I haven't written or posted anything in years but a rewatch of Rookie Blue inspired me. The shows been off for like two years but I'm writing about it anyway. I hope there are still folks out there interested in reading it. Any comments or criticisms are greatly appreciated. This is just a short first chapter. I'm not sure how long it will end up. I have the whole story blueprinted but not written yet. I hope it's enjoyable.
Timebomb/Two Weeks
"He was shot in the goddamn head, Anderson! What kind of homicide detective doesn't know a gunshot wound to the head?!" Gail shouted, literally throwing her hands up in frustration.
"I know he was shot in the head, you idiot. Get your own head out of your ass and start asking the right questions: Why was he shot in the head?" Frankie retorted with much less passion than Gail had.
"Because he was part of the RedBones. It was an execution. We already know all this so why are you making it more difficult than it is?" Gail asked, flopping into her chair as she stared at the evidence board.
Chloe was amused. She even had a slight smile on her face as she watched the exchange, moving her head back and forth from one woman to the other as though she was watching a tennis match. This had been going on for a solid fifteen minutes, not one real question about the case being answered. She sat, chin in hand, and enjoyed the show.
"You are liking this way too much," Dov whispered, seeing the look on his girlfriend's face.
"It's just so interesting, you know? Psychology. Or is it more sociology?" she asked herself. "They slept together two days ago, Dov. Two days! And now here we are, completely back to 'normal,'" she said with finger quotes.
"Okay but you don't actually know that they slept together," Dov reasoned.
"What do you suppose they were doing in there, in their underwear? Frankie just happened to take off her pants and change into Gail's shirt while they were braiding each other's hair?" Chloe asked with a giggle at the image she created for herself.
Dov rolled his eyes and turned back to the still-arguing women. He didn't know if they had slept together or not; he wasn't there when Frankie allegedly strolled out of Gail's bedroom half naked. He was actually glad he wasn't there. Unlike Chloe, he was happier to stay out of it.
"Jesus Christ, Muppet! Are you back there to pass notes or help us solve a case?" Frankie asked angrily (and loudly), pulling Chloe out of her daze and wiping the small smile off of her face completely.
"Sorry, Crankypants. It just seemed like you and Gail had it all under control," Chloe said sarcastically, putting on her biggest, sweetest smile.
"You are not getting paid to sit back there and flirt with your boyfriend. How about you come up here and actually do some goddamn work?" Frankie said, turning back to the board dismissively.
Chloe rolled her eyes apologetically but obviously at Dov, patted him on the cheek and made her way to the front of the room with Frankie and Gail. She scraped her chair across the floor intentionally and sat down, staring into Frankie's eyes defiantly. She might as well have just said, 'Are you happy now?' aloud.
"I don't really appreciate the attitude, Price," Frankie spat at her, staring right back.
"You may out-rank me but you do realise that you're not my boss, right?" Chloe spat right back. She heard Gail chuckle to her right but made a point not to look away from Frankie.
Frankie's expression visibly blanched. "Geez, Muppet. When did you get so snarky?" she asked, but all the bite was suddenly out of her tone.
"I've always been this snarky," Chloe told her, attitude diminished from seeing the almost-hurt in Frankie's eyes. "You've just always been too busy being rude to me to notice."
xxx
"Chris, you should've heard them!"
"Not this again..." Dov sighed, lying his forehead on the lunch table.
"What?" Chris asked, confused, as he sat down with them.
"Gail and Frankie-"
"Shh!" Chris's eyes widened in panic, looking around the room nervously. "They might be able to hear you!" he whispered.
"They can't hear me, Chris. I'm not blind. If I could see either of them I wouldn't be talking about- no, actually I probably would be talking about them, just not as loudly."
"Seriously, babe. When are you gonna let this go?" Dov asked, barely picking up his head in order to look pleadingly into Chloe's eyes.
"It's not like that. Actually it's the opposite. How long are we going to act like we didn't see Frankie in the kitchen, right there in front of us?"
"I didn't see her," Dov piped up quickly.
"You know what I mean. We're all just going about our days acting like we have some giant secret that isn't even a secret. It doesn't make any sense unless they actually like each other. If all it was was sex both of them would be bragging about it."
Chloe's eyes widened suddenly, causing both men to look around the room in fear of seeing one of the females in question approaching.
"I got it!" Chloe practically yelled excitedly. "Maybe Frankie never told Gail that Chris and I saw her! Maybe that's why Gail is acting so completely normal like it never happened," she said as though she had just figured out one of the mysteries of the universe.
"It's possible," Chris shrugged. He, too, was curious about the situation between the two girls. He just didn't get wrapped up in things the same way overzealous Chloe did.
"But Frankie got two cups of coffee the other morning. One for her and one for Gail. They have to actually care about each other at least a little, right? Where did Gail think the coffee came from? She has to know we saw her."
Chloe was just arguing with herself at this point.
"Listen, I think we should just let it go, let them do what they do and keep it to ourselves. It'll be safer for everyone," Chris said reasonably.
"Ha," Chloe rolled her eyes and chuckled. "You act like they would maim us or something if we actually brought it up," she said, taking a bite of her apple and shaking her head.
Dov furrowed his brow. "Um, you have met Gail and Frankie, right?"
"Excuse me?" Gail said, head cocked to the side, suddenly right behind them with her lunch in her hand and a very pissed off look in her eyes.
"Um-" Chris started, trying to keep his expression as flat as possible.
"Chloewasjustsurprisedbyyoutwoarguingoverthecasetoday," Dov spat out, shocking himself with his own quick save.
"Oh," Gail said, only momentarily skeptical. "Yeah, Chloe. Have you met us?" she chuckled, sitting down to join them.
"It just seemed...worse than usual today," Chloe chose her words carefully, deciding that if she played her cards right she might be able to cause Gail to slip some information even without saying it outright. "I know you guys hate each other but today was...intense."
"Really? I hadn't noticed," Gail lied, badly. "She's a bitch," she shrugged. "I'm a bitch," she added. "Just two bitches, being...bitches."
"I guess you're right," Chloe nodded, deciding to let it go, for now.
"You cracked me up today though," Gail said excitedly. "You really put her in her place, Price! 'You do realise you're not my boss, right?'" she mimicked Chloe. "That was awesome."
"I know that's not really like me. I just get tired of her treating me like crap all the time," Chloe admitted. "She thinks she's better than me. She's above me, I get it. But superiors should be able to be superiors without being so..."
"Superior?" Chris asked, smirking.
"Yes! You know what I mean..." Chloe sighed.
"Naw, you're totally right," Gail nodded, eating her cheese puffs audibly. "Like Oliver, and Sam. They're above us. Always have been. But that doesn't mean they're dicks to us all the time."
"It's just a difference of personality. Oliver and Sam are Oliver and Sam. Frankie would treat everyone like crap even if she wasn't a higher rank," Dov observed.
"I just wonder what makes people like that, ya know?" Chloe mused. "Like did she have a really crappy life or was she just born that way?"
"Some people would ask the same thing about me," Gail noted.
"You're right. But you're not actually a terrible person. You're just really good at pretended that you're a terrible person in order to keep people out. Keep your walls up," Chloe told her without missing a beat.
Gail stared at Chloe for a solid minute, an angry, defensive look in her eye. For a moment Chloe wondered how badly she'd messed up. Gail's defense mechanisms were obvious to Chloe. She just didn't have the filter to not say them aloud like everyone else did.
After a moment of contemplating whether to throw Chloe across the table or not, Gail closed her eyes and considered what the doe-eyed girl had said. It wasn't a revelation: Gail knew that to be true about herself. It was the fact that others (Chloe) could see it too that made her angry. She decided not to confirm nor deny, or throw the red head across the table.
"So maybe Frankie's not actually a terrible person either," Gail shrugged, turning back to her cheese puffs. "Maybe she's just trying to keep people out too."
Chloe looked quickly to Chris and Dov, saying 'Ha, I was right' without having to say a word.
"Well if that's the case, it's working," Chris said.