Car Talk – Reese and Crews back in the car (again).
Takes place any one of the times when Ted is gone (back in prison, gone to Spain)…
They had pulled a fairly grisly killing in an alley behind some nightclub and were in the car on the way to the scene. Reese was driving their department issue non-descript unmarked Ford Taurus that screamed cop to everyone but LAPD, which really didn't need to be said because Reese always drove. It was becoming kind of a thing between them – her always driving, but this particular morning Crews kept that to himself.
Two blocks from the department some over anxious rookie tried to write Reese a traffic citation for "excessive speed", starting her morning off right. She was sullen and slunk low behind the steering wheel, with her ever present polarized shades, keeping the world out and her internal thoughts neatly behind the reflective glass.
Dani Reese was hoping for five minutes of quiet to get to the scene, but that just wasn't possible with Crews…He had an inexhaustible supply of annoying subjects for the car, so she was not surprised that four minutes after the traffic stop, he pulled out an apple and crunched loudly on it. She just knew he was about to spurt some random thing – the first thing that popped into his head. Her brow furrowed and her brown eyes narrowed behind her glasses. Here it comes she thought.
"The house is kinda lonely without Ted and Rachel" he said absently, almost to himself. She could let that go, no response was necessary. "Maybe I should get a dog?" Crews mused. "Hey, Reese… maybe I should get a dog." Okay direct conversation – now she was stuck. He expected a response. She settled for a non-committal shrug. "Do you want a dog?" she offered.
"Excellent question. I think I do. Nothing says home like a dog. But what kinda of dog? I mean little dogs are easier, but my house is so big, it could get lost in there. On the other hand, big dogs are a handful…maybe a medium sized dog? What kinds of dogs are medium sized?" Crews was still speaking what she viewed as internal dialogue spoke aloud.
Most people had these very same thoughts, it's just that they didn't verbalize them. Maybe it was all the time he spent alone. He wasn't really talking to her – he was talking to himself, right? "Crews you're doing that thing again - where you are talking to me, but you're not talking to me" she said annoyed.
'That's good, Reese. Talking to you, but not talking to you, that's almost Zen. Well, it's Zen-ish" he smiled and continued eating his apple thoughtfully. God damn him she thought he knows I am not thinking about or trying to be Zen. But it bought her another thirty seconds of peace and quiet.
"Hey Reese, did you notice that dog spelled backwards is god?" he said cheerfully. "Or god spelled backwards is dog?" He added under his breath like he did when he meant to think the thought but actually still vocalized it – this part she had learned from hours of listening patiently to Crews internal dialogue. Well, maybe not so patiently, she sighed heavily and still said nothing.
Crews then proceeded to spell the two simple three letter words backwards and forwards, repeatedly, illustrating his point as if speaking to a five year old child. In the past, she would have told him – I know. Crews I'm not five. But this no longer annoyed her – it was classic Crews. Besides, she thought he's still not talking to me.
"Reese" he said drawing her name out into a question. Again she sighed and looked at him. "What kind of dog would you get?" He looked at her expectantly.
This was something that elicited a childhood memory in Dani – one of her begging her father for a dog, any dog. She desperately wanted a big yellow Labrador or a fluffy Golden Retriever – they always looked so happy. She would have settled for a scruffy brownish mutt from the shelter, but her father refused to even discuss it. And when Jack Reese closed a subject in their house it stayed closed.
"Well", she lied. "I've never really given it much thought."
"Come on, Reese. You've never looked at all those puppies in the pet store at the mall and not thought about taking one of them home?" Crews' arched his eyebrows in disbelief. "Of course to not think about it means you must have thought about it…I suppose". Then again to himself but aloud and quieter "you can trust a dog more than a man, someone said that."
"Yeah, Crews you just said it" was all she said.
"No, I mean someone besides me – someone important." He continued.
"You're important" Dani responded and the instant the words left her lips she wanted them back. Jesus, I just said something nice to him. How does he make me do that?
Crews could see that he'd touched a nerve in his reclusive and reticent partner. She thought her sunglasses hid her thoughts from him, but he watched her in other ways. The set of her jaw and the tiny lines that appeared at the corners of her eyes when she narrowed her view and focused. The tension in her shoulders and grip on the steering wheel when he got too personal or she became agitated.
And she never said nice things to him on purpose - that only happened when she was distracted. Of course they were beyond the point where she would deny having said them like she used to. But Crews knew she was only that distracted when she was remembering something and suddenly Crews really wanted to know what.
Mercifully, they turned the corner and ahead she saw the salvation of flashing lights, squad cars and crime scene tape. This meant that Crews had to drop the subject for now and focus on a rapidly cooling body on the pavement outside a nightclub alley instead of what kind of dog she wanted. How very like him to ask that? Personal without even trying and genuinely interested in one of her deepest childhood desires. The man was an enigma and right now she had to stop that enigma from touching anything he shouldn't so she stopped concentrating on Crews, Crews' dog, her childhood wish and just focused on the dead body, the job. Simple, right?
No. Naturally, the dead guy had a dog and it was there at the scene. Animal control was having a hard time getting the dog to leave it's owner. As the scene was public, and LAPD was always looking out for it's professional image, they were talking over how to drag the dog off the scene –without looking like they were dragging the dog off the scene. When Crews knelt down and whistled. The dog looked up and he clapped his hands and gently called "come're boy" and the dog looked back at it's dead master once and trotted over to Crews.
She knew what he was going to say before he spoke the words and she started back "No, Crews we are not going to put the dog in the car" she started shaking her head back and forth vigorously. "Absolutely not, Crews" she put both feet down firmly.
Crews and the dog both looked up at her and smiled. She wasn't sure how a dog could manage a smile, but this one did. It was a mess, matted hair, one ear stood up and the other flopped over. It had a scruffy coat of a brownish color, and was a middle sized terrier sort dog with a black spot over one eye. It's tongue lolled from the side of it's mouth and the dog cocked his head to the side and just looked from her to Crews and back again, like a child watching their parents argue.
"Aw, come on Reese. He's just lost his master, quite possibly his best friend in the world. Although just because dog is man's best friend, does that mean that man is dog's best friend?" he continued as his internal aside.
"Crews" Reese hissed. "Stop with the dog already – we've got real work to do. Remember the dead guy?"
"Reese, come on. This – this is a face only a mother could love. I mean look at this face." Crews gestured and scratched the dog between the ears. "Please…"
Dani rolled her eyes and relented – just as Charlie knew she would. She stood aside and pressed the keyless entry to unlock the doors so Crews could put the dog in the backseat. She walked around the front and opened her door.
"Are we leaving?" Crews asked.
"No, Crews. But you can't leave a dog in the car in LA. The heat will kill it."
"Him – it's a him" Crews offered.
"Fine, the heat will kill HIM" Reese said starting the car and turning the air on high.
The dog for his part just stood in the back with his head resting on the console enjoying the air. "So help me Crews, if this dog eats my car, you are buying LAPD a new one." She chastised him and then giving a reproachful look at the dog. Reese then decided the safest place for her coffee cup would be in the drink holder after the way her morning was going. She looked at the dog in the rearview and said quietly "be a good dog" and the dog leaned forward and licked the back of her ear tickling her. "Hey, and keep your tongue to yourself Mister", smiling in spite of herself.
The crime scene was fairly straight forward, your garden variety homeless guy stabbed to death for his shoes and whatever spare change was in his pockets. The perp left the knife in the body, prints were all over it and the bad guy was probably a known offender with prints in the system. Animal Control however, took the break and fled the scene before any change in custody of the dog could occur, leaving one filthy, smelly canine in the custody of the detectives when they cleared the scene and left the mop up to CSI.
"Crews, the whole car smells like a wet dog" Reese complained. "And he drank my coffee" she said looking at the empty cup in the drink holder.
"Boy, you are in more trouble than me – and that's hard to do" Charlie said to the dog cheerfully. "You drank her coffee? Now Reese is going to make you ride in the back all the way to the station" he told the dog.
"Crews we can't take this dog to the station" she said looking at the dog in the rear view.
"And why is that Detective Reese?" Charlie mocked her. Somewhere between the coffee and the ear licking Dani discovered she couldn't send the dog to the pound any more than she could send those kids from the mall to children's services. And he knew it when he got her to put the damned dog in the car in the first place.
"And stop talking to the dog" she commanded. "And you" she pointedly fixed the dog's eyes in the rear view "lie down" and to her great surprise he did just that.
"Did you see that? He's very disciplined. I bet we clean him up he'll be a fine dog" Crews chattered excitedly.
"Crews we are not keeping this dog" she said sternly.
"Reese, how about we call him Champ?" he continued right on grinning like an excited child. An eager, excited little ten year old boy that's what he reminded her of. "How bout we take him home, get him cleaned up and see what he looks like under all that alley?" Reese was just thinking how do I get myself into this stuff, how does he do this all the time? But before she knew it their unmarked was arriving in front of Crews' house.
Crews was chattering away about towels and the tub in the master bath and talking excited gibberish to the dog, whose name was now "Champ" officially, since he answered to it and pretty much anything Crews said. He could have called the dog Tidwell and it would have come running she thought. Better not to share that bit with Crews.
The giant garden tub in Crews master bath was full of soap and hot water, following an argument over whether a dog should be bathed in warm or cool water, which Crews lost. The dog as it turned out wasn't brown at all, it was almost blonde and once the matting was combed out – it was fluffy, with a black spot over one eye – at least that part didn't wash off, Reese thought.
Champ, as it turned out was wise to the bath thing and no amount of coaxing by Crews or stern direction from Reese could convince him into the tub. "I think as parents we are an abject failure" Crews announced finally settling on scooping the dog up and climbing into the tub with him. It took both of them to keep Champ in the tub and by the time it was over, they were both soaked; Charlie by design and Dani by default.
After the dog was toweled dry or dry-ish as Crews announced they stood in the mirror drying themselves and laughing at their bedraggled appearance. Reese had gone beyond being angry with him and allowed herself to feel the joy that comes with pet ownership. Crews offered Reese one of his LAPD sweatshirts to wear and went downstairs to find the dog something to eat.
Neither had looked at their phones in a long time, not wanting to subject the delicate electronics to a dog bath. Reese had three messages from Tidwell, which she chose to ignore, not exactly certain how she would explain the dog or how it became their collective responsibility. When she got downstairs, she could hear Crews talking to dog like one would a small child. She imagined Crews with children and wondered why he and his wife never had any. No time, before the prison thing she thought.
"So what do you want for dinner Champ? What looks good to you?" Crews was asking the dog.
"You can't feed a dog fruit, Crews" Reese said announcing her presence. She was smiling and Reese hardly ever smiled.
"Look Champ, it's Dani. Let's see if Dani's up for take out." Crews grinned. "Only if Charlie's paying and it's Chinese, huh buddy?" Jesus, now I'm talking to the dog, Dani thought. The transition to first names was subtle and as it turned out simple, given the proper setting and canine company.
Charlie ordered Szechuan heavy on the chicken, with egg rolls for Dani and extra fortune cookies for Crews. They sat on his couch in his living room in companionable silence and shared their meals with Champ who sat on the floor, because there must be rules Dani insisted – no dogs on the furniture. Testing his level of training, Dani went through simple commands like "sit" and "lie down" which Crews insisted they had already established Champ knew. This sidebar annoyed Champ, who let them both know the snacks were taking to long with a short bark. "Shhh" Dani said prompting both Champ and Charlie both to whine.
"See Reese he knows it. He's a smart dog, just give him the food" Crews begged her. Champ changed sides sensing Charlie was the softer touch and nudged his knee earning him a chunk of chicken.
"So that's how it's going to be huh? I tell him to do something and you just let him have it anyway?" Dani's eyes smiled.
"Well, it's good cop, bad cop" Charlie countered "I'm just the good cop and you're just…"
"What?" Dani was fairly grinning herself now. Not remembering the last time she'd had this much fun with anyone or felt so relaxed. "I'm a bad cop?" she said.
"No more like mom." Charlie said prompting a new atmosphere to creep into the room. It was more like parents and less like partners or more like what their partnership could be with very little effort. They both felt it. Champ wasting no time stole an egg roll and dragged it into the corner. Charlie watched to see what Dani would do and when it was apparent she wasn't going to bolt. He offered "that's what my mom did, she was one who said "no" in our house. My dad was "sure whatever the kid wants", but mom usually put her foot down and said no". It was the truth and a part of his past that Charlie never spoke of.
"Crews, what happened to your mom?" Dani asked quietly.
"She died while I was in prison. Two years before I got out." Charlie said flatly. "And I know – you're sorry. I'm sorry. Everyone is sorry, except my father who wouldn't let her visit me. The whole time I was there I spent hating him for that. I still hate him now" he said, the bitterness seeping out from under the cool Zen exterior.
Dani had no idea what to say. What can you say to something like that she wondered. She thought about leaving right then, but didn't want to abandon Crews with that thought. "Well, as you know, my father is a complete bastard – so we have that in common" she offered.
"Tell me about your mother, Reese" Crews asked her quietly.
"Uh, well, she's from Iran originally and she's about 55 now. They live in the city, which you know…" Charlie reached out and took her hand and asked even more quietly "no, Dani tell me about your mom".
She sat still, looking down at their joined hands for a moment before returning her eyes to his face and speaking. "My mom is a wonder. She lives with a man who can't or won't show affection – hasn't for years. She built a home and made me feel like I mattered and she's beautiful, elegant and possesses a strength I don't know if I could ever match". An absolute truth – that's what she gave Crews – clear and powerful.
Crews sighed and said honestly "I see those same things in you, Dani" he paused a beat and added "except the loveless marriage. You'll find someone who will love you completely – the way you deserve, someone who'll be a good father to your kids and who will always be your partner. I know this. Its what you deserve."
"You don't know me Crews" she said full of shame for all the things he didn't know about that she did before they were partners.
Tipping her chin up with his finger tips, Charlie told her "I know everything I need to." Crews said. "Besides dog's are excellent judges of character and Champ loves you" he laughed.
"Champ fears me" she laughed in return. And Champ hearing his name so often decided he was invited onto the couch and hopped up between them, licking them both on the face repeatedly. "Hey, I said no dogs on the furniture" Dani said smiling and lifting her head above the fray. Charlie simply grabbed the dog by the face and soundly kissed him right on the mouth with a big smacking sound. Dani laughed, Charlie laughed and Champ was confused but dangerously close to snagging another egg roll.
They collapsed in a happy huddle on the couch, with Charlie eventually pushing Champ onto the floor and holding Dani while she slept against his chest. When she awoke Dani had the impression of being a child again, being safe and warm in her own home. The fluffy yellow dog she'd wanted as a child was lying on the floor beside her and she was cradled by the strong arms of Charlie Crews and could feel his chest rise and fall. For just a moment, she let herself enjoy the feeling of belonging somewhere, belonging to some one.
Then she turned in his arms to tell him she was leaving and his sleepy eyes fluttered open, clear and blue. He stroked the side of her face and kissed her lightly. Her hands were pressed against his chest and she just lowered her body slightly and deepened the kiss. She wouldn't recall why she did it, just that she did and that her actions provoked something bordering on growl from Crews. He took her face in both hands and kissed her soundly, not stopping until they were both in need of oxygen.
Uncertain of his next move, Charlie just looked at her and told her "you are beautiful and elegant and worth every ounce of effort just to make you smile."
"You are a crazy man and you drive me insane, but I think you're starting to grow on me, so don't give up" she said and then turned to gather her things and leave.
"Dani" Charlie called after her. "Do you want to take the dog?"
"No, Charlie. You keep him. I imagine it gets lonely here with Ted and Rachel gone" she said. "Besides I have a feeling, he wouldn't like Tidwell" she reminded him of where she was going next.
"Well Champ, looks like it's just you and me for now, but don't worry she'll be back" Charlie smiled as he told the dog while Dani's car disappeared down the hill into the LA night.
"How do you feel about ice cream? If we can't have Dani, we can at least have ice cream."