Disclaimer: Not mine. I don't even own the title, that's from a del Amitri song.
Written for the Fantasy Luke Sighting challenge at the hey_homicide comm. over on LJ. The idea is to sneak Luke into every episode. This is my effort for 4.01.
Once he knows they're back, he finds an excuse to stop by 15. Comes up with a cover story about a gang shooting, just in case anyone asks. No one does. He's already there before he remembers he's the one who chose them for the assignment, that he has a legitimate reason to want to see them. Kicks himself for being a fool.
He wonders if he's transparent, if everyone knows why he's really there. Decides it's unlikely, since he's not sure himself.
But none of the whispers in the hallway are about him.
Then it hits him. He and Andy may have dated for a year and a half, lived together, and gotten engaged, but somehow all of that, all of them, has been eclipsed by less than a year of Sam and Andy. It's a strange feeling to be a footnote in the life-story of someone he once thought he'd be with for ever.
The whispers are all about Swarek. Swarek and his new girlfriend, who Luke sure as hell didn't know about. He wonders if anyone's told Andy.
He sees her come out of the kitchen, that crumpled, broken look on her face, and realises that she knows now, either way. Realises, too, that whatever he was looking for in coming here, he's not going to find.
She almost walks right past him, till he raises a hand in greeting.
She barely pauses. "Hey Luke. Good to see you," and then she's gone.
It stings. He knows it shouldn't – a year and change since they split – but it does.
He turns to leave, sees Gail practically climbing Collins.
That does more than sting.
He heads to the Penny, and if he happens to get blind-drunk, hey, he's celebrating the safe return of two of Fifteen's finest.
