"I told Jim to move on."
Mac knew there was no response to that statement that would make Pete feel any better. He had that same feeling once; knowing that something special might end and having no choice but to risk the loss. When it was his turn to move up and become a watch commander he worried about losing friends. The change in rank had caused some friends to drift away but there was one who became an even closer friend. Some people stay with you always.
There was a difference though. Mac suspected that Pete was right about not getting promoted this time around. It was unfair; if only Pete had listened to him and Captain Moore and gone for sergeant years ago. He understood why Pete chose to stay in the ranks; he had started at this division. If Mac hadn't had a family to support, he might have waited longer too. The truth was that he had come to depend on Pete being there to handle the overload. It was nice not having to worry about training or settling differences within the ranks. Who would take over if Pete transferred out?
Pete hadn't moved; he stood there staring into his locker. He couldn't take it back now; couldn't change his mind. He had told Jim he was taking the exam which meant he had to do it. MacDonald got up from the bench and rested a hand on Pete's right shoulder. He could feel the tension in Pete's shoulder almost as if his muscles were vibrating.
"Put on your class A and come to Val's office, we'll be waiting for you. Mac moved off before turning back to his friend. "You did the right thing."
Meanwhile, Jean was parked on the street in front of the house that Judy rented. David had forgotten that he had his key or they would be inside putting away David's things from the duffle bag. Originally, the plan was to get the boy home with enough time to hide the fact that he had tried to run away. Jean meant to have a talk with Judy. She was going to lose her son if she refused to listen to reason.
Judy got home shortly before three. She always did in order to be there when David got home from school. Seeing her son getting out of Jean's car was a shock; was there something wrong with David? Her worry grew when she saw him pulling a duffle bag from the back seat of the car. David gave Jean a hug, then picked up the heavy bag and walked past his mother, head down to avoid looking at her.
"Get back here, young man!" Judy had turned towards her son, demanding his return. When David didn't stop his approach to the door, his mother managed to take two steps before she felt Jean's hand on her arm, stopping her.
"Let him go. He's already upset." She had seen Pete close to tears as he hugged a crying David, before leaving him in her care. Pete was family and Jean always stood up for her own. She was determined to convince Judy to stop hurting both Pete and David. It might help if she understood Judy's actions, but neither Jim nor Jean could figure out what Judy's goal was.
"He's my son and he'll do what I tell him to or I will force him to obey me." Her comment was contradicted by the slamming of the front door. Evidentially, David had remembered the key he usually carried and was ignoring his mother. Jean held her back from going after the boy.
"He's not a dog; you can't make him obey you by yelling at him." Initially, Jean had been willing to give Judy the benefit of the doubt as far as what happened between her and Pete. After all, there were always two sides to a break-up and the truth usually falls somewhere in the middle, not that Pete had discussed it with her. Jim had spoken to her about the growing dissatisfaction he was noticing in Pete before he "dumped" Judy. According to Judy, Pete abandoned her and David without a cross word between them.
"Did you see what he was carrying?" Judy nodded, she had seen the bag, but it hadn't really registered what that meant. "He packed his clothes and things in that duffle bag and skipped school. Your son was running away."
"David wouldn't run away from me. I'm his mother." Jean was leading Judy to the chairs on the front porch. It was more private than standing on the lawn discussing David's actions.
"Every year, over a million kids run away from home. Don't you think some of those parents felt the same way?" Jean paused, giving Judy time for that to settle in Judy's mind. "You're lucky. He ran to someone he trusted for help instead of disappearing without a word."
"He…he went to…You?" Judy was finally starting to understand the gravity of the situation; she almost lost her son.
"No. He went to Pete, asking if he could live there. Pete asked us to bring David home because he was due at work." Judy closed her eyes and slumped down in the chair. Her son actually preferred to live with Pete than her? She was devastated but she was also feeling a tinge of anger. Jean saw the spark of anger in Judy's eyes. Had Pete done something to deserve this?
"It's not bad enough that he left me? He has to steal my son too?"
"If Pete wanted to take him away from you David wouldn't be up in his bedroom putting away his things." Jean's dander was up; she would defend her friend. "The worse thing Pete's ever done to your son is to love him. This separation is hurting both of them. Are you that hungry for revenge?"
"He said he loved me. I even took care of him after he got shot. He owed it to me to stay with me." This conversation was really opening Jean's eyes to how things had been. "All I wanted was a normal life, like I had with Dan" It took Jean a few seconds to make that jump; Dan was Judy's dead husband. "If Pete loved me, he would have done what I wanted him to, but he chose his job over me."
"I'm sure he meant it when he told you that he loved you, but people change." As Jean pressed on, preventing Judy's attempt to respond, there was one thought fighting its way to the surface. Had she pushed Jim as hard as Judy pushed Pete? "You can't expect someone to change because you want them to. You knew what he was before you ever went out with him." The knowledge that she had once demanded that Jim quit made Jean realize that she owed him an apology.
"I knew he was a policeman but I thought life would be different. You can't tell me that it doesn't bother you when Jim goes to the fights or bowling or playing poker instead of coming home. At least Jim doesn't waste his time helping juvenile delinquents instead of being with you." Apparently, Pete was supposed to play the faithful Irish Setter; at least it seemed that way to Jean. It was time to get to the point.
"You can't use David to get back at Pete. It's hurting your son. Do you understand that?" Judy nodded and wiped the tears from her eyes. "He loves Pete. Let them spend time with together. They may grow apart if you don't force them to stop seeing each other. David could do a lot worse than Pete for a role model."
"David really ran away, didn't he?" Judy's realization of what she's been doing didn't guarantee that she would change. She stepped off the porch to get a view of the window into David's room. Her son was standing there, framed by the window, watching her.
"I think you need to talk to him. Do what's best for David." Jean left Judy to her thoughts; she had an apology to make to Jim.
Pete took his time getting dressed; he wanted the break to suppress his emotions. He had to think clearly if he was going to deal with the impending press conference. Mac wouldn't have told him to get into uniform if the Captain didn't intend for Pete to be there. So far, Pete had been avoiding any news about the shooting; he didn't need to see it to know that it wasn't good. He'd been through this before, having people question his decision and protesting the killing of a citizen. When he did show up at the Captain's office, they had him wait outside for a while. He couldn't help but wonder what about this mess they didn't want to discuss in front of him.
The part of the meeting Pete was in there for centered on the facts of the shooting and what, if anything, he should say to the press. Captain Moore would be taking questions and wanted Pete there mostly for show; to emphasize that they had nothing to hide. Pete answered all the questions without hesitation, until the last one. He wasn't sure the answer was any of Moore or MacDonald's business.
"What did that message you got yesterday mean?" Pete's eyes shot to Mac, the question in his glare was answered by a shake of Mac's head. He hadn't told the Captain anything about it.
"Don't blame Mac. I overheard that you got a very cryptic message from….Judy?" Great, just great, whoever took the message was spreading it.
"With all due respect Captain, it was a personal message." It was bad enough that Judy called, but to leave that message….
"Let me decide. What does "Felix Unger" mean to you, that it doesn't mean to me?" Moore sat there waiting for Pete to explain it. Pete did consider not answering, but let out a large sigh before speaking.
"I assume you know the play?" He really didn't want to explain the entire plot of "The Odd Couple". Both heads nodded and Pete continued,
"In it, Oscar is yelling at Felix and says: 'I cannot stand little notes on my pillow! 'We are all out of cornflakes, F.U. It took me three hours to figure out that F.U. was Felix Unger'."
Both of them laughed, they knew exactly what Judy meant by "Felix Unger." Pete was very grateful when they refrained from asking what he'd done to deserve being told that.
The press conference went the way those things do. Moore briefed the reporters on what had happened the night before. Then he identified Pete as the off-duty officer involved in the shooting. The protesters shouted insults and nasty comments at Pete; he was gun crazy, anti-woman and a killer; the usual stuff. The Captain got the crowd calmed down enough to answer questions from the reporters. Most of them were legitimate questions; all of which were answered by Moore. Pete cringed when he saw the next questioner; Dennis Hansen was a slug.
"This man next to me is Timothy Fisher. He would like to know why Officer Malloy killed his sweet, young daughter." Val Moore's attempt to answer was cut-off by the noise that Hansen was encouraging. "Let him try to justify killing a young woman." The Captain looked in Pete's direction; did he want to answer it himself?
"I shot her because she was trying to kill me. It's that simple." Pete felt bad enough about it without having to defend himself before a hostile crowd. "I am sorry for your loss, Mr. Fisher."
Moore talked over the booing crowd. "As I said before, both people were wearing parkas and ski masks. Neither the survivor in the liquor store nor Officer Malloy knew that one of the shooters was female. Thank you for coming."
For obvious reasons, Pete didn't want to leave the station right after the press conference was over. He was going to the breakroom for some coffee, but Moore asked him back to his office. Pete chuckled when the Captain started to pour two coffees; Val wanted something from him. It was with this in mind that Pete chose to lean against the bookcase by the window instead of taking a seat in front of the desk. They hadn't ridden together in almost ten years, but each knew what the other was doing.
"I see you still feel more comfortable saying 'no' from across a room. One day, I will get you to explain that quirk of yours." He handed Pete a mug of coffee before taking a seat at his desk.
"So, you do want something from me then?" He took a sip of the coffee all the while keeping an eye on his former Training Officer. There was a time that Pete could tell what Moore wanted just by the look he was getting from him. "What can I do for you, Skipper?"
"I want your promise that you will do your best." Now it was Moore's turn to watch his friend over a mug of coffee. Pete's brows rose; he wasn't trying to hide his surprise.
"My best, at what? Tiddlywinks? Chess? Singing at your daughter's wedding? You've got to be a bit more specific." Pete had an inkling of what Moore wanted; it wasn't that hard to figure out what that closed door meeting with Mac was about.
"Mac tells me that you are going to take the Sergeant's exam this time. I assume that's true?" The only response Moore got was silence. Pete's reasoning was simple. Why encourage him? Moore would get around to it without his help. "I know I told you that you wouldn't be promoted this time and that's true, but I want you to promise me that you will do your best on the exam." Pete's first response would have been "why bother doing all that studying to fail" but he learned as a kid to keep his snarky comments to himself. Besides, the general question irked him.
"Have you ever known me to not do the best that I can, on anything?" The low growl wasn't heard by the Captain. "Besides, we both know that the written test isn't the problem." There were two parts to the Sergeant's exam; a written test and an interview. The promotions weren't automatic.
"No. You always do, except for when we were playing football with my sons." He smiled, briefly, before continuing. "I need everyone to know that you not being promoted had nothing to do with your knowledge or experience. Will you do that for me?" Pete didn't see that it would make any difference, but he gave Val his word.
Pete had gone into the Watch Commander's office to pick up his messages. He was planning on returning all of them, but one caught his eye; suddenly, he didn't feel like working anymore.
Sally had called to invite him to dinner.