First off I wanna say sorry to anyone who was following my story 'Fighting Spirits of Angels" that I stopped updating ages ago. I still feel bad for leaving a story unfinished, but somehow I lost all possible interest and motivation in the story. So sorry about that.
And as I've lately also have started loosing interest in CA, I felt the urge to at least try to finish one or some of my several almost-finished shorter stories I have lying around. This story is the first in line, but there might be more coming. Or there might not. It all depends on my inspiration, time and the possible response I get.
And no on to this story…
I don't know if it was just really good acting from Kate Jackson's part, but it seemed to me that Sabrina was really affected by the issues that was dealt with in 'The Vegas Connection' and so I felt the urge to write a little something of what I think could have happened after the case. And also, I guess it's kind of a piece touching on the whole issue about Charlie's Angels being for or against the feminist movement of the 70's. At least that was what struck me when I had finished writing the story.
The story is set after they have left Cass in the desert and just before the tag with Bosley alone in the office and the angels and the client is in the hospital messing with Cass. It's told from Sabrina's POV. (It's my first story written in first-person, so I'd be happy to hear you're comment on how I managed :))
"I still don't get this."
Although sounding most blithe and happy the slight sound of uncharacteristic aggravation hinting in her otherwise soft spoken voice caused me to glance up and look at her. I smiled faintly when I noticed her still fiddling with that strange meditation ball that Jill had forced on her well over ten minutes ago.
Without leaving her eyes from the thing she continued confused, "I mean, what do you do with it?"
Knowing she really didn't addressed me, but Jill, sitting to her left at our small table at the café, I didn't reply, but instead just let my eyes wander over to Jill.
"What's not to get?" Jill replied puzzled as if it was the most obvious thing what to do with the strangely construction of finely meshed wires that Kelly now had in her hands. She glanced down at the string ball; my eyes, automatically more than anything else, followed. "It's a Mandala. It's used for meditation," Jill explained, apparently not caring to address Kelly's actual question. "Kris found it at a small Indian shop in San Francisco for me."
Kelly smiled patiently, her eyes flickering over to me for just a brief moment before looking back at Jill. "I know. You've mentioned that. But what do you do with it?"
This time Jill sighed with an obvious feigned tiredness by Kelly's ignorance before snatching it from her hands. In reality I think she was pleased for the recognition, and that someone for once took an interest in her somewhat strange hobbies. It actually amazed me a bit as well that Kelly so willingly had taken an interest. But she was in good mood today. They both were.
"It supposed to help you relax," she said calmly and held up the string ball delicately between her fingers, sounding as if she just by the very touch of the strange thing felt how her limbs relaxed.
Kelly threw me a suppressed grin, before we both turned our attention back to Jill.
And absent-mindedly I watched.
Watched Jill silently stretching out the wired ball into a tube, before moments later pushing it together again; her breathing amazingly in tuned with her movement. And then I watched Kelly, and how she patiently tried to imitate Jill's previous movements and breathing. I even listened carefully to Jill's every word as she guided Kelly through the apparent road to meditation. It was not that I was particularly interested in getting a mediation class from Jill – far from it – but at the moment it seemed to be the one thing I could focus on. The one thing that possibly, hopefully, could keep my mind from drifting.
For a brief second I even found myself thinking that maybe I could give the meditation a chance and try it myself. Maybe it could cheer me up. But the thought was immediately dismissed.
Sure, it looked peaceful and all, and I know my friends' cheerful mood was inspiring and should be desirable, but it all just seemed so wrong and pointless. And meditation was definitely not for me anyway.
As the lesson between my two friends continued, and Kelly started looking more and more in the state Jill had previously been in and Jill turned more and more silent, I found to my dismay it increasingly harder to keep myself to focus.
I couldn't help but feel relieved when Kelly then finally broke through the silence and gave my mind something to hang on to.
"Ok- I think I get it now," she said silently, and I was amazed how surprisingly calm she actually sounded.
A smile, similar to what a proud teacher would give a studious student, spread across Jill's face as Kelly opened her eyes.
"You really should join me for another meditation class," she then said matter-of-factly as her pupil looked back at her.
A partly forced smile escaped me as Kelly dropped the mandala back on the table as if she'd just touched a hot stove. "Oh no," she mumbled nervously and quickly put her hands in her lap, seemingly to get them as far from Jill's string ball and meditation class as possible. "I'm not that interested."
Jill's mouth dropped. "I thought you liked it?"
Kelly frowned apologetically, and was undeniable feeling a bit sorry for not being more interested.
Jill didn't really reply on Kelly's very obvious body language, and instead she swung around to look at me.
"Bri?"
I raised my eyebrows, certain I would be unable to reassure Jill of whatever she wanted to ask me. "Hm?"
"You liked the mediation class I brought you to right?"
I forced yet another smile. "Sorry Jill," I said honestly, and I was surprised how poorly I managed to hide my tiredness.
But neither Jill nor Kelly seemed to have noticed.
Except a somewhat disappointing shrug from Jill and a suppressed smile from Kelly, they were surprisingly soon back chatting cheerfully with each other.
And this time I didn't found the energy to even try to engage. Instead my eyes listlessly wandered out over the beach outside.
I had thought it would help to meet my friends for a coffee before our wrap up meeting at the office. I had thought that it would lift me up. That was why I had decided to join them when Kelly had suggested it. I hadn't even protested when Jill wanted us to go to one of her new favourite spot, this one being some kind of a bohemian café in Venice. It wasn't exactly the place me or Kelly would have chosen, that's for sure, and I was certain we both looked quite out of place. Jill, however, looked amazingly at home curled up in the hanging wicker chair on the other side of the small table.
Although, I couldn't deny the place wasn't cosy. It created a nice laid-back atmosphere, and in a way it could very well have been just what we needed after the craziness of Vegas. The early spring sun warming our skins, it's glistering out at the ocean in front of us as well.
My friends' carefree chatting at our small table at the open air café tuned well with that mood and it annoyed me that I still couldn't bring myself to join.
It looked so easy, so uncomplicated, like they had no troubles, no concerns bringing them down. Like the world was perfect.
A sigh escaped me, silently, not to let them notice.
I had tried to appear engaged, chipping in every now and then with a meaningless comment, just enough so to keep them believing I was still with them. But after endlessly many attempt of letting their high-spirited and cheerful energy brush off on me, their voices were now nothing but a soft blur in the background, interwoven with the buzz of the café's other guests and the boardwalk outside the café patio.
And maybe it was just as well. I really didn't want to infect the moment with my own sour thoughts.
Instead I looked down, keeping my gaze at the glass before me, as I poised it around on the table. It still contained most of the strange health drink Jill had made me buy, its awfully green colour screaming up at me. I think it had surprised her when I'd agreed to try it. Actually, I think it surprised all of us, even me, because like with the meditation-thing it was usually Kelly who was the open-minded one to try Jill's far out ideas. Not me. I was usually up for an argument. But today I hadn't found the motivation to reject like I usually did, but had yield uncommonly quickly. I just hadn't the energy to care.
Almost feeling as if I had to give it another chance – or maybe that I owed it to Jill - I caught the straw with my lips, taking another sip of the strange drink.
As I found myself staring down in the liquid again just a second later, I realized I hadn't even felt the taste.
I sighed wearily. God, I was distracted.
This recent case, it just seemed to really have gotten to me.
I wish the fact that we in just a couple of hours would be done with it would ease me, but somehow the prospect of going over to the office for the wrap-up meeting did nothing of the sort. Because I didn't want to sit there, casually talking about the case, feeding Charlie with some petty details how we had solved even this one.
I didn't want to shrug it off as any other case.
Of course, it was just another case. It shouldn't be anything special with it. Mr and Mrs Mallin were just ordinary clients, and we had done our job, helping them like we did our clients on any other case.
Sure, maybe we hadn't done the most professional detective work when we had left Cass to be beaten up by those thugs in the desert, but that was something I couldn't care less about. We were only assigned to stop his blackmailing anyway; what others were doing to him really wasn't any of our business. And I know that none of us had found it in ourselves to help him out. Because he was a sleazy bastard. And normally we didn't help bastards out.
Afterwards, when we had indulged ourselves in the clubs and casinos of Vegas before going back home, I think the fact that we knew Cass got what he deserved contributed to our celebration of our succeeded case. And during those couple of hours I had managed to think of it as any other case.
At that time the case felt all wrapped up and completed, and I was pleased about it. Because we had done well. We had done our good deed for humanity and were allowed to walk away from it. We could let it go.
But here I was again, pondering about it.
The destiny of Mrs Mallin, Elsbeth and all the other women Cass had taken advantage of, just didn't seem to be able to leave my mind. Somehow their stories had just shot right through me, and did now appear to have created a lasting nest inside of me, nagging me, dragging me down.
I just kept thinking of how they had been abused and blackmailed, sold and bought like mere objects, and I felt more ill at ease every second I thought about it. And I kept remembering the regret I could see in their eyes, the self-doubt I could hear in their voices, and how they had struggled to come to where they were today. It didn't even help that Elsbeth had managed to get away from her previous troubled life, that we had helped Mrs Mallin to get rid of Cass or that other women wouldn't be used by him anymore.
It just didn't feel enough.
I looked up, stealing another glimpse of my friends, hoping I had been wrong earlier and that they hadn't been able to let the case go after all.
But they didn't seem affected. I know they weren't affected.
It was just me this time.
I pinched the straw with my fingers, shoving it deeper into the green liquid, picking into the melting ice cubes.
I knew this really wasn't like me; I never really got stuck up on things like this, but instead I always tried to do something about it.
Because it didn't help to dwell. It never did.
But I just couldn't stop thinking about it. And I couldn't stop wondering about that thing that really had plagued me this morning. About what I would do in their position. That if the situation would have been different, and it was I who was in their position; could I do what they did?
Jill had said that hopefully none of us would ever end up in such a situation that we would find out what we would do. And maybe she was right. Maybe that was the only thing that we could do to not thinking about it. But no matter how much we could hope it would never happen, it could. I could end up in a situation like that. Jill could. Maybe it didn't feel very likely, but what if? What if I was all alone in the world, without money or safety, no one even caring if I lived or died - how far would I make myself go? For some food, money, or for a roof over my head? Would 100 bucks do it? A million? Was there a price for me to make myself do what they had?
I knew I had told Jill that I probably could.
That if I was put in the situation they had been in, I could take some filthy money from some even filthier guy, and let him do whatever he wanted with me.
I twisted in my seat, suddenly feeling ill.
Now, I didn't want to believe it. I couldn't believe I was capable of degrading myself like that, letting myself be nothing more than an object for some random man's pleasure. But in the pit of my stomach I knew that maybe I could. Just like I'd told Jill. If I really had to.
I inhaled heavily, trying to force away the images of myself in the worst scenarios possible that kept flashing before my eyes.
Despite my gloominess that had put a tiring spell on my every muscle, I felt the dire urge to move. I wanted to do something. Needed to do something. I couldn't sit still and just let these thoughts entrap me like this.
But still I kept my silent place by our small table, not really allowing myself to interrupt my friends' cheerful mood anyway.
I took a deep breath of the fresh air, closing my eyes just for a moment, trying to savour the warm rays of the spring sun on my face. Strange that it was I tried focusing on the soothing strumming of the Indian music that filled the patio. Anything that could bring my mind out from these pessimistic thoughts that had me ensnared in this tormenting embitterment.
It didn't help.
With another sigh I instead lifted my eyes, hoping to find something else to focus on. I looked out on the boardwalk that was running along the beach, glancing over the life outside.
It was still early Sunday afternoon and the boardwalk and beach was still buzzing with people, everyone probably wanting to treasure the last hours of their weekend and boost themselves with energy for the week to come. A half-hearted smile escaped me when I watched the cheerful people walking by, chatting and laughing with each other; when I saw the families down the beach sitting around their picnic baskets; the groups of teenagers, tentatively but cheerfully wading out in the seemingly cold water.
But then my eyes suddenly stopped glancing.
Instead they fixated on the young man that was just passing us by on the boardwalk. He had slowed down his pace, turned his head and was without a doubt staring straight at us. First at Kelly, then at Jill, and then finally at me. His eyes were unabashed moving over each of our bodies; our legs, our hips, our breasts. I noticed how I instinctively sat up in my chair and tugged at the collar of my shirt to cover up the small amount of skin exposed of my upper rib cage, but just as I did I felt both irritated at myself and mad at him. And as I watched an approving, distasteful, smile spread across his face, I noticed how my jaw clenched, my fingers pinching the straw tighter. It looked as if he was just about to call or do something when I think his eyes must have caught mine and the murderous glare I was sure I was giving him.
He glared sourly at me before he turned away his eyes.
I felt the blood pump angrily through my veins and I had to restrain myself for not jumping up from our table and take off after him.
God, I wanted to punch him. Give him a solid straight right. I wanted to beat his repulsive arrogance down, his belief he had the right to shamelessly gape my friends, any women, like that.
But again I sat motionless. Watching him leave, disappearing into the crowd of people.
Another sigh escaped me, out of frustration, anger and just plain weariness.
And again I looked at my friends. They hadn't noticed the man, his objectifying eyes. They were still chatting happily, still as carefree as could be.
It looked as if Kelly had just said something funny; Jill was playfully poking her by the shoulder, flashing that characteristic smile, famous to captivate. Kelly returned her smile, blissfully, flipping her hair behind her shoulders.
Happy.
Without a care in the world. Without noticing offensive gazes from passer-bys.
Maybe I normally wouldn't have noticed it either.
Any given day, I probably wouldn't. I couldn't convince myself that I would.
His unashamed attraction, the way he undressed us with his very gaze, was simply nothing special. I really wish it was, but I knew it wasn't. It wasn't anything that gave my friends or me any reason to react. It was normal. Everyday living.
Even more so to my friends than to me, no doubt. They were just being their beautiful selves, living their lives the way they wanted. Constantly watched. Constantly objectified.
I picked the ice cubes roughly with my straw, projected my anger to the poor ice lying entrapped on the bottom of the green sea in my glass.
We shouldn't have to be used to that. We shouldn't have to be subjected to those degrading gazes. And we shouldn't have to wonder if we're able to sell ourselves, or have to blame ourselves when we are used or abused.
Angrily I kept hammering the straw into the glass' green content.
"Bri?"
I jumped, my hands jumped, startled by how the world outside had intruded my mind. Bewildered I looked up.
I don't know which one of my friends had addressed me, but they were both looking straight at me, and the sudden attention was distressing. Completely oblivious to what they wanted from me, I swallowed nervously and forced a smile, trying not to look too lost.
"Geez-" Jill then muttered and rolled her eyes. "I know you don't like it, but ease up a bit will ya?"
"Uh- I-," I stammered anxiously and to my dismay I could feel how my plastered smile withered. Had they seen through me? Had I been that obvious? That by just looking at me they could read me like an open book?
But when a playful grin spread across my friend's face I frowned confused. She gave me a quick nod down at the table.
I looked down, and I suddenly realized the topic of the discussion.
"Oh-," I said - somewhat dumbfounded from the sound of it - when I saw the mess in front of me. The drink had splashed over the rim of the glass, and was now slowly dripping down my hand, creating a pool of green slush on the small wooden table. The colourful straw was completely bashed.
I threw my friends a quick, sheepish, glance. It looked like the poor drink had fared pretty badly from my previous angry hammering.
"Er- well I guess it's just a bit too conspicuously green for my taste-," I mumbled embarrassed and pushed the drink away from me. Hoping the discussion was over I instead grabbed a napkin while cursing silently for myself for letting my mind drift away like that. I must have looked like a fool.
"Sabrina, are you alright?"
It was now Kelly's soft voice that made me start.
A bit roughly I wiped my hands before looking up. Kelly's ever so concerning eyes were looking back at me, and for a fraction of a second they almost had me convinced to share my thoughts. But quickly I decided not to. It wouldn't help any, but only bring my friends down with me. I know they agreed anyway. Maybe not to the same extent; they always thought I was the one most indignant about these kinds of things. I probably was.
But still I knew they'd agreed. We had after all passed the police academy together, worked alongside in the force. Together we had meet a lot of chauvinists and seen some pretty bad sides of the society. We had for sure had our share of angry outburst together.
"Yeah, I'm ok," I then finally sighed and rolled the napkin into a small ball between my hands. Violently I threw it on the table, but just as I did I cursed myself silently again for not trying to look more convincingly. If I wanted them to let me be I would have to try a bit harder, surely.
I didn't look back up at them, but I could almost sense the knowing glance that I was certain was passing between them.
"Are you sure?" Jill then asked, her voice brimming with doubt.
I let out a small sarcastic laugh. As expected. They hadn't been fooled.
My gaze wandered out over the boardwalk again for just a moment, before looking back at them.
"I don't know," I then sighed truthfully and folded my arms as I leaned back against the small pillar behind me. "It's just this case. Mrs Mallin. Elsbeth. All those other women getting used and hurt-" I looked down, my foot irritated digging into the floorboard, before again looking up at my friends. "It just never ends you know?"
Almost inaudible sighs escaped my friends, and I knew they knew what I was talking about. I frowned troubled, feeling guilty. Now I had brought them down after all.
"Well we did stop Cass," Kelly then offered optimistically. "He won't be able to harm anyone in quite awhile. And hopefully he has learned his lesson."
I forced a smile. Sweet Kelly; always wanting to help. Too many dark clouds seemed to be blocking my way to see what she saw though.
"Yeah, but he's just the one," I instead heard myself retort. "What about all those other creeps that are out there? I mean, c'mon, the world is filled with them. And in the end it's not even about them, 'cuz it's the goddamn world that it's wrong with. That make them think they have the right to abuse women like that, or stare at us thinking we are only here for their pleasure-"
I noticed my friends sharing yet another knowing glance.
"But that's nothing new," Jill then shrugged, trying to sound unaffected. The way she diverted her eyes for just a second told me she wasn't as unaffected, but still she kept up her façade as she continued, "That's how it is."
I snorted. Yeah, that was how it was all right. All over the place. All of the time.
"Sabrina-," Kelly sighed. "It doesn't help being bitter about it. You know it will only bring you down."
"Yeah, I know," I sighed admittedly, starting to be able to hear, and reject, my own grumpiness. Still I felt unable to drop it. "It's just that we solve these cases you know, where it feels like we really have done something good. But in the end, what have we really solved? It's just as goddamn bad anyway."
Without really letting them to cut in, I went on. "And we even play along with the crazy rules on cases and take advantage of it, using our 'female charm' as Charlie calls it. I mean, how many times hasn't at least one of us- I don't know, stripped down or even seduced some brainless man for some information? Used our bodies to get what we want?" I felt a mixture of surprise, shame and physical illness of the words that passed my lips, and I sighed wearily. "I mean we do it all the time."
Unable not to feel regretful, I looked at them. "And doesn't that make us just as bad?"
It seemed as if my words had affected Kelly more than I had planned as she bit her lip and looked down, but before really letting me thinking about it much further, Jill interrupted.
"Who cares?" she shrugged, sounding somewhat annoyed, as she confidently pulled herself up a bit in her hanging chair. "If that's the way the world rolls why not make use of it? I mean if it helps us solve cases much faster, what's the harm with it?"
I was just about to counter as Kelly, now looking almost as confident and self-assured as Jill, caught me short. "And come on-" she said softly and looked at me. "How often do you actually do that on cases? Maybe Jill and I do, but you know you don't."
I raised my eyebrows, before my eyes wandered down to my hands on the table. Yeah, maybe I didn't, but what did that matter? I didn't exactly object when Jill and Kelly did, but instead took advantage of what they could come up with. And in the end, wasn't that even worse? Letting them do the dirty work, while I detested the whole idea? God, I was such a hypocrite...
I grumped loudly, and was startled when Jill laughed.
"Oh come on!" she protested. "What do you think we should do?"
Without really giving me the opportunity to answer, she went on, again sounding slightly irritated. "It's not like we don't know how to handle a gun or anything, or that we can't deal with our cases any other way. We just occasionally take advantage of some stupid guys, that's all." She shrugged her shoulders lightly. "What's the harm in that?"
Kelly nodded. "You know she's right Bri. Maybe we use unconventional methods at times, but that doesn't make us bad detectives. We're just-," she said, searching for her words, "more resourceful than most," she then finished with a hint of a smile.
I looked at her, and even though I wanted to agree, I couldn't make myself to feel convinced.
"We're as skilled at our job as any other PI's, and we're constantly making a difference by putting guys like Cass behind bars. Maybe it doesn't feel like much, but still it's something." She went silent, studying my reaction, before she tried again. "And isn't it the fact that we do make a bit of a difference, even if it feels small, what really matters?"
I tried smiling reassuringly, badly wanting to let them know they had succeeded in their attempt to cheer me up, both for my own sake and theirs, but to my dismay I couldn't. Sure, what they said made sense, but still it didn't feel enough. I gave Kelly a regretful look.
Although she without a doubt must have noticed her defeat, Kelly smiled patiently before looking over at Jill.
"Jill?" she said, seeking help from our blonde friend, and I couldn't help but to feel guilty and foolish for making them having to put up with my grumpiness.
"Ok Bri-," Jill sighed and changed position in her chair, "so we're not like any other detectives." She shrugged casually. "We use our sexuality to get what we want, and most people don't even respect us or believe we can be detectives."
"But-," she hurriedly said when she saw both me and Kelly about to retort. "We're also better detectives than most. More professional, and a lot more skilled."
"I mean, just look at the two of you!" she exclaimed impatiently as if to explain her previous statement as her gaze darted between Kelly and me. "Kelly, you shoot like a sniper and are stronger than an ox, and Sabrina, you know you're like a freaking walking encyclopaedia. That has a killer aim and can drive anyone off the road."
"Together we're a team most agencies could only dream of having," she then continued with another shrug. "I mean, how many cases have we even failed at?" she looked at me and Kelly again, but without really letting us answer, she carried on, her voice getting more hurriedly and confident as she spoke. "We're up there with the top detectives. AND we're working at the only all-female agency in the state."
"If that's not making a difference, I don't know what is," she then finally said and threw her hands up in the air before she slumped down in her chair that she had moved further and further out of. She stretched out her one leg to rest her foot on the table, and looked at me.
Kelly, who had opened her mouth to probably help Jill out, closed it again. Instead she followed suit and looked at me.
Even though it was vague, it was a smile reaching my lips. "Yeah, alright," I sighed, finally ready to give in. "I guess you're right."
The content smile appearing in Kelly's face, and the wide, victoriously, in Jill's, was if nothing else an uplifting sight.
For a moment we all turned silent, before Kelly then spoke up.
"But you know, I really think we should have handled Cass ourselves instead of leaving him there in the desert with those men," she pondered partly to herself and bit her lip thoughtfully. "I think we all would have needed that."
It felt good when an unconsciously grin reached my lips. That girl might not look very violent, but Kelly just never turned down a fight. And even if it at times could be a bit frightening, mostly the fact just brought a smile to my lips.
Jill seemed to have realized it as well as she shot her a shocked stare, before giving her a playful shove with her foot. "Oh you would have liked that wouldn't you?"
Kelly looked at her puzzled, but quickly her confused expression turned into an embarrassed one - probably when she realized that her violent side had shone through a bit too clearly. "I'm not saying I would enjoy it!" she explained hurriedly and glared back at Jill. "I just think it would have been a good closure. I mean, in any other cases we get to deal with the bad guys ourselves, but now we just let someone else take care of him." She shrugged. "Maybe it would even have been good for Bri to work off some of that anger."
"Oh-" Jill grinned teasingly. "And you would just have been standing on the side and let Sabrina have all the fun, right?"
Kelly swatted Jill's leg, a blush forming on her face, at which Jill returned with a smirk.
I smiled at my friends' teasing. And how much Kelly might deny she wouldn't actually enjoy it, I knew she would. And actually, her idea really did sound as if it would have been good.
"I think I agree with you, Kel," I then concurred, sounding amazingly optimistic. "It would have given us the chance to let off some steam."
I think they also noticed my change of pace, because they both stopped their bantering and looked back at me with pleased smiles.
"Well if we did, I would almost have to side with Bosley and feel a bit sorry for him." Jill then said and rolled her eyes, remembering the slight sign of sympathy Bosley had shown for Cass the other day, before looking at me. "With your hunger for revenge and Miss Violent over here-," she gave a nod towards Kelly, "-Cass would have been lucky to get out of there at all."
Kelly shrugged her shoulders nonchalant, not even caring to object Jill's statement, before shooting me a conspiratorial smile. I smiled in return, and I was pleased that I was starting to feel a whole lot better. And even if Kelly's idea might just be theoretical speaking, it did feel like it would have been just what I needed. And I wasn't even directly subjected by Cass' abuse. If anyone would feel great for taking some revenge at him it would be Mrs Mallin and all those other women.
The thought automatically gave me an idea, and my head snapped up and I looked at my friends. "Hey, wasn't Cass admitted to a hospital here in Los Angeles?"
"Yeah, at White Memorial I think," Kelly replied, somewhat confused by my question.
"Hm-" I said thoughtfully, liking what I heard. I raised my eyebrows appreciatively and smiled mischievously, and as I did I could see how both of my friends caught on what I was getting at. Kelly grinned excitedly; Jill looking a bit less enthusiastic, although still not completely appalled.
"I'm not sure if I want to hear this…," Jill mumbled anxiously.
Ignoring Jill's fret, Kelly leaned in, putting her chin in her hands, and looked at me expectantly. "What did you have in mind?"
I shrugged my shoulders. "Oh I don't know. Just go over there for awhile. Rough him up a bit, you know?" I tapped my fingers against the table, and looked back up at my friends. "We could bring Mrs Mallin. I'm certain she would love to get her hands on him."
Jill raised her eyebrows knowingly. "And you wouldn't mind it either."
"Well-," I tilted my head and momentarily diverted my eyes, not even trying to suppress the grin that reached my lips as I looked back up at her, "-No."
"Uh huh." Jill nodded knowingly. "That was what I was afraid of."
I and Kelly smiled, and I was sure she was getting ideas what could be done to the creep just as I was. It might not be much, but at least we could take out a little piece of revenge for all the women he had used. At least that was something.
"The guy's already at the hospital and you're going to go over and mess with him," Jill muttered for herself.
I frowned amused at her supposedly reluctance. In reality I was pretty sure she wanted to go just as much as I and Kelly did – she just wanted to act a bit considerate for awhile.
"Oh come on," Kelly said, probably as aware of Jill's charade as me, and poked Jill's shoulder. "We're not gonna do anything too bad to him. I mean, we're not gonna get physical or anything. Just talk to him. Open his mind a bit."
"Uh huh," I nodded. "Harm his ego at the most."
Kelly grinned widely at me, before looking over at Jill. "Exactly."
Jill sighed, acting out on her staged consideration for one last moment.
"Alright," she then finally agreed reluctantly. Her grin that a moment later spread across her face gravely deceived her though, bringing smiles to both me and Kelly.
Kelly then threw a quick glance at her arm watch, before looking up at me and Jill. "And we better get a move on as well. It's already 2.30."
Realizing we indeed had to get going if we wanted to catch Mrs Mallin before our meeting I quickly pulled out some money from my wallet and put it on the table. "Let's set to work then."
We got up and started heading out, and as I listening to my two friends' eager chatting of what to do when we reached the hospital I didn't even try to suppress the smile that was reaching my lips.
I guess the world would still be far from as perfect as I wished it to be. And I guess I would still get my occasional tantrums. But my friends were right. We were making a difference. At times it might feel small and pointless, or that we were going about it all the wrong way, but still we were doing something.
Feeling more light-hearted than I had all day I hooked my arms in each of my friends' as we walked out from the café and towards the car.
And as I walked there, arm in arm with my two best friends, chatting cheerfully and yet again off to make some kind of a difference, another grin spread across my face.
We really were quite the team.
As always I would love feedback! Good, bad – anything is appreciated. :)