CH 5 No Good Deed
Lennie woke and looked at the alarm clock on the bedside table. It was a little before six. He needed to get up if he was going to make it to One Police Plaza on time. He just had one problem; Anita was sleeping on his shoulder. Funny whenever any of his other lovers had tried that he'd always ended up with his arm falling to sleep and so he'd end up with those damn pins and needles. But Anita fit perfectly there without bothering him at all. He tried to gently slip his shoulder out from under her without waking her, to no avail.
"Oh, what time is it, honey?" she asked as she woke.
"About six, go back to sleep, you don't have to get up with me," Lennie told her as he headed toward the shower.
"No it's OK. I'll make breakfast while you shower. How would you like your eggs?" she asked.
Lennie thought about how he truly wanted them, over easy, and how would be easiest for her to make them, and called out, "Scrambled," just as he stepped into the shower.
Lennie walked into the kitchen wearing a blue shirt and a pair of jeans, as he entered the kitchen he smelled hot coffee, eggs and toast. Anita set a plate of eggs over easy in front of him with a couple of pieces of toast. There was a cup of coffee and a glass of juice already there with the silverware.
"But I thought I said scrambled eggs," Lennie said with some confusion.
"Did you really want scrambled eggs?" she asked hoping she hadn't made a mistake.
"No, but I always figure eggs over easy are pretty hard to cook, and I didn't want to make you work so hard this early in the morning," Lennie said.
"I don't find cooking eggs the way you like them to be hard work, OK?" Anita said as she sat down with her own breakfast.
Each of them was touched by the other's intentions and actions. Anita thought about how Don never considered whether something might be hard for her to do. In Lennie's position he'd have expected her to get up and make his breakfast instead of trying to let her sleep in. Lennie thought about all the times he'd settled for things being done in a way he didn't want rather than be bitched at by one of his ex-wives about how demanding he was being.
"So what are you going to do while I go 'entertain' the folks from Internal Affairs?" Lennie asked as he buttered his toast.
"Well, I thought I'd go over and talk to Don. There are some details about our divorce that we should iron out that will speed the process up, and well for some reason I'd really like to do that now," she said with a grin. He smiled at her and reached out to hold her hand.
"Then I'll see if I can talk Stefan into going to church with me. How long do you think you'll be hung up at One Police Plaza?" she asked.
"I don't know, I can't imagine it taking that long, maybe an hour or so," he answered.
"Want to join me and Stefan for church?" she asked hopefully.
"Uh, Church?" Lennie said, an alarm going off somewhere in the back of his head.
"Is this gonna be one of those things we have a major difference on?" she asked cautiously.
"Not necessarily, I'm just not sure my going to church with you and your son is the right thing to do right now. I'm not ruling out doing it in the future, OK?" Lennie said hoping she'd interpret his objection in the most favorable way. He wasn't an atheist or even an agnostic but he wasn't big on organized religion.
"OK, look I want to go see Ed today, see how he's doing. How about we meet at the hospital?" she proposed.
"Good idea," Lennie said, as he got ready to leave, grabbing up his old brown bomber jacket from the closet.
"Lennie, please take your cell phone so I can get in touch with you, OK?" Anita requested.
"Oh all right, come here and give me a kiss," he ordered gently.
After a long and sensuous kiss Lennie said, "God, I wish I didn't have to leave," he turned and picked up his cell phone and stuck it in his jacket. He put his hand on the doorknob to leave then turned back and kissed Anita again, once more lingering over the kiss.
"I wish we could catch a break," he said with a sigh, and then quickly left before he could allow himself to be pulled back to her by his own desire.
When Lennie arrived at the "conference room" that had been designated for his "chat" with the IAB officers, he thought it looked a lot like an interrogation room except it lacked an observation window. He was surprised to see Phil Cerreta, the detective he'd replaced at the 2-7, in the room, along with two IAB officers. The officers introduced themselves as Bobby Garcia and Nicole Miller. Bobby Garcia was a handsome Latino who looked to be in his mid forties and Nicole Miller was an auburn haired blue-eyed beauty who looked to be in her late thirties.
"Phil, what are you doing here?" Lennie asked.
"It was my turn to be on call as PBA rep. You got someone in mind you'd rather have here as your council?" Phil asked.
"No, Phil, I can't think of anyone else who would be better than you," Lennie answered.
"You two mind if I talk to Lennie alone for a few minutes?" Phil asked the IAB officers.
"No, go ahead I'm sure Miller and I can think of something to do," Garcia answered with a smile.
Once the IAB officers left the room Phil turned to Lennie. "So you want to tell me your version of things before they come back in and put their spin on things?"
"Yeah sure, "Lennie said, and then launched into a summary of the undercover operation ending with the shooting and the incident with Michaels.
"OK, what are you leaving out Lennie? And don't bullshit me, 'cause I've had too many years of interrogation not to know when a guy's trying to be sparing with the truth," Phil told him, a little ticked that Lennie was trying to avoid telling him the whole truth.
Lennie didn't answer right away. He looked down at his hands and nervously ran them over his pants legs. Lennie thought about giving Phil a false lead by talking about the money he'd taken home from the pool hall, but he knew deep down inside that he needed to be honest with him.
"What I tell you, you keep to yourself?" Lennie asked seeking reassurance from Phil.
"Of course Lennie, that goes without saying," Phil promised.
"Just before this operation began I learned that Anita was getting a divorce," Lennie began.
"And that was welcome news to you?" Phil asked beginning to get the picture.
"Yeah, " Lennie answered with a sigh.
"I've been in love with her for a long time, but I always kept that to myself 'cause I thought she was happily married. And I'd finally learned my lesson about married women. Anyway, we had dinner, just so I could give her a shoulder to cry on so to speak, you know?" Lennie looked at Phil to see if he understood what he was trying to say, Phil nodded, so he continued. "I found out she hadn't been happy for years, but had stuck it out for her boys. During that dinner I started to get it that the feelings didn't just go one way. I let her know how I felt but left the ball in her court. Then this damn undercover operation comes up and we're suppose to 'pretend' to be boyfriend-girlfriend," Lennie said the last sentence with a tinge of annoyance in his voice.
"And one thing led to another?" Phil asked.
"Yeah," Lennie admitted seeming a bit embarrassed.
"So is this something you two are gonna get out of your systems pretty soon or is it gonna go the distance?" Phil asked.
"This is the real deal, Phil. If I have to, I'll give up my career to be with her," Lennie answered decisively. Phil looked into the other man's eyes and saw that Lennie truly meant what he said and that impressed him.
"Anybody know about you two? I mean really know, not just suspect," Phil asked.
"As far as I know just my partner Ed and Anita's husband and son, " Lennie answered.
"You think her husband's gonna make trouble?" Phil asked.
"I don't think so, Anita says they haven't really been husband and wife for something like six years and he's had a number of girlfriends in that time," Lennie answered.
"Do you think there's a chance that these IAB characters want to talk to you about this?" Phil asked him.
"I don't know," Lennie responded.
"But you've got your doubts, don't you Lennie. Why? You and Anita been indiscreet?" Phil asked.
"No, not exactly. Look you know this whole undercover operation was on videotape, right?" Lennie asked and Phil nodded.
"Well, apparently one of the techs can read lips. I didn't know that until Saturday morning when Ed dropped by my apartment," Lennie answered.
"So this tech might have read your lips while you were whispering sweet nothings in Anita's ear?" Phil asked.
"Yeah, something like that," Lennie answered, just then the door opened and Garcia and Miller entered.
"So we give you guys enough time to talk?" Garcia asked as he and his partner took seats.
"Almost," Lennie said ruefully. He wished he'd had enough time to ask Phil how he should proceed if they asked him questions that could lead to his relationship with Anita.
Nicole Miller placed a tape recorder on the table between them and informed Lennie that they'd be taping the interview.
"Well, as you said in the phone conversation, with the videotape of the shooting it was pretty easy to see that it was a righteous shoot. You really had no choice but to do what you did, but my partner and I do have a few questions for you. Just to clarify a couple of things," Garcia said and Lennie nodded.
"First, why didn't you use your own gun?" he asked.
"Well, the only place I could conceal a gun was in an ankle holster," Lennie began explaining.
"Why's that?" Garcia asked.
"You ever try to play a game of 8 ball wearing a shoulder holster and jacket or with a gun tucked somewhere in your pants?" Lennie challenged.
"Uh no, but considering what I saw on the tape, I might try playing with an ankle holster from now on. Man, you were brilliant," Garcia gushed.
"Can we get back to the question?" Miller prompted, annoyed at her partner's tribute to Lennie's pool playing skills.
"Yeah, like I was saying my gun was in my ankle holster. I figured I would have to bend down, get my pants leg out of the way, draw my piece and then get back up into a firing position. By the time I did that the shooting would be over with my partner and me dead. So instead, I reached for a gun that was a lot closer to my hand and a lot easier to access," Lennie said by way of finishing his explanation.
"A gun that was under Lt. Van Buren's skirt, strapped to her thigh?" Miller asked sounding incredulous.
"Yeah, " Lennie answered with a bit of a challenge in his voice.
"If an officer under my command stuck his hand under my skirt between my thighs, being shot would be only one of his worries," Miller stated emphatically.
All the men in the room laughed but not too heartily. "Guess my lieutenant is easier going than you," Lennie said.
Miller reached over and turned off the tape recorder. "Is that because she is your lieutenant?" she asked.
Lennie sat back in his chair a little taken a back.
"Nickie, I thought we were gonna wait until we were done with the OIS investigation and Michaels' complaint to get into that," Garcia said before Lennie could think about how to answer her.
"Well, it was just how he said it that made me want to say what I did," she said sounding a bit miffed.
"Look Bobby, does it really matter when we discuss the fraternization issue as long as we do it off the record?" Miller asked her partner.
"No, I guess not," Garcia conceded.
"Wait, you planned all along to discuss this off the record?" Lennie asked a bit confused.
"Yeah, well the policies against fraternization fall under IAB's jurisdiction for enforcement but, for a variety of reasons, my partner and I aren't really comfortable enforcing them," Garcia answered.
"You mind if I ask what some of those reasons are?" Lennie asked.
"Well, for one thing the policies are very difficult to enforce. I mean, well, if people want to fraternize and they are very discreet about it, then they're going to get away with it. If some one is punished for fraternization they may manipulate the system by having one half of the couple claim sexual harassment and then come after the entire department for having an 'environment' that promotes the problem, etc, etc," Miller answered.
"Plus, we'd feel like hypocrites if we came down on you and Lt. Van Buren for something we ourselves are guilty of," Garcia said as he glanced at Miller. Both of them smiled.
"You mean, you two?" Phil, who'd been fairly quiet throughout the entire interview, asked somewhat inarticulately.
"Yeah, as we began to realize what we were seeing on the videotape, and we ran the tapes back and watched both nights by the way, we realized Detective Briscoe and Lt. Van Buren weren't too much different than us, except they'd been pushed into their relationship by a very difficult situation," Miller answered.
Miller turned to Lennie, "Detective Briscoe, Lennie, there's one thing I want to ask. Do you feel that you and Anita were pushed into a relationship that would not have happened except for this undercover operations?" she asked gently, showing concern for Lennie and Anita.
"No, I think we would have ended up together regardless, but it probably would have taken us a lot longer," Lennie answered truthfully.
"OK. Look, we just want to warn you to be careful. Most of the IAB agents have an unwritten policy about fraternization. If you don't do anything that makes another officer come to us and ask us to investigate you, then we won't tell you that you have to stop working together, nor will we suggest any sort of reprimand on your record," Garcia added.
"Consider this a warning. And remember you only get one," Miller said. As she reached out and turned the recorder back on, Lennie let out a sigh. He hadn't realized how much the fraternization issue had weighed on his mind. He made a mental note to talk to Garcia and Miller more after the interview was over, hoping they'd be willing to share some insights with him and Anita.
"Well I think we can sign off on this OIS, don't you?" Miller asked her partner.
"Yes, Detective Briscoe you'll need to set up a time to talk to the department psychologist about the ramifications of the shooting but other than that you're clear on the shooting. Now we need to address the complaint Michaels made against you," Garcia said as he signed a form and passed it to Miller.
"Michaels charges you with insubordination, conduct unbecoming a police officer and assaulting a superior officer," Miller said reading a document from a folder.
"Unfortunately the surveillance tapes end before the incident Michaels describes," Garcia said.
"So you want to tell us your side of the story?" Miller asked.
"Where do you want me to start?" Lennie asked.
"Well, where do you think you should start?" Garcia asked.
"I guess maybe I should tell you that I thought Michaels original idea for this undercover op was absurd. He wanted me to lose Anita to the hit man so she'd be on the inside," Lennie paused and he looked at three cops with shocked expressions.
"So from the get go I wasn't to thrilled with this guy Michaels. He was also disrespectful towards Anita, uh Lt. Van Buren," Lennie corrected himself remembering that the tape recorder was going again.
"How was he disrespectful?" Miller asked.
"When he was describing what this hit man liked - to play pool and to gamble for the other player's girlfriend, he said 'particularly if she's a sweet little piece of brown sugar', he looked right at Anita, Lt Van Buren," Lennie corrected himself again and Miller gave him a look that seemed to say 'come on guy, get your act together'.
"When I pointed out how bad his plan was he asked Lt Van Buren if she was afraid of it," Lennie gave a quick look to Miller as if to say 'see I can get it right', then he continued.
"She said she was because there was no idea of where he'd take her or how long it might take to get back up to her. He accused her of losing her edge because she'd been riding a desk," Lennie explained.
Miller scratched down some notes. Lennie waited for her to finish.
"Anyway, as you saw on the tape when the operation was winding up, my partner Ed Green came in alone, in the nick of time, to give us backup. If Michaels had sent in enough back up, like maybe two uniforms front and back, at that time, then maybe nobody gets shot; you know, the hit man and body guards might have put down their guns if they were outnumbered, and then maybe my partner doesn't have a hole through his shoulder that was bleeding like a fountain," Lennie said getting worked up.
"I was doing the best I could for Ed, trying to get the wound to stop bleeding by applying pressure through a folded up bar towel, his blood soaked through the towel all over my hands," Lennie looked down at his hands as though he could still see the blood on them.
"When EMS showed up I moved away from Eddie to let them care for him. I looked around the room and spotted Michaels talking to; no scratch that, talking at Lt. Van Buren. I walked over to them, when he saw me he starts to tell me he wants something from me, but I cut him off and told him I didn't care what he wanted. I suspect that's what he's calling insubordination, by the way. That's when I grabbed his hands with mine, which were covered with blood. I told him I thought it was appropriate for his hands to really be covered with Ed Green's blood as it was his fault Ed got shot. And I suspect that's what he is calling assaulting a superior officer. What he's on about, in terms of the conduct unbecoming, I haven't a clue," Lennie concluded.
"So you don't deny cutting him off when he was trying to give you orders, nor do you deny smearing Ed Green's blood on his hands?" Garcia asked.
Lennie looked at Phil. Phil's expression was one of resignation, he sighed and nodded.
"No, I don't deny those charges," Lennie confirmed.
"You realize you can be suspended without pay for either of those infractions?" Garcia asked.
"Yes, I know that," Lennie responded quietly.
"I wonder if a suspension without pay is actually going to be much of a penalty for Detective Briscoe? I mean he could look at it as a vacation and I'm sure he could find somewhere where he could legally shoot enough pool to replace his lost wages," Garcia observed with a grin.
"My recommendation is to put him at the bottom of the promotion list and instruct the chief of the detective squad at the 2-7 to mete out what she deems to be an appropriate disciplinary action," Miller suggested.
"Yes, his own supervisor should know him well enough to know what might prove distasteful enough to convince Detective Briscoe to mend his ways," Garcia said.
Lennie couldn't believe it, these two had just left his punishment up to his lover and they knew darn well what they'd done.
Miller reached out and turned off the tape recorder again.
"We're done," she said. "Oh Lennie, don't think we've done you a favor. If your Lt. Van Buren doesn't come up with something appropriate in the way of a disciplinary action you may have some trouble on that don't ask, don't tell issue," Miller added as a warning.
"Uhm, yeah I guess I get that. Uh, I was wondering do you think maybe the four of us, you two, Anita and me, could get together sometime? I think Anita and I could use some advice," Lennie said hopefully.
"Sure, give us a call this evening and we can discuss it," Garcia said as he wrote a number on the back of his card and handed it to Lennie.
"Now if you don't mind it's almost time for us to go off duty, and if we don't hurry up on this paper work ,we'll have to stay over onto the day shift," Miller added.
Lennie offered to buy Phil a cup of coffee. The two men talked for a while about the IAB review and then switched to other topics, chiefly the former partner they had in common, Mike Logan. Phil concluded that although he saw Mike more often, because his wife Elaine insisted Mike come over for dinner at least once a month, Lennie actually knew more about Mike's life. Phil figured that was because Mike felt more comfortable discussing some things with Lennie because he was a fellow bachelor, or had been. Phil then spent a few minutes teasing Lennie about losing his bachelor status, then looked at his watch and said he had to get going because Elaine expected him to take the family to mass.
Anita arrived at her house about 7:45 and found Don sitting in the kitchen drinking coffee.
"Morning 'Nita, I made some coffee if you'd like some," he offered.
"Sure, I'd like to talk over a few things with you, if you've got time?" she asked.
"OK, say how about you make me some eggs and bacon and we can talk over breakfast?" Don suggested.
"Sure," Anita said wearily and headed to the refrigerator, as she did she again thought of the difference between Don and Lennie, one man who sometimes seemed to expected her to be his servant and put up with whatever he said or did and the other who respected her, treated her like an equal in most things and like she was far above him in others.
She set Don's breakfast in front of him. "Where's yours 'Nita, " Don asked.
"I ate earlier at Lennie's," she answered.
"I see," Don said shortly.
"Don, I'd like our divorce to be settled as soon as possible. I think the one thing that we need to get to is to figure out a fair property settlement," she said and Don just nodded, as his mouth was full of his breakfast.
"Because I do want the divorce to be final sooner rather than later, I'm willing to be very cooperative in terms of the settlement. I'm willing to relinquish any claim to the assets of the store," Don's eyes snapped up to look at Anita showing that the store was a major issue with him as she had supposed it would be.
"I'd like to be able to keep my pension entirely as my own and as to the house, well I don't really want it, so I'm not sure what to do about it," she finished.
"You sure you don't want the house?" Don asked.
"Yes, I'm sure. It's too big a place for a couple and anyway I don't want to ask Lennie to live in another man's house," Anita answered.
"He's all you think about now, isn't he? You don't care whether your boys might like to be able to come home to the house they grew up in, all you care about is Lennie shouldn't have to live in my house. Well, hell 'Nita he's banging my wife, why shouldn't he do it in our old bedroom, huh?" Don snapped.
"Don, where is all this jealousy coming from? You and me have been over for years, so why are you acting like this all of a sudden," she demanded to know.
"I don't know. I just sometimes feel it well up inside me and I can't explain it. What was it your grandma used to say something about being a dog in a manger? Dog doesn't eat hay but as long as he's in the manger, none of the animals that do eat it can," Don said, sounding a bit remorseful.
"You don't want me but you don't want someone else to have me, is that what you're saying?" Anita asked.
"Yeah, I guess that's it. And somehow I feel like I lost out, like you're saying this Lennie Briscoe is a better man than me and knowing what I know about him that smarts," Don added thinking about Lennie's alcoholism and all the women in and out of his life.
"Don, it's not that Lennie is a better man than you. You're a good man; you're just not the right man for me. I'm not sure you ever were," Anita said.
"Don't say that, I know there was a time when you loved me. Those boys of ours, they were made from love, Anita. Don't you ever say otherwise," he said getting rather emotional.
"You're right Don. I'm sorry I said that. I just, I guess I been trying to explain to myself how I could have falling out of love with you if I was ever really in love with you, 'cause it makes me scared that it'll happen again," Anita said by way of apology.
"No, I don't think it'll happen again. We were pretty young when we got married, 'Nita. I don't think we were finished growing up and we grew apart. You're all grown up now, you know yourself and how you feel about things. If you're convinced you love Lennie, then you do and you aren't gonna fall out of love with him, lucky bastard," Don concluded.
Anita gave a small laugh. "You know something Don Van Buren, sometimes you say things that make me want to strangle you and other times you say things that are so sweet".
Don gave a huge sigh. "Let's get back to talking about the divorce. I think you're shortchanging yourself on the store. You help me get established. We couldn't have made a go of it, if we didn't have your salary to rely on. Let's do it this way, I think what I could claim of your pension plus my share of what the house is worth ought to be equal to half the store's value. So you keep the pension all to yourself and all the equity in the house," Don suggested.
"Didn't you hear me say I don't want the house?" Anita said.
"I did and I said the equity not the house. When Stefan's finished with school, we'll sell the house and you take the profit, do what you want with it," Don proposed.
"And what about Stefan?" Anita asked.
"What do you mean what about him?" she asked.
"Well, since he's not 18 yet, we've got to talk about custody and support," Anita said.
"He's gonna turn 18 soon, do we really need to come up with some sort of complicated visitation schedule and support payments?" Don asked in a voice that said how much he loathed the idea.
"You know I don't think we do really, let's just let Stefan decide-"
"Let me decide what?" Stefan said as he entered the kitchen, stopping to kiss his mother before heading to the refrigerator. He'd been standing on the stairs listening to his parents' conversation for quite a while, a bad habit he'd picked up as a little kid, but at least he knew who his Mom's boyfriend was now and he had a bit of an explanation for his Dad's attitude of late.
"Who you want to live with," his father answered.
"I want to live with both of you," Stefan answered, "but I think we've already figured out you two shouldn't be living in the same house anymore. How about I split my time between you? Lots of my friends whose parents are divorced spend one or two weeks with one parent and then switch," he explained.
"Yeah, that ought to work except neither one of us has anywhere to live except the house," Don noted.
"Well, why don't you stay here at the house until Stefan graduates and then you can get an apartment after the house sells. I'll get a 2 bedroom apartment near work as soon as I can and Stefan come and stay there when it's my turn to have him," Anita said.
"How about I don't go anywhere Mom. You and Dad just move in and out every two weeks? You can live with Lennie at his apartment when you're not here and Dad you can live in the little apartment behind the store," Stefan proposed.
"Well-" Anita started.
"What's the problem with my idea, Mom?" Stefan asked.
"I think she's thinking about Lennie. She doesn't think he'd want to live here in my house and I'm sure she doesn't want to spend two weeks without him," Don said a little smugly.
"Let me talk to Lennie about this OK? I think we can figure out something that works. In the meantime, let's just assume that starting tomorrow your two weeks with your Dad starts, OK?" She asked and Stefan and Don both nodded.
Don got up and put his dishes in the sink. "Well I think we've covered most things. I'll call the attorney tomorrow and see what we can set up," he said and Anita nodded.
"You gonna come with me to church today?" Anita asked her son.
"Uh, I didn't think you'd want to go Mom," Stefan said sounding surprised.
"Why not?" Anita asked.
"Well, you remember that Reverend Williams has been preaching on the Ten Commandments right?" Stefan said.
"Yes, I know that," Anita said sounding a bit surprised herself.
"Well, he's on the seventh commandment, you do know what that one is don't you Mom?" he asked.
Anita took a moment to get Stefan's point and then put her hand over her mouth, turned and ran up the stairs to her bedroom.
"Stefan, how could you do that to your Momma?" Don Van Buren asked his son, actually feeling very badly for his soon to be ex-wife.
"Better I did it here than she got to church and started listening to a sermon on adultery and got to feeling awful about it there in front of all her church 'friends'. It's gonna be bad enough when those hypocrites find out what's going on in Mom's life. I bet there won't be just a few of them shun her," Stefan said, obviously upset with the thought that many of his mother's so called friends would undoubtedly pass a harsh judgment on his mother's most recent actions.
"Well, one of us better go see to her and I don't think it ought to be me," Don said firmly.
"Yeah, I know, I made her upset, so I'll go try to make her feel better," Stefan said.
Stefan could hear his Mom crying as he approached her bedroom door. He knocked and called out, "Mom, Mom please let me in".
Anita let her son in and he gave her a big hug. He spent more than an hour talking to her about her relationship with Lennie and how she felt about it. They also talked about how he felt about her relationship with Lennie. Stefan pulled no punches. He told her the things he was concerned about like Lennie's alcoholism and his past history with women. He also revealed his concern that Lennie might not want him and Ric to have much of a place in their own Mom's life. Anita was able to put her son's fears at ease for the most part and suggested that he and Ric probably needed to get together with Lennie and have a talk.
By the time they finished talking, Anita felt better about all sorts of things and truly amazed at the intelligent, compassionate young man her son was becoming. She looked at the time and realized she'd missed the beginning of church services so she decided not to go at all, but to get ready to go see Ed Green at the hospital. She told Stefan what her plans were and gave him Lennie's phone number telling him to call her at Lennie's anytime he wanted to. She then packed a suitcase with more of her clothes and headed off to the hospital.
When Lennie arrived at the hospital he checked and found that Ed had been moved to the 4th floor. He was a little early for visiting hours but figured he might be able to sneak in early, so he headed up to the fourth floor. Just down the hall from Ed's room in a visitor's waiting area he spotted a well dressed but rumpled looking black man who looked to be about his age. Lennie thought that Ed would look quite a bit like this man in 20 or so years, so he assumed that Ed's sister had decided to call their father.
"Mr. Green?" Lennie asked hesitantly as he approached the man.
"Yes, I'm Charles Green," the man answered expectantly.
"Lennie Briscoe, I'm Ed's partner," Lennie informed the other man and immediately saw the man's tired features change to a scowl.
"Should have figured you'd be here. Guess my daughter was right. She said there wasn't any need for me to come because you'd be there for him like you always were," he said as he began to rise.
"Wait Mr. Green, I don't know why your daughter would say something like that to you. Of course you needed to come, he's your son and he's been hurt. It would do him a world of good to know his father cared enough to come see him," Lennie said as he tried to get the other man to sit back down.
"Cared enough to come see him!" Green practically exploded at Lennie. "I love that boy!"
"Then let me give you some advice, father to father. Let him know that. Let him know that despite the fact that you don't approve of his career choice that you still love him, because I can tell you two things. First, Ed loves you, but he's hurt way down deep that you two are estranged. Second, if something happens to Ed, and in our line of business it certainly could, and you haven't managed to find a way to get your relationship with him back to where it should be, then it will haunt you the rest of your life. I know, I lost my oldest daughter six years ago and I feel it every day. I always wish I'd tried just a little bit harder to fix things between us, but I never got the chance. I didn't try hard enough and I waited too long to try again. Don't you wait too long," Lennie told the other man over the lump that was growing in his throat as he thought of his Cathy.
Charles Green looked at the man in front of him. He had heard his daughter telling him how Ed talked all the time about Lennie; Lennie said this, Lennie did that. She made him think that this man had taken his place in Ed's life, that he was more than a partner to him; he was a surrogate father. Yet here this man was telling him to reclaim his place in his boy's life and he was exposing his own pain as a father to try to motivate him.
Lennie felt uncomfortable under the other man's scrutiny but he tried not to show it. He hoped he could convince the man to patch things up with Ed. If he could it would go a long way towards thanking Ed for saving his life and Anita's.
Charles Green finally found his voice. "I wish I knew how to fix things between me and Eddie," he said softly.
"Well, I'm certainly no expert on repairing father-child relationships but I'd be willing to kick some ideas around with you, Mr. Green" Lennie said.
"Please have a seat and call me Charlie," the other man said with a smile.
"When you smile I can see the resemblance even more," Lennie noted.
The two men talked for almost an hour. At first Lennie shared insights into Ed's life that his father was not aware of; he talked about the anger and the sense of not quite fitting in that his partner seemed to always carry with him. He told Charlie Green about his son's troubles with gambling and using excessive force. Lennie likened the first problem to his own alcoholism. He also tried to make him understand about the special relationship that exists between a cop and his partner and to reassure him that in his and Ed's case it wasn't a father son relationship, despite what Ed's sister tried to imply. Then he spent time extolling Ed's virtues as a cop, trying to make the other man appreciate that his son's career choice wasn't a bad one just a different one, and that Ed was making a success of it.
"One final piece of advice, you look beat. Why don't you go get some rest, come back when you're not so tired? It's a lot easier to say or do the wrong thing when you're exhausted," Lennie advised.
"Well I don't know, visiting hours are starting and he'll be expecting someone to look in on him," Charlie said.
"Don't worry about that, he'll have a steady stream of visitors from the precinct and I'll tell him you're gonna stop by this afternoon," Lennie reassured him.
"OK, I guess I could use a nap and a shower. I came straight here from the airport and it was a pretty long trip," Charlie conceded.
Lennie walked Charlie to the elevator and when the elevator doors opened there was Anita. Lennie made a quick introduction between her and Ed's father and then again told the other man to get some rest.
When the elevator closed, Lennie took the opportunity to "trap" Anita against the wall and kiss her.
"Hey you, do we need to have a discussion about what does and doesn't constitute being discrete?" she asked when he released her from the kiss.
"I'm sorry I couldn't resist, besides who's gonna see us that would make a difference?" he asked.
"Maybe someone visiting Ed?" she offered.
"Nope, visiting hours just started a little while ago and no one's gotten here yet but Ed's Dad and us, so there," Lennie said and kissed her again but Anita pulled out of the kiss quickly.
"Lennie, please! Someone could come off that elevator at any moment," she admonished him.
"OK, OK I'll behave. Let's go see Ed," he suggested, feeling disappointed that Anita seemed so serious when he was feeling playful.
Anita knew she'd upset Lennie with her attitude and she wondered to herself how much of her attitude was caused by the topic that started the discussion with Stefan. Was her relationship with Lennie wrong, sinful even? She shook her head slightly and realized they were already at the room.
During their visit to Ed, Lennie recounted what had happened at his IAB interview including the off the record material, which Anita was glad to hear about but felt nervous discussing where someone might walk in. Ed said that IAB wanted to talk to him as soon as he felt up to it and he wondered if he too was going to be up on insubordination charges. Lennie defended what Ed had done saying he'd probably saved his life and Anita's and telling him they'd be forever grateful to him. Lennie then told Ed that his father would be in this afternoon. He explained that Charlie had come straight from the airport and had arrived just before visiting hours, but after talking with him for a while Lennie convinced him to get some rest before seeing Ed, as it would probably make things go smoother if he wasn't dog tired when he tired to talk to Ed.
"My Dad told you to call him Charlie?" Ed said in amazement.
"Yeah, why? Is that unusual?" Lennie asked.
"Yeah, only family and close friends are allowed to call him Charlie," Ed replied.
"Well, maybe since you and I are partners, he figures that puts me somewhere in the friend category," Lennie said.
"Yeah, I guess so. Did he really say he wanted to fix things between us?" Ed said sounding like a hopeful young boy instead of a grown man.
"Yeah, he said that and that he loved you," Lennie said.
Ed closed his eyes trying to stop the tears that wanted to fall from his eyes.
Lennie felt a lump forming in his throat and he looked over to see that Anita seemed to be in the same boat.
"Hey, we can't have three of New York's finest bawling here. Let's change the subject, OK?" Lennie suggested.
"Ok, so have you two figured out how you're gonna manage this new relationship of yours?" Ed asked.
Lennie and Anita looked at each other and Anita took the initiative. "No, we haven't had a chance to sit down and talk out the details," she said then looking at Lennie meaningfully she continued, "but we will, today," she added emphatically.
"Hey man, sounds like you're in for a lecture," Ed teased.
"Yeah, well if she thinks she's gonna be the boss both at work and at home she's got another think coming," Lennie joked.
"Oh and I suppose you think you're gonna be the boss at home, huh?" Anita responded.
"Well, a man can dream can't he?" Lennie said with a laugh.
Just then the door opened and Ana Cordova peeked in.
"Is there room for one more in here?" she asked.
"Well, there will be as I was just about to leave," Lennie said.
"Me too," Anita added, thankful that Lennie had thought to say something that didn't make it seem like they were together.
"Don't let me run you two off," Ana said, looking at the newly minted couple and thinking they looked great together.
"You're not, besides I'm sure Ed would prefer your lovely company to mine," Lennie said with a smile.
Lennie and Anita said their goodbyes to Ed and headed out of his room.
"Where to now?" Lennie asked.
"Your apartment, we need to have that talk," Anita said decisively.
Anita explained the conversation she'd had with Don and Stefan on the way over to the apartment.
"So do you think you can manage living in my old house, Don's house a couple of weeks at a time every two weeks?" she asked.
"As long as your happy and I'm with you I'll be fine, but what are your neighbors gonna think of my being there?" Lennie said.
Anita sighed, this was the crux of the discussion she'd had with Stefan. Did she love Lennie enough to put up with what people would say about her and might their living together in her house lead to some busybody saying something about it to the NYPD?
"I don't care what they think or even what they say. I love you and my sons and that's what matters," she answered firmly just as they pulled into the parking lot at Lennie's Apartment building.
After they got into the apartment Lennie tried to pull Anita into a kiss but she pushed away from him saying she needed to unpack her clothes.
"What is this? Why are you being this way?" Lennie asked concerned.
"Being what way?" Anita asked as though she had no clue what he meant and started putting some of her clothes in Lennie's closet.
"Don't do me that way. You don't want to talk about this OK, but don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about," Lennie said angrily and walked away from her.
"Lennie, wait, I'm sorry," she said and tried to cuddle up to him from behind but he was still angry, so he didn't turn to hold her but just let her hold on to him.
"I said I'm sorry" she repeated and tried to get him to turn and face her.
"I don't want an apology. I want an explanation. Why are you pulling away from me?" Lennie said finally facing her. She could see in his face that he wasn't really angry; he was scared.
She buried her face in his chest and began recounting her conversation with her son.
"So are you having second thoughts about us being together?" Lennie asked feeling devastated.
"No, no I'm not, not really. It just finally dawned on me how this is going to seem to other people. If my own son has doubts about my actions, " she paused. "But no, I'm not going to do this to myself and I'm certainly not going to do this to you. I love you and I can't believe there's anything wrong with that. I just can't," she said and then drew his head down to kiss him. She gave herself heart and soul to the kiss and Lennie felt the fear that had gripped him a moment ago vanish to be replaced by the overwhelming love and desire he felt for the woman in his arms.
They lay entwined on the bed, snuggled together under the covers in the middle of the afternoon, whispering to each other their innermost thoughts. Finally they began to talk about mundane things like how they were going to handle their new schedule and the commute to work. When they'd be able to get a new apartment and how big it should be and where it should be. They'd settled on getting a new place by the time his lease ran out in July and were torn between a 2 or 3 bedroom place somewhere within an easy commute of the precinct. Lennie insisted that they needed a very large closet in the master bedroom.
"Let's see if we can find a place that allows pets, OK?" Lennie suggested.
"You like fuzzy little creatures?" she asked teasingly.
"Well, I like cats and dogs," he answered with a grin.
Before they could say anything else the phone rang. Lennie went into the living room to answer it and felt a bit self-conscientious talking on the phone to Anita's son without a stitch of clothes on. He brought the phone to Anita. After a short conversation she handed the phone back so Lennie and Stefan could set up a time for them to met with Anita's other son Ric and have a 'chat'.
"Well, that seemed to go OK," Lennie said.
"Yes, I suppose it's my turn now. Why don't you call Julia?" she suggested as she snuggled into his side.
"Good idea, find out what she wanted and tell her about us," he replied.
He dialed his daughter's number and stroked Anita's arm as he waited for Julia to answer.
"Hi Julia".
"Yeah, it's Dad. Sorry I wasn't home the other night," Lennie said as Anita tried to imagine the other side of the conversation.
"Well, both really, I can't go into detail about the operation we were on but some of it will probably come out in the papers pretty soon, then I can tell you all about it. There was a lot of fall out from it though, some good, some bad," Lennie said.
"The bad first huh, OK. My partner was wounded in the shoulder and I was charged with insubordination and assaulting a superior officer," Lennie said.
"The good, well, I found out that the love of my life loves me back," Lennie said and placed a kiss on the top of Anita's head.
"Her name's Anita and she's a bit younger than me," Anita jabbed Lennie in the ribs, "Ouch, " he said. "OK, she's 15 years younger than me, she's got two sons, one's in college and the other is a senior in high school," he added.
"She's chief of the homicide squad," Lennie answered the unheard question.
"The 2-7," he answered another question.
"Uh, yes it is," he replied.
"No, actually I'm living with my boss," Lennie said cheekily.
"Very happy, a little nervous but very happy," he replied.
"Not sure what has me more nervous the thought that her sons want to meet me for a little "chat', or that we could get caught by someone in the NYPD or that she's the one who has to mete out my punishment for the insubordination and assault," he answered in jest.
"No, never! There was this guy in charge of the task force we were doing an undercover op for. The guy's an idiot and a jerk. I don't want to talk about him, OK?" Lennie said trying not to make it sound like he was mad at her.
"Look, I'd like to put Anita on and let the two of you chat for a bit and then maybe we can make plans to get together sometime soon so you can meet face to face and I can get to see those grandsons of mine, what do you think?" he asked.
"Here baby, she wants to talk to you," Lennie handed the phone to Anita.
Anita and Julia, the two women he loved the most in the world, chatted amiably for quite awhile, finally she gave the phone back to him and he arranged for the two of them to go up to see Julia and her husband and sons over the weekend.
Lennie and Anita finally got out of bed to make some dinner.
"So what are you planning to do tomorrow?" Anita asked Lennie.
"Are we talking shop here?" he asked in between bites of food.
"Oh, maybe just a bit," she said with a sweet smile, "Can't a woman ask her man a bit about his plans for his workday," she added and got a smile from him.
"Ok, let's see I've got to return the convertible to the police garage and the flash money to the property clerk, and I've got to write a report for our friend Michaels. Then I thought I'd check with Jack McCoy about the dispensation of the winnings from the undercover op. By the time I get done with that I figure my lieutenant will have probably come up with some very creative punitive assignment for me," he said then picked up her hand and kissed it. "What about you?" he asked.
"Well, I too have a report to write and then I've got to juggle a duty roster to account for one wounded detective and one who's gonna be deskbound for a while because of his inability to think before he acts! " she teased.
"Well, since we both have big days tomorrow how about we snuggle up in the big chair and watch a movie or something and then turn in early?" he suggested.
Just as they were about to settle in to watch a movie, Lennie remembered that he had intended to call Bobby Garcia the IAB officer who had conducted his OIS interview. He made a quick call and set up a "double date" for himself and Anita with Bobby and Nickie for Wednesday evening and then he and Anita snuggled up to watch the movie she'd found.