Shane silences the vibrating alarm on his watch. He allows himself five minutes to curl into Michonne's warmth. But duty calls, and their division of their day is that he's up before dawn, heading to his office so that most days, he can leave in time to pick Andre up from his after school program at the jiu jitsu academy.
Thank God for unique after school programs that aren't just snacks and crayons - and a housekeeper willing to fill in the occasional evening that both of their schedules go haywire. Pressing a kiss against Michonne's bare shoulder, he gets out of bed, hoping she'll sleep another hour before she has to wake Andre to get him ready and take him to school.
Showering and shaving don't take long at all, and his single cup of coffee for the day is savored at the small table in the breakfast nook. Between himself and Michonne, breakfast is always an easy reheat of something prepped ahead. The pair of mini breakfast quiches full of mushrooms, peppers, spinach, and goat cheese with their sides of turkey bacon, yogurt, and blueberries was something Rick used to call a girlie breakfast. Then his father died of a massive heart attack six years ago, and having a family history on both sides of men dying young of heart disease made his best friend bend to the combined efforts of Shane and Lori for him to eat healthier.
Granted, heart disease isn't an issue for Shane, at least not genetically, but habits learned during college football stuck around and have only gotten further refined in the past year. Athena lays by the table, taking the blueberries he offers as her due. Izzy's probably still snoozing at the foot of Andre's bed.
He's just about done with both breakfast when warm arms slide around his shoulders. "You've got to miss real bacon," Michonne mutters, pressing a kiss against his jawline.
Shane just laughs, twisting to claim a better kiss. "Anyone who's ever enjoyed bacon misses the real thing. But turkey is fine for now." Tugging her into his lap, he breathes in the faint lavender scent of her lotion. "When's our next visit to the clinic?"
"September tenth."
"I'll put in for the time off." His watch beeps the reminder that it's time to leave, and he pretends to whine against her shoulder.
"Is that because of that phone call from Rick Friday night?" she teases. "Because I might not know the details, but the tone sounded as much like you were calming down a buddy after a date gone sideways as something for work."
"Michonne…" Shane raises his head up, and he honestly wishes he could bring her in, but this is their division of information. She doesn't take cases out of his department, but he doesn't discuss cases at home either. His job might not incur regular investigation now, being heavily administrative, but that also means he knows all the details for the sheriff's department as a whole, not just one single department.
She smiles and presses a finger to his lips. "How about we say what I know?" When he nods, she continues. "Something is going on that involves Annette Greene's youngest. Whatever it is has two loosely related cops working together that normally I would say would be a matchmaker's dream. Despite Rick's history and Carl's beliefs, I'm sure it's not Beth that got the man flustered."
"You're playing in the correct ballpark," he admits. Rick barely dictated out the visit with Gorman to Shane before admitting they got off script in trying to fool Gorman. "And why do you say Amanda is a matchmaker's dream for him?"
It's not that Shane can't see it, which was part of what he didn't tell Rick as he reassured him that being undercover meant sometimes losing control. He does, but he knew Lori before her Stepford Wife years. Left to mature into real adulthood? The resemblance between Amanda and the younger Lori is uncanny.
"Rick is a man who needs a woman who isn't afraid to plant a foot in his ass as needed." Michonne grins as she slides out of his lap and goes to set the kettle to boil. "Can you picture his dear, snooty mama meeting Sergeant Shepherd?"
"I think I might sell tickets and popcorn for that one." Shane takes his dishes to the sink and rinses them. "Maybe I should let you put your meddling skills to work."
"Oh, permission?" Michonne winks at him, even as he unlocks the gun safe for his service weapon.
"Yeah, permission. From how I read her, she's going to need way more encouragement than he will. Rick's already half gone. Give them a couple weeks of togetherness, and he's a given."
Michonne is careful not to wrinkle his uniform, placing her hands on his shoulders instead of gripping his shirt front when she leans in for one last kiss. "Stay safe today. I love you."
It's their ritual, anytime she does wake before he leaves. "Always. I love you, too."
He's not surprised in the least that she steps into the garage, watching him backing out into the driveway proper. Athena is next to her, a stoic guardian of his family in the same way she was of him as his partner before some bastard shot her in the head. When he thinks of the people Michonne has to be in contact with thanks to her job, he wishes there was a viable reason for Athena to stay with her all day. Pushing down the overprotective feelings he knows are higher with their pending visit to the fertility clinic, he settles for waving and smiling as Athena nudges Michonne back into the house.
Shane knows the case is going to test Rick or Amanda to their limits as cops. Rick has a better support system for it, already familiar with Shane in the way only decade plus partners are. But what stuck with him Friday night was Rick's quietly distraught admission that Amanda has no one like Shane to turn to. Neither of her former partners are the type she'll turn to. That's a weak point they need to solve.
The joy of working with Gorman is that Amanda knows he's busy when she leaves the precinct after work. The man's insistence on helping run a bowling league for their officers means there's no chance he follows her. Dropping her bag with her uniform in the backseat, she heads for Rick's office. Since Gorman's seen them together, it's not as much of a risk to meet the computer tech at his office.
The sheriff's department is a newer facility, built within the last five years. The adjacent jail isn't the largest in the area, but it's not the smallest, either. She shows her credentials, since she's armed and not in uniform, and gets waved through easily. It takes a stop for directions to make it to Rick's department on the second floor.
With the day shift ended, there's only a single detective on duty at one of six desks. The man glances up, but Amanda can see Rick's office and points. That gets her a nod as he returns to whatever report he's typing.
Although the door is open, Amanda knocks on the glass anyway. Rick looks up from where he's on the phone and waves her to take a seat. The conversation seems to involve dogs somehow, and she guesses it circles back to the dog fighting case.
Looking around the office, she can tell he hasn't been in it long. It holds none of the slow personalization that anyone in an office seems to inevitably do over time. A good sized ponytail palm tree is in the corner in one of Lori's custom pots, and a pair of photos of Carl at differing ages seems to be the extent of the office being Rick's versus any other lieutenant or captain.
"Sorry about that," Rick says when he hangs up. "We've still got two dogs under veterinary care that I'm trying to find placements for."
Nodding, Amanda rises when Rick does, with Rick gathering a few files off his desk. He leaves his suit jacket behind, and she staunchly ignores that the dress shirt he's wearing today is the same shade of blue as the one she temporarily borrowed as she follows him down the hall. Shane's office is apparently on the opposite side of the flat bottomed V shaped building.
It's also two offices away from the sheriff himself, a reminder that Shane outranks both of them by quite a bit. A civilian secretary is shutting down her computer, obviously leaving for the day. She's dressed like most office workers, in beige slacks and a nice blouse, and smiles prettily at Rick. "He's got a technician in there, but said for you to go on in."
"Thanks, Jules. You heading home?" Rick drops the files in the inbox on her desk labeled for his department.
"Yes, I've got to get home to let my dog out." She glances at the new files and tucks a loose lock of professionally highlighted hair behind her ear. "I'll get those handled in the morning."
"No rush. Speaking of dogs, did you hear back from your friend in Rome about any openings at the dog sanctuary?"
"Are the last two ready for foster homes?" Jules picks up a file, looks inside, and smiles even brighter. "Oh, they are! She says there's room, so I'll call her tonight."
"Thanks. That'll be a lifesaver."
"You could always adopt one yourself."
Jesus Christ, Rick doesn't seem to notice the obvious flirting, making Amanda bite her tongue.
"My building won't allow the breed, I'm afraid, and I'm not home enough to really care for a dog with special needs."
"There is that. Those breed bans are such stupid ideas. It makes me glad I live out in the county and don't rent." Jules finally reaches for the purse in her open desk drawer. "I'll let you know about the transport arrangements for the dogs."
As soon as she heads toward the staircase back the way they came, Rick seems to dismiss the interaction as he knocks at Shane's door beyond the secretary's desk. The other man calls out for them to enter, smiling at them both.
"Eugene and I have a few upgrade projects underway, one as part of his internship, so it works out just to meet here." Shane motions to the young man set up with a laptop on the sofa in his office. Eugene looks up, peering at them over black framed glasses, but seems distracted during the introductions. He wears beige slacks, much like the secretary, but his are paired with a black polo with the sheriff's department logo on it.
"He's traced the source of where Gorman got his information on Rick," Shane offers, waving them to individual chairs opposite his desk. "Once we're done with this, one of your attorney's office's legal secretaries is going to be in a lot of hot water for breaching privacy. Luckily, she found exactly what the attorney wanted her to find."
"This Gorman is fairly mundane and old school on his methods," Eugene says, voice sounding absent as he continues to type. "No real online presence for him, just a rudimentary Facebook account, and the two officers closest to him are barely computer literate. Unless he recruits a tech, the blabbermouth remains our best source of feeding him bad information. Although to be fair, she's probably being blackmailed, too."
"What did you find?" Shane looks intrigued.
"Had to dip into out of state records, but she has a juvenile record that isn't expunged under her maiden name. As she did not disclose it upon her employment, it leaves her vulnerable for predatory behavior." Eugene stops typing, rubbing the bridge of his nose after taking his glasses off. A black and silver wedding band adorns his left hand. "Record is for solicitation. She has been clean ever since she became an adult."
"How in the world did he know who your attorney is?" Amanda is puzzled, as she didn't dig into all of the background Shane was setting up for Rick.
"I gave Merle a card at the bar one evening because he's got a dispute with a supplier," Rick explains. "My attorney doesn't know why she was asked to slip the new paperwork in and lock away the real thing, but Yumiko is willing to concede we have a need."
"Considering her hourly rate, she's well compensated for any hijinks." Shane sighs and makes a note. "File her information for consideration, Eugene. We'll give her some leeway in questioning after the cops are handled."
The computer technician nods. "Maybe going old school detective is merited," he mumbles, settling his glasses back in place. "If Gorman's aware of prostitution as an income source, there's a shelter in Atlanta that specifically works with getting sex workers off the streets and into mainstream jobs."
Shane nods thoughtfully. "Think Jesus would want to be involved in this?"
The wry laughter from the technician is unexpected. "I think he is unenviably in a position to assist, and he has never declined anything that gets the predators instead of the workers."
"Jesus?" Rick asks, looking confused.
Shane jots something on a post-it note, passing it to Rick so Amanda sees the address. "His street name. You'll understand when you meet him. He runs a homeless shelter and soup kitchen."
"He would be there this evening, should you want to query his knowledge quickly," Eugene volunteers.
Amanda wonders how the awkward technician knows a man running an Atlanta shelter, but maybe he's a volunteer. It's not unusual for Tech to encourage its students to provide community service. Eugene's internship here is partially community service as it is.
Rick looks thoughtful. "He's likely to hear things we wouldn't as cops. Are you free for a field trip?" he asks Amanda.
It's not back to his penthouse, and actually seems to be the sort of situation Rick excels in. Since Gorman hasn't contacted Rick since Friday and seemed to ignore Beth completely since then, it's a better lead than anything else they have so far. "We might as well. It's on both our ways home."
Shane hands a stack of stapled papers to Rick. "An updated financial structure based on the area Gorman seems interested in. Obviously, you could gloss over most details by claiming your financial manager handles those, but if you're too ignorant, that's it's own red flag."
"I'll study it. Beth's working tonight, so I might run into him." Rick takes out his phone and snaps a photo of the post-it before handing it to Amanda. "I've got to get my jacket. Meet you there?"
Amanda starts to tell him it doesn't need both of them, but the idea of starting that conversation in front of Shane and the tech is abhorrent. Instead, she nods, figuring she can wait in the parking lot until she sees him go to his car. "Hang on a minute, Amanda," Shane calls out when she goes to follow Rick out the door.
Eugene closes his laptop and heads out of the room without being asked, so Shane has obviously mentioned something to him. He closes the door behind him, leaving Shane looking tiredly at her. The deputy runs a hand through his hair and leans back in his chair.
"I need you to watch his back for me, please, Amanda."
Of all the things she expected Shane to say, that wasn't even in the ballpark. He's warned them they aren't really prepared for being undercover, and that's already been proven true. The extent isn't even known yet, but their first plunge still has her unsettled.
"I will." Maybe he isn't her choice of partner and she isn't his, but they are partners.
"Rick can be a bit self-sacrificing. I wouldn't have agreed to this without a partner, and Beth doesn't count. I know you've had to add something to the plan you preferred not to do."
Amanda thinks of the resentment she felt when she thought she was being edged out, which was worse than the embarrassment of the near sex on the couch. This is about as opposite as it can get. "I can deal with it. Hell, Gorman was almost polite to me today. Scared his cronies."
That makes Shane chuckle. "Just be careful that you remember where your lines are. It's easy to get them blurred, and I don't mean the legalities. Don't bottle everything up. Not saying you have to come to me, but make sure you have someone."
Something in his expression makes Amanda think maybe he ended up in a situation of the type she and Rick did. She doesn't ask, since he didn't volunteer. "I do have someone." Although she can't imagine discussing anything like that with Daryl, not really, even if he is aware of the case. Hell, she probably would discuss it with Shane first. At least he might manage neutral.
"I honestly think he would have been happiest staying in patrol with a partner until he retired." Checking the time, he sighs. "I better let you get on your way. I'm due to pick Andre up from jiu jitsu."
Shane stands, letting her precede him out of the office, where he locks up behind himself. He walks with her to the stairs and out to the parking lot. They reach a department logoed Ford F150 parked in a reserved place. "Stay safe out there, Officer Shepherd. If you let him, you won't be able to ask for a better partner."
The remark is specific enough that Amanda wonders if Rick shared her discussion about partners. She just nods and keeps going to reach her car, since Rick's Mustang is gone already. Even as she follows the deputy's truck out of the parking lot, she mulls over the conversation. In the end, she thinks Shane's tone was wistful. It makes her wonder how much the ambitious deputy misses simpler days in patrol, with his best friend at his side.