Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me. All I can do is watch Reese from a distance otherwise I can't tell what I would do. Thanks SWWoman for the once over and fixing my mistakes once again.
Chapter 10 - Having Fun
Cal found himself walking in Joss' precinct a few hours after he had gotten the news from Carl. He couldn't help but be ecstatic. She was probably his biggest obstacle in helping his godfather become financially stable once again. He had not come empty handed of course; he bought a bouquet of white roses to express his condolences.
There were a few officers that had a good idea of the status of their relationship. He had to be sure to keep up appearances as to avoid suspicion.
He stepped through the doors to the once again busy building. He was a bit surprised that they were still working as if nothing happened and not planning some sort of memorial service. He had learned that Joss had been one of the top detectives here a while back. Maybe she didn't have as many friends as he first thought.
Then again he shouldn't have been surprised since she was such a shut in, hard nose, stubborn, single mother. Who would want to strike up a conversation with someone like that, let alone date her? He had only done it for Alonzo's sake but that didn't mean that he enjoyed it one bit.
As he searched around, he found her partner at his desk, reading something off of his computer. He would speak to him briefly before making a quick exit and making some plans.
"Hello Detective Fusco" he greeted. Lionel did his best to withhold the uncomfortable feeling that stirred up in him. He was always suspicious of Cal's intentions even before he had made an attempt on Carter's life. He always left a slimy feeling and he tried to watch Carter's back as much as he could.
"Hey Beecher, what can I do for you today?" It was then that he noticed the flowers. "You and Carter going on a date or something?"
Cal was baffled by the statement. How was he going to go anywhere with someone who had died? In fact, Fusco seemed to be acting like everything was normal and he was her partner. Surely he should have been affected by this tragic event more than he was letting on.
"Um no, I'm here to give you my condolences."
"Condolences? I don't know anybody that died recently?"
Before he spoke up, he heard a familiar voice come from behind him.
"Oh wow, are those for me?"
Cal turned around only to be face to face with what he thought for sure was a ghost. Carter was standing in front of him with a smile on her face. She tilted her head slightly in bewilderment as she waited for him to answer her question. Inside, she was trying her hardest to not burst out laughing at the look on his face.
I never would have figured coming back from the dead could be quite entertaining.
Cal managed to pull his jaw off the ground and started speaking again. "Yea-yeah baby, here you go" he stuttered as he gave her the bouquet. While she made her way back to the desk, Fusco spoke up.
"So did you manage to talk to the Captain about that thing that you wanted?"
She nodded cheerfully, enjoying keeping Cal in the dark about her activities. He would definitely make a mistake from the shock later on.
"Sure enough, I'm quite glad that he was convinced by my proposal."
"What are you up to?"
She decided to do a bit more damage. "Well I've made a breakthrough in that case that I've been working on and I've gotten permission to send some samples that I found to a forensics lab" she lied. In truth, she asked for about a week off as she would be on the sidelines laying low in John's loft.
Her heart fluttered at the mere thought of being able to see him again. She practically cracked when she left this morning, trying to be nonchalant about coming back and staying with him.
"Oh that's good to hear" he said as he pressed his lips together. "Well I gotta go babe. I'll see you tonight okay" he leaned down to kiss her lips, but she turned at the last second for him to kiss her cheek. She wanted her lips to belong to another man only now that she knew Cal's true colors.
"Actually Cal, I'm going to be heading to my mother's house for a couple of days to check up on her. I won't be home for our date.
He tried to act disappointed. "Um, okay. That's fine. I guess I'll see you when you get back then."
"Bye Cal" she said sweetly as she watched him walk away in a huff. Once he was out of sight, she let herself enjoy a chuckle.
"I'm guessing that you were filled in on some things while you were gone?"
"Yup, I'm just here to get a couple of things then lay low with John."
She saw Fusco's eyebrow raised. "So I'm guessing that you two kissed and made up?"
"Not exactly" she admitted, remembering the promise from him to talk about the subject.
"Well get a move on it because, despite how much I love the action, I can't run errands for both of our guys. It's making me get a work out in a bad way."
"Alright Fusco, I'll try to get you a break. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to figure out what the hell I need to take with me" she commented as she looked at her disheveled desk.
John had been sitting at his desk, cleaning some of his arsenal when he heard the knock at his door. Looking at the clock, it had gotten to be a little past seven. He didn't have anything to do today since there was no concrete evidence on the case or any other numbers to work on so he did what he always did. He did some random chores around the loft before getting down to the task of cleaning his guns which would take up most of the time.
Before he had started, he got more comfortable by taking a nice hot shower before putting on some blue drawstring pants and a wife beater. Once he was cleaned up, he grabbed all that he needed and placed it on a workbench that he bought a few weeks ago.
Of course he grew a bit worried of Joss since she hadn't gotten back yet. Looking at his computer, he traced the tracker that he gave her. She had left the station and had gone a bit from her house. When he saw the address, he recognized it as her mother's house. He assumed that she was checking on Taylor and explaining the situation to him.
He wondered if she had told him the real reason for her being so secretive. Then again, he doubted that she would want to tell her son that she almost drowned thanks to a hit man. He thought that maybe it was the best for her safety to stay somewhere else until all of this blew over, but he was caught off guard when she asked to stay with him.
He would never have said no and it would be a good way to talk about why they had been avoiding each other. He wanted to wait until the right time because he didn't want to scare her away.
He was almost finished when he heard the knock. Putting his tools down, he walked barefoot over to the door. Opening it, he smiled as he saw Joss on the other side with a huge duffel bag draped over her right shoulder. He moved to allow her inside.
"Hey, sorry about taking so long. I'm sure that you already know, but I went to go see Taylor." She walked over to the kitchen counter and put the bag on it. "I told him what was going on and he's okay."
"Good to hear." He saw her open the bag and began to retrieve folders and placing them on the table. "So this is all the stuff you have?" he asked, looking at the six folders.
"Yeah, hopefully I might find something that I missed." She then closed the bag, looking around the apartment. "Where's your bathroom? I want to get cleaned up and change into something more comfortable before getting to work."
"Oh okay sure." John said before he pointed in the direction of the shower. She gave him an appreciative smile before heading towards the direction. When he heard the door shut, he opened some of the folders and looked over some of the things that she managed to find. He decided that he would go over it with her and chose to go back to his workbench.
He still wanted to finish with the pistol, shotgun, MP5, and grenade launcher that he still had left before getting some sleep.
In the middle of passing a wire brush through the barrel of the launcher, he heard the shower turn off. When the door opened, he turned his attention towards it. He saw her exit out in some tight green shorts and a peach colored sleeveless shirt. She sighed in content as she stretched her arms above her head, causing the material to rise slightly and allowed him to see her belly button.
He swallowed quickly before speaking. "Feeling better?"
She smiled at him. As she walked past the bed, she dropped the bag next to it. "Much." She noticed what he was doing. "Want some help?" she offered.
"Sure, I hope you remember how to do this."
"This was how I passed the time in the barracks." She commented as she sat in the chair across from him.
"Looks like we have another thing in common then since this is usually how I pass my time" he said. He noticed that there were still tiny beads of moisture on her exposed skin and her hair was damp while it lay over her right shoulder. Seeing her in this casual state, he couldn't help but notice how stunning she was. It began to tug at him that he really had missed her these last few weeks. It was nice that she was here in a way to keep him company.
"Well John, normal people tend to pass the time by watching TV or reading a book" she said as she grabbed the pistol and began to disassemble it.
"Well Joss, if you didn't notice, we aren't exactly normal" he joked as he double checked his work on the launcher.
"True" she said. Before long, the conversation came back around towards the case, especially one person. "So how did things go with Beecher?" The giggle that escaped her lips was like music to his ears. He always took joy in hearing her be happy, especially if he was the cause.
"You should have seen the look on his face. He was bringing in flowers as a way to say he was sorry because I died. I guess he really was involved" her face fell at this realization. She knew that the information said so, but seeing it firsthand had really hurt. She had felt so lonely without John being there to make her smile.
"Well we may be getting close to things once Finch is done with everything" he finished up and put the launcher to the side to put back later. He saw that she was finishing up with the pistol. He had to say that he was impressed with her speed.
"Maybe…" she said wistfully. He watched as she put the reassembled pistol on the table, but she kept her hands where they were. He looked to her face and he could see the look in her eyes. She was ready for the real conversation, the reason why she decided to stay with him.
"What happened to us John?"
A/N: I just can't get enough of these two. Can you? I'm hearing rumors on the boards that the writers might actually do something with them next season. I'm not holding my breath, but if it does happen I think my heart would just stop. Anyways I hope you enjoyed the current update and thank you again SWWoman.