Deputy Maxine Stewart stretched her sore neck and back and anxiously looked
around at her surroundings. For a few minutes, she didn't know where she
was, and then when she realized she was in the interrogation room at the
Sheriff's Department, she had a hard time remembering why. Finally the
light bulb switched on and she remembered that she'd slept in the
interrogation room the previous night and why. Now she had to figure out
how to get out of here without anyone noticing.
Kenny was secretly glad that Jimmy did not notice Maxine's movement inside the interrogation room; he wanted a chance to talk to her about why she was there before Jimmy got wind of it. The way things had been going between them lately, Kenny doubted she'd tell him the truth of why she was there, but still he she was his dearest friend and he wanted to find out why she found it necessary to sleep in the precinct.
Maxine started when the door to the interrogation room opened to reveal Kenny. "Great," she thought, "how on earth was she going to explain this?"
"Max, time to get up," Kenny smiled, "You weren't on last night were you?" Kenny asked knowing full well that she was not scheduled to work the previous night as he had helped Jimmy make the schedules for the week.
"No, I didn't have to work last I...came in..." She knew she couldn't lie to him. He was her friend and her partner, partners did not have to get along, but they had to tell each other the truth, "I needed a place to crash, so I crashed here."
"Why? Didn't you just rent that fantastic place on Jefferson Avenue?" Kenny inquired, recalling that not long ago, he and Max had had a discussion about the kind of apartment was within her means. He'd known that the Jefferson neighborhood was too high and mighty for a Deputy Sheriff's pay. But stubborn as she was Max insisted, and here she was.
"I suppose now it's time for the "I told you so's" right Kenny?" Max asked, stretching her arms above her head to work the kinks out of her neck.
Kenny's face softened. He longed to shove a few "I told you so's" in her face, but he couldn't bring himself to do that to her. "How bad is it, Max? Can you get a smaller place?" he asked
"I'm sure I could, but there isn't a cheap place in Rome to be gotten, hence," she said as she spun around the room moving her arm in sweeping motion, "my new digs."
"Max," Kenny said gently, "you know you can't live in here. Real estate is hard to come by in the middle income areas; you know that, but..."
"Kenny, I know I can't stay here, all right, so you don't have to go and get authoritative with me," Maxine snapped.
"I'm not trying to get authoritative with you Max, I'm trying...hell...I don't even know why I'm trying to talk to you. You are impossible! And here I was going to offer you to stay with me until something else opens up. I must be crazy." Kenny pointed his finger at his head, as if to indicate he was out of his mind.
"Yeah, well," Maxine began to retort, "You were going to offer that to me?" she asked, kind of shocked that Kenny would entertain the thought.
He sighed, "Of course, I was. I'm not going to let you sleep in the office every night and I'm not going to let you move into some dump in Green bay...this will only be for a few months probably, we can swing it. And to be honest, I've had a hard time making the rent since I moved into the two bedroom. It'll work out for both of us," Kenny smiled as he watched Max contemplate his offer.
"All right," Maxine agreed, "When can I move in?"
Kenny gave a deep chuckled, reached into his pocket and tossed her his keys, "Go get your stuff packed. I've got you back."
With that, Max smiled, tucked Kenny's key into her pocket, and headed to get her belonging out of storage.
When Kenny arrived home that afternoon, he found the Maxine had indeed brought her belongings and settled into his apartment. There were a pile of CDs on the coffee table alongside his half eaten doughnut; there were daisy razors and Secret deodorant next to his aftershave and Trojan condoms. Well, he knew one thing. Max was his best friend, and true he did have a certain feeling for her, but he was Kenny Lacos, pathological womanizer, he was not going to fall in love with her, even if he had to admit he loved her. He'd do his thing and let her do her thing. He'd date, she could date, not trouble, no pressure. Speaking of date, he wondered what Janey Pierce was doing that night.
Maxine had to work the 3-11 shift that week. That was always the busiest shift, lots of domestic dispute and missing kids were reported in that time. None of them turned out to be anything much, just kids off to friend's houses without calling or husbands angry with wives and neighbors overreacted. She had to admit one thing though, she was never bored.
It really was great of Kenny to let her move in with him. He'd warned her that the place she'd rented was out of her means, and she'd expected a mocking I told you so, which to some extent she received, but she did not expect the invitation; however it was delivered, to move into his place with him.
The phone rang on her desk and drew her out of her reverie, "Sheriff's Department, Deputy Stewart," she answered, and was only semi-shocked at what she heard on the other end of the phone.
"Max, where did you put my blue shirt?" Kenny asked without preamble.
"Which blue shirt, Kenny? You have six blue shirts," Max told him as if he didn't know.
"Those are uniform shirts, Max. I mean my good blue shirt," Kenny clarified.
"Oh, was that the shirt that was in a heap on the bathroom floor?" Max asked, tentatively remembering hucking that shirt in the hamper.
"Yeah, that one," Kenny replied.
"Oh, I put it in the hamper," Maxine replied, taking a bit of her sandwich.
"You put it in the hamper?" Kenny asked, as if putting articles of clothing that were dirty in the hamper was a completely alien concept.
"Yeah, it was on the bathroom floor, in a pile, it was dirty," Maxine clarified.
"Great, Max. Now I only have uniform shirts to wear tonight," Kenny complained like a teenager whose Mom cleaned his room.
"No, you have your white shirt and the maroon one," she informed him.
"Those are dirty too," he complained.
"No, those are clean. I did the laundry," Max replied.
"Great. Thanks, Max," Kenny said, and hung up.
"You're welcome," Maxine sighed to the dial tone.
Max's shift went off without a hitch and she arrived back at Kenny's apartment around 11:30 that evening. She was surprised to find the lights off when she approached the window; Kenny was not one to go to sleep early. He was probably either still out of his date or inside, doing what Kenny did best.
On the off chance that Kenny was asleep, Max didn't call out when she entered the apartment. A quick search revealed that her new roommate was not yet home, so she took her time showering, changing, and settling down on the sofa to watch the late show.
Kenny arrived home a little bit later, alone, having lost interest in Janey about half way through the evening. That and he was bit apprehensive about how Max would react to him bringing women in and out of the apartment. Not that he wasn't going to, but he was at least going to talk to her about it first. He owed her that much. Didn't he?
When Kenny got to the apartment, all of the lights in his window were extinguished, only the faint flicker of the TV gave him any indication that Max was home. Kenny entered the apartment, "Hey, Max. I'm home."
No answer.
"Max?" Kenny started out calling, but his voice softened to a whisper when the sight on the couch caught his eye. There was Maxine, his tough strong partner, dressed in an old bathroom and fuzzy slippers, one arm cast over her eyes, sleeping peacefully.
"Ah, Max," he smiled, and retrieved a crumpled up afghan from the back of his old leather chair and gently covering her with it, "Sleep tight." With a gentle kiss on her forehead, Kenny headed to his own bed.
End Chapter One
Kenny was secretly glad that Jimmy did not notice Maxine's movement inside the interrogation room; he wanted a chance to talk to her about why she was there before Jimmy got wind of it. The way things had been going between them lately, Kenny doubted she'd tell him the truth of why she was there, but still he she was his dearest friend and he wanted to find out why she found it necessary to sleep in the precinct.
Maxine started when the door to the interrogation room opened to reveal Kenny. "Great," she thought, "how on earth was she going to explain this?"
"Max, time to get up," Kenny smiled, "You weren't on last night were you?" Kenny asked knowing full well that she was not scheduled to work the previous night as he had helped Jimmy make the schedules for the week.
"No, I didn't have to work last I...came in..." She knew she couldn't lie to him. He was her friend and her partner, partners did not have to get along, but they had to tell each other the truth, "I needed a place to crash, so I crashed here."
"Why? Didn't you just rent that fantastic place on Jefferson Avenue?" Kenny inquired, recalling that not long ago, he and Max had had a discussion about the kind of apartment was within her means. He'd known that the Jefferson neighborhood was too high and mighty for a Deputy Sheriff's pay. But stubborn as she was Max insisted, and here she was.
"I suppose now it's time for the "I told you so's" right Kenny?" Max asked, stretching her arms above her head to work the kinks out of her neck.
Kenny's face softened. He longed to shove a few "I told you so's" in her face, but he couldn't bring himself to do that to her. "How bad is it, Max? Can you get a smaller place?" he asked
"I'm sure I could, but there isn't a cheap place in Rome to be gotten, hence," she said as she spun around the room moving her arm in sweeping motion, "my new digs."
"Max," Kenny said gently, "you know you can't live in here. Real estate is hard to come by in the middle income areas; you know that, but..."
"Kenny, I know I can't stay here, all right, so you don't have to go and get authoritative with me," Maxine snapped.
"I'm not trying to get authoritative with you Max, I'm trying...hell...I don't even know why I'm trying to talk to you. You are impossible! And here I was going to offer you to stay with me until something else opens up. I must be crazy." Kenny pointed his finger at his head, as if to indicate he was out of his mind.
"Yeah, well," Maxine began to retort, "You were going to offer that to me?" she asked, kind of shocked that Kenny would entertain the thought.
He sighed, "Of course, I was. I'm not going to let you sleep in the office every night and I'm not going to let you move into some dump in Green bay...this will only be for a few months probably, we can swing it. And to be honest, I've had a hard time making the rent since I moved into the two bedroom. It'll work out for both of us," Kenny smiled as he watched Max contemplate his offer.
"All right," Maxine agreed, "When can I move in?"
Kenny gave a deep chuckled, reached into his pocket and tossed her his keys, "Go get your stuff packed. I've got you back."
With that, Max smiled, tucked Kenny's key into her pocket, and headed to get her belonging out of storage.
When Kenny arrived home that afternoon, he found the Maxine had indeed brought her belongings and settled into his apartment. There were a pile of CDs on the coffee table alongside his half eaten doughnut; there were daisy razors and Secret deodorant next to his aftershave and Trojan condoms. Well, he knew one thing. Max was his best friend, and true he did have a certain feeling for her, but he was Kenny Lacos, pathological womanizer, he was not going to fall in love with her, even if he had to admit he loved her. He'd do his thing and let her do her thing. He'd date, she could date, not trouble, no pressure. Speaking of date, he wondered what Janey Pierce was doing that night.
Maxine had to work the 3-11 shift that week. That was always the busiest shift, lots of domestic dispute and missing kids were reported in that time. None of them turned out to be anything much, just kids off to friend's houses without calling or husbands angry with wives and neighbors overreacted. She had to admit one thing though, she was never bored.
It really was great of Kenny to let her move in with him. He'd warned her that the place she'd rented was out of her means, and she'd expected a mocking I told you so, which to some extent she received, but she did not expect the invitation; however it was delivered, to move into his place with him.
The phone rang on her desk and drew her out of her reverie, "Sheriff's Department, Deputy Stewart," she answered, and was only semi-shocked at what she heard on the other end of the phone.
"Max, where did you put my blue shirt?" Kenny asked without preamble.
"Which blue shirt, Kenny? You have six blue shirts," Max told him as if he didn't know.
"Those are uniform shirts, Max. I mean my good blue shirt," Kenny clarified.
"Oh, was that the shirt that was in a heap on the bathroom floor?" Max asked, tentatively remembering hucking that shirt in the hamper.
"Yeah, that one," Kenny replied.
"Oh, I put it in the hamper," Maxine replied, taking a bit of her sandwich.
"You put it in the hamper?" Kenny asked, as if putting articles of clothing that were dirty in the hamper was a completely alien concept.
"Yeah, it was on the bathroom floor, in a pile, it was dirty," Maxine clarified.
"Great, Max. Now I only have uniform shirts to wear tonight," Kenny complained like a teenager whose Mom cleaned his room.
"No, you have your white shirt and the maroon one," she informed him.
"Those are dirty too," he complained.
"No, those are clean. I did the laundry," Max replied.
"Great. Thanks, Max," Kenny said, and hung up.
"You're welcome," Maxine sighed to the dial tone.
Max's shift went off without a hitch and she arrived back at Kenny's apartment around 11:30 that evening. She was surprised to find the lights off when she approached the window; Kenny was not one to go to sleep early. He was probably either still out of his date or inside, doing what Kenny did best.
On the off chance that Kenny was asleep, Max didn't call out when she entered the apartment. A quick search revealed that her new roommate was not yet home, so she took her time showering, changing, and settling down on the sofa to watch the late show.
Kenny arrived home a little bit later, alone, having lost interest in Janey about half way through the evening. That and he was bit apprehensive about how Max would react to him bringing women in and out of the apartment. Not that he wasn't going to, but he was at least going to talk to her about it first. He owed her that much. Didn't he?
When Kenny got to the apartment, all of the lights in his window were extinguished, only the faint flicker of the TV gave him any indication that Max was home. Kenny entered the apartment, "Hey, Max. I'm home."
No answer.
"Max?" Kenny started out calling, but his voice softened to a whisper when the sight on the couch caught his eye. There was Maxine, his tough strong partner, dressed in an old bathroom and fuzzy slippers, one arm cast over her eyes, sleeping peacefully.
"Ah, Max," he smiled, and retrieved a crumpled up afghan from the back of his old leather chair and gently covering her with it, "Sleep tight." With a gentle kiss on her forehead, Kenny headed to his own bed.
End Chapter One