Intersecting Lines Book 3
98 Returning Home
Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office
Alex's viewpoint
I walked into the District Attorney's office and smiled at our receptionist, Chelsea, getting a warm and welcoming smile in return.
"Good morning Alex, welcome back" I nodded and smiled a little wider.
"Good morning Chelsea, it's good to be back" I wasn't lying; it was good to have some semblance of normality after the past month. She tipped her head to one side.
"Mister Annesley wanted to see you, but he's got an early off-site meeting and isn't due in till 9.30" I nodded, wondering what he wanted then mentally shrugged, I'd find out soon enough I guess. "Would you like me to call you when he gets in?" I smiled; Chelsea being both efficient and caring.
"Thank you Chelsea; that would be wonderful" She smiled a little wider.
"Have a good morning Alex" I smiled and ducked my head a little, especially at what wasn't being said, instead nodding and getting a single nod in return. My office was waiting for me, there were no case files on my desk, probably taken and allocated to other ADAs while I'd been...away.
I put my bag down and sat behind my desk for a moment, just looking around, trying to make sense of it all. A few minutes of terror, then days of unrelenting, mind-numbing fear, another few minutes of terror then weeks spent trying to put it behind us so that I could walk in and take this seat again. Was I so sure I even wanted it?
Leaving Liv this morning had been hard, as much for her as for me. She was obviously torn about letting me out of her sight unprotected, no Kate or Jane or Ana there when she couldn't be. I had the same unreasonable fears about her too, so much so that I'd had to spend a few moments sitting in the car parked downstairs, running through some of Doctor Burke's mental exercises, the effort calming me down enough to make my way up here from the car park. Now looking around I wondered why?
Nothing like staring into the abyss to make you reconsider your future; I didn't have to do this, if I wanted to I could walk away, so could Liv, we'd never have to be apart ever again. I thought about that for a while then shook my head.
Maura, Nat and Rick and the others were all going back to their lives, picking up the pieces where they'd left off, how could I do any less? Ana and Liv and Kate and Jane and even Rick were going back out on the street, putting their lives on the line once more, how could I let them down by walking away from the same fight? I don't know how long I sat there, lost in my thoughts when I was dragged from them by a cheery greeting.
"Good morning" I looked up at the familiar, welcome voice, to see Andrea standing in my doorway, a takeout cup of coffee in each hand. I smiled as she held one up slightly. "A little bird told me you were in but didn't have a coffee so…" She took a few steps inside and handed one across with a smile, one I gratefully returned.
"You're a lifesaver, and so is your little bird" We shared a smile for a moment before Andrea took the seat across my desk, even as I noticed that she looked relaxed, happy and tanned.
"How are you doing?" She asked. I shrugged and looked up into a set of warm blue eyes, I thought about offering platitudes then mentally junked that idea; this was my friend.
"Honestly, wondering why I'm here" Andrea sat back and nodded.
"I have no idea of what you went through Alex so I won't even try and feed you a line of bull about what's happened so I'll just tell you how I see it. You're here because you're a damn good prosecutor, one of the best I've ever worked with and this is what you were meant to do" She shrugged. "Besides, I'm tired of carrying your lazy ass, so I can't wait to offload some of these cases back onto you" I smiled slightly, Andrea being a wiseass to cover her feelings.
"I love you too Andrea" At that I got a low, dirty chuckle.
"Let's keep it our secret then" she teased. "I don't think Liv, Mikki or Amy would take it all too well if we started professing our undying love for each other" I grinned at her.
"Yeah, besides, where would we get a bed big enough for five?" I got a cheeky smile and a salute with her coffee cup.
"There is that" The room was companionably silent for a bit as we just looked at each other, just happy to be there. Finally I asked her the question I needed to.
"Wynter, is the case tight…?" She acknowledged my worry with a single nod.
"Airtight, so tight it makes the WitSec case look flimsy" I nodded as she continued. "I can't say much, given you're going to be a prosecution witness, but it's my case and I give you my word Alex, Wynter is going to rot on death row until he gets transferred to a capital punishment state and gets his date with the executioner"
I nodded. It might not be what I really wanted, I wished I didn't have to sit in a trial and open still-healing wounds, I'd rather Liv and the others had somehow killed him but that wasn't what had happened. Still I trusted Andrea and if she said it was airtight then it surely must be.
"Mind you, Wynter's lost his defence lawyer and no one wants to take the case" Andrea said, drawing a frown from me.
"Really? Do tell?"
"Yeah, it turns out his lawyer, Irene Simms, she walked away, apparently she was being blackmailed by Wynter and Simmonds to carry messages between them, Simmonds' turned up at her house and threatened her kids…" Andrea shrugged eloquently. "…so when Simmonds was safely in custody awaiting extradition to Iraq she walked in to San Quentin and told Wynter to find another lawyer, now nobody wants to take his case, funny that" she commented drily. I nodded slowly, based on what I'd seen of Simmonds I had no trouble believing he'd do something like that.
"Can't say I won't be sorry to put all that behind me though" I said, Andrea nodded.
"I understand, you won't be on the stand for long, just long enough to run you through what you saw, then your part is over" I grimaced then nodded.
"Best I can hope for I guess" I pushed that to one side. "I have a meeting with Annesley when he gets in, any idea what he wants?"
"Probably a 'welcome back' followed by him handing you a pile of cases" She smiled. "I may have heard a rumour that he's going to ask you if you're going to stay" I cocked my head at her.
"Really?" She nodded.
"Melinda Byrne's pregnant, announced it while you were away, so he's going to be a DDA down and because he's not a complete idiot he wants to keep you on" I nodded slowly.
"It'd depend on Liv" She smiled at that, as if she'd anticipated it.
"Like Brenda's not going to want her to stay" She shrugged. "Besides, Melinda's office has a nice view" Andrea looked around and played it off, covering what she felt with a superficial comment. "Much nicer than this one" I nodded, saying something equally flippant to cover what I really wanted to say.
"Well, who am I to turn down a view?"
I got a coffee cup raised in salute as Andrea toasted my decision.
New York NYPD 12th Precinct
Kate's viewpoint
I walked out of the elevator and looked out over the Homicide bull pen in the 12th, it hadn't changed; it rarely did. I'd worked here for years but now something seemed off, something not right. I couldn't put my finger on it as I walked over to my desk, exchanging nods and greetings with everyone I passed as I did, stopping to look down at my desk, seeing everything pretty much as I'd left it, right down to the porcelain family of elephants walking in line, each holding the tail of the one in front in their trunk, it'd been my mom's and I'd had them on my desk here ever since I'd arrived.
I pulled out my chair and sat down, reaching out to turn on my computer and log in when it hit me, I was what didn't fit anymore, the place hadn't changed; I had. I sat back and watched it boot up as I thought that through. I wasn't the same person who'd headed off to that conference in LA, The experiences I'd gone through had changed me, the fear and the stress and the people I'd worked with to free Rick, they'd changed me, to the point that I wondered if I fit in here anymore.
Rick was disconcerted too, we'd tried to settle in back at the loft over the weekend but we'd both been unable to sleep soundly. Each of us had tossed and turned, drifting in and out of sleep. At one point I'd got up and wandered round the loft, trying to work out why I couldn't sleep, before it hit me, this place was too noisy, I'd thought it quiet before, especially for New York, but with the sirens and the faint noise of passenger jets and helicopters and the traffic noises and voices from other apartments, it was bedlam compared to back at the farm. I'd become accustomed to the quiet there, the occasional sound of an owl or coyote for the most part was it, the only other noises were the sounds of the wind some nights and the quiet creak of floorboards as Jane or Liv or Ana had got up to check the security, something I'd found myself doing too. Sometimes we'd cross paths as we did, exchanging quiet smiles, we'd go sit in the warm kitchen for a bit, just sitting and enjoying the company, talking desultorily for a while before we made our way back to bed.
Now though it was just the two of us and while I should be enjoying the privacy and familiarity of the loft I found myself missing the others, the comforting knowledge I'd had back in Wyoming that they were there too, there for me if I needed them, the way I was there for them too.
"Morning Beckett" I looked up to see Ryan breeze in and change course towards me. "Good to have you back" I smiled as I replied.
"Good to be back Kevin" He came to a stop next to my desk and I waved him into Castle's chair next to me desk, which begged the question he asked.
"How's Castle?" I grimaced then shrugged as I replied.
"Getting better, it's going to take a while to heal completely but he can still write, so there's that"
"Beckett!" I looked round as Esposito appeared, heading our way. I smiled as I replied.
"Javier" He didn't mince words.
"Saw what happened, how are you both doing?" I nodded, acknowledging his concern, both of them actually.
"We're okay, it's going to take some time, but we're getting there" Espo shared a look with Ryan then looked back to me.
"Yeah, we heard and saw…" He moved to rest his butt against the edge of my desk and changed the subject. "We were involved in the raid here on one of the Cabal's top guys, a joint op with the Bureau, Jordan Shaw took point for them with Gates" I smiled at that, a genuine one, Shaw was a tough as nails and a friend, one I trusted. I'd have paid good money to see her and our equally hard-headed boss, Captain Victoria 'Iron' Gates, butt heads.
"How'd that work out?" Kevin shrugged.
"I got the impression it was a bit like why the shark didn't bite the lawyer…" At my confused look he smiled. "Professional courtesy" Espo grinned.
"Yeah, those two going at it would be a case of mutually assured destruction, don't think either wanted to push the button on the nuclear option" He made an off hand gesture. "Have to say standing there watching both of them stare down Walters over the sights of their Glocks was worth it though" I nodded; I almost wished I'd been here to see that. Kevin glanced at Espo then asked the question I'd expected.
"Castle gonna be in today?" I smiled.
"If we get a body drop, maybe, but his publisher, Black Pawn, is hassling him about a new book so he's home trying to write" They both nodded, having both met Castle's publisher and ex-wife Gina Cowell, their considered opinion was she was a daywalker, a vampire not afraid of daylight, intent on bleeding Castle slowly, painfully dry, a viewpoint I couldn't argue with. We were quiet for a few seconds before Espo broke the silence.
"If Castle's not here with a coffee, you wanna get one before we kick off, get you briefed in on the active cases?" I sat back and gave them both a happy smile.
"Aww Espo, I'm touched, you miss me?" He shook his head.
"Nah, just glad to have you back so you can carry your end of the workload" I nodded, understanding what was, and more importantly, what wasn't being said, then stood and grabbed my jacket.
"Ok, in that case I guess I'm buying" Kevin nodded as he straightened up.
Yeah" Espo went one better.
"You bet your ass you are" I smiled at them a little fondly before we headed out, they may not be my sisters but they were my team, they had my back and right now, that was enough.
Los Angeles LAPD Major Crimes
Olivia's viewpoint
I'd arrived early, wanting to settle back in to the job but found myself idly spinning my wheels. The place was back to the way it should be, with all our visitors having gone home to their respective cities it was back to just the team, all of whom should be in sometime in the next hour or so
I watched as my computer sat there, asking for a log in, I frowned, I couldn't remember it, before shrugging, I used the same log in each time, just advancing it one number every time you had to change it. I had to try twice before I got the number right, TigersAngel11. A bit clichéd maybe but it was something I'd never forget, plus it was a regular reminder of how lucky I was.
We'd got home to that big house on Saturday afternoon and both of us had slept really poorly on that first night, it was way too big and quiet and lonely, both of us had got used to a happy, bustling home, filled with the people we loved. If anything that feeling had only intensified in the days since Christie and Peter had got home, as far as they were concerned we were 'their girls', treated like their own, fussed over, worried over, stuffed full of good food and wrapped in the warm blanket of family life, it'd been so wonderful; I'd loved it and so had Al.
Leaving had been pretty emotional, not just the Wyoming farm and Christie and Peter, though that turned out harder than I'd expected to drive away, it really had come to feel like home out there; but saying goodbye to Kate and Rick as they'd stood at the terminal in Cheyenne, our planes waiting out on the tarmac to take us home, had been wrenching. There'd been an awful lot of tears all round, plus commitments to make sure they came and visited as often as they could, same as we would, before we'd reluctantly gone our separate ways. I missed them both, a lot.
Now we were back in LA and at work and coming to terms with that. Al had dropped me at the door to the Parker Centre before heading off to the County DAs office, causing a minor freak out as I realised for the first time no one would be there to protect her. It took me a while to calm down from that, telling myself over and over again that she'd be safe, that the ones who'd wanted to harm her were behind bars, unable to hurt anyone anymore, it'd taken a few minutes before I'd managed to calm myself enough to head inside and it was still bothering me.
With the log in routine finished I opened Outlook and then shook my head at the vast array of emails sitting there, cleaning that up would be the work of hours. If nothing else it would keep my mind off the fears I had about Alex, if only a bit. Looking at the first unopened email I saw it was one from Stella Bonasera, to the 'Major Crimes' email address, covering the investigation into the cabal, sent not long after we'd…departed the building. Thinking that wasn't a bad place to catch up on that case I started to read it and soon found myself sucked in to the aspects of the investigation I hadn't known about, skipping from one email to the next as I did. It looked like they'd gone in a completely different tangent, chasing down the Cabal through their IT side, pretty successfully it seemed.
I don't know how long I'd been there, soaking it all up, before I caught movement from the corner of my eye and looked up to see Jane leaning in the doorway, I don't know how long she'd been standing there watching me, seeing me look up she smiled and spoke.
"Hey"
Los Angeles LAPD Media Centre
Natalie's viewpoint
My office was just as I'd left it, better even, neat and tidy with no dust anywhere, no doubt Lily had seen to that, she really was a treasure, far better than I deserved. I sat down, I'd arrived early to have a chance to settle back in, get myself back into the groove before the rest of the media team's day shift arrived so I slid into the chair and pulled it up to the desk, then woke my PC up; it was completely off so I watched as it ran through the boot-up routine as I let my mind wander.
It felt strange to be just Ana and I at home, I'd got used to a crowded and noisy kitchen back at the farm, either cooking for ourselves, or after mom and dad got back, mom had steadfastly refused to let us cook, insisting we were guests and needed the rest. Ana and I had tried to argue that we could do it but arguing with mom when she'd made up her mind about something as important to her as being hospitable was a losing game. At least she'd let Maura and Ana and eventually Rick cook meals with her, everyone eating around the big table in the dining room. It didn't get all that much use anymore, it was an old family heirloom, it could seat 12, but with just mom and dad and occasionally us visiting, we mostly ate in the smaller and cosier kitchen.
With all of us there though the dinner table had become a noisy, happy place as we'd all taken turns telling silly, funny stories of things we'd done and seen as mom and dad had watched and listened. Dad had said that our being there was about us, about getting ourselves well again, not to hear about them and their trip. We'd eventually coaxed them to talk about their trip to Africa though, they'd opened up one night and told us all about it, it sounded fantastic, so different from what I'd ever experienced; I really wanted to visit there too, if just to see all the animals out in their natural environment. Mostly though they sat back and let us talk, though I'd seen dad and especially mom, deep in conversation at various times with Maura and Liv and Alex and Jane, even Kate and Rick at times, giving them the same sympathetic ear and good advice that I'd had growing up.
Finally we'd agreed it was time to head back to home and our jobs but I hadn't realised how much I was going to miss what we'd had back there, our place felt too quiet with just the two of us there, even though that was we'd been used to since we'd first got together back in Seattle. Ana and I had felt the need to stay close; we were still a bit clingy too; showing us just how far we were from being back to normal.
We'd had a couple of discussions about what had happened in that warehouse as I'd wanted to know more about what she and the others had done. Ana in turn had been worried that knowing might change how I saw her, but once I'd come to terms that the same hands that held me so tenderly had also ended several people's lives, I understood what she was saying, it had been them or us. As Ana had quietly but insistently pointed out, she had fought and killed to protect me before, that ambush by the Barrio Bangers out in San Pedro and would do so again in an instant, they all would, Jane, Kate and Liv would and Ana would do the same to protect Maura, Alex and Rick as well. It was quite humbling to know that there were people who loved us so much that they would do anything, including kill if necessary, to protect us. I had come to accept that I was unbelievably lucky to be blessed with so many amazing friends in my life, and to have Ana as my other half was a gift from god, one I had long ago vowed never to take for granted.
The computer finished booting up and beeped at me, drawing me from my reverie as it asked for my login, which still worked, I thought it might have passed the time to change it; you had to do that regularly. I logged in and opened my email, snorting softly at the number in my Outlook inbox, 3796 unread emails apparently, most of them news updates, breaking news alerts and media monitoring reports. I shook my head slowly then paged down to the oldest unopened email, frowning as I read the title; an invitation to an intranet webinar about dealing with difficult people, the date long past.
"Fuck that" I muttered and hit delete before moving up to the next one; sighing softly as I did, I was going to be here for a while.
Los Angeles LAPD Major Crimes
Jane's viewpoint
I walked in early to find Liv sitting at her desk, the one facing mine, engrossed in reading something on her computer. I thought I'd be the first in but apparently Liv had the same idea. I leaned in the doorway for a moment and took the place in; it was back to normal with all the visitors gone, back to just the team now. Liv must have caught me standing there out of the corner of her eye as she looked up and smiled; a relieved one, as if she was happy it was me and not anyone else, something I understood, nodding as I spoke.
"Hey"
"Morning, how are you?" From anyone else that could be taken any number of ways, but from my sister…I knew exactly what she meant.
"Getting by, just dropped Maura downstairs" She nodded before replying.
"Yeah, Alex dropped me here on the way in before she headed off to the DA's office" She grimaced. "Didn't like it but…" I nodded, understanding exactly what she meant.
"Yeah, I still have slight panics about leaving Maura somewhere that I can't keep an eye on her" I shook my head. "It's the Parker Centre for god's sake" I got a rueful nod.
"Well, we're going to have to learn to, starting today, so its baby steps I guess" she said as I grimaced at that. She was right but that didn't make it easier. To distract myself I looked around, taking in the empty desks and the general neatness of the place. To be honest it kinda felt a little empty after having it full of everyone during the case. The bad guys arrested, everyone had gone home, life goes on; I had to learn to do the same I guess. I looked her way. "What were you reading?"
"Catching up on the Cabal investigation, seeing what they were doing while we were off the case" She shrugged. "Personal interest I guess, plus its interesting reading" I nodded.
"How close were they, really?" At my question Liv shrugged, knowing what I meant.
"Not sure, haven't caught up yet" She waved at her screen. "Just started with the stuff from the day after we were sent packing" I nodded, feeling a quick flash of anger, even after all this time…Pope. Maura and the others hadn't known what had happened to us, but the looks on their faces when we explained that not only had we been kicked off the case, which they had anticipated, but escorted from the building like criminals; they'd been livid with anger and shame for us, something that boded ill for Pope, not that he deserved any less for being a bureaucratic, hide-bound, callous son of a bitch. Meanwhile Liv had continued on. "It looks like they were on a different path, they were working with the Feds to track the Cabal online and that had led them to a place at Victorville, on the other side of the mountains from LA" She shrugged. Still catching up on it all",
"I'll probably do the same, though we've likely got a backlog of other cases waiting for us" I said, getting a nod in return.
"More than likely, we'll find out soon enough I guess" I smiled a little at that, working in Major Crimes was rarely quiet and never peaceful, but all things considered, I couldn't ask for a better place to work. I looked around, noting the empty desks and realised they'd fill soon enough …
"Wanna go get a coffee?" I asked, getting a nod and a pleased response from Liv.
"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea" I checked my watch and grimaced, the team would be arriving en-masse in the next fifteen minutes or so…
"We'd better get one for everyone otherwise we'll catch hell for it" She pulled a face as she levered herself up out of the chair.
"Probably" With that we turned and walked out to the lifts, getting another work week off to a normal start. After everything that had happened, some normality would be good, real good.
New York NYC Castle's Loft
Rick's viewpoint
I sat in my office in the loft, my laptop open in front of me, I'd sat there staring at it long enough that the screensaver had come on with its accusatory message 'Why aren't you writing?'
The quiet in the loft was usually a help to writing, allowing me to think and write undisturbed but not today; today it was too quiet. I sat there for a while, watching the steam rise from my coffee cup, looking round the room, looking for inspiration. The shelves lined with reference books and with a few mementoes scattered around, the pictures, Alexis and Hayley, my mom, Kate of course, one portrait shot I'd convinced her to sit still for and a couple of candids that were amongst my favourites. On my phone was another that I'd get printed to join them, it had been one of a series taken on the last day in Cheyenne, all of us snuggled together as Christie had taken the photo and shared with us all, it showed us all laughing in a happy huddle, looking up at where Christie was standing on the porch, we were foreshortened in the shot, all crowded together, arms wrapped around each other, laughing happily at something Alex had said. It was a great shot of us all in one place and I was looking forward to getting it printed, framed and set up in pride of place.
Now we'd headed our separate ways, Kate and I back to New York, the others had gone back to Los Angeles, half a world away, or so it felt. I missed having them close and so did Kate, we were both unsettled here on our own without them nearby, which should have been silly but really wasn't. That time together with Maura, Nat and Alex when we'd been forced to rely on each other had brought us together in a way nothing else could have, and being together with the others for those weeks in Wyoming had made me realise just how lucky we were to have them in our lives, I'd not wanted to leave and neither did Kate.
We'd caught up with Hayley and Alexis for dinner that first night back here, fielding their questions and asking a few of our own, getting a fresh appreciation for Hayley's experience and skills and Alexis' willingness to play an integral part in our rescue, she was learning a lot from Hayley, making me grateful they were together, Alexis couldn't have found a more capable, protective partner.
The evening had been good, unlike yesterday's visit from my mother, which had been full of complaints and recriminations, to the point Kate and I had taken to rolling our eyes when she couldn't see us. Mother had always felt that my relationship with Kate had placed me at risk and took the opportunity to point that out once again, several times in fact, almost with relish at times, straining my patience and temper. After all, it had been my finger Simmonds had taken, something I was still coming to terms with; but Martha had kept bringing up again and again, something I had not appreciated, nor had I missed Kate's steadily building anger and dismay.
It had got to the point that I'd brought her visit to an early close, given the only thing that would satisfy her would be if I stopped working with and seeing Kate, neither of which was ever going to happen. It had resulted in me getting the cold shoulder from Martha, which I could handle, and a dose of self-loathing from Kate, which I couldn't and wouldn't stand for. I'd spent a lot of time last night explaining to her that while I loved my mother dearly and she was simply expressing her naturally-held fears for my safety, I loved Kate and she was the most important thing in the world. I'd loved her before what had happened in LA and now, if possible, I loved her even more.
It had taken a while before she'd settled back into something more like herself, but eventually she had, before we went out for a walk and a burger at Remy's, a little slice of home-style normality and our personal history we'd both sorely needed.
Now Kate had headed into the precinct this morning, promising she'd call if they had a body drop, in the meantime I was fending off my publisher Gina; she was urgently demanding progress on a new novel and she considered the circumstances I'd found myself in were no excuse for me being late. As she'd, rather snidely put it, it provided me with new material for my next novel, which I was overdue on. At the end of that rather unpleasant conversation I'd slammed my cell phone down a bit hard onto the desktop, wondering why I let Gina get away with her behavior, after all it wasn't like there weren't other publishers that would be happy to have the next Nikki Heat novel. I sighed a little, remembering I was still contractually obligated to Black Pawn for two more novels before I could escape her clutches and, looking forward to that day already, turned back to my computer.
I had a few outlines and plot threads for a couple of Nikki Heat novels already down on paper, but after everything that had happened recently, none of them appealed. Nikki was Kate's alter-ego kinda and naturally the character deserved the best I could give. I sat there for a few minutes, thinking about what I could do, could write, when a thought came to mind.
Kate had found her match in her 'sisters', maybe Nikki could as well. Nothing too directly referential, but there was nothing to say she couldn't team up with a few others to save Jameson Rook from one of his long list of enemies. A team of women, a mysterious and deadly Russian, Natasha Kerensky was a good Russian name, a seductive Italian, maybe Claudia Azzapardi…maybe, think about that one, and an all American agent, a quintessential California Girl, Dawn Brady sounded good. They could work for the CIA, or a far more secret agency, one that Rook had helped out in the past and were now looking to return the favour. Who had kidnapped Rook? I mean he had enough enemies, it could be any of them, but it meant he was missing and Nikki was on the trail, crossing paths with the others and eventually working together to get him back…
I found myself getting excited, this could really be something, I could already feel the pieces falling into place, exotic locations, a despicable villain, a hero in need and four extremely hot and deadly women searching for him, complete with clashes of ego, methods, outlook and temperament… I sat back and smiled, I could see it all playing out, some of the highlight scenes already writing themselves and the bits in between would fall into place easily enough. Yeah, this one would be great, and I had the personalities of the three other women already down pat. This would work really well.
Finally I nodded to myself and leaned forward, waking the laptop up and opening Word, pausing for a second before opening a new document, automatically saving it before starting, the title coming to me easily.
"Heat Storm"
Los Angeles LAPD Morgue
Maura's viewpoint
I was sitting at my desk, having come in with Jane early, running through the list of current cases and getting myself up to speed on where the team was with the case list.
I'd already found the 'Lost Girls' file on my desk, compiled by Temperance Brennan, it precisely and concisely summarised the combined forensics team's work throughout the investigation. Reading through it I was struck by how close they were to finding us, perhaps two or three days behind Jane and the others at most, though given the schedule that Simmonds and the other kidnappers were on we may not have had the luxury of that much time, making me thankful once more for the actions of our lovers in rescuing us.
I had already determined that I would be writing to the heads of each of my team member's organisation, conveying both the LAPD and my own gratitude for their outstanding efforts in helping solve the case. I would also be writing a personal letter to each member of the forensics team, thanking them for their superlative work and commitment to the successful resolution of the case. As I sat there I wondered if there might be an opportunity for some form of official LAPD commendation that they could receive, something I made a mental note to look into.
Finishing Temperance's file I turned to my computer and, booting it up, I automatically checked my email, grimacing at the truly excessive number of emails waiting to be read, before firmly putting that to one side and reviewing last night's duty log, scanning the cases our team been called in on overnight. Four vehicular deaths, one a hit and run, three shootings, one apparently accidental, another a robbery gone wrong while the third was apparently a gang-related shooting. Then there was a domestic violence incident resulting in a fatal stabbing, three apparent drug overdoses, a suspicious death overnight at a private hospital, I grimaced to myself and decided I would handle that one myself, given the sensitivities involved, and seven other deaths in hospitals and aged care facilities overnight which would require autopsies to confirm cause of death, though that was normally self-evident. In total nineteen cases had occurred, a fairly typical tally for a Los Angeles' evening really.
I sat back. As the saying goes, life goes on; though in a Medical Examiner's office it was perhaps more appropriate to say it is death that goes on. The house in Westwood had awaited us on our return to LA but we had both found it overly large and quiet after the last few weeks. We had found ourselves constantly seeking out the other, demonstrating just how far from completely healed we both were. We had made a trip out, refilling the kitchen with fresh food before stopping off at the vets and collecting both Bass and Jo, the latter had been demonstrably overjoyed to see us, even as Bass had stretched his head up to me for a pat, as much an obvious sign he had missed us as Jo's eager barking and frenetic tail-wagging.
We had spent the rest of Saturday evening and much of Sunday cleaning around the house and settling back in, even as we quietly missed the presence of our friends. Several times I had almost reached out and rung Natalie or Alexandra or Rick, just to hear their voices, but had stopped at the last moment, chiding myself that they had their lives to live too. That had lasted until the phone rang on Sunday early afternoon, it had been Alex. Relieved, we had chatted happily for almost half an hour before I had reluctantly let her go, before calling Natalie and chatting to her as well. That had been followed up with a Skype call to New York where I got to chat to both Rick and Kate before they headed out for dinner. I had been left feeling far more settled just knowing that all was well with them and wandered off to find Jane was chatting with Ana as well, making me smile happily.
Now though I found it difficult to not have Jane and the others close, it felt…empty without them, empty and a little frightening to be honest. Part of me wanted to walk away from all of this, take Jane and get on with living our lives, far away from the risks and the horrors that our jobs entailed. It sounded good, seductive even, but all of our friends were going back to their jobs, here in LA or in New York and while they could have walked away and never worked another day in their lives, each had chosen to not do so. That wasn't even a choice for Anastasia and Natalie; they were not wealthy like we were, so there had been no question for them, they had headed back to their jobs, leaving me with the challenge, how could I walk away when they could not? And Olivia and Kate were going back out on the street, as was Rick, they were putting their lives on the line, and Jane could do no less. How could I, so here I was.
I looked up as I heard voices outside my office, the day shift staff were arriving, and stood. It was time to make my presence known and let them know I had rejoined the team, then talk though all that had transpired with them while I was away, giving me an opportunity to evaluate their performance given my team's performance evaluations would soon fall due once more. I was under no illusions that I was completely recovered from what had happened, and knew that I would have to answer questions, not only my team's this morning, but further questioning from the Major Crimes investigators and eventually at Wynter's trial, before I could truly put it all behind me. That was something I was looking forward to but until then I had a job to do and a role to portray to the wider world as the cheerful, professional Maura Isles they had come to expect.
The last thing I did though before heading out was take in the picture of Jane on my desk once again, seeing her happily smiling at me, drawing an unconscious smile as I appreciated her presence once more. She may be floors above me in Major Crimes, but I felt her as close as if she was by my side. Reassured, I smiled and made my way out to face my team and the coming day.
Los Angeles LAPD FBI Liaison Office
Ana's viewpoint
I sat down at my desk in the little broom closet of an office that the LAPD had assigned me, the door shut while I tried to process everything.
I'd dropped Nat off at her office, kissing her goodbye a couple of times and stretching out our separation a bit before I'd forced myself to turn away and leave her there. Intellectually I realised there were fewer safer places in Los Angeles than the executive floor of the Parker Centre but still, it was damned hard to let her out of my sight. I'd got to the point that I only relaxed when she was with me, or Jane, Kate and Liv.
Now though they weren't where they could protect them when I wasn't there, something I had real issues with. I'd had a call from Jane yesterday afternoon where we'd talked about it, she was feeling the same and I was certain Kate and Liv were feeling it too. We all had a protective streak a mile wide when it came to them, something I had no issues with, given all that had happened.
I firmly turned my mind to the work in front of me, it appeared the junior agent that had been filling in for me during my absence had done the best he could but there was a big backlog of work that I needed to get on top of urgently, requests for information, for specialist services, for meetings with specific people in the Bureau and for the million and one other things that characterised the interface between the LAPD, the Bureau and the wider Federal bureaucracy. Speaking of that bureaucracy, there was a whole series of emails from the Bureau asking for explanations, clarifications and paperwork relating to the time I'd been off, apparently being suspended didn't suspend the HR paperwork; if anything it seemed to have increased it.
Sighing gently I sorted my emails by subject and started wholesale deleting anything that wasn't directly relevant to my job right now; if anyone really needed to talk to me about attending a symposium or conference I rationalised that they'd get in touch with me again and if they didn't, well it wasn't important. That cathartic act alone purging more than seven hundred emails from my inbox, making me smile slightly, leaving just a bit less than eighteen hundred left. That done I started dumping unread emails into folders for later review, sparing only the truly urgent ones to be actioned this morning, a job that would keep me very busy for hours to come.
As I did I found myself humming that old Soul to Soul song I'd heard so often when we'd got back from our honeymoon, Nat had heard it once, fallen in love with the tagline and then downloaded it. She'd played it often enough, usually singing along with it, that I'd kind of picked it up by osmosis, now that tag line sounded so right for us all right now.
"Back to life, back to reality, back to the here and now…yeah"