The Secret Life Joseph Oda

"Morning Joseph!" Oscar said cheerfully as noticed he was parked next to Joseph. "How are you today?"

"I'm doing well." Joseph replied kindly, opening up the back seat of his car and pulling out a large gym bag and slinging it over his shoulder. "How are you?"

"Pretty good." Oscar said retaining his cheerful demeanor. "Traffic was a bit of a beast this morning on Route 17, I doubt Sebastian is in yet."

"He was supposed to come in early to meet with the Assistant DA about that robbery case back in March." Joseph said. "He should be here already."

Oscar didn't respond, he just continued to walk alongside Joseph. As the pair walked in, Oscar wished Joseph a good day and ran off to join the other patrol officers hanging out by the coffee maker. Meanwhile, Joseph walked through the police precinct and went to his desk. Taking a casual glance to see if there were any messages left for him, he then looked up to see if Sebastian was in his office, which he was and he appeared to be alone. Since Joseph wasn't sure if he and Assistant District Attorney were still in conference, he sat down at his desk and began to get situated. While he was meticulously organizing his things, Sebastian came out of his office and walked over to Joseph's desk.

"Morning Joseph." Sebastian said gruffly.

"Good morning Seb." Joseph replied looking at Sebastian strangely.

Sebastian looked more tired than usual.

"Are you ok?" Joseph asked.

"Lily has a summer cold." He said. "Myra and I were up half the night trying to keep her fever down."

"Sounds rough." Joseph said sympathetically. "Is she going to be okay?"

"Myra's taking her to the doctor's this morning." Sebastian said. "I'm sure she'll be okay though."

"Is the Assistant DA still here?" Joseph asked.

"No." Sebastian said. "He left about 20 minutes ago."

"That was short." Joseph said sounding surprised. "I thought he was here for a discovery and deposition?"

"Yeah, but the guy plead guilty about fifteen minutes after the Assistant DA got here." Sebastian said. "Probably wanted to plead out for a lesser sentence."

"Considering what we had on him, it was probably for the best he pled guilty."

"We pretty much had him dead to rights." Sebastian said mindlessly. "With all those witnesses and the surveillance cameras in that area… He was done before he even began."

Joseph sat back in his chair and continued to organize his desk for the day. While Sebastian stood there, bleary-eyed watching Joseph. He could barely focus on what he should do next.

"I'm really going to help your help getting through today Joseph." Sebastian said snapping out of his stupor. "With the Captain at that conference and me only getting about 2 hours of sleep, I'll need someone with a clear head to keep me on track today."

Joseph looked at Sebastian long and hard. He could tell how exhausted Sebastian really was. His appearance was a complete mess. He could see that Sebastian made an attempt to shave this morning, but it wasn't the best effort, as there were still patches of rough stubble under his chin and cheeks. Also his tie was half done, which was something that didn't usually happen until after six in the evening. Grant it, sometimes his tie would find its way from beneath his Adams apple to the center of his chest when the day was particularly stressful, but for it to begin the day that way was not a good sign at all. Moreover, Sebastian's eyes were seriously bloodshot and his posture which was normally very good, was hunched over. This was going to be a really long day for both of them. When Sebastian was tired, he could get pretty absent minded and loopy.

"I'll help you as much as I can." Joseph said kindly. "But I do have to leave at 3 all this week, remember?"

Sebastian tried to jog his brain and he vaguely remembered Joseph requesting a week of half days, but it was all a jumbled mess in his mind.

"I could come back if you really need me." Joseph offered. "I'm just going to need about three hours today."

"No, no." Sebastian said. "I'm sure I'll figure out something. Let me just get a cup of coffee, I can barely keep my eyes open."

Sebastian wandered over to the coffee machine and poured himself a large cup of coffee. Taking a good chug, he managed to find the energy to carry on at least one conversation, so he went back over to Joseph's desk.

"I'll be in your office in a second Seb." Joseph said finish up his organization. "I just need one more thing before our morning meeting."

"Take your time." Sebastian said taking another long guzzle of coffee.

Joseph pulled out his KCPD notebook and got up from his desk.

"Ok, I'm ready." He said walking towards Sebastian's office.

While he was walking to the office, Sebastian looked down and saw the huge gym bag on the floor next to Joseph's desk. He was so absentminded that he didn't pay attention to it when he first came over. Nor did he see it when he came back with his cup of coffee. But the more important question was, why did he have such a large gym bag? In the five years he's known and worked with Joseph, he never saw him workout, but he did manage to stay healthy. Maybe he decided it was time to start hitting the gym.

"Are you coming Seb?" Joseph asked turning around to see that Sebastian was still lingering by his desk.

"Oh yeah." Sebastian answered turning and dashing off into his office.

Joseph sat down in the swivel chair next to Sebastian's desk then waited for him to saunter in. Sebastian came into the office and closed the door.

"So which case do you want to discuss first?" Joseph asked preparing his notes to review with Sebastian.

"I have the Forrester case file out." Sebastian said sitting down at his desk. "Let's start with that."

Quickly thumbing through the pages of his notebook, Joseph finally came to the section about the Forrester case. It was an organized robbery of a jewelry store operating in the Olde Town section of Krimson City. Joseph read through all the evidence he and Sebastian had collected, as well as the eyewitness testimony. Last week there was an arrest in connection to this crime, the district attorney was just waiting to receive the final report from Sebastian. As Joseph was reading, Sebastian's mind wandered off. He couldn't help but think about that huge gym bag that Joseph had.

It was odd; Joseph never seemed interested in physical fitness before, and he couldn't help but wonder what made him change so suddenly. He also wondered why his bag was so large. To workout you only need a tee shirt, shorts, socks, and sneakers- that bag looked like it had half his wardrobe in it? Maybe he was having a difficult situation and had to leave home? Surely if it was something like that, he would tell him. They were good enough friends to tell each other if something was wrong and that he needed a place to stay. Maybe Joseph didn't want to burden him, especially with news that Lily was sick. Maybe he was embarrassed and didn't want to ask him for help? Sebastian was so lost in his own thought process, that he didn't even hear Joseph call his name.

Sebastian looked up at Joseph.

"I said, did you have anything to add?" Joseph asked.

"To add to what?" Sebastian asked sounding very confused.

"Gees Seb…" Joseph said sounding very worried. "You're really not together at all today."

"I'm sorry Joseph." Sebastian said sorrowfully.

"You must really be worried about Lily." Joseph said. "I'm sure she'll be fine."

"It's not just Lily I'm worried about." Sebastian said.

"I know you haven't gotten much rest today," Joseph said. "Why don't you go home and sleep for a few hours. I can hold the fort here."

It was then Sebastian reached for one of his desk drawers and pulled it open. The rooted around for a bit, but then pulled out a bottle of energy pills.

-End-