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A Mike/Connie fic.
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Disclaimer: don't own Law and Order. love it like nothing else, but don't own it.
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A/N: Thanks for the great reviews on my last Connie/Mike story!
This one is taken after the episode, "Boy Gone Astray".
Not too much else to say ... hope you guys like it!
As always, please read and review, I live for feedback!
She felt weird, leaving so early like this. True, the working day had ended a few hours ago, but she and Mike always stayed late to work on their caseload.
She knew he probably wouldn't have a problem with her leaving now, but she felt a bit awkward at the thought of telling him it was because she had a date.
Not that she had to tell him it was a date. She'd hadn't seen Johnny in years ... since her first year of college, and she'd only seen him a couple of times after they'd broken up. So really, it was more like she was just catching up with an old friend. An old friend that she had happened to sleep with once upon a time.
She tapped lightly on the door to his office.
"Yeah?" he wondered, barely glancing up from the papers in front of him.
She spoke semi-confidently, "I'm heading out now."
He looked up at her in surprise. "Oh?"
She nodded.
Mike forced amusement onto his face. "Got a hot date?" he joked.
She dropped her eyes away from his. "No, just catching up with an old friend."
He didn't look convinced, but her phone rang and she welcomed the distraction.
"Rubirosa," she answered, and heard Johnny chuckle on the other end of the line.
"Oh, baby, your work voice is so sexy," he told her.
She blushed at the compliment, feeling like she was sixteen again. She was acutely aware of Mike's eyes on her, though, so she attempted to focus on what Johnny said next without showing too much emotion.
He told her he'd be out in front of the building in a few minutes, and she replied, "Okay, I'm on my way out."
She hung up the phone and glanced at Mike, who had picked up his baseball and was moving it between his hands. She bit her bottom lip nervously. Her stupid crush on her boss was never going to do her any good, which was why she'd agreed to go out with her ex in the first place.
Mike spoke first. "Well, have a good time, Connie," he said tossing the ball in the air and looking away from her.
"Thanks. I'll see you tomorrow, Mike."
And with that, she turned and left his office, making her way out of the building.
Mike watched her leave, waited a minute to give her time to get down the elevator, then walked over to the window, gazing out. He saw her walk out of the building and stand by the curb. Mike waited for her protection detail to step out behind her, but no one did.
He called over his guy from down the hall and asked him, "Where is Miss Rubirosa's security detail?"
"She cancelled her detail for the evening," he answered. "Against our protest, I will add."
Mike nodded with a confused look on his face, glancing back to see that Connie's "friend" still hadn't arrived.
"Alright, you're off my detail for the night," he told the man standing in his office.
"Sir, I really must pro-"
Mike cut him off. "Because you're going to take over Miss Rubirosa's security detail. She was the one specifically threatened, not me."
The other man paused. "I'm not sure she'd appreciate that."
Mike rolled his eyes. "I don't care what she appreciates, so long as she's being protected. I'll be fine, I'll go straight home from here, but I want you to get down there and follow them. Discretely," he added. "I don't want her telling you to leave and then wind up getting herself killed."
The man nodded, hurrying out of the office to follow Connie.
Mike figured she'd probably be mad at him if she figured out what he did, but he'd rather have her mad than dead.
Johnny finally arrived, and Connie led them to her car. They were going to go out for dinner first before heading back to his club/bar for drinks. She felt really weird about going out with him after all these years, but he'd asked her, and she'd said yes. It wasn't like she could sit around all day waiting for the rules to change. Or for Mike to like her the way that she liked him. She knew that he found her attractive ... most guys did. But he always stated it in such a way that made more like he was aware of her attractiveness, and not that he was attracted to her.
Plus, he's my boss, so none of that matters anyway, she told herself while she drove to the restaurant.
Johnny sat beside her, reminding her of the good old days, and how great they'd been together. She could remember it clearly. She was a much different person back then, but that sixteen-year old girl inside of her remembered what it was like to be with him and be happy. She wanted to give that another chance, now that they were both - hopefully - more mature. She didn't even notice the car following a few car-lengths behind her.
They chatted a bit back and forth during their meal, discussing the things they'd done since graduating. She told him all about her college and law school days, and the pleasure she found in the work she did, and he told her all about his struggles with his brothers, and finally opening up his club. He'd wanted it to be a bar like his father's, but clubs were more popular, so he'd meshed the two.
She pretended to be interested in his stories, but found herself wondering if Mike was still in the office, or what he'd have to say about Johnny's career choices. While she was happy that he'd gone into business for himself and seemed to be successful in doing so, Johnny was no Mike Cutter.
She shook the thought away as they walked back to her car, feeling bad for even thinking it. She felt the little hairs on the back of her neck stick up, and felt like someone was following her. She started to second-guess her decision to cancel her security detail for the night. She hadn't wanted to put a "crimp" on her evening with Johnny, but as she turned and saw a man stalking towards her with a gun in his hand, she realized how stupid her decision had been.
It happened in slow-motion.
Her eyes flickered over to Johnny to see that he hadn't noticed anything was amiss. She moved her eyes back to the man with the gun as he grew closer and closer, and suddenly found herself wishing she'd taken self-defence classes, then maybe she'd be able to do more than just stand there like a moron.
She started to move, her hands drifting up to cover her face when the first shot rang out.
Another two followed quickly, and Connie waited for the pain to settle it. But it didn't.
She uncovered her face, and the sounds around her rushed back in. People running away and screaming, Johnny shouting and rushing over to her. She looked down to see the man who'd been aiming the gun at her on the ground, bleeding. Dead.
Connie looked back up to see the man she thought was Mike's protection standing with his gun raised, having shot the other man before he could shoot her.
"Miss Rubirosa, are you okay?" he asked her.
She felt Johnny tug on her shoulders, bringing her around to face him. "Baby, you okay? What the hell was that?"
She shook herself out of her daze, looking back at the man who was holstering his weapon and kicking the gun out of the dead man's hands. "I'm fine," she replied taking out her phone. "I have to call this in."
Detectives Bernard and Lupo arrived 30 minutes later, rushing to where Connie stood by her car.
"Are you okay?" Lupo asked her.
She nodded. "I'm fine. He didn't get me."
Bernard went to talk to her security detail, but paused when he saw that it was the wrong guy. "Aren't you on Cutter's detail?"
The other man nodded.
Connie looked up. "I thought so too."
Lupo looked down at her. "Where's your detail?"
She looked at him with embarrassment. "I ... cancelled him for tonight. I was ..." she motioned to Johnny who was standing a few feet away from her. "It was stupid."
Lupo nodded. "Yeah." He walked over to Johnny, holding his hand out. "Cyrus Lupo, nice to meet you."
Johnny shook his hand back, introducing himself.
Another car pulled up to the scene, and Mike stepped out. "Connie, are you okay?" he asked her, moving quickly to her side.
She nodded. "I'm fine."
He looked doubtful, checking her over for injuries.
His security guy stepped up. "Hey, you said you were going straight home," he complained.
He shrugged. "Lupo called me. I just wanted to make sure she was okay."
Connie glanced between the two. "Mike, why was he here? Isn't he supposed to be protecting you?"
Mike looked down for a second. "He may have let slip that you had cancelled your protection for the night." He glanced at Lupo to see the man she'd introduced him to earlier as Johnny. Oh. He's her "catching up with an old friend". Of course.
"Let slip? You practically dragged it out of me," the other man defended.
Mike rolled his eyes, waving him off. Bernard went to get his statement, leading him away.
"How would he have "let that slip"?" Connie wondered, looking over at Mike with confusion and gratefulness.
Mike shrugged. "Okay, I asked him. I noticed that yours wasn't with you when you left, and I was concerned. Clearly, my concern paid off," he defended.
Connie nodded. "I'm going to thank you for that now," she told him, glancing over at Johnny who seemed to be watching Mike with interest and a little jealousy. "But I'd like to talk about this later."
Mike nodded, figuring it would have been a miracle for him to get off scot-free. "Of course."
Connie gave her statement to Lupo, explaining what had happened with as much detail as she could. She was too shaken to drive, but didn't want to have an awkward evening with Johnny, so she told him she'd call him later and asked Mike if he could drive her home.
He agreed, and since he'd taken a cab there he accepted the keys from her hand and opened the door for her to get in the passenger's side before moving around the other side and slipping in.
Well, this is definitely not how I expected the evening to end, she thought as Mike drove her home.
End of chapter one.
This will probably only be a couple of chapters long.
Hope you guys liked it, I know I loved writing it!
Reviews are appreciated, positive or negative.
Until next time ...!