Chapter 7- Facebook And Farewells

November 20th, 2005.

Don was in the lab sharing a pizza with Danny, Lindsay, Stella, and Hawkes. He didn't count on Mac showing up, and it was a rare day when he did. He ate up here when he could because no one at the precinct liked him – they all thought he had risen up the ranks as quickly as he had because of who his father had been, which hadn't been the case. He had gotten where he was fair and square, although his fellow cadets during his academy days had disliked him for being the prodigal son. That was why he liked Danny. Danny had been the black sheep in an outlaw family, and everyone had thought he was a bad seed, so his fellow cadets had ignored him too. Both men knew they would have each other's back through thick and thin.

However, the things Danny had been saying about Paige were enough to make Don's blood boil and enough for Lindsay to look up from the laptop she had borrowed from Adam. Don had been telling them about their most recent date, but had decided not to talk about what had happened afterwards. That was when Danny had started.

"Tell me you banged her, man," said Danny.

Stella spat out the water she had been drinking.

"Banged her?" said Sheldon.

Lindsay shook her head. Don decided the best thing to do was ignore Danny before the urge to punch him became strong enough.

"Lindsay, what is that?" said Don.

"Facebook," said Lindsay. "It's a social networking site, you can add your friends, and there's all sorts of stuff you can do on your page to tailor your interests. I got everyone on the team but you and Mac on my Friends list – he knows about the site but refuses to get it."

"I think Paige has one," said Don.

"You guys can stay in touch while she's away with this," said Lindsay. "I'll help you make a page."

"Go crazy," said Don.

"Blah blah blah blah blah," said Danny.

Stella and Sheldon both left, obviously annoyed at Danny's immature behavior. Soon Don was done with his page. He sent Paige a friend request, followed by Danny and the rest of the team.

"So what's your status gonna be?" said Lindsay.

"No idea," said Don.

He read Paige's. Hers said "Paige is going home tomorrow."

He scrolled down a little more and saw that her relationship status was "in a relationship." A lot of people had commented, and still were, mostly people that seemed to be from her hometown. Soon he got paged by the precinct and had to leave. Unbeknownst to him, Danny was muttering "virgin alert" under his breath. The Staten Island native quit his childish antics when Lindsay whacked him over the head with the pizza box.

************************************************************************

Paige heard the bells chime in Starbucks and saw Don enter out of the corner of her eye.

"C'mere," said Don.

Paige abandoned her stuff and walked over, giving him a hug when she was close enough. She heard him wince and she withdrew.

"Donnie, what happened?" said Paige.

"It's nothing," said Don.

"I didn't hug you that hard," said Paige. "What happened at work?"

Don rolled his eyes and led Paige to the couch they always sat at. She had ordered a frap a while ago. Don bought a bottled water and then joined her.

"I got kicked in the stomach," said Don.

"Ouch," said Paige.

"I hate it when they run," said Don. "I had tackled the guy and was putting the cuffs on when he kicked me right in the gut."

"Then I had to go and hug you and hurt you even more," said Paige. "Sorry."

"It's not your fault, it's his fault," said Don. "Not only am I gonna be sore for a few days but my drycleaner is charging me extra."

"I hate it when things get more expensive," said Paige. "Wanna know what really pisses me off? I was watching the news one night during my freshman year, and some girl at Chelsea got busted for dealing heroin – she still made money before they took her in!"

"I worked that case," said Don.

"Why does living honestly mean that I'm close to broke half the time?" said Paige. "Sorry, I'm rambling about my money annoyances again – you got hurt at work so I'm shutting my mouth."

"I wanna take my mind off it, so talk," said Don.

"These drug dealers are swimming in it and I can't get part-time work to save my life," said Paige. "I've applied everywhere, they won't take my 'cuz I'm a full-time student."

Don watched his girlfriend roll her eyes and take a long sip of her coffee drink. It wasn't fair. Drug dealers on campus were living comfortably while students like Paige trying to stay out of that stuff had to make sure they didn't overspend, or else.

"I thought you had a full scholarship," said Don.

"I do, but last I checked it didn't pay for groceries and other necessities of that nature," said Paige. "I'll have to come up with something new. Hustling the guys with poker is out of the question."

"Why is that?" said Don.

"I used my cleavage as a distraction and that's disrespectful to you, so I won't do it," said Paige. "Or maybe I could just count on them getting wasted on their scotch. That works too. They forget what they're holding."

Don tried to laugh, but let out a nasty groan.

"You should go home and rest," said Paige.

"I probably should," said Don. "Just got a question for you."

He asked her a bit about Facebook. He could see the laptop on her lap, her Facebook page on it.

"Oh that reminds me – you gotta be kidding!" said Paige. "My friend Candace is so busted!"

Don looked at Candace's page. It read "Candace says that was the dopest dope I ever smoked."

He rolled his eyes. He could hear Paige laughing and saying "stupid" over and over.

"I take it this is someone you know back in Nashua?" said Don.

"Yeah," said Paige. "I met Candace my senior year of high school. She and her friends, including me, would always go to the train tracks behind my house. I was the only one who ever left sober."

"You still hang out with this group?" said Don.

"Just when I'm home, they haven't come up here yet," said Paige. "It's gonna be pretty boring. I'll probably be with them at the mall making fun of the mall cops."

"Cut those poor men some slack," said Don.

"I highly doubt you ride a segway when chasing the bad guy," said Paige. "To make matters worse I'm a former track star who is fast enough to out-walk them, much less out-run them."

"You're right, they look pretty stupid," said Don.

Don put an arm around her, wanting to sit with her just a little bit longer. He wondered where her friends were. They came in sometimes. The ones he saw most were Rhonda, who had a nasty addiction to caffeine, and Ian, who liked his wi-fi.

"I'm gonna miss you when you go," said Don. "What day did you say you were coming back?"

"A week from today," said Paige. "I'm gonna go to Grand Central tomorrow, take the New Haven Line to State Street Station in Connecticut. My aunt is gonna drive me to Union Station and I'll take the Acela to Boston South Station from there, meet up with my parents and my sister, then it's a long drive back to Nashua. I'm the last one to leave. My friends either took a Greyhound or a flight out of the city earlier today."

"You're going to Grand Central by yourself?" said Don.

"I'll be fine, Donnie," said Paige. "I did it last year for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and summer break. Nothing happened."

"Sorry, I'm just a little protective," said Don.

Paige couldn't blame him. She knew that hanging around Grand Central wasn't the smartest thing, and there was always someone shady hanging around.

"It's alright, I know why," said Paige. "You investigate murders on a daily basis and you're worried some creep is gonna be prowling around the station."

"I also wanna see you off," said Don. "Maybe we could eat at the Oyster Bar. When's your train?"

"Two o' clock," said Paige. "We got time for lunch."

November 21st, 2005.

Don looked at the menu and grimaced. He hadn't thought the food would be this expensive.

"We could just get appetizers and dessert," said Paige. "Best parts of the menu anyway."

"You definitely aren't a diva," said Don. "Y'know, now that I just realized that, I'm really gonna miss you."

"Back at you," said Paige. "My sister is gonna have her BFF over and they're both gonna ask me what I did in the city and once I mention you they are gonna harp like crazy."

A waitress came by. Don and Paige decided to order drinks – Guinness for Don, soda for Paige – and an appetizer. They agreed on the shrimp cocktail.

"I got a younger sister, so I know exactly what you mean," said Don.

Don noticed Paige give him a look. He hadn't just mentioned that out loud, had he? He had, and now he had to come clean right when the food had arrived.

"My sister, Samantha, is a touchy subject," said Don. "She's always getting in trouble. She hangs out with a pretty bad crowd. I guess that's why I wasn't too nuts about your friend Candace."

"Some people have a harder time saying no than others," said Paige.

"These friends of yours," said Don. "You're different than them, how did you wind up hanging out with them?"

"I knew them throughout high school, although I was closer to another group of friends most of the time," said Paige. "During the spring of my senior year, something happened and they were there for me. They didn't turn on me like the others did."

"What happened?" said Don.

FLASHBACK

Paige drove like a speed demon to Josie's house. It was her father's Mustang, and she knew she shouldn't be driving it but it was the fastest car in the driveway. She found the door open and she felt her stomach do flip-flops. Paige ran inside and up the stairs. The door to Josie's bedroom was open. She heard screaming. It took her a full minute to realize the screaming was her own.

END FLASHBACK

"I – I can't talk about it," said Paige. "Could we talk about something else?"

"No problem," said Don.

He could remember every interrogation where the suspects would act cocky then their demeanor would do a one-eighty when they were found out. What had just happened right in front of him was eerily similar. Paige had been really happy then when he had asked what had happened she had immediately gone pale and was close to crying. Something was eating at her, and he wished she would just tell him.

"Paige, did I tell you about the crime scene where Danny got trapped in a panic room?" said Don.

Paige looked up from the shrimp she was nibbling on and shook her head.

"He was gonna be trapped for thirteen hours, so we had to call a guy to get him out," said Don. "At one point he said to me 'crime stopper, run to Ray's and grab me a slice of extra pepperoni, bring it back, fold it up, and slide it under the door.' He must've been desperate, but that's no way to treat good pizza. Told him that right then and there."

Paige laughed. Don was glad that telling her that had made her feel better. He took a shrimp and fed it to her.

"I like shrimp," said Paige. "Didja know they're serving sea urchins at the raw bar? Sounds interesting."

"Not in front of me," said Don.

"I'll share," said Paige.

"It doesn't sound edible," said Don.

"C'mon Donnie, have a sense of adventure," said Paige. "I'll just get one piece and if we hate it we hate it, but we can say we tried it. I've even had sushi."

"Do I wanna know?" said Don.

"One of the girls in the sorority house is pretty skilled at making it," said Paige.

The couple went up to the raw bar and bought one, taking it back to their table and wondering how it would taste. Paige didn't find it that bad, but she knew Don did when she saw him take a long sip of his beer. Paige giggled.

"You're lucky I like your laugh," said Don.

They finished the rest of the shrimp cocktail and ordered an ice cream sundae to split between them.

"This is fun," said Paige. "I wouldn't say we do this every time I go on a holiday break but its fun."

"Agreed," said Don.

Soon they were finished with the sundae and left after paying. The two of them walked to the platform where Paige was supposed to board her train. They had half an hour of time left before the train arrived. Paige double checked and made sure all her suitcases were nearby. They talked and soon her train arrived.

"Watch your back while I'm gone, alright?" said Paige.

"Aren't you gonna say goodbye?" said Don.

"I hated the word goodbye more than I ever hated the word no when I was a kid, still do," said Paige.

Don understood why. The word was so final, and it was the word people spoke at wakes and funerals because of its finality. He had hated it too growing up, and he still did.

"I'll see you in six days," said Paige.

They shared a passionate kiss as other people boarded the train. Yes, Paige was definitely a reason to ignore Danny's urges to use the it's-not-cheating-if-you're-in-different-zip-codes loophole. He wanted to remember that lovely coconut smell, the softness of her hair, and her sense of adventure.

"Bye," said Paige.

"Bye," said Don.

He watched as she boarded the train and the doors closed.

He kept watching until the train left the station.

Today is my birthday, so I decided to do some writing. Maybe I'll get some reviews for a bday present?