Had a stressful week, but being able to destress with some fanfic writing on the train has helped. Hope you enjoy.

Chapter 85

"So how's PI-LAD working out for you?" Cal enquired as he settled into the seat next to me at the conference table. It had been a couple of months since Tank approved my work experience with Dewey, and the guys, who had respectfully refrained from asking me about my experiences while I was still finding my way, seemed to have collectively agreed that I'd had enough time to get a feel for it, because I'd been asked about my experiences more times in the last week than I had in the entire rest of the time I'd been interning in the private investigation division. Even Ranger had asked how I was liking it during a rare phone call yesterday.

"It's interesting," I told him, using the line I'd fed everyone else. "I like being able to really sink my teeth into a mystery."

He nodded. "You don't miss skip tracing?"

"Not really." This, too, was a standard question, and I had come to the conclusion that my honest answer both surprised them and put their minds at ease. "I thought I would," I explained. "Because I like getting out of the office, and interacting with people, but I'm still able to do that with PI work with less risk of someone taking offense to me and covering me in garbage." We both chuffed in amusement at the reminder of my many escapades. I definitely did not miss that. "And I think getting back to running with Bobby has helped my restlessness too," I added.

"Good to hear," Cal said, a hint of a smile playing at the corners of his eyes. "And what about you and Bobby?"

I cut my eyes to him. "What about me and Bobby?" I questioned. Was he just asking to be friendly? Was there some ulterior motive behind the words? Was there something I didn't know?

He shrugged like I wasn't having a momentary internal freak out. "Well, you seem happy," he pointed out.

"Like, really happy," Hal chipped in, leaning around Cal to join in the conversation.

Cal inclined his head in agreement. "So I was just wondering if the two of you had any plans to tie-"

Thankfully, Lester burst into the room at that moment, blasting a trumpet fanfare from the portable Bluetooth speaker hooked onto his utility belt. Tank and Bobby slid into the room behind him, the first with an eye roll, the second an amused head shake as he rounded the table to take the seat I'd saved for him.

"Hear ye, hear ye!" Lester called to the room, in case the trumpet hadn't been enough to draw everyone's attention. He gestured grandly, arms spread wide as he affected a serene expression. "The time has come for me to bestow upon you all a gift so precious that even the most sanctified of beings would-"

"Just hand them out and sit your ass down," Tank commanded shortly, flicking open his laptop.

"Yes my liege," Lester murmured, bowing his head respectfully as he began passing out envelopes.

"What's with the court jester act?" Bobby asked, though not lough enough to be heard by the court jester in question, who was systematically working his way around the table.

I shrugged. "I think Joanne mentioned some medieval drama they were watching together," I said. "But honestly, this behaviour isn't out of the ordinary for Lester."

"True," he agreed as Lester dropped an envelope in front of him.

Having completed his tour, and emptied his cargo pockets, Lester stood at the front of the room, just to the left of Tank, and threw his arms out to the sides, narrowly missing the big guy's bald head. "You're all invited to my Bachelor party!" he announced gleefully.

There were a few whoops and cheers around the table, but all I could wonder was why it had taken so long. Joanne had handed out invitations to her Bachelorette weekend weeks ago. The two were getting married in a little over a month and he'd only just figured out his Bachelor party?

"Physical invitations?" Cal asked, flapping his in the air like he couldn't quite believe it. "Fancy."

"I was expecting a Facebook invite at most," Hal agreed from the other end of the room.

Hank let out a snort. "Please! This is Lester we're talking about. He probably would have told one person and then relied on word of mouth for the rest of us to fund out."

"Jokes on you guys," Lester said, dusting his now empty hands off as he took his seat opposite Bobby. "Joanne made the invites. She's crafty in more than one sense of the word." He paused, glancing around the table before deflating a little as he admitted, "She's been pestering me to organise my bachelor party so she could finish them off."

That made a lot of sense. While Lester was a somewhat reliable person, when it came to partying he preferred spontaneity, so the methods of invitation Hal, and Hank had mentioned were accurate for him. Joanne, on the other hand, had an online store selling cards and invitations she designed. They were stunning. Much more attractive than I could ever hope to achieve myself. Craft and creativity just weren't my strengths.

Leaning over bobby's shoulder to get a better look at the design, my eyes were immediately drawn to the addressee line. Not because of the clever design techniques Joanne had used, but because my brain recognised the familiar shape of letters that formed my name, right there next to Bobby's.

"Why does this say it's to Bobby and me?" I asked, lifting my gaze to Lester.

His eyebrows danced quickly from confusion to realisation as he considered my question. "Oh," he said. "She only had enough supplies to make the exact number of invitations, but then she remembered that she wanted to keep one for the wedding scrapbook or whatever, so I lumped you pair together since you're pretty much a package deal these days anyway."

His explanation was illuminating on a number of fronts, but at the same time did not adequately answer my question. It was my own fault, of course, for phrasing it so vaguely. "No," I said, determined to amend my mistake and get some answers. "I meant why am I invited to your bachelor party?"

The look Lester sent me as he slowly lowered himself into his seat across the table was somewhere between the sad puppy dog eyes he'd perfected for the purposes of endearing women to him, and confusion. "Because I want you there?"

He obviously still wasn't seeing the problem I'd immediately picked up on. "But it's a bachelor party," I emphasised. "Men only. No women allowed."

"Says who?" he challenged.

"Says tradition,' Bobby pointed out.

Lester let out a derisive snort. "Screw tradition," he pronounced. "That's sexist. They can't stop me from having my sister from another mister at my party."

Tank's head snapped up from where he'd been focused on the laptop screen to stare at Lester, a perplexed expression carefully concealed behind his neutral face. "Isn't that a phrase women use to refer to other women?" he asked.

Lester threw his hands in the air. "I can't invite Steph to my Bachelor party, even though I want her there," he ranted. "I can't call her my sister from another mister, even though it's a completely accurate description of our relationships. Next you're be telling me I can't ask her to help me wax my chest!" he exclaimed.

The room was silent for almost a full minute, everyone looking from me to Lester and back, a mixture of amusement, curiosity filling the air. They wanted to ask about it, but they also knew that the meeting was already wildly off topic, and probably, nobody wanted to be the one to take the conversation too far and trigger the return to boring business. I glanced at Bobby who was eyeing me the same as everyone else, wondering whether I'd helped Lester with this particular problem in the past or if it was just a random scenario Lester had come up with on the fly.

I had, in fact, helped Lester wax his chest a few times over the years, but I wasn't about to announce it to the whole room unless I was asked a direct question. It's not that I was ashamed or embarrassed, I just thought it was fair that they not know something for a change given the amount of times they'd had intel that they kept under wraps in the past.

When his stare-down didn't garner a reaction from me further than a slight pinking of my cheeks, he slid his gaze across the table to his best friend. "It does give a certain impression," he said pointedly, probably hoping that in doing so he might be privy to more information. He was not. All Lester did was let out a disgruntles sound and lean back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest.

"And we wondered why it took him so long to find a girl who could stand to put up with him long enough to tie the knot," Cal muttered under his breath.

"Whatever," I said with an eye roll and a discouraging swat at his arm. Like hell was I going to let tradition and societal expectations dictate my life now, after flouting the Burges rules for so long. "I'd be honoured to be included in your Bachelor party, Lester." I grabbed the invitation, double checking the date to make sure I'd be free and finding that it was the weekend after Joanne's beach weekend. "What festivities can I expect?" I asked, trailing my gaze down the page and hoping not to find the words 'strip club' there.

My gaze was drawn back to the bachelor who's party we were discussing as he did a little happy dance in his seat, perking up significantly from his displeasure over the societal constraints that had been shoved in his direction. "Laser tag!" he enthused. "I can't wait to non-lethally shoot all these losers for hating on my party organisation skills. You'll be on my team, right?"

I snorted. "If you want a liability that bad, sure."

"You're not a liability," Lester said with an eye roll. "You forget that you have a phenomenal firearms instructor."

"That means you don't get any Steph related handicaps," Hal cut in before anyone could say anything in contrast to Lester's assessment of my skills (and his own), and suggest that the team that had me got a head start or a point bonus to make up for my lack of skill and training. Because I no longer had a lack of skill and training. I'd been cleared for all my regular activities a couple of weeks ago, and had gradually adding my various training regimes, so while I was a little rusty, I was in no way unskilled.

"We don't need a handicap to kick your asses," Lester sneered.

"Great," Tank said, laying both hands flat on the table as he pushed to his feet. "Now that that's settled, can we get back to business?"


Laser tag is gonna be SUUUUPER great.