It was just after ten in morning when Jo walked over towards the sunshade on the patio by her pool. She was in no hurry to do anything very much except sit in the sun, and maybe, if she had remembered to bring some with her, drink ice-cold lemonade. She knew that Steve wouldn't join her for a while, he had been to the gym first thing that morning, having come in from a night shift and was probably fast asleep on the bed by now. Jo turned her head as she heard a noise and smiled as she saw Michael coming up towards her with a pitcher of lemonade, complete with ice and a tall glass.
"Michael, thank you. You are a mind reader." Jo didn't get up to help him because she knew it would only result in a reprimand.
"Madam, it is a very hot day, so a cold drink is a natural assumption." Her manservant smiled as he placed the tray on the table.
"Will you come an' sit with me for a while. I am feelin' a little nostalgic, an' I could do with some company as I sift through the memories."
"Well, I do have a little time before I have to be leaving to assist the good doctor. Thank you, Madam."
"But I insist that you go an' get yourself a glass first. Unless of course, you would like me to get it for you." Jo smiled. She knew that there was no way he would let her go, but this way he would have to get the glass for himself.
"Very good, Madam." Michael smiled. He knew when he was beaten. Madam seemed to delight in getting him to join in the family activities these days. He was flattered, but sometimes he had to remind himself to draw back. He was very quickly back with his employer and, sitting in the chair opposite her, he looked over at her. "Where are your memories taking you, Madam, if you don't mind me asking."
"No, I don't mind you askin' how am I supposed to share them if you don't ask?" Jo smiled. "I was just thinkin' how much our lives have changed in the past year. You know it is twelve months since Rae an' Jesse were discharged from the hospital, an' guess what? Nobody has been rushed in there since. I know that Mark, Alex an' Amanda work there an' that Jesse is back there too now. But apart from when Steve had his pins out we have just lived like everybody else, an' it's been good."
"Well, Miss Reagan did have her baby in there, but the main changes were here, I suppose. Miss Reagan and Doctor Travis were living here, and, of course, the Lieutenant, but things got a little easier once the casts were removed didn't they?" Michael stopped talking, hoping that he hadn't overstretched the invitation to join in. He had been delighted to work in a full household for the time everybody had been together.
"They sure did. No more Mr. Grouchy Gloves. Although it wasn't all plain sailin' was it?"
Ten Months Ago
Jo had sat on the bottom stair and checked her watch once again. "Steve, Honey, if you don't hurry up, Jesse will have gone home to Rae an' you will have to wait until next week to have your casts and pins removed."
"Ok, I'm coming." Steve appeared at the top of the stairs and looked down at her. He had told her later that she looked like a child waiting for Santa as she sat there, her hair hanging down in soft curls. He carefully came down to join her but sat behind her and placed his arms around her, before kissing her gently on the head.
"Are you nervous?" Jo looked up at him. "What if Jesse changes his mind an' says that you have to wait another week?" It had already happened to them once, and she wasn't relishing the prospect of another seven days of the black mood that had been enveloping the house ever since.
"He won't." It wasn't a statement just made with confidence but with the absolute certainty of someone who would make sure that he got his own way.
Jo had raised her eyes to the heavens, out of Steve's view, picked up his overnight bag and headed for the front door.
The Present Day
Jo took a sip from her homemade lemonade and smiled over at her butler and friend. He had helped keep her sane while Steve had been in plaster, and had probably also kept the relationship together. Steve had stayed in the hospital for three days, he'd had the pins removed and she had visited with him as he started his physiotherapy. Both of them had been delighted to see that even though it was a strange and painful process at first, that as he was getting ready to go back home things were already getting easier. But by the time the three days were over, and they were waiting to see Jesse to be finally discharged Steve was desperate to leave.
Ten Months Ago
"Steve, will you sit down. You are makin' me giddy. For goodness sake, you know Jesse will be here real soon."
"But he should be here now, my appointment time was fifteen minutes ago, and we are still sitting here. Maybe I should get Alex to do this for me. I have been here for three days, and I want to go home."
"You know that Jesse is only workin' two days a week right now, an' you also know that he has arranged to come in today instead of yesterday so that he can see you. So stop bein' such a …"
"Mr. Grouchy Gloves?" Steve looked over at her. "Oh, I heard what you called me, and how Dad thought it was just so funny. It was a good thing I had just been shot, or…"
"Or what?" Jo had rounded on him, her temper rising to meet his just as they heard an untuneful whistle and then saw the smiling but tired face of Jesse come round the corner.
"Well, it's about time." Steve moved over towards the door of the x-ray room and out of habit waited for someone to open it for him.
"And a good morning to you too." Jesse moved over towards Jo and kissed her gently on the cheek. "Hi, Sweetie, I'm sorry that I'm late but Rae had an appointment with Alex this morning and I waited with her, she's gone in now so here I am."
"Did you want to go an' be with her while she has her meetin'? We can wait." Jo had looked at Steve, and her eyes had dared him to contradict her. She knew that Jesse had seen the conflict as Steve struggled with his need to get home against Rae's need for Jesse to be with her, and she had been delighted when he chose the latter.
"Yeah, go on, Jesse, I have waited this long for you, another half hour won't make much difference."
Jo let out a disappointed sigh. It had been a start she guessed, but the good grace was still missing.
"No, it's, ok. It's just a routine check up. Nothing out of the ordinary. They know where I am if they need me." Jesse had smiled over at his friend and Jo had been amused to see how relieved Steve had been that he hadn't decided to return to Rae. Then he had opened the door and they had all entered the x-ray room.
Half an hour later Steve was the proud owner of not only two new ornaments and a pair of still, after three days, very white and strangely pappy looking hands, but also the evidence that the bones had healed. He sat in the same chair as normal looking at the films of his hands and listening to his friend.
"Ok, physio will start regularly next Monday, but I want you to follow the exercises on this chart until then. Jo can help you with them, and I would suggest that she comes back with you next week. These are just basic limbering up exercises just like you have been doing since the pins came out, to start to get you used to having fingers again." Jesse had been delighted to see that there didn't appear to be too much pain when Steve had moved his fingers and thumbs for him. He hadn't looked at his hands as he had made him go through the exercises for him but at his face.
"And work, Jess. When can I go back to work?"
"Hey, one step at a time. I would guess another two months. If you were a clerk in a 7-Eleven store, or maybe an actor or something like that it would be quicker, but you put your life on the line everyday, you need to know that your hands are gonna do what you want them to do. Ok?"
"Ok. Jesse." Jo knew that Steve was so relieved to have his hands back that he wasn't going to argue. He stood up and moved over towards the door. He flexed the fingers of his left hand very gingerly and then with a nervous smile he reached out and turned the handle.
The Present Day"He changed almost immediately didn't he, once the casts an' the pins had gone." Jo had smiled as she remembered.
"Yes, he did, Madam." Michael agreed with her. He had been extremely relieved to have the pleasant and friendly Lieutenant back with them again.
Ten Months Ago
The journey home had been made almost in silence, and by the time she had drawn up and waited for the garage door to open so that she could park the station wagon she had bought the week before, Jo was as nervous as a kitten.
Steve picked up the box from the back seat that had the two casts in. They hadn't seen much of them the past few weeks because he had preferred to keep the white covers on. He hadn't wanted to damage the pictures in any way, and he'd had to admit he had gotten some pretty funny looks when he had been the artists display model.
They had made their way into the house through the laundry room, Steve had headed straight for the stairs, and Jo had known that he was going to put his casts in their room. Jesse had suggested getting some plaster of Paris from a hobby store and just filling them up with it. Jo had to admit the insides were pretty gross, and she didn't think she would have given them houseroom if CJ and Dion hadn't done the decoration. She moved into the lounge and curled up on the sofa. She had been reading a gardening magazine the day before, and suddenly all she wanted to do was carry on with it. Jo guessed that she had been as worried about the casts as Steve, but not obviously in the same way. As she picked up the magazine a small box fell to the floor. She leant over picked it up and opened it, as she did so she gasped.
Inside was a delicately ornate heart shaped pendant of gold on a long and beautifully crafted chain, she gently opened it with one nail and smiled. The centre of the locket had a clear protective layer over it, and underneath there was a white plaster heart and curled around it in a slightly larger heart shape was a piece of her hair that she had sent to Steve over a year ago, intertwined with a lock of his. On the other side were two words. Thank you.
As Jo looked at it, two hands came around from behind her and took the chain out of her hands, and gently and very slowly, she felt it being lowered over her head, and then she shivered as finally, after what seemed like eternity, she felt his fingers move through her hair as he lifted it up and out of the way. Then she looked down and saw the locket fall into place and Jo had turned her face up to kiss the lips of the man she loved.
The Present Day
Jo's hand moved up to her neck and she felt the delicate chain around her throat. She hadn't removed it since the day it had been given to her, apart from when she went swimming or washed. Suddenly Michael's voice broke her trance.
"If Madam, will excuse me, I need to go and sort out some utensils for this evening. Would you like me to come and remind you of the time in about an hour or so?"
"I'll be fine, thank you, Michael." Jo watched as he walked back toward the house and then she smiled. She was kind of glad that he had chosen now to leave her alone. The memories were crowding her brain, and she knew that she could pick whatever one she wanted now that she was left to her solitude once again.
Ten Months Ago
"Mmm, Steve, Honey, are you ok with this?" Jo was concerned as she felt his fingers twist into her hair, she had waited so long for him to be able to do this to her, but she didn't want him to hurt himself, and she found that she couldn't relax and just enjoy it as she should.
"Oh, God, Jo, do you know how long I have waited to feel your hair on my hands?" Steve ran his fingers once again through her long curls and she could tell that just the sensation of the softness was making him aroused. They were in the bedroom, where they had moved after Steve had seen her find the gift he had asked Michael to leave out for her while he was in the hospital, and he gently moved her over towards the bed and then began, slowly and a little awkwardly at first, to undo the buttons on the shirt she was wearing.
Jo shivered again as she felt his touch, and then she moved her own hands and undid the buttons on her jeans and let them fall to the floor. As the shirt joined them she moved her hands behind her back and undid the clasp on her bra. Suddenly all the arguing, the moods and the difficult times were forgotten, she felt his fingers run over her breasts and begin to play with her nipples. She collapsed backwards onto the mattress and watched as he positioned himself over her and began to kiss her with a passion that had been missing for so long.
After a few moments Jo had placed her hands on his shoulders and moved him off and onto the mattress himself. Then she had, without a word, stripped him of all his clothes and placed little kisses all over his body until he was moaning and unable to keep still. The entire time she had been kissing him she had kept his hands trapped beneath her own. As she had moved down towards his throbbing manhood she had thought that he was going to force his hands up but he had managed to restrain himself for just a little longer. She had run her tongue over the tip of him and then she had lifted one hand and traced one of her long nails gently up from the base to the top. That had been it, Steve had been unable to contain himself any longer, and had in one quick movement changed places with her and she found herself lying looking up at him.
There had been no words spoken since she had checked that he was fine with this, and still nothing was said. First of all Steve had kissed her on the lips, but he wouldn't let her explore with her tongue, keeping his teeth firmly together. Then he had moved down and she had expected him to begin to kiss her as she had done him, but he hadn't. In fact what he had done had surprised her even more. He had gently rolled her over, so that she was lying on her front, and then his long fingers had begun to lightly trace a pattern on her back. She imagined that it was less painful for him to keep his fingers straight, and so she decided to just let him do what suited him best, but after a moment or two she began to realise that he had planned this.
Slowly he moved his fingers across her back, getting further and further down her body until he was gently running one finger each side just above the level of the bed and she was desperate for him to turn her back over and carry on with his gentle movements on her front.
The Present Day
Jo sighed and found that her hands were running through her hair and she raised herself and moved back into the house. Slowly she walked up the stairs and into the master bedroom. As she had thought Steve was lying on the bed, his shirt and pants thrown over the chaise longue in between the two floor to ceiling windows. Slowly Jo slipped out of her shorts and the vest top she was wearing and laid on the bed next to him. Even thinking about what he had done to her that afternoon after he had been passed fit by Jesse made her get excited. She ran her own hands down her body and shut her eyes as she remembered the feelings as he had finally let her roll back over. Then her eyes opened as she realised that the fingers on her body weren't hers, and she smiled up at him as he leant over her.
"And what are you doing?"
"Oh, just thinkin' about when you no longer had your casts on." She had a wicked smile on her face now, as she brought a hand up and behind his head and pulled his face down towards hers. As he began to kiss her she let the memories go and enjoyed the present. The past had gone, she had her Steve back, now maybe a little bit more mellow, and understanding of other's faults than he had been, he was the man for her and he was back with her, for good.
Nine Months Ago & The Present Day The Present DayMartin finally signed his name to the end of the report he had been writing, he sighed and then let his chair rest back against the wall. For some reason the world was being kind to him this morning and he had been able to clear his desk and get his thoughts into some kind of order. He looked over and saw that Cheryl's desk was empty. He guessed that she was getting ready to finish for the day. They both had places to go, the same place in fact, and he knew that he would see her later.
Slowly he let his mind slide back to the day that kept forcing its attention on him. He wondered whether, finally, today he would be able to lay it to rest. It hadn't all happened in the station, but as was the case with most things these days he had discussed it back and forth with Steve and Rae as well as Cheryl and he was pretty clear on what had happened. As he pondered this, the pictures came up before him again, and he felt himself moving back nine months to a day that had been a beginning as well as an end.
Nine Months Ago
"The man defies belief. How can he possibly think anybody is gonna believe this, this crap." Cheryl had walked over to her desk and slammed a folder down.
Steve had looked up from his desk. He had been coming in for a few hours every day to catch up on paperwork, and to re-acclimatise himself to being a working cop again. He was desk bound for the foreseeable future, but Martin knew he didn't mind. Just sitting in the squad room again made him feel valued. "So, is that it? We get three guesses each, or are you gonna let us in on your little secret?"
"Our favourite stalker. He says, he says that he is still married to, and I quote, 'his Rae, and will reclaim her. '"
"Ok, well, at least she won't need to hear that. She knows she's no longer married to him, and I have to tell you, I saw her yesterday, and it has re-vitalised her. She looked just like her old self. Well, her old self with a bump." Martin didn't know why, but he blushed a little as he realised that nobody had known that he had been over to see her the day before.
"So why is Levington back here anyway? I thought that it was all finished, he has been arraigned and charged and the trial is set for two weeks from now." Steve looked a little confused.
"We had a complaint from a nurse at Community General who is in trouble with her superiors, and she says that he assaulted and raped her. So I have to interview him again and try to find out whether he did actually do what she said, or whether they are unfounded allegations…" Cheryl had put her hands up in mock surrender. "I know, I know, the guy's a sleaze, but innocent until proven guilty remember. He's not even here about Rae, but he still managed to get her name into the conversation. Martin you're with me."
The Present Day
Martin had followed Cheryl, but he knew exactly what had happened in the squad room after he left. The whole day had been gone over again and again with the team from IA, they all knew everything that everybody else had said, thought and not thought.
Nine Months AgoSteve watched as the two detectives went out into the hallway, and then he returned to his work. He had been writing and reading case notes for it seemed like hours. He flexed his fingers, they were stiff and painful from the unusual activity, moved over and made himself a coffee as he considered the possibilities of three drive by shootings being linked, and almost sent his coffee all over himself when he turned round and found Rae sitting smiling at him from her desk with Jesse standing behind her.
"Hey, partner, I didn't think you were supposed to be back for another month." Rae smiled at him; she was so pleased for him that he was back where he truly belonged.
"Yeah, well you're not supposed to be back for another few months. So, what gives, Detective, can't get enough of the place?" Steve was smiling too; it felt good for them to be back together. He went to speak again but his phone rang and he moved back over towards his desk. "Sloan, here… Yeah, I called down about it…" He looked over at Rae tapped his wrist and shrugged. She understood the sign, it meant he would be on the phone for some time, so she nodded and seeing Detective Campbell further up the room gave Jesse a kiss on the cheek and moved over towards him.
The Present DayMartin went over to the water cooler and got himself a glass of water. It was another warm day, but today that was a good thing, it would mean a cool and pleasant evening ahead. He smiled for a moment, but then the memories came back to remind him what he had been thinking about, and he returned to them.
Nine Months Ago
"Let's go over this once again, Mr. Levington." Cheryl was speaking in an almost monotone voice, and Martin knew that was her way of keeping her feelings to herself. "There has been a complaint made, which alleges that you assaulted and raped a young woman, as I explained to you just five minutes ago… Are you sure you don't want your councillor present for this questioning, Mr. Levington?"
"No, Detective, I have told you that there is no need to waste her time because these charges are completely unfounded." Levington had looked at her with an utterly blank face. He had his hands in a set of manacles resting on the tabletop and if they hadn't been there he would have seemed as innocuous as a small child.
"Mr. Levington, these are serious charges, but it is equally serious to make them if they are, as you say, unfounded. Can you tell us whether Miss Willis is known to you, and if you had a relationship with her?"
"I met her when I was a patient at Community General, she wrote to me incessantly while I was … detained, shall we say, and once I was released..." He had paused, almost daring her to interrupt, and Martin had been pleased when Cheryl decided to let that little inaccuracy pass. "Once I was released she seemed to think that I needed her help and company, but it certainly wasn't instigated by me."
The Present Day
Martin finished his coffee and then he put the mug down on the desk. The interrogation of Levington that day had been going extremely slowly. They had both been frustrated and continually trying to keep their tempers under control, but it had been hard.
Nine Months Ago
Steve came off the phone and looked around for Rae and Jesse. He stood up and moved over towards the coffee machine, wondering if she had gone to make herself a drink. Jesse was standing there, but she was nowhere to be found, a voice called to him.
"Hey, Sloan, you look lost, can't remember where everything is anymore?"
"Ha, ha. Nope, I'm looking for Rae." Steve smiled, he was getting used to the jokes and wisecracks, and he knew that if it were the other way round he would be the one dealing them out.
"Oh, she's gone down to the interrogation rooms to find Martin. She has to be at the hospital in an hour, so I told her where Robertson was and she headed down there." It had been Campbell who had delivered the bad news.
"What? Oh, God, they're interrogating Levington down there!" Steve was rushing across the room as he spoke, and Jesse with a look of pure horror on his face followed him out.
The Present Day
Martin felt the pressure of that day bear down on him. It had been an ordinary day, annoying, but ordinary, and then everything had happened extremely quickly and with frightening clarity he was able to remember almost every detail. Which, he realised, was just as well, because for the second time in way too short a period of time for his liking IA had been on his back. Rae and Cheryl had both already made detailed statements to explain his actions in shooting his partner, and he had been extremely relieved when he had been reprimanded in the actual interview, but nothing had been added to his record.
The final parts of the day were clear in his mind now, and with a sigh he moved over to the coffee machine and poured himself a cup before he let them free. Thinking was thirsty work.
Nine Months Ago
Martin looked across at the man sitting opposite him. He didn't know why, but he believed him, he didn't think that he had raped that woman. He was sure that everything else Levington was saying was a pack of lies, but for reasons he wasn't sure he would ever be able to explain he knew that the nurse was lying too.
"Did you have an intimate relationship with Nurse Willis, Mr. Levington?" Cheryl asked the question as she saw Martin move his chair back and then walk around behind their prisoner stretching his legs and raising his arms above his head. Martin had seen her sympathetic look; they had been at this almost all day.
Martin began to walk back across the room and as he did so he stopped as he heard a voice in the hallway and realised that an impossible situation was about to unfold. Levington heard the same thing he did, and with a roar he pushed the table at Cheryl catching her completely unawares and sending her flying across the room. He was up and out of the door before either Martin or anybody else could stop him.
The Present DayMartin's mind began to work again and he thought for a moment about what Rae had said to him at the end of that day. She had been able to tell him her feelings, probably because of him being there when it all happened, but not being as close to her as Steve and Jesse.
Nine Months Ago
Rae had been walking slowly towards where she knew Martin was and her mind was already beginning to work out the second part of her statement. Martin and Cheryl had finished working through the abduction itself when they had come to visit with her at Jo's house. She was glad that she had decided to come and finish everything up. She needed to come back and get used to being here again, because once the baby had been born, she fully intended to come back to work.
She saw an officer waiting on the door to the interview room, and called out a welcome. "Hey, Murray, how are you today?" As she finished speaking Rae heard a sound that turned her blood to ice, a roar, which, the last time she had heard it, had ended with her getting beaten. She was rooted to the spot in terror as she saw a door open and her worst nightmare come rushing towards her.
Martin hurried out of the door behind him, his gun in his hand. "Levington, freeze or I'll fire." He aimed, his finger on the trigger. "Stop or I'll fire." There was no pause in his movements and as Robertson heard him say something to Rae he did just that.
Rae wanted to turn and run but she couldn't. Her arms went protectively around her as she watched Levington move towards her. She heard Martin call out behind him, and raise his weapon, and then just before he fired she heard five words that chilled her to the bone. "You will always be mine," and then as the sound of the gun shattered the air his words were cut off, the bullet slammed into the back of his head and as his life ended she was covered in his blood and brains.
Suddenly her feet began to move again and she turned, screaming as she did so. "No, oh, God, no!" She looked up, and saw Steve and Jesse rushing towards her, and she began to move towards them. But her legs no longer had the strength left to carry her, and the last thing she remembered was Jesse's worried face as she collapsed into his arms.
The Present Day
Martin let out a sigh, he had killed that bastard, and no matter what had happened after that he had never regretted it. This time Internal Affairs had reprimanded both Cheryl and himself for letting Levington get out of the interview room, and a new system was now in place in the squad room which meant that every time they went to interrogate anybody, anywhere apart from in the actual squad room they had to fill it in on a sheet, saying which room they were in, who with, and who they were actually seeing.
Rae had been taken to the Captain's office and Jesse had stayed with her until Levington's body had been taken over to Community General for Doctor Bentley to carry out the autopsy. Then Steve had driven both of them back to his girlfriend Jo's house where they were staying, and Rae had been put to bed. Three days later she had come back to the precinct to sign her statement on what had happened to Levington for the IA, and he could see that although she had been shocked and traumatised by what had taken place, it wasn't something that would haunt her forever.
There was one thing that had happened that he knew with absolute certainty was known to no one but himself and Rae. After she had finished reporting to Internal Affairs she had come and seen him and sitting on the side of his desk she had placed one hand over his and very quietly she had begun to talk.
Nine Months Ago"Thank you, Martin."
"For what, Rae?" He had looked very puzzled, he had no idea why she should thank him for anything.
"For killing him." She had paused for a moment. "I'm glad he's dead."
The Present Day
Martin sighed and pulled his jacket off the back of the chair. He had never told anybody how Rae had felt about what had happened, and he never would. Everybody had been worried about how she would cope with what had occurred at the station, but he wasn't. He realised that she needed Levington to be gone, for good, so that she could continue with her life, and although he would never admit it, not even to her, he was glad that it was he who had done it for her.