"Sure Lennie, what can I do for you?" Anita asked.
"It's more the other way around," he said and suddenly removed his badge from his belt and laid it on her desk in front of her.
"Why don't you take this down to One Police Plaza and give it to the Chief of Detectives and see what you can get for it. He's been wanting it for years," Lennie told her.
"Lennie?" she asked unable to put into words all the questions she had and certainly unwilling to unleash the emotions she was feeling.
"I want to quit while I'm still able to do the job. I don't want to hang on so long that I'm endangering Ed. I'm still able to give him decent backup, but I'm not sure how many more foot pursuits I've got left in me or how many more times I can take a suspect down hand to hand. It's time for me to step aside and let Ed be the senior detective in this squad," he said decisively.
"And do what? Lennie, you're not cut out for retirement," Anita asserted.
"Well, thought I'd take all that accumulated vacation of mine and go visit my daughter Julia and the grandkids and play a little golf. Then I'll come home and go to work for the DA's squad," Lennie said with a smile.
Anita's worried countenance altered much like when the sun peeks out from behind a storm cloud. "Oh, that sounds like just the ticket," she exclaimed.
"Now, you take my badge down to the chief of D. You tell that old bastard that you took it away from me, and you want certain things from him for it, starting with your promotion to captain, or you'll give it back to me and you'll get me to talk," Lennie said.
"Talk about what? Anita asked.
"Don't worry about what, the chief of D knows what I know, and that's why he's never been able to force me to retire," Lennie said.
"Lennie, have you told Ed yet?" Anita asked.
"No, I haven't," Lennie reluctantly admitted.
"Well, then put this back on and for Pete's sakes tell him somewhere away from the station house OK?" she implored.
"You think he's going to take it that hard?" Lennie asked.
She rolled her eyes at him. "Don't you go pretending that you don't know he will! Shoot you came in here to give me that so I'd have to tell him," she said and swatted at him like a naughty boy.
He quirked a grin at her and then confessed. "Well, the thought did cross my mind that he wouldn't blow up at you or cry in front of you. I swear if he cries I'm gonna hit him," Lennie said.
"Aw, hell I guess I better take him to lunch and get it over with, then I'll come back and give this to you. I really want to get out of here before I change my mind," he said.
As he walked back into the squad room, Anita Van Buren wondered what Lennie would have done if she'd let her tears fall as well.