The night was cold, not as bitter as it could get but it was cold enough for Casey to regret not wearing a sweater. She pulled the flap up on her purse and dropped the keys to the shop into her bag, hearing them click off her walkman. She couldn't wear it any more, especially now that it was dark outside. Every tick, every pause in the music she would get paranoid. She thought to herself about seeing a shrink, but decided that it was too much.
She wasn't even clear of the storefront when a large shadow came across her vision and she screamed, jumping with the fright.
"Hey, hey," a calm, deep voice said over her screams, grabbing the young woman's frantic arms. He doubled over as Casey brought her knee up between his legs in a first, reactionary response.
"Officer Barone!" she shouted as he belt over and the neon glow from the stores around them cast down on his tanned and weathered face. "Oh God, I'm so sorry!" Casey followed him down to the ground. She had taken basic first aid, but they didn't exactly cover this stuff as far as she knew. She put her arms around his huge shoulders to try to comfort him and instructed the injured man to take deep breaths.
He groaned, lurching towards the ground. "Ugh..." he moaned, cupping his genitalis gingerly as the pain was still moving through him. She must be in some sort of sport to be so strong. He felt her arms wrap around him and her kind words. She had obviously not known it was him who came up to her, even when he had spoken. 'Not unreasonable,' Robert mused. For a long time now Robert had been aware of the fact that he was an imposing figure, that's one of the reasons why be made such a good cop.
"Are you okay, Officer Barone?" Casey asked, the pure concern in her voice was a soothing shock to Robert.
"Call me Robert," he replied, pushing himself up and leaning on her for support. Unlike the bull incident, Robert didn't feel as if his dignity had just been stripped. Hell, his mother did that same thing on an emotional level every day to her eldest son. "And I'm alright..." He groaned, leaning heavier on the young woman for support, which she gave. She must be an athlete.
Robert knew and made no second guesses about his weight, which much like his size, was considerable. But, none the less, the woman held him up with a smile of apology on her warm face, even if it was almost paper white and her eyes were lined in thick, smoky black.
"I am -so- sorry, Robert," she spoke his name with a grin, the kind of grin someone wears when they're talking about some scandalous fact or something of great intrigue. "If I had known it was you... I mean... I would have never... I'm so sorry..."
"I know, Miss Miles," he said with a smile, unsure if she should be able to call her by her first name. She hadn't told him it was okay so he played on the safe side and called her Miss.
"Call me Casey," she said with a smile. She seemed to always be smiling .Or at least she was always smiling when he was around. "Do you need help getting back to your car?"
"Oh no," the police officer groaned, forcing a smile. "I walked. I live just a block away with my parents." 'Stupid!' he cursed himself. 'Why would you tell her that!?' Robert kicked himself in the ass for that, she'd probably never even think about him in the way he wanted her to, that is if she ever did. He was at least 20 years older than she was.
"Aw," she said with a smile. "That's sweet, you let your parents live with you." Casey smiled, it was nice to think that some people still valued family.
With that Robert and Casey headed to his parents' house, though Casey was under the honest misconception that it was Robert's house, he just allowed his parents to live with him.
La Fin, for now...