When people see that their stories are being read by a lot of people, but then they don't review. It leaves a bad taste. It makes us not want to write anymore. And I know how many hits my story gets (and even though I don't know why, it makes me happy).
REVIEW . . . . . . I own nothing
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VIII. Espera
The experts say it takes twenty-one days to break a habit. With Ian Nottingham, it took a bit longer. He had always been that way. As long as he could remember. As long as Kenneth Irons could remember.
Ian didn't really know why it was like that. It simply was. Biting his nails had been the worst. But Irons get him to stop, some how.
He was a man of ritual. There were things that he always did. Every day. At the same time. Following Sara Pezzini had become one of those habits. Irons had recently stepped down his observation of the detective. Ian still trailed Sara, just not as often.
He kept on forgetting. No. His mind knew better, but his body was accustomed ot another. Irons had to call and remind him not to follow her home from work the past four days. Not that he missed anything. Sara's case was going no where. There was nothing to connect her victims together. Ian knew. Out of blatant curiosity, he had looked into it. He had found nothing.
About the only interesting thing, work related, in her life was the little dance that the Navy was playing with the two detectives in regards to retrieving information on one of the victims.
Ian thought it was hilarious.
Tonight, however, he didn't feel much like laughing. Today was ordered to follow Sara Pezzini.
So he had. And here he was. In his usual place across from her building.
He decided that he didn't like this habit.
They were at her place this time. Ian could keep a constant eye on her here. She didn't seem to learn to shut her blinds, did she?
. . . . . . . . . . . sigh.
McCartey had been right. On some level, he was jealous.
He didn't like coming here anymore. He didn't like seeing the two of them together.
Ian admired Sara Pezzini. She was strong, determined. He didn't have feelings for her, not like her partner did, but feeling nonetheless. He had spent hours meditating on the thought.
He was jealous of normalcy. Well, as close to normal as one could get. But at the same time . . . Ian couldn't put it into words.
Nottingham looked back at Sara's window, to see Jake McCartey glaring back at him.
* * * *
Neither of them could sleep. Too many things were going wrong, Jake mussed. There had been nothing else since the old man's body had been found. Nothing in the background check. What a surprise.
The damn case had been open for nearly four weeks now. They had five bodies, no connections, and a pissed off Captain. Well, what was Dante going to do. Reassign the case. It was way too late for that.
He and Sara had laid in bed and talked about what to do until she fell asleep. Jake, on the other hand, continued to stare at the ceiling. And proceeded to give himself a headache trying to figure something out. He finally let it go, and tried to convince his mind to follow Sara's example. That didn't seem to be going too well.
Sleep wasn't going to happen anytime soon. So, he stared out the window. Stroking Sara's hair and thinking about absolutely nothing. That was until he noticed Sara's hired stalker. Jake really didn't want to move. He was comfortable here, and it was freezing outside. He settled for a glare.
Nottingham seemed surprised that he had noticed him. Jake liked freaking the guy out. It was fun. They stared at each other for a moment. Ian nodded and left. Jake smiled.
"Score two for me," He whispered.
Exhaustion finally caught up with him.
* * * *
Sara Pezzini tried to absorb herself in the glossy photos lining the walls of her office. Maybe if she looked hard enough, she would find something that she had missed. That was her main reason for being so attentive. The second, was to try and drown out the argument between Jake McCartey and the person from the Navy SEAL personnel office on the other end of the phone line that was taking place behind her.
"Oh, come on! . . . one of your men was killed by some psycho . . . don't you guys care about your own . . . I didn't say that! . . . so you don't want the killer to be caught? . . . like I said, we are trying to connect the victims together somehow . . . no they don't . . . you're not being a huge help at the moment . . . the feeling's mutual . . . do you all even know what was done to him? . . . you don't."
Jake proceeded to go over, in great detail, everything he was allowed to say. Sara tried to tune him out and continued to stare at the pictures. There was a little problem with that; she wasn't really looking at them. More like beyond them. She couldn't seem to focus.
"Oh . . . so now you'll think about it . . . huh?"
A long pause.
"What do I need to do? . . . My name? . . . Jake McCartey . . . yes . . . no it's not . . . I've been given permission to do- . . . I'll be there."
He hung up the phone and exhaled, "They really get on my nerves."
"So, Jake, what's up?"
"I'm going to North Carolina. Raleigh-Durham to be exact."
Sara spun around and nearly tripped over her chair, "What?"
He couldn't leave.
Jake noticed the look on her face, and began to explain what was going on.
"They won't give us any information on Xanus over the phone lines. They told me either I come to them and get it personally or we get nothing. The people on the other line said they wanted me since I've been the one 'talking' with them. I bet somewhere down there those guys are laughing their asses off."
"Wh-when are you going to leave?"
"Have to tell Captain Dante first. Then hop the first flight out of New York."
"Oh."
Jake got up to move in front of her and made her look him in the eye, "You'll take me to the airport?"
"Of course."
He nodded his head and left to find Captain Dante. Sara went back to staring at her wall. Jake wasn't hers to keep, she reasoned. Work and play didn't mix well. On occasion it did work well, but that was rare.
Sara shook her head. She really needed to think. Yesterday she had caught herself preparing to glare at a female vice cop who was talking with Jake. Sara had turned around and headed for the woman's rest room, trying to ignore the burning sensation in her stomach.
Maybe Danny was right and she hadn't admitted it to herself.
She needed to concentrate on the photos. He couldn't leave, she needed him here . . . that was the problem. Perhaps she had become too dependent on him. What would happen when he decided he wanted his life back?
Sara hadn't thought about that.
* * * *
He wanted to count. How many people had he sent on? One, five, fourteen, . . . he should have kept a list. He knew all their names, but he couldn't seem to remember how to count them all. It was too bad, really. It was only curiosity. He didn't need the number any how. He could ask Seiji to count for him while he repeated all the names, but Seiji was sleeping. The medicine tended to do that to him. The other day he realized that he should probably feed Seiji, but he seemed to be just fine. Seiji hadn't lost any weight, but the bright green glow of his aura had gotten even brighter. It was pretty.
"Hmmmm. What to do? What to do?"
He tapped the toes of his shoes together while he thought.
He was supposed to wait. The white-haired man had told him to wait, but just because he wasn't helping people right now didn't mean that he couldn't do things. Once the white-haired man told him it was all right to start again he wouldn't have time to be bored. helping people was hard work. In fact, he already knew who he needed to help next. He had been gathering information. He knew that the little girl would be at the park again, soon. There was that couple that went to the food store every thursday. They were both seers and he could send them together. They would like that. And he had found the nice English man who worked at the outside restaurant.
So may people to help.
He hoped he could get to them all.
He wanted to follow the Lady Detective, but it was hard. The Partner was always with her, and he seemed to know when people were looking at him for a long time. The Partner wasn't a seer. He wasn't like Seiji either. He must have been taught how to know when he was being watched. Where do you go to learn things like that. He didn't know. He did know other things.
He knew that he didn't like the Partner. He would be happy to get rid of him.
He liked to be happy.
* * * *
"Delta flight 1020 to Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina with connections to Miami, Florida will begin boarding in ten minutes."
Jake sat next to Sara in the chairs that looked out the huge picture window. They watched the planes taxi down the runway in silence. There was next to no one in the airport. It was nearly four in the morning. Not exactly the most popular time to fly. Jake was one of fifteen on the flight out.
"You'll be fine."
"I'm not worried about anything, Jake."
"Yes you are, Pez."
A shrug, "Maybe."
He struggled with his key ring for a moment, then handed her something, "Here. It's the key to my place. Maybe whatever it is about me that keeps the things in your head quite rubbed off on something there."
"If that's the case, I might kick you out."
"Ouch. The terrible break-up. Well then, I'd just take your place . . . and go through all your things."
Sara laughed at him.
"All rows on Delta flight 1020 to Raleigh-Durham with connections to Miami may now board."
"That's me. You have my cell number. I'm all alone so feel free to bug me . . . Plenty of room to stretch out too," he eyed her, "I don't get to do that very often these days."
"I thought you enjoyed having company," She joked.
"I do."
Jake gave her a half smile and a quick hug, "Pick me up in three days."
He left before she could respond.
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I thank those who have taken the time to review my story. Thanks for all of the nice things you all said. I feel all tingly. (By the way, the title of this chapter is spanish - for those of you who wonder about such things.)
I'm having problems with my web site. The comma, accent, and quote markings (",' ) keep coming out as question marks. But feel free to go there.
One thing about the story. I had only read one or two of the actual comic books, my fake sister (long story) collects the comic so she know more than I do. After seeing the movie and pilot episode, I went online to find out more about Witchblade. Every site I went to said that Sara and Jake had feelings for each other. It made sense, so I went with it.
To review is divine. To ignore is to burn forever in a fiery pit of brimstone with Richard Simmons.
