"I can't do it."
"Let me get this straight. You run from the man after you two accidentally kiss, you run from him again with good reason, when you nail him with another woman, and now you're running because he wants to marry you?"
"It's not funny, Danielle. I can't do it."
She'd been avoiding Jack McCoy for the past week, now. Ever since he'd been named District Attorney, and had asked her to marry him. Now Anna Flynn found herself pacing back and forth in Danielle Melnick's office, shaking her head as Danielle cast an amused look in her direction.
"You know, I did mean it when I told him that this would be the relationship that finally got him to settle down," she said. "Anna, you're worrying about nothing."
"He wouldn't be doing this if I wasn't pregnant with his baby. That's the only reason he wants this, and you know it as well as I do," said Anna. "If he hadn't just been named District Attorney, he wouldn't have asked, but what's going to look worse to the public than a DA who can't even be bothered to marry a woman he knocked up?"
"He does love you, whether you believe it or not," said Danielle. "He wouldn't have asked you if he didn't."
Anna gave a frustrated sigh. "I don't need this right now," she said. "I have enough to deal with, besides having a marriage proposal to think about…for heaven's sake, Danielle, haven't we all had enough drama for the moment?"
"We're lawyers, there's always going to be some kind of drama whether we like it or not," said Danielle dryly. "The key is learning how to handle it."
"I don't think I can. I really don't think I can do this, and I don't want to hurt him, Danielle, but I don't see any way to avoid it."
"You could always tell him yes."
Silence. The argument made perfect sense, and Anna knew it, and because she knew it, she scowled, and continued to pace back and forth.
"You know, I still don't see why he even asked," she said. "There's so much going on right now…" She trialed off, still frustrated. "Nothing I do or say is going to make you change your opinion on this matter, is it?"
"I've been after that man to settle down for as long as I've known him, but he doesn't listen," said Danielle. "Now he's finally taking that advice and running with it, Anna, and I hate to tell you this, but I'm sticking with what I've said."
"Should have known better than to come here and try to talk to you about this," said Anna, but in such a way that Danielle couldn't help but roll her eyes.
"Haven't you got any work to do over at that firm of yours?" she asked, mildly. "Honestly, if this is the biggest thing you've got to worry about…"
"I've got opening arguments to make the day after tomorrow, but I've had too much on my mind to actually write them down," Anna admitted, finally stopping in her tracks and coming to sit. "You think I'm going about this the wrong way, don't you?"
"I should think that you could have at least told him that you needed time," said Danielle, "I would think he'd understand that."
Anna looked away. "I couldn't even do that," she said. "What kind of person does that make me, anyway?"
"It makes you human," said Danielle, "That's what it does. I can't exactly blame you for not wanting to look this in the eye, but the truth remains that sooner or later, you're going to have to."
"There's no way out of this without someone getting hurt, is there?"
"I'm afraid not."
It was strange, being in the office that had never belonged to him before, but did, now. He'd been there through three different "administrations", those of Adam Schiff, Nora Lewin, and Arthur Branch, but now the place was his own to run. It seemed, Jack thought at this point, like a dream, even though he knew it wasn't, really.
"So," said Amanda Fellowes, looking in through the open office door, "What do you think?"
"I think," said Jack, "That I liked my own office better."
Amanda laughed, and stepped the rest of the way into the room, leaning back against the doorframe. "You'll get used to it," she said. "By the way, thanks for the move to Major Crimes."
"I can think of no one better to fill the role of their bureau chief," Jack replied wryly. "How's it working for you?"
"Quite well," said Amanda. "Any idea what you're going to do to this place now that it's yours?"
"I'm probably just going to keep it the same, I never saw anything wrong with it before it was mine," said Jack. "Though, there might be a few additions in a few months."
"I should hope so," said Amanda. "Think you're still going to try any cases, or are you staying out of the courtrooms for now?"
Jack gave her a mock-surprised look. "I should think you would already know the answer to that question," he said. "Might not be trying as many as I'd like to, but I'm not likely to stay out of the courtrooms."
"Well, try not to kill yourself staying in them," said another voice, and Michael Cutter appeared in the doorway as well, looking amused. "This is going to turn into a tradition, I'm afraid."
"What, the three of us and a couple ADA's stuck in this office during cases?" Amanda asked, and shook her head. "I should think none of us would object to that."
"Of course not," said Mike, and came to stand beside her in the office. "Anyone heard the latest rumor floating around our dear legal community?"
This was said in such a way that for a moment, Jack almost believed that neither Mike nor Amanda had heard anything about it. But he knew better.
"You two," he said, "What have you been saying?"
"Who, us?" said Amanda, with a matching expression. "Nothing. Only that we wish our dear District Attorney the best, no matter what happens."
"I'm sure," said Jack, "So, you've heard from the others, then, specifically Danielle?"
"Yes, she told us, and I should think that you might have told us something that important," said Amanda, pretending to be hurt. "Then again, maybe personal lives aren't the best thing to bring into the office."
"Trust me, they're not," said Jack, "But since we're on the topic of the office, what exactly are you lot handling right now?"
"The two-seven picked up a case, but they haven't handed anything over to me yet," said Mike, "I'm keeping an eye on that; I'll let you know when it leads to something."
"Major Case just finished taking on some lawyer and her girlfriend about two people that ended up dead, and they're looking for search warrants on this latest case of theirs," said Amanda, "Got 'em, handed 'em over, so we should have someone to deal with in the next few days."
"Busy, as usual, then," said Jack, and then, "I doubt things around here are going to slow down anytime soon."
An amused look crossed Mike's face at this and he shook his head. "We live in the city that never sleeps," he said. "Of course nothing's going to slow down. Nothing ever does."
"That might be the problem." Jack trailed off for a long moment and turned to look out the office windows. Amanda and Mike exchanged glances behind his back and then, Amanda spoke.
"You wouldn't particularly have a problem if two of your subordinates started…seeing each other, would you?" she asked, and Jack laughed, without looking at them.
"Anna was right about you two," he said. "But I think I should be considered a hypocrite if I did, considering."
"I should think I would have to agree," said Mike, and Amanda elbowed him in the side.
"Don't push your luck," she said, and then, "Anything else you need to know from us, or do you want us to leave you in peace for the moment?"
"There's nothing else I need to know," said Jack, turning to look at them over his shoulder, and when they nodded, briefly, and turned to leave, he went on, quietly. "At least, nothing I need to know from the two of you."
She hadn't played in years. But the funny thing about it was that it was one of those things she'd never really forgotten. And now she found herself in the basement of some apartment building that Lorena Southerlyn and her family owned, shaking her head.
"Lore," said Rebecca McCoy, "I haven't done this in years. I can't believe you still have this stuff."
"I only graduated high school three years ago," said Lorena, amused. "Besides, I have the stuff, 'cause no one else wanted it, and we might as well."
"We're lucky no one actually lives here," Destiny said, dryly. "I think we might be a bit screwed if they did."
"No one's lived here in a while; I don't know why my parents keep the place," said Lorena, "Are you guys actually going to do this or not?"
The funny thing about the situation they were in was that once upon a time, when they'd all been in New York the last time, right after they'd met Lorena, they'd done this. But it had been a while. And now they were all here again, and for once, they were balking at it.
"All right, you know what?" The door to the basement slammed open and the ones already down there looked up just in time to see Lindsay Schiff walking down. "I think if we're actually going to do this, we should take it to the next level."
"Meaning…?" Brittany had bent down to fix one of the connections they had going, and now she looked up, frowning slightly as Lindsay smirked.
"You know what I mean," she said. "And I think we could pull it off. The only problem is Becky."
"Hey, I resent that," said Rebecca, "I'm not that bad at this, and you know it."
"Never said you were. What I meant is that the problem is you because now that your dad is DA, everyone's going to be watching to see what you're going to do."
"Great," Rebecca said mildly, "I'm an overnight celebrity. Lovely. You know, we could actually use this to our advantage."
"Advantage?" said Adrina, "Do tell."
"Attention. If we move on with this, we know that at least Manhattan might watch to see where it goes." Rebecca trailed off for a moment and then went on. "But whatever. Are we gonna play or not?"
"Yeah, let's do this. Who's got the sheet music?" Adrina bent down and opened the folder she'd put on the speaker beside her. "Never mind. Got it."
Life had slowly returned to normal. Rebecca was thoroughly convinced that by the time New Years' came, she and everyone else would be able to put it all behind them. That, she thought, could only be seen as a good thing. Brittany hit the cymbals with her drumstick, signaling that they were to start. So Rebecca did, looking around the room as she did.
And there they were, in varying positions: herself, Lindsay Schiff, Destiny Carmichael, Brittany Stone, Adrina Kincaid, Lorena Southerlyn and their newest addition, Katie Gorton. Two DA's, and an EADA and a bunch of ADA's, Rebecca thought dryly. This was definitely going to get interesting.
"Hey, any of you notice we're all related so someone from the prosecutor's office?" she asked over the music and Lindsay grinned.
"Sure did," she said, "So, what d'you think? Do we wanna take it and run?"
"School," said Katie, as the music came to an abrupt halt.
"We'll figure it out," said Brittany, "I'm surprised we didn't do it before."
"I'm surprised we're even considering this. Some of us are still looking to go to law school at some point, y'know," said Adrina, "And Destiny, you have a job."
"No one ever said we had to do anything more than play the club circuit," said Lindsay, "That's enough to get noticed."
"I say we worry about it later and figure out what song we're gonna play next," said Lorena. "All this talk is getting boring."
Boring, however, was not a word that either Ed Green nor Nina Cassady found in their vocabulary at the moment. He had been the first to show up at the scene, and she was only just crossing the crime scene tape.
"What've we got?" she asked. Ed looked up and sighed.
"Dead Fed," he said. "Had the ID on him."
Nina made a face. "Lovely. Lt's gonna love this."
"Doubt it. ID says he was one of the guys handling Witness Protection."
"Looks like it just hit the fan, then. What'd the ME say?"
"Couldn't tell. Says she'll have more after the autopsy."
"That's just great. Who found him?"
"Two kids walking their dog. He got away so they chased him and found all this."
"Still here?"
"Yeah, I figured I'd wait for you."
There was silence between the two partners for a moment, and then Nina sighed.
"Well, we might as well get it over with," she said, "No use putting it off."
Ed nodded and followed her across the tape to where the two kids were, looking anxious."
"No school today, huh?" Nina asked, by way of greeting. Both kids shook their heads. She went on. "You wanna tell me what you saw?"
The first kid spoke. "We were just walking the dog," she said. "We didn't see anything happen."
"Ok," said Nina, slowly, "Did you notice anything or anyone while you were walking?"
"There was this guy," said the second child. "He ran into us and he was kinda mean."
"Can you describe him?" Ed asked. The first child shook her head.
"He had on a hat, and a jacket and sunglasses. We couldn't really tell what he looked like…" She paused for a moment. "Can we go home? Our mom's probably worried about us."
Both detectives nodded, and the kids ran off, dog in tow.
"It'll probably hit them later, what they saw today," said Ed. "Always does."
"We'd better go notify the family," Nina replied, quietly, and they did.