When You're the Captain

He had come aboard after a good captain, a well loved captain, had resigned. He had nothing to do with it, but he wasn't well liked immediately. He never expected to be. It wasn't in his nature to be a warm fuzzy person. Not where his work was concerned. Not where the lives and safety of his squad was concerned. Yes, he'd made a serious mistake when he'd prejudged Goren and now he realized he should've relied on his own observations. It was passed and he couldn't undo the past.

But he was a good captain and a good man. He intended to show the doubting Thomas's that he could be both himself and a good captain. He signed the requisition form and put it in his outbox and reached for the personnel files when his phone rang.
"Captain Ross."

"Are you busy?" Karla asked in her professional voice.

"You know how it is. Just because I'm not now doesn't mean I won't be in a minute. What's up?"

"Ummm..."

He recognized the teasing tone in her voice. "Don't start that now. You called for another reason." He warned her, but it made him smile anyway.

"I did. That present you ordered for Brent is in. I thought you'd like to stop after work and get it. They said they'd stay open for you for an extra hour if you let them know ahead of time."

"I don't have your truck." He reminded her.

"You will if you take me to lunch. I'll bring your car home."

"Alright. You know he won't thank you for it."

"Ah, he's your son. Let him thank you. That'll be plenty for me. I'll see you in a bit." She hung up and he picked up the file. It was the officers that were applying to transfer to Major Case. One of his detectives was going to be leaving for good and he needed a replacement. He studied his squad room noticing which detectives were where. Goren and Eames he had no intention of splitting up. And Logan and Wheeler were hitting their stride and having a dynamite success rate because of it.

That left Duncan, who couldn't work with anyone, Winston who was intelligent but lazy, his partner Shiller who did most of the work, but had an attitude. Aguiar was argumentative with everyone and his partner, Olson who was the one leaving and Quinton who had just transferred in.

Dan frowned and turned to the folder. Maybe another woman. These men tended to be stuck in the rut when it was just them and he'd had a crash course in dealing with strong women officers recently. He took out the files and began to pour over them. He sorted them into piles of "not in a million years", unlikely, possible but not probable, need to have a better look, and "I like this one." Funny how that last pile sounded like Karla in his head.

He put away all but the last two piles. There were four women who were applying to transfer. One was Hispanic with a lot of street smarts according to her captain, one was Norwegian by the sound of her last name with a Masters in criminology but he didn't care for her service record, the third one was a real go getter, but lite on experience and the fourth one he figured would try to take over the squad room. None of them were what he'd hoped to find. He'd hoped for an Eames clone.

His stomach was grumbling when Karla came in. She had the knack of knowing when he was ready to eat, but he hadn't figured out how she knew it.

She breezed in, giving both Alex and Bobby hugs. She was the only one he'd let do that. Not even Eames at work. An he doubted it was because of her relationship to Dan. It was just who she was. She chatted with them for a few moments then came toward his office. "Hi. Is this a good time?"

"It's perfect, I was just about to take a break."

"You know just how to flatter a girl."

"You're in a good mood."

"I am. I just got word that Katie and Cinco got blues at the show. He's fully recovered and John asked her to marry him. All's right with her world."

And mine. He thought. "Let's go to lunch."

"Good idea."

They went to a small Mom and Pop diner away from the biggest share of the station house crowd. Dan let her choose the table and chair and he slid in across from her. "So they called you about the quad?"

"They have it ready. Did you call them and tell them you'd be by to get it after work?"

"Not yet."

"I will if you like."

"Do you want to come back to my squad and be one of my detectives? I need someone and you'd fit just right." He teased.

Karla wrinkled her nose at him. "The problem with that theory is that where I'd want to be is right beside you and I'd never get anything done. I like you at home where I have your complete and undivided attention."

"Yes, and I have yours. So do we have any plans for this weekend? I'm on call you know."

"I know. I hadn't planned on doing anything in particular. It's supposed to be hot so I figured I could work out in the barn in the morning and spend all afternoon lazing around the house in my bathing suit or nothing."

"And what would I be wearing?"

Karla leaned forward and motioned him forward. "Nothing or me."

"You are naughty."

"Thank you."

The waitress brought them lunch and they reverted to polite conversation suitable to a public place. Karla told him about one of the officers in her squad who had just gotten a new puppy and was sleep deprived as a consequence. How she kept making hilarious but simple mistakes like putting creamer on her cereal instead of sugar and locking her keys inside her door and having to have someone come open her house before she could go to work.

After lunch they went back to 1PP garage. Karla pulled her truck into his parking space and got out. He looked around the garage, no one was around and moved close to her so he could kiss her breathless against the truck. She threw her arms around him and kissed him back. Noises distracted them and they leaped apart. "I'll see you at home." He told her.

"I'll be waiting." She said.

She got into his car, adjusted the seat and drove out of the garage. He turned back to the elevator. Heavy blows and agonizing pain assaulted him from behind. He tried to roll over to defend himself only to be slammed in the back of the head with something heavy. The pain was too much and he lost consciousness.

Jack stood over him, with a thick chunk of lumber in his hand and grimly swung again, striking him across the back once more. Then he kicked Dan in the side once for good measure. When he didn't move after that blow, he bent, grabbed the unconscious man by his jacket and rolled him over. There was a feral look on his face. He was tempted to hit him again, but this time he wanted him to be awake when he was being pounded. Something he really looked forward to.

He grabbed him by the arm, hoisted him over his shoulder and dumped him into the trunk of his gold car. As nonchalantly as though it was a bag of groceries he'd thrown into his trunk, he drove out of the structure, past the dead security guard inside the office and out into Manhattan traffic merging with a million other cars.

TBC