Tangled Webs
Chapter 10
Rating: R
The Crossing Jordan characters totally aren't mine ~ they belong to Tim Kring and Tailwind Productions.
Kaidlyn and her mom are my own creations and therefore they're mine.
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Author's note: Although I first introduced Kaidlyn in "Endgame," she subsequently appeared in person in "That Night" and in name in "Running." The timeline here basically follows after "That Night" and before "Endgame" though there will be some overlap and inconsistencies with "Endgame" ~ but since that one's so far from show canon now, we can just pretend, for the sake of this story, that it doesn't exist. :0)
Credit (or blame) for the extension of this goes to jmkw, the newmoo, bevan and a couple of other people who encouraged me to bring an aspect of a role play group into this story…
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Eddie was lost in thought his whole way to Max's house. The past couple of weeks with Kaidlyn as his intern had been a whirlwind. Her first case with him took a dangerous turn, and his inaction in his concern for her safety had almost turned tragic. At the time he chalked it up to stupidity and the first intern and trying to make sure she didn't get killed on the first case.
But then came the training room yesterday morning. . .
Eddie jogged into the training room hoping to get in some strength training after a morning run. He was distracted by the sight of Kaidlyn working out with the "robot" that recorded the strength and severity of punches and kicks. He could tell from the lights that she had power more than some of the guys he'd seen use it. But she was totally graceful, almost like a dancer, as she worked. The chance to work with her close up, and maybe learn something from her was too tempting.
"Hey, Kaidlyn!" he called.
"Hey!" She waved back as he walked over towards her.
"You studied kick-boxing? You move beautifully." He wasn't lying. He'd never seen anyone work like she was.
"Yeah ~ it was always sort of my stress-releiver," she shrugged.
"Ever spar?" He knew he was treading on dangerous ground, but. . .
"I have," she said, fixing her ponytail. "Why? You want to?"
"Sure." He led her to the sparring ring and found some protective gear small enough for her, then put his own on. "You ready?"
"Yeah." And they started, first circling around each other and eventually moving closer until. . .
In a split second, he found himself on his back on the mat, Kaidlyn pinning him down. Her eyes sparkled as she said, "Pinned ya!"
He rolled over and got up. "Two out of three?"
"Sure." They prepared to start again. Neither of them noticed that several of the uniformed officers and other detectives had stopped what they were doing and begun watching the pair. They didn't hear the gasp around the room as Kaid took Eddie down that quickly.
The second round was even quicker. Eddie tried to concentrate, but the thought of the possibility of accidentally hurting her popped into his mind, and before he knew it, he was back on the mat, not unlike his position of no more than five minutes earlier. "Pinned ya again!" Kaid said breathlessly, their faces mere inches apart.
They stayed in that position for a minute, neither one daring to move. Finally, realizing that something he had no control over was happening, Eddie rolled Kaidlyn off of him and got up to head for the locker room. "Good match. I'll see you in a few."
What Eddie didn't know was that after he took off, leaving Kaid sitting in the middle of the ring, totally confused, one of the detectives came over to see if she was ok. Woody had never seen anyone take Winslow down like that ~ none of them had. He knew that she was an intern ~ and that something about her seemed way too familiar. But mostly he wanted to make sure she was ok ~ that Winslow hadn't said anything to hurt her. That Midwestern upbringing that made him not hit girls made him fiercely protective of anyone who looked to be hurt. But someone asked him a question and when he turned back to the mat, the girl was gone. He made a mental note to find out who she was later.
Later that afternoon, Eddie had called the department psychiatrist to talk with him about what was going on. His dreams of his childhood were back. He always swore that he wouldn't be like his father was. But those dreams. . . The shrink reminded him that he was NOT his father and that his conscious desire to not repeat the pattern was a big step in the right direction. While the shrink advised against running from this, he didn't say anything about not assigning her to someone else in the department. Eddie rationalized his decision by reminding himself that he'd still see her around the precinct. He wasn't running away from his demons. . . Really he wasn't.
And then after last night. . . Kaidlyn obviously had her demons as well. Was he crazy for even trying this. Demons on both sides were the reason nothing ever worked between him and Jordan oh so many years ago. Very few people knew that they'd tried to build a relationship, but nothing ever came of it. They danced around things for a few weeks and then decided that things would never work between them. And then he was made Max's partner. . .
And now here he was, in the same pattern with Max's niece. He didn't even know who she was when she waltzed into his office, but something about her rocked him to the very core of his being, even then. And nothing changed after he found out she was Jordan's cousin. Why did he think things were going to be any different with Kaid? Why was he willing to try and work through those demons with her when it didn't work with Jordan? He didn't know the answers, or if things would work. Hell, he didn't even know if Kaidlyn thought about him remotely the same way. He thought he'd seen something in her eyes when she pinned him for the second time, but. . .
Eddie pulled the car up in front of Max's house and parked, trying to steady his breathing. He was here to check on Kaid and make sure she was alright. And to tell her that she was going to have a new mentor/supervisor. And, if he kept his courage up, to ask her to dinner. . .
. . .to be continued. . .