WORRIES
AUTHOR'S NOTE/DISCLAIMER
Takes place directly a bit after the last scene in "Ties That Bind". Belongs in my "Kim and the Callaghans" reality. References to "What Do You Do" and "Confidential". Belongs to Dick Wolf and NBC. I only own things you don't recognize.
Kim blew out a breath as she walked into Callaghans and sat down at the bar.
"Gin and Tonic," she requested. Bad day. Need something more than my usual Millers, she thought to herself. She was just glad her shift was over with and she could catch her breath. Even though she loved working Intelligence, sometimes the cases they worked did a number on her. And today was one of those times. Of course, she had gotten kidnapped…again…so there was that.
"You got it," Ryan said and then went to make the drink, eying the red and purple bruise on her neck. Damn that looks bad, he thought to himself. "Heard you and Upton had some excitement," was all he said.
"Yeah. Amateur robbers who wanted to steal money for guns," she confirmed.
"And they did that?" he queried, his voice sharp and protective as he gestured to her neck. Gonna kill these guys just on principle alone, he fumed.
"Docs said it looked way worse than it actually is and if follow the cream schedule, it'll heal up in no time," she assured as she took the drink that was handed to her. Hate that I made him worry, she thought to herself, taking a small swig.
"I don't like it. Last time you got kidnapped, you had that blonde chump for a partner," the man complained.
"Roman is not a chump. He was a great partner," she defended as she took a small swig of the drink. Did she sometimes miss him? Absolutely. But she could understand why he left and even though she sometimes wondered what it would've been like if she had said 'yes' to his offer, she had no regrets.
"You got kidnapped as his partner and you got kidnapped again. This never happens with Olinsky, Dawson, or Lindsay," he reminded her.
"Look, as much as Upton can get on my nerves, she's good police. And she made sure I was protected," she assured him, taking another swig of the Gin and Tonic. Did this mean that she liked it when they got paired up? Not really. She much preferred one of the others, but it was what it was. Erin, Antonio, and Alvin had all learned how to read her body language and to deduce how she was going to react in a situation. Hailey, on the other hand, well…she wasn't there yet even though they had worked together for about two years now. And yeah, there had been some missteps, like when she had horned in on some information a CI of hers had and gotten the girl killed-and yes, she was still salty about that-but for the most part, they had ironed out their differences. Granted, things were going to be awkward now that Upton and Ruzek were apparently together, but whatever. She was a big girl and could handle it. This wasn't like back when she had called off their engagement. No, things were different now. And tonight was going to just get rip-roaring drunk and forget everything that had happened.
"You want to talk about it?" Ryan asked.
"Jag-offs tied us up, tried to kill us, and failed. Not really much to talk about," Kim shrugged.
"Okay," Ryan accepted. Okay, she wasn't in the mood to talk. That happened sometimes on her Gin and Tonic nights. However, he wasn't going to press it. Gin and Tonic nights were good. It was Straight Tequila nights that were bad. But she hadn't had one of those in a while so while he was worried, he wasn't going to stress too much. After all, he was well aware that she would talk to him if she felt like it. Smiling at her, he just continued to tend to things as she continued to drink. Now if he could just get how bad her neck looked out of his head. But something told him that wasn't going to happen…at least…not tonight.
THE END