Christmas Break
A/N My heartfelt thanks to all those who took the time to read this new story of mine and for all those who left such kind reviews. Here is the next instalment and may I take this opportunity to wish A very Happy New Year to all my readers.
Chapter 2
Steve hung his head and rubbed his right hand through his hair and truly looked exhausted. Lee felt sorry for his friend and colleague in that moment and knew it had been pure bad luck to have stumbled upon a mugging on his way home. Although at the same time he admired the young man for having pursued the suspect and apprehended him despite being off duty.
"Listen. This is a fairly straightforward case. We have the victim and several eye witnesses who saw the mugging and you caught the suspect red handed running away with the lady's bag. Why don't I just take a brief statement from you now and I'll take the suspect down town and process him. That way you can head off to Mike's and you can type up your full statement when you're back on duty. What do you say?"
"Oh Lee. That would be great thanks. I owe you one." Steve said finally more hopeful that he wouldn't be too late for Christmas dinner at Mike's.
Lee took down Steve's statement of what happened but all the while Steve was talking he appeared to be subconsciously nursing his left shoulder. As Lee finished writing, he questioned his colleague and friend unable to hide the concern from his voice.
"Steve. What's wrong with your shoulder? Did you hurt it during the pursuit?"
Realizing in that moment that he had been favouring it a little, he righted himself painfully and stammered.
"No, I just banged it a little when I took him down. It's fine. Just a little sore that's all."
"Looks more than just a little sore to me. Maybe you should get it seen to by the paramedics while they're here Steve?"
Not wanting anything else to delay him getting to Mike's, especially just a bruised shoulder, he quickly brushed off Lee's concern.
"No, no it's ok. Really. How's the lady doing?" Steve asked realizing that he needed to change the subject fast.
Lee eyed Steve up, not fully convinced that his shoulder was as ok as he was making it out to be but answered all the same.
"Looks like she hurt her hip when she was thrown to the ground. The paramedics are looking after her. Let's hope it's not broken."
Steve was getting anxious as he checked his watch again and saw that it was six o'clock exactly. He was now officially late. Running his right hand through his hair again and shifting uncomfortably from one foot to the other, Lee could see his colleague's anxiety so he spoke up again.
"Ok Steve. I have your statement. You head off now." Then as Steve thanked him and headed quickly for his car, Lee shouted over to a patrol officer a short distance away. "Hey, Harrison! Get Steve here through the traffic to De Haro Street please will you? He's running late."
Steve stopped momentarily before he sat into the driver's seat of his car and looked over the roof of the car at Lessing.
"Thanks Lee."
"No worries man. Enjoy your meal, take it easy and stay out of trouble. Ok?"
"Ok" Steve said smiling at Lee's thoughtfulness and he sat in and started the engine.
Lee watched as Harrison's black and white pulled out with it's lights flashing and Steve expertly drove out straight behind him. Then hoping that the young man's shoulder was really ok, he turned his attention back to the crime scene.
Steve followed Harrison closely, admiring the young driver's expert driving skills and within ten minutes they had pulled up in De Haro Street. Steve waved his thanks at the young officer, who having done what was requested of him, headed off back to his patrol. Steve sat for several seconds in the car as his shoulder was really starting to hurt. As he had drove, his left arm had protested every time it had turned the wheel and he began to wonder if maybe it was more than just bruised after all. But not wanting to spoil Mike and Jeannie's Christmas Day especially after they had been kind enough to include him, he decided that he would try to suffer the shoulder pain until the meal was over and then he would make excuses about being tired and head over to San Francisco General later and get it seen to. Yes. That was the best plan he had.
He looked in the rearview mirror and realized how disheveled he looked. He had changed his shirt earlier but the long chase on foot meant that his nice fresh shirt didn't quite feel so fresh anymore and his clean jacket was dusty and marked in patches from where he had tackled the suspect. He tidied himself up as best as he could. He combed his hair, brushed down his jacket and discovered to his horror that his shoulder was starting to stiffen up a little and that he couldn't quite raise his left arm as high as he normally could. He felt a slight pang of panic and began to doubt whether he could keep up an act with his shoulder throbbing as badly as it was. Especially as Mike and Jeannie always managed to see through his mask at times like this but he couldn't just sit in the car either. Looking up at the house he saw the curtain move and knew he had been spotted. There was no more time now to think about what to do anymore. The longer he remained in the car now the more suspicious it would seem so resigning himself to whatever fate awaited him he got out of the car, gathered his gifts and made his way up the steps to Mike's front door. Before he had reached it, he heard it opening and knew he had been right about being seen.
Mike appeared at the door beaming from ear to ear and ushered the young man into the house.
"Buddy boy. Come on in. Good to see you. You made it. Merry Christmas Steve "
"Merry Christmas to you too Mike. Sorry I'm late. Things were busy down at the Office. Here I brought you these." Steve said handing the wine and chocolates to the older man.
"Oh thanks Steve. But you shouldn't have. You just had to bring yourself. And don't worry about being a bit late. Jeannie is actually running a little late herself this evening. Something about the turkey taking longer than she figured it would. Come on in and sit down. You look tired. Rough shift?"
"Yeah, you could say that. Wow. Dinner smells delicious. And I love the decorations Mike. It's looking very festive in here." Steve said smiling.
Steve looked and saw the Christmas Tree standing in the corner of the room but there was something odd about it. Two sides of it were decorated but the third side was completely bare except for the fairy lights that were lighting on it. Mike saw Steve looking curiously at it and smiled to himself waiting for Steve to ask his next question. Sure enough, knowing Steve as well as he did, he didn't have to wait long.
"Mike. This might seem like a silly question but why did you guys only decorate two sides of the tree? Is that a special Stone tradition?" Steve asked and then suddenly wished he hadn't, reckoning that maybe they left it that way as a sort of tribute to Helen Stone who was no longer able to be with them to decorate her side. Hoping that wasn't the case and looking at Mike sheepishly he saw Mike smiling broadly and was glad at least, that whatever the reason for the strange looking tree, he hadn't upset the older man.
"No. No tradition buddy boy. Actually it was Jeannie's idea. She thought that as you couldn't be here to trim the tree with us the other evening that you could trim that side after dinner."
Steve stared at Mike openmouthed, very touched by the thought and smiled at the older man. It had been a very long time since he had trimmed any Christmas tree and he felt somehow honoured to be included in theirs. Momentarily stunned by the gesture, he was glad of the distraction when the kitchen door opened and Jeannie emerged.
"MIKE? Did I hear you open the door? Has Steve arrived?"
Jeannie stopped in her tracks and saw Steve standing over by the tree with Mike and raced over to them.
"Steve. Oh it's good to see you. Merry Christmas."
Steve hadn't quite expected so intense a greeting and hadn't time to protect his sore shoulder before Jeannie arrived beside him and grabbed him into a hug. His shoulder erupted in a burning pain as Jeannie hugged him unaware of the pain she was inflicting on her guest. Hugging her back, and almost biting his tongue to stop the yell that threatened to escape his lips he pasted a false smile on his lips and tried to keep the agonizing pain out of his voice as he shakily answered.
"Merry ... Christmas to you too. You look great Jeannie. Arizona is obviously being good to you huh? Sorry ... I was a bit late. Dinner ... smells wonderful. Here, these are for you." Steve said handing her the red roses with his good hand.
Jeannie released him, and smiled at him.
"Oh they're beautiful. Thank you Steve. Oh and don't worry about being late. The turkey wasn't co-operating anyway. Dinner is still about a half hour away. What did you think about my idea for the tree?" Jeannie said watching him so intensely for his reaction that Steve feared the pain he was in would be written clearly all over his face.
Turning slightly away from her to pretend to be admiring the tree he answered.
"It was a lovely thought Jeannie. Thanks. It's been a long time since I trimmed a tree."
Jeannie beamed proudly, reckoning that it probably had been and then luckily for Steve she suddenly remembered something that needed watching out in the kitchen and turned to head back in there.
"You need any help in there sweetheart?" Mike called after his daughter.
"No, Mike. Thanks. Everything is under control. You two just relax and I'll let you know when it's ready" and with that she disappeared back into the kitchen and closed the door behind her.
Mike laughed and Steve turned to see what he was laughing at.
"You know, she does this every year? She disappears into that kitchen to make the Christmas Dinner and I'm not allowed anywhere near. You'd swear her recipes were top secret."
Steve smiled, the awful searing pain starting to ease a little, settling back to the uncomfortable nagging pain that had been there before. But this time his left jacket and shirt sleeve felt strangely tighter and he began to wonder if it was swelling.
"I guess ... she just wants it to be special for you Mike." Steve answered, albeit distractedly as he worried about his shoulder some more.
"Yes, I know buddy boy. It just makes me smile that's all. Here let me take your jacket. I'll hang it up for you." Mike said next, advancing towards Steve to take his jacket.
Sheer panic consumed Steve as he suddenly wondered if he would be able to remove it at all and taking a step back he countered quickly.
"NO! ... Actually I'll keep it on for a while if you don't mind. I ... I ...eh... feel a little cold. I'll take it off later... you know when I warm up. We ... eh ... were out at a lot of crime scenes today. You know how it is, the cold air coming off the Bay and all. Guess it just chilled me a bit."
Steve hoped he had convinced the older man but saw the distinct worry and doubt in Mike's distinctive blue eyes. Mike hadn't expected such a reaction from his young partner and coupled it with the slight discomfort he thought he had seen on Steve's face as his daughter Jeannie had hugged him earlier. Suddenly he began to wonder was there something that the young man was hiding from him but instead of trying to coax it painfully from him which tended to be how things went with Steve's tendency to keep things to himself, he decided instead to just observe the young man more closely and inwardly hoped that he was just being over paranoid and protective.
"Say why don't I light the fire? That will warm you up in no time at all."
"NO! Mike you don't have to do that on my account really." Steve stammered.
"Oh it's no trouble. I'd intended on lighting it this evening anyway." and with that Mike set about lighting the fire in the fireplace and soon he had the fire blazing and Steve could feel the heat from the armchair where he was now sitting. He had placed his gifts for Mike and Jeannie under the tree along with the others that were already there and had been touched and heartened to see his name emblazoned on two of them. Beads of sweat appeared on his brow and he worried how he would explain not removing his jacket now.
Mike glanced over at his partner and saw his discomfort. Noting the beads of sweat he reached over and without warning placed a hand on Steve's forehead.
"I hope you're not coming down with something." he announced. "Are you still feeling cold?"
Steve hadn't been expecting that move and pulled away slightly from Mike's ministrations.
"No, no I'm warming up nicely now. Thanks."
Steve's forehead hadn't felt feverish but there was still something odd about Steve's behaviour that bothered him. Maybe something had happened at work. Pulling away from Mike had jolted Steve's shoulder slightly again and he rubbed at it gingerly forgetting in the height of his discomfort that Mike was still watching his every move like a hawk. The move wasn't lost on Mike who immediately commented.
"Is something wrong with your shoulder buddy boy? It seems to be giving you some trouble."
Steve swallowed hard and cursed his stupidity. Releasing his shoulder he once more attempted a cover story.
"No, it's just stiff that's all. I did a lot of typing today. You know how it gets sometimes?"
"Here, let me work it out for you. It's probably just the muscles all locked up." Mike announced.
And to Steve's horror Mike stood up to come and massage the shoulder for him. Again the thoughts of Mike even touching his shoulder was enough to send goosebumps down his spine let alone having him massage it, so he stood up and backed away again.
"NO! That's ok. It will loosen out itself Mike. Really. I'd just as soon you didn't ... touch it ... if you don't mind."
Again Mike was astonished and perturbed by Steve's reaction and was about to insist on examining the shoulder in question when the kitchen door opened and Jeannie appeared again with cutlery and napkins in her hand.
"Hey fellas! Could one of you please set the table for me? Dinner is just about ready!"
"I'll do it." Steve countered immediately grateful for a reason to escape Mike's clutches realizing that the older man had become suspicious that something was wrong with his shoulder and not wanting Mike to probe the matter any further. He rushed past Mike narrowly avoiding the grab Mike made for his good arm, to stop him from escaping the situation.
Not wanting to alert Jeannie to something being wrong without knowing for certain, he watched as Steve feigned normality and set the table knowing his every move was now under the watchful eye of his partner. Jeannie smiled at Steve and thanked him and then equally as enthusiastically turned to her father.
"Oh Mike. Now that Steve is here, he can help us get that item from the attic for us like we said earlier?"
Mike shook his head vehemently, trying to discourage Jeannie from her plan thinking that with something wrong with Steve's shoulder, sending him up a ladder into the attic was NOT a good idea. But much to Mike's annoyance Steve continued to play along and asked Jeannie.
"What item do you need from up there?"
"Oh, it's an old wooden crib that used to be my Mother's favourite Christmas item of all. Mike forgot to get it out when he took down the other decorations and I didn't want to send him back up for it. The beams are very low up there and it hurt's Mike's back rooting around up there. Oh Steve. Do you think you could find it for us?"
"Sure Jeannie. Lead the way." Steve said sounding confident but inwardly wondering how he would manage the task with his shoulder hurting so bad. But at the same time the last thing he wanted to do was let Jeannie down and if she wanted her Mom's crib down from the attic then he would get it for her no matter what.
"Jeannie, sweetheart. I don't think your Mom would mind if we do without the crib for just one Christmas. Besides I'm sure Steve doesn't want to go rummaging around our dusty attic this late on Christmas Day. Let's just leave it ok?"
"Mike! Steve said he doesn't mind. Relax." Jeannie countered and Mike watched helplessly as the two young people headed upstairs towards the attic access up on the landing. Mike placed the fireguard around the fire and quickly followed them, getting a sinking sensation in the pit of his stomach that this partcular endeavour mightn't turn out quite as well as Jeannie had hoped.