Here's Chapter 9. Some reviews really make my day. I'm trying to upload regularly because I've been writing with such speed that I'm writing Chapter 13 as I write this. I think what makes this fic different is the fact it's a real ensemble piece whereas I've written Nic/Antonio as the primary couple on many occasions. In this and the next few chapters you'll come to learn a lot more about Nina, Jess/Colin/Desirée and the Pollock family as a whole. So enjoy it!!!
Three months later
"Mom, you can't put this off again."
"I had a cold."
"I know and before that you couldn't find your car keys and before then your shoes didn't match your outfit. It's time to know."
"Nikki, don't you get anything? I don't want to know! I wanna sit in my nice apartment and watch Mahogany and eat Pecan Mint Cookie-Mix ice cream without a care in the world. I don't wanna hear anything that doctor has to tell me."
"You know I'm getting really tired of mothering you."
"Good! Leave me alone! And take your wheatgrass with you. Girl wants to tell me what to eat; she done lost her mind…"
"I know what you're doing and it won't work. You think by getting salty with me I'll just leave. I'm no amateur so let's go." After a tirade of curse words and grumble sentences, Nina got dressed and slumped into the passenger seat of Nicole's Lincoln.
Diagnostic Health Center, Waldorf, Maryland
Nicole turned off the radio and opened the car door. "Call me when you need me. I'll pick you up."
"You're not coming?"
"You don't want me here. Hell, you don't even want to be here. Unless,"
"No. I'll go by myself."
"Cool." Nicole put in her Tracy Chapman CD and Nina left her alone.
Bethesda, Maryland.
Janice brought in the last of the baskets to be auctioned for charity that evening and, to her surprise, Chloe was watching a rerun of Maury in the living room. "You're supposed to be at school. I asked John to drop you off."
"I have cramps." Chloe repeated the lie with the same indifference.
"Go to school Chloe."
"There are no buses."
"Walk. Somerset is not that far."
"Aren't you afraid of what might happen to me?"
"Chloe," Janice was losing patience.
"Wait, I want to see Michael."
"Fairfax is no place for you."
"So he's supposed to wait the whole four months to see us?"
"I've seen him. And he's fine."
"He's my brother."
"He's also very lucky the judge was so lenient and nothing has happened thus far. He put a lot of people in danger."
"He went out of his way to protect you; that's why he didn't…"
"I don't want to hear it. What he did is indefensible, so get your rucksack and get in the car."
"Just so you know; I think it's cruel to leave him alone like we don't care. I love Michael."
"We all do."
"So why didn't Dad make sure he wouldn't have to go to a damn Detention Facility?"
"Watch your mouth. Your father can't interfere with a court's ruling just because his son's on the bench."
"He does it for other people."
"That's nonsense."
"Why else would all his friends have titles? Judge this, D.A. that. August's best friend works at a salon, how come people like that never come here?"
"Chloe," Janice warned again.
"I'm going, I'm going."
"And stay away from Fairfax or else you'll regret it."
Washington D.C.
Jess finished a case report and slumped back in her seat. She could hear Pollock's facetious voice saying, "No rest for the wicked," as he buried her under another case. It had been months since he last occupied the office and she wondered what was taking Internal Affairs so long. Antonio knocked on her office door, holding a stamp sized chip in a secure plastic bag. "What's that?"
"A Xilon-P42-HCL."
"That small thing caused all this trouble?"
"You said it."
"I have a feeling that the worst isn't over. I can feel it in the pit of my stomach and I just know something bad is coming."
"Trust your gut; it saved us in Hungary, remember?"
"I remember what jail smells like, yeah. Every time we get a case I feel like this is the big one, you know; the one that will change everything."
"Jess you need to relax. Worrying is wasted energy. Are you sure this has nothing to do with Colin?"
"She told you, didn't she?"
"Told me what?"
"That Colin has a kid."
"No. But I thought he was his."
"What are you talking about?"
"I saw them at the hospital in Bethesda; him, the kid and a hot woman."
"How hot?"
"Jess."
"Hotter than me, right?"
"Jess, the kid didn't look well."
"What'd you mean?"
"He looked flushed, he was crying and for a toddler he looked kind of small. Underweight."
"Do you think she's abusing him?"
"No, she looked tired not angry. And abusers don't tend to take their kids to get medicine. Whatever's wrong with him, I don't think they can stop it."
"Colin never told me his son was ill."
"He probably wanted to spare you."
"I'm such a bitch."
"You are not."
"You don't know what I said to him."
"Everyone says things they don't mean when they're upset."
"That's the thing; I meant it. For the first time ever I told him what I knew would hurt him the most because I wanted to, what kind of person does that make me?"
"A human being. Ever since I've know you you're set this unreachable standard for how moral you should be and you've deprived yourself in the process. Jess sometimes we're ugly, spiteful, thoughtless and blunt and sometimes it pays to be selfish but even when we are; there's still something inside us that makes us good people. You been hurt, you hurt back; we all do it. Forgive yourself and move on."
"Says the Catholic."
"Raised Catholic."
Waldorf, Maryland.
The lights were out but Nicole knew the drill. If she listened hard enough she could hear Sade faintly underneath the sound of her door knocks. She used her key and was surprised she didn't have to kick through the chain. There was one candle alight in her bedroom and Nina was lying with her head at the end of the bed like a child at a sleepover.
"You're not invited." Nina said coarsely.
"I didn't expect to be." Nicole sat with her legs crossed on the faux fur rug.
"Nikki why are you here?"
"Because I'm selfish. All I ever thought about was how it's affecting me, how I would feel to lose you and how alone I'd be. I never thought of how you felt and how you still feel. And I'm sorry Mom. I'm sorry I placed fear above compassion for what you're going through."
"You know what your problem is? You think you can be strong for everyone. And that drives me, Kelly, Antonio, Jess and even that boss of yours crazy; because we can't be that strong for ourselves."
"You can. A fucked up marriage, twenty years of jail, drug abuse, decades apart and you think HIV is stronger than you are? I don't. And I know if you want to fight you can and you will. Even for another chilli cheese dog in Grant Park."
"Do you really believe that?"
"As sure as we're here today, you can do anything."
"My CD4 count's dropped. Dr. Riabovil's starting me off on three meds; two NRTIs and a protease inhibitor."
"Okay…that, that's good. And I'll stay out of your kitchen from now on."
"Don't do that. I like having you around. But as I said, you're not invited and me, Sade and Dionne have a lot to talk about."
Nicole got off the rug and kissed her face. When it felt too much like a goodbye; she left.
Bethesda, Maryland.
"What did the Inspector General say?" Janice asked as she made dinner.
"I'm back in on a temporary basis."
"That's ridiculous."
"I know but I have no choice, if I don't get in now I can kiss my position goodbye."
"If they need you, that's a good sign John."
"Not if it puts us at risk."
"You sound like Michael."
"I must say in these past few months I've come to understand him more than ever."
"I'm sorry I can't say the same; I don't think I know him at all."
"What are you making?"
"Beef tagine. I wanted something different. I still do."
"Janice, I'm trying."
"Look at us. Chloe's mouth is out of order, Michael's miles away, I dread to think of how this is affecting Joshua and I can't take it. And they think I'm a bad mother."
"Who does?"
"The PTA, the neighbourhood, my parents. I'm supposed to be at the basket auction tonight presenting, but ever since this happened they've treated me like a rookie. And my roses…"
"What do you want me to do? I'll do anything."
"Bring my son back."
A month later
Arlington, Virginia.
A box marked "Bedroom" kept the door to the foyer open and Jess walked through and waited for the elevator. As it opened she felt a box thrust into her chest and heard a fast apology. "Colin?"
He put the box down. "Oh, it's you."
"Moving?"
"What are you doing here Jess?"
"I came to apologise; I was out of line."
"I have a van to load and I'm ten minutes away from a parking ticket."
"If I had known about your son I wouldn't have said something so insensitive."
"Parking ticket."
"Colin I don't know what to say to…"
"Colin? Is this the last one?" Jess' head swung around. She gazed at the Cajun Creole beauty coming her way. Her hazel eyes, smooth skin, heart-shaped mouth and unashamedly pear shaped figure were enough to stop her in her tracks. "Are you Agent Callahan? I've heard a lot about you."
"No." Jess flushed like a freshman in the smoking girls' bathroom. "I'm Agent Mastriani, FBI."
"What has he done this time?" She joked; flashing a smile at him.
"Nothing. I'll be…leaving…now."
She got about five felt away when Colin let her name slip. "Bye Jess."
"Jess?" Desirée's raised eyebrows asked. Jess couldn't move; her feet were glued to the floor. "As in Jessica?" Jess cleared her throat. "Well this is unexpected."
"To say the least." Colin murmured.
"Why are you here?"
"I don't have to explain anything to you." Jess stated.
Desirée's humoured expression irked Jess. "Were you curious?"
"Excuse me?"
"Des,"
"She can speak for herself. Were you curious? Because there's no other reason for you to be here." Colin picked up the box and took it to the car. On arrival he sat in the van and blasted Placebo to avoid returning.
"I didn't come here to see you if that's what you think."
"I never thought you did. You don't strike me as the unnecessarily confrontational type."
"And you are?"
"The inability to control one's actions is the height of indiscipline. Of course not. I'm just a little curious myself, as to why an attractive, gifted Agent would visit her ex when she clearly has options."
"You don't know me."
"Let's just say not everyone who sleeps in a dorm is a student."
"That's none of your business."
"Nor is Colin any of yours. I don't take lightly to being accused of cuckoldry; it's demeaning as well as sophomoric. So forgive me if seeing you here, rubs me the wrong way."
"This isn't high school; girlfriends are obstacles easily overcome especially when they prevent me from talking to Colin."
"Talking? You came here to fuck him. You think you lost a Scorpio in the sheets, and you think you can get him back that way; or screw with his mind 'til he has to have you."
"If that was true, I'd think you were smart and I might even be as intimidated as you'd like me to be. But it's not, you're not and I'm definitely not.
"I didn't take Colin from you or anyone else Jess. He came to me and there's nothing you can do about that."
"He wants his son."
"And yet, he holds me at night. Ever wonder why he took that deep cover job with no thought for you? I was assigned first. He begged me not to go and when my partner bailed; Colin stepped up. So if you're looking for answers, there they are."
Alexandria, Virginia.
Antonio felt around for the phone by knocking everything about on the nightstand. Still half-asleep, he vowed to curse the caller out. "What...Yes I accept." Nicole flicked on the lamp, hurting his eyes and worsening his mood in the process. She didn't hear the rest until he pulled her shoulder back to wake her up again. "Jess was arrested."
"Don't play with me."
"For disturbing the peace."
"Stupid, stupid, stupid."
"We have to get her out."
"No we don't. That'll teach her ass for letting a man make her crazy."
"Nic, Jess is our friend."
"Jess is playing Ally McBeal and I won't facilitate it."
"In English?"
"She's anxious about turning thirty but she's letting it get out of control. She can't have Colin and now she's acting a damn fool."
"You don't know the whole story."
"Babe, if it doesn't begin or end with Colin I will drive down there myself, but if it does; let me sleep."
