Stories From The Ground
Captain Kane
So my computer's still not working and I wasn't expecting to write something until I either got it fixed or got a new one. This disappointment of a season hasn't given me much to work with anyways. This season is a perfect example of why I hate time jumps. The writers can pretty much turn the characters into anything and then say that whatever development needed for that happened off screen. It's really just an excuse for lazy writing. I think I've hated every character except Murphy at least once this season. Anyways after last episode for some reason I really got myself hooked on Kane/Diyoza and I haven't looked back. This is the result though it doesn't have much to do with them. This is a follow up to Chapter 7 of this fic. I typed this on my phone so if anything seems out of the ordinary just bear with me. I was listening to Forget The Lies by Quietdrive while writing this. I hope you like it.
A stack of files blocked police captain Marcus Kane's view of his office door.
"Tell me about it," a familiar voice drew his gaze up.
"What," he said with a sigh already having a good guess what this was about.
His adoptive daughter gave him an eye roll before saying, " Your date, how did it go, spill."
"Octavia," he said trying to keep his voice down. "This is hardly the time or place to discuss my love life."
"Come on," she said sounding just like she had as a teenager asking him to let her go to some party. "You look so absolutely bored in here and I don't have anything better to do until Niylah gets off break."
"You could review your case files," he suggested.
"Why would I need to do that when my partner's a real life Sherlock Holmes," she said.
"You do know she's not supposed to do all of your work for you right," he said.
"And she doesn't," she said. "Stop trying to change the subject."
"It was fine," he said. "She was nice."
"Fine, nice," she said smirking. "Someone didn't get any."
"Of course not," he said. "It was only the first date."
"I've fucked a lot of people on the first date," she said. "I still haven't had a "date" with Niylah yet and we've been there done that plenty of times."
"Why would you even say that to me," he said shaking his head. "What you do on your own time is up to you but please don't tell me about it especially when there's a potential conflict of interest."
"You're just mad that I'm getting it more than you," she said.
"Yeah that's it," he said. "Just go do your job please."
"Right away Cap," she said giving a mock salute before turning and laughing her way back into the precinct.
"Ugh," he said putting head in his hands.
Octavia meant no harm. The sarcasm and barely disguised innuendos were her defense mechanisms when it came to talking about things she actually cared about. It just meant that she was worried about him which he supposed wasn't completely unfounded. Six months felt like it should be enough time for him to have moved on from Abby but he still wasn't completely comfortable putting himself out there again. He wanted to though, she had already moved on and him sitting around wallowing in the what could have beens of their relationship wasn't helping anyone. The date had been good, nothing Earth-shattering, but a nice dinner where he and Charmaine had been able to just sit and get lost in conversation.
Charmaine Diyoza was a teacher at a local preschool. She was slightly younger than him, had joined the military straight out of high school, and while she wouldn't tell him exactly what she did there he expected that she had seen more crazy shit overseas than he had in his twenty years on the force. She loved kids though so when she was done with the military life she worked towards getting a teaching degree which she actually managed to complete a year early. She had a two year old daughter of her own and from what she told him he understood that the reason for the father's absence wasn't anything untoward. His job kept him on the road a great deal and the baby hadn't been enough to make the long distance relationship work. He still saw the child as much as he could but the relationship never managed to rekindle.
He wasn't going to pry when the situation surrounding his own family life was strange in its own right. Bellamy and Octavia were as much his children as any two people were ever going to get, but the situation around how they became his was far from traditional. He had been just a young officer back then when the report of a murder suicide in a known drug location came across the radio. Aurora Blake and her boyfriend of the time, neither of the children's father, were found in pools of blood across from each other in the living room of a dilapidated house. It was clear at the scene that the man had killed Ms. Blake and then turned the gun on himself but not many other details readily presented themselves. It wasn't his problem anyways, he was a beat cop not a homicide detective, so he had let the professionals get to work.
The details of the case found their way to him later. An argument that could be heard up and down the block had transpired. From what he understood it hadn't been over one specific thing but drugs were certainly involved. Regardless for whatever reason after shooting Ms. Blake in a rage the man turned the gun on himself and that was that. It was about as open and shut as you could get except for the two young children left behind. Bellamy had been seven at the time and was obviously more used to looking after his two year old sister than any child that young ever should be. He had been single and living alone at the time, not in the best place to take on the responsibility of one child let alone two, but something about the case wouldn't leave him alone and before a week went by he had made up his mind that they had to be his. If it hadn't been for Indra taking on babysitting duties he may never have gotten through those first few years sane but he wouldn't trade it for the world.
The ringing of the phone on his desk took the smile right off his face.
"Captain Kane speaking," he gave his usual greeting.
"Kane," the voice of Chief Byrne put him on edge. "Did you read over the notes of the McGhee case yet?"
"Um yes," he cleared his throat. "I already briefed detectives Murphy and Howe about the potential for media scrutiny."
"It's not a potential Kane," she sneered. "It's a certainty."
"They want to catch us with our pants down here so make sure your detectives are ready to be perfect," she continued. "Brief them again."
"Of course sir," he said.
"If they fail and this turns into an inquisition it's going to reflect badly on you too," she said. "Remember that."
With that she hung up the phone and he was left to call in his two detectives for another meeting.
"Howe and Murphy," he said in his best captain voice out the door. "When you have a moment come and see me in my office."
The two faces in front of him wore none of the hints of nervousness one would expect someone to have when getting called to their boss's office. Luna wore a neutral look that presented the uncaring attitude she handled most situations with and Murphy much like Octavia was just one second away from dropping a sarcastic quip.
"You know why I called you in here," he said.
"Promotions," Murphy said. "A raise for all our hard work."
"It's about the McGhee case," he said ignoring him. "Byrne wanted me to make it clear to you that there can be no mistakes in this investigation or the media will be all over our asses like flies on garbage."
"We're not stupid," Luna said. "Well I'm not."
"Hey," Murphy said putting a hand to his chest. "We're supposed to be getting along now."
"Listen," he said cutting them off before they could get started. "You two are some of the best detectives I have but if something goes wrong here Byrne is going to hold all our asses to the fire so please just be careful."
"What's so important about this guy anyways," Murphy asked.
"He was a friend of the former mayor's," Luna said before he could answer. "Ran his reelection campaign."
"He was a douchebag," she continued.
"Be that as it may," Kane tried to reign the conversation in again. "If we don't solve his murder fast it might reflect badly on the former mayor which may bring scrutiny to the current mayor and the police force."
"They're already after me on impartiality just because Bellamy is my son," he said. "Let's not give them more to attack him or us with."
"We'll be careful," Luna said.
"Scout's honor," Murphy added.
"Good enough for me," he said. "Get back to your jobs."
They turned and walked out with Luna's, "You were never a scout," echoing into the precinct.
The stack of files on his desk hadn't gotten much smaller since his day began but at least he had managed to put out a few fires. He glanced at the clock. There were still five more hours left in his shift and he had no doubt that it would be a long five hours but he couldn't help but smile. Even when things in his personal life weren't exactly put together the family he had built at the precinct always kept him grounded. Besides he had another date with Charmaine to look forward to when all the craziness of the work day was finally over.