Date: 21/12/99
Disclaimer: Basically Mr Hal McElroy owns everything but the storyline, that is entirely mine :)
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I'll See You Tomorrow
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Rachel Goldstein made a mad dash for the elevator that would take her to the third floor where her car was parked as she saw the doors closing in on what was behind them. It was late afternoon on New Year's Eve. She had just popped out to buy a few last minute things for the party tonight and was running late as it was. A hand emerged from the side and re-opened the doors just as she was about to admit defeat. She walked into the elevator more casually, trying to retain her composure and turned to the man whom the hand belonged to, who was also the only other person in the lift.
"Thanks," she said trying to sound as casual as possible, she thought of the times she had made fun of people running after buses and she knew how silly she must have looked.
"No problems," said the man. "Having a party tonight," he added glancing at her shopping bags full of drink and nibblies, he was aware of how dumb the question was as it *was* New Year's Eve but he just wanted to see her reaction.
"Yeah," Rachel replied trying to put an end to the small talk but the man didn't take the hint.
"What a coincidence!" "So am I," he said.
"Uh huh," Rachel said wishing the lift would get its act together sooner.
They stood in silence for a moment until..."Shit!" Rachel exclaimed as the elevator came to a crashing halt.
"What the hell?" the man said as he started madly pressing buttons and glancing up at the numbers above the doors. It wasn't helping at all though; the lift appeared to have come to a complete standstill between floors. The man glanced over at Rachel who was scanning the inside of the small space.
"Looks like we're buggered," the man said.
Nice choice of words Rachel thought to herself but didn't say anything. "There's no phone either," she said.
"What? What lift doesn't have a phone?" the man said before looking down at where the phone would have once lived before it saw the effects of vandalism.
"This one of course," Rachel said frustrated. "Just my luck hey," she said as more of a statement than a question but the man still answered her, he seemed to have an ear for listening to people, either that or he was just nosey.
"Yep, it happens to the best of us on always the best days," he said sarcastically.
Rachel leant against the side wall of the elevator while the man tried to pull the doors open but wasn't succeeding. "So...what do we do now?" she asked, this time half directed to the man who was cursing the doors for his now sore hand.
"Umm...well, we introduce ourselves...Frank," he said. "And you are?" he searched for a nametag as she appeared to be in work clothes but failed to find one.
"Rachel," she said as she accepted the man's gesture obviously in the form of a handshake. "Look, I'm not spending New Year's stuck in here," she added.
"Ok, I'll just what, call on the invisible phone over here..." Frank said sarcastically reaching for the spot where the phone would have been.
Rachel gave Frank a cold look and he seemed to get the message not to mess with this woman. "I don't particularly want to either...Rachel," he said recalling her name, "But we are just going to have to wait until someone realises that the bloody lift is stuck."
"Yeah, yeah, I know, sorry," Rachel said lacking all enthusiasm. She walked over to the door and had a go at opening them.
"I already tried that," Frank said watching her.
"Yeah, and now I'm trying it," she said. She really couldn't stand the thought of spending New Year's with a sarcastic guy she had only met a few minutes ago.
This woman sure was persistent and he could already tell she liked to be in control by the way she *had* to give the door a go herself. 'This isn't going to be fun,' he thought to himself as Rachel was scanning the roof of the elevator.
Rachel, finally content that there was no way they could help themselves slumped against the side wall again and slid down into a sitting position. She watched as Frank did the same opposite her. He was a knock-about looking bloke, but not bad looking. He was average height and had obviously been at work as he was wearing a suit and tie. She tried to work out what he worked as. He was working on New Year's Eve so it would have had to be a pretty demanding job, unless of course he was ready to go out. Of course she realised he was probably on his way to a New Year's do, she just automatically assumed he had been at work thinking of what the guy's wore at her work. She was pondering over this when he seemed to read her mind.
"So, Rachel, what do you do?"
She paused for a moment wondering if she should tell him her real job or not. She glanced down at her clothes, her brown suit looked professional and not something you would be going to a party in, although he didn't know she went to work today... "I'm a house cleaner," she lied and waited for his reaction.
*Oh god, a control and a neat freak, help!* Frank thought to himself as he looked up to the roof. One of the things Frank had never been called was tidy, it was actually more along the lines of a slob from his work mates and he couldn't stand neat freaks. "Oh thats...good," Frank struggled for words among his thoughts.
Rachel was loving his reaction, just what she had expected. "So what about you, what do you *do*?" she asked.
Frank took the exact same pause as Rachel had when he asked her the same question. He looked down at his clothes, a suit, could be professional he thought, could be for a party, could be anything really, this would be fun. "I'm a salesman," he lied enthusiastically.
"A salesman?" Rachel was trying to picture him pushing his way into people's houses when they clearly didn't want him, 'yep, he could be a salesman' she thought to herself. "What do you sell?"
Frank hadn't thought of that yet. He brought his hand up to rub his chin when he smelt the remnants of fish from earlier today when he had held a guy's fishing rod into the waters of Sydney harbour, it was the only way he would talk to him, if he caught some fish in the meantime. "Fishing rods," he said casually.
"Fishing rods?"
"Yep, every shape, size and colour under the sun"
"So what, you invade people's personal space to try and sell them a *rod*?"
"Yeah, pretty much"
"Ok, remind me to get a peep hole when we get out of here," Rachel definitely didn't believe him but she didn't pursue the topic any longer.
Frank sat for a moment looking at Rachel. She was a very attractive woman, dark hair, tall too. She seemed smart though, definitely not the kind of woman he would fall for.
"What?" Rachel caught him staring at her.
"You're not really a house cleaner are you?" he had been thinking and she definitely did not look or act like a house cleaner.
"What makes you say that?" she was having fun with this.
"Aren't cleaners supposed to be talkative little chubby woman, you know that use your phone while your not home to chat to their mates for hours"
That was it. Rachel had decided that she really did not like Frank. He was rude, sarcastic and now stereotypical. She wasn't going to give up though, she had to pull this one off just to prove him wrong and because she couldn't stand loosing, even if the whole fight *was* based on a lie. "How do you know I'm not a *little talkative woman* who runs up people's phone bills hey?"
"Well you're not little--"
"Excuse me? Are you calling me fat?"
"No, I mean height, tall, you know," Frank was desperately trying to win this one, he hated loosing, especially when he knew he was right but at this stage he was quite aware he was behind this woman. "You just don't seem the type, I mean you haven't started telling me about the best toilet cleaners to use yet or whats the best way to get rid of beetroot stains."
Rachel didn't know what to say, he did have a point. "I hate beetroot," she said avoiding a comeback all together.
"Really? I love it!" Frank was pleased to leave the previous subject to rest; he wasn't sure how Rachel would take loosing. "I bet you dissect your burger."
"Ah, yep, beetroot and pineapple, if anyone is stupid enough to order one for me with them in it"
Frank was taking off his jacket revealing a blue creased shirt and was loosening the black tie around his neck.
"They better hurry up, I don't want to watch the rest of the show," Rachel said referring to the heat that was rapidly rising in the small enclosed space and the fact that Frank was removing items of clothing. She too took off her jacket.
"Really, I wouldn't mind having an audience," Frank said cheekily. "Or being one for that matter."
Rachel gave Frank a warning look. "You're dreaming mate."
"Mmmmm, probably," Frank said thoughtfully.
Rachel changed her mind at that stage. She didn't hate Frank; in fact she was beginning to like him. She didn't buy the story about him being a fishing rod salesman but she had lied about her job too so she couldn't say anything. She still thought he was sarcastic and rude but there was something she liked about him. Something she could relate to. He seemed to think like her and even though she had only known him a little while she was sure of whatever she had to say he would listen.
"Are you married?" Frank asked.
"Was"
"Didn't like it?"
"Just didn't work, what about you?"
"Twice"
"I'm hoping they were at different times"
"Yeah, it wasn't me, took me two goes to work it out though, you got kids?"
"One boy, he ah...lives with his dad"
Rachel was starting to enjoy the company and didn't mind the questions at all when usually she would have told the other person to mind their own business by now.
"Not your decision?" Frank sensed it wasn't from the hesitation in her voice.
"Nah, it wasn't" Rachel answered not wanting to pursue the topic, enough was enough. "So you would have kids right?"
"No"
"Really? "Two marriages and no kids" Rachel said surprised.
"Yeah, doesn't sound right does it?"
And it didn't really no. Frank seemed like he would be good with kids and he *had* been through two marriages but Rachel didn't ask anymore, she respected his privacy just as he had hers. It was a funny conversation they were having, no real thoughts or emotions or depth just straight forward no bullshit answers and both Rachel and Frank seemed to like it that way.
Frank watched Rachel as she attempted to curl up into a lying position. He liked this woman. Sure she was a lier and a control freak who would probably never let him drive but there was something about her he could also relate too. He felt she understood him more than anyone had before.
"Rachel, come here," he said to her when she obviously couldn't get comfortable with a scrunched up jacket as a pillow.
Rachel was reluctant but she was drawn to him and he was a lot more inviting than the hard floor. She crawled across to him laid her head on his lap.
"You know Rachel, this hasn't been all that bad," he said.
"Oh, its been ok, could have done with some alcohol though," then she remembered the beer and nibblies she had bought earlier on. She sat up and pointed to the bag "Want a beer? It might be a bit warm but it'll do."
"Warm beer, you're my kind of woman"
Rachel gave him a reassuring smile so that he knew she wasn't going to attack him for that and went over to grab the beers. They sat shoulder to shoulder for ages drinking and talking and arguing of course about everything from whether life was really like a box of chocolates because chocolates now come with a guide to what you are going to get was Frank's point to who would be the first to get drunk. Rachel knew it would be her but she still argued against it. Hours passed. Rachel was now asleep in Frank's lap and he was stroking her head. Beer cans decorated the floor of the lift as well as their shoes, jackets and packets of peanuts. By now it was really stuffy in the enclosed space and up until now Frank hadn't even noticed it. But now that it was quiet and he was feeling dizzy enough from the amount of alcohol he had consumed he was really starting to miss fresh air. He looked down at his watch. 11.59pm. He leant down and kissed Rachel on the head just as the time struck midnight. "Happy New Year mate," he said. Rachel stirred and opened her eyes to find Frank looking over her with his hand on her head. She looked up into his clear blue eyes. She hadn't noticed how beautiful his eyes were before. She held the stare while she attempted to get up her head felt like it weighed a tone.
"What time is it?" she asked.
"One minute past midnight," Frank replied.
Rachel smiled, still looking into his eyes. "Happy New Year," she said. Then she didn't know what came over her but there was nothing she could do to stop it. Frank locked his eyes on hers and had the same idea. They both leant in so their lips were only millimetres away from touching when Rachel suddenly pulled away.
"Did you hear that?" she said looking up towards the roof.
"Nup," Frank said and went in to try to kiss her again.
"Frank, listen," Rachel said and Frank stopped just as they heard a man's voice.
They both rose to their feet unsteadily.
"Hey, is there someone there?" Rachel called out, already certain of the answer.
"Yeah," the voice called back. "I didn't know there was anyone in there, jeez and I thought I was having a bad New Year's." "We'll have you out in a sec love."
Rachel and Frank began to gather all their stuff together. The doors opened and a short balding man greeted them. "Happy New Year," he said as they thanked him and began to walk into the dark car park to find their cars. This of course wasn't a hard task as they were presented with an empty car park with two cars at opposite ends. Sounds of celebration could be heard all round and lights filled the dark night sky. The moment had come that they would have to decide whether to say goodbye or I'll see you later. Did they have something? They both stood in the middle of the deserted car park, torn between their cars and the person they had spent the most magical New Year's with.
"So...?" Rachel began.
They locked eyes and leaned in and their lips touched briefly. They both looked up again at each other as if to say "is this fine with you" but of course it was and they kissed again, this time more intensely. Rachel dropped one of the bags she was carrying and it landed on Frank's toe, it was surprisingly quite heavy. They pulled away from each other, as Rachel couldn't help laughing.
"Jesus, woman what is in that bag?" Frank said holding his foot. He looked down into the plastic bag and saw the shape of a wine bottle. "Keeping the good stuff from me were you?"
"Yeah, that was expensive stuff"
"Who was it meant for then?"
Rachel just shrugged.
"I want to see you again Rachel," Frank said.
Rachel took a deep breath. This was the moment of truth. She pulled out her police badge. "Detective Senior Constable Rachel Goldstein, I just got a transfer to the Sydney Water Police, I'm starting there tomorrow."
Frank was dumbfounded. He should have picked it, hell he was a detective too, no wonder he could relate to her so well. He was pondering over whether he should tell her she would tomorrow be working with Detective Frank Holloway. A smile broke across his face. "I knew you weren't a house cleaner," he said shaking his head.
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THE END
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