than the DB," Jim argued with himself as he pulled on the slightly smelly clothes. "At least as long as I stay down wind of everyone."
When he got back to his desk, exhausted and still able to smell the floater as well as his own sweat, he saw Carolyn waiting beside his desk. He looked at his watch in horror. 8:00pm.
"Damn. I can explain, Carolyn."
The look on her face was not one of amusement, and her reaction wasn't much better. Jim figured he'd completely blown any chance he had, but once she'd heard about the floater she was forgiving.
"Jim. It's okay. I've had my share of floaters. Why don't I follow you home, you can change and we can go out. Unless you're too tired."
"No, no. That sounds good to me," Jim agreed, anxious to make up for messing up the start of their evening.
So Carolyn followed him. After he had taken another shower and changed into clean clothes, they finally made it to dinner.
"Jim? You look really tired. Are you sure you feel up to this?" Carolyn asked, concern in her voice.
"I'm fine," Jim smiled, trying to convince himself as well as Carolyn. "It's been a really long week and I've really been looking forward to tonight."
As their orders were taken and the wine began to have an affect, Jim started to calm down and truly enjoy the evening. He had been more shaken by the day's events than he wanted to admit. He was happy to let Carolyn steer the conversation as they talked about work, current events and life in Cascade.
The food was excellent, but Jim found he had lost his appetite for the beef tenderloins and mushroom sauce he had ordered. He picked at it with his fork, trying not to look at the cioppino and pasta marinara that Carolyn was eating.
"Jim?" Carolyn paused, watching with growing concern as the detective gave up the attempt to eat in favor of just keeping the contents of his stomach down. "Jim, you don't look good. Is it the food?" She motioned for the waiter as Jim attempted to stand up, looking around for the restroom.
"No, not exactly. I just..." Jim gasped, horrified as he fell to his knees, stomach heaving, and began to retch. All over the table and Carolyn.
"Oh god. Waiter!" Carolyn yelled as she simultaneously tried to help Jim and stay out of his way. She snatched a towel and pitcher of water from a passing server and started wiping Jim's face. "It's okay, Jim."
"I'm sorry," he gasped, sitting back slightly, his face pale. As he got a look at the mess, his face went even whiter. "Oh no. I'm sorry, Carolyn. I'm really, really sorry," he whispered.
Ignoring the stares of the other patrons, most of whom were motioning for their checks, and the manager who looked as though he couldn't decide to be concerned or angry at having his patrons upset, Carolyn helped Jim to his feet. "It's not your fault, Jim. After today, I should have known to expect this. That can affect anyone no matter how long they've been on the force."
Jim shook his head, the queasiness giving way to mortified embarrassment. "But I've ruined our dinner. And your dress. Between military training and police training, I should be able to handle things like that."
"Don't worry about it. I can get another dress and we can try dinner again later. Your reaction is no different than anyone else's has ever been. I've even seen Captain Banks turn a few shades of green." Carolyn finished wiping at her clothes. "Come on, let's get you home. Do you feel up to driving?"
Jim nodded mutely, thinking that despite feeling so bad, he was really very attracted to the woman helping him out of the restaurant. "Thanks, Carolyn," he said, once they were settled into the Explorer. "Again, I'm really sorry." He paused as her earlier words caught up to him. "Were you serious? You'd go out with me again? After this?"
She laughed. "Yes I would. Provided you supply better entertainment. No offense, but I'd much prefer a movie or something."
Relieved, Jim answered, "I'll see what can be arranged. Maybe next Friday?"
"I'd love to." Carolyn reached over and squeezed his hand gently before settling back in her seat.
Jim smiled, happy that he managed to salvage something from the evening after all....
...Jim hadn't really looked at anyone in particular while he reminisced about his meeting and first date with his ex-wife. He'd smiled part way through the story, as if he'd never really looked at that meeting as a happy thought before.
"Guess you guys know the rest. We got married, then divorced." The smile faded a little as he looked at his friends.
"But hey, man, you guys are still friends. Probably even more so than when you were married," added Blair, hoping to keep the happy thoughts with his partner.
"True." Jim looked at everyone. "Hey, sometimes it's just not meant to be. The good times will be what I will always remember." Surprised, Jim realized that he meant that. The smile that had faded a few minutes ago returned. Jim also realized that he just needed to finish this last report and he could go home.
"Night all," called Rhonda.
"Wait, Rhonda. Who sent you the flowers?"
"And the other gifts?"
"Hmm. You're all detectives..."
"Come on, you can tell us," pleaded Henri.
Rhonda turned around at that comment and smiled. "Maybe, but not tonight. Tonight, I'm going to dinner with a romantic." With that said, Rhonda continued on to the elevator.
Henri started to sing "love is in the air," but was quickly stopped when Rafe put his hand over Henri's mouth. "No singing."
"Butluvzndee-r," mumbled Henri.
Ignoring Rafe and Henri for a second, Megan looked at the other detectives. "Well, we do know that whoever Rhonda is going out with, this isn't their first date."
"And his initials are 'C' and 'M'," added Joel. "At least that's how the three cards were signed."
As Jim walked back to his desk from retrieving his final report for the day from the printer, he added, "Maybe it's the Police Commissioner."
"Nah."
"Why not, Chief? He's got the same initials."
"Yeah, but so does Chris Miller in Missing Persons," added Rafe.
"And Chad Marks in..."
Like this episode? Email the writer: comet@ao.net
Want to comment on production? Contact Black Panther Productions: bpproductions@wildmail.com
Stay tuned next week when a suspicious death engages Blair in some useful anthropological studies, and Jim discovers a new sensory ability in "Soft Kill" an all new The Sentinel.
Produced by:
Coming Home (Joel's tale)
by TAE
with assistance and edited by Susan Hicks (and Lisa Krakowka)
Brown, Henri Brown (Henri's tale)
by Emerald
betaed by Susan Hicks
Who's Who? (Blair's tale)
by Susan Hicks
concept by Carolyn
edited by Lisa Krakowka and Virginia Foster
Bad Date, Right Location (Megan's tale)
by Virginia Foster
edited by Susan Hicks
Silver Lining (Simon's tale)
by Evermore
with assistance and edited by Heidi McKeon
Decisions (Rafe's tale)
by Hephaistos
with assistance and edited by Kelly Meding
Finding Peace (Jim's tale)
by TAE
with assistance and edited by Virginia Foster
End Notes: I just want to publically thank all the writers, beta readers, ghost readers, and everyone else who helped with this episode, thank you.