Fandom: Murder Call (hint of Stingers)
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters Tessa Vance, Steve Hayden, Malcolm Thorne, Dee Suzeraine, Imogen ' Tootsie' Soames and Lance Fisk. They all belong to Jennifer Rowe and Hal McElroy, and Nine Network. Kristine and Pete (Ellen Mackenzie and Peter Church) belong to the producers and writers of Stingers.
Rating: R (M) (Some adult themes)
Summary: Attending yet another mutual friend's wedding, Tessa and Steve decides to do something crazy.
"I always thought I was going to end up with kids and hubby one day. Maybe even a dog. Now look at me. I'm 37 and the only thing greeting me at home is my 123rd goldfish."
"Then quit."
CRAZY
Written by neela
THREE
By Thursday, the case had been solved and the files stored away in the archives. Dee came by and wiped off the whiteboard, helping them with the tidying up as Tessa and Steve wrote up the last reports and handed them over to Inspector Dirk Benton before heading to the pub for a celebratory drink.
Tessa stayed clear of the Tequila Sunrise this time around, resolutely avoiding Steve's knowing smirk as she enjoyed the company of their friends. Tootsie, Lance and her was tucked into one side of the booth with Dee, Fabian and Steve sitting opposite. Everyone had drinks and was laughing merrily, happy to see the end of a three-week chase.
Before long, Dee and Fabian had challenged Steve and Tessa to a four-player game, and they split up in gender teams as Tootsie and Lance talked lowly between them, smiling and quite cosy back in the booth. Tessa had noticed the engagement ring on Tootsie's finger earlier and felt a pang of regret before remembering her own deal. She met Steve's glance as Dee prepared the first break and smirked.
"Prepare to have your asses kicked," Tessa jested, Dee following up on the promise by downing two balls in the first shot. Fabian, the cute, brown-haired man from Tech Crime who was just as tall as Tessa without her heels (earning him quite a teasing from Steve) groaned mockingly at his girlfriend's victory dance.
"Never," Steve quipped, preparing his shot when Dee was done and downing two balls of his own. He'd gotten better over the years, Tessa had to admit, but compared against Dee no one stood a chance. In the end the two women won as Tessa did her fair share and Dee finished it all off with a flourish.
"Buy me a beer, old man!" Dee called, already chalking her cue for another round against Fabian as Steve threw in the towel and went to the bar. Tessa followed him, grinning.
"That woman will never change," Steve complained, although smiling as he made his order. Tessa leaned against the counter, observing the two couples in her view. "What's on your mind?"
"Nothing," Tessa said, turning her head to gaze at him. "Did you find the note I left for you?" When Steve nodded, she continued. "So what did you think? Nice?"
"Nice about sums it up," Steve agreed, "but really, Tess, a two-story house with three bedrooms? Unless you've got money from a rich uncle in America stashed in your mattress, I can't see how we can afford it."
"But it was reasonably close to the farm as well as to the town centre," Tessa pointed out. "Good property, nice backyard and garden. Might have to renovate the kitchen and bathroom, but I think we should make an offer."
"I agree with you, but I still don't see how to get the money to buy it. What about that other place I showed you?"
"It was a dump, Steve," Tessa scoffed. "I'm not going to live in something like that. Not when there's something better within reach." The drinks came and Tessa prepared herself to return to the booth, but was held back by Steve. His silent question was clear in his eyes and Tessa sighed. "Look, I wasn't going to tell you this until later, but...I'm selling my apartment. Put it up for sale this morning."
"What? You actually owned that place? I thought you were renting."
"Surprise, surprise," Tessa said sardonically, but softened her expression as Steve's hand gripped her elbow slightly. "I bought it after mum died. Apparently she had saved up all the money she got after dad was killed and put it into fund for me. Over the years she kept putting off money into the fund. I got it when she died. So I bought the apartment and with all the compensation I've gotten over the years for injuries on the job, I've got my fair share of cash just sitting there gaining interest. I want to use it to something good. And that's a house near your parents with a decent property and three bedrooms."
Taking her water firmly, Tessa moved back towards the booth and heard Steve slowly, but steadily, gain on her until his hand touched hers gently as they drew closer. One look told her he was extremely grateful and a little elated. She had his agreement to put in an offer.
The following Monday Tessa slept in and came to work late, Benton having granted them the morning off before the formal meeting about the Tyrell case commenced. It was with no small amount of trepidation that Tessa pushed through the glass doors and saw Steve sitting by the desk, waiting.
"Morning," Steve greeted her as she came closer, slipping her handbag onto the horribly clean desktop. She had stopped by the office on Friday and tidied up before heading home for the weekend. Opposite of hers, Steve's desk was practically immaculate. She was sure the rumours had already started. If not, people were in for a surprise today.
Tessa grinned, "Morning. Came in early, did you?"
"How did you know?" Steve asked curiously. Tessa pointed to his steaming mug of coffee.
"You made coffee. You always let the rookies do that and then complain about it afterwards."
"Well, I've got to keep them happy and feel included," Steve argued, grinning. "Though, I can hardly measure up to the great Tessa Vance." That was an understatement, of course, as Steve struck just as much awe with the new detectives as she did. She wouldn't have gotten this far on her own. They were a team after all. Strange how it felt to be a 'veteran'.
"If you want to make them feel included, don't make them handle the coffee brewing and paperwork," Tessa told him expertly. "God know I hated that patronising jerk from Kensington."
Steve laughed, leaning back in his chair. He seemed happier than usual today. Obviously so was she and Tessa suspected it was all because of the stunt they were going to pull off. In her pocket was a letter of resignation addressed to Inspector Dirk Benton and if Steve had kept to his word, a similar letter was tucked in his jacket.
"So," Tessa bent forward on the desktop, leaning on her elbows, her voice dropping low. "Have you heard anything?" It was clear what she was referring to and Steve gave her that Mona Lisa smile which she still after ten years wasn't able to decipher. "Steve!" she insisted in a hiss, almost glaring at him.
"They called this morning," Steve replied vaguely, his expressionless eyes gauging her reaction. If Tessa hadn't known the man before her so incredibly well, she wouldn't have known he was teasing her mercilessly and enjoying every minute of it.
"And?" she prompted, the giddiness making her toes flutter.
"We got it." Steve let go of his façade and grinned smugly, enjoying the transformation on Tessa's face as she broke into a beaming smile.
"Really? You're not pulling my leg are you? We actually got the house?" Steve nodded and Tessa fought to contain the girlish squeal wanting to break loose. She had never been so girly before; there was no point starting at the golden age of 37. And still, the news brought a sense of clarity Tessa had not experienced for years. This was still crazy, but immensely fun and exciting. She had never been so reckless before. Judging on Steve's happy grin neither had he.
The moment was broken as a familiar wheezing appeared over Tessa's shoulder and heavy steps signalled the presence of their boss. Dirk Benton was a big man in the non-height-related meaning of the word, already going bald except a mass of hair around the top of his head. Apart from an unhealthy obsession with paperwork, he was actually a nice and decent head of Central Homicide.
"Meeting, my office," he told Tessa and Steve before vanishing through the door again. They exchanged a look as they stood, Tessa unconsciously touching the pocket on her jacket where the letter of resignation was hidden from view, then followed obediently after Benton.
As much as he loved paperwork, Benton also loved to talk about all formalities pertaining to police work and the meeting dragged on for nearly an hour before he waved a hand in dismissal.
"Well, you've done an excellent job, as always," Benton told them wheezing as they stood from their seats, his voice dark and breathy from years of smoking. When Tessa and Steve exchanged another look and didn't leave right away as usual, he peered at them curiously. "Something on your mind? Tessa?" He turned to her.
Tessa cleared her throat, squaring her shoulders as she dug up whatever courage she had. This was it. No turning back now. The letter was already in her hand.
"What's this?" Benton asked, picking up the letter addressed to him and frowning slightly. Tessa found she had no voice, not until a second letter followed the first. Steve touched her lower back encouragingly.
"My resignation," Tessa explained plainly.
"And mine," Steve supplied. Neither of them spoke, only watching their boss almost nervously and tense, seeing the frown etch deeper into his face.
"Resign?" Benton asked in disbelief, fingering the letters in his hands. "You're leaving the force? May I ask why?"
Tessa looked to Steve, not prepared for the question. They hadn't discussed what to tell Benton or how much they were going to reveal to their colleagues and friends. Frankly, they had just spoken about the resignation letters on the whole.
Not fazed or batting an eye, Steve replied on behalf of them. "We're getting married."
Tessa was sure her eyes were as shocked at Steve's audacity as Benton was on the whole aspect. His eyes were nearly bulging out of the sockets before he could stop himself. For long seconds, the office was quiet; Benton's wheezing the only thing breaking the monotony. Then in the end, he sighed.
"I guess congratulations are in order then." Benton stood and shook their hands, Tessa feeling a blush streak her cheeks. "Can't say I'm happy to see you go, leaving me with all these rookies."
"Narr, we're a couple of oldies," Steve jested, hand firmly upon Tessa's back now. "This place has needed some new blood for a few years now." Tessa admired his ability to bring humour into serious and uncomfortable situations, and smiled.
"Well, you might be right," Benton agreed with a sigh. "But you're still some of Sydney's best and finest detectives. So what're you going to do now?"
"Move up north," Tessa answered, giving Steve a gentle smile. "Renovate a house, work, enjoy the country life." In fact, the only one of them that was most likely prone to work was Steve, who had talked to his brother-in-law and sister about helping out on the farm. Tessa hadn't decided yet, but Steve told her she should just relax and enjoy the calm as long as possible.
"Good luck with that," Benton teased her, winking. "And let me know if you want to come back in a couple of years when things get too quiet. There's always a lot to do around here."
"We know. Thanks." Steve hugged Tessa's waist as they said their goodbyes and left, her stomach fluttering so much she wasn't sure whether it was the close proximity or relief at finally having done the dare.
Tessa sat down upon her desktop, Steve in front of her holding her trembling hands in his. "Oh my god," she groaned. "We actually did it. It's official. We're crazy."
"Not crazy enough," Steve teased, "We've got a three o'clock appointment to reach."
Tessa couldn't deny it any longer. This was completely psyching her out.
Getting out of her car, she looked down upon her light blue dress and wondered whether she was overdoing it. This was after all just a small, casual affair, even strictly formal as there had been no love declarations involved. Just a couple of forty-year old friends deciding to get married. Nothing big at all. Tessa snorted.
The dress was actually the abandoned dress from Pete and Lori's wedding some ten years ago. She had been shocked to find it still fitted. A wanton memory also provided her with the gossip on why she had bought the dress in the first place. To let him see someone else than the partner in sober trouser suits jumping into grisly murder cases with a passion.
Fiddling with her handbag and smoothing out her skirt, Tessa locked the car and walked out of the car park opposite the tall, Victorian building. She had not done anything special with her curly hair, but she was wearing the blue straw hat with wisps of veil and blue flowers she'd bought along with the dress. A folly, a girl's dream. It had glared at her accusingly from the back of her closet, wondering why she had never had the courage to wear it, and still caught up in the huge relief and recklessness from delivering her resignation, Tessa had followed the impulse.
I shouldn't have worn the dress. Or the hat. It would've been fine with the other dress.
It was one of the skirt dresses you wear for work.
It's not like Steve's making such a fuss out of this.
How can you be sure? You haven't seen him yet. And he's awful good at keeping things secret.
Tessa crossed the road at the green light on high heels, clicking against the pavement as she stepped up to the base of the stairs. Once there she took a look around to see if Steve had arrived, all the while nervously huddling over her handbag. She didn't feel very confident of her attire. For each minute that passed she became more and more certain she should've changed back into her work suit. It was actually stuffed into the back of her car, subconsciously calling for her.
Pedestrians were milling up and down the street outside the Registry building, some glancing at Tessa knowingly or curiously depending on their observational skills. Twitching and shifting on her feet, Tessa brushed away strands of hair and sent longing glances towards her non-descript car in the car park.
And then suddenly someone touched her shoulder and Tessa startled, nearly jumping out of her skin. She turned and looked up at Steve who'd come down the steps, obviously exiting the building looming over them.
"Hey, I wondered when you'd show up," Steve murmured. "You look beautiful." Tessa blushed, consciously smoothing out her dress and clutching the handbag tighter. She hadn't expected that, but it warmed her nevertheless. Maybe she'd made the right choice after all.
"You don't look too shabby yourself," Tessa noted with no small amount of appreciation, smiling at him nervously. Steve had gone to some trouble as well, his suit obviously not one of his work suits. Black over a white shirt with striped tie and as spotless as Fisk's immaculate shirts. The greying hair matched well with his attire and Tessa couldn't help the heat returning to her face. He truly was handsome in his fortyish age.
"So how you're holding up?" Steve asked lowly, taking her elbow and meeting her blue eyes. There was a softness upon his face Tessa had not seen for years. "Regrets?"
It was the second time he asked that question and this time Tessa was a bit more sure of herself. "No," she took his hand, the action familiar now, squeezing it. "Just jitters," she continued honestly, hesitating. "Do I really look okay? I was scared I was going to overdo it and-"
"You're a very eye-catching woman, Tess," Steve told her gently, his thumb stroking hers. "Don't look so down upon yourself. After all, it's your wedding day." The teasing was comfortable, familiar and Tessa chuckled.
"Yeah, my wedding day, and I completely forgot about witnesses," she groaned. "Should we just take some off the street? Buy them a coffee afterwards?"
"Don't worry about it, I've worked something out," Steve replied mysteriously, winking at her as he guided her up the steps. "Just keep your mind on the vows and try to enjoy yourself."
"Steve?" Tessa stopped him, putting a hand upon his chest. They looked at each other as she chewed her lip hesitantly. "Will you kiss me?" It was clear he had given it some thought, but it still seemed to catch him off guard. Steve stared at her.
"Do you want me to?" he asked slowly.
Tessa paused, thinking it over. It had been one of those things she had thought about in the past month or so, wondering at the level of intimacy they were setting themselves up to. Like Steve had said, so far all they had were words and she could back out any minute, but once the vows had been made and the certificate signed, they were going to be married.
Married. She was actually marrying her best friend and partner. Well, ex-partner but not that it mattered. The recklessness she had operated in the past four weeks was catching up to her. Feeling a churn of emotions in the pit of her stomach, Tessa met Steve's eyes tentatively.
"Yes," she said, surprising herself but putting a lid on the uproar of thoughts soaring into her mind. "Maybe not right now, but...you know, in there. To make it...proper, I guess." Feeling the heat spread across her face again, Tessa looked away and up at the tall building in front of them. Steve's unexpected hand on her cheek startled her.
Steve smiled gently at her, his eyes soft and warm. "I'd love to."
Breath caught in her throat, Tessa felt her head grow heady and felt her knees shake against each other. She clutched her handbag even tighter as they went on through the sliding doors and into the reception, Steve steering her in the correct direction. He'd been here before to settle things after their initial visit to book and hand in the proper documentation, as well as a short interview on how they wanted things. It had reminded her of his experience again when Steve handed in a copy of his divorce papers, but Tessa couldn't care less about it now.
They took the lift up a few floors and turned down a carpeted corridor, soon entering an open waiting area where Tootsie and Fisk were waiting. Upon seeing them, Tessa stopped abruptly and caused their friends to react. Tootsie's eyes widened as she saw them and a surprised grin spread across her face.
"Why didn't you tell me you guys were getting married?" Tootsie exclaimed, taking Tessa's hands as Steve stepped away with a grin. "You never even mentioned you'd gotten together! How, when, why?"
"Erm," Tessa started, not sure where to begin. She looked at Steve. Had he told them? In which case, what?
"We didn't even know who told us to meet here," Tootsie continued, not appearing to notice her hesitation. "I thought it was Dee. She's bound to have done something impulsive like this, but you? Tessa, I'm amazed!"
"It's actually been in the works for some time now," Steve revealed, hands in his pockets, no doubt covering the evident signs of his elaborate lie. Tessa looked at him in relief, glad he took this off her hands. She didn't know what to say, but Steve always managed to stay calm and clear-headed.
"Well, you surprised me!" Tootsie said with a wide smile. "How long have you been together?"
Steve glanced at Tessa, grinning. "Long enough." Tessa blushed and she became desperate to step past this and jump into the serious stuff.
"I think we should head inside," she insisted, aware all eyes were on her and not enjoying the smirk upon Fisk's face in particular. He had always known them well and once Tootsie calmed down a bit from her excitement, so would she.
The others nodded in agreement and Tessa went inside the room first, amazed by the elegant and simple style. Red and white walls, dark polished wood and leather seats, perfected by the plain white floral centrepiece sitting on the desk separating three chairs with two on one side and the last behind it. A smiling, suit-dressed man stood up and greeted them as they entered.
"Ms Vance and Mr Hayden, a pleasure to see you again." He had a very amiable air about him and gestured to their seats in front of the desk. "Please, sit down and we'll commence the ceremony in a few minutes."
In her childhood dreams, Tessa had always imagined a church wedding and reception with lots of friends and family. She would wear a fancy white dress and have pearls around her neck, and her future husband would be extremely handsome in his smoking and vest.
She didn't have the church or the reception or the white dress, but today's ceremony was in many ways just as sweet and intimate despite the formal atmosphere. Not to mention her future husband was a handsome man. The nervous twitching as Tessa sneaked glances at Steve's lips, remembering his promise, and was caught once, caused her to blush heavily throughout the ceremony.
Soon the legal declarations had been signed, vows had been exchanged and to Tessa's surprise, rings. She looked down upon her simple golden band that Steve had conjured up from his pocket and latched onto his hand, smiling with unshed tears.
Tessa and Steve signed the Certificate of Marriage, closely followed by Tootsie and Fisk as witnesses, and they stood at the clerk's encouragement. He presented them with the Certificate and Tessa accepted it with trembling fingers.
"You may kiss the bride," the clerk declared with a smile. Tessa felt her heart leap and her stomach drop as Steve turned towards her, eyes soft and lips so frighteningly close to hers.
Tessa wasn't aware of who moved first. All her mind could grasp was how one second she was glancing up into Steve's handsome bedroom eyes and the next was attached to his soft, earnest lips in an incredibly sweet kiss. It ended all too soon and Tessa was left mesmerised by his hesitant eyes. She squeezed his hand and Steve smiled.
