Liz POV
"You think he's okay?"
"You mean, do I think he's out drinking and doing drugs?"
Danny looked at me worriedly and shrugged.
"Not necessarily," he answered. "I just mean do you think he's okay."
"The text said that he was catching up with an old friend, right? I think that's a good thing. I haven't heard him mention any of his friends from Johns Hopkins. I don't think those kids are talking to him anymore, so if an old high school buddy wants to hang out with him…"
"Yeah, I know you're right."
"And as for the drinking and drugs…I don't see it. I'm pretty sure he's done with drugs altogether, and I'm not saying that he'll never drink again, but a week after what happened? No."
"Right again," he admitted with a wry smile. He was holding my hand as we walked down the sidewalk toward Steve-O's, and with his concession, he brought my hand to his lips and kissed the knuckles. "You have an annoying habit of often being right."
"Annoying, huh?"
"Endearing," he corrected, now grinning fully.
"Uh huh. Good save," I joked. "Now stop worrying about Jeremy. A little fun with someone his own age will be good for him. And we'll have a little fun with people our age, and then we'll go home and wait for him so that I can give him the test when he gets home."
"The test? You're going to make him pee in a cup?"
"No, Danny," I said on a laugh. "I'm going to hug him. Tightly, so that I can smell him. Smoke, liquor…it's easily detectable from a simple close-range sniff test."'
"Okay, that's it. You're not allowed to hang out with the Gorens anymore," he teased.
"Too late," I said, as he pulled open the door of Steve-O's and then stood back to let me walk in ahead of him. "They've already taught me everything they know."
"God help us all," he muttered good-naturedly.
It wasn't hard to spot our friends, considering they took up the entire back wall of the restaurant.
And the group had grown since the last time.
If we had any more people join us, we were going to have to start renting out a banquet hall just for our debriefings.
"I don't think anyone would've missed us," Danny said quietly as we crossed the crowded room.
It was Friday night, after all, and I had no doubt that it was only due to our repeated patronage that allowed us to snag so many tables.
"Of course they would," I argued.
Although I wasn't so sure.
I took a quick headcount and came up with fourteen, not including us. Our usual group of ten had expanded, with the inclusion of John and Mary, Sean Eames and his wife Alicia, and the odd addition of Mike Cutter and a young kid with whom I wasn't familiar.
"Dr. Rodgers," Cutter greeted, standing up to offer me his chair while at the same time, Bernard moved to grab two chairs from a nearby table.
"I didn't think you were coming," Alex said.
"Jeremy made plans, so our schedule opened up," Danny answered as he eyeballed the kid.
"Chief, this is the computer whiz I've been telling you about," Lupo spoke up. "Call him Mulder."
"Chief? As in the Chief of Police?" the kid asked, standing up to shake Danny's hand. "You mean like…you're their boss?"
"Chief of Detectives," Danny corrected. "And I think I'm their boss, yeah, but sometimes it's really hard to tell."
"Not my boss," Connie said with a grin.
"Or mine," I added, shaking Mulder's hand.
"Yeah, more the other way around with her," Danny said, tipping his head towards me.
"Liz is the medical examiner," Bobby supplied.
"Oh, now that sounds totally awesome. Have you ever examined someone who died from necrotizing fasciitis? Or what about something like chemical exposure? Have you ever seen…"
"Mulder," Lupo interrupted, after having caught sight of the look on Alicia's face. "Not really dinner table material."
"Oh, shit, man. I'm sorry. It's just…pretty neat stuff, isn't it, Doc?"
"It can be," I told him.
He looked like he wanted to ask more questions, but other conversations cropped up around the table, so he let it go.
We'd only made it through our first drink when Lauren quietly got up from the table and headed for the front door. Her blanket goodbye was barely audible, but as soon as she stepped away, everyone's attention went to her.
I looked at Bernard, who was watching her retreating form, and then I looked questioningly around the table. By the time my gaze got to the Logans, Mike was getting up from the table so that he could follow her to the door.
"Should I ask?"
"It's nothing," Bernard said. "Let her go."
"It's not nothing," Carolyn replied.
"No, it's not," Mary agreed.
"You really want to let her go?" Alex asked Bernard, and then she glanced over at the door where Mike and Lauren were still standing. "I'll go get Mike right now."
"She has a right to be mad," he said lamely. "This isn't her fault. It's mine."
"Then why aren't you running after her?" Danny asked practically, and I loved that he was letting himself get so involved.
By this time, Lauren had left with Mike, and through the windows, I could see the two of them walk away on the sidewalk. I was curious as to the nature of the spat, because I was completely in the dark about what was going on, but I'd have to let her tell me later. Now certainly wasn't the time to ask for details.
"She was pretty clear about what she wanted," Bernard answered.
"And yet she came here tonight," Carolyn pointed out.
Bernard didn't respond, and silence fell over the table, so then Mary spoke up to invite everyone to a housewarming party.
"And no gifts," she said firmly. "I wouldn't know where to put it, and there's honestly nothing I need."
"Certainly not a new necklace," Alex pointed out, and Mary self-consciously grabbed onto the oversized diamond hanging from a chain around her neck.
"Well, someone seems to think he can't leave the zip code without bringing me a present."
"You love it," John insisted, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and pulling her to him.
"A little bit," Mary hedged, but she definitely looked happy. She planted a quick kiss on him and then turned to Bobby. "So, what exactly did you have to do to get Alex to wear that sling another week? I thought for sure it'd be long gone by now."
"I'm not telling," Alex answered for him. "But if he doesn't do it again, this thing's coming off in the morning."
Everyone laughed except Mulder, who looked confused, but the banter kept up until ten minutes later when Mike and Lauren came back.
The conversation slowed down as Lauren looked uncertainly around the table, and said, "I'm sorry. I'm…sorry."
"For what?" Mike asked as he went back around to his seat. "Trying to escape the madness of this group? Believe me, if I thought I could make it past the door without being hog-tied and dragged back inside, I'd try it in a second."
I didn't know what had transpired, or what was so upsetting to her to make her want to leave, but I loved Mike even more for bringing her back and then trying to smooth over the awkwardness.
The dialogue picked up again, this time with Alex making the announcement for Sean about his impending double arrival, but I continued to surreptitiously watch Lauren as she eased into the chair next to Bernard.
"I'm sorry," she said to him in a voice so soft that I could barely hear her.
He watched her for a second and then slowly pushed her hair back behind her shoulder, letting his hand linger against her for a moment longer than necessary.
"Don't be sorry."
"But…"
"We'll talk about it."
"Tonight?" she asked, looking scared and hopeful at the same time.
As if she thought he might say no.
Could the girl really not see that he was in love with her?
He nodded his agreement and then settled his arm around her shoulders.
I forced myself to look away, feeling like a voyeur for witnessing their moment, and at the same time feeling unrepentant because I liked them both too much. I wanted them to be happy.
It didn't take long for things to shift into our usual myriad of relaxed conversations and before I knew it, more than three hours had passed.
"Check on Jeremy," I said quietly to Danny.
For some reason, it bothered me a little that he hadn't texted since the one earlier, asking to beg off of dinner. Over the past week, he'd been really good about keeping in contact with us, and he had to know that his father would be worrying about him, out on a Friday night.
Danny quickly pulled out his phone, and I could imagine that he'd been wanting to check on his son for quite some time, but was probably only waiting until I encouraged it. I knew he was worried about being overprotective, or stifling his now-grown son, but…this situation was different than most.
I looked over his shoulder as he typed the simple text.
Everything okay?
He kept it in his hand while he waited for a response, and I grabbed onto his other hand while I jumped back into the conversation.
"It was some seriously crazy shit, right?" Mulder was saying. "I mean, I'm sitting there, jamming through the I's and O's and then Yahtzee, man. I'm looking at the AES of the freaking gatekeeper, right?"
"AES?" I asked, as if that was the only part of his statement I didn't understand.
"Annual earnings statement," he told me with a meaningful nod.
"You hacked someone's financial information?" Mary asked him while at the same time, Lupo tried to get his attention, presumably to get him to stop talking.
"Bill Gates," he clarified, oblivious to Lupo's attempts.
Mary looked at him incredulously and then looked around the table before settling her gaze back on the young genius.
"You know I'm a United States Marshal, right? And that you're at a table filled with cops and district attorneys?"
"Hey, I just looked," he insisted as his face went white. "I didn't…shit, I didn't like steal it or anything. Shit, man...Lupo?"
Mary continued to glare at him for a moment longer, and then she broke into a grin, and everyone else started laughing.
"I'm just messing with you. Although, you might want to rethink perusing through other people's information for sport. Honestly, I'm surprised that the FBI hasn't recruited you yet. They like to go for true hackers, you know, and it sounds like you're the real deal."
"Nah, man, Lupo's the real deal," he deflected, showing open admiration. He also turned from white to red at Mary's compliment. "I just know a little bit about computers."
"A little bit," Cutter scoffed. "Please. You got my system back on its feet in less than twenty-four hours."
"Pre-K shit, Mr. C."
"Uh huh. To you, maybe."
"Yeah, well if you can find my account in the Caymans, then I'll call the FBI myself and tell them they need to bring you in," Carolyn told him.
"Bring me in?" he questioned nervously.
"As an employee. You're missing the boat if you don't market your skills," she said soothingly.
"She's right," Bobby agreed. "And when the Bureau brings in a hacker, all is forgiven."
"Really? I mean, not that I've done anything wrong."
"Geneva?" Lupo supplied with a grin.
"Yeah, so…you've got connections at the FBI?" he asked Carolyn, ignoring Lupo's ribbing.
"She's on a first name basis with the director," Mike answered, looking pointedly at his wife and smiling fully.
She flashed him a sarcastic grin and said, "Yeah, well, maybe I should use a different contact. That is, if you're interested."
"Think about it," Alex urged him when it looked like he was going to say no. "You could have a great career ahead of you."
"Yeah, and if you decide the Bureau's not for you, give me a call," John said. "I could put you to work, too."
"So can I," Danny offered.
"What do you do?" Mulder asked John.
"You don't want to work for him," Mary answered. "He'll have you hacking into competitors' systems to find out how high they're willing to go on a bid…"
"I know," John agreed quickly, although I could tell he was kidding. "Just think how much money I could've saved on the Millennium if I'd known ahead of time their basement price."
"Wait, you bought the Millennium?" Mulder asked loudly. "You're that John? Like, John Strathmore?"
"Um…yeah," John said, clearly surprised that Mulder knew who he was.
"Dude! I trolled your QR a couple of weeks ago! Holy shit! I didn't know guys like you hung out in places like this!"
"You…hacked me?"
"Oh…I mean…well, I was just creepin' on the F5. You know…the cat."
"Okay, now you have to hire him," Mary said with her typical sarcasm. "He's already been trolling your QR and creeping your F5. Next thing you know, he's going to be scoping your CAQ and that just might put me over the edge."
"Whoa, hey, I would never scope his CAQ, right?"
Mary just started at him blankly while Alex burst out laughing.
"I think the point is," Lupo spoke up. "You need to put your skills to use in a valid, legal environment, or you're going to end up back in the clink."
"I'm feeling you," Mulder said to him, and then he looked back at John. "And I'm sorry for skulking in your P&L, man, but it's just…wow. You're like the Colorado, right? Only with a little more chlorophyll."
"I don't think you want him," Bobby warned John. "It would be too tempting."
"You might be right," John agreed with a grin. "Start with the feds."
"No, start with my account in the Caymans," Carolyn corrected.
"I hate to cut this party short, but even with Mulder's brilliance, I've got a huge backlog at the office, so I'm going to have to go in early tomorrow," Cutter said as he got up from the table. "And I still have to drive to Jersey tonight."
"And then someone's got to go back and get him in the morning?" Mike questioned.
"That's silly," Connie said to Mulder. "You can sleep on our couch tonight. I mean, if you want."
"You mean like…in your house?"
"Well, our apartment, but…yeah."
That sparked a stream of dialogue from Mulder that I'm pretty sure no one understood, and at the same time, Cutter made his exit.
"Still nothing from Jeremy?" I asked Danny quietly.
"No."
"Let's go home. Maybe he's already there and he went to bed early. I don't think he slept much last night."
So we got up and said our goodbyes and then headed for home.
Danny sent Jeremy a second text along the way, and I was suddenly extremely worried.
Of what specifically I can't say, but the last time he'd ignored us was when he'd gone looking for Kenny.
Danny had mentioned that Bobby and Alex didn't think Kenny would've killed himself, and I agreed with their assessment of the unusual nature of suicide by ketamine.
But we were in New York.
Even if he remembered something, he surely wouldn't have gone to Baltimore alone, especially not when he knew we'd be checking up on him.
"Finally," Danny said when his phone buzzed as we headed up the front walk.
We both breathed a sigh of relief as he looked at the message.
"Sorry – I didn't hear it buzz the first time," Danny read aloud. "I'm having a good time, and behaving myself so don't worry."
"Don't worry," I scoffed. "Easy for him to say."
Danny chuckled and then finished reading the message.
"It's Friday. You and your wife should go out and have some fun."
"You and your wife?" I questioned, and just like that, the niggling worry from before turned into full-fledged fear. "Jeremy would never call me that."
"But it's what you are," Danny reasoned, although he sounded unsure.
"He would've said Liz," I insisted.
We both stopped, each of us halfway up the front steps.
"Which means what?"
"This message isn't from him. Or it is, and he's trying to tell us something."
TBC...
