"Lil' D?" The voice on the other end of the line was tinny, but the accent was unmistakable.
"Stevie?" The caller ID on his phone just read 'unknown' and he'd been expecting a telemarketer. Danny had been up for 28 hours getting slammed with delivery after delivery and he hadn't seen Mindy in 2 days. He's been home all of 20 minutes and just turned the oven on to heat up a chicken pot pie. Mood that he was in, he was sorta looking forward to telling a telemarketer where they could stick it.
"Yeah, it's me. Can I ask you for a favor?"
"Stevie I'm not going to prescribe you anything. Go see Dr G if your shoulder is still messing with you. You need to get a regular check up and get physical therapy. Drugs don't solve the problem." To be fair, Stevie hadn't asked since that time when Mindy dragged him out to Staten, but well.. Stevie was Stevie.
"It's not that..."
"Where are you calling from?"
"I'll give you a clue. This is my one phone call." Stevie ventured cautiously.
"You're in jail? Damnit, Stevie, tell me you weren't caught stealing underwear again."
"I'm not saying that I was scalping tickets, but there's a grumpy son of a bitch cop here who says I did. Can you come bail me out?"
Danny shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Sure, tell me where to come get you."
. . . .
"Well, well well...if it isn't the rich kid." A familiar voice pulled pulled Danny out of his thoughts as he walked through the police station.
Danny had never asked where Charlie worked, and he'd been a little iffy on whether he believed Charlie was a cop at all, but here he was, peering over the top of reading glasses. Danny wondered if that's what he looked like when he wore his red glasses. Not a pretty thought.
"Chaz..."
Charlie gave him a dry look. "Don't call me that."
"Then don't call me rich kid."
"Fine. What are you doing here?" Charlie lifted his glasses off his face, dropping them onto a pile of paperwork.
"I'm here to post bail for a friend."
"Let me guess... scalper with the slicked back hair?"
"You saw him?" Danny's eyebrows raised a little.
"I arrested him."
"Oh."
"Yeah, oh."
"Listen, Stevie's a good guy, maybe he was just..."
"So how's Mindy?" Charlie interrupted.
"Mindy? Mindy Lahiri?" Danny knew it sounded like he was stalling, but he didn't really want to get into this with Charlie. Charlie had technically dated Mindy longer if you counted hour for hour. Danny was determined to change that, but right now the relationship still felt a little green.
"Who else would I be asking about? Mindy Lahiri."
"She's good."
"She ever work that thing out with the internet guy? She's the type of girl who'd get Catfished in a hot second."
Danny couldn't meet Charlie's eyes. "Kinda."
"What do you mean 'kinda'? Is she okay or not?" To his credit, Charlie sounded genuinely a little concerned.
"She's okay."
"So he didn't like lure her to the Empire State Building to murder her?"
"What? No." Danny licked his lips nervously. "Like I said, she's fine. Better than fine."
"So you told her the truth?"
"What?" Despite his best effort Danny's voice came out a little high pitched.
"Don't 'what' me. I'm a detective. I know you've been trying to get her back. You tried to kiss her, you tried to trick her into basically moving with you. You've got it bad and if you don't grow a pair she'll move on without you. You tell her you wanna be with her, or not?" Charlie pinched the bridge of his nose, a gesture that was a little too familiar to Danny.
"The city of New York pays you to keep tabs on your ex-girlfriend?
"Cool it with girlfriend, we didn't date that long." Charlie shook his head.
"You know what, you didn't deserve her."
"Maybe." Charlie shrugged. "But, you don't either."
"I know that."
"So you told her." It was a statement, not a question.
"Damnit," Danny swore. "Not that it's any of your business, but we're together."
"Lil D!" Stevie's voice cut across the room, drawing the attention of both men as he made his way over to them, the huge grin on his face fading when he saw Charlie. "You know this guy?"
"Yeah, Lil D." Charlie smirked.
Danny sighed. "Stevie, I believe you know Officer Lang."
"Detective Lang," Charlie corrected.
Stevie reeled backward, running into Danny in his needlessly dramatic Stevie way. "Detective? And you got time to go out lookin' to bust an enterprising businessman who didn't do anything wrong?"
"Businessman?" Danny and Charlie said, almost in unison. They looked at each other then quickly away.
"Screw you guys." Stevie sneered. "Just 'cause you're some fancy doctor and you're some fancy cop doesn't mean you get to look down on people who still have to get their hands dirty make a buck. Too good for the island guys is what you two are."
"What'd you call me?" Again Charlie and Danny spoke as one, and looked at each other suspiciously before backing away.
"Get your friend out of here," Charlie snapped.
"Gladly," Danny replied. He grabbed Stevie's arm and started dragging him toward the door. "Stevie don't make it worse."
"I don't wanna see him scalping again. I'll be watching."
Danny rolled his eyes. "Come on Stevie, I'm taking you back to Staten."
"Hey, I'm not done with you," Charlie called out behind them.
"Yeah, you are," Danny growled defensively. He knew he shouldn't be so quick to pick a fight, but he'd heard enough outta this guy and if Charlie said one more thing about Mindy, Stevie was gonna have to bail him out for punching a cop.
"No, I'm not. I just wanna say one thing. You be good to that girl. She's a little dramatic, and I've had more mature conversations with my teenager, but she's got a lot of love to give. You hurt her, and you know you did..."
"I know that..." Danny started.
"I'm not finished. A girl like that only knows one way to love and that's with all her heart. She messed around with me a little, and from what I gather she bounced around some other guys before you too-"
"Right, that's it," Danny said, moving towards the smug asshole before he knew what he was doing.
Suddenly Stevie's hand was on his shoulder. "Easy, Lil D," Stevie said. "You punch a cop they give you that real jail time."
"I said don't interrupt." Charlie held up his hand. "She was just messing around with them. With me. This girl loves you. I knew something was up when you turned up at dinner, and I should have walked away then. She loves you, she always did and maybe you two didn't get it right the first time because you ran away, but if you run away again she won't bounce back. Don't mess her around, put a ring on her. Give her a baby or two. Take care of her." Charlie's face softened a little and as Danny looked at the older man he saw real affection there.
"I will." Danny grabbed Stevie's arm as his friend looked between the officer and the gynecologist with a confused expression.
He marched Stevie toward the door, and turned to address Charlie, for what he hoped would be the last time. "Oh, for the record? Mindy's not a girl. She's a woman."