Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, nor the original premise upon which they are found. I have no affiliation with the show or the actors, even if Lauren Holly one of my tweets :) No intentional copyright infringement.
Author's note: I apologize ahead of time. Honestly, it's not that great. The show on the other hand - top notch. *Sigh* Oh, and keep reading and writing, folks. You guys are spectacular, too.
Surveying the scene before her, Angie was momentarily pleased as she thought about the best way to gloat to her best friend and partner. Somehow, she'd managed to beat him to yet another crime scene. Victories like these were very few and far between, Angie thought merrily, so she would enjoy even the smallest of joys that a 2:30AM wake-up call could provide. Messing with Vega was always one of her favorite pastimes.
"Okay, Betts, you're here and I'm here," Angie began as she approached her favorite redhead kneeling by the bumper of a produce truck. "I may not be the best detective on the force, but I'm pretty sure the likes of us only get called in when there's been a homicide."
At first glance, the scene appeared to be fairly cut and dry. However, Angie had been around long enough to know that first glances were often deceiving and nothing was ever cut and dry. Ever.
"Between you and me, I think they brought us out tonight for our good looks and sparkling personality," Betty replied. "Believe me when I say that there I are places I'd rather be, too. And I'm pretty sure my bed is calling me for a different reason than yours."
"Hey! Who says…" Angie's objection tapered off when Betty raised an eyebrow to fix her with a pointed look over the rim of her glasses that said she couldn't be fooled. Yeah, Angie thought, she should have known better than to pull a fast one. "Fair enough. You win. So we've got a young Caucasian female pinned under the front end of a flatbed. I'm going to venture out on a limb to say that the reason we're here is due to the fact that the impact isn't what killed her. Tell me, what have you got?"
With a heavy sigh as she pushed her glasses up her forehead, Betty stood up and pulled off her gloves.
"That's the thing, Ang. The impact should be what killed her. That, coupled with the subsequent blow to the back of her head as she hit the pavement could have done anyone in," But Betty still seemed a touch apprehensive. Glancing over her shoulder, Betty continued, "The driver is over there when you want to talk to him. When I got here, I could only make out bits and pieces of what he was trying to tell the responding officer because he was so upset."
Angie furrowed her brow as she snuck a glimpse from Betty to the visibly shaken driver and then back to Betty. Curious, she put her hands on her hips as she waited for the good doctor to fill in the blanks.
"But…?"
Betty's look of concern didn't dissipate, which certainly didn't do much to make the detective feel any better.
"Like I said, I only partially caught his account, but he mentioned something about the girl darting out into the road like she was running from something. Poor guy most likely didn't even have time to react before making contact. Well, that, and something about her being fairly disoriented," Betty concluded.
"No ID, no purse, no jewelry?" Angie mused aloud, pulling a small pair of gloves from her jeans' back pocket and sliding them on her hands.
Squatting to get a closer look at the young woman, Angie noticed some small tears on the woman's blouse partially hidden from view by the jacket over top. She also noted the faint dotted bruising upon her left collar bone and the skewed waistline of the slacks as her examination continued further south.
Pointing toward the woman's shoulder, Angie peered up at Betty.
"How much blood is that, Doc? And is that bruising to be from impact?" Angie questioned before returning her gaze to the body.
"I won't know for sure until further testing, but it doesn't appear to be much more than a litre. Otherwise, no, the bruising shouldn't have come from the hood of the truck. I can't say for certain, but it's doubtful enough time has passed for bruising like that to settle in. Plus, the pattern doesn't seem to match. I'll know more once I get her back to the lab, where I can check out that head wound a little better, too. If she was out of it, a blow to the head certainly wouldn't have improved the situation."
A shadow was soon cast over the body before her which caused Angie to glance upward. Standing slowly, Angie was met with the innocent gaze of Detective Brian Lucas. Sparing one last look at the young woman, Angie pulled off her blue gloves with a *snap* as she turned back to Lucas. Lucas raised his eyebrows in curiosity and took Angie's right hand in his to help her step over the body.
The young detective stood before her with a tray full of beverages in his left hand. One by one he started to pass the cardboard cups out – first to her, then one on to Betty, who had moved to stand on the other side of the truck's front end, before finally glancing around and looking back at her inquisitively. Angie nodded a thanks to him before Lucas spoke.
"Um – I – well, I was going to interview the driver, unless of course you and Detective Vega wanted to speak with him." Glancing back down at the two drinks still in hand, Lucas quickly returned his gaze to the women before him asking, "Speaking of which, where is Detective Vega? I've got some of that tea for him – you know, with the honey and, well, yeah," Lucas trailed off sheepishly.
Angie couldn't help but smirk over the lid of her own drink at Lucas, shooting a quick sideways glance at Betty before returning her gaze to the young detective before her. The kid really was a quick learner. Granted, a bit like an eager and overzealous puppy at times, but overall a really solid addition to the unit.
"Go ahead with the interview," she began, "and see if you can get some of these unis to canvas the area while you're at it. I know it's late, but maybe we'll get lucky and someone could have heard or seen something. I'm going to see if I can find the man of the hour while you get started. If he overslept, he'll never live this down."
Lucas turned to walk back to place the remaining cups on the roof of his own vehicle while fishing out his notebook and pen from his coat's inside pocket. Turning to a fresh page, he made his way over to the responding officer and the owner of the pickup.
Angie pointed to the victim, and Betty nodded.
"I'm all over it; Tox screen and a plethora of other tests and thorough examination as soon as I get her back in the lab."
"Thanks, Betts." Hiking a thumb over her left shoulder, "I'm gonna -"
"Yeah, uh-huh. I got it. Tell him I missed his fine -"
Angie interrupted before hearing the end of the statement, "Yeah, uh, no. That's not coming out of my mouth. I'll just let you two flirt face to face."
"Wit! I was going to say wit! Sheesh, get your mind out of the gutter. Actually, wait, no. Keep it there. Maybe one of these days the two of you will finally -" countered Betty.
Angie threw her hand up before Betty could go any further and smirked.
"No, no. I wouldn't want to come between you two."
"Oh, it was too late for that from day one," Betty winked.
Turning her back to her two colleagues, Angie rolled her eyes and sighed. Rounding the truck and making her way back toward her own vehicle, she fished her phone out of her back pocket. Hitting #2 on her speed dial, she brought the phone to her ear as she quickly tried to think of something witty to say. It had to be good; she knew if the situation were reversed, she'd never hear the end of it. Four rings later, Vega's voice echoed in her ear.
"This is Vega; I'll get back to you."
Weird. Angie could count on one hand the number of times she'd tried to get him and had gotten voicemail instead – all of which he had accounted for by claiming that he'd been in the shower and wasn't up to testing if his phone had waterproof features. Rather than leaving a message, Angie quickly tapped the END button. Just as quickly she swiped her thumb across the screen to tap the CALL button once again. However, just as her thumb was poised over the CALL button, her phone began to vibrate in her hand.
About damn time, she thought, but a quick glance at the caller ID told her that it was Manny instead. Tapping the screen to accept his call, she brought the phone up to her ear to greet her son.
"Hey baby! What's up?"
"…Mom?"
"Uh, yeah," she chuckled. "That's who you called. How was the game?"
"Look, Mom. I – uh – God, Mom. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
"Manny? What's wrong?" she questioned as she instinctively gripped the cup tighter to keep from dropping it.
"Oh my God, Mom – I didn't – I didn't mean to…"
"Manny. Whatever it is, I'm sure it's fine, okay? Calm down and tell me what's wrong."
"I – I'm sorry…."
"Manny! You're not making any sense. I'm not mad. Where are you? I'll come get you; just tell me."
"I'm – uh – I'm at -," Manny stuttered. "I'm at St. Paul's. I just…."
"Manny, its fine. I'm on my way, okay? Don't worry. I'll see you soon."
Ending the call, Angie swiped the back of her shaking hand across her forehead while taking a deep breath. Catching a glance as the minute hand ticked past the top of the hour on her watch, she decided she'd try Vega once more while worrying her lower lip between her teeth and mentally tried to calm her nerves.
"This is Vega; I'll get back to you."
This time, Angie opted to leave him a message as she climbed in behind the wheel.
"Hey, Partner. Rise and shine, we caught one. Of course now is when you choose to get a social life, but c'mon, it's time to get rolling. I'll meet you at the station, but I need to pick up Manny first. I'll grab some coffee on my way in if you promise to catch up on the details and follow some leads."
Pulling away from the curb, Angie tried to shake the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, and honestly, she couldn't tell if it was from her son's frightened tone coming through the line or the fact that her usual human anchor had still not returned any of her calls.
There you have it, folks. I'm not sure how long I'll drag this out, nor am I sure how often I can update - But! Ah, yes, but! I'll try my darnedest.
Questions? Comments? Suggestions?
Romeo: Call me but love!
Juliet: Butt Love?! *shrugs shoulders* O Butt Love, Butt Love, wherefore art thou, Butt Love?