"I'll get you for this Pete." It had taken Jim about ten minutes to find his wayward rookie. Instead of sitting in the waiting room, Kasak was in an exam room flirting with a young nurse. After working a shift and a half together, Jim had already figured out that Kasak was, almost, as big a flirt as Pete was. The other three new probationers were two married guys and a woman. Sometimes Pete had a weird sense of humor.
"Ahem, are you ready to get back to work yet?" At the sound of Jim's voice the nurse and Kasak broke off the kiss they were moving towards.
"Sorry Sir….um…this is Rachel. She's invited us to have lunch here…both of us…in the cafeteria." Kasak was clearly both nervous and shaken; the former was about the girl, the latter about the stern response of his training officer. Jim jerked a thumbed fist over his shoulder, indicating the door out.
"Didn't they cover the "no dating while working" rule at the academy?" Jim knew that he was letting some of his frustration out at Kasak, but he was the closest target. How was he supposed to make Jean understand that she can't let fear run their lives? "Head out to the unit, I'll be there in a minute."
Jim took a quick glance around the ER; he wanted to speak to Sally, but she was nowhere in sight.
O~O~O
"Physical therapy called, they're sending someone up to work with you." Today's nurse came into the room with a syringe in hand. "Doctor's order; pain meds before PT."
"I'd rather not take the medication. I'll be fine without it." Pete moved his arm, and the IV port as far away as he could manage it. "Thanks anyway."
"I'm only doing as the doctor ordered, Mr. Malloy. Now give me your arm." Pete had put his arm behind his head; giving the nurse the choice of backing off or pulling it back down.
"I don't want it and the name is Pete." He pinned her with a green eyed glare; daring her to try and get to the IV in his arm.
"Officer Malloy. I have my orders; now give me your arm so I can get back to my other patients." She was an older woman, with enough experience with difficult patients to not give up so easily. "I don't want to have to call for help, but I will give you this shot if I have to have four orderlies holding you down."
"Try it. I don't need the morphine and you can't make me take it." Pete could out stubborn an ornery mule and had no intention of giving in on this issue.
"I am not leaving here without giving you this injection, now cooperate or I'll stick it in your leg." That threat might have worked but Pete knew hospital rules; an IV injection cannot be given intramuscular without a change in orders.
"You can't do that without the doctor changing the order. I don't need pain medication so leave me be." It seemed that the longer Pete spent in the hospital, the shorter his temper was. "You can't make me take it and you know that." The nurse gave him a dirty look, sighed deeply and left. After all, if he wanted to be in pain it was his business. Pete enjoyed a whole ten minutes of solitude; broken when two men entered.
"There he is Steve, your patient." Dr. Franks came in accompanied by another man in his late fifties. "Bear in mind that he is as stubborn as the rock he's named after."
"Good afternoon to you too, Doc." Pete was giving the new man the same once over he gave to suspected felons; causing the man to take a step back.
"Steve, here, is your new physical therapist. It's his job to get you on your feet so that you can leave our humble establishment and stop haranguing the nursing staff." Franks chuckled; a part of the doctor was enjoying all this.
"Steve." Pete offered his hand towards the other man; a mistake that gave Dr. Franks to grab his arm. The surgeon pulled a syringe from the pockets of his long white coat, not bothering to ask for permission before sending the morphine through Pete's veins. Pete growled.
"Sorry Pete, Steve isn't going to be gentle. You need the pain medication." Dr. Franks nodded to the physical therapist and left. "He's all yours."
"Before you can stand, I need to know if you can manage to sit up with your legs dangling off the side of the bed." Steve pulled down the blankets that were covering Pete's legs. Three weeks in a bed is enough inactivity alone to weaken the body; add in two major surgeries sapping his strength. Even with the other therapists having worked Pete's legs, this was not going to be easy. With Steve's help, Pete was able to sit on the edge of the bed, but already sweat was beading on his forehead.
"Not bad, not good either. You look like you've lost a lot of weight, have you?" Pete had lost quite a bit of weight; his ribs stuck up under his skin.
"Yeah, let's keep going." Pete was anxious to get on his feet; it was the first step towards getting out. Using his right hand to grip the edge of the bed, he tried to pull himself off the bed and onto his feet. He succeeded, but only because Steve was there to catch him.
The therapist shook his head, one hand on Pete's arm the other on his shoulder, steadying him. "This is going to take time"
O~O~O
"1 Adam-16, 1 Adam-16, a 211 in progress, at the market, fifth and Van Arden, handle code 3."
It wasn't their call, but Jim and Larry were close so they rolled as back-up; Kasak calling in their intention. As it happened, they arrived before Woods and Brinkman. Jim pulled the car to a stop near the front of the building; passenger side away from the market. He did it without thinking about the fact that he was giving Kasak the safer position behind the car. It was what Pete always did.
"We'll wait and hope they come out before we do anything. Sixteen should be here soon. Stay calm." Jim was hoping to use this 211 to show Kasak how being the back-up unit worked, but now they had point.
"Freeze, Police!" Jim yelled as a single suspect backed out of the market's door. He was too busy making sure that the store owner didn't call the cops to notice the black and white in the street. The suspect appeared to be turning, whether in a threatening move or just to see where the police officers were was an open question. Above the sound of sixteen's siren, Jim heard the sound of a single gunshot and saw the front window of the market crack around a bullet sized hole.
His first instinct was to shoot at the suspect; it took a fraction of a second for Jim to realize where the shot came from. Still, he kept his eyes on the suspect, who had thrown away his gun and dropped to the ground like a sack of bricks. Woods and Brinkman took control of the prisoner; leaving an obviously angry Reed to deal with whatever had happened before they arrived.
"Get in the car and stay there!" Jim was furious with the rookie and wanted to wring his neck, but there was an irate store manager to deal with first. Jim stood quietly while the manager let loose with a string of expletives directed at the rookie; only for a minute. "Sir? I'm sorry about your window; the department will pay for the damage. It was an accident."
"An accident? We're lucky that he didn't shoot me or my wife! What are you going to do about that idiot" Jim looked back at Kasak, even though he had no doubt who the manager meant by idiot. "If your partner were here, he would be cutting loose on that kid already."
"I'll take care of it Mr. May. Someone will be by to talk to you about the window. Officer Woods and Brinkman will take the report." The causal mention of Pete brought back memories of more than a few dressing downs Pete had given him. One thing he remembered most about those lectures was that they usually took place out of earshot of other officers and the public. Jim got into the car and drove away from the market; he stopped the unit in the parking lot of a closed factory. He took the mic in hand, putting them code six at that location.
"Now, tell me what happened."
O~O~O
Jean was getting ready to put Jimmy down for a nap when the doorbell rang. The four-year-old ran to open the door, but his mother grabbed him by the waist of his pants, pulling him back. Jean picked up the child and opened the door. Whatever she was expecting, it wasn't a group of women, most of them were the wives of police officers.
"Hello Jean, sorry for the interruption but we would like to talk to you." It was Mary MacDonald who spoke up, but Jean recognized Anne Moore, Betty Wells, and Pam Woods; behind those four, stood Sally.
"I can't right now. It's Jimmy's naptime." Jean had an idea why they were there and she had no desire to discuss Pete with them. Mary waved a hand, calling forth a teenage girl.
"This is Elizabeth, my daughter; she'll take care of Jimmy for you." The women stepped closer, really giving Jean no choice but to open the door and let them in.
"Alright, come in and tell me what you five are doing here." On the slim chance that this wasn't being done because of what she said to Pete, Jean decided to play dumb. Then she got a good look at Sally as she came into the house; her cheek was swollen and she sported a black eye. "Sally, what happened to you"? Sally met Jean's glaze with a glare, but offered no explanation for the swollen cheek and black eye she sported.
"We know what you said to Pete and no, he didn't mean for us to know. Captain Moore was there when you left Pete's room." Pam Woods. who had taken a seat on the couch with Betty Wells and Anne Moore started the intervention.
"The only people who know are us, our husbands and you. We aren't going to tell anyone else, but you will listen to what we have to say." Betty continued. "You need to know what happened to Andy Baxter, but we aren't going to go into details."
"If Pete wants you to know, he'll tell you. We all lived through that time and the two things you need to know are that Pete was in no way at fault and that Andy's death nearly destroyed Pete." Mary MacDonald spoke from her spot on Jim's recliner. "Go on Anne."
"The toughest IAD investigations are the ones that investigate the death of an officer. Witnesses are questioned again and again; evidence analyzed six ways to Sunday. Nothing is missed and no one can wiggle their way out of responsibility for that death." Anne Moore paused for a moment to let that information sink in. "They put Pete through the wringer after Andy Baxter died. In the end, they decided that he wasn't at fault and that there was no way he could have prevented it."
"Bill went through an IAD investigation like that when he hit and killed the old woman who jumped in front of the squad car. It was horrible. They don't let officers off easy or with a slap on the wrist if they are responsible for another person's death; civilian or police officer." Mary MacDonald lived through both her husband and Pete's IAD investigations.
"Why would, Aggie, Baxter's sister-in-law say that Pete got him killed if it wasn't true?" Jean didn't know her as well as other friends, but they had known each other for a year or so.
"Pete's their bogeyman. It's easier to blame him than to admit that Baxter caused his own death." Pam Woods spoke up; she wasn't finished. "The real question is, why would you believe her when you know Pete better than most people?"
"I wanted to ask him about it." Considering the way she did "ask" it was a weak comment; Jean knew it was lame before she even said it.
"Ask him? Do you consider accusing him of being reckless with his partner's life asking?" Betty Wells was unique in one way in that her husband didn't know what happened; she had no intention of telling him either.
"I remember when Bill first told me about Pete. He said that Pete had the potential to go far in the department, but he was worried that he wouldn't survive long enough to make sergeant. He agreed with Val; Pete always put the lives of others ahead of his own." Mary MacDonald chimed in; they had to make Jean understand. It's not like they didn't all share the same fears.
"Including Ed's" Betty Wells laughed as she said it. The fact that most times Pete and Ed got along about as well as two stags in rut was well known in the division. "When Ed got shot, it was Pete who came up with the way that he and Jim saved Ed. He didn't hesitate to save someone who loved to taunt him."
"Did Jim tell you about the jackets during that rescue?" Pam had heard about it from her husband. When the only response she got from Jean was a head shake, Pam pressed on. "They used their jackets to block the windows; to keep the gunman from seeing into the car. Pete put them on the doors and he put his thick leather jacket on the rear door frame to protect Jim and Ed. He used Jim's much thinner cloth jacket as cover for himself."
"All four….five of us owe Pete for saving the lives of our husbands. I seem to remember a Medal of Valor he got for hiding in the trunk of a getaway car." Anne Moore was going in for the kill. "Do you really believe that Pete caused Andy Baxter's death or are you letting your fear control you?"
"We understand being afraid; we've all had to deal with the fear that our husbands might never come home again." Mary MacDonald reached out to rest a steadying hand on Jean's arm. "We've fought with them over it, put up walls to protect ourselves and cried ourselves to sleep. You're not alone."
"Val's safe now, mostly. Captains rarely get hurt, but there are days when my imagination runs wild with worry. I hear a siren and my heart pounds against my ribs; I know he's sitting behind a desk, but I worry anyway." Before knocking on the door the four wives agreed on a pointed attack; don't give Jean too much time to protest.
"After Ed made a reckless move and got shot, I begged him to stop working. How could he still risk everything for a job? These women and a few others made me finally accept that it's not a job, it's a calling that our husbands share." Betty Wells fixed her eyes on Jean.
"I'm lucky, Jerry has never been badly hurt, but he's still on the street. I kiss him goodbye and pray that he comes home one more day. Do you think any of us protest if our husbands said that they were resigning? The thing is we also know that we can't force them to change who they are." Pam joined the other two in fixing her gaze on Jean while Anne drove the point home.
"Do you really believe that Pete is capable of being reckless with another person's life, or is he the easiest target for your fear?" Now all four wives were waiting for an answer.
"Most times, I know he's not. He's family, but this last shooting was in my backyard with my son being held hostage." Jean began to wipe away tears with a shaking hand. "Aggie told me about Pete and I raced over there to confront him; I wasn't thinking."
"We understand, but you are hitting back at the wrong person." Anne Moore, who has dealt with being a police wife the longest, was the one chosen to finish defending Pete. "Johnson was here before anyone in the division knew he had escaped so you can't blame Pete for Johnson getting to Jimmy. Pete chose to die to save your son and husband; if he could have, he would have died for Baxter. I was there when he kept asking why it couldn't have been him who was killed." Anne had overheard more than one discussion after Baxter's death where Pete's unearned guilt caused him to say that he should have been the one to die. Her anger with Jean was real. "Considering all he's done for your family over the years, you owe him a hell of a lot more than an apology."
"I know", Jean sniffed, "He didn't even tell Jim what I said to him."
"Does that surprise you?" Mary MacDonald couldn't help herself; she had to add her two cents. "Why would he tell Jim something that would make you two fight; for fun? Pete doesn't do anything out of spite."
"I didn't mean to hurt him; I just want my family safe."
"Well, for someone who didn't mean to hurt him, you did a hell of a lot of damage." Sally had stayed quiet during this whole intervention, until now. Jean needed to hear the wives first before she was told the last piece. "You asked what happened to my eye. I was trying to get to Pete to wake him up from a nightmare before he started flailing about. I wasn't fast enough and caught a fist on the cheek. He relives finding Andy, sitting on the concrete holding him as he bled out and hitting another officer who tried to get him let go of Andy's body." Sally was so mad that she could spit. "So Jean, was your lapse into irrational fear worth putting Pete through the months of nightmares and undeserved guilt that he, and I, will be dealing with? I hope you're happy."
Jean ran into her bedroom but no one followed; they sat and waited. Eventually Jean came back and apologized to Sally. All six women spent the next two hours discussing their fears and how to handle them; together.
