Aquarius – Chapter 4
Crews struggled to the surface of consciousness and forced himself awake. He blinked against the shocking white that surrounded and enveloped him. He could tell he was in the infirmary or a hospital of some sort. For an instant he was sure he was back in prison, but as he struggled to rise from the bed, she leaned over him and held him down gently but firmly. She, of the dark of hair and eyes, a shade against the blinding white. There were no angels in prison he recalled as he surrendered to the blackness again.
"You were nowhere near the call," Tidwell asserted testily, one part righteous anger with a smattering of spurned ex-lover thrown in. Despite their breakup he was finding it hard to let go of his affection for Dani Reese and she had Crews' blood on her; he knew it could have just as easily been her own. "You were four blocks from the bank so just what the hell were you doing? Grabbing lunch first?" his anger made him sarcastic.
Her easy deflection and flippant manner were more her partner than her, "you know Crews," she argued cheekily, "he's always hungry."
"Knock the bullshit off, Dani. What the hell happened?" Tidwell was furiously whispering at her, chiding her. It was his way of saying I still care.
"What's it look like?" she bit off her words angrily. "Hit and run," she lied.
"Hit with what? A bulldozer?" he tried sarcasm to solicit more information from his former lover, but she stonewalled him. She shrugged but said nothing further; her dark eyes glittering dangerously and her lips pursed tightly. He remembered when that look meant something more than anger from the little raven-haired detective, but those days were over for them.
"The back of his head's cut down to his scalp, Dani. How'd that happen? Who hit him? With what?" His rapid-fire questions were met with more stony silence.
"So you're telling me you saw nothing?" he straightened and emphasized his height and authority. "Detective," he barked and she shot daggers at him with her eyes. "A year ago, your partner gets shot with you 50 feet away and neither of you saw the shooter. Now he's nearly killed by a car and neither of you got anything to go on. Do I have that right?"
"That's right," she jutted her chin out defiantly.
"Well maybe the two of you need to go back to the Academy," he glowered, "because for detectives neither of you is very fucking observant." It was a cutting remark, but he didn't believe Crews the first time and he didn't believe Dani now. "What do think about that...Detective?" he asked pointedly, hoping to bait her into anger and get something useful. They were both lying to him now and it worried him profoundly.
The words that escaped her lips were Charlie's, "sometimes not knowing is a gift."
"A….what?" Tidwell flashed red and registered that he about as angry as he'd ever been with anyone when his intended scathing tirade was interrupted by a hoarse call from Crews.
"Reese," the red head rasped dryly.
She was gone in an instant. Tidwell felt the heat and energy of Dani Reese leave him and was instantly envious of Crews yet again. God he even loved her yelling at him. But she wasn't his anymore. He turned on his heel and left.
The Mayor was calling, the Chief of Police wanted answers, his cell phone had not stopped ringing for the past eleven hours and he couldn't devote anymore time to a woman who was never going to love him – no matter how much he missed her.
If Crews was hoping for sympathy from Dani Reese he would be sorely disappointed. What he got instead was her rage and anger, both barrels.
"Wanna tell me what the fuck you were thinking?" she clenched her fists and stood beside him balanced on the balls of her feet. She couldn't help that she came when called, but she damned sure was not about to baby him.
He gingerly hoisted himself to a sitting position, stiff and sore and still disoriented. He wrung his neck with his hands and when he tested his range of motion and opened his eyes again she was still there staring at him. Her eyes held a fire that would never go out and it warmed him – to be the angry she had to care – deeply.
"I think we've established I don't always think – first," he answered sounding awkward, Zen and disoriented simultaneously.
"You don't think at all, Crews. And don't think that a head injury is going to keep me from kicking the shit out of you," she threatened darkly.
"Yeah," he smiled slyly, "you and what Army?" he teased.
She wheeled from him and walked across the room distancing herself. She wanted to hit him, but that wasn't really a good idea - with him already in a hospital bed. She breathed deeply calming herself. Damn him! He hadn't been conscious more than 90 seconds and already he was pissing her off. She'd been more worried about him than she'd wanted to be and now he was making jokes.
He waited for her to return to him on her own terms; he owed her that. When she faced him, he held her eyes and in them was the "I'm sorry" he'd never say.
Her features eased and tension melted from her body as they simply looked at one another for several long seconds.
Moments later he rekindled the anger that he loved to watch in her. "What'd you tell Tidwell?" he questioned coolly. She held his gaze and didn't reply.
"Nothing, huh?" he surmised. Shock registered on her face before she hid it from him. "Why'd you lie?"