A/N: I feel like this took a bit longer than I would have liked, so sorry for the delay! Just a few more chapters left...
It's been a busy few days for Deb. Busting a bad guy in a very public way. Getting two different proposals. Accepting only one of them before moving in with me, yet again. Not that I'm complaining actually. Because she has finally broken it off with Quinn. Really, what took her so long?
A whole year they were living together and I still never understood any of it. I tried, really I did. But now it's over and I'm glad.
It was odd, the way Quinn put it. That Deb shouldn't have to choose between the two of us. Of course, why would she ever choose him? But I guess I am surprised he thought of it as some sort of competition between us two to begin with.
But now Deb has bigger fish to fry. After all, she's lieutenant. It's strange to even think about. And thinking about it too much makes me fairly uncomfortable. It makes the stakes even higher if the Bay Harbor Butcher were to resurface. Or if she were to figure it out somehow.
I convince myself most of the time that neither of those are a possibility. I've learned enough lessons about how dangerous my secret is, and I'm more careful now than ever. As for Deb, she has proven that her love for me blinds her to any strange possibilities.
She's pacing back and forth in front of me, still wearing her new skirt suit and mumbling to herself, while I'm looking at my next target. Physically two feet away from the truth, but in actuality we might as well be in different galaxies. I close down my victim file as Deb rounds the desk and drops her papers on the keyboard.
"What the fuck am I supposed to do with this?!"
I shuffle through the pictures from the four horsemen crime scene and then turn and shrug at Deb.
"Thanks for the help bro." She tells me sarcastically as she pulls the pictures out of my hand and resumes her pacing.
"You'll figure it out, Lieutenant."
"Fuck you. That doesn't help! I have a fucking press conference at 9am and no fucking clue what to tell these people." Deb scowls. She turns towards the couch, dropping the pictures onto the coffee table and falling in a heap onto the cushions.
I head to the fridge, grab two beers and join her. The scowl leaves her face when I hand her the bottle.
"Sorry." Deb scrunches her face up in remorse.
"It's nothing unusual." I smirk at her and am rewarded with a throbbing punch to my arm.
"So, what are you going to do?" I ask her as I lift the papers from the coffee table and reexamine the work.
Deb sighs. "Being honest seems like a bad idea."
"Yeah, but you're usually pretty honest. Maybe you shouldn't try to play LaGuerta's game."
Deb looks at me askance, eyebrows raised. "Aren't you the one who's always telling me that I need to learn politics?"
"Yeah, for dealing with LaGuerta, not for talking to the public."
She bites her nail while she looks at me uncertainly. "Was this just a terrible idea?"
Confused as always, I wait for Deb to continue.
"I mean I have no fucking clue how to be lieutenant. I didn't even make fucking sergeant first. What the fuck was I thinking?"
"You were thinking that you're a great cop and you're smart and you'd figure it out as you go."
"Gotta be fucking brilliant to come up with that plan."
"You think LaGuerta was good at this when she started?"
"I think LaGuerta was born wearing fucking high heels and a microphone in her hand. So yeah, I think she was good at this."
I pause and picture that for a moment before I reply "You're probably right."
Deb is quiet for a bit and it gives me a chance to realize how closely I've sat down next to her. Her thigh is bumping mine as she nervously bounces the ball of her foot against the coffee table. She doesn't seem to have noticed our proximity as she's lost in her own worries. I sit still and enjoy the silence and the warmth from her body being so close to mine.
She sighs eventually, her leg stilling its movement and drops her head onto my shoulder. I think I should feel odd, cuddling on the couch with my little sister, but it's so comfortable. "I don't know what I'd do without you Dex."
I smile a bit; it's nice to be needed. "Me too."
She turns her head up in my direction and grins at me. I can't help but grin back. Deb always has that effect on me. Our faces are very close and I drop my voice as I ask her "Figured out what you're going to do?"
"Write a kick ass speech and be fucking awesome." She tells me slyly.
"You don't say."
Deb lifts her head off my shoulder and looks at me very seriously. "You really think I can do this?" She sounds like she's twelve again, asking me if I think she has what it takes to be a good cop.
"I've always known you could." I tell her honestly.
"Ok." She whispers.
We're still looking at each other, our faces just mere inches away. I'm suddenly very conscious of the proximity of her lips. My gaze drops inadvertently to them before I think about what I'm doing. Deb catches the movement and makes a small noise, causing me to look back to her eyes. I can't quite read what I find there, a look I haven't really seen from Deb before.
But it's gone as suddenly as it came across her face. And then she's up on her feet, clearing her throat. "I should get started on that speech." She mumbles and she hurries the photographs off the coffee table and starts moving to the bedroom.
"Good night Deb." I say softly as I watch her hurry away, dropping a photograph as she goes. She mumbles something in return before slamming the bedroom door shut behind her. I wonder for a moment what I did wrong, what I did to break the spell of our quiet moment. Had a small glance really made her so uncomfortable? I remind myself once more that Deb is my sister and there are rules. It was my responsibility to take care of Deb, nothing more.