Retirement.
It's a strange concept. Finally being released from the grand sentence of chores which ruled the ins and outs of one's life, both professional and personal. Whether it was wanted or not, a person was finally able to go on and live a life empty of purpose without enough disposable income to travel the world, buy that sailboat or pursue all of the hobbies one promised to take up during the 65 years building up to it. Not too mention the fact that by the age of 65, the percentage of people with a sound mind and an able body capable of doing such stunts was low.
Never the less, the gentleman behind the wheel of her squad car was as giddy as all of the others she had seen leaving with their arms full of goodbye cards; bottles of liquor they could drink at any time they fucking well pleased...the only positive she could truly see.
"You sure you wanna go Jack?" She spoke up suddenly, eyeing the older gentleman out the corner of her eye, interrupting how he whistled along to a tune playing silently inside his own head. "You not going to be bored or something?"
"Is that your way of saying you're gonna miss me kid?"
'Kid'...at 32 she could barely be considered a kid but even after countless corrections over the past fourteen months, the nickname seemed to have stuck.
"Yeah, sure..." Nora trailed off, smirking as she heard Jack chuckling under his breath. "I'm really gonna miss you hammering on my door at 3am with a job instead of just calling me." She flicked her eyebrows upwards, thinking back to all of the times he had shown up and she had been half asleep, half dressed and not at all prepared.
His laugh deepened as he chanced a glance at his young partner and clicked his tongue.
"Hey, you never know, this new partner of yours may do that too." She sighed, rubbing her hand along her jaw awkwardly.
"God, I hope not."
She could deal with Jack doing it because after a few months she had won him over enough and convinced him that if he had to do that, he could at least bring her a coffee as sugary as sin to aid her sleep deprived state. She couldn't be assed to go through all that again, countless hours had been wasted getting Jack to learn her order just so he could piss off.
"Nervous?" The lack of enthusiasm she expressed whenever the topic had presented itself over the past few weeks had been obvious, but she hadn't been trying to hide it. What did it matter if Jack knew just how weird she felt about getting a new partner so soon? As long as those arseholes back at the precinct didn't know, she didn't care what was said in the car.
"About getting a new partner?" Nora took a moment to think about it before shrugging and turning her head to stare out at the trees rolling by as they drove down the highway, back towards the station. "Nah, just...change is a pain in the ass ain't it?"
This guy who was transferring from another precinct wasn't authorised to do so in time, leaving a couple of weeks open in between his start and Jack's end. It meant for the first time, ever in her career with the police force, she was going to be running around alone with no one watching her back. Would it have killed Detective Stevens to stay a little extra time? Probably not, though in this job you never really knew. But Nora had a sneaking suspicion he wanted her to have the time alone; to lead, to work, to make the calls...to be a good Detective.
To tell the truth she was nervous. Nervous about fucking up with too big of a consequence, nervous about leaving a comfortable and good working relationship and entering a shit one, nervous about loosing her nerve or growing too much of one. The list went on and on until she felt like a rookie again, patrolling the streets overly aware of the gun strapped to her belt.
"You'll do fine kid." Jack smiled and gave her arm a light nudge with his fist. "After all, you learnt from the best."
"Yeah..." She agreed, finally looking at him and laughing. "Well, this kids gonna learn from the best too." Jack slapped his leg as his laughter grew, flicking on the indicator a second later as they pulled into the station.
"Yeah, you know, after I walk out those doors in an hour's time, you're right." Once parked, Nora climbed from the car silently and skipped across the car park to get ahead of Jack. "Can't wait to get rid of me eh?" He called after her but she didn't reply, too busy trying to peek through the tinted windows in case the guys inside had missed their arrival and failed to follow the plan.
"Oh you know I'm gonna miss that face of yours Jack." She hummed and opened the door for him as he finally caught up to her. "Come on, how about one last coffee?" She had barely stepped foot into the main open pig pen before the lights flicked on and a roar erupted as staff jumped out from behind desks, plants and lamp stands.
"Surprise!"
"Oh you goddamn motherfuckers!" Jack jumped back with a hand to his chest, flicking his head back around to Nora who was smiling softly and giggling as she walked around him and stood at the front of the crowd by a cluster of balloons reading 'Goodbye!'.
Weeks of planning, hours of hushed after hours meetings, a strict schedule to perfectly time the surprise; and the office still looked like a shitty scene from the 80's...with streamers.
"Surprise old man!" Captain O'Malley stepped forward once the laughter had died down and Nora took that as her chance to disperse and grab a beer from the kitchen.
From the moment she had entered the world of work, anything outside of a job felt like a chore. Nora didn't dislike people but found most of them to be quite irritating, whether it be because of their forward opinions or unrequited chirpiness. Yeah Jack was alright, but he had been a mentor, a figure to respect unlike Janice from Human Resources who still thought Dallas was a hot topic to be discussed daily.
He had also turned into a father figure in the short run of time they had been partners, so having a beer and avoiding saying goodbye just came naturally to her.
"So, the student becomes the teacher?" Hank, a long term sitting family liaison officer chuckled as he stepped up beside her in the small kitchen. She swallowed her groan, as tempting as it was to let it go.
Student. She'd been solving shit for two years now and they only deemed her worth graduating from that now another newbie was starting.
"Hmm...I guess." She answered with a nervous chuckle of her own. "Just have to see how that goes won't we?"
"Eh, I'm sure you'll do fine kiddo." Her spine rattled from the use of the nickname. "If what Jack says has any truth to it, you're already better at this than he is. If anything this new kid will slow you down." She had heard that more than once in the past week but it still failed to penetrate. They were either sucking up for a reason she hadn't deduced yet, or just trying to make her feel good about herself...again for a reason she didn't know of yet.
Outside of Jack, none of them were particularly special, non of them were close to her. They each had their own families, most had kids and the majority were already over forty years of age. She had just had her 32nd birthday, had managed to make no friends outside of her 'work friends' and the topic of kids was filed away with boyfriends and free time, in the back of her mind.
"Yeah? Well if half the town's been gunned down by some loner psychopath in a couple of weeks time, we'll know he was full of shit." Nora forced a half smile, turning her back to the guy who was now laughing out rightly, and took a swig of her beer as she walked back out into the pig pen.
"You still not got yourself a guy Bailey?"
"Hmm?" Nora looked up from where her eyes had become trained on the glass of Jack and Coke as her finger traced around the rim. Immediately, she saw most of the women's eyes focus solely on her with their mouths agape. "Oh...No, not right now..."
They had moved to the local bar in town after having a couple in the station. All of those who worked the normal nine to five had let loose already, those who were scheduled to have duty tomorrow closely following after a couple of drinks had them convinced they would feel perfectly fine in the morning. Whereas Nora, well she was officially off duty after today's shift and she wasn't scheduled to work tomorrow but something kept her from downing drinks and throwing back shots.
"Really? You've been here for three years now and I ain't ever seen you with someone on your arm!" Rachel...office gossip, screeched. Nora had never been sure what her real job was, she mostly sat around the printer chatting to Lois...an assistant maybe?
"Four." She replied curtly, only elaborating when Rachel cast her a blank stare. "I've been here four years." Nora corrected, face emotionless. "What can I say, no one's taken my fancy."
"But, not one date?" Said gossiping partner, Lois, frowned distastefully. "Are you...
you know?"
Nora knew what she was asking, immediately in fact, but instead of answering and avoiding the obviously awkward situation they were driving towards, she smirked and laid back in her seat with the glass of Jack raised in her hand. It was always lovely watching someone dig themselves into a grave, whether it be a suspect or a prying coworker.
"Am I what, Lois?"
"You know..." She tried again, desperately shifting her eyes to the other girls and silently asking them to jump in with the anecdote. When it became apparent they would not, and when Nora widened her eyes impatiently, Lois sighed. "Into...girls?"
"Oh..." Nora faked her surprise a little too much, causing some of the less agitating girls to giggle. "No...why are you asking?"
"I- No!"
Both Lois and Rachel stood at that point, offended that she was not offended and walked off to sit by the off duty officers inhabiting another booth. As soon as they were out of ear shot the girls around her started giggling.
"God, it's like being back in high school in here sometimes." Denise, one of the nicer and older girl, chuckled under her breath. "That poor new guy…you said he was young?"
Nora nodded, paying more notice to herself as she frisked her jacket and jeans, searching for the half pack of cigarettes she knew was on her person somewhere.
"Yeah. Newbie, just passed his exam." Her tongue played with her teeth, distorting the soft curve of her lower lip, as she sighed upon finding the squashed cardboard carton in her inside pocket. The torn image of a diseased lung was dropped onto the table with a small force, tiny tearing of foil littering the polished faux granite. "Half Jack's age, I'm gonna have to up my game."
The woman to her left scoffed as she silently requested a loan of a cigarette, taking one when Nora nodded once. "They're gonna eat him alive."
"Quit fucking squirming." The scabby nineteen year old in her clutches purposefully weakened his knees, sending him skidding along the tarmac. His old cords frayed at the knees. He underestimated her, thought her arms were weaker than they were. He thought she would let go, drop him and give him a chance to scarper.
Nora didn't, she simply set about dragging him.
"Get up." They stopped by her truck and she exchanged her hold on his arm for a strong grip on his collar. "Get up." She opened the back door, cursing under her breath as the kid tried to stop her with his foot. "Hey! Fucking get in the car."
Nora restrained herself from throwing the kid onto the back seat, kicking him all the way in afterwards, and somewhat kindly helped him into the car. Before he had a chance to say shit, she slammed the door on his aggressive ranting. Puppies acted tough when they were behind toughened glass.
"Asshole."
She locked the door, holding the key fob up and smirking as the kid looked on, stomping his feet against her newly vacuumed carpet. After a second, after he had spat on her window, she turned to return to the mall security guards who had handed him over.
"He's becoming a real pain in or asses Detective-"
"Believe me, I know…" Nora looked back over her shoulder just long enough to see her suspect slamming his head against the rear passenger window of her black Ford SUV.
That was gonna leave a smudge.
"The court won't keep him in for longer than a couple months." She shook her head and finished up the notes she was writing based on everything kosher the two security guard in front of her had said over the past twenty minutes. The kid should have his own notebook by now, if their meetings were dates they'd be close to an engagement dinner.
Ethan Mawle. Twenty five years of age, serial pick pocket and car thief. Serial pain in her own ass.
It wasn't that he was causing damage, to anything other than himself anyway, but he was a shit thief who barely managed to swipe a pair of kid's mittens before being caught. He never stole anything of value, never got away. He was just a shitty scumbag who took up one of her cells for a night every couple of months before going through court and being pushed back onto the streets.
Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
He wasn't even violent. It was only when he was locked up in the car or in the cells that he would get all tough and start trying to knock himself out or break his own toes, kicking the shit out of the breeze block walls.
"He needs help. Mental help. He told Sandy on security check in to lock her doors tonight." Randy, big guy, soft, he shook his head and shuffled back and forth on his feet as he looked past Nora towards the car. "Tell them that when you get him locked up."
"I'll put on a note of threat." Nora nodded before she was rudely interrupted.
"You wanna leave me in here all day! You bitch-"
Rolling her eyes, she shook her head at the guys who were gearing up to rip Ethan back out of the car and put away her notebook.
"On that note, I'll let you gentlemen get back to work."
"Same time next week?" Bill, still a big guy but a one who could knock you out with a look, joked. But he only laughed when he seen her smirk first.
"Don't jinx it." Nora tutted. "Thank guys."
The closer she got to her car, uncharacteristically for an offender, the screaming started to cease. By the time she opened the car door, Ethan had fell silent and stopped decreasing his own brain cells even more with the aid of the window. He had reclined into the leather seats and was watching her through the rear view mirror, frowning.
"You calmed down?" She pursed her lips, starting the engine.
"New ride?" She almost laughed. She would have laughed had it have been anyone else, or if she hadn't have been able to see the outline of his stupid face in the corner of her eye.
"My ride."
There was a pause, during which Ethan studied the empty seat to her right. "Where's the old guy?"
"Detective Sergeant Stevens…" Nora corrected, sending a purposeful glare to his reflection in the small oblong mirror. "Retired, couple of weeks back." He didn't say anything to that, just nodded once and then shuffled around in the seat in an attempt to get comfortable. "When you start recognising us Ethan…that's a sign to maybe get your ass in check."
"And stop seeing you?" Then she did laugh, the noise of herself catching her off guard. "No chance now I know I get a one on one."
"That charm of yours is wasted on me Mawle. We wouldn't need to keep picking you up if you used it to go get yourself a job." She called out, voice raising an octave or two as they turned onto the highway, heading towards the station.
"Do you think I could be a cop?" Nora looked back at him with a raised brow and said nothing. "I could be your new partner."
"The day you're my partner Mawle, is the day I retire from this shit." He chewed on the gum she'd allowed him to keep cockily, eyes rolling to look out at the other cars. He was harmless, stupid, but harmless and all too well known for having the gift of the gab. "Besides, the positions already been filled. You'll be someone's else's problem come next week."
And oh, if just either of them knew how that relationship was going to blossom; he sure as hell wouldn't have been as smug about it as he was an she sure as hell would have had a bigger grin on her face.