The trial ended on a high note. They'd gotten the conviction they were looking for, and now all they had was the sentencing hearing, and it was over. At least, until the next case came over from the two-seven. And then everything would start over again. The thought would've been amusing if it weren't so tiring at the same time. Even so, work wasn't exactly something that Jack wanted to think about, which was why he couldn't for the life of him figure out why he was still in his office. It was the weekend, and Connie had already gone. So had most of everyone else, too…even Branch.
So, when he heard a knock on his office door, it startled him for a brief moment, before he recovered. "It's open."
The door came swinging in, and then there was Anna Flynn, the one person that he'd been hoping he wouldn't see again anytime soon.
"The trial's over, Ms. Flynn," Jack said dryly, "What do you want?"
"Drop the prosecutor act, McCoy, I'm not in the mood," said Anna. Jack bit back the desire to laugh at her. They'd met, years ago, through Claire, who'd been one of Anna's closest friends, and the two of them had hit it off. Unfortunately, however, they both sat on different sides of the courtroom, and whenever they met up, it usually led to some sort of argument. Sometimes, she was almost worse than he was. Now appeared as if it were going to end up being one of those times.
"All right. I'll drop the prosecutor act, but my question still stands. What do you want?" he said finally.
Anna sat in one of the empty chairs in front of his desk, and shrugged. "Honestly, I don't know," she admitted. "I was halfway home when something told me to come on over to the District Attorney's Office, so here I am."
That was certainly something. Suddenly interested, Jack sat forward, looking amused.
"Something just told you to come over here?" he asked, unable to resist giving her a hard time. "Are you hearing voices now, Anna?"
"Bite me, Jack," came the reply. "I don't know what it was. What're you still doing here, anyway?"
"I have no life," said Jack, with a perfectly straight face. "I decided I was going to organize all my paperwork in alphabetical order…"
Anna laughed. "You really are pathetic," she said. "You aren't serious, are you?"
"Actually, no," said Jack, "But I was starting to think about it before you came in."
She shook her head, and rose to her feet, walking behind the desk and pulling him to his feet "Come on."
"Come on?" Jack repeated, taking his coat as Anna pushed it at him, and then following her out of the office, turning out the lights behind them. "Where are we going?"
"I don't know, "said Anna, "We could go for dinner, or drinks, hell, we could even go for ice cream for all I care."
"Or we could go for all three," Jack pointed out. She turned to face him.
"You think"" she asked, and he nodded.
"Might as well, it's not as if either of us have anything better to do at the moment," he said.
"We could always go organize paperwork," Anna replied, smirking. Jack shook his head as they left the building.
"I'm never going to hear the end of that one, am I?" he asked.
"Not at the moment, no," said Anna, reaching into her pocket for her keys. "Where to?"
"I have a better idea. Why don't you let me drive?"
"Because I happen to be in a skirt, and like hell am I getting on that motorcycle of yours."
"Why? I'm not gonna kill you, Anna. I just have a place in mind, and I don't exactly feel like explaining how to get there."
"So why don't you just drive my car?"
"What are you so afraid of?"
"Nothing."
"Prove it." Jack turned abruptly and headed towards the building's parking garage. Anna rolled her eyes, but followed.
"Jack, for heaven's sake, I just told you I'm in a skirt; I can't do this. I won't."
"Then you are scared."
"I'm not, either."
"Then get on, or I'll just go by myself."
"Oh, you…" Anna shook her head, but got on, awkwardly, and put on the helmet he handed her. "I can't believe you keep this thing."
"I'm a closet rebel," said Jack, through his own helmet, "Hold on."
Anna gave an involuntary shriek as they took off suddenly, leaving the garage, and heading into the city. It wasn't too cold out, she mused, trying not to think about how close the two of them were, currently. She could only imagine what would be said if they were seen by any mutual friends. But she didn't want to think about that, either.
Her thoughts, however, took up most of her concentration, and when she finally stopped thinking, they'd come into another parking area. Jack had taken off his helmet and was eyeing her intently.
"Are you all right?" he asked. Anna pulled off her own helmet, and nodded.
"Yeah," she said, "Yeah, I'm fine. Where are we?"
"Somewhere in the Bronx," said Jack vaguely, "Not exactly sure where."
"Have you ever been here before?" Anna asked, skeptically, getting off the bike and following him inside.
"Yes," he replied, "It's nice to get out of Manhattan sometimes, I think."
"Why do you think I live on Staten Island?" Anna asked dryly. He laughed.
"Same reason I Come out here. To get away. And I'm buying."
"What? No. You aren't. I'm the one that asked you to come with me…"
"And I'm the one that brought you here, so just let me."
Anna gave an exasperated sigh, but nodded. "Fine," she said, "But I'm buying ice cream."
"Sounds good."
"It had better, 'cause I don't want to hear one word from you about it."
"My lips are sealed."
"Good."
Silence, and then both of them laughed. It had been a while since they'd done this, a while, because they were on different sides of things. And because it almost hurt to see each other, and though they'd been friends for years, it had never really seemed right. It was even awkward now, but neither of them wanted to think about it.
So they didn't. And time passed faster that way, and before they knew it, they were back in Manhattan, walking, and eating ice cream at the same time.
"This is the worst time to be doing this, y'know," Anna remarked, "I don't think I've ever eaten ice cream this late before."
"What's the fun in eating it during the day, though, when there's no one to eat with you?" Jack asked mildly.
"Never figured you as being someone who'd want someone else to eat ice cream with."
"There's no real point when you're alone. And besides, I don't see what's so bad about you eating some now; you're walking, aren't you?"
"Jack…why are we having this conversation?"
"I have no idea. But it beats the hell out of talking shop."
"Sentencing hearing's on Monday."
"Could've sworn I just said something about talking shop."
"You never said you didn't want to."
"Always looking for a loophole, aren't you? I'll say it now, then: I don't want to talk about it."
"Fine by me." Anna paused in her tracks, causing Jack to nearly trip over her, but he caught himself. She looked up at him, a faint smile crossing her face as she did.
"What?" he asked. "Did I miss a spot shaving this morning or something?" Anna shook her head.
"No, but you've got…" Someone pushed her, suddenly, and she fell forward against him, her mouth landing on his when she looked up, startled, to apologize, just as he was looking down at her.
Well, he thought, not bothering to move away, and nothing that she wasn't, either, this was certainly interesting. Involuntary motion though it had been, it was certainly not something that either of them were objecting to.
At least, not until Anna finally did pull away. Jack looked at her for a moment, and noticed that her face had gone suddenly pale. But before he could say anything, she started backing away.
"Jack, I…I'm sorry…"
And then she was gone, just like that. And he watched her go, until she disappeared from view, left to wonder exactly what the hell had just happened.