Chapter 3: Surfacing or "This is NOT Going to Work."
A/N: Hey, from now on, Ginny will be Phoenix; otherwise, it will be to confusing for me. LOL. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I own only what Rowling doesn't. :P
Songs:
Bad Reputation by Joan Jett-Phoenix
I Wanna Feel Something by Trace Adkins-Ian
I Stand Alone by Godsmack-Phoenix
November 5, 2010, Cop Central, Homicide, NYC, NY, America
Whump!
Detective Phoenix Gallagher looked up from the file she was compiling to find Sergant Ian Malfoy smirking at her, leaning on one hand against a stack of paperwork as high as her fingers could stretch.
"Can I help you, Sergeant?" she asked sweetly. In her head, she was cursing him.
Phoenix had joined the New York Police Department shortly after moving to America. It was amazing what a little magic could accomplish. She had graduated top of her class from the Academy and as soon as she made detective, an unheard of exact year from the day she graduated, she had put in for a transfer to Homicide, where she had been working for about a year and a half.
"Well, I was thinking, Detective Gallagher doesn't have any open cases at the moment, so why don't I get her to help me with something." He flashed her a smile she guessed was supposed to be charming. However, Phoenix knew who he was, remembered him from Hogwarts. Ian Malfoy, once Draco Malfoy, the biggest git in Hogwarts, now the biggest git on the NYPD Murder Squad. She had no idea how he had come to join a muggle police department, but she did know that nothing had changed in her feelings for him in the eleven years since he had helped...him defeat Voldemort. She still hated him and that wasn't likely to change fast.
"I'm sorry, Sergeant, I'm a bit busy now," she replied, turning back to her work. Ian reached over she shoulder and flipped the file closed. She looked up, anger sparkling in her brown eyes. "What?"
"That wasn't a request," he drawled. "I need someone to help me and you are the only one available. Think of it was overtime, without getting paid, of course."
"Look, I don't know what your problem is, but I am not going to follow you around like a puppy just because you try the macho thing. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have somethings to do." She opened the file again and pointedly started to examine it, studiously ignoring him.
"Gallagher."
She snapped her head up, a silent snarl forming on her lips.
"What?!"
"The lieutenant assigned you to help me," he said smugly. "I was trying to give you a chance to work with me of your own free will, but I guess this is how it's going to work."
She growled and slammed her file closed, shoving her chair back and rising to her feet, glaring at him. She was only 5'4" to his 6'2" inches, but he took a step back under the weight of her glare.
"Fine. But I'm lodging a complaint with the lieutenant after this."
He smirked and mocked bowed, allowing her to leave the cubical ahead of him.
"Go ahead."
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January 2011, Cop Central, Homicide, NYC, NY, America
"Gallagher!"
Phoenix Gallagher, turned to see the young woman running after her.
"Yes?" she said, her voice flat and emotionless.
"Lt. Secora is looking for you," the girl said. Phoenix nodded, turning on her heel and marching back the way she had come, boots tapping a strange melody on the floors.
"Gallagher, took you long enough," her lieutenant said when she stepped into his office. She saluted, holding herself rigid.
"Sorry sir. I was on my way to a meeting when Smith found me."
Scott Secora nodded to empty chairs in from of his desk. "Sit. I've got something to talk to you about."
Phoenix sat, legs together, hands in lap, back straight. "Sir?"
"Oh, don't look like I'm about to give you the death sentence, Gallagher," Secora snapped. "You've been working with me for almost two years, since you made detective. In all that time, you have never taken a partner. That is going to change."
"Sir?" Phoenix kept her face clear of emotion, but her lieutenant felt the anger.
"Gallagher, you are a good detective, one of the best I've had under my command. But I can't let you keep going without a partner."
"Sir, I have been working for two years without a partner. Why now?" Phoenix asked, no emotion in her face or voice.
"The commander is giving me hell about you being alone. I've defended you this long, but I have to appease him somehow."
"Fine. Who?"
"First, I want your word you won't try to kill me," he said evenly. She showed emotion for the first time and sighed.
"Alright, you have my word. Who?"
"Malfoy."
For the first time in the three years Lieutenant Secora had known Phoenix Gallagher, she showed a great show of emotion. She leapt out of her chair, brown eyes flashing as she growled low in her throat.
"NO!"
"Gallagher..."
"Dammit, Scott, you know I can't stand him! Why?!"
"You are both the best homicide officers on the force; you both get a case closed with minimal effort and have a higher success rate than anyone else in the entire division. Plus, you are both pains in my ass, so maybe now you will have someone else to annoy."
"Lieutenant...You know about my...history. I thought..."
"Gallagher, I tried, but the commander was putting a lot of pressure on me. I did what I deemed best. I'm sorry if my decision gives you pain, but I have to do what is best for this division."
"I..." Phoenix caught herself, snapping her jaws together and nodded. "Very well, sir." She stood and saluted. "Permission to withdraw, sir? I'm off duty in thirty."
"Fine, go," Secora sighed, resigned.
Phoenix nodded, turned on her heel and marched out. She hurried to her cubicle, eager to get away from the eyes that followed her. When she saw who was sitting at her desk, playing with the tiny, crystal statuette of a thestral, she growled for the second time in ten minutes.
"What do you want, Malfoy?" she demanded, coldly. She knew he had no idea of who she really was, who she had been up until that night over three years ago, but that didn't stop her from glaring at him with distaste and a cold anger tainting her eyes. She would never forget the humiliation of working with him two months ago, she had done her best to make the best of the situation, but he was almost unbearable and she had been glad to get away from him when the case closed.
"I assume you've heard the news?" Malfoy drawled. His platinum blonde hair, once so tidy and slick, hung in his silver eyes, which for some reason irritated Phoenix.
"Yeah. Get out of my chair, Malfoy," she hissed through clenched teeth. He smirked at her.
"So, the ice princess has a temper, huh? Good, I hate working with simpering softies." He propped his feet on her desk and held up the statuette. "Interesting. What is it supposed to be?"
"I don't know," she snapped. "Get out, Malfoy."
He was on his feet in one fluid movement, the thestral on the desk. His hand clamped around her right wrist, grinding her wand, fashioned to her wrist holster, against her bones.
"I don't like liars, Gallagher," he said softly. "You know what it is; otherwise you wouldn't have it on your desk." He gave her wrist an extra hard squeeze and released. "I have an appointment this evening, but we will have dinner tomorrow, get to know each other better than we did two months ago. Night, Gallagher." Before she could protest, he was striding away. Phoenix stood rooted to the floor, her temper rising. How dare he assume she would just follow his directions like a slave! Sitting at her desk, she logged onto her computer and started tapping away, downloading files onto a gig drive to take home to finish that night. Well, she would show him.
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Ian watched through slitted eyes as the woman moved around the room, occasionally picking up various knick-knacks. He knew what she was after; it was the same thing every woman he brought to his flat looked for. Valuables, glitters, anything that a reputed wealthy man would have. They would all look in vain; he didn't keep anything valuable here.
He closed his eyes, suddenly tired of the beautiful, air headed women with whom he spent his time. Idly, he thought about his new partner, the redhead who looked vaguely familiar. What was her name? Gallagher. He couldn't figure out why she was familiar, he usually didn't bother with redheads, they all too often had the hot temper associated with their hair. She intrigued him however; she seemed to have an aura of intensity that she carried to every task she was set to. And, she carried a wand.
Maybe she's just another witch who left England after the War, Chase said resonably. Draco and Ian snorted.
Right, Draco laughed. And she just happened to join NYPD? No, there has to be a better reason for her appearance. I feel like I know her, from somewhere, but I just can't remember where.
Well, either way, we'll figure it out, Ian said confidentally. We always do.
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When Phoenix walked into the bull pen the next morning, only years of strict self-discipline kept her from walking right back out.
Malfoy was sitting in her cubicle, going through the files on her desk. Without bothering to contemplate the consequences of her actions, she marched up to her desk, grabbed him by the back of his shirt and dragged him out of her chair and, keeping a firm grip on him, pulled him into an empty conference room. After slamming the door, she started to yell at him loud enough for the entire squad to hear.
"What the hell do you think you are going, you bloody git?!" she cried. "I know you think you are the king of the whole world, Malfoy, you always have, but that doesn't give you the right to just go through my things! How dare you..."
Her rant was interrupted when, without warning Malfoy pulled her flush against him and kissed her hard enough to make her toes curl.
The part of her mind that screamed at her that this was a bad idea, that this man was Draco Malfoy, for Merlin's sake! was quickly suppressed as he deepened the kiss, brought his hand up to cup the back of her neck and rested the other on the small of her back. Of their own accord, her arms came up to wrap around his neck as she pulled him close to her, parting her lips to run her tongue over his teeth, darting inside when he opened.
Phoenix was suddenly wrenched out of the daze of lust when Ian's hand slipped down to the waist of her jeans. She tore herself away, leaping back a good three feet. She stared at him, breathing hard, eyes wild, furious.
"Don't ever do that again, Malfoy," she hissed. He grinned at her, hands in his pockets, eyes roaming her lean body, toned from hours in the gym.
"Don't say you didn't enjoy it, Gallagher," he drawled. "Don't lower yourself to lie to me. Remember, we're partners now, we can't have bad blood between us."
"There has always been bad blood between us, Malfoy," Phoenix snapped before she could stop herself. "Nothing you could do will change that, or the fact that you are still the biggest git in the world!" She turned on her heel and stomped out of the conference room, growling low under her breathe. She gave the bull pen a glare worthy of a Malfoy before marching to her cubicle. A moment later, she heard someone moving around in the cubicle next to hers. Curious, for it had been empty for two months, she looked up and quickly regretted it. Malfoy was setting his things up, humming an old Weird Sisters tune under his breathe. She grit her teeth and attacked the pile of paperwork on her desk, determined to block out any thought of her new partner.
I wanted to put up a lost of the theme songs of each of the main characters in this story. I thought they resonated with the characters, let me know what you think.
Theme Songs:
Alyssia Lies by Jason Michael Caroll-Clay
I Hate Everything by The Suicide Machines-Draco
The Kill by 30 Seconds to Mars-Chase
Miss Independant by Kelly Clarkson-Ginny :D
I don't really have one for Ian. When I listen to What I've Done by Linkin Park, I think about him, but it's not really his theme song, you know? Any ideas? Comments? Other songs you think would be appropriate for said characters? I love music almost as much as I love writing, so tell me what you think!
