Chapter 6: Jimmy and Breena – June 2025
Jimmy glanced at the text message on his phone as he prepped for the autopsy at hand. He grinned when he saw that it was from Breena. 'Kids are going to DiNozzo house for the night. Hope you don't have to work late.'
Jimmy quickly replied and then got to work on the autopsy. It was a mostly straightforward procedure. The evidence and Jimmy's work confirmed that the victim had committed suicide. Jimmy sewed the chest cavity shut and returned the body to the storage drawer. He signed off on the release papers and noted that the body was ready for pick-up in the computer.
He cleaned up and dressed back in his street clothes. Once he had finished his duties for the day, he sent a text to Breena, 'Headed home. Will pick up dinner at China One." Breena sent back a thumbs up emoji. Jimmy called in the order for their usual meals at the Chinese take-out restaurant; teriyaki beef for Breena and Moo Shu chicken for himself, with fried rice and veggie egg rolls.
Forty minutes later, he walked into the kitchen from the garage with the take-out food and a bottle of sparkling white grape juice. Breena had already set up the floor cushions in the family room and the Mr. Mouth game was ready to go on the coffee table. Jimmy grinned and pulled his wife to him. "I love you, Breena!"
"Mmm; I love you too Doctor Jimmy Palmer!" Breena gently brushed her lips across her husband's. "Do I smell teriyaki beef?"
"You do; and Moo Shu chicken, and fried rice, and veggie egg rolls," Jimmy pulled each food container from the large take-out bag. He set the food on the table between him and Breena. She opened her carton and started eating right out of the container. Jimmy unwrapped the thin rice pancakes and put his Moo Shu wraps together on a plate, using the plum sauce and chicken and vegetable mix from the carton.
Breena took a break between bites for some water. "So who goes first tonight? One good and one bad thing about your day…"
"I'll start," Jimmy volunteered. "It was a good day because there were no surprises and everything went smoothly. It was a bad day because there was a body on my table."
Breena could relate, "I had a good day because we received a nice thank you note from one of the families from a funeral last week. It was a bad day because we had a mother and father come in to make arrangements for their deceased eight year old son."
"So sad, I could not even begin to imagine what they must be feeling," Jimmy commented.
"Every time we have a parent making arrangements for a child, it gets to me," Breena added. "I want to come home and hug Tori and Charles to pieces."
Both ate in silence thinking about the parents that had been in Breena's office that day. Jimmy finished his Moo Shu and gathered up empty containers from the food. Breena had some of her beef left and there was also some fried rice in the container. While Jimmy put the trash out, Breena put left over food in the refrigerator. She took the plastic champagne glasses out of the cabinet as Jimmy pulled the cork on the sparkling white grape juice. They took the glasses and the remainder of the bottle to the family room.
Jimmy flipped the switch on the Mr. Mouth game and he and Breena each took chips for two different colors. They shot the chips towards the open mouth, each time one landed inside, they named a stressor from the past week.
"A delayed order…" Breena spoke as her first chip landed in the rotating mouth.
"Gibbs wanting answers immediately…" Jimmy's chip plopped in the mouth.
"Sick kids!" both parents shouted out on the next set of chips.
They continued until all the chips had been shot into the giant mouth. Jimmy flipped the switch to off so he could remove the chips for the next round. Usually for round two, they dared the other to shoot the chip in some unusual manner.
"Use your elbow," Jimmy told Breena for her first chip. After three tries she succeeded.
Grinning, she told him, "Use your big toe!" Five tries later, Jimmy was successful.
"Your nose," he giggled as Breena tried to move the flipper with her nose. She got really lucky and the chip landed in the mouth on her second attempt.
They got sillier as they went, shooting chips using various body parts or from weird positions. The final shots were made with their tongues, but both were laughing so hard that it took many attempts to be successful.
Round three was the 'free for all.' A chip could be launched with any body part and in any direction the shooter chose. Jimmy tried several times to shoot a chip down Breena's blouse front, finally succeeding when she was bent over trying to pick up chips from the floor. Both were laughing and just having fun.
"Always works, doesn't it?" Breena commented.
"Yeah, it does. I love getting rid of stress with you this way!" Jimmy gathered chips and put them in the box as Breena picked up the remote for the TV and Blu-Ray player. She powered up both and pressed 'play' as the first of the Naked Gun movies queued. The three movies in the series were some of their favorite comedies to unwind.
As the movie started, the couple curled up together on the sofa, content with the comfort and warmth of the other. As long as they had each other, they would conquer stress and any other challenge life threw in their path.