So I am actually at work as I post this. There is pretty much nothing to do for the next four and a half hours. On the upside, I have been offered at least 2 weeks full time work (1 week when the boss's wife pops out kid number 3, and another so he can go on holiday in January) plus Chrissy day. Money money money! So I can go over storyline possibilities in my head in my free time and mourn the loss of one of the greatest Aussie cop shows, aside from Blue Heelers, seeing as we only have one episode left. EVER!. I'm with Hereford on this one; we are absolute wrecks.
So now we are beginning to actually get into that storyline that I might have mentioned in the prologue; y'know that really long story summary that practically listed everything I was going to write? Yeah that. It's not my longest chapter but there is only so much one can write about how angry Shannon is with Stella, especially when I can barely remember words like 'infidelity' haha.
The atmosphere in the car was rather chilly, despite the warming afternoon temperature outside the vehicle as the two women sped down the freeway back towards the city. Stella was yawning her head off from behind the wheel; her mind hadn't shut itself off long enough for her to fall asleep the night before and her heart was being torn in every which way from Sunday because her girlfriend had refused to talk to her from the moment they arrived back at the house. For the first time in their relationship, they had shared the bed without touching one another in some way, shape or form. At the present moment, their hands were joined loosely, fingers barely twined together over the centre console; Shannon had had the night to sleep on the newly revealed information and process everything just a little more. But it didn't mean that she agreed with the way her girlfriend had handled the situation.
For Stella, the journey home seemed to be taking ten times as long as it had on the way up. Along with the fatigue racking her eyes and fogging her brain, she was emotionally drained after being chewed out by her mother for covering all of the windows on Frank's car, including the side mirrors, in shaving cream. Despite the hilarity of the situation, Stella's ears were still ringing with Nina's voice the next morning over breakfast. In the half an hour they had been speeding down the freeway directly for the city, Shannon had been mentally counting the times her girlfriend had yawned. According to her counter, Stella had yawned sleepily close to four dozen times.
"Do you want me to drive?" Shannon asked, letting her thumb brush across Stella's gently.
"Nah, I'm okay." The brunette took her hand from Shannon's, rubbing her eyes and thankful for the lack of other vehicles on the road as she pushed herself up in the driver's seat.
"You've been yawning all morning, and you drove up all the way up. Let me drive and you can sleep the rest of the way home."
Stella sighed reluctantly, fully prepared to give a speech that she was fine, the driving gave her something to focus on. Without a task to keep her mind on, she was sure that she would go crazy with the 'what ifs' and the 'buts' alone of her current situation. The silence was another thing doing her head in, but the high sound level of the radio was helping to drown out that aspect of her newly found hell. One look through her already drooping eyelids at Shannon, told her that there was no point in arguing; she would lose anyways.
"Alright," she agreed.
"Stel, I know you didn't sleep last night – wait what?" Shannon asked, slightly confused. "Did you just agree?"
There was a small huff of laughter from Stella. "Yes I agreed. I'll pull over at the next rest stop."
"Wow."
"What?"
"I've never known you to give up so easily in what could turn into a deadly argument," Shannon said, with a joking attitude.
"Oh, my God. You are so funny!" Stella mocked, her hand hitting her knee.
They shared a soft smile, one that seemed like a rarity that hadn't happened in years when in reality it had only been hours. Everything almost seemed back to normal when Shannon's hand reached out, smoothing the back of Stella's hair to cup the back of her neck. The younger of the two, leaned back into the touch. But then her hand was gone, and the dread had returned, burrowing deep and settling itself in the pit of Stella's stomach.
Within minutes, a road sign indicating a picnic stop half a kilometre up the freeway, came and went. Five minutes late, Shannon's SUV pulled into a parking spot alongside the kerb, Stella yanking on the handbrake with the necessary effort, the radio dying along with the engine, dropping both women into silence. To avoid the inevitable awkwardness, Shannon made a rapid exit, breathing deeply in the fresh air in an attempt to reign in her emotions. She had always been able to do so with complete ease, but when after becoming involved with Stella, that all went out the window.
Just like all of her usual choices, most rationality ceased to exist as Stella pushed her way out of the driver's seat with more force than necessary and stopped directly in front of the car, effectively blocking Shannon's path as they both moved to swap seats.
"Stel," Shannon began, her eyes pleading with shorter woman. She had very little energy, despite her full night's sleep. Becoming emotional would only diminish what she had left.
"I don't want to lose you," Stella whispered. She all but flung herself against Shannon, connecting their lips. With one arm around her girlfriend's shoulders, holding their bodies together as her free hand cupped her cheek, Stella poured as much emotion into the kiss as possible. The copper haired woman let her arms wrap tightly around Stella's ribs, squeezing rhythmically. Stella felt her feet leave the ground, her toes mere millimetres from the pavement. Seconds later, her legs wrapped around Shannon's waist.
Tongues had snuck out, seeking a more physical connection, but not finding it because they had begun to smile into the movement contently.
"You're not going to lose me." Foreheads were touching, eyes closed at the pure intimacy of the moment they were sharing, until there was a giggle to the left somewhere. Both heads turned towards the source of the noise to see an early pubescent gangly boy practically drooling at the sight of them as they made out in the parking lot of a picnic rest stop halfway between Bendigo and Melbourne.
"Promise?" Stella asked, her eyes not leaving the boy. Her ankles unhooked from behind Shannon's back, toes finally reaching the ground. Their arms, like their gazes, did not falter in their exertion of holding on to one another.
"Promise," Shannon agreed, her eyes too trained on the teenager. "Can we get back into the car now?"
"Yeah."
Reluctantly, they untangled themselves from each other and made their way to the opposite sides of the car. Shannon had started the engine, and pulled out from the rest stop, as Stella kept an eye on the teen from her seat. He was still staring at them and the car had barely made it half a kilometre down the road when the two women burst out laughing at the hilarity of the moment. It was just like old times, and while it was going, there was no way that Stella was going to comment on it.
It took a while, but eventually their laughing died down, enough for them to actually be able to hear the radio. Still giggling, Stella smiled at Shannon from behind her sunglasses.
"I love you, you know."
Shannon couldn't help the small grin spreading on her face, and she mentally scolded herself for it; she was supposed to be angry or upset or disappointed, but just hearing those words from Stella made any negativity she was feeling disappear instantly.
"I know." Shannon took her eye from the road for a glance at Stella. "I love you, too."
There was a tone in the driver's voice that told Stella that that sentence was not finished. "But? Come on, I can practically hear it."
"You should get some sleep. You're still tired. I'll wake you up when we get h-...when we get back."
Stella's stomach dropped at her girlfriend's hesitancy, and the obvious brush off. They weren't going home, they were simply returning to the city. She agreed with a sigh, but pressed on last kiss to the knuckles of Shannon's left hand before reclining her seat enough for her to be able nap away the rest of the dive home. She simply refused to ease her grip on the fingers threaded with hers as the world went dark.
Shannon now had just under an hour and a half to consider her options regarding what she was going to do when they actually arrived back in the city. Would she go straight back to her house with Stella in tow, feed themselves and then fall into bed, forgetting certain things of their trip as if they never happened? Would Stella be dropped off at home, alone, to presume the worst and then head to the nearest pub to drown her relationship sorrows? The traffic wasn't getting any heavier, she could afford to shift more of her attention to her thoughts. She couldn't make a decision about what to do once her seventy minutes were up; first she had to try and decide how she felt about the whole Frank thing.
It was border lining on eleven pm and Shannon's knuckles were continuously connecting with the heavy wood that was Stella's apartment door. It had only been hours and was struggling to find herself satisfied with anything less than a photograph including Stella. Earlier when she had navigated her way through the outer suburbs of Melbourne's central business district easily, and after much deliberating on the drive back, Shannon had made a snap decision, willing to deal with the consequences later, simply needing more time and solitude to really consider things.
The car lurched to soft stop. "Stel. Baby wake up," Shannon whispered, having turned in her seat to shake the sleeping woman. Similar to that of a small child, the brunette's head rolled on the head rest, sunglasses slipping most of the way down her nose. A closed fist came up to rub the sleep from her eyes, as Shannon pulled her girlfriends face towards her own.
"Are we home?" Stella mumbled, trying to focus her sight and determine their current location. She turned to look through her window only to feel her stomach drop a second time in less than two hours; they were parked outside of her apartment building. Her head whipped around to face Shannon. She spoke slowly. "Are we staying at mine tonight?"
"Uh, no," came quietly with a grimace. Stella inwardly groaned, she knew what was coming. "Listen, I just need the night to sleep on it. Alone. Without any interference."
Stella nodded, accepting her fate. She didn't want to be alone; her first and only assumption was that Shannon wanting space would definitely result in the end of their relationship. "Okay."
"I didn't think you would be so easy to convince. You know that this isn't the end of anything. I just need to process it, is all."
"I know," Stella agreed. "I'll see you at work in the morning then?"
"I'll pick you up," Shannon suggested, with an easy smile.
Stella simply nodded again. 'If only,' she thought. There was one last kiss as a parting goodbye, and Stella pushed her way from the car without another word. She grabbed her bag from the backseat, shut the back passenger door and trudged her way to the security door, disappearing from Shannon's view and up the stairs.
She huffed in defeat, started the engine and started for her own home. After hours spent deliberating over what to cook herself for dinner, or if she could be bothered doing her laundry, or going to pick up her cat from the neighbours house where the kids had been looking after him. She was doing anything to keep her mind off of Stella or Frank, and seemed to have finally succeeded when she managed to make it through the evening news program without so much as a thought of the siblings.
By early evening, she was worn out through her constant after meal pacing, trying to prevent herself from picking up the phone to hear Stella's voice, or driving over there immediately. Shannon considered an early retirement to bed, only to get ready and settled to find that she was more awake than ever. Without bothering to get changed out of her pyjamas of a tank top and shorts, she slipped her feet into a pair of thongs, grabbed her handbag and practically ran to her car. Twenty minutes later and several deliberate wrong turns later, she finally arrived at Stella's door knocking impatiently.
Without bothering to check the peep hole to see who was banging on her door late at night, Stella flung the door open. Shannon nearly fell forward over the threshold with the strength of her knocks, spotting Stella's bare legs before her surprised expression.
"I thought you weren't picking me up until seven thirty, eight o'clock in the morning?" Stella asked, crossing her arms.
"You were right." It was as if it was rather difficult for Shannon to say those three words, as they came out with slight stutters.
"About what exactly?"
"I jumped to conclusions, about Frank. You were right. We don't know the severity of his situation, even though I have suspicions and I'm sure you do too, but I jumped to conclusions over a period of time that was shorter than the one you had to consider everything."
Stella simply looked at her curiously, arms crossed. Time passed quietly, both women standing stock still, staring at each other. "You sound like a cop."
"I am a cop," Shannon said, agreeing with the notion.
"Yeah, you are. We both are. I know what I am doing, what I have been doing and I know that it isn't ideal," Stella explained. "But what are you going to do?"
Shannon contemplated ideas and choices in her mind rapidly. "Nothing. I'm not going to do anything, because I don't know anything."
"Okay." Stella seemed rather nonchalant.
"You sound like that was the answer that you wanted," Shannon remarked.
"It's not the specific answer I wanted. I am glad about the choice, yes. But overall I just wanted to know what you were thinking. Now we can put it all behind us." They both nodded at each other. "It's late. Are you going to come in and stay the night?"
"Only if we get to snuggle tonight."
"Deal," Stella agreed, finally pulling Shannon into the apartment for what was probably the first time in weeks.
In the several weeks that had followed their return to work after their compassionate leave, and the subsequent disagreements between the couple, all had been forgotten due to the heavy abundance of crimes taking place over all over the city. Shift after shift, the TR teams had to deal with petty thieves and crooks, minor break ins, domestic issues and a few hostage situations. Their overtime had increased tenfold in the twenty something days they had been at it; Stella was only concerned with whether or not her overtime pay was coming in, so she could spend it on Shannon.
As they entered into the thirty something days, there was one shift that really stood out to Stella. She was sitting in the back of TR1, Shannon driving and Lawson riding shotgun. They were running through usual haunts for a newly discovered thug crew who had begun wreaking havoc in an effort to become top dog in the area. They were stopped at a red light, waiting for it to change so they could make their way down a main street when she had to do a double take. Standing there outside a pub in West Footscray, in broad daylight at ten in the morning, was Cue-ball, hammering what looked like a local dirt bag about something of some importance to his criminal activity.
When they turned, she saw that it was Gary, the crook she had let go after finding out Frank had given him the tip off he was being watched; they had known each other for years. Thoughts began accumulating in Stella's mind, tossing up on whether or not this guy was a deeply undercover cop, or really high up on the criminal food chain. She was weighing up the pros and cons as the turning lane adjacent to theirs was given the green light to go. If he was a cop, he wouldn't have beaten the shit out of Frank. Then again, if he was that high up on the food chain, he would have had to have beaten Frank to keep up appearances.
"What are you looking at?" asked Josh, noticing the level of concentration on the Senior Constables face.
Just as her focus was pulled from the thugs, and she turned to face Lawson, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Cue-ball throw a punch in Gary's direction.
"Street fight," she said, against her better judgment. He was involved with Frank. Identifying herself could only mean bad things for her.
"What?" he asked dopily, looking over his shoulder. "Where?"
"Should we break it up?" Shannon asked, taking a look in her passenger side mirror, but having a difficult time due to Lawson's body taking up almost all of the space between his seat and the dashboard, effectively blocking her view.
At her question, he turned around and looked at her with an expectant look. "May as well. Shan, chuck a u-ey, let's go have a look. Where were they Stel?"
As Shannon made the u-turn, Stella began pointing out where the two had been arguing. "Outside that pub right there."
Just as the car pulled up on the opposite side of the road, Gary hit the deck hard as passers by simply watched and cleared the immediate area. Stella and Lawson were practically out of the car before it had even had time to fully stop. Seconds later and Shannon was following them, dodging the oncoming traffic from both directions as they went. Lawson reached the meaner looking man of the two, pushing him roughly against the closest exterior wall of the tavern as Stella immediately went to Gary's aid.
"Covering!" Shannon announced, pulling her Glock from the holster clipped to her thigh and aiming it at Cue-ball. Lawson began performing a pat-down, ordering the man to stay put against the wall and to spread his extremities far enough for him to search him effectively.
"Well, well. What do we have here?" he asked, pulling out a handgun large enough to fit his meaty paws, from a holster beneath his left armpit, and then another one from his right side.
"Weapon's clear," Shannon said, taking both guns from Lawson and clearing the chambers. She had to pick up two shell casings from the pavement.
"Fired those recently?" Lawson questioned, before slipping cuffs over his wrists. He didn't get an answer. At least the answer to his next question gave a better indication when the man huffed guiltily, and hit his head against the brick wall in defeat. "Got a permit to carry two concealed firearms?"
Knowing that Lawson had a good grip on the guy, she looked at Stella. If Lawson had glanced at them, if would have looked as if Shannon was going to ask her colleague if she needed any help with the wounded man lying on the floor. However, both women looked up simultaneously at each other, the same thought running through their minds.
'Just when we were getting past this guy.'
As Stella made a small show of offering any medical attention to Gary, and she was sure that Lawson and Shannon weren't within hearing distance, she whispered to the bloody man in a tone that said 'you have no choice but to agree with me'. "You don't know me, understood?"
He nodded without hesitation, and accepted the piece of gauze to apply to his bleeding nose. She stood up, swapping positions momentarily with Shannon as her girlfriend had the higher certification for first aid. Stella watched as Lawson sat the guy down in the familiar position. She watched this man, the one that had beaten up her brother in a similar fashion, eyeing off name badge. His eyes lit up at the white letters spelling out her surname on the blue name badge. It was obvious to the Senior Constable that he recognised her, but where from, she had no idea. Stella could see him attempting to piece things together, even though he was already in a hairy predicament. She wondered how far away he was from connecting everything.
"Now what the hell is going on?" Lawson ordered. He had to push down on the assailants shoulder, to keep him sitting against the wall, his hands tied with flex-cuffs behind his back. When neither of them spoke, he spoke through his comm's and aiming his camera towards the bald man's face. "Leon, I need an I.D. on this guy."
Within seconds, the familiar voice of Leon screeched through their earpieces once again, (the boys had been ragging on Stella's decreasing ability to hold her liquor when they went out), with a name to go with the face of their new friend. "This bloke's name is Vladimir Udinov. Russian born, given a permanent residential visa six years ago."
"Any employment information, Leon?"
"Nothing specific, bounced around with a few construction jobs and such, but no current employment history available. No Centre-Link, nothing."
"Priors?"
"A list as long as your arm for misdemeanours. Minor assault and battery, attempted assault with a deadly weapon. And every time he got off with the minimal charge."
"Got to be working for someone with a bit of power or high up on the legal food chain if he gets away with it every time," Lawson muttered to Shannon. She didn't disagree with him. She wanted to know the answer to that question too. "Alright. Who do you work for?"
"What makes you think I work for anyone? That this is not simply a private matter?" Valdimir replied. His voice was heavy, laden with a calm combination of Russian and Australian accents.
"For one, the long list of prior convictions you've got, and two, you look like an overpaid bodyguard in that leather jacket. Leon, get some uniforms down here please."
"And what's your name?" Shannon asked, hand resting on the handle of her pistol as it sat back in its holster now that Udinov was cuffed. Shannon hadn't been there when Gary had been under surveillance, so she didn't know who he was.
"Gary Ryan. Gaz." Lawson spoke up, his body still facing Vladimir's. "I remember you. What was it, Stel? Two years ago?"
"Two and a half-ish. I think," she answered with a shrug.
"What was?" Shannon asked.
"We were watching this guy a couple years ago, but he got a tip off that we were there. We never caught him," their leader explained. "Never found out who tipped him off either."
"Yeah, I lost him in the Vic Market when I was chasing him," Stella added, giving the impression that she was staring at Gary with a level of despise. Even though she was running through that day in her mind over and over.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Gary demanded from behind his bloody nose.
"Don't give me that, you know exactly what we are talking about. Well, Vlad," Lawson started, turning to the Russian and making a small point to aggravate the man glaring at him, "want to tell me why you were beating up my good friend Gaz here?"
Udinov scoffed at Lawson's attempt to get him talking.
"It was just a simple misunderstanding," Gaz said, trying to keep the attention from the Russian.
"He was ready to beat the shit out of you," said Stella.
"Yeah, well," Gary shrugged. The three TR officers looked at him as if he were deaf, dumb and blind with a hint of emotions under the surface. "I don't want to press any charges."
"Are you serious?" Lawson asked. "This guy just assaulted you, almost severely enough to put you in the hospital, and you don't want to press charges?"
"No," Gary said. Stella pushed another piece of gauze up his nose sharply, and resisted the urge to slap one to the cut above his eyebrow harshly. Even with the flash of pain across his face, Stella could see a level of fear and anxiety on the man's face.
"Fine. We can't force you to press formal charges, despite our advice to do so," Shannon added.
Lawson pulled Udinov to his feet, and turned him around with some extra unnecessary force. "You now have a formal warning for another assault. Your name pops up again and you will be arrested for it, understood?"
"Sure, whatever," he agreed, mocking Lawson's warning.
"But for now, you will be charged for carrying two concealed weapons without a permit." With a push, Vladimir Udinov gave a pointed look at Gary and muttered something in Russian under his breath, probably that he would get him later when he couldn't be protected, even though Gary had kept him from being downed with another assault charge. There were three uniforms that had just arrived, and two of them grabbed hold of Udinov's elbows to escort him. The last one, Constable Walters, stayed a few minutes to grab a quick summary report from Lawson so he could be charged. He made the same gesture at Stella as well. Lawson stepped in front of her, thinking that it was aimed at him. "Keep walking!"
Udinov was pushed through the small crowd that had gathered at either end of the footpath. They parted without a warning needed, letting the officers and now prisoner pass through them and then as they turned the corner to reach the uniformed cruiser, then dissipated back into the mainstream flow of passersby.
"You want us to take you to a hospital?" Shannon asked. "We can get an ambulance down here, or another police cruiser to take you."
"No, I'll be fine," Gary said, brushing off the offer and standing with a great pained effort.
"You understand that you are going against proposed medical assistance, no matter how minor your injuries may seem?" Stella asked.
"Yes, I do," Gary agreed, unwilling to meet the heavy gaze of Stella. "What I will ask you for though, is some more of this gauze to help stop this bleeding."
With a questioning glance to Lawson, who gave his permission, Shannon handed over a few more pieces of gauze to the man and sent him on his way.
"Idiot. Alright, back to the car," Lawson instructed. Zipping up the medical kit, Shannon and Stella followed him back across the road, once again playing chicken with the oncoming traffic. "I'm gonna have a quick chat to Leon about that guy, and I'll go get some lunch from the bakery. You two stay with the car. Any requests?"
"Since when have you asked or even offered to get us lunch?" Shannon joked, opening up the back of TR1 to replace the medical kit and take a note of what had been used for inventory when they got back to base at the end of their shift.
"Hey, I'm in a relatively good mood here. You should take advantage of it," he said, walking off in the direction of the bakery. They could hear his conversation with Leon over their comms as Stella jumped into the boot to sit on top of the strong box with the clip board, reading to take notes.
"I know we weren't going to talk about it anymore," Shannon said, the sentence dropping off as she counted items within the kit.
"Yeah, I know what you're thinking." Her pen scribbled in the date and time of the inventory check.
"And what is that?"
"What are the chances we run into that guy over a hundred and fifty k's away from the place he beat the crap out of my brother?" Shannon offered a weak chuckle. "And the answer to that is: very slim."
"Now we know his name, we could get Leon to go a more thorough check on the guy."
"We don't need to know," Stella said with a firm tone. Out of the two of them, Stella had never been the one to use that tone; there had usually been a comical side to her tone. "Besides you heard Leon, no current employment history."
"And no Centre-Link payments either. Especially not high enough to afford the quality of that jacket."
"Shannon, we don't need to know."
Shannon didn't stop there yet, she was in a roll. "If he's not getting government hand-outs and has no current employer, he has to have a source of money. Which means cash in hand, a lot of it, and no tax payments."
"Shannon!" The Senior Sergeant looked up from the medical kit, stunned at the tone her girlfriend was using with her. Stella's gaze was searching the civilian population, the metal clip digging into her elbow. It took a moment, but three cars behind her hasty and crappy parking job was a familiar face leaning against a rather expensive looking Range Rover. Her voice dropped as she tried to place the figure that was so familiar and different at the same time. "We don't need to know."
It was a good thing that Shannon reluctantly dropped the topic of their conversation because Lawson came back with three meat pies, a stack of sauce packets and three bottles of coke. It looked like he had somehow managed to start eating his own lunch all the while juggling the drinks and the other two pies.
"Hey Lawson," Stella started, not moving her eyes from the man in fear that if she did, he would be gone when she managed to focus on him again.
"What?" he asked, with a mouth full of food.
"Black Range Rover, three cars down, now in the passenger seat. Look familiar to you?"
He looked up, and after a few seconds, his mouth opened in shock. "Is that-?"
"Yep."
Shannon was following their direction on focus, seeing who they were talking about as the car was pulled into the mainstream of traffic by a driver, driving right past them. He watched with a slightly angry expression as he passed. She would see him, but at the same time had no idea who they were talking about.
"Who is he?"
"Connor Barry." At her confused look, Stella continued. "Grace Barry. Josh's first love, and the Senior Constable you replaced. That's her widower."
"He looks really different."
"It's been three years."
"I thought he dropped off the face of the earth," Lawson commented, shrugging and showing them their lunch.
"Meat pies and coke?" Shannon asked. "It's pushing late twenty's today."
"Hey, it's the Aussie way."
"No, the Aussie way is meat pies and beer," Stella pointed out. Even though she and her girlfriend were currently involved in a slight disagreement, it didn't stop them from teaming up against Lawson over Australian pride, values and morals, despite the fact that it only was over some food.
"Yeah, well. We're on the job. Besides, you should be thankful I got you anything at all. I got some cookies too. But if you two don't hurry up, stop gasbagging and finish that preliminary inventory, you're not going to get any of these cookies," he threatened playfully, taking his seat in the passenger seat and dumping everything from his arms to his lap, and then over to the driver's seat, much to Stella's disapproval as she and Shannon swapped seats ready to tuck into their lunch.
The trio had been back to work for the final hours of their day shift, and with the day being a relatively quiet one compared to the previous weeks, they hadn't actually had to attend to any ongoing crimes or angry citizens. That was until they returned to the base, TR2 having pulled up in the garage only moments before their car, and they were met with a rather peeved off looking Kerry.
Before they got out of the car, Lawson commented, "Uh-oh, Boss-lady doesn't look very happy."
"How is this different from any other day?" Stella asked, heading towards the boot to grab the inventory list and a bag to replace in the armoury.
"Just don't let her hear you call her Boss-lady and you should live to see tomorrow," Shannon laughed. She grabbed the medical kit and slung it over her shoulder, before grabbing the last bag in the boot. Lawson slammed it shut behind them with a comical sigh.
"Lawson! Stella! Can I have a word?" she asked. Without stopping, she turned around and stalked back up the hallway towards her office.
"What did you do?" Shannon asked, as the three of them stopped at doorway to the stairwell to drop off the bags for them to be taken upstairs.
"Nothing!"
"Are you sure?" Lawson asked, giving her a stern look as her commanding officer.
"Yes, I'm sure. And I'll make sure Kerry knows that," Stella explained, loudly enough for Leon to hear her from the tech room. She turned on her heal and hurried up the hallway after Kerry, who was waiting impatiently in the doorway to her office.
"Boss-lady, I didn't do it, and if I did do it, I didn't do it alone!" She could hear Shannon laughing back down the hallway as the Senior Sergeant was left with the numerous bags.
"That's my line!" Leon yelled back from his worn out reclining arm chair.
"Sit," Kerry ordered, attempting not to show the amusement on her face. "I'm not even going to bother with the whole Boss-lady thing. Either of you two want to explain why I got a phone call from a Major Crimes detective, warning us to keep away from a certain Russian criminal names Vladimir Udinov?"
"Stella spotted the moron beating up Gary Ryan in the middle of a crowded street. So what?"
"That low-life we were chasing a couple years ago?"
"Yeah, the one I didn't catch. Thanks for the reminder," Stella said, smacking her hands on her sides. "Why would this have to do with me? Why not have Shannon up here instead of me? Or even Josh. I mean, they are higher ranking."
"Because this certain detective was your brother," Kerry said. "Any idea why he is warning us to back off when Leon can't find any open investigation involving this guy Udinov?"
"Okay, here's the thing. I have two brothers. Frank? My least favourite arsehole." Kerry and Lawson simply looked at her with raised eyebrows.
"He's your brother. Doesn't he tell you things like this?" Lawson asked.
"We don't get along. At all. The last time I talked to him before visiting my family a month ago, was Christmas last year," she explained, with a pointed look. "And for the record, I prefer the term 'arsehole'! Besides, he is a detective in Major Crimes. He wouldn't have to tell me anything as he is a higher ranking officer in a different division."
"You're sure that he never mentioned anything to you?" Kerry pressured.
"Yes," Stella answered sarcastically. It was an automatic reaction to avoid appearing guilty. The last thing she needed was her commanding officers asking more questions about this guy and connecting him in a more complex way to Frank and somehow to herself.
"Want to ask him for us?" Kerry asked.
"Not really. Can I go now?" Stella requested.
Kerry relented. "Fine."
The brunette thankfully left the two senior officers, who called Josh in when we walked past, to discuss the matter of Udinov. There was no doubt in Stella's mind that this would be the new Kronin obsession for the team. With no obvious signs of employment status, there were only so many ways he could appear to not be strapped for cash. Drug dealer, high end weapons dealer or mob connections were the few ones Stella could hear from her position next to Leon's chair for a quick gossip session before the office door slammed shut.
"Mate, you've lost your touch. I suggest that this weekend, you and me go out and get smashed. Completely off our faces." The screens in front of them changed, bringing up the main website and pictures to a new club that had recently opened in the city. Stella visibly hesitated. "What?"
"I think that I'm supposed to be having a night in or something with the old ball and chain," she muttered, as if Shannon was able to hear her, and Stella would be in the dog house for using the term.
"Ahhh, so that's why you can't hold your booze anymore."
She was winning this challenge. "Pfft, I could still drink you under the table, computer nerd!"
"Prove it," he demanded. He rocked back in his chair gleefully at the idea of getting pissed beyond belief with his best drinking buddy, he crossed his arms when the chair creaked surprisingly loudly, as Stella's face fell dramatically.
She mouthed 'fuck' to herself, knowing that she was trapped in the way of her verbal arguments. With nothing coming straight to mind, she stroked her chin thoughtfully. She wasn't able to provide the intelligence officer with a response to his challenge because Kerry's office door opened, her head popping out in the doorjamb.
"Inventory, Stella! Don't leave one of your commanding officers to do it all!" Stella's back instantly straightened, Leon chuckled at her misfortune of being told off by their boss, and the brunette turned on her heel with her head down while she practically ran for the stairs. "Leon! Work computers are not for personal use!"
All of the screens containing the party pictures disappeared faster than Stella had left the room. The idea of doing inventory wasn't appealing to her, but the upside was that she would be able to spend time alone with Shannon for only the second time since their shift started. Reaching the supply room on the second level of the TR base, which was in Stella's opinion was a really bad idea especially when they had to lug heavy five foot duffle bags up the stairs every day, the brunette immediately opened up the medical cabinet, and pulled out the quarterly term inventory forms.
It appeared that Shannon had already gone through the weapons bag and, upon Stella's arrival, pulled out the medical kit to take notes and restock the kit. Working in relative silence for the most part, only talking to compare notes and passes items to each other, Shannon could almost sense the anxiety creeping up through her girlfriends demeanour.
"Babe, is everything okay?" she asked, letting the clip board drop onto the top of some climbing gear. Now that they were at base, their lapel cameras had been turned off. But that didn't mean that anything was possible between Shannon and Stella, due to the security camera in the far corner of the room.
"It's a long story," Stella sighed, flicking through a few pages of the last inventory forms. Shannon had a look on her face that said 'I've got time.' "I'll explain when we get home."
After pushing the topic of Udinov earlier this morning, she decided not to pursue the topic this time, but indeed wait until they got home later on.
Yeah so let me know what you think at this small chapter that took a really long time to write. RIP Rush. I hate you, Channel Ten