One Note
He sat at a table right next to the window in a mildly busy restaurant. He glanced at his watch for what must have been the tenth time and saw only two minutes had passed since he had last looked. He took a sip of water and turned his attention to the street outside the window. He began to people watch, doing so for several minutes before he recognised someone he knew. On the other side of the street, standing outside the cinema was Danny Reagan, one of the detectives from his precinct. He glanced down at his watch again before turning his attention back to Danny who was playing on his phone and seemed to be waiting for someone. After several seconds he saw Danny look up from his phone, see something and quickly put his phone in his pocket. He saw Danny's face light up and followed his gaze to see what had so drastically improved his mood. His eyes travelled down the street stopping when they landed on Detective Maria Baez. He continued to watch as she walked towards Danny. When she reached him, Danny wrapped his arms around her waist and she rested her arms on his shoulders. His mouth fell open in shock as he watched the two detectives kiss. He kept watching, only able to tear his eyes away when the pair finally disappeared into the cinema.
Baez was already sitting at her desk when Danny arrived, she looked up and gave him a small smile. He returned it as he took his gun out of its holster and put it in his desk drawer. He had just hung his coat on the coatrack when Baez noticed their captain come and stood in the doorway of her office.
"Reagan, Baez, my office, now." She called to them. They heard something in her voice and shared a worried look before quickly making their way to her office.
"Close the door." She ordered and Baez, who had walked in last, did so. Danny and Baez each somewhat nervously took a seat in front of the captains desk.
"Somebody left a note on my desk this morning." She enlightened them as she took a seat.
"A note?" Baez asked, wondering where this was going.
"Yes, a note, the contents of which pertains to the two of you." She paused and looked between the two detectives seated in front of her.
"It states that two nights ago you were seen kissing outside a cinema." She told them.
"Who wrote it?" Danny asked seemingly ignoring the very damning contents of the note.
"It wasn't signed." She replied, annoyed he'd asked.
"So I need to know, is there something going on between you two?" The captain asked, already fairly certain of the answer. The two detectives shared a look and shifted uncomfortably in their seats, they then looked back at their captain who stared firmly back at them.
"Yes." Danny admitted sighing.
"We're in a relationship." Baez added and the captain shook her head in disappointment.
"You know there are very strict rules against partners entering into romantic relationships. You should have come to me and requested to change partners before anything started." She told them.
"Yeah, right." Danny muttered sarcastically under his breath.
"Excuse me?" The captain stared at him wide eyed.
"Come on, if I'd put in for a new partner the whole precinct would have found out, my dad would've heard about it, my whole family…I wasn't ready for that." He explained. The captain could see the concern on Danny's face as he realised he would now have to tell them.
"I appreciate you were in an difficult position and I can certainly understand why didn't want your relationship to be public knowledge." She empathised.
"Nevertheless, you did break the rules and I will have to put a formal reprimand on each of your files." She informed them and they nodded their understanding.
"Now, in situations like this, partners found to be romantically involved are separated and one is assigned to another precinct." She began.
"Captain…" Danny interrupted but stopped when the captain raised her hand to silence him.
"However, in this case, you did have specific personal circumstances that you felt necessitated keeping your relationship a secret. It does not excuse your behaviour, but it does demonstrate to me that you didn't just blatantly disregard the rules for the hell of it. So I will not reassign one of you to another precinct."
"Thank you." Baez told her gratefully, knowing full well the captain was bending the rules allowing them to carry on working in the same precinct.
"You will both remain here and I will begin the paperwork to get new partners for you. Until the request goes through and your new partners are assigned, you will both be on modified assignment and remain at your desks. Understood?" She asked looking from one to the other.
"Yeah." Danny grumbled.
"Understood." Baez confirmed.
"You can go." Their captain told them and they both stood to leave. They had just reached the door when Danny turned back around.
"Captain?" He asked.
"Yes Reagan?" She looked up from her desk.
"Can I take an hour of personal time? I rather tell my dad in person than have him find out about the new partner request from Lieutenant Gormley." He explained and she took a moment to consider his request.
"Alright." She agreed.
Danny and Baez left the office trying their best to act normal and Baez went back to her desk. She watched Danny put his coat back on and re-holster his gun. As he passed her desk on his way out they shared a look and she gave him a supportive smile.
"Good luck."