Steve and Jesse were waiting for them when they came out of the elevator, and Rae went straight to Jesse and put her hands on his ribs. "He…hurt…you."
"Rae?" Jesse looked at her and then at Jo.
"She got real agitated while we were shoppin'. We saw a hairdressers and then Rae said somethin' about not havin' her hair cut, an' then that he hurt you, Jesse."
Steve suddenly realised what she was talking about. "Jo, what was the name of the hairdressers?"
"Dawns." It wasn't Jo who spoke but Rae. "He…hurt… you too." Rae lifted her hand and touched Steve's face, and he was suddenly very moved.
"Oh, Rae, honey, I think you are getting some of your memory back. We need to find somewhere quiet where we can talk. Jesse, can you go and get Dad?"
They all met up about five minutes later in the doctor's lounge. Rae smiled as she walked in. "I… like …this room." She walked slowly over towards the sofa and sat down. Mark and Amanda came in, with a woman that none of them recognised, except Jesse. Rae looked over at them. "Mark… Amanda…hello." She stared straight at the woman and then looked away again.
"Rae, this is Theresa Milligan, she is going to help you with your speech, and with your memory, because when you talk she wants you to tell her lots of things about yourself."
"No!" Rae spat out just the one word and then she turned away from all her friends.
"Rae!" Jesse was horrified. "Honey, you need to have help so that you can speak a little quicker, and you can't go back to work until you have you memory back."
Steve glared at him. After what Jo had told him that morning he didn't know if Rae would ever be able to go back to work, not as a homicide cop.
Rae looked down. "Sorry."
Theresa walked over to her and crouched down in front of her. "That's ok. I know you must be really muddled up right now, but I can help you to get unmuddled."
"I… don't want … to stay… here."
"No, you don't have to, you can come in to see me, and I would like to come and see you at your house, would that be ok?"
"Yes."
"No, Rae, no more one word answers. Say 'yes, Theresa'."
Rae looked up again. "Yes, Teesa… Teesssa."
"I know it's a hard name, we'll try it again later. So, Rae, can you tell me who your friends are?"
Rae took a deep breath and looked over at Mark. "That's…Mark…Steve…" Then she smiled. "He's his … dad…" She ran her fingers through her hair. "That's Texas…Amanda…and Jesse." Rae looked up. "That's … Alex."
The door opened, and Alex came in. "Sorry, I'm late, guys."
Theresa Mulligan looked around at the faces in front of her.
"Ok, I get the feeling that I am in the middle of a very close knit family group here, even though only two of you are related. I will do all I can to help Rae, but you will have to help too. So, no more one word answers, ok? Rae, you just proved you could say a whole lot more than that if you try. This week two words at least, but three will be better. And we will increase it on from there. She will need help with her memory, games, personal items, stuff that will help her to think, that sort of thing."
Steve looked over at the speech therapist. "Rae has had a very traumatic time since she arrived here, maybe it would be better if she didn't remember."
"No, it will come back to her, maybe as memories, maybe as flashbacks, but if it is as traumatic as you say then she will need to be with someone all the time, because the smallest thing could trigger a memory."
"Like the hairdressers we saw when we were out shoppin' today?" Jo spoke up, realising for the first time why Rae had been angry with her. She had been frightened.
"What happened when you saw the hairdressers, Rae?" Theresa took a notebook out of her bag and put in on the table in front of her.
"My hair…not cut."
"That's right. Rae had some problems, and her hair appointment was cancelled by mistake." Steve was speaking with care. "I think we need to tell you everything that has happened, so that you can understand what she will be going through when she remembers."
"Ok, I guess everybody else knows what happened?"
"No, Jo doesn't." Steve saw Theresa look a little puzzled. "Rae calls Jo Texas, I'll explain that in a minute too. Jesse do you want to take Rae home, and we'll come over in a little while."
"Sure, we could get some dinner on, what do you say, honey?"
"Yes."
"Rae, remember what I said."
Rae smiled slightly. "Yes… get dinner." Then to the delight of everyone except Jo and Theresa, who didn't understand, she stuck her tongue out.
By the time Steve had told Jo and Theresa what had happened to Rae since she had arrived in Los Angeles it was mid afternoon and Mark, Alex and Amanda had finished their shifts, and as Theresa was actually working with her client, they all headed over to Rae's apartment.
Rae was trying to peel some potatoes. "Hard."
"Pardon?" Jesse had been making her talk all afternoon, and he felt rotten about it.
"This… is hard."
Jesse looked at her. "Rae, honey, try using the other hand."
"But… you use this… one."
"Yeah, I know, but you don't. Try the other one."
Rae swapped the peeler into her left hand and tried again. The peeler slowly took the skin off the potato and she smiled. She put the two things down and moved over to him. "Thank you." She kissed him on the cheek. "Jesse…you… don't hurt now?"
"No, honey, it was a little while ago, I'm better now."
"Good…" she smiled. "I'm … glad… three … words!"
There was a knock on the door just as Jesse was about to reply and he moved over to the door. He opened it, and suddenly the room was full of people. Steve and Jo moved over towards the sofa and then Mark, Alex, Amanda and Theresa came in too.
Rae didn't take any notice of them, but carried on with what she was doing. Theresa walked over to where she was and stood quietly watching her. When Rae had finished three potatoes, she turned round and smiled at the woman behind her.
"Hello…Thesa."
"Hello, Rae, what is Rae short for, do you know?"
Rae looked at her. Everybody else turned round. Jesse had to sit down so that he didn't run over and tell her himself.
Rae began to think, hard. Slowly a memory came into her mind. She could see a man sitting at a desk he called her… "Reagan…it's short … for Reagan."
The whole room seemed to relax and after that Theresa didn't press her. Between the eight of them the meal was soon prepared and ready to be switched on at five.
Theresa opened the bag she had brought with her. "Now, I can't be here all the time, and you can't be with me all the time, so you need to do some homework, ok?"
Rae nodded. Theresa didn't push her to speak; she knew she was concentrating on what she was saying. She took a pack of playing cards out of her bag. "These are snap cards, you know what they are don't you?"
"Yes."
Theresa raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, I do."
"That was very good, there was hardly any pause in those words. Well done. I want you to play snap with these cards, at least once a day, but as often as you want to. And I want you to write down how many times you do play it each day. If you have nobody to play with you can use them to play pairs, you can play that too, can't you?"
"Yes…Teesa."
"We will be doing lots of other things, but this is just for when we can't see each other, ok?" Theresa saw her nod and she smiled at her.
"Rae, honey, look at me now, and listen, ok?" Rae looked at Mark and nodded again. "I need you to fill in some sheets for me too. You have to go and see another person at the hospital tomorrow, and these sheets are for him. But so you don't have too many people to see you can do all this part through me, after you have seen him once, is that all right?"
"Yes, thank … you … Mark." Rae put her hand over her mouth and tried to cover up a yawn.
"Honey, why don't we go and lay down in the other room for a little while, I'm sure that the others will put the dinner on, as we helped make it, right guys?" Jesse looked at all his friends.
"Yep, that's not a problem." Jo smiled at Rae as she stood up and took Jesse's hand. As they went into the bedroom, Jesse turned.
"Thank you, all of you. I don't think I could do all this on my own."
"You won't have to Jesse, you know that." It was Amanda who spoke and smiled at her two friends.
Over just the next few days it became apparent just how close to the surface Rae's memories were. Each time something was mentioned she began to remember things that had happened. Unfortunately it also meant that she got upset a lot, and so they had to only have short sessions at it.
It was after one particularly upsetting meeting when she had been talking about how Leticia Howard had tried to kill her that they began to realise how hard it was on her. She had gone into her room to lie down and Jesse and Mark were getting the lunch together. After about ten minutes they heard Rae begin to moan.
Jesse was in the bedroom in a flash. "Rae, honey, what is it?"
She was rocking back and forth on the bed. "My head…Jesse…help…me." She had her hands over the top of her head and there were tears in her eyes.
"Where is your medication, Rae?"
"I…finished it…It hurts…Jess."
"Rae, you were supposed to tell somebody, before you ran out. I'll go and get a prescription filled for you. Mark will stay with you, ok?"
"I didn't … know I could … have more…Sorry." Rae had tears running down her face and Jesse had to look away so that he could leave her.
"Mark, she has a real bad headache, I'm gonna go and get her some more medication, can you stay with her?"
"Of course."
By the time Jesse got back Rae was lying with her head on Mark's lap and he was stroking her hair back and singing gently to her. Jesse could tell that she was still in pain, but she had calmed down. He gave her the tablets she needed, and fifteen minutes later she fell into a peaceful sleep.
Over the next few weeks' life gradually fell into some sort of routine. Steve and Jo went away for a long weekend to a cabin in the hills, and Jesse, Mark and Alex took it in turns to stay with Rae, she also spent some time each week with Amanda and her boys. They tried to take her out to places where there were plenty of people so that she could get used to interacting again, and they encouraged her to read and fill in her questionnaire every day.
Amanda was working in her path lab one Monday morning when her phone rang. "Doctor Bentley…yes, of course, can you tell me what happened…? No, I'll be right there." Amanda slipped out of her white coat and headed for the door. She bumped into Mark on the way out. "Mark, I'm sorry, I have to go, Dion has been fighting at school and I have to go see the principal."
"Honey, I'm sorry, let me know if you need any help."
"I will, see you later." Amanda drove to her son's school wondering what on earth could have made Dion fight another child. She didn't have long to wait to find out. She was ushered straight into the principal's office, and standing just inside the door was Dion, who she could see was trying very hard, now, to keep his anger under control, and another boy, who seemed to have been rolled in mud.
"Doctor Bentley, I am sorry to call you away from your work, but I will not have fighting in my school." The Principal wasted no time getting down to business.
"It's not something I condone either Mr. Williams, do you know why they were fighting?" Amanda purposely didn't look in Dion's direction.
"Maybe these young men had better explain."
Dion stood up slightly taller and keeping his eyes on his mom the whole time began to speak. "He saw us yesterday and he was rude."
"You have to explain yourself better than that, young man, or your mother won't understand."
"He saw us when we took Rae to the beach and this morning he said people like her shouldn't be allowed out." Dion glared at the young boy beside him and looked ready to hit him again.
Amanda felt as if her heart would burst. Dion had leapt to the defence of his friend, and she knew she wouldn't be able to punish him for that. She turned to the Principal.
"Dion's friend Rae was with us at the weekend, she has speech problems, due to an accident she sustained in the line of duty." Amanda turned to the young boy next to Dion and was angered to notice that he wouldn't look her in the eye. "She is a cop, maybe you should have taken the time to come over and meet her instead of making fun of her."
Amanda turned to Mr. Williams. "I realise that you have to punish both boys for fighting at school, but I won't be punishing Dion any further."
Mr. Williams looked at the two young boys in front of him. "I think maybe he has been punished enough, Doctor Bentley. Dion you may return to class. But no more fighting in school, for whatever reason, or you will be in trouble. Is that clear?"
"Yes, Sir." Dion hurriedly left the room and Amanda shook hands with Mr. Williams.
"Thank you, Sir. I will be going now too."
As Amanda drove back towards Community General she smiled and hummed to herself. Rae was lucky to have the group of friends that she did. She was glad that Rae hadn't known how that young boy had felt about her, but she had a feeling that if he had made his feelings plain on the Sunday he would have been covered in sand instead of mud.
In this way the lives of everyone continued. Rae seemed to reach a plateau and hadn't made very much progress for over a month. It was now four months since she had been injured. Jesse had moved back into his own apartment, but everybody was still working very hard with her. Steve and Jo had become an inseparable couple. Steve couldn't remember ever having been so happy. He had got used to working with Martin, but he still missed Rae.
Her memory had returned from the time when she began working with Steve, up to about the time of her experiences with Phil Levington began, and she could remember some things that had happened after it, but she had made no more mention of Jesse or Steve being hurt, and when they had tried to jog her memory about the things that had happened to her she hadn't been able to respond.
They had spoken to Brian Dobson, and he had said that it was maybe too traumatic for her, and she was consciously shutting it out, almost using her accident as a way of not remembering. But he also said that it would probably come back to her and they should be prepared for her to be very upset when it did. Jesse was also worried that she couldn't remember that he had proposed to her, and she had walked out on him. He was frightened that when she did remember she would do the same again.
They had been keeping Rae's family in London apprised of her situation, but they had dissuaded them from coming over, because they felt that it would be counter productive. When Rae had seen a photo of them she hadn't known who they were, or that she had ever worked anywhere but Los Angeles and when Steve and Jesse had tried to explain it to her she had got very upset, but she couldn't remember that she had three children, or an ex-husband. Steve and Alex had spoken to them on the phone, but none of them felt that Rae was ready to meet up with them again yet.
Steve had taken a weekend off for him and Jo to spend together, with no work, no pressures. They had stayed at Jo's house, and had watched videos, done the garden; they had even got the shopping in together, letting Michael have the Saturday morning off. In fact they had behaved very much like a married couple.
By the time Monday came round, Steve was feeling very relaxed. He had spent the night in Jo's bed, and now he was lying there looking up at the ceiling wishing that he had the rest of the week off.
"Steve, honey, you will have to get up in a minute, you're supposed to be startin' at eight."
"I know, don't remind me. Think I could call in sick?"
Jo, her eyes glinting, smiled at him. She began to kiss him. "Maybe you could plead exhaustion." She ran her fingers through his hair, and the kiss became more fervent.
Steve began to respond to her, and their passion rose quickly. He rolled over so that he was lying over her, and with his arms holding him slightly above her; he began to kiss her neck.
Jo felt herself begin to melt again. Every time he did that to her she was turned to jelly. "Oh, honey." Soon his mouth began to move down her body, she felt him as he began to play with her nipples, and she knew that she was lost. "Steve, honey, I need you, please."
"Well, I guess you're just gonna have to wait then." Steve gave her a wicked smile and moved away from her. He ran a finger slowly down the middle of her body and then he began to kiss her lips once again.
"Steve Sloan, I could just walk away from you, right now." But her eyes were full of passion, and slowly she felt Steve enter her and she knew that he had caught her in a lie. "Oh, God, Steve, now, baby, please."
Soon they were in rhythm together, and as they exploded as one, Jo knew that she could never walk away from this man. As Steve collapsed back on to the bed she turned to him and kissed him on the lips. "Steve, I love you."
"Oh, Jo, I love you too," He pulled her back towards him and began to kiss her with passion once again. Then he caught sight of the clock out of the corner of his eye and moved away from her. "Honey I have to go, I can't be late, not today."
They both got up from the bed and Jo headed down the hallway to the shower in the next bedroom. Steve went into the one right next to him, and they met again on the way down to breakfast. Michael was waiting as usual by the doorway to the dining room. Steve had got used to him now, and he had a favour to ask of him.
"Michael, could I introduce you to my partner, Rae Yeager? She was very badly injured about four months ago and her re-hab has been going really well, but she seems to be stuck where she is right now. She doesn't remember anything from her life in England, and that includes her family. I was wondering if maybe you would jog her memory."
"Of course, Sir. I have heard you and Miss Walters talking about her. Maybe she could come over for dinner, and I could speak with her then."
"That would be great, how about tomorrow night? She needs a little notice to do new things, but too long a wait and she gets very impatient."
"That would be fine, Sir. I could do a proper English meal for her, say Roast Beef, with all the trimmings?"
"Thank you, Michael, I'll ring her from the station and ask her." Steve looked at his watch. "I don't have time for breakfast, I'll grab something on the way."
Michael disappeared round the doorframe. "I had a feeling that might be the case, Sir." He held out a brown bag, "Coffee and two home made doughnuts, Sir."
Steve took the bag then he gave a little bow in Michael's direction and headed for the door. Jo followed him. "See why I couldn't get rid of him, the man's a treasure. Are you comin' here tonight, honey?"
"No, I'm going to see Rae, Jesse and Alex are both working, and Amanda has parent teacher night. What about you?"
"Well I'm goin' to take her for her meetin' with Theresa and then Mark is gonna look after her until six when he will take her over to Bob's which is where you are meetin' her isn't it?"
"Yes, it is. I hope she starts to improve again soon, she is getting frustrated and angry, and to be honest so am I."
"I'll see you later, honey." They kissed each other and Steve headed off towards the precinct.
Jo arrived to pick up Rae just over twenty minutes after Steve had left. Jo let herself into Rae's apartment and was instantly repelled by an awful smell. "Rae, honey, are you alright?" Rae came out of the bedroom, she was very tearful and she had a wet and squirming Kira in her arms. "What's the matter, shhh, come an' tell me about it."
There was a pause and then Rae began to talk, slowly and carefully. "There was a smell. Kira smells. I washed her. Texas what did I do?"
Jo looked round the apartment; she followed her nose and soon found the problem. "Oh, Rae, honey, I think it's what you didn't do." Jo walked back and taking Rae by the hand moved her over towards the part of the kitchen set aside for Kira.
"What? I don't understand." Rae put her kitten on the floor and ran her hands through her hair. Jo could see that she was beginning to get very agitated. "Tell me, Texas."
"Sweetie, I don't think you have been lookin' after Kira like you should. You have to clean her kitty litter tray every day, an' feed her in the mornin' an' the evenin'. She needs water too. You haven't been doin' that, have you?"
Rae looked at her friend. She was trying not to cry any more. "I don't know." She turned away from Jo and headed back towards the bedroom.
Jo bit her lip so that she didn't lose her temper. She took a breath. "Rae, come here." She didn't shout, but Rae knew that she had to do as she was told. Jo almost laughed as Rae came back, her head bowed, and stood like a small child who had broken something. "We need to sit down an' talk about this, but first you need to clean this litter tray an' feed her, all right?"
"Yes, Texas." Jo stood to one side, dried Kira with a towel and watched as Rae cleaned everything up and carefully put some fresh food and water out for her pet. Then they moved together towards the sofa and sat.
"Ok, Rae, you have to listen carefully, an' if you don't understand you gotta stop me, all right?" Rae just nodded, but Jo didn't push her to speak. "You are responsible for Kira, an' if you don't look after her she will get sick. You need to make a list of what you have to do everyday for her an' do it. So, go get some paper, we'll do it together now."
Rae slowly wrote down her pet's name at the top of the paper. Then between them, they worked out what Rae should write. As they were writing, the kitten came and rubbed up at Rae's legs. Rae stopped writing and looked down. She gently picked her up and nuzzled her soft fur. "I'm sorry, baby." This time the tears did fall, and then she turned. "Maybe Kira should live with you, Texas."
"Oh, no, you can do this. She wants you not me."
Rae nodded her head and picked up the piece of paper. She got up and placed it on the refrigerator and put a magnet over it. Then she turned "Thank you, Texas, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt her…I love her."
"I know you do, but she can't tell you what she needs. You know how it feels not to be able to tell somebody what you want, she is the same. She has to leave everything to you. Now we need to get to the hospital, give her a kiss, she'll be fine until you get back."
They were quiet in the car for about ten minutes before Rae looked at her. The car was stationary at some traffic lights and Rae held out her right hand, which she had been looking at for some time.
"How did I get these lines on my hand?"
Jo looked across. "They're scars, but I'm not sure, how you got them, why don't you ask Mark when you get to the hospital, or Jesse, I'm sure they'll know."
"Ok."
Rae didn't say anything else, and the car behind them tooted its horn as the lights changed. Jo looked in her mirror, she was sure she had seen that green Mercedes somewhere before.
Half an hour after he left Jo, Steve walked into the squad room and Martin came over to him. "Hi, Steve, how's Rae today?" He asked the same question every morning, before anything else. He had occasionally been helping with her care and she enjoyed his company.
"The same, we knew that she would have periods where she didn't seem to be improving, but well, it's just going on for so long."
"Hey, Sloan, the captain wants to see you and Martin, five minutes ago." Detective Campbell called to them as he walked over to the coffee machine.
The two detectives looked at each other and headed for Captain Newman's office. Since Rae had been injured Steve had gone back to dealing with the Captain. He wasn't sure whom he preferred, Newman or Chief Masters.
"Ah, Sloan, Robertson, what do you remember about a night watchman called Matthew Franks?"
Steve looked at him. "That was ages ago. Rae and I worked on that. We didn't get the guy. In fact we were putting all the paperwork away when the activists case started."
Well the gun used in that murder was used last night to kill another night watchman. Same area of the docks. I want you to take the case on, and this time, I expect a result. If necessary, Robertson you can camp out on the docks for a few nights, see what you can find."
"Yes, Sir."
"Sloan how's Reagan." The Captain had never worked with Rae, and had called her Reagan from the first day Steve had begun working for him again.
"No change, Sir."
"Right, right."
Steve and Martin sat at their desks half an hour later with all the paper work in front of them that Rae had filed away almost four and a half months ago.
"Steve, does Rae remember this time, when you were working on this?" Martin looked across at his partner.
"Yeah, sort of. I haven't talked too much about it, but she remembers when I met Jo, and that was only a day or so after we filed all this stuff, why?"
"I wondered whether we could get her in here, maybe it would jog her memory, and she might be able to help us with this."
"Yeah, I can't see why not, I'll just clear it with the Captain. Then if he says it's ok, I'll phone the hospital, she's there this morning."
Ten minutes later Steve was on the phone to his dad and ten minutes after that he was on his way to the hospital to pick Rae up.
Rae was sitting in the doctor's lounge as Steve entered and she stood up. Her walking was almost back to normal, but it was her speech that was still the problem. She didn't pause so much between single words any more, but she thought about her sentences for a long time before she said them.
"Hi, Steve."
"Hey, partner, are you ready to come with me?"
There was a long pause, before Rae began to speak. "No, I'm scared. They won't know what I'm like now. I'm… I'm not Sheree any more."
Steve smiled; it had been a very interesting conversation when Rae had found the white dress she had worn as Sheree. "Oh, honey, it will be all right. They have all missed you, but they know a little of how it has been, everybody will be fine, I promise."
"Ok."
Steve took her hand and they walked together back to the parking lot. He had to slow his walk down for her to keep up, but then he had always had to do that.
It seemed to Rae that they got to the precinct far faster than they used to, and before she knew it she was walking in through the doors. Suddenly her fear left her, and she felt excited. Bob was in his usual place behind the desk and she smiled as she saw him. Steve stopped walking and he saw Rae beginning to form her sentence in her mind. He held up his hand behind her and Bob stood and waited.
"Hi, Bob, how are you?"
"I'm fine, Rae, but I'm much better now I can see your lovely smile."
"Thank you." She didn't have to think about that, it just came out. Then she turned to Steve, he waited. Theresa had told them that the best thing was to let her work her sentences out in her head first and then say them, that way she wouldn't get muddled up. It seemed to work, but conversations with Rae still took a long time.
"Can you go first?"
"Sure."
Rae took the stairs, slowly, but confidently and then she walked quietly into the squad room. As she came into view all the cops in the room turned and began to applaud, softly at first, so that they didn't scare her, but it got louder and louder, until the Captain and the Chief came out to see what was going on.
Rae wiped at her eyes. She looked around. "Thank you…I don't know what to say."
The Chief came over to her, and he had a proper smile on his face. "Detective, it's good to see you back where you belong."
Rae thought for a minute. "I do, don't I? I belong here."
Steve looked at her, her eyes were shining, and she seemed more alive than he had seen her for some time. We should have done this before.
Rae turned to the chief and in a voice far too loud for Steve's liking said, "Why were you…a terr…terrif…terrifying schoolboy…?" Then to his horror she turned towards him, paused for far to short a period and then carried on talking. "Steve, what did he do at lunchtimes? I eat at lunchtime."
"Rae!" Steve was horrified. He hurriedly tried to change the subject. "Captain Newman needs to talk to you about a case, can you help him?"
"Later, Teesa says…you will help me when I remember." Rae looked at her partner and then at the Chief. "Oh… I have made you cross. Why? Is it bad to talk about food?"
Captain Newman had unexpectedly to tie his shoelace, and Steve could see that most of the detectives in the room were very busy all of a sudden.
"Yes, Lieutenant, maybe you would like to explain to Rae why we are both looking a little, cross."
Steve wanted the ground to open up. He took Rae by the hand. "If you come over here, we can talk, all right? We need to talk about work. We can talk about the rest at home, ok? Now Captain Newman needs your help." Steve could tell that Rae didn't want to let it drop, but he had managed to move her away from the Chief, who he noticed to his relief was heading back into his office.
Rae thought about what Steve had just said, there was another pause, but already they were getting used to it. "I don't know who he is."
Steve smiled an extremely relieved smile. He had a feeling that the childlike quality that Rae now had was going to become a permanent fixture. That could be interesting in a homicide cop.
"That is me, Detective, and I'm very pleased to meet you."
"Hello." Rae paused. "I'm allowed to say just one word now."
"I know you are, honey, come on, let's get this sorted out." Steve moved her over to the desk, he didn't see the look between the Chief in his doorway and the Captain as he called her honey, but they had noted it.
"What we want you to do is try to remember what we did in the night watchman case, on the docks a while back. Because there has been another killing. Can you do that?"
Rae began to think. In her mind she could see the water, and their car parked by a big building. "He was killed in a warehouse. We didn't catch the man."
"That's right. If we talk about it, can you join in?"
"Yes…but you will have to wait for me."
There was silence, as they did just that.
"I could put my hand up."
Martin smiled, "Just like in school, ok, we'll talk, you listen and when you have something to say put your hand up."
"Matthew Franks, 46." Steve started to talk. Martin began to take his own notes, he had been coming in late to a lot of cases since his promotion and he had found it much easier if he put things into his own words. "Was found with a single gunshot to the head in his office, at the front of the warehouse where he worked. There were no fingerprints, no footprints. He was shot where he was found, and we found nothing."
Rae put her hand up. They waited and she began to speak. "He had hair in his hand. Black hair. It was curly."
"So it was I'd forgotten that." Steve looked at her she had her hand up again.
"I hadn't finished! He was an hon… honourable man. His wife kept saying that. She said that he had said that morning I am an honourable man." Rae put her hand down. "Now I have finished."
As Steve went to speak again he saw Detective Chapman come across the room. He had a cup in his hand, Rae's cup. "Detective Yeager, I made you a drink. Nobody has used your cup or your tea bags, we've been waiting for you to come back."
Rae didn't look at the cup straight away, she was staring at Chapman. She smiled. "Detective Yeager. That's me." Then she put her hand out and took her tea. "Thank you."
Steve looked at her and realised what the problem had been. Her injury had robbed her of her identity. By bringing her into the squad room, he had, quite unwittingly, given it back to her.
"Ok, Detective, what else can you remember?"
Rae was watching Detective Chapman as he walked back across the room, and Steve had to repeat the question.
"Detective, what else do you remember?"
"Sorry." Rae began to think again. Then she pulled a pad across the desk and began to write on it. Steve watched her, as she began to work like she used to. He was so glad that he had brought her in. She was a creature of habit, he realised, and getting back to the old routine seemed to be just what she needed to continue her improvement. Her writing was still untidy, but that was probably because she had only been writing down how many games of snap she played each day. Slowly the page began to fill up with words. When she was half way down the page she looked up.
"I want to see the notes for the second murder."
"Ok, hold on a minute. I think the Captain still has them." Steve stood up, but Rae did too. Then she put her hand up.
"I will go, then I can meet him properly." Rae didn't wait for a reply she walked across the room and knocked on the door. She heard a voice and went in.
Captain Newman looked up. "Yes, Detective Yeager, what can I do for you?" He waited, but was surprised when Rae answered straight away.
"I need the file on last night's murder." She smiled. "I worked out my words on the way here."
"Here you go then. Are you feeling all right? Because I can get someone to run you home any time you like."
Rae smiled again, and he knew the answer before she spoke. "No, I like it here, I want to stay."
Rae left the room but instead of heading back to her room she went over to the table where the coffee and tea things were.
Steve had been working quietly for about ten minutes when he realised that Rae hadn't come back yet. He looked up and saw that the Captain was sat on his own in his office. Slowly a very unpleasant thought came into his mind and he moved down towards the Chief's door. He thought his heart would stop as he looked in through the glass. Rae was standing just inside the door with a cup of coffee and a plate of biscuits. He knocked and waited, part of him hoped he wouldn't be asked in.
"Come."
Steve slowly went into the room. "Rae, what are you doing?" He watched as she moved further into the room and placed her offerings on the Chief's desk.
"Thank you, Detective." Chief Masters looked a little puzzled.
"I remembered, you said that you had never seen the Chief eat…you told me at a party…I thought that was sad, so I got him some biscuits."
"Well, that is real nice, but I think it's time to go back to work, now."
"But you said you had never seen him eat, if we go now you still won't."
"Honey, let's talk about this later, now is not the time, ok?"
Slowly Rae realised that what she had done was wrong, but she had no idea why. She began to get upset and ran her fingers through her hair. Steve could see that she was getting agitated and began to move her towards the door.
"Sir, I'm sorry about this." To his amazement the Chief began to smile.
"Lieutenant, just this once, I will overlook it."
"Yes, Sir, thank you, Sir." Steve took the file from under Rae's arm and then propelled Rae out of the door, and shut it gratefully behind him. "Rae, we will never mention this again, to anyone, understand?"
"Please, Steve, what did I say wrong? I need to know."
She was getting more agitated, and Steve knew he had to put her mind at ease. "Honey, there is really nothing wrong with what you said. You just shouldn't have said it to him."
"Oh." Rae thought for a while. "But Steve, it's bad to talk about people behind their backs, isn't it? You shouldn't have talked behind his back at the party." She stopped talking and looked at him accusingly.
Ok, this is a problem; get yourself out of this one, Sloan.
Steve decided that he just had to go for it. "You're right, Rae. It is bad, and I shouldn't have done it. But it wasn't meant to be hurtful and I know he understands that because if he didn't, he would be really angry with me. So, there's no harm done."
"But Steve, you talked about him behind his back. That was wrong, wasn't it?"
Steve was trying very hard not to lose patience with her, but he could see that she wasn't going to let this go. "Yes, Rae, it was wrong, and I am sorry I did it." Boy, am I sorry. "I won't do it any more. Can we please go back to work now?"
Her still simple sense of justice satisfied by his apology and his promise not to do it again, Rae suddenly brightened. "Yes, Steve." Just as suddenly, she looked at the floor, then she took a breath. "I'm sorry, I embarrassed you didn't I?
"Never mind, it's over with."
They walked back into the squad room and Rae sat down to gather herself ready to carry on with her work.
The Captain came out into the room. "I would like to speak with you, Lieutenant, if you have a minute."
"Yes, Sir." Steve walked over to the Captain, and they moved out of earshot. They stood so that they could both see Rae at her desk and Steve could see that she had started to read the file.
"I am quite happy for Detective Yeager to be here, but Robertson is still your partner, until I say different, ok?"
"Yes, Sir, of course, there is no way that she is ready to come back yet, but this is doing her so much good. She is speaking faster now than when she came in, and she wrote half a page of notes about the case. You know, she sees everything in a different way now, almost…" he paused, he didn't want to diminish what she was accomplishing. "Almost a childlike way. She sees the important things differently, I think she will help us a lot."
"Ah, Lieutenant, she has her hand up!" The Chief looked worried. "That doesn't mean what I think it means does it?"
"What, oh no, it means she wants to speak." Steve laughed out loud. "I'd better get back, Sir."
"Yes, go ahead, Sloan, but keep me informed."
Steve nodded and headed back to her desk, he was still chuckling to himself when he got there. Rae looked at him.
"What's funny?"
Steve looked round, the Captain was back in his office. "Newman saw you with your hand up. He thought you wanted to go to the ladies room."
Rae began to laugh. She had a loud laugh, and she found that very funny. Slowly she calmed down again, then she frowned. "I can't remember what I was going to say now."
Steve had stopped laughing too. "I'm not surprised. Ok, think carefully, read through what you just read again, and it will probably come to you."
Rae nodded her head and began to read. Slowly a smile spread across her face, and she looked up. "It worked."
Then there was a pause. She was thinking very hard. "He was an agency worker."
"Sorry, Rae, he was an agency worker, what type of agency?"
Rae thought for a minute. "He came to work when the proper person wasn't there."
"Oh, a temp agency." Steve smiled as he realised what she meant.
"I don't say that. Why don't I say that?" She paused a moment. "Steve."
"Yes, honey." He had a feeling he was about to be asked a difficult question.
"Why do I sound different from you, Martin, everybody? I use different words too."
This time it was Steve who paused before he spoke. He thought so long that Rae put her hand on his arm.
"Steve?"
"It's complicated, Rae. I really think that it's something you need to work out for yourself. We need to concentrate on the case right now, but I know that this is important and we'll talk about it later, ok?"
"Ok." Rae began to think again.
As Steve watched her, he breathed a sigh of relief. Thank goodness she hadn't wanted an explanation right now. He couldn't believe how lucky they had been that she hadn't realised before that she had a different accent to the rest of them. He hoped that now she was stronger she would be able to understand it easier. He ran his fingers through his hair as he thought about how she may have reacted if she had thought about this earlier. Well that was one problem he didn't have to face, thank God, he had enough without inventing ones of his own.
Rae was still concentrating and hadn't realised that her partner was deep in thought. She looked at her pad and slowly remembered what she had been saying. "He was a … temp, I would say temp … So was Franks. Was it the same… temp… agency?"
"I don't know, we haven't got that far yet. Why, do you think it's important?"
Rae was writing things down. Steve looked over her shoulder. She had written down three things. What happened to the permanent men? How long had they been there? Did they have permanent men? Then Rae looked at Steve. "He was an honourable man. That is important. I know it is." Rae ran her hand across her eyes, and tried to stop a yawn. "Sorry."
"Rae, you've been here for almost three hours. I think it's time I took you home. I should think you could do with some sleep. But you have done well, haven't you?"
Rae smiled, and Steve waited. "Yes, and you're not cross anymore are you? Can I come back tomorrow?"
"No, I'm not cross, I never was, I was just a bit shocked. Leave it until the morning and then decide. You can only come in here, I can't take you out with me, you know that don't you?"
"I know, I will work hard so I can come back properly."
She stood up and walked over towards the Captain's door. She knocked and opened it. "I am going home, please may I come back?"
"Of course, Detective, you are welcome to work in the squad room, any time. You know that until you pass certain tests you can't have your gun back, but I think you can wear this again." The Captain handed Rae her badge and saw the pleasure as it lit up her face. There was a pause and then Rae ran her fingers over it and looked up.
"Thank you."
"It was a pleasure to finally meet you." Newman held out his hand and Rae shook it, then she turned back round and walked over to Steve.
"Look what I've got."
"Hey, welcome back partner." Steve smiled at her and watched as she clipped it to her jeans.
"I am very tired. Can you take me to Jesse?" Steve nodded and they walked together out of the room. He had filled Martin in on what he wanted him to do while he was away, and he wanted to let Mark and Theresa know just how well she had done today.