Title: Heart of Stone
Summary: 'They' say she has a heart of stone, is immune to normal feelings, but who cares what 'they' think anyway? Allie Kingston feels for someone… too bad an out of control suspect could be about to take him away from her… Allie/Joel Morrison
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Disclaimer: I don't own City Homicide
A/N: Just a little five-chapter to address a pairing I fell in love with after the season 3 episode 'Mission Statement' (the one where Bernice totally burns that guy Mellor that got her son killed. She rocks!). Okay so the pairing is random, but somewhat canon, and who really knows what happened after all that anyway? Coffee… yeah sure Al, sure it ended with coffee…
Will be back on my other CH pieces soon but taking some time away from the drama for a little fluff. Fluff is fun!
And while we're on this topic: what's with all the Nadia Townsend hate out there? I love Allie. She's growing to be my favourite. And there's no way she's as stiff as Damien… that man is so lucky he got cast a loveable character otherwise he'd be done for. Okay, enough hate cos I'm getting as bad as the haters. More love for Allie, that's all I ask… okay, long enough A/N, it's story time now. Enjoy.
Heart of Stone
Allie Kingston/Joel Morrison
Rated: K+ for violence and mild language
Set after 'Mission Statement' (season 3)
The café was eerily quiet at a little before three on that Saturday afternoon. A radio somewhere out the back was blaring Wonderwall by Oasis but she didn't hear it, glancing out the front bay windows onto the promenade before her. It was busy outside but no one seemed to be moving in the direction of coffee so she just watched them, her eyes flicking lazily between faces. Out there any one of them could be the next suspect, victim, killer or witness. Okay, so being a detective had its lows – suspecting everyone being one of them – but she loved the job and so sue her if she got a little bit too involved with it.
A little bit… ha! She knew everyone thought she was some kind of dragon lady, a heart of ice so cold it would kill even the warmest soul. But whatever, she could live with what 'everyone' thought. Who were this faceless mass anyway that deemed her heartless, too focussed and a little white witch of Narnia? The only opinions that mattered were those by people she actually gave a damn about.
And one of them was twenty minutes late.
Stupid idiot couldn't keep the time if his life depended on it.
She pulled out her phone again. She was due back at work at three-thirty. If he kept this up she was walking. One call of warning, that's what was required, and so she picked up her phone and noted the three missed calls. With a sigh she put her phone to her ear and checked her message bank.
'Hey, just me, running late, be there in five'
'Hey, me again, still late, be there in ten'
'Uh, hey, you're going to kill me but I'll be about twenty minutes now'
As she stared at the phone, cursing the voice on the other end, it buzzed again and his name came up. She answered it with a sigh. "Detective Kingston."
"You're going to kill me."
She shook her head and cast her eyes skyward. "Now there's the obvious statement of the century."
"In my defence, my boss is a nutcase."
Her anger slipped. He was right. She'd met his Senior Sergeant once. The guy lived on a wire and spent most of his time lulling somewhere between mad and clinically insane. "Okay, defence paid, but we're postponing because I have paperwork touching the roof sitting on my desk right now."
He gave a soft chuckle. "I appreciate that. Are you working tomorrow?"
Allie sighed. "Yes, Simon's sick so I've been dumped half his shifts." The voice at the other end of the phone swore softly and Allie broke a smile. "Should I be flattered or disturbed that you miss me?"
"Flattered," he muttered, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Yeah? 'Cos two weeks ago when I was accusing you of screwing up your hit-and-run case you didn't seem so happy to see me or any of my colleagues."
"I could say the same. I believe your exact words were 'well done, you've found me'." Allie smiled and sipped her coffee, denying him a reply. "Tomorrow night, my place, I'm cooking."
She nearly choked on the hot liquid but swallowed it quickly. "You don't cook."
After a second he gave in. "Okay fine, let me rephrase: tomorrow night, my place, I'm ordering pizza."
"Deal. But if the pizza is Meatlovers or anything so heavily layered in meat it looks like half the cattle in the Gippsland now inhabit it, I'm leaving and never coming back."
"Chicken it is then."
Allie smiled. "Tomorrow night, I get off work at seven. I'll see you then." She hung up before he could say anything else, relishing in the upper hand, because come tomorrow night he'd take it back. Sure Allie Kingston had a heart of ice. Sure she was the White Witch of Narnia. Sure she was so cold she could make Eskimos hypothermic. But if she had one soft spot it was for Detective Joel Morrison…
Heart of stone indeed.
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