The Most Unlikely of Saviors

"What are you doing here?" she asked Tidwell, who was dressed for work in his black three button suit. She recognized it as the one they'd shopped for together, back when they were together. He still looked good in it.

"I called your cell, but you don't seem to want to talk to me," he confessed.

She looked down and sighed, not wanting to go where they were headed next. But that thought made her think of Crews and his explanation that you had to be in the moment no matter how good or bad it was - because that was reality. She accepted this as fact and looked up to greet this moment and whatever it held.

"I came here a couple times. I knew you'd be here. Knew you'd be with him. But then my luck changed and today he just drove away," he gestured with his hand in the air, like a plane taking off, which made no sense to anyone but Tidwell and her - since she spoke the man's strange verbally confused shorthand.

"Yeah, well…he'll be back and you shouldn't be here," she warned.

"Dani, why won't you talk to me?" He asked her seriously.

"Ever since that thing with Roman, you shut me out. I was worried sick about you. Turned over every rock in Southern California looking for that skell. Crews just got there first." He sounded disappointed about that fact like it was a competition not about saving her life. It annoyed her more than it should have.

"I don't want to do this," she warned. "I'd like you to leave." She climbed to her feet and pointed to the door.

"I'll leave, but first you'll answer my question." He stood firm. She'd never known him to be mean, but now in the back of her mind there was a question. Did he work for them? Was his interest in her ever real or just to give them leverage with Crews?

Dani, for all her toughness, was incredibly fragile and vulnerable underneath. It was the reason for the high walls and tough exterior - to keep people from getting close. But Kevin Tidwell had gotten close and part of her still felt affection for him. She knew it now for what it was. It was not love. It was nowhere near the depth of feeling for and connection that she had with Crews. But instead she acknowledged the simple affection she used to feel for the man who stood before her. It made her unsure and uncomfortable.

Just then, the front door opened and the most unlikely of saviors appeared, in the form of Ted Early.

"Uh… Hi, is everything alright?" he looked to Dani for an answer, her discomfort was apparent even to him.

"Who….who are you?" he directed the question at the police captain.

"Captain Kevin Tidwell, LAPD," he pronounced, puffing himself up.

"Oh…. right…so are you here on official police business Captain?" Ted inquired innocently.

"No, I just wanted to check in on Dani, I mean Detective Reese," he said, his tight smile not reaching his eyes. Ted gravitated to Dani's side and tried his best to look tough.

"Well, as you can see she's just fine." He stood slightly in front of his friend's girlfriend, the most unlikely of champions, trying to defend her and doing a mighty job of projecting an authority he didn't feel.

"But we're late. We…. Dani and I… we are meeting Charlie for brunch...lunch…uh, food and we're….wow, look at the time… running so late, " he looked at his watch and remarked.

"Okay," Tidwell acquiesced, knowing it was a ruse, but letting it go. "I'll see you back at the precinct on Monday, Detective and we'll finish this discussion," he threatened obliquely and let himself out.

Dani breathed an audible sigh of relief and Ted stammered his concern. "Are you… you're okay, right?" She nodded. "I looked up and saw this strange car and the front door standing open and got worried, not that I need to worry. I'm sure you can handle yourself, but I just thought…well, and then there was this guy… and you…you didn't look so happy."

Dani stopped his rambling speech by leaning close and whispering, "Ted? You did the right thing. Thanks." She placed a chaste kiss lightly on his cheek and drew back.

Ted for his part blushed furiously and his shoes suddenly became very interesting to him. "You're my best friend's girl. What kind of guy would I be if I didn't at least try to look out for you?" he offered, a little embarrassed.

Charlie came through the front door with a bag of groceries from the farmer's market in his arms in time to see Dani kiss Ted's cheek. He pulled his glasses down on his nose and smiled quizzically, "Ted? Remember our talk about whose girl she is?"

Everyone laughed and the moment was broken like a soap bubble in the wind.


Charlie, as it turned, out had purchased every variety of ripe fruit available from all of the farmer's market stands. It was far more than he could eat and Dani shook her head and showed him her palm. "Uh-uh. You're not pushing that fruit on me, " she laughed at him.

"That's all yours," she smiled conspiratorially. "Ted and I are ordering pizza."

Ted just stood there looking flummoxed and stammered, "That's….okay, I like pizza, Charlie. And I don't even really know what a kumquat is. Do you peel them or just eat them whole?"

Time had flown by as she examined and pieced together the components of the conspiracy and it was now late in the afternoon. They were all looking forward to dinner – real food, not fruit. Only Crews could eat fruit for every meal, Dani thought as she left the room to phone the pizza order in.

Charlie's eyes darkened to a storm-cloud grey and he became very serious, as serious as Ted had ever seen him since prison. He looked like he might do violence.

"I was not hitting on her, Charlie. I swear. She kissed me," he stated defensively.

Charlie rolled his eyes. "I know that. I'm not mad at you, Ted. What was Tidwell doing here?" he questioned, sounding and looking dark and dangerous.

"I don't know, I think I interrupted something, but I'm not sure…" Ted offered with a shrug of his shoulders. It wasn't his fault that he couldn't help, but it frustrated Charlie further. He sighed heavily and ran a hand through his short red hair.

"Why don't you ask her?" Ted stated the obvious way to get to the bottom of his quandary. Charlie just arched his brows and returned an incredulous stare.

"B-because you can't ask her…." Ted nodded as understanding dawned.

"Hey," Dani shouted as she walked with her cell from the kitchen, "what do you want on your pizza Ted?"

Ted looked sheepishly from Charlie to the grocery bags of fruit and then offered "Pepperoni?" Charlie just scowled.

Dani turned to inquire from Charlie and just as he was going to open his mouth warned "No fruit, Crews. It's a rule, pizza and fruit don't mix." He looked down at his shoes, as Dani returned to the phone, whilst giving him a patented Reese look.

"Give me two mediums, one with pepperoni and sausage," she directed, "and one with ham and pineapple," she said more quietly. Charlie smiled softly and his heart swelled, she knew him so well.


Charlie was on the patio, long after pizza, eating red grapes and spitting the seeds over the side of the hill below, while Dani brought him up to speed on her findings. A few times he'd silently offer her one, and each time she'd reply, "pass" but was beginning to look tempted.

Finally, he pulled up chair, flicked open his ever-present knife and carefully sliced the grape in two and removed the seeds with his blade, before offering the clean and neat slices to his partner. She seemed to consider his effort and accepted them one at a time. She chewed thoughtfully as the little morsels released a crisp flavor into her mouth.

"Good, huh?" he offered cautiously.

"I guess." She sounded unconvinced. "They take some getting used to." And then offered in explanation, "I'm only familiar with the grape in it's liquid version. You know wine?" she joked at her own weakness.

"But it's so much better like this, pure, uncorrupted….perfect." He whirled a whole grape around in his fingers. "I love grapes," he sighed his satisfaction with the simple fruit.

"Is there a fruit you don't like?" Dani asked sarcasm dripping from her question.

"Breadfruit," he pronounced. "I don't get it. Is it bread or is it fruit?" he was somewhat serious, but Dani just snorted a short laugh.

"Also fruitcake as it turns out is equally unappealing, but I did try it, which is more than I can say for you. Miss turns up her nose at anything remotely fruitlike," he kidded. Dani's eyes rolled dramatically.

They were once again relaxed and content. Their highs seemed higher and lows lower all day long, like a dramatic roller coaster of a Saturday. But this was a thrill ride he'd willingly experience over and over, if she'd only sit beside him and hold his hand, he thought.

"Did you hear any of what I told you about the conspiracy or has the wonder of grapes blinded you to the larger evils of the world?" she offered lightly.

"I heard. It's what I already knew. Your father and my father are both very bad men," he concluded, while slicing open and deseeding another grape for her. "They have been from the start," he paused, "but who they are, what they did, what they continue to do, is not who we are," he finished licking his fingers.

"Is it really that simple?" she asked with genuine interest in his answer.

"Who were you before you were born? Or more accurately what was your face before your mother and father met?" He repeated the Zen koan. She gave him nothing but a dull stare so he explained.

"We are not them. I am not a convict. You are not an alcoholic. Those were just things we did. They are in the past. They aren't who we are." She stared silently at him and just when he thought she was going to tell him how full of shit he was, she nodded solemnly and understanding shone in her dark eyes.

"Where do we go from here?" she asked simply.

"Forward. Ahead is all there is, except that's the future and as I've explained there really isn't any future, there's just now. Us - Living each moment as completely…" he paused as she rose and walked toward him.

She stopped and sat in his lap, "go on," she encouraged.

"Uh, well…I forget…" he offered honestly as she kissed his lower lip. She twisted in his lap and the grapes were forgotten as well. She so completely satisfied him that he truly thought food, drink and air might not be necessary as long as he had her.

She felt his hand leave the grapes and slide slowly up her thigh, as she twisted the grapes hit the floor with a dull thump. Half a second later, there was a decidedly metallic ting as Charlie's beloved knife slipped from his hand as he encircled her rib cage. If he missed either, there was no sign of it. His fingers flexed against the rough skin of her jeans and found the creases between her ribs as he pulled her closer still. Their kiss deepened and he made that growl of his that told her just how bad he wanted her.

Dani became lost. There was no distraction, no sound, no smell, no feeling but the strong lean man who held her. His kiss was intense, but controlled. He seemed to draw her closer to him with each breath. The house disappeared, the world disappeared, she knew only Charlie. If this was being lost, she'd gladly wander with him for the rest of her life.