Collide
Chapter 1
"Hey Boss?" Flack stuck his head around the corner of Gerrard's door.
"You lose another Aunt?" Gerrard said not looking up.
"Uh No" He went into the office and shut the door "I need to speak to you"
Gerrard looked at him "Is this about your sister's place being turned over?"
"Yeah" Flack sighed.
"Siddown" Gerrard shut the file he was reading.
"She's gonna be staying at my place again, when I find her" Flack said "But she can't forever, where are we on this?"
"WE aren't anywhere" Gerrard told him "You stay out of it Flack and I mean it, support your sister all you want, but leave this to someone not emotionally involved. You're homicide, not burglary"
"Boss, this is a second warning" Flack said "Next time she might not be so lucky"
"Klienman is looking into it" Gerrard told him "He's aware that Sam doesn't run with that crowd now, and that any information she had is outdated, he's looking into who sent those guys to warn her, he's been on this two years, that's how he came across your sister in the first place, they think it's drug or gang related, or both, they'll catch them"
"Klienman" Flack said scathing "Couldn't catch cold"
"Stay away from the investigation" Gerrard warned "And from Kilenman"
Flack didn't say anything else, but he made his feelings perfectly clear by the slam of the office door that left windows rattling.
…...
A couple of hours later Don stood in the doorway to the lab.
"Danny?" Don said frowning at Danny.
"Hey buddy" Danny greeted him.
"Can we talk, privately?" Don asked.
"You need some love life advice again?" Danny rolled his eyes laughing.
"From you?!" Don snorted "Hell no"
"Fine!" Danny grinned "Then whatd'ya want, cos I'm a busy man!"
"Not here" Don said "Can you meet me at Sully's later?"
"Sure, I mean that's a preliminary sure, I gotta check with she who must be obeyed first, and by that I mean Lucy not Lindsay" Both men laughed before Danny continued "But say 7? I'll call if I'm not allowed out to play"
"Great, thanks" Don said.
"It's a date" Danny grinned "Bring flowers"
"Fuck off" Don laughed over his shoulder as he left.
…...
"You have a phone" Don growled to the answer machine "To answer it! Sam call me"
He snapped his cell shut again, it was at least the sixth message he'd left, despite his sisters track record for going off radar, he was getting worried. He looked at the display as it rang.
"Flack" he snapped.
"Hey, you OK?" Kate asked.
"Fine" he replied.
"OK" she said carefully, blatantly he wasn't.
"I'm having a drink with Danny" he said "I won't be long"
"No problem" she said, puzzled "Sam's here, she said she has a leak or something at her place, I said she can stay here, that's OK right?"
He let out a long breath, Sam had obviously been home at some point then "Yeah, tell her I won't be long"
"OK, bye" she said, putting the receiver down.
Danny looked at him "She turned up?"
"Yeah" Don said "She's at my place"
Danny continued to dust the front door for prints, he'd already taken a boot print from just under the handle.
"What you expecting to find here Don?" he asked.
"Some idea to who is behind this" Don replied "The cop on this, it's being treated as burglary, is useless, he got Sam into this in the first place. She doesn't help by going AWOL either. Two guys came round a month or so ago, I disturbed them, I thought it was done with when they went down"
"I'll have to go and run them now" Danny held the prints up to the light "Try and keep it off Mac's radar"
"I appreciate this Danny" Don said "Sam's pulled some seriously stupid stunts in her time, but this is different. I've looked into the guys she worked for, they sold drugs, and women, laundering the money through the bar Sam worked at. She was drunk half the time, and on God knows what, and they wanted her that way. But now, well with Kleinman sniffing around again, and Sam straightened out, she's a risk"
"You think they're just warning her?" Danny said "You said Klienman had been warned off right? Maybe when he stops sniffing around, they'll leave her alone"
"I don't know" Don said "Let's go run these prints"
…...
Kate looked up and smiled as he walked in the door, she didn't think she'd ever get used to it, him coming home, to her.
Sam caught the smile between them, they were genuinely pleased to see each other. It was good to see him like this, to see someone in love with him again, someone who saw past all the snarky comments and bitchy one liners to the man underneath, just as vulnerable as the next. Sam felt like she was intruding.
"Hey" Kate said, standing and taking the bags from him "What you get?" she peered into the bags.
"Chinese food" he said, kicking off his shoes and removing his scarf and coat. He appreciated this, a warm house instead of a cold apartment, someone who didn't care what time it was, she was just glad he was there. Someone who wanted to see him as much as he wanted to see her. Someone who didn't feel the need to try and be perfect around him, and that he knew she didn't expect perfection from him.
Kate dished out the food onto three plates, as he sized Sam up.
"You lose your phone?" he said almost conversationally "Because I been trying to call you"
"Yeah, there's a bit of a problem with my place..." she tailed off, Kate had her back to them and didn't see the look he gave her, the one that said 'I know you're lying, and you're gonna get both barrels'.
"Uh-huh" he said "A flood I understand" he said, raising his eyebrows at her "That's just bad luck. Still you can stay here until the mess is cleaned up"
Sam looked at him, braving the furious stare, giving one of her own "Thanks" she said, her voice gave no hint of the expression on her face.
Kate handed them a plate each and sat on couch next to Sam, she caught some tension, but put it down to the fact Don had been looking forward to tonight, and now they'd feel awkward.
"So how long does the super think it'll take to get cleaned up Sam?" Kate asked.
"I don't know" she said quietly.
"Doesn't matter" Kate shrugged "You're welcome to the spare room as long as you need it, right?" she looked at Don for confirmation.
"Of course" he said, looking at Sam "Can't have you staying where it's not safe huh?"
This time Kate caught the tension between them and realised something wasn't right here. Don loved Sam, he would go to the ends of the earth for her, he'd slept on his own sofa night after night to keep her safe, yet here he was acting pissed over her needing a place to stay a few nights after a flood?
"Thanks" Sam said quietly, picking at her food.
They ate the rest of the meal in silence, Sam took their plates through to the kitchen as Don poured himself and Kate wine, he slammed the bottle down next to Sam on the counter "Help yourself" he hissed.
Kate took the glass he offered, stretching out to put her feet on his lap as he sat next to her. It was so normal, sitting down and relaxing at the end of the day, but Kate had a real buzz from it.
"Bad day?" she asked him.
"Sorry" he said, smiling sadly at her, rubbing an idle hand up her leg absent-mindedly "That obvious?"
"No" she said "You just look beat"
"I am" he agreed, but he seemed to relax, the smile softening, until Sam walked back in.
Kate looked from one to the other, getting caught between these two wasn't somewhere she particularly wanted to be, they looked like they needed to talk, or more correctly, yell.
"I'm gonna take a bath" Kate said, giving him a smile.
"OK babe" he said, reaching into his pocket for his phone.
They watched Kate walk into the bedroom, to the en-suite. Sam ran her finger around the top of the wine glass a few times, Don was texting someone.
"I think I'll head to bed" Sam said.
"Sit down" he ordered not looking up.
She stopped half way to standing, his tone said it all, she sat again.
…...
Kate read the message that bleeped through on her cell as the bath ran.
Save a space for me in there
She smiled, undressing and swirling the water around. One of the things she loved about the house was the bath was big enough for both of them to get in together, and relax.
Always do
She stepped in carefully, the water was hot and he'd probably complain it was too hot, but he obviously wanted to speak with Sam, so by the time he came in, it would have probably cooled. She lay back and wondered what was bugging him, quite clearly something to do with Sam. Maybe it was just that he'd stressed about not being able to get hold of her all day, that he'd been worried. It was also odd that he said he'd been for a drink with Danny, yet drove home, and didn't smell like beer. She'd encountered him a few times when he and Danny had had an impromptu drink after work, and it was usually from a cab, and he was at least tipsy, if not outright drunk. Kate shook her head, although she didn't like him getting too much attention from other women, she trusted him, it was more like he was hiding something from her, which made her think that he didn't trust her.
…...