Promise To Love Me, Even When You Hate Me.
Chapter 22.
The next morning Dutchy awoke hoping the previous day's events were a terrible dream. He placed his feet on the ground and looked down feeling a weight on his ankle, he let out a sharp breath seeing the monitor bracelet, it wasn't a dream.
He rose from the bed as Reason scratched on the door, opening it she ran outside and zoomed around the backyard. He made his way out to the kitchen and found Frankie making breakfast, she heard him approach and poured him a cup of coffee.
"How d'you sleep, sweetie?"
Dutchy dragged to the bench and hunched himself over cradling the cup.
"Is this really happening?"
Frankie sighed and sat next to him placing an arm around him.
"Everything will be okay."
He let out a defeated sigh, he was sick of people saying that everything would be okay, nothing about his current situation was okay. Frankie could sense his fragile state, she wasn't going to let him bury himself in negativity.
"Dylan, it's gonna be okay, I promise."
Dutchy froze, the words repeated in his head, it was exactly what he said to Kate as she lay dying in his arms. He suddenly felt sick, his breathing became rapid and his stomach felt heavy, he ran to the bathroom making it just in time. Frankie sighed and filled a glass with water and followed him into the bathroom, she perched herself on the edge of the bathtub and handed him the glass.
"Dylan, we're going to deal with this, there's no way that..."
Dutchy lifted his head and propped himself up on the bath.
"But I'm their only suspect..."
She rose from the bath and placed her hand on her hips.
"I'm gonna go speak to your boss..."
Dutchy grabbed her arm to stop her leaving, he didn't want her to do anything to make the situation worse.
"No, don't do that!"
"Well, you can't leave the house, so who's gonna stop me!"
Dutchy cursed at the ugly bracelet that was wrapped around his ankle and rolled his eyes, she was right, what could he do to stop her?
"Fine! Just keep your cool!"
Frankie strutted into NAVCOM and stood at the security desk.
"I'd like to see Commander White, please."
The guard barely looked up from the book he was reading.
"Do you have an appointment?"
"No... but."
He waved his hand in the air dismissing her.
"I'm sorry Ma'am, she's incredibly busy..."
Frankie stood her ground and raised an eyebrow at his ignorance.
"Yes, I'm sure she is, however, this is important, it's about one of her crew and his wellbeing."
The security guard let out a huff and put down his book, he glanced up at her looking unimpressed.
"Look Ma'am, I'm sure she's aware of..."
Frankie leaned over the counter becoming more agitated by the second.
"I don't think you're listening, son."
2Dads heard the commotion as he acceded the stairs, he tilted his head as he approached recognising her.
"Frankie? What are you doing here?"
She glared at the guard before turning to face 2Dads.
"Now you're in trouble!"
She approached 2Dads and wrinkled her face trying to remember his name.
"Oh, umm, Double Dads? Is that right?"
2Dads laughed at his apparent nickname.
"It's 2Dads, but Leo is fine..."
Frankie grabbed his arm and dragged him towards the security desk.
"I was just trying to see your Commander about Dylan, but this guy doesn't think it's important enough..."
2Dads leaned over the desk and gave him a pat on the shoulder.
"It's okay, Rick, she's with me..."
He shrugged and picked up his book.
"Okay, your funeral..."
Frankie shot the guard a satisfied look and walked off with 2Dads.
"Frankie, what's going on?"
"They charged him, 2Dads, he's at my house with an ankle monitor until the trial."
"What?!"
His voice was so loud it made everyone in the main office stop and stare, 2Dads ushered her into the nearest free room.
They sat at a table, Frankie exhaled and closed her eyes trying to get her mind together to explain.
"Mike found a gun at his house…"
"Huh? How?"
"I don't exactly know, but it was while the cops were searching, I came here cos I thought your Commander could do something."
2Dads couldn't believe what he was hearing, he shifted his chair closer.
"Okay, start from, well, when we docked, after the service, they had a warrant, but..."
"Mike found a gun, apparently it had his prints on it and they matched the gun and the bullet they got from Kate, so they charged him, his lawyer thinks they have enough evidence to make a case…"
2Dads ran his hands through his hair, the story was getting worse for Dutchy.
"Did you know she wasn't, umm, she wasn't who she said she was."
Frankie tilted her head looking puzzled, 2Dads could tell from her expression she had no idea what he was talking about. He hesitated wondering how he should break the news.
"She was undercover, like, she was in the navy, but not. She worked for a department in the Navy, they sent her to check up on us…"
Frankie brow creased as she attempted to process what 2Dads was saying.
"So, what? She was, what?"
"Well, I dunno, but she lied, apparently she was after Dutchy…"
Frankie rose from the chair and paced around the table, she had seen them together, there was no way someone could fake their chemistry.
"She can't have been, I mean, he loved her, she loved him, I saw it…"
2Dads shrugged knowing full well the length people would go to for something they wanted.
"I dunno, I mean, we all saw them together that night when, well, when we found out about them. But then, I didn't see him to talk about it before she, before she was gone. I'm assuming that her investigating him won't help his case?"
Frankie re-positioned herself next to him.
"Yeah, I don't know what to do, he's at home feeling so many things, scared, betrayed, and I can't help him, but I thought your Commander might?"
"I don't think they can do much, it's a police investigation, whether or not she was undercover it's their call. The only one who can prove his innocence is her, and that's not going to happen."
"Why don't you come over later, maybe try to cheer him up, but umm, he can't drink, so no beer…"
"Sure, I'll bring some food."
Lisa walked into Warren's apartment and placed her bags on the ground scanning the room, Warren noticed her wandering eyes and let out a groan.
"Okay, just judge me out loud."
Lisa wandered around the living room nodding with approval.
"I'm not judging... it's just, this place is a lot nicer than your last one."
"Yeah, well, I've had a few places since the once you've seen..."
There was an awkward silence, Lisa cleared her throat and picked up her bag.
"So, which one is my room?"
Later that night Warren was in the kitchen cooking dinner, Lisa sat on the couch flicking through the channels.
"Have you got Netflix?"
Warren poked his head out from the kitchen.
"Nope…"
"We'll have to fix that…"
Lisa scrolled through the apps and downloaded Netflix, after it downloaded she signed into her account. Warren passed her a glass of wine and sat next to her.
"When do you have time to watch TV?"
Lisa flipped the remote around in her hand slightly embarrassed about her TV watching habits.
"I think it's the only thing that kept me sane, the thought that someone else had more drama in their life than me…"
"Really? And what show's that?"
Lisa's face lit up and pointed the remote at the screen highlighting Grey's Anatomy, Warren snatched the remote from her hand.
"Nope, absolutely not, I can't… You'll have to watch it when I'm not here…"
Lisa put on her best puppy sad face while attempting to reach for the remote, Warren shook his head and held it higher.
"Nope, it's not gonna work on me…"
She latched onto his arm smiling sweetly.
"Oh, c'mon, it's not your secret dirty pleasure?"
He peeled her arm off of his and shook his head.
"Nope…"
Lisa crossed her arms over her chest, Warren rolled his eyes and let out a groan and gave in.
"Fine, one episode, and then we'll watch something I want to watch!"
Warren spent the next 45 minutes groaning and fidgeting, it came to the closing monologue, Lisa playfully shoved him wanting to hear.
"Can you just shush for one minute…"
Meredith voice over: Ask most people what they want out of life and the answer is simple, to be happy. Maybe it's this expectation of wanting to be happy that just keeps us from ever getting there. Maybe the more we try to will ourselves to states of bliss, the more confused we get, to the point where we don't recognize ourselves. Instead, we just keep smiling, trying to be the happy people we wish we were. Until it eventually hits us, it's been there all along. Not in our dreams or our hopes but in the known, the comfortable, the familiar.
Lisa turned to Warren waiting for some type of smart ass comment, she raised an eyebrow not believing he had nothing to say. Warren looked at her innocently.
"What?"
"No groans or huffs or…?"
He folded his arms over his chest and shrugged.
"No, that was pretty insightful, actually."
Lisa let out a hiss not believing his sincerity.
"Sure…"
Warren turned off the TV and shuffled his body to face her.
"Why do you really watch this?"
Lisa shrugged buying her time wondering if she should be honest, she didn't want him to think she was a total head case.
"I guess it makes me feel better, in a strange way."
"C'mon Lis, your life isn't that bad…"
"Sometimes I feel like my life should be one of the dramatic episodes, or like, made into Disney movie…"
Warren was lost, they were two completely different genres.
"Have you ever noticed that in the beginning of most Disney movies the parents die, and the orphan is given to some evil corporation or to the evil step queen or something stupid like that?"
Warren let out a scoff, it was a ridiculous comparison.
"Now that is stupid, are you saying that the NIID is the evil corporation that tuned you into something you didn't want to be?"
She turned off the TV, she knew he wouldn't understand.
"Sometimes I just think if I wasn't so mad at the world about my parents that I might have chosen a different path that enabled me to have a life, have a family."
"But this job doesn't mean you can't have those things."
"It kinda does if you're undercover all the time, if you were my husband would you be happy not knowing what I did for a living? Be happy with me pretending to be in love with someone else?"
Warren hesitated, she knew that his silence meant that she was right.
"Yeah, that's what I thought."
"Lis, it's not like you to be so negative, I mean, yeah, shitty things happen and…"
Lisa smile faded wondering if he realised what he was saying.
"Oh right, so my parents dying, that was just a shitty thing to happen?"
He didn't know why she was suddenly so aggravated, he didn't mean to be so defensive but it just came out.
"Hey, your dad didn't have to stick his nose in where it didn't belong…"
Warren immediately regretted his words, Lisa removed herself from the couch not wanting to be near him, Warren followed feeling awful.
"Lis, I'm sorry…"
She ignored him and headed out the front door, he pulled on her arm.
"Come on…"
She spun round to confront him.
"No! How dare you? This is what we do, we stick our noses in. So what, we deserve to die too?"
He wasn't going to let her win this argument, she was being unreasonable.
"That's not what I said."
She shook her head and pulled her arm away from him.
"Lis, please, I'm sorry, I just don't want you to think that wanting to honour your parents was a mistake, and that your life is a waste cos you don't have a family. Just come back inside…"
She let out a sign and stood there for a moment, Warren intertwined his hand with hers.
"You're great at your job, but you can't catch all the bad guys."
Lisa broke eye contact, how did he know how she felt? Warren re-gripped her hand sensing she was coming around.
"I know you, Lis, as much as you don't want to me to, I do."
Lisa stepped back inside, Warren led her to the couch.
"Why do you care so much?"
Warren looked over to her and raised an eyebrow.
"You know why…"
She broke eye contact, she knew why, but she had blocked it out.
"Okay, but, can I ask, why do you like me?"
"Lisa, do you not see how incredible you are? You've been through hell and you're still this amazing person. I have not met a stronger, yet more stubborn woman in my life."
Lisa couldn't help but blush.
"Okay, stop, seriously."
"You know, while I'm being all sentimental and stuff, I'm sorry for being a complete dick to you for the past, well, couple of years."
"We've done this Warren, don't make it weird."
"I'm going to, look, back then I didn't exactly know what happened to your parents, but I heard some things, and Shaun told me to back off a little but I didn't know why, I just couldn't help myself. Lisa, I loved you and..."
"Warren..."
"Didn't your precious Grey's Anatomy just say that sometimes you just stop and refocus, because your happiness could be right next to you, in the comfortable, the familiar, staring you in the face?
Lisa's eyes narrowed, he was using her show against her.
"You actually listened?"
"Lisa, for a second, can you just think about it for a moment, we were good and…"
Lisa brought her eyes up to meet his, she didn't want to mess this up again.
"I know, but like you said I can't let you can't be a band aid. I won't let myself do that to you again, I just need to make sure that I'm ready."
Lisa lay her head on Warren's shoulder, hoping that she hadn't upset him. She waited a minute and slowly pulled the remote towards her.
"One more episode?"
Warren pulled the remote back towards him shaking his head.
"Nope, not even if you play the orphan card."
A smirk came over his face as she playfully whacked him on the arm.
"You're awful!"
End Chapter 22.
xx
