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Part III: In Which The New Guy Comes In
Okay, so maybe there was more to my crush on Chris than a desire to sleep with her.
It still didn't mean I was going to do anything about it. Because Chris was SWAT. She was a guy.
There was no way in hell that no-sex-dates, drunken highway singing, and a missed kiss meant anything more to her than the fact that she had a great partner.
A great partner who snuck out of Mandy's apartment at four in the morning, just to shower and be across town at six, waiting by the car with two cups from Starbucks, cool as can be as my partner squinted and stumbled out the door, looking like her old surly self.
"Thank you," she managed, reaching for the coffee with a grimace.
I smiled, head tilting as I inspected her. She looked really bad. And now, I do think that yes, it was kind of pathetic that I thought she looked cute because she looked horrible.
Just attraction, my ass. You really are a moron, man.
"Did you hurl?"
"Shut up and get in the car."
I laughed, ducking her punch easily, moving to the other side of the car.
She didn't speak much, probably too involved in trying not to throw up again, and it wasn't until we had grabbed her car and were all the way back at the SWAT training facility that she managed to ask what she had probably been wondering since she had woken up.
"Uh... how drunk was I?"
"You sang Mandy," I said, low and sympathetically.
She blinked. "What the fuck is 'Mandy'?"
"It's a song. That you sang." Her stare was a blank one. Rounding into the training room, he tried again. "Barry Manilow?"
"Who the hell is Barry Manilow?"
"Nevermind, then." She blinked, still clutching her coffee cup, sinking down next to me as she nodded a greeting to Deke, too involved in a 'rock, paper, scissors' game with Boxer to nod back. "So I didn't ... uh... "
"What?"
She was blushing - Bad Ass Sanchez was actually blushing, red flush tinting her cheeks. "Didn't try to rape you or anything?" she asked finally, voice barely above a whisper.
"RAPE ME?!"
Boxer and Deke both looked up, staring straight at us. "Rape who?!"
"Oh, nevermind," she muttered.
But I couldn't help it. Thoughts swirled into my head and suddenly I was caught up between being horribly amused and audaciously offended. "Are you trying to tell me you're a horny drunk?"
"Shut up, Street."
"You're a horny drunk and I didn't even get a grope?!"
"What the fuck are you talking about?" Eyes widened with confusion, her head swiveled up.
"Who's a horny drunk?!" Deke asked, craning over to our side of the facility.
"Is that any of your damned business? Not really, no," Sanchez snarled.
I grinned, quirking an eyebrow and shrugging at them.
Boxer couldn't have been less interested. "Anyone wanna tell me why we gotta do this training shit all over again just for ONE GUY?"
"I'll be happy to, Boxer." And that was Hondo, always showing up at the right moment, staring at us as if he owned our asses, and could pimp us at will. "Because I say so. Simple enough to understand, isn't it?"
Chris smirked, tossing a glance my way.
Truth was, no one here was really looking forward to getting another team member. With TJ down and Boxer finally back, we had formed a tight knit group, knew each other's moves and the way we thought - no way in hell one of us wouldn't take a bullet for any of the others.
Having to go through all that shit for a guy we barely knew? Didn't seem like the greatest way to spend two weeks.
"So who is this mystery guy?" she asked, slumping back in her chair, bored already.
"Came out of the force," Hondo clipped, arms crossed as he leaned back on the table, "Name's David Burress."
The name struck a familiar tingle in my brain, and when Hondo looked at me knowingly, I suddenly made the connection. "The vegetarian?!"
"He's a vegetarian?!" Deke repeated.
Chris, amused at the revelation, observed, "Hey I don't think that'll work at our barbecue, Hondo."
"Garden burgers," Boxer added. "Wife eats 'em."
"Booo!"
The guy ducked behind his desk when two empty Starbucks cups were lobbed in his direction. Sanchez and I are pretty good shots.
"Hey, pipe down," Hondo said, fighting a smirk on his face, "The guy saved the life of the daughter of one of the captains - he's a bonafide hero."
"Bonafide Vegetarian hero," I muttered to Chris beside me, who broke out into a too wide smile that she had to clamp down on when Hondo glared.
"Captain asked him where he wanted to be, he said 'SWAT'. We had the only available opening. Now I want you to listen to me," Hondo said sharply. "This guy may not be what we normally look for, and I never would have picked him, but he's a good cop, and as of today, a part of this team. You keep your smart ass comments to yourself, and you treat him like one of your own. Your lives may depend on it some day. Do you get me?"
Grudging "Yes, Sergeant"s, filtered through the room, and I felt absurdly like a kid back in high school, nudging Chris on the shoulder and doing my damndest to keep from laughing out loud.
That was how David Buress got his first glimpse, coming into the room with perfectly ironed fatigues and a straight-face that was filled with all sorts of optimism, just waiting to get his ass kicked.
"Burress," Hondo barked, "Take a seat. Meet your team members."
"Good morning," he said pleasantly.
David Burress, with his curly blonde hair and his stoic look, didn't seem fazed when we gave him absolutely no greeting at all. Deke just looked confused, Boxer gave no expression at all, Sanchez was scowling, and I found the whole thing so damned hilarious that I really could only just nod.
Chris' eyebrows nearly went into her hair.
"Meet Deke, Boxer, that's Sanchez and you already know Street."
"Pleasure," he repeated, nodding his head at Deke and Boxer, turning to face them like a military man before he finally got a good look at Chris.
Like I said you don't find many women in SWAT, so the fact that people do a double take when they see Chris is something we're all used to, Chris included, but this guy's reaction was slightly more amusing. He stood there, processed the fact that she was a girl a little slower than most, and suddenly changed his tone to a formal and polite, "Ma'am."
Chris blinked, looked around her, and when she realized he was talking to her, spat at Hondo, "Oh, you have got to be kidding me."
Deke snorted, palms covering his mouth, Boxer straight out laughed, boots up against the desk. I left my grin bare and naked, taking in the New Guy who still stood there rigidly, like he didn't know what we were laughing about, and patted Chris sympathetically on the shoulder, while Hondo glared at us all.
Despite the fact that it was SWAT, and we were going to have to depend on this guy, I still found myself thinking it was a pretty fun start to the day.
I should have fucking known. I should have gotten the hell off my desk and kicked his ass as soon as he looked at Sanchez.
I'm serious. Remember how I said that this shit I was in wasn't my entire fault?
Well, this guy is right up there on my shit list.
He didn't see Chris as a guy, like we all did.
No, from the moment he stepped in that room, he saw her as a woman.
--
At first, everything happened like I thought it would. In fact, I found the whole damned thing pretty funny.
Imagine the most old-fashioned, straight-laced, poster boy for the Boy Scouts, and you've got yourself David Burress.
Naturally, it was only a matter of time before everything he did pissed off Sanchez.
Not only did he insist on calling her 'Miss' or 'Ma'am' at every opportunity, but he violated the first rule of dealing with Chris Sanchez.
He treated her like a girl.
Just the result of this was so funny nobody told him about the rule, so we all just sat and watched and laughed as he opened doors for her, offered her his hand to pull her up the mountain, tried to find the lightest AK-47 for her to handle.
And this was all in the first day.
Sanchez was pretty hilarious, too. The first time he opened a door, her scowl on her face was so murderous, Deke on instinct alone covered his groin.
The second time he called her ma'am, she gave him a death glare and told him, "Listen freak - you call me that again I'll stick my foot so far up your ass it'll come out of your mouth."
Finally, it was Hondo who came to his rescue, as the rest of us watched Chris storm off and laughed and pretended to look like we weren't paying attention.
"Listen, Dave-"
"David," he corrected politely.
Deke snorted again, but never say that Hondo doesn't have patience, because that old sergeant just looked at him like he was a idiot for a bout a second, before his mouth pulled into a too-wide grin and he responded, "DavID. We have a really special team here."
"Oh, I can see that, sir."
"Yeah, well - we gotta treat everybody on the team, like they're no different from anybody else. You got that?"
"Oh, yes sir."
The guy was nodding so much he could have been a bobble-head. Sanchez, apparently over her little tirade, was back and by my side, hefting her weapon to distribute the weight and arching a questioning eyebrow.
I just shrugged, dropping equipment on the ground and falling down with it.
Hondo's stare was suspicious, not quite convinced that this guy really understood what he was saying. "Okay. Everyone."
"Oh, yes, sir."
"And stop calling me, sir."
"Oh, yes- si - uh... um... yes?"
Chris slipped to her rump, shoulder bumping mine. "The guy's a freakin' alien."
It was low, meant for me, and I could only grin, chuckle dying when Hondo looked straight at us, eyes narrowing.
"Fine. New plan. Sanchez."
"Yeah?"
"You're going to pair up with Burress for the remainder of the two weeks."
"What?!" The outburst came from both us, and before I knew it we were both scrambling up, protesting loudly.
"That's bullshit!"
"Hondo, you can't take me from Street!"
"She's my partner!
"We've got the simulations-"
"SHUT UP!" he barked, and as I struggled to keep from mouthing off, I noticed Boxer and Deke staring us like they were watching a movie.
I made a mental note to kick both their asses later.
"Hondo-"
"SHUT UP!" he repeated, hands up to ward us off. "I mean it. Number one: you and Street are so in tune you could be walking around blind and know where you are, two weeks isn't going to take that away, TWO - if either of you bitch at me about it one more time, you'll be working with him permanently."
What the hell could you say to that?
Chris looked severely pissed, and I was pissed, and we just stood there looking pissed off.
Deke did a little dance, tip-toeing around us and whispering "Dayaaam."
"Oh, shut up, Deke," Chris snapped, glancing at me in mutual misery until Hondo snapped at us to "Get your gear on and get back in formation."
And David Burress there, slightly scared, waiting for Sanchez while she stood right next to me, staring her new partner down.
"Shit."
--
"I'm fucking in hell, dude."
The greeting in the locker room was more or less what I expected, closing my door to reveal Sanchez on the other side, looking as miserable as I had ever seen her.
Rubbing at my wet frame vigorously, I gave a small smile. "Not working out?"
"He actually tried to open the door for me in the last simulation. I mean I've heard of the age of chivalry, but this is insane!"
"So talk to Hondo."
"I did!" Slumping down on the bench, she pulled on her boots, tying the laces with angry tugs. "Told me that he was serious about the bitching, and that I needed to work this out with Burress before we got out in the field, because that last thing he needed was me kicking his ass in the middle of a hostage situation."
I could help grinning at that. "You know it'll happen."
"Yeah..." With a heavy sigh, she glanced up, brown-eyed bursts of misery aimed in my direction. "I miss having you as a partner."
Throwing the towel aside, I straddled the bench, putting her other booted foot in my lap and working the laces. "Listen, just stick it out, find a way to work with this guy, and get it over with." She leaned back, tight t-shirt making her breasts stand out, hands supporting her on either side of the bench as she shot me a tired smirk. Finishing with the laces, I kept her foot in my lap, palms around her ankle. "He's part of our team now - you can't kill him."
"Augh..."
"We'll be back together before you know it."
"I'll have you know I'm going through hell for you, Street."
I suppose, looking back on that, that sitting there bare-chested with a skimpily dressed girl practically in my lap, staring into each other's eyes with idiotic grins on our faces was probably not as innocent as we thought it was.
As it was, when Burress broke the moment with an, "Excuse me", I was too busy being annoyed at the interruption to figure that the little bastard was already processing what he had seen.
Sanchez didn't seem to care either. Eyebrow arched highly, she only drawled lazily, "Oh look, it's my partner, before she took her foot out of my lap and got off the bench.
"Hey, Sanchez-" I almost felt for the guy - Chris' death glare couldn't be matched by anyone. "I apologize if I offended you. Really, it was the last thing I wanted to accomplish."
She glared, mouth open to retort when I caught her gaze, eyebrow raised.
I fucked myself. I truly did.
She processed my gaze, sighed heavily, and then began in a stilted voice, "Look, man - you can't keep making concessions for me just because I'm a girl-"
"But that's not my intention-"
"Don't open doors for me unless I tell you to. In this job, every second counts - and if you're going to work with us - you gotta make me not want to kick your ass!" He blinked, I snorted, keeping my face looking toward the ground. "You got it?"
"Yes... I understand."
"Good." She gave him a wary glare, me a half-hearted wave, and grabbed her duffel, slinging it over her shoulder. "Now I'm going home - gonna try to cook my kid a dinner that doesn't suck - and I'll see you both tomorrow."
"Oh, you have a child?" David asked.
I swallowed down my smile at her scathing glare back. "Yes."
"So you're married."
Now, it was incredulous. "No! Now shut up! I'm gonna go!"
And she did, leaving us behind with a stomp and a couple curses in Spanish. It left me alone with David, Deke still in the shower and Boxer long gone. Not really where I wanted to be.
"Wow. She's... um... she's a pistol."
"Uh... yeah." Grabbing my shirt off the shelf in the locker, I wondered how long it would take for me to get to the front door before he popped off another conversation.
"Umm... James."
"Jim."
"Jim - do you mind if I asked you a question?"
I'm too fucking nice. I know this. "What is it?"
"Well - you were Sanchez's partner. And it's obvious you got along pretty well, so..."
Sighing, I grabbed my boots. "Look, if you're going to survive the week - or the next two years, you gotta learn something, okay?"
"Sure." He nodded almost too earnestly.
"Chris is a guy."
"Excuse me?"
"Chris? Treat her like a guy."
He looked dumbstruck. "But she's not a guy."
I narrowed my gaze. "I know that. But on this job - you treat her like a guy." He continued to look at me like I had grown a second head. "Okay," I tried again. "Look. If even for a second, you start to think that Chris is special or deserves any kind of special attention because she's got breasts - you put the whole team in danger - we don't stop for opened doors. And you offend her when you do that."
"I'm sorry if I do, but I was always raised-"
"Forget how you're raised. This is SWAT. We make our own rules or we get dead - trust me, we learned that the hard way."
He still looked a little confused, but at the very least, he nodded. "I think I understand."
"Good. And one more thing -" I stopped, turned, and finally managed to give him a good ass kicking glare. "If you make her any more miserable, as her real partner, I WILL beat you down. Hard."
It was supposed to intimidate, but I don't think it worked, because all I got was a wide smile, and an extended hand. "Thanks, Jim. It was a pleasure."
Arching my eyebrow, I could only glance at the hand. "Let me ask you something. How did you not get beat up as a kid?"
"I'm a second degree black belt in Tai Kwon Do," he said seriously.
And for a second, I almost liked the guy.
"See you tomorrow, David," I said, shaking his hand with a vicious yank and moving around him.
"Thanks for the advice!"
And I really am a moron. I waved him off, too busy thinking maybe he wasn't so bad after all and wondering where the hell I was taking Mandy that night that it never occurred to me that I had literally just shot myself in the foot.
But how the hell could I have known? Who the hell would have been able to predict that Chris Sanchez would fall for a guy like David Burress?
End part III Coming Soon: Part IV - In Which Chris Gets a New Partner
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Part III: In Which The New Guy Comes In
Okay, so maybe there was more to my crush on Chris than a desire to sleep with her.
It still didn't mean I was going to do anything about it. Because Chris was SWAT. She was a guy.
There was no way in hell that no-sex-dates, drunken highway singing, and a missed kiss meant anything more to her than the fact that she had a great partner.
A great partner who snuck out of Mandy's apartment at four in the morning, just to shower and be across town at six, waiting by the car with two cups from Starbucks, cool as can be as my partner squinted and stumbled out the door, looking like her old surly self.
"Thank you," she managed, reaching for the coffee with a grimace.
I smiled, head tilting as I inspected her. She looked really bad. And now, I do think that yes, it was kind of pathetic that I thought she looked cute because she looked horrible.
Just attraction, my ass. You really are a moron, man.
"Did you hurl?"
"Shut up and get in the car."
I laughed, ducking her punch easily, moving to the other side of the car.
She didn't speak much, probably too involved in trying not to throw up again, and it wasn't until we had grabbed her car and were all the way back at the SWAT training facility that she managed to ask what she had probably been wondering since she had woken up.
"Uh... how drunk was I?"
"You sang Mandy," I said, low and sympathetically.
She blinked. "What the fuck is 'Mandy'?"
"It's a song. That you sang." Her stare was a blank one. Rounding into the training room, he tried again. "Barry Manilow?"
"Who the hell is Barry Manilow?"
"Nevermind, then." She blinked, still clutching her coffee cup, sinking down next to me as she nodded a greeting to Deke, too involved in a 'rock, paper, scissors' game with Boxer to nod back. "So I didn't ... uh... "
"What?"
She was blushing - Bad Ass Sanchez was actually blushing, red flush tinting her cheeks. "Didn't try to rape you or anything?" she asked finally, voice barely above a whisper.
"RAPE ME?!"
Boxer and Deke both looked up, staring straight at us. "Rape who?!"
"Oh, nevermind," she muttered.
But I couldn't help it. Thoughts swirled into my head and suddenly I was caught up between being horribly amused and audaciously offended. "Are you trying to tell me you're a horny drunk?"
"Shut up, Street."
"You're a horny drunk and I didn't even get a grope?!"
"What the fuck are you talking about?" Eyes widened with confusion, her head swiveled up.
"Who's a horny drunk?!" Deke asked, craning over to our side of the facility.
"Is that any of your damned business? Not really, no," Sanchez snarled.
I grinned, quirking an eyebrow and shrugging at them.
Boxer couldn't have been less interested. "Anyone wanna tell me why we gotta do this training shit all over again just for ONE GUY?"
"I'll be happy to, Boxer." And that was Hondo, always showing up at the right moment, staring at us as if he owned our asses, and could pimp us at will. "Because I say so. Simple enough to understand, isn't it?"
Chris smirked, tossing a glance my way.
Truth was, no one here was really looking forward to getting another team member. With TJ down and Boxer finally back, we had formed a tight knit group, knew each other's moves and the way we thought - no way in hell one of us wouldn't take a bullet for any of the others.
Having to go through all that shit for a guy we barely knew? Didn't seem like the greatest way to spend two weeks.
"So who is this mystery guy?" she asked, slumping back in her chair, bored already.
"Came out of the force," Hondo clipped, arms crossed as he leaned back on the table, "Name's David Burress."
The name struck a familiar tingle in my brain, and when Hondo looked at me knowingly, I suddenly made the connection. "The vegetarian?!"
"He's a vegetarian?!" Deke repeated.
Chris, amused at the revelation, observed, "Hey I don't think that'll work at our barbecue, Hondo."
"Garden burgers," Boxer added. "Wife eats 'em."
"Booo!"
The guy ducked behind his desk when two empty Starbucks cups were lobbed in his direction. Sanchez and I are pretty good shots.
"Hey, pipe down," Hondo said, fighting a smirk on his face, "The guy saved the life of the daughter of one of the captains - he's a bonafide hero."
"Bonafide Vegetarian hero," I muttered to Chris beside me, who broke out into a too wide smile that she had to clamp down on when Hondo glared.
"Captain asked him where he wanted to be, he said 'SWAT'. We had the only available opening. Now I want you to listen to me," Hondo said sharply. "This guy may not be what we normally look for, and I never would have picked him, but he's a good cop, and as of today, a part of this team. You keep your smart ass comments to yourself, and you treat him like one of your own. Your lives may depend on it some day. Do you get me?"
Grudging "Yes, Sergeant"s, filtered through the room, and I felt absurdly like a kid back in high school, nudging Chris on the shoulder and doing my damndest to keep from laughing out loud.
That was how David Buress got his first glimpse, coming into the room with perfectly ironed fatigues and a straight-face that was filled with all sorts of optimism, just waiting to get his ass kicked.
"Burress," Hondo barked, "Take a seat. Meet your team members."
"Good morning," he said pleasantly.
David Burress, with his curly blonde hair and his stoic look, didn't seem fazed when we gave him absolutely no greeting at all. Deke just looked confused, Boxer gave no expression at all, Sanchez was scowling, and I found the whole thing so damned hilarious that I really could only just nod.
Chris' eyebrows nearly went into her hair.
"Meet Deke, Boxer, that's Sanchez and you already know Street."
"Pleasure," he repeated, nodding his head at Deke and Boxer, turning to face them like a military man before he finally got a good look at Chris.
Like I said you don't find many women in SWAT, so the fact that people do a double take when they see Chris is something we're all used to, Chris included, but this guy's reaction was slightly more amusing. He stood there, processed the fact that she was a girl a little slower than most, and suddenly changed his tone to a formal and polite, "Ma'am."
Chris blinked, looked around her, and when she realized he was talking to her, spat at Hondo, "Oh, you have got to be kidding me."
Deke snorted, palms covering his mouth, Boxer straight out laughed, boots up against the desk. I left my grin bare and naked, taking in the New Guy who still stood there rigidly, like he didn't know what we were laughing about, and patted Chris sympathetically on the shoulder, while Hondo glared at us all.
Despite the fact that it was SWAT, and we were going to have to depend on this guy, I still found myself thinking it was a pretty fun start to the day.
I should have fucking known. I should have gotten the hell off my desk and kicked his ass as soon as he looked at Sanchez.
I'm serious. Remember how I said that this shit I was in wasn't my entire fault?
Well, this guy is right up there on my shit list.
He didn't see Chris as a guy, like we all did.
No, from the moment he stepped in that room, he saw her as a woman.
--
At first, everything happened like I thought it would. In fact, I found the whole damned thing pretty funny.
Imagine the most old-fashioned, straight-laced, poster boy for the Boy Scouts, and you've got yourself David Burress.
Naturally, it was only a matter of time before everything he did pissed off Sanchez.
Not only did he insist on calling her 'Miss' or 'Ma'am' at every opportunity, but he violated the first rule of dealing with Chris Sanchez.
He treated her like a girl.
Just the result of this was so funny nobody told him about the rule, so we all just sat and watched and laughed as he opened doors for her, offered her his hand to pull her up the mountain, tried to find the lightest AK-47 for her to handle.
And this was all in the first day.
Sanchez was pretty hilarious, too. The first time he opened a door, her scowl on her face was so murderous, Deke on instinct alone covered his groin.
The second time he called her ma'am, she gave him a death glare and told him, "Listen freak - you call me that again I'll stick my foot so far up your ass it'll come out of your mouth."
Finally, it was Hondo who came to his rescue, as the rest of us watched Chris storm off and laughed and pretended to look like we weren't paying attention.
"Listen, Dave-"
"David," he corrected politely.
Deke snorted again, but never say that Hondo doesn't have patience, because that old sergeant just looked at him like he was a idiot for a bout a second, before his mouth pulled into a too-wide grin and he responded, "DavID. We have a really special team here."
"Oh, I can see that, sir."
"Yeah, well - we gotta treat everybody on the team, like they're no different from anybody else. You got that?"
"Oh, yes sir."
The guy was nodding so much he could have been a bobble-head. Sanchez, apparently over her little tirade, was back and by my side, hefting her weapon to distribute the weight and arching a questioning eyebrow.
I just shrugged, dropping equipment on the ground and falling down with it.
Hondo's stare was suspicious, not quite convinced that this guy really understood what he was saying. "Okay. Everyone."
"Oh, yes, sir."
"And stop calling me, sir."
"Oh, yes- si - uh... um... yes?"
Chris slipped to her rump, shoulder bumping mine. "The guy's a freakin' alien."
It was low, meant for me, and I could only grin, chuckle dying when Hondo looked straight at us, eyes narrowing.
"Fine. New plan. Sanchez."
"Yeah?"
"You're going to pair up with Burress for the remainder of the two weeks."
"What?!" The outburst came from both us, and before I knew it we were both scrambling up, protesting loudly.
"That's bullshit!"
"Hondo, you can't take me from Street!"
"She's my partner!
"We've got the simulations-"
"SHUT UP!" he barked, and as I struggled to keep from mouthing off, I noticed Boxer and Deke staring us like they were watching a movie.
I made a mental note to kick both their asses later.
"Hondo-"
"SHUT UP!" he repeated, hands up to ward us off. "I mean it. Number one: you and Street are so in tune you could be walking around blind and know where you are, two weeks isn't going to take that away, TWO - if either of you bitch at me about it one more time, you'll be working with him permanently."
What the hell could you say to that?
Chris looked severely pissed, and I was pissed, and we just stood there looking pissed off.
Deke did a little dance, tip-toeing around us and whispering "Dayaaam."
"Oh, shut up, Deke," Chris snapped, glancing at me in mutual misery until Hondo snapped at us to "Get your gear on and get back in formation."
And David Burress there, slightly scared, waiting for Sanchez while she stood right next to me, staring her new partner down.
"Shit."
--
"I'm fucking in hell, dude."
The greeting in the locker room was more or less what I expected, closing my door to reveal Sanchez on the other side, looking as miserable as I had ever seen her.
Rubbing at my wet frame vigorously, I gave a small smile. "Not working out?"
"He actually tried to open the door for me in the last simulation. I mean I've heard of the age of chivalry, but this is insane!"
"So talk to Hondo."
"I did!" Slumping down on the bench, she pulled on her boots, tying the laces with angry tugs. "Told me that he was serious about the bitching, and that I needed to work this out with Burress before we got out in the field, because that last thing he needed was me kicking his ass in the middle of a hostage situation."
I could help grinning at that. "You know it'll happen."
"Yeah..." With a heavy sigh, she glanced up, brown-eyed bursts of misery aimed in my direction. "I miss having you as a partner."
Throwing the towel aside, I straddled the bench, putting her other booted foot in my lap and working the laces. "Listen, just stick it out, find a way to work with this guy, and get it over with." She leaned back, tight t-shirt making her breasts stand out, hands supporting her on either side of the bench as she shot me a tired smirk. Finishing with the laces, I kept her foot in my lap, palms around her ankle. "He's part of our team now - you can't kill him."
"Augh..."
"We'll be back together before you know it."
"I'll have you know I'm going through hell for you, Street."
I suppose, looking back on that, that sitting there bare-chested with a skimpily dressed girl practically in my lap, staring into each other's eyes with idiotic grins on our faces was probably not as innocent as we thought it was.
As it was, when Burress broke the moment with an, "Excuse me", I was too busy being annoyed at the interruption to figure that the little bastard was already processing what he had seen.
Sanchez didn't seem to care either. Eyebrow arched highly, she only drawled lazily, "Oh look, it's my partner, before she took her foot out of my lap and got off the bench.
"Hey, Sanchez-" I almost felt for the guy - Chris' death glare couldn't be matched by anyone. "I apologize if I offended you. Really, it was the last thing I wanted to accomplish."
She glared, mouth open to retort when I caught her gaze, eyebrow raised.
I fucked myself. I truly did.
She processed my gaze, sighed heavily, and then began in a stilted voice, "Look, man - you can't keep making concessions for me just because I'm a girl-"
"But that's not my intention-"
"Don't open doors for me unless I tell you to. In this job, every second counts - and if you're going to work with us - you gotta make me not want to kick your ass!" He blinked, I snorted, keeping my face looking toward the ground. "You got it?"
"Yes... I understand."
"Good." She gave him a wary glare, me a half-hearted wave, and grabbed her duffel, slinging it over her shoulder. "Now I'm going home - gonna try to cook my kid a dinner that doesn't suck - and I'll see you both tomorrow."
"Oh, you have a child?" David asked.
I swallowed down my smile at her scathing glare back. "Yes."
"So you're married."
Now, it was incredulous. "No! Now shut up! I'm gonna go!"
And she did, leaving us behind with a stomp and a couple curses in Spanish. It left me alone with David, Deke still in the shower and Boxer long gone. Not really where I wanted to be.
"Wow. She's... um... she's a pistol."
"Uh... yeah." Grabbing my shirt off the shelf in the locker, I wondered how long it would take for me to get to the front door before he popped off another conversation.
"Umm... James."
"Jim."
"Jim - do you mind if I asked you a question?"
I'm too fucking nice. I know this. "What is it?"
"Well - you were Sanchez's partner. And it's obvious you got along pretty well, so..."
Sighing, I grabbed my boots. "Look, if you're going to survive the week - or the next two years, you gotta learn something, okay?"
"Sure." He nodded almost too earnestly.
"Chris is a guy."
"Excuse me?"
"Chris? Treat her like a guy."
He looked dumbstruck. "But she's not a guy."
I narrowed my gaze. "I know that. But on this job - you treat her like a guy." He continued to look at me like I had grown a second head. "Okay," I tried again. "Look. If even for a second, you start to think that Chris is special or deserves any kind of special attention because she's got breasts - you put the whole team in danger - we don't stop for opened doors. And you offend her when you do that."
"I'm sorry if I do, but I was always raised-"
"Forget how you're raised. This is SWAT. We make our own rules or we get dead - trust me, we learned that the hard way."
He still looked a little confused, but at the very least, he nodded. "I think I understand."
"Good. And one more thing -" I stopped, turned, and finally managed to give him a good ass kicking glare. "If you make her any more miserable, as her real partner, I WILL beat you down. Hard."
It was supposed to intimidate, but I don't think it worked, because all I got was a wide smile, and an extended hand. "Thanks, Jim. It was a pleasure."
Arching my eyebrow, I could only glance at the hand. "Let me ask you something. How did you not get beat up as a kid?"
"I'm a second degree black belt in Tai Kwon Do," he said seriously.
And for a second, I almost liked the guy.
"See you tomorrow, David," I said, shaking his hand with a vicious yank and moving around him.
"Thanks for the advice!"
And I really am a moron. I waved him off, too busy thinking maybe he wasn't so bad after all and wondering where the hell I was taking Mandy that night that it never occurred to me that I had literally just shot myself in the foot.
But how the hell could I have known? Who the hell would have been able to predict that Chris Sanchez would fall for a guy like David Burress?
End part III Coming Soon: Part IV - In Which Chris Gets a New Partner