Chapter 14: Peacemaker
An early morning session with Dr. Lyons brought Gus little insight other than she was normal. "Jealousy is not an irrational emotion, Gus. Especially since you seem to be handling it in a mature manner" Lyons said to her after she spilled out her heart on every last twinge she had had since returning to New York regarding Flack.
"You mean I am not slashing his tires or boiling bunnies?" Gus dripped.
"I meant you are neither avoiding him nor throwing yourself at him" Lyons remarked.
"Go me, the poster child for balance" Gus curled up in the chair.
"You can't expect to slip back into things like the summer didn't happen, you know it doesn't work that way" Lyons pressed on.
"But I used to be able to. I used to just not let things effect me and I was able to pick back up!" Gus protested.
"No, you ran away or you hid, you stuffed things down and didn't deal with them. You drank or smoked or cut or did other high risk behaviors to ignore your feelings, which worked in the short-term, worked in an adolescent world where there were not as many consequences. Welcome to the party of adulthood, Gus" Lyons explained.
"I think I RSVP'd no" Gus sniffed.
"I highly doubt that" Lyons laughed, "you have been playing adult for a long time, now that you actually have to be one, you might be resenting some of the things you missed out on."
Gus narrowed her eyes and thought, "Go on" she said.
"Nope, I am just the beam of light, illuminating, you have to go there on your own, Gus."
Gus snorted, "Better than just being a tool in my toolbox, I suppose. But I get what you are saying. I ran away because I was rebelling when faced with a very adult decision coming on the heels of a life or death situation. I then proceeded to throw myself into a very bleak set of circumstances that forced me to be very much an adult at work while screwing around when I wasn't there. Realizing that wasn't going to fly long term, I worked myself until I burned out and realized I had to face the music back here. And now I am learning to live with my choices as best I can because I now have enough insight to know that I can survive, no matter what the end result may be." Gus ended, slumped and spent.
"I think you have just earned the only one session a week prize" Lyons remarked.
"Some prize" Gus said with a grin.
"How about next week we talk about your hesitancy to go back out into the field?" Lyons suggested.
"Can't wait" Gus dripped.
Gus walked in to the pit, already exhausted before she even started her shift. "I know you didn't have a late night, I saw you leave," Flack said, as Gus slouched at her desk, clutching her coffee like the holy grail.
"How do you know I went home?" she said, slurping at her coffee.
"You got me there," Flack replied, a slight dimple forming, his interest piqued.
Gus shook her head, "Who am I kidding? Preschoolers have more of a life than I do, currently. Doc put me through the wringer first thing, without even having had coffee first."
Flack sat torn between bemusement and concern, he didn't say anything waiting to see if she was going to give him any more information. A few minuted went by, "Nice use of silence, Flack. But if you want to know more, you are gonna have to ask" Gus remarked, a glint in her eye.
"Only if you want to share" Flack volleyed back.
"Apparently I am all grown up now. I just had to rebel a little to figure that out. Delayed adolescence. Oh and he seems to think I am normal" a smile played at her lips.
"Compared to who?" Flack teased.
"Ha, very funny." Gus flicked through her to-do list, wondering if the conversation was going to continue.
After a long moment Flack said, "I got this thing…"
Gus looked at him, wondering why he trailed off, "mole? Burning sensation?" Gus questioned.
"Now who is the comedian? It is a fundraiser. Hockey game..."
"Police/fire? Yeah, Thatcher told me about it yesterday. I cannot wait! I am desperately hoping for Lafferty to take a blade to the head. Which might mean Lyons is right about my aggression issues, but whatever" Gus chuckled to herself.
"So you are going...with Thatcher?" Flack asked, trying to not look crestfallen.
Gus didn't notice, as she was jotting down notes from her voice mail, "Uh huh, I'll see you there, then?"
"Yeah, guess so."
"What the hell is wrong with the phones?" Gus said, slamming down the receiver.
"I don't think anything" Parker remarked, "why?"
"I tried at my desk, I tried in the conference room, and now here, it is telling me Mac's extension doesn't exist", Gus looked exasperated.
"Sure you are dialing it right?"
"Did they change it overnight?"
"I'm just saying," Parker protested.
Flack ran over to where the pair was standing, "Gus, we gotta go, there's been an accident" he said, breathing heavy.
Gus turned slightly pale as she ran after him. "What? Who?" she stammered as Flack peeled out of the lot. "Mac?"
Flack shook his head, swerving around traffic, sirens and lights on fill force. "Danny and Hawkes were out diving again. Dispatch just said there was some kind of problem."
"What the hell?! For that shipwreck?" Flack nodded, concentrating on getting to the scene as quickly as possible. "The department has people better equipped for such things" Gus protested.
"They called it a crime scene" Flack said, between bouts of yelling at traffic.
Gus shook her head as the screeched to a stop by the river. Gus jumped out of the car behind Flack, but got held up by a uniform. "I just got out of a frigging' cruiser and you wanna check my badge?" Gus screamed, trying to break free. She unclipped her badge and shoved it in the guy's face, "Can I go?"
The uniform stepped back, apologizing, "Just following protocol" he called after her.
Gus ran up to the ambulance where Flack was holding a syringe, while Danny and a wounded Hawkes looked on. "Sheldon, Jesus, are you okay?" Gus asked, ducking under an EMT.
"Just a hairline fracture, I'll be fine" Hawkes protested.
"What were you two doing down there, anyway? That's a damn deep dive in the East River! Crime scene or not, you two should know better, are you even certified for this?" Gus chastised.
"Ay, now, mother hen" Danny teased, "with any luck, Flack is holding the murder weapon of our two vics."
"Why do y'all feel the need to be heroes all the time? You don't have superpowers" Gus pointed out, staring down the trio and still looking shaky.
The men laughed her off, "Like you don't try to play superwoman?" Hawkes said, clutching his side from the laughter.
Gus growled, "Whatever" she said, flouncing back to the cruiser.
"I thought Lyons said you was normal" Flack remarked as he slid back behind the wheel.
"He did" Gus retorted.
"That why the freak out?" Flack asked, gently.
"I just think it would be nice if the people I cared about quit taking risks all the time. That's all" Gus' jaw was tight.
Flack nodded, knowing to drop the subject for now, "Gotcha. And about the uniform?"
"Guess it has been a while since I have been out there. New crop of academy grads," Gus tried to shrug it off. "
They'll get to know you the more you are out there," Flack tried to placate her. "
Yeah, guess so" Gus turned to stare out the window, not wanting to loose it in front of Flack.
"I need coffee" Gus said as soon as they were back to the precinct.
"Shock" Flack replied.
Needing to collect herself, Gus headed out to the street cart, running into Stella along the way. "Who is that fine young thing?" Gus asked gesturing with her chin to a guy about her age that Stella had just turned away from.
"Some guy I met at the coin dealer" Stella replied, her brow furrowed.
"And?"
"He stole my card, analyzed me and then asked me out for coffee" Stella revealed.
"That's either brave or stupid" Gus said with a smile.
"Maybe both and definitely weird" Stella answered.
"You gonna go?" Gus asked, following her friend back toward the precinct, figuring she would just get a cup from special vics.
"Don't know" Stella shrugged, heading back toward the lab.
"Where's your coffee?" Flack asked as she walked back through pit.
"I got side tracked by Stella" Gus gave him a questioning look.
"Where is she?"
"I assume heading back to the lab."
Flack rushed ahead, "Because she was looking for salvage documents on the shipwreck and I found them, but they don't belong to anyone real. Phony name and address."
"Is it just me, or did this case keep getting weirder and more complicated?" Gus asked with a shake of her head.
"That seems to be going around lately" Flack replied, walking off towards the lab.
"Freaking' finally" Flack exclaimed loudly a while later, causing Gus to jump and slosh coffee all over her paperwork.
"Crap!" Gus replied, sopping up the mess.
"Here, sorry," Flack said throwing her a stack of napkins, "you seem jumpy lately."
Gus shrugged, "Dunno, distracted, summer of gunshots, who knows. Did you catch a break?"
"Yep. Danny and Lindsay found cortisone and DNA in the syringe. Lead them to Balkan ancestry which leads to someone Stella questioned from the dive students" Flack explained excitedly.
"Single men?" Gus volleyed.
Flack pursed his lips and continued, "Albanian students who were taking lessons until one of them got the bends."
"Going to have a chat then?" Gus couldn't help but smile,
Flack's excitement was infectious. "Heading out with Stella and Mac now. You wanna?"
Gus waved him off, "Pretty sure four is way more than a crowd."
Gus was waiting on lab results on old evidence when she heard the emergency call come in from Flack. "Explosive device?" she gasped as the radio squawked on the table.
"Shit is going down" Danny said, also staring at the radio in slight panic.
"Why can't he stay away from bombs?" Gus said, starting to pace.
"I know, huh?" Danny replied, studying Gus' pacing and trying to keep his concern under wraps.
"10-92, the suspect is being transported to precinct" the radio informed them.
"Oh boy" Danny said turning on his heel.
"Where are you going, Messer?"
"To question this nut job," Danny replied emphatically, "You wanna observe?"
"Hell yeah" Gus said rushing after him.
Danny had barely begun questioning the rather blasé suspect before Mac came storming past where Gus was observing and threw open the door. He shot her a look that she most certainly seen in her lifetime, but never on him.
Gus instinctively moved to block more of the window as Mac pulled the suspect up and shoved him against the wall. Danny called for Mac to be easy, while slamming the door shut and flicking at the blinds.
Wishing he had closed them instead, Gus glanced nervously around and turned off the speaker, knowing that the choking sounds would come over loud and clear as Mac applied pressure to the man's trachea.
Gus breathed a small sigh of relief as she saw Flack coming down the hallway with paper's clutched in his hand, "Thank God" she sighed as he entered the room calling, "We got something."
Mac and Flack came walking out of the room, with Mac exclaiming "They are hitting the UN."
"I already notified UN internal security, they are on high alert" Flack informed him. Gus hurried to keep up with the two taller men, who were making quick tracks down the hallway.
"Iraq's commissioner of public integrity is speaking in half an hour" Mac said, striding away.
"Why would he be a target?" Flack asked.
Gus could feel the wheels turning in Mac's head and tried to mentally conjure up recent news reports she had heard. "He's investigating millions of dollars in US aid stolen by insurgents."
"What's the Albanian connection?"
"The Albanian Liberation Army supporting the insurgents" Mac replied.
Gus got lost in the shuffle of homicide and only caught back up to the pair in time to hear Mac exclaim, "The 23rd Street Helipad is right on the East River!"
Gus rushed after the pair as Flack barked orders for central dispatch for a level 1 mobilization and to evacuate all non-essentials.
"Don't get blown up, either of you!" Gus yelled after them and hustled back to the lab. "I cannot believe this, how can this be happening again?" Gus angrily questioned as she jabbed at the elevator button.
Gus stormed into the lab, latching onto Danny, who had handed off the suspect. "What's going on with the UN?" he asked. Gus held up a finger and turned up a radio.
"Figure the Albanians called in a death threat to a UN motorcade which automatically re-routes to helicopter. They must be trying to blow up the heliport. Flack and Mac are headed to 23rd Street now, with every agency available backing them up" Gus rushed through the explanation, and returned to her pacing from earlier, adding silent prayers this time.
"It's gonna be fine" Danny said, as much to convince himself as Gus.
"First you and Sheldon with your deep sea adventure and now this! Could y'all just be safe for a little bit, please?" Gus pleaded, "I have had more than I can take the past couple of years."
Danny stood in Gus' path, stopping her and gripping her shoulders, "And no one has died. It will be fine."
Gus nodded, trying to not space out, trying to maintain control, trying to not break like she had the day the lab blew up. She had worked on this with Lyons, she just had to calm down.
Gus was trying to get to a safe place in her mind and not have Danny think she was a total freak when the radio reported, "Frequency jammed, bomb disarmed." Gus all but fell into a chair and put her head in her hands.
"See, whad I tell ya?" Danny said, dropping down beside her.
Gus waited surreptitiously in the pit until she saw Mac and Flack come in with the suspect. She had to see them with her own two eyes, even though she had heard the all clear on the radio. Knowing they both had plenty of questioning and paperwork to do, she didn't wait around for them to be finished, but she did give Flack a small wave and concerned smile on her way out.
He gave her thumsb up and mouthed, "See ya."
Gus nodded and headed home, trying desperately to not feel alone and unsafe in the city.
Chapter 15: Light It On Fire
Gus rushed into the pit, looking harried and running late. "Dammit" she yelled, shuffling through a pile of papers on her desk.
"What's up?" Flack said, looking over at her with a lazy glance and a bemused smirk.
"I have been stuck in court for the past two days and now I can't find a file that I need to review before tomorrow and I am probably going to be late to the damn hockey game," Gus rushed the words out, still trying to sort through the mess of cold cases on her desk.
Flack's smirk grew into a smile. "What case?" he asked, unfolding his long body from behind his desk, where he had been catching up on paperwork.
"The beauty queen case I got a confession on while you were working the Liberty case, daddy apparently is a high powered attorney, which is how it has gone to trail so fast," Gus paused still shuffling through stacks, "and I thought I had put these in some sort of alphabetical order, but that apparently has gone out the window in the past coupla days."
"And here I thought you had just gone to hide in a closet again" Flack said, coming over and helping her flip through files.
"Nope, no hiding here," Gus said and then her eyes lit up, "ah-ha, here you are. Between 'E' and 'G'. I knew I would find it."
"Funny given the last name is Rice," Flack remarked, pointing at the file.
"I am not going to question it," Gus shook her head and slid the file into her tote.
"Are you wearing that to the game?" Flack replied, pointing at her skirt-suit, which while prefect for court, did not exactly scream sporting event.
"No, I am going to hope and pray I have something in my locker. Are you wearing that?" Gus asked, pointing to his suit with equal teasing.
"No, I've got clothes in the car."
"Glad we cleared up this fashion emergency" Gus said, flouncing toward the locker room.
Gus looked in her locker with dismay. She hadn't had use for it since being back and stuck on cold cases. Not having to go anywhere, in addition to not being able to clock overtime, had made it unnecessary for Gus to have to change her clothes.
Stuffed in the bottom under various bits of debris and beauty aids, was a pair of wrinkled jeans and the pair of boots she had loaned Lindsay once upon a time.
"It will have to do" she sighed, slipping out of her suit, happy there was a hanger at least in the forgotten locker. Upon exiting the locker room, having made herself look as least business like as possible, Gus literally ran into Flack, who was leaned against the door jam already changed.
Flack's eyes flicked over Gus' jeans, scant red top and boots. "And that's what you came up with to wear to the game?" Flack asked, hoping he sounded amused and not territorial, despite his feelings leaning towards the latter.
Gus leaned against the other side of the door jam, surveying Flack's long-sleeved NYPD shirt and blue jeans, "Different from what you are wearing now in what way?" she asked crossing her arms over her chest.
"This is a police vs fire hockey game, you can't even tell you are a cop" Flack protested. "I think the shield might give it away!" Gus countered, clipping her badge to her belt.
"Just wait here" Flack said, ducking into the men's locker room next door. He came out quickly, an NYPD windbreaker in his hand, "Here take this, you might get cold, it is an ice rink after all."
"Flack, what the hell is your deal? You haven't been this concerned about what I am wearing since that first night you and Danny took me to Sully's. And I have a gun now!" Gus tried to figure out what was going on, but wasn't sure she had the emotional energy to deal with it.
"Just looking out for you, that's all," Flack stepped away from her, the space between them was entirely too small for his liking.
"I don't need anyone to look out for me, Flack!" Gus' voice raised, though luckily the area was deserted.
"I just don't want Thatcher to get the wrong idea!" Flack howled back.
"And just what would Thatcher get the wrong idea about?" Gus' balled her fists off, not liking wherever this was going and whatever it was about.
"I just know he and Lafferty had a bet on whether you would actually come or not," Flack said, trying to get his emotions under control. He didn't like the effect that Gus continued to have on him.
"A bet?"
"Yeah, for lunch" Flack replied.
"But it is not like it is a date, I am pretty sure I made no inferences of that sort" Gus paused for a moment. "Not that it would be any of your business anyway," she snapped, and instantly regretted it as she watched his eyes turn to a steel blue.
"Fine, whatever, you don't need a keeper. Got it," Flack turned to walk away, but then suddenly stopped, taking a deep breath before turning back around. "I wanted to see if you wanted a ride, that was all," he said wearily. Gus closed her eyes for a moment and swallowed before answering,
"Yeah, a ride would be great."
"Thanks," Gus said, after Flack had parked the car.
"No problem" Flack replied, not sure what to say next.
"I'll, uh, see you, I guess" Gus responded, feeling the uncomfortable distance again.
"Yeah. If you need a ride home, just call me" Flack said as they separated, heading to their respective sections.
"I should be fine, but thanks. Have a good night, Don," Gus said softly.
"You too, Gus" he said, giving her a mock salute before walking off.
Gus found her seat and noticed Thatcher's eyes survey her as she slid down the row. Though, as a good detective, his head didn't move and his expression didn't change.
But Gus still felt a twinge that Flack may have been right, and if so, she was going to have to nip this in the bud. "So where did Lafferty take you for lunch?" she asked by way of greeting.
"What?" Thatcher asked, feigning innocence.
"Cut the crap, Will, I work in the same pit as you," Gus' eyes seared him to his seat.
"It wasn't like that!" Thatcher protested.
"Wasn't like what?"
"It's just that Lafferty didn't think you would come out because of you and Flack," Thatcher replied.
Gus' voice was cool in reply, "And you were the lamb sent to slaughter to ask me?"
"No, nothing like that. I just figured- I just heard-" Thatcher stammered and ran his hand through his hair, "I know you had a rough summer and I know you think a lot of us guys resent you and I just thought you could use a friend."
"A friend?"
"Yep, that's all, I swear," Thatcher held his hands up in surrender.
Gus gave a nod, "Good. As long as that is cleared up, you want a beer?" she asked waving down the beer guy.
"Sure. And by the way, Lafferty bought me a taco off a cart in Spanish Harlem while we were out on call."
"You got hosed, Thatcher" Gus sniffed, holding up two fingers and taking the cups of beer.
Thatcher shrugged, "you still came and you bought me a beer."
Gus gave a small laugh, to which Thatcher teased, "Hey, you can still smile."
Gus rolled her eyes, "What is that supposed to mean?"
"It's just...look, I don't know what happened between you and Flack or what all went down in New Orleans, but you have kinda been wandering around like the walking dead."
"You're telling me a look like a zombie? Some friend!" Gus teased back.
"No! I didn't mean- oh man" Thatcher started to stammer again.
"Thatcher, I was just teasing you. Drink your beer and watch the game."
They settled in to watch the first period, where Gus did not get to see Lafferty pummeled, because the tours of duty were short to say the least. Toward the end of the first period, Thatcher happened to catch sight of Flack across the way. As he locked eyes with the other detective, he had to wonder if the other man was giving him a warning look.
Thatcher stared Flack down until a red head cut off his view by playfully waving her hand in front of Flack's face. Flack turned to face the young woman, giving her one of his trademark dimpled grins. Thatcher figured this chick was obviously not police or fire.
He mused that she was probably one of those posh, airhead socialites. The kind of girl Flack usually made fun of, which made the fact that he appeared to be flirting with her all the more interesting to Thatcher.
"Just what is the deal between you and junior?" Thatcher asked Gus, who was intent on the game and had missed the whole exchange.
"Me and Flack?" Gus asked taking a long drink of beer, "that is a wonderful question I wish I had an answer to. Why, trying to get information before you join another pool?"
"Nope, just asking" Thatcher said, also turning his attention back to the game.
Chapter 16: He Don't Know You
Gus was at the snack bar debating her choices when she heard someone at her shoulder say, "Howdy stranger." She turned to find herself looking directly into the face of the other person she had hoped to see pummeled with a puck.
"Colin," Gus replied, taking in the fact that he was on crutches, which explained why she hadn't seen him out on the ice.
"How are you doing, Gus?" Colin asked, balancing himself on his left leg.
"Good, I suppose. And you, you aren't playing tonight?" Gus was torn between wanting to be civil and wanting to run away from this cheating farce of a man.
"Tore my knee out, trying to rescue one of those fat, hairy guys I always get stuck with," Colin grinned, showing off his dimples that were even deeper than Flack's.
Gus forced herself to not get sucked in by his chocolate eyes or his infection laugh. "How's the missus?" she asked, trying to not sound like a complete bitch. She did, however, take a small amount of delight in watching Colin's face fall.
"About that...we ended up calling off the wedding. Because of you-" Colin started.
"Because of me?!" Gus cut him off, "I am pretty sure I was up front about what was going on in my life-"
"Gus!" Colin cut her back off, tapping on her gently with his crutch, "I meant, I realized I was the marrying type, even if everyone else wanted me to be. I took a lot of time to think about things, so I guess thank you for that."
Gus was a little beyond dumbfounded and suddenly found herself wanting something stiffer to drink than the coke she was about to order.
"Murphy, what the hell, one bum knee and you don't know how the hell to order a coupla-" the fair haired man stopped short, "Oh hey, I can see why you got distracted," the man whispered in Colin's ear.
Gus caught the exchange and snorted, "Are all you firebugs incorrigible?"
"Like you cops are any better!" Colin retorted.
"Consorting with the enemy, Murphy?"
Gus couldn't help but snort again, "Never again" she muttered.
The man raised his eyes, "You gonna introduce us?"
Colin gestured, "Gus, this is one of my engine guys, Mitchell Curtis. Mitchell, this is Gus, we ah...well."
"He rescued me from one of my homicide scenes when the perp set the place on fire and I tried to play hero, but ended up getting stuck in the floor," Gus answered.
"Oh, you're the homicide home wrecker" Mitchell said with a slight smile.
"Well that is fabulous" Gus sniffed, growing angry.
"Don't worry about it, there are a lot of good adjectives between the two, but I won't use them in such pleasant company," Mitchell said, sticking his hand out for a shake.
"He's a much nicer guy than me" Colin quipped, giving Gus a little eyebrow raise.
Gus cocked her head at him, seriously, was her cheating ex trying to set her up with one of his friends?
"What are you doing after Fire's stunning victory?" Mitchell asked, pushing his sandy hair off his forehead.
"Celebrating Blue's win at Sully's most likely," Gus shot back.
Mitchell laughed, but not maliciously, "Nice one, don't miss a beat, do you?"
"Not generally" Gus said, noting that Colin had backed away from the pair and was busy getting food from the snack bar.
"How about this, if we win, you come with me to Walker's and if your boys in blue win, I'll go with you to Sully's."
Mitchell seemed so relaxed with the statement, Gus had to laugh. "Did you just invite yourself to a cop bar?" she asked with raised eyebrows.
"No, I just asked you out, and we are letting the ice decide where," Mitchell shrugged.
Gus was about to protest, when something caught her attention out of the corner of her eye. She wasn't sure if it came from being partnered with him or being in love with him, but Gus certainly had an alarm that went off whenever Flack was around.
However the sight of him with a trio of young woman, one of whom had thrown her arm over his shoulder caused Gus to have alarms of a different sort. Ones exacerbated by the fact that these women where dressed to the nines and looked like they should be clubbing, not at a hockey game, and Flack seemed to be enjoying that fact as opposed to chastising that.
"You're on, and don't worry, if they try to mess with you at Sully's, I'll protect you" Gus said with a wink and handed Mitchell her card.
"See ya at the end of the third then!" he called to Gus' back.
"Ya missed like half of the period," Thatcher exclaimed as Gus slid back into her seat.
"Well sorry, I ran in to somebody" Gus said, not giving Thatcher any more information.
This only caused him to wonder if Gus had run into Flack and his new admirers, but since she didn't look pissed, he was betting no. Thatcher shook his head and looked across the way. Flack was in his seat, deep in conversation with the red head, who seemed to be putting all of her assets on display.
The man didn't have any clue how lucky he had it, Thatcher mused to himself. First he pulls the untouchable niece of Mac Taylor and now he manages to end up with a celebutante at a place normally only frequented by the brotherhood where the best thing you can hope to pick up is some desperate Jersey girl and a case of the clap.
He shook his head in disbelief, making Gus to turn her attention from the game to the line of sight Thatcher had been watching. More than a little knowledgeable about the draw of Flack and well versed in his body language, not to mention the obvious display of interest the red-head was showing, Gus had a pretty quick and clear picture of what was happening across the rink.
A low growl sounded in her throat, causing Thatcher to start and stare. "I think you got the answer to the question about you and Flack, Broussard," Thatcher mused.
"Shut the hell up, Thatcher, this beer is on you."
Gus' cell phone rang as soon as the buzzer sounded at the end of the game. "Guess that last second goal means you are coming to Walker's huh, detective?" a male voice said over the line.
"Huh?" Gus said, she had spent the rest of the game trying to not pay attention to the show across the way, but in doing so had missed most of the action on the ice, "Oh, Mitchell, yeah, Walker's. Meet you there?"
"Unless you need a ride?" came a voice at her shoulder. Gus looked up to see Mitchell Curtis standing behind her.
Thatcher looked between Gus and the fireman, at least he was assuming the guy was one judging by his NYFD shirt, "I'll see ya tomorrow, Broussard," he said making tracks out of the stands.
"Sure, a ride would be great" Gus said, taking the hand that was offered to her as Mitchell effortlessly pulled her to her feet.
Gus hesitated a moment before entering the pub. "If you are worried about being a cop, you'll get a pass. Though you might want to take off the windbreaker" Mitchell said, pointing to the NYPD jacket Flack had given her, which she had been happy about seeing as of course Flack was right and she had been freezing within five seconds inside the rink.
"Right" Gus said shrugging out of the windbreaker, "Actually I just wanted to make sure I wasn't going to have to arrest any of Colin's, ah, companions for assault tonight," Gus said, with a wry grin.
"You should be clear, Colin's been a pretty good boy lately" Mitchell quipped, holding the door open for her.
"That's what I am afraid of" she said under her breath.
Gus passed a pretty good time that evening, though she did take her fair share of ribbing over the blue's loss in the match up.
Colin cornered her coming back from the restroom to apologize, and he amazingly did so without trying to hit on her, leaving Gus to believe his attempts at turning over a new leaf had been at least somewhat successful.
Gus also spent a large part of her time trying to banish the vision of the redheaded woman draped over Flack out of her head, something that was helped along by several firebugs more than willing to ply her with drinks.
"You sure can hold your liquor" Mitchell commented a short time before last call.
"One of my many talents. Besides, we don't have last call down in the swamp, you have to be in it for the
long haul," Gus said, taking a long pull of her drink and letting the numbness wash over her.
"To New Orleans girls" one of the other firefighters called, raising his glass.
"Hell's Belles" Gus replied, tipping her glass back all the way.
"Okay, folks you know the drill, don't have to go home..." the bartender called, wiping down the bar.
"You need a lift?" Mitchell asked as Gus slid off of her barstool and fighting off any possible effects of the alcohol.
"That would be great," Gus said, shaking off the cobwebs. Settled in Mitchell's truck, Gus gave him directions to her place.
"Gramercy Park, huh, nice digs for a cop" Mitchell commented.
Realizing he did not know her at all, Gus felt something akin to disappointment and panic, "I wasn't a cop when I bought it."
"You have some secret background, huh? You like a spy or something?"
Gus chewed her lip, "I wish it were that glamorous. What about you?"
"I live in Brooklyn, tend bar a coupla nights a week to make ends meet so I don't have to have a roommate," Mitchell said, completely unabashed.
Gus smiled slightly, "I meant do you have a secret background."
"Nope, just a farm boy from Iowa who got his ass kicked a lot for being called Mitchell, who always wanted to be a fireman. Me and my brother moved here after 9/11 much to my mother's chagrin, since we had just lost my dad from a heart attack. Got two brothers and a little sister still back home. A regular meat and potatoes kind of guy" Mitchell shrugged and shot her a smile, and Gus realized she was more than a little relived at his brown eyes and lack of dimples.
"What about you?" he asked as they pulled up to her building.
Gus sighed deeply, "That is a story for another day," she said, staring out the window.
Turning to him she said, "Look, I know you probably expect me to invite you up or something, but I just can't right now. And you seem like a great guy, so I am sorry about that."
Mitchell looked at her quizzically for a second before smiling again, "No expectations. Promise. It was nice meeting you, Gus, and maybe I can take you out for real at some point?"
"Maybe so," Gus said with a wistful smile as she slid out of the car.
Mitchell held up his hand in a goodbye, and Gus returned the gesture as he pulled away.
Gus looked up at the night sky after his rear lights faded. "There is so much wrong with you, Broussard", Gus said to herself, before trudging inside to her silent apartment.