Got inspired this weekend while traveling myself...and also needed to follow up on Jamie's mental health task force, which hasn't really been mentioned on the show since he gave Frank the original idea. Written on my phone...sorry about typos. Enjoy!
"What was I thinking, letting you book the flights?" Eddie groaned. "Newark Airport is the armpit of American commercial flying."
"Tickets were a hundred bucks cheaper out of here than JFK," Jamie told her.
"But the conference is covering our travel."
"Yep-might as well save them two hundred dollars, right?"
"Ugh. Boy Scout."
They pulled their carry on suitcases through the airport, following the signs to security. The line was horribly long, even at 6am.
"Too early for this," Eddie mumbled, leaning heavily on her suitcase.
"As soon as we get through security we'll find coffee and you'll feel better," Jamie promised.
"You're lucky my only other option was writing parking summonses in the precinct for three days."
"Oh, come on. It'll be fun once we get there."
"I don't know what kind of trips your family took when you were little, Reagan, but a cop conference isn't exactly my ideal weekend getaway."
"Not all of us grew up spending three weekends a month at our dad's vacation house in the Hamptons."
"It was only once or twice a month in high school," Eddie snapped. "And it was Nantucket, not the Hamptons."
"Same difference. And at least we'll be near the beach."
The pair shuffled forward through the maze of barriers that defined the security line. They were going to a law enforcement leadership conference in San Diego. The conference organizers had contacted the NYPD months in advance, asking for a representative from the department's mental health task force to deliver the second day's keynote address. The task force had attracted national attention before, and a few times Jamie's superiors at OnePP had traveled to speak about the innovative program in front of large audiences. But this time, Frank, Garrett Moore and the rest of Frank's inner circle had decided to send Jamie. It would be his first time speaking publicly about the task force outside of the updates he presented every couple of months to the brass at OnePP.
Since he was a featured speaker, the conference paid all Jamie's costs and let him bring one guest. Frank had refused to let him bring any of the higher-ranking members of the task force, wanting Jamie to tackle this challenge on his own in preparation for bigger leadership roles in the department.
And so he brought Eddie.
He had been looking forward to this trip with her for months, though as the conference got closer, nervousness about his speech took up more of his mental energy. He somehow had to fill 50 minutes in front of several hundred top law enforcement officials from around the country, including a few NYPD lieutenants from various other divisions in the department. And that number didn't even include the regular rank and file who'd be there.
Eddie's typical early morning griping was something he usually just put up with, but today he was actually grateful for it. It gave him something to focus on. So he kept her talking as they moved through security.
"There is something really wrong with this system," she was saying now. "You see an 8am flight and you think, oh, not bad! I can do that! But no, it's awful! Get there two hours early, fifty-minute trip to the airport, and you've got to look halfway decent."
"That's not a rule," Jamie said.
"Maybe not, but trust me, you do not want to see this-" she waved her hand in front of her face "-without at least a little bit of makeup, especially not when I'm running on just four hours of sleep."
"Well, whose fault is that?"
"I had to pack when I got home last night! It took forever. Who knows how to dress for a police conference at the beach in February?"
"Attendees will find duty uniforms and/or business casual attire appropriate for daytime conference activities," Jamie quoted.
"It's easy for guys. Khakis and button-up shirts and you're good. For girls? It's way harder."
"Hey, I still had to pick a suit for my presentation. And I brought two shirts and four ties because I couldn't decide which combination is best."
Eddie rolled her eyes. "You're just proving my point. For a girl, indecisive is packing five extra dresses, not a couple extra ties."
"Five extra dresses? Really?"
"Next?"
Jamie stepped aside to let Eddie show her ID first. When the TSA agent waved her through, he offered his.
There was more backup to get through the x-ray screening. Eddie stood next to Jamie and leaned against him; his shoulder was more comfortable that her suitcase. He let her stay there until they had to separate to go through the body scanner.
"Okay, so our gate is this way," Jamie started once they retrieved their things.
"Coffee first," Eddie growled.
Jamie laughed at the look on her face. "Right, right, coffee. There's got to be some on the way." He began walking, leaving Eddie to rush behind to keep up with his long strides.
The Newark airport really was awful. Jamie hadn't been here in four or five years, and the concourse was even more crowded and run-down than he remembered. They bought coffee at the food court, which was really just five fast food counters around a tiny seating area, and went to sit at their gate. Eddie slumped in her seat and propped her feet on her carry-on. Next to her, Jamie watched the close-captioned news on a nearby TV. In his jeans, crisp plaid shirt and stylish shoes, he looked quite put together next to Eddie's leggings and shapeless oversized sweater.
The gate area filled up around them. Two NYPD lieutenants were on the same flight, so Jamie greeted them while Eddie tried to look invisible. This was her biggest concern when Jamie invited her to be his plus-one at such an important, high-profile event: that it would fuel the rumors in the department that the partners were, well, more than that. Jamie had promised her that the event would be so big that they probably wouldn't run into any other NYPD personnel at all, so there was little chance of anything specific reaching back to their precinct...and yet here were two of their superiors on the same flight.
That knowledge made Eddie hyper vigilant at the beginning of their flight. Rather than lean against Jamie and nap like she wanted to, she spent the first hour sitting up straight between Jamie in the window seat and a middle-aged stranger in the aisle. But she and Jamie were towards the front of the economy class, and the lieutenants were both seated near the back. There was no reason for them to walk up towards the front of the plane, so they shouldn't see anything-and so finally Eddie gave in to her tiredness, rested her head on Jamie's shoulder, and fell asleep.