"Wow. This has been the best day I have had in a long time!" Donny said. Clean shaven now, with a haircut, he looked very respectable. "The twins are amazing and I am actually looking forward to talking to the DA. I can't wait to become a productive member of society again!"
"Well, here. Happy Birthday" Alex handed him a Footlocker sneaker store gift card.
"It's nowhere near my birthday yet Aunt Alex." Donny said.
"So? I thought you could use some new kicks, and when's the last time I gave you a birthday present anyway?" She replied. Donny grinned and she continued. "Bobby and I will wait right here. And don't feel rushed, we've got a lot of time before we're to meet up with Mike and Nola downtown."
"Okay, thanks!" He said, and headed over to the Footlocker.
Bobby and Alex sat down on a nearby bench. "He's so much like I remember Frank; quick-witted, intelligent, knowing look in his eyes… but lacking the cocksure arrogance. When I was a kid, I thought Frank owned the world he was so slick." Bobby said, reminiscent. Alex said nothing, listening. Bobby seldom opened up about his past and she wasn't going to stop him now. "Then when I got orders to be stationed over seas Frank got mad and said I was abandoning the family. Truth was he knew he'd need to be around more often, become a responsible adult, be the one to make sure mom took her meds, instead of disappearing for weeks at a time. But I thought I had Mom's blessing. She'd said my father would be proud, that I'd be following in his footsteps. I always thought she meant Dad, but I realize now she meant Brady.
I thought it was going to be great just being independent at last. Family made it hard though. When I'd call home I was always made to feel guilty for not being there, never allowed to feel like my life was my own. Then I had to come home because Frank got deep into the drug scene, stopped coming around and mom got depressed and stopped taking her meds and ended up in the hospital. So, the Army gave me hardship orders back stateside. When Frank finally did show up we got into a real knock-down-drag-out over his drug use and whose fault it was that Ma was in the hospital, and that was the last time I saw him until on the street that day."
Alex sighed. Bobby had always kept everything inside, never talking to Alex about all this, even in his mother's final weeks, or once Frank came back into his life after 20 years. Bobby had kept her at arms length all the while they were working together, so that she never even knew he had a brother until they'd run into Frank on a bread line outside a church soup kitchen. "Why have you never told me any of this?" She asked.
"Because all that time I was in love with you and I knew if I let you in it would mean getting close and would interfere with our working relationship. And deep down I appreciated that you also never let me in, never shared your feelings about losing Joe, even though I wanted to ask you about it all the time."
"Well, to be honest I never wanted to talk about Joe because I thought it would make me somehow weak in your eyes, to let you see the pain. I threw myself into my work so when I'd get home at night I'd be too exhausted to cry about it. After a while it just didn't seem logical to bog down the present with pains of the past." Alex admitted. "So now that we're on the subject of the past, will you keep your promise of sharing your childhood?"
Bobby took a deep breath. "I really don't like to talk about it, I wouldn't even know where to start."
"How 'bout why you hate the beach?" It was an off hand comment that Bobby had made so long ago that she shouldn't even have remembered it, yet every time a case took them to the beach, or she rode the Ferry across between Manhattan and Staten Island, Alex thought about it.
Bobby glanced around to see if Donny was on his way back, but he would get no such reprieve. "Okay, now's as good a time as any I guess. In the summer Ma was always trying to get us kids out of the apartment. So one time, when I was about 8 years old, she told Frank to take me down to the beach. She gave us a dollar for Italian ices and off we went. We'd gone a few times before, and it was always the same routine. Frank would buy the ices, then make fun of me for always getting lemon flavor, but Ma always got lemon, said when she was a kid that's all there was, lemon ice, no strawberry, or blueberry, or cherry. So I got what Ma liked.
Anyway, then Frank would wander off to hang out with his friends and I would go have fun on my own; playing frisbee and Marco Polo with other kids. When the sun would start to go down we'd meet by the Icee stand, an old wooden shack. By then, the Icee shack would be closed and the beach would be clearing out. Well this time, as I waited the sun continued to set and it got darker and darker out, and Frank still didn't show up. I would have tried to find my own way home, but Frank always took us through a maze of streets and alleys to get to the beach so I didn't really know the way home. And I thought if I left and Frank came back he'd be really mad. So I waited in the pitch dark, huddled there by the shack alone and scared out of my wits, until I finally cried myself to sleep there in the sand.
Finally just before dawn a couple police officers with flashlights woke me up. I was damp from the dew and cold, and itchy from the sand, just miserable. Frank had never come back that night. The cops asked me where I lived, and why I didn't just go home? I told them I didn't know the way. I also told them I was afraid to go home, that I was going to be in big trouble being out after dark. But then one of the cops said, no matter kid, better to be in trouble and sleep in your own bed tonight right? And threw a blanket around me. Once they got me back to the apartment, the cop gave me a map. He told me, this shows all of Canarsie so you can never be lost again. Of course Frank got in major trouble and took it out on me for not going home on my own. But I didn't care, I got to sleep in my own bed that night. The next time Ma told me to go to beach, I said nope, I'll play out front. So I took my map outside and spent the rest of the summer learning the streets and alleys of Canarsie."
"Wow, what a story Bobby. Thank you for sharing that with me." Alex said. Then glanced around to see Donny coming back from the store sporting a brand new pair of sneakers.
Down in Alphabet City of the East Village, Mike and Nola sat at the bar in Peter J's discussing the outcome of their case while waiting for Bobby and Alex.
"Well, Madam Rousseau may have lost her 'Man Friday' but at least she got all her art back." Mike mused.
"What I can't believe is alias 'Smith and Lemon'. How could two cops go so rogue and their own precinct doesn't even know it!" Nola replied.
"Oh they knew... I doubt Davis did, but that Maynard is as slimy as a snake oil salesman."
"After all Davis has done to you, now you're going to defend her?" Nola said, incensed on Mike's behalf.
"I'm not defending her, Nola. She's too rookie to be involved, but if she is she'll go down with the rest when Bobby gets through with them."
"You sure IAD will do an investigation?"
"I plan to make a formal complaint. They have to." Mike assured.
"Still, at least the Rotislavs will get a new life and all those girls are safe."
"Yeah. We did good. Here's to Major Case!" Mike raised his glass. They drank down their whiskeys and Mike ordered another round. "What'd Alex say when you talked to her. We're they worried?"
"Yes. She said they were on their way to visiting the twins and almost diverted, but Bobby wouldn't do it."
"I'm glad... It seems he's finally got the hang of putting his family first."
"Not as easy as you'd think, even for a new mother" Nola commented.
"Well once the babies are at home I'm sure that's all she'll think about." Mike surmised.
"Plus they've also got another family member staying with them. I don't know the details but apparently Bobby has a nephew. Alex said she'd fill me in on the details when they get here."
"Can't wait." Mike said, downing his drink. "How about another?"
Nola followed suit and they got another round. "Whew last time I drank like this I was out with Alex."
"You need it… I need it. The past couple of months have really sucked and we need a break. I'm glad Hannah was able to give us a few days off."
"Yeah, so what do we drink to this time?" She asked.
"Uh... to friends!" Mike raised his glass again.
"To friends!" Nola echoed. And as they slammed the shot glasses down on the bar for emphasis they heard a familiar voice from behind.
"Starting without us, huh?" Alex said.
Mike and Nola turned in their seats. "Hey Alex, Bobby!" Mike said, "Join us."
"Sure. Mike, Nola, first I'd like to introduce you to my Nephew, Donny. Donny these are our friends, Mike and Nola."
"Glad to meet you both." Donny said.
"Sheesh kid, are you even old enough to be in a bar?" Nola asked teasingly.
Donny took it good-naturedly, "Unless they raised the drinking age to 25." He replied with a smile.
"Pete, another round, and whatever our friends want." Mike called over to the bar tender. He glanced around and spied a free table. "We'll take 'em over there."
Soon they were all seated around a back table with a platter of appetizers, pitcher of draft beer, and a couple Whiskeys. Mike and Nola recounted their adventures with S.W.A.T., the take down of Smith and Lemon, and the rescue of the kidnapped Russian girls. "So basically, we did nothing, but it's always fun watching S.W.A.T. in action." Mike wound up the tale.
"So you're staying with Bobby and Alex?" Nola asked Donny after a brief lull in the conversation.
"Donny just moved to the big city, we're going to help him get on his feet." Alex said quickly to keep Donny from having to explain his circumstances. Mike was somewhat familiar with the story of Donny and Bobby's time at Tates and subsequent suspension from the force, but he did not know the details.
"It's okay, Aunt Alex, Uncle Bobby. You can tell them the truth." Donny said. "I'm starting a new life, I don't want to start it on a lie."
"Well half truth." Bobby said, "Donny is new in town, and we are helping him get on his feet. But he'll be on probation." Bobby continued and with interjections from Alex and Donny told Mike and Nola the full story of how Donny came into their lives. "Well, at least one of us has to get up and go to work in the morning, so we'd better cut out." Bobby finished with.
"Awe it's early yet," Mike said, "stay another round."
"No, not this time Mike, It'll be after 11pm by the time we get home as it is." With that Alex, Donny, and Bobby then got up from the table, and said their goodbyes.
"You should have hitched a ride." Mike said to Nola as the others worked their way out of the bar.
"Astoria is way out of their way, and as he said, Bobby has to get up early. I'll get a cab…."
"To Queens? Did you win the lottery?" Mike asked.
"Ha ha. I have checks, I must still have money." Nola retorted.
"Funny. I'll give you a ride, I don't have to get up early." Mike reminded her.
"I'm not getting in a car with you, you lush."
"Look, you can't afford a cab, and frankly till payday, I don't even have enough. Just stay at my place then I'll take you home in the morning."
"I dunno Mike…." Nola said uncertainly, remembering her conversation with Alex a couple weeks ago.
"Okay, well, lets order another round while you think about it."
They ordered another pitcher and and exchanged career anecdotes until Mike said, "Whew, okay now I'm starting to feel it. How many has that been?"
"I lost count sometime before midnight." Nola said, "yeah okay, let's call it a night."
"C'mon." Mike said, putting money on the table and flagging the waitress to let her know. Then he took Nola's hand and lead her to the door. They stopped just outside the bar. Rain was pouring down and they huddled close, Mike pulling up his collar. "I guess we have to make a run for it." He said, "Think you can get between the raindrops?"
"Yeah sure. Which door is yours?" She asked.
"About 2/3rds down the block, the fourth door. See it?"
"Ready, set, GO!" Nola said and burst out into the rain running for Mike's apartment.
After a moment of surprise, Mike dashed out into the rain, and down the block after Nola. They did not have the benefit of an overhang at Mike's door so proceeded to get drenched while Mike fumbled for his keys to open the outer door.
Nola laughed, "See, you're so drunk now you can't even operate a keychain let alone a car!"
Mike now laughing too finally got hold of the right key then dropped the keys. Both he and Nola bent down to get them and bumped heads on the way up. "Ow! Shit, what a disaster!" Mike said putting a hand to his head and looking at Nola. She had her hand to her head also, and looked half drowned.
Suddenly, delirious with alcohol and desire, Nola leaned forward and kissed Mike.