"Ready for roll call, shorty?" Jamie said as he caught Eddie coming out of the women's locker room.
"Yup!" she eyeballed him with a mischievous smile as she placed her hat on her head, tucking in her hair bun underneath. "Can't wait for you to hear the announcement!"
Jamie looked at her in confusion as they continued to walk down the hall. "I knew it. You HAVE been hiding something from me, haven't you Janko? You've been M.I.A. at happy hour on and off for like four months now. What, you been going undercover again? You gettin' a promotion or something? You better not be leaving the 12th…"
"Aw, listen to you! So you WOULD miss me! Reagan, that's so sweet!"
"Shut up, Eddie," Jamie rolled his eyes as he hit her playfully in the arm and smiled. They rounded the corner and entered the room to join the other officers standing at attention in front of Sgt. Renzulli.
"Listen up! As you know, this weekend is the New York City Marathon. All officers will be needed for security detail along the course. Your assignments are posted on the board up front. And to continue on in our tradition, we will have an officer from our very own 12th running in the race for St. Jude Children's Research Center again- turn your donations in to me by the way. Let's give it up for our marathon runner, Officer Edit Janko!"
Everyone cheered and whistled and looked towards Eddie, giving her their support. She had a big smile plastered on her face. She turned to look at Jamie whose jaw had dropped in shock.
"What?" he mouthed silently to her in surprise as he joined in with the others in clapping for her.
"Of course she probably won't be able to beat Officer Jamie Reagan's time from last year- a 3:20, very respectable, Reagan!" Sgt. Renuzlli continued. "But we do hope she'll beat the crap out of Officer Julie Reynolds from the 3-6. We've got our bets placed on you, Janko. You better not let this house down!"
"Yes Sir! I'll give it my best! Been training hard."
"Everyone be safe out there today. Dismissed!"
As Jamie and Eddie walked to their patrol car, Jamie could not hide his excitement for her. "Oh my God Eddie, why didn't you tell me? I could have helped you train!"
"I know…I guess this is just something I wanted to do by myself. To prove to myself that I'm up for the challenge. You did it last year- I guess you could say you inspired me."
"So now it makes sense. All the extra food on top of all the extra food you normally eat—you've been carbo loading."
"Seriously, after a 20 mile run a girl needs to eat," she quipped.
They got in their car and clicked on their seat belts. Jamie hesitated in turning on the engine and instead turned in his seat to look at her.
"And skipping happy hour…here I thought that maybe you didn't want to hang out with me anymore. That maybe things were getting serious between you and that guy that keeps calling you…"
Eddie analyzed his expression and noticed a hint of sadness and maybe even…jealousy? Both of them were still burying their feelings for each other while trying to ignore that heated kiss they shared a while back. Her heart fluttered at the thought that he could actually be jealous of some other guy. She smiled and let him off the hook. "Jamie, the only relationship I've had time for is the one I've had with my running shoes. I've been pounding the pavement every chance I can get. But now I'm tapering and things will get back to normal after the race, I promise. I'll even let you buy me a beer afterwards to celebrate."
Jamie seemed to perk up at her answer as he started the car and pulled out onto the street. "So how did training go for you? You feel ready?"
"Training was long and hard. I ran cross county in high school but this is a completely different thing. I'm a little nervous about the distance, but I've never felt stronger physically."
"Well you know I'll be there to support you through it. I'll see if Renzulli will let me ride a bike on detail. That way I can ride ahead and keep an eye out for you, maybe even carry your fuel for you."
"I'd like that!" she replied just as they received a call on the radio from Central.
