Authors note: Lucas is Nathan's
son by whatever reality you like.
Nathan knew he shouldn't be
hearing the vid link at this hour, but the noise was still there. He groggily
got out of bed and answered it. He turned it on, to see the face of a tired,
proturved policemen.
"What can I help you with officer?"
He tried to speak quietly,
because Lucas was asleep in the other room, muttering in his sleep every
so often. He hoped the noise hadn't awakened him.
"Are you Captain Nathan Bridger?"
"Yes."
"I have 2 of your officers
in my lockdown. They were fighting outside an apartment complex,"
"Who?"
"I have one Miguel Ortiz and
one Tim O'Neill."
"What precinct are you at?"
"4th Cape sir, on
the corner of 4th and vine."
"I'll be right down. Thank
you officer."
Nathan hurried to dress. Lucas
came out of his room, with a questioning look in his eyes.
"Where are you going?"
"Ortiz and O'Neill managed
to get themselves arrested."
"I want to go with you."
" No Lucas go back to sleep.
It's probably nothing major."
Lucas got a determined look
in his eyes.
"Please, I want to see what
happened. I'll be good, I promise."
Noting the tone of Lucas's
voice and the determined look, Nathan defeatedly said "ok, but just let
me find out what happened first."
"Ok Dad, thanks."
Lucas was dressed before Nathan was. They drove quickly to the precinct and parked the car. As they entered, they noticed 3 young ladies sitting by one desk, holding each other and crying. Nathan went to the Sargent and asked to see his men.
"You're Captain Bridger? Who is that with you?"
"Yes I am. This is my son, Lucas."
The Sargent led them to a cell
holding Tim and Migs. There were eight cells total. There were only two
that were occupied. One held Tim and Migs, while the other had two very
intoxicated looking men. One drunk looked conscious, while the other looked
slightly comatose. The guy was really messed up. He had at least a broken
nose, a purple bruise forming on one side of his face, plus the various
small abrasions that covered his face and arms.
"Here they are Captain. They
have given us no trouble."
Nathan thanked the Sargent,
then turned to Tim and Migs.
"Mind telling me what the meaning
of this is?"
They both snapped to attention
and said "Yes Sir!"
With that, Nathan heard laughter
and a mocking "yes sir." behind him. Neither officer even looked in the
direction of the noise. Nathan ignored it and said "at ease." They both
took the stance and looked at the Captain and Lucas.
"Sir, it might be better if
we talked alone."
Nathan turned to Lucas and asked him to get the Sargent to let them go to a interrogation room. The Sargent came back with Lucas and opened the cell, pointing them towards a room. The Sargent then said " Try to stay in the middle of the walk way. Corey shouldn't give you any trouble, but just to be on the safe side, stay in the middle."
They started walking to the room, with Bidger in lead, followed by Tim, Migs, and Lucas. As they walked by the other cell, an arm shot out and grabbed Lucas's jacket.
"Is this your pretty boy?"
sneered the excessively intoxicated person. Lucas gave a strangled cry
as he was drug up against the steel bars. His body went rigid, with
his eyes and face going blank. He'd been captured enough to know not to
give the other person the satisfaction of seeing they had you scared. The
crew heard the cry and turned to see what had happened. When they saw Lucas
being held by the drunk, they ran up to the other cell. Tim and Migs went
to opposite sides of Lucas as Bridger stopped directly behind him. Nathan
reached out and grabbed Corey's arm, near the brachial pressure point.
Corey was just figuring out how much trouble he was in even with his alcohol
addled brain he could see this was not looking good for him. His eyes shifted
from one officer to the other. His eyes finally settled on Nathan. Nathan's
voice was cold and precise.
"Release my son."
Corey's eyes showed the terror that was taking over his brain. The drunk on the floor even cringed.
The Sargent heard Lucas's cry, then Nathan's command. He ran from his desk, trying to get to the cell before Corey did something he'd regret. Corey was always in trouble. He couldn't do anything without getting into some type of trouble. You'd think he would be safe from trouble in jail.
The Sargent rounded the corner
to see Corey holding the boy, with the three officers ready to strike and
free the boy.
"Damnit Corey! Let him go!"
Corey was about to laugh when
the Sargent pulled out a small object, pressed it against Corey's side,
then pushed the button. Corey screamed in pain as he fell to the floor.
"You'd better learn Corey.
Your little girlfriends have already gotten you in trouble. I'd better
not hear another thing from you."
The Sargent turned to Lucas and the other officers.
"Are you ok son?" the officer
asked. " They won't give you any more problems."
Lucas walked away, not saying anything. Nathan just glared at the Sargent and screaming drunk. Everyone then walked back to the interrogation room. Once they were all seated, Bridger said "What exactly happened?"
Tim started "We went to see
a friend of mine, who is a chief. We met at his apartment. We went out,
had dinner, drinks, just basically goofed off. We got back in at 0030 and
went to bed. Nick said to be prepared to wake up. He said that when Dumb
and Dumber got home, he never got more than four hors of sleep. At 0230,
we heard a door slam, and people screaming downstairs. It woke all of us
up. Nick came out of his room and said that was the neighbors, and that
they always pull this shit ever 2 hrs. I asked him why he puts up with
it, he said the landlord had tried, but to no avail. There were at least
4 people down there screaming. We offered to let him stay at Ben's place,
but he said no." Tim finished.
"What happened after that?" Nathan asked.
"Well Sir, that is where it
gets ugly" said Migs. "We tried to go back to sleep, but they made too
much noise. Nick said it did no good to call the cops, because they just
went to a different apartment. So I got dressed and went down to ask them
to quiet down. That was when the trouble started. I knocked on the door
and a short dark haired girl answered. She couldn't have been over 18.
She looked me up and down and asked if I'd like to come in. I told her
no, that I was staying in the upstairs apartment. I was about to ask her
if they could keep it down, when a guy that had to be 6' 4" came up behind
her and asked what I was doing with his girl. She just laughed and
said "he was flirting with me!" That didn't settle well with him. About
that time, Nick and Tim came down. Nick looked at her and said that he'd
called the cops. She started in on how she and her roommate aren't loud
and stuff like that. Of course she was screaming everything she said. I
heard a female voice behind her ask who was at the door. She sounded drunk
or stoned. The guy behind the girl at the door stumbled out and took a
swing at Nick. That's when Nick grabbed the guy and slammed him into the
wall. He didn't even have a chance to defend himself, before Nick knocked
him out. That is where Nick stopped. He didn't hit the guy again. While
that was going on, the girl tried to run out of the door, but Tim and I
were in the way. She ran into us and managed to break Tim's glasses. Then
another guy came out and tried to hit me. Behind him was the other roommate.
She was crying and screaming. I managed to deflect his punch, but it hit
the first girl in the head. She screamed, her roommate ran up to her and
tried to hold her, but she was too loud and screaming. That is about the
time the cops showed up. They arrested all of us. The girls were arrested
for under age consumption and possession of an illegal substance. All of
us guys got arrested for disturbing the peace. That's how we got in here.
Now the girls are claiming we assaulted them and were the instigators.
" Migs finished, looking at the Captain.
He didn't know if the Captain
would be mad, but at least he had listened to their story.
"Where is Nick at now?" asked
Nathan.
"He's trying to make bail for
us. Since he was standing over the guy that was knocked out and not near
the main 'fight'."
"Well, it seems that you and
Tim weren't the problem."
"No Sir." he and Tim
said in unison.
It was still to early to tell if Bridger was going to discipline them. It was looking better though.
"Well, let me see if I can get this straightened out with the Sargent".
"Thank you Sir. We didn't mean to mess up your leave."
"It ok. I've been in spots
like this. People like Nick's downstairs neighbors are a dime a dozen."
With that, Nathan got up went to find the Sargent.
"Wow! Your leave has definitely
been more interesting than mine," said Lucas. "All I've gotten to do is
get some new clothes."
Tim and Migs looked at Lucas.
Tim could make out the vague shape that was yellow at the top and bluish
on the bottom.
"It wasn't that fun Lucas,
" Tim chided. "We could get in big trouble for what those idiots downstairs
did."
"That and with the age of the
girls, they could cause some real trouble." Lucas looked at them,
"Dad won't let anything happen. As for the girls, what did they look like?"
"One is short, slim, and has
black hair, and the other one is about your height, blondish-brown hair,
normal build."
Lucas looked at Migs and Tim
for a minute then said, "I saw them siting at a desk. They sounded really
sincere. "
Tim said "Nick said they have lied to the landlord enough that they are good at it."
Lucas smiled. "They haven't dealt with Nathan Bridger though. It would be nice to see what happens to them."
Tim just shook his head. He
didn't like being in this situation, but he knew that Bridger could take
care of it. He did pity the girls though. They would probably have a pretty
pathetic life if they kept up like they were. Lucas interrupted his thoughts
with the comment
"They didn't even look that
pretty."
Tim and Migs had to smile at his observance. It was true, they were ok looking, but then again they could see why they chose drunk guys to bring home. Nick had said it was nothing to see guys go in and out of there all night. They must have low self esteem, Migs reasoned. He'd been around people who were nephomanics, but they were nothing like Dumb and Dumber. He just hoped they learned a small lesson, before they got a serious disease, or a baby they didn't want.
Lucas asked what else they had done on shore leave. The conversation relaxed into normal prattle until Nathan came in with a smile.
"It's all cleared, they even
dropped bail."
Tim and Migs exchanged looks
of relief.
"Thanks you , Sir. This won't
happen again." Tim said.
"Things like this happen from
time to time," said the Captain. "I've been called to worse situations,
some that were my officers fault."
"We should call Nick," said Tim.
"Yeah, he's probably at home."
Lucas offered his phone to
them. They got ahold of Nick before he could leave for the station. They
explained that everything was going to be resolved. It was now 0600.
"What do you guys think about
going home and gettang some sleep?" Bridger asked.
"Sounds great Sir."
With that, they climbed into
Bridger's car and headed to Nick's apartment to get their car. In the car,
Migs asked Bridger what the arrangement had been.
Bridger turned to him and said "It seems that our poor innocent girls have caused the police enough trouble. They will be going to counseling, plus they are facing some time for possession of Nitrous Oxide. The men in the apartment are facing the same possession charges, plus several other charges. You, Nick, and Tim aren't being charged with anything." With that news, Tim and Migs settled in the back seat and watched the sunrise.
They got there about 20 minutes
later. Nick met them at the door.
"Sorry about this mess. The
landlord said she'd serve them a notice on Monday. She finally has the
proof she needs."
Tim and Migs looked at him and said "it's ok. The Captain got everything settled."
"I know, but it still wasn't
fair. Your supposed to be on leave, not dealing with my problem neighbors."
"Really, it's ok."
"Is there anything I could
do to make last night up to you guys?"
"You could make us breakfast.
I'm starving!" said Migs.
"Deal" said Nick.
They all went up into the apartment to enjoy a gourmet breakfast..