They'd just gotten in the door when the phone rang. Lennie put the bags down and answered the phone.
"Hello," Lennie said, "Oh, Hi Mom," he said and Anita saw a smile spread on his face.
She continued on into the kitchen with the empty cooler, and then began fussing around with things to put in the hall closet and putting away the CDs. Truth was when she heard Lennie say Mom she wanted to stay within earshot.
"We were up visiting Julia and the boys," Lennie answered his mother's question about where he'd been.
"Uh, well, we is me and my girlfriend," he answered.
"Yeah, very serious Mom," Lennie again answered a question, which Anita supposed was about how serious he was about his new girlfriend.
"Uhm, well," Lennie stalled.
"No Mama, it's just well, if I tell you about her and then you tell Bernie and Barbara well sooner or later Ken will know and that could be bad," as Lennie tried to explain his reluctance to talk about his new girlfriend, Anita almost laughed. It was kind of funny to hear a man in his late 50s say 'no Mama' like he was a little boy trying to convince his mother he wasn't hiding things from her.
"Because – well, Ken's not exactly known to keep his mouth shut and," Lennie paused, which gave his mother enough time to ask why Ken should have to keep his mouth shut.
"Oh OK, look Mom, it's against NYPD policy for Anita and me to be seeing one another," he finally admitted.
"Because she's my boss," he answered the obvious question from his mother.
"Because I love her Mom, I have for a long time," Lennie answered another question. Anita supposed it was why Lennie would see a woman he wasn't suppose to see.
"Oh, for about 12 years," he said.
"She was married that's why," Lennie continued answering his mother's questions and Anita thought that he'd perhaps gotten his ability to interrogate a witness from her.
"Well, almost," he answered a question that Anita couldn't be sure about from his answer, but maybe it was about whether she was divorced now or not.
"No, she's not Polish," Lennie answered almost with a laugh.
"No, she's not another Jewish American Princess either," he gladly reported.
"Uh no, she's not Catholic, she's Baptist," Lennie responded and plopped down sideways in his big easy chair realizing his mother's interrogation was going to go on and on.
"No she's not a Southerner, she's from Brooklyn," he answered.
By the time Lennie got off the phone with his mother he had told her how tall Anita was, what kind of figure she had, what color her hair and eyes were, her age, the names and ages of her sons, where her oldest son Ric went to college, and that her sister lived in Queens. He had also promised to talk to Anita about having dinner with his family to celebrate his birthday, which was coming up very soon.
"So you got your ability to interrogate from your mother, huh?" Anita teased.
"Oh that was just one of my Mom's favorite ways to communicate. She's got three favorites - 20 questions which you just heard, the nonstop what's been happening in my life lately, where you can't get a word in edgewise, and the one you want to avoid more than the plague - the 'lecture'. I've gotten more than my fair share of those, I think," Lennie said with obvious affection for his Mom.
"Bernie and Barbara are?" she asked.
"My brother and his wife," he replied as he got out of the recliner and stood in front of her.
"I don't think I've ever heard you talk about your brother," Anita commented.
"Yeah, well we weren't on speaking terms for a long time and then a few months ago Mom said for her 80th birthday what she really wanted was for her sons to 'bury the hatchet'. So after a few childish 'but Mom he started its', we did finally shake hands and agree to try and act like brothers again," Lennie said sounding somewhat ashamed of himself.
"So, who did start it?" she asked truly curious.
"He did or maybe not, it depends on how you look at it," Lennie admitted.
"So what happened?" she prompted.
"Well, when I was at my worst, in terms of drinking, I got jammed up money wise and went to Bernie for help. He turned his back on me, said as far as he was concerned he didn't have a brother anymore, " Lennie began pacing as he explained, as though he could walk away from the hurt.
"I'm not sure if he thought of it as 'tough love' or what. But when I got back on my feet again, I kind of expected him to – I don't know apologize or explain why he did what he did or even just give me some credit for doing something so tough, but he never said a word. It was like I was suppose to pretend nothing ever happened," Lennie finished.
"So you two shook hands but never really talked it out?" she asked.
"Yeah," Lennie answered again sounding a bit ashamed of himself.
Anita shook her head and wondered if she really knew what she was getting herself into, loving this guy.
"Well, maybe for a birthday present I'll get your brother to actually sit down and talk things out with you," Anita suggested.
"I'm hoping you've got my birthday present right here," Lennie said as he pulled her against him and placed his hand low on her tummy. He began placing little kisses on her neck and then turned her to face him so he could plunder her mouth. His kisses grew more and more passionate and Lennie began coaxing her towards the bedroom, when the phone rang again.
"Let the machine get it," Lennie said as he continued to maneuver them towards the bedroom. He'd soon regret his words.
"I can't come to the phone right now, so leave a message," his pre-recorded voice said.
"Hi Lennie, it's Celia. Where've you been? I haven't heard from you in weeks. Why don't you bring your handsome self over here and I'll show just how much I've missed you," Lennie covered his face with his hand when he heard Celia's sultry voice as she did her best to seduce him in a phone message.
When he did uncover his face he wasn't sure he could decipher the look on Anita's face but he was sure it wasn't good.
"Well, shall I hit *69 for you or will you look up her number in your little black book or do you call her so often that you've got her number memorized?" Anita said frostily.
"Baby," Lennie started to try and calm her down but she was having none of it.
"Don't you baby me. How many more women are gonna be calling up because they miss your 'handsome self'?" Anita asked angrily.
"Whoa, did you hear what she said? She hadn't heard from me in weeks. You and I haven't been together that long. So don't go getting all frosty with me because I had a social life before we got together. And yeah, I do need to call a few women to let them know I'm permanently out of circulation," Lennie said animatedly. He then gently but firmly took her upper arms in his hands to make her stay and listen to him.
"I'm permanently out of circulation because I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want you to have my child. Is any of this ringing a bell, baby? Don't you remember what we were about to do before Celia's call came in?" he asked in frustration.
"I'm sorry," Anita moaned and then crumbled into his arms. Lennie shushed her and placed light kisses on her face.
"I just, I feel so insecure every time I hear mention of the other women in your life," she admitted.
"You didn't seem insecure when Gloria showed up at Julia's," Lennie noted.
"That was different. She was trying to embarrass you, not seduce you," Anita explained.
"The only woman I want to seduce me is you," Lennie said. "In fact, I wouldn't mind if you'd get back to doing that now," he added and kissed Anita, but he could tell she was going to need a little while to get back to her old self, so he didn't pressure her.
"Let's get the unpacking finished and get some dinner, OK?" Lennie suggested.
After dinner, Lennie remembered to call Julia to tell her they'd made it home safely and he and Anita cuddled in the big chair and listened to music. After a few hours, Anita seemed to have set aside her jealousy and insecurity; she suggested an early bedtime, which Lennie had no problem with. When she went to take a shower before bed, Lennie called Celia back to tell her he was now involved with the love of his life, so she'd have to make do with out him. Celia was a good sport about it and even wished the best of everything to him and his new love. He found himself hoping all his girlfriends would be as understanding.
When Anita finished her shower, Lennie wrapped her in a towel and made sure she was warm and dry. He then offered to give her a massage. At first he actually did give her an excellent massage with a good moisturizing lotion, but soon the massage turned into an incredibly sensuous, erotic seduction. Lennie was determined to chase away any doubts on her part about how he felt about being with her. Their early bedtime actually turned into a late night, albeit one spent making love and cuddling.
Monday turned out to be a busy day with both Lennie and Anita having to take some personal time to go to meetings. Lennie met with his accountant, he told Manny to get him some information about investing the majority of what would be left of the money he'd won shooting pool after taxes, with an emphasis on paying for college for a child. After that he went to the bank to withdraw enough money to pay the federal, state and local taxes on his winnings. Anita met with Don and a lawyer and drew up an agreement that she would take to Santa Domingo. The lawyer had contacts in the Dominican Republic and managed to get her time before a judge on Friday morning.
When Both Lennie and Anita got back to the precinct they took a few minutes to fill one another in on their meetings before getting down to work. Lennie told Anita that if she didn't mind he'd make her travel arrangements to the Dominican Republic for her with a friend of his. He didn't tell her the friend was one of those women he needed to talk to about his being out of circulation; he felt no need to feed that neurosis. He figured giving Sandra some business would help soften the blow when he dumped her. He also planned on making the trip as nice as he could for Anita.
Lennie sought out some privacy in an empty interview room and called the travel agency Sandra worked at on his cell phone. He had her book Anita a first class round trip ticket to Santa Domingo and a 4 star hotel. He also asked Sandra to arrange to have a limo take Anita to the airport Thursday evening to catch the flight and to also have a limo available to her in Santa Domingo to take her to and from the airport, hotel and the courthouse.
Sandra had booked quite a few quick divorce trips but was very curious about why Lennie would be arranging one for this woman. When Sandra asked for a credit card to charge the trip to Lennie asked if he could pay cash and she couldn't keep her curiosity in check. Lennie finally admitted he was making these arrangements for the woman he was in love with, and oh, by the way, Sandra would have to consider him permanently out of circulation. Sandra was a little less gracious about things than Celia had been, but did eventually wish him well, even if she did admit to being extremely jealous of Anita.
Lennie used his lunch hour to get the cash he needed to pay for Anita's trip and then took it to the travel agency. Sandra insisted he tell her about this woman who had won his heart, when she was so sure he'd packed it away. Lennie began extolling Anita's virtues and Sandra decided she'd heard enough, besides she could see from the look on his face that he was indeed happy with his new love.
When Anita tried to make arrangements to be out of the office Friday, she was told that due to shortages caused by so many of NYPD's finest being called up as reservist to fight in Iraq, she would simply have to have the sergeant detective in her squad substitute for her. Before Anita could say she didn't have a sergeant detective in her squad, she was hung up on. Anita pondered the situation and decided Lennie was the closest thing the squad had to a sergeant, so she'd leave the squad to him.
Lennie grabbed a slice of pizza and a diet coke on his way back to the precinct, then stopped at the cart that was generally always near the precinct front door to get a pretzel for Anita. He brought the pretzel and the travel itinerary to Anita.
"Hey you, you're gonna draw attention to us doing things like this," she said as she took the pretzel from him.
"Ah, they'll just think I'm trying to get on your good side so that you won't make me do any more punishment duties," Lennie said, almost hoping she'd relent about the cold case files and just put him back on the streets.
"Well, they'd be wrong, in fact," she laughed a little, "you're gonna pick up new punishment duty on Friday," she said and then took a bite of the pretzel.
"What and why?" Lennie asked with a sigh.
"You get to be acting chief of the squad while I'm in Santa Domingo because according to Admin the NYPD is stretched too thin, because of all the reservist called up to go to Iraq, to be able to send an officer to cover for me. They said I should have the squad's sergeant fill in for me. Of course they hung up before I could tell them my squad doesn't have a sergeant," she explained.
"Yeah but, why me?" Lennie complained.
"Because you have the most seniority and you did pass the sergeant's exam a long time ago, didn't you?" Anita asked in an amused manner.
"Yes, I did," Lennie admitted reluctantly.
"Which brings me to the question I've always wanted to ask. Why aren't you a sergeant? I mean, you could still be a detective with a sergeant's shield you know," she asked.
"I took the exam just to prove a point. I never wanted the extra responsibilities and paperwork that went with the sergeant's shield," he answered.
"And what about the extra pay?" Anita asked.
"At the time it would simply have meant I'd pay more alimony and child support," Lennie countered.
"And you begrudged your ex the extra money enough to not take the promotion?" Anita asked a little disbelief creeping into her voice.
"No, I'm sorry I shouldn't have said that. It's just a reflex; I used to use that as a standard excuse. To be honest, I think I already realized how much my drinking was affecting my performance on the job. I just didn't think I'd be able to handle the extra responsibility, and then after I joined AA it just never occurred to me to do anything about it," he answered.
"Well, think about it now. This squad should have a sergeant and sooner or later someone at Admin is gonna say something to me about it," Anita said.
"Are you saying I should seek a promotion so you don't catch flak from higher up?" Lennie asked with a laugh.
"Yeah, I guess I am," she said as looked at the travel itinerary Lennie had brought to her.
"Lennie!" Anita said in surprise. "You got me a first class ticket?"
"Only the best for you, and there will be a limo to take you to JFK and one in Santa Domingo to take you to the hotel and the courthouse and back to the airport. We should talk about this later, OK? I haven't gotten much work done today and my boss will probably get on my case about that pretty soon," Lennie teased.
"OK, you're probably right about that," she said with a smile.
Lennie went back to his desk in the squad room and started reviewing cold case files that someone, probably Ana Cordova, had been kind enough to dig out for him. After several hours of pouring over the squad's unsolved cases he was feeling depressed as he read through case after case that the detectives in this squad couldn't crack. The fact that he'd done this before just a few years ago didn't help matters any.
Anita saw Lennie heave a big sigh as he closed a folder; he stretched and put his hand to the back of his neck then reached for another folder. She felt torn. She hated to see him get so stressed looking over those old files, but she didn't want to appear to be 'playing favorites'. She thought about it for a while and realized that she would give any of her detectives a break from that sort of work and she couldn't make Lennie work under more difficult conditions than any of the others because of her fear of appearing partial. She was beginning to wonder if she was making a mistake trying to have her cake and eat it too, but she wasn't going to tell Lennie that now.
"Detective Briscoe, could you come in here for a moment?" Anita asked as she opened her door.
"Sure Lieu," Lennie said as he quickly headed for her office.
"What can I do for you?" Lennie asked.
"Take a break from those awful cold case files for a few minutes," Anita told him.
"Huh?" Lennie asked inarticulately.
"I could see you getting more stressed out by the minute and I just thought you could use a break," she said with a smile.
"Thanks, I really could use a break. Looking at all those cases we didn't clear is a real downer," he said as he flopped down in the chair in front of her desk.
"So Detective Briscoe, what's new with you?" Anita said a grin.
"Well, let's see, I think the biggest news in my life has to be that I've got a new girlfriend," Lennie said playing along.
"Oh really, are you serious about her?" Anita asked trying hard to contain her smile.
"I must be, I'm taking her to meet my Mom," he replied, his grin showing off his bright white teeth and his eyes sparkled with amusement.
"And what about you? Anything new and exciting in your life?" he asked, his eyebrows arching suggestively when he said exciting.
"Well as a matter of fact, I too have someone new in my life," she replied.
"Oh and are you serious about him?" Lennie asked in return.
"I must be I went to visit his daughter and grandsons this weekend," she replied keeping up the banter.
"Grandsons? The guy must be too old for you," he said with a grin
Before Anita could answer Ana Cordova knocked on Anita's door and simultaneously opened it.
"Sorry to interrupt but I've got the LUDS on Cameron's apartment that you wanted to see," Ana said as she crossed to the lieutenant's desk laying a sheet of paper on it. She could see that Lennie looked very interested. It was difficult for the older detective to be on the sidelines during an investigation.
"I'll be getting back to work now. Thanks for break, Lieu," Lennie said as he headed toward the door.
"No problem, Lennie," Anita said.
Ann Cordova smiled when she saw Lennie and the lieutenant trying to be discreet about their relationship. They needn't have bothered; almost everyone in the squad had it at least half way figured out. It wasn't that Lennie and Anita were being careless; it was just that they worked with a bunch of detectives. Even those who hadn't added 1 and 1 and gotten that Anita and Lennie were involved with one another, had at least picked up on the fact that she was getting a divorce and that Lennie had a new live-in girlfriend.
"Detective?" Anita said, as Ana stared out of Van Buren's office at Lennie's receding back. Anita was somewhere between annoyance and jealousy, wondering what in the world Ana was thinking.
"Sorry ma'am, I just got distracted for a moment," Ana said as she turned around.
"Do you mind if I ask you what has you distracted?" Anita asked.
Ana paused for a moment, wondering if she should say something to the lieutenant about her relationship with Lennie or not, she made up her mind, took a deep breathe and chickened out, "I was just wondering who's gonna plan Lennie's birthday party since Ed's on medical leave?"
"Are you volunteering?" Anita asked.
"Well I guess I could," Ana offered.
"You're rather fond of him aren't you?" Anita asked.
Ana wondered for a moment if that was just a question or if Anita was jealous, she decided she'd let her answer ease Anita's mind.
"Yes, I think of him like an extra uncle," Ana said, and then added, "So have you got any ideas what I should plan for Tio Lennie's birthday?"
"Hm, let me think. Well, I can only think of three things he's really crazy about – pool, golf and his family, especially his two grandsons," Anita replied.
"Oh yeah, I've seen him pull out pictures of the boys, they're really cute," Ana agreed about Lennie's affection for his grandsons, but she knew Anita was leaving out one more thing Lennie was crazy about – Anita.
"You know what I bet he'd really love?" Anita asked, beginning to get into the spirit of planning a celebration for Lennie.
"What?" Ana asked.
"One of those new titanium drivers, he was talking about his son-in-law having one," Anita said.
"They're pretty expensive, but if we went in together on it, and I think one of the guys has a brother-in-law who works in a sporting good place, maybe he could get us a deal," Ana said almost thinking aloud.
"OK, so much for the squad's gift, now the thing he'll really go for - cake and ice cream!" Anita said and Ana nodded her head. Lennie was famous for his sweet tooth.
"Oh and pizza too!" Ana added.
"If you organize the squad in terms of getting him a card and the golf club, I'll handle the food," Anita suggested.
"Deal," Ana said.
"Now let's talk about these LUDS," Anita said and the two women got back to business.
The subject of their conversation had just settled in to look over some more cold case files, when a witness in the ongoing homicide investigation entered the squad room. She was a stunning blonde with a face and figure that captured the attention of all the male detectives in the room at the time save one. As Detective Johnson escorted her to the interview room, Lennie glanced up from the report he was reading but went right back to work. His lack of attentiveness to the lovely lady did not go unnoticed.
"Hey Lennie, did you misplace it or has it just got a one-track mind now?" Sweeny asked.
"What?" Lennie asked having no idea what the other detective was teasing him about.
"A blonde with a gorgeous face, great big rack and luscious legs saunters through the squad and you barely noticed," the other detective replied.
"Uh, what can I say, I guess I just didn't find her as appealing as you did," Lennie countered.
"Whoa wait, Mendoza, Dworkin, you guys back me up here. That gal that just walked through here, Did she or did she not have something for just about every guy?" Sweeney asked his fellow detectives in the squad room.
The other two detectives agreed she did, and then Dworkin added, "Yeah, for everyone but Lennie here. I told you, the guy's got a new main squeeze and this proves it. Only way an old bird dog like Lennie doesn't sit up and take notice when that lady waltzes through here, is if he's getting plenty at home".
"So what about it, Lennie. You got a new live-in?" Sweeney asked.
Lennie felt like he was in a real bind. While he'd never been the kind of guy to brag about his sex life with the other guys, he'd never been shy about talking in general terms about his girlfriends, because the women in his life didn't mean that much to him, but Anita meant the world to him. So he wasn't comfortable with the direction of the conversation.
"If I do, I don't see how it would be anyone's business but my own," he replied trying to sound calm but actually coming across as upset.
"Hey ease up Lennie, nobody's trying to disrespect you or your new lady. Everyone's just glad to see you seeming so happy that's all," Mendoza quickly put in.
Lennie looked at the other two detectives as they echoed Mendoza's comment.
"So just out of idle curiosity, besides not paying much attention to the blonde, what gave me away?" Lennie asked and leaned back in his chair to await their report.
They took turns filling Lennie in on his 'tells'. Each of them had picked up on different clues, and they'd shared them.
"So who is she, man?" Mendoza asked.
"Yeah, and how serious are you about this chick? I mean is Lennie Briscoe, the Big Apple's most cynical man about marriage, gonna take the plunge again or what?" Dworkin asked.
Anita saw the detectives gathered around Lennie's desk and wondered what was going on.
"Anything I should know about gentlemen?" she asked.
"Well lieutenant, maybe you can get Briscoe to fess up," Dworkin suggested.
"Fess up to what?" Anita asked curiously.
"Well, we got him to admit he's got a new girlfriend but he won't tell us her name or whether he's gonna marry her," Sweeney replied.
"Well, first, don't you think he has a right to keep a few things to himself?" she asked sweetly.
The guys all shrugged and there was a murmured yeah.
"Second, don't any of you have work to do?" Anita asked.
As the detectives all scattered away from Lennie's desk, Anita and Lennie gave each other worried looks and then Anita asked Lennie to come back into her office.
"Oh brother, I guess we had to expect them to figure some things out, after all they are detectives," Anita said.
"Yeah and they won't leave it alone. They'll worry it like a dog with a bone," Lennie said morosely.
"Maybe you should just tell them what they want to know, could be we'll get lucky and they won't believe you," Anita suggested.
"Now there's a thought, of course the fact that we're in here right now may be giving them another clue," Lennie warned.
"I suppose, look what I really wanted was to let you know that I've got to work a little later than usual," Anita told him.
"The Cameron case?" he asked.
"Yeah, we're waiting for a search warrant and after we execute it, we should have things wrapped up, I hope," she said as she crossed her fingers.
"What's wrong?" she asked seeing a troubled look on his face.
"I just feel like I ought to be helping you out. I hate doing all this ass duty because of that jerk Michaels," Lennie said feeling good to vent a little.
"Just a few more days and you can get back to business as usual," Anita promised.
"Well not really, I mean Ed won't be with me for a while, right?" Lennie said.
"Yeah, there's no way I'm putting him back out on the street to watch your back until I'm sure he's back 100%," Anita answered.
"So, who you gonna partner me with while Ed's rehabbing?" Lennie asked.
"I don't know I haven't thought about it. I suppose I ought to put my least experienced detective with you, one who could really gain something from partnering with you. But that would be Ana Cordova and I'm not so sure about doing that," Anita said.
"Oh please, tell me this is more about worrying about whether she can watch my back or whether her inexperience might hurt a case, and not that you're jealous," Lennie almost pleaded.
"Lennie!" Anita protested.
"Hey, tell me after last night that that's a stupid thing for me to be worried about," Lennie said a bit defensively.
"You know what, we're not having this conversation right now and certainly not here," Anita said in her no nonsense voice.
"Your right, I'm sorry. Look," Lennie said looking at his watch, "my tour's almost over I'm gonna go straighten up those files, and then I'm gonna go home and see if I can't fix us some dinner that'll keep 'til you get home, OK?" he asked hoping his quick compliance would calm her down.
"OK, that sounds good," she agreed and he headed out.
Lennie arrived home and was surprised at how lonely he felt coming home without Anita. He changed out of his work clothes and into some comfortable old jeans and a T-shirt, though not his NYPD T-shirt, as Anita seemed to have claimed that one as her own and he did like how she looked in it.
He walked into the kitchen and pulled out a recipe book his sister-in-law had given him years ago. She said almost anything in it was easy to make if he'd read the instructions. She said the read the instructions part with that typical female scorn that said only men could be stupid enough not to read instructions. He looked for something that he had the ingredients for and that looked like would be OK if it had to be reheated.
He'd almost settled on a casserole that sounded good, when the phone rang. It was to turn out to be the first of many calls he'd get or make that night. This call was from his AA sponsor who was worried about him because he hadn't heard from Lennie in a week and a half or seen him at the last couple of AA meetings that Lennie usually attended. They had a brief but intense discussion in which his sponsor reminded him that his sobriety wasn't dependent on whether things were going bad or good but on whether he was working his program. Lennie had to admit that was true and he promised to get back with what had always worked for him. Once he had agreed to that his sponsor congratulated him on having a new love in his life and wished them well. Lennie promised he'd see him at a meeting real soon.
As he gathered the ingredients for the casserole the phone rang again, it was Stefan looking for his Mom. Lennie explained that she was working late, and then on an impulse asked if Stefan and his brother Ric might like to have dinner with him on Thursday evening when Anita would be out of town. He reminded Stefan that they'd agreed a while back that the three of them should probably have a talk. Stefan wasn't sure whether Ric would be able to get together with them Thursday evening or not, but said he'd be willing if they could go someplace like Dave and Buster's or Jillian's. Stefan explained that besides a good choice of food the place had lots of video games and billiards, Jillian's even had a bowling alley. Lennie thought it sounded OK to him, even if it was a bit of a drive to get to either place, so Stefan said he'd call and see if he could convince Ric and then he'd get back to Lennie with the details.
Meanwhile, in a tavern near the 27th precinct Ana Cordova and Mark Johnson were catching a quick meal while they waited for a phone call about the warrant they needed to wrap up the Cameron case. Several other detectives from the 2-7 joined them intending to pump them for any information they might have that related to their unofficial investigation into the identity of Lennie Briscoe's new girlfriend. Ana decided to take advantage of their presence to bring up Lennie's birthday party.
"Hey gang, I volunteered to help plan Lennie's birthday party since Ed's on medical leave. So are you guys up for going in on a squad present for him?" Ana asked.
There was a flurry of sures and yeahs and finally Sweeney asked, "Any idea what to get him?"
"Lt. Van Buren said he mentioned something about his son-in-law's new golf club, a titanium driver. You think we can afford to get him one if we pool our money?" Ana inquired.
"If we can get my brother-in-law to give us a deal, I'm sure we can," Dworkin answered.
"But we need to get some information to get the right one," Sweeney said.
"I'm sure we can get that information some how," Mendoza said.
"Yeah that can't be as hard as figuring out who his new girlfriend is," Sweeney said with a laugh.
"You been trying to get that out of him?" Mark asked.
"Yeah, when you were interviewing that really pretty witness, we were sort of interrogating Lennie about why he didn't seem to react to her presence. He admitted that he's got a new live-in girlfriend, but before we could get more out of him the Lieutenant broke things up," Sweeney answered.
"Why do you care who his new girlfriend is?" Ana asked. "I mean, do you think you ought have a right to approve or disapprove or something?" Ana added.
"Well no, I guess it's just idle curiosity, except, "Sweeney paused and then continued, "I've known Lennie quite a while and well, there are two things that seem different to me this time around. One, he's not usually so careful about not letting things slip about who he's seeing and two, he's a lot happier camper than I've ever seen him be."
There were agreements all around on what Sweeney said.
"You know, with Lennie's track record maybe somebody ought to have right of approval on his choice of girlfriend," Dworkin said with a smile.
"Yeah, two divorces and at least one affair with a married partner, I'd say the guy could use some advice," Mendoza added.
"Hey, you think maybe he's being cagey 'cause he's doing it again?" Dworkin asked somewhat seriously.
"Doing what again?" Mendoza asked skeptically.
"Having an affair with a married woman, " Dworkin answered with a laugh. "I mean I'm pretty sure Lennie doesn't swing both ways, so having an affair with his partner is out," he added. There were some good-natured agreements to his last statement.
"Yeah, I'm sure too," sighed Patterson who'd been quiet until then.
"Whoa Patterson, you got a crush on the old guy?" Sweeney asked Patterson, the squad's one gay detective.
Patterson looked a bit embarrassed. "No, well, not really. I mean, he is pretty appealing in that older guy kind of way; and for a guy who is pretty old school Lennie's very open-minded, but I'm pretty sure he's about as straight as they come," Patterson explained.
"You know, if the senior detective in this squad wasn't so tolerant, you can bet none of you would know I'm gay," he added.
"Hey since Lennie is so open minded and tolerant you think that in return the squad can be open minded and tolerant of whoever his girlfriend is?" Ana asked.
"How's come I'm getting the feeling that you know who he's seeing and are worried about it?" Sweeney asked. Everyone looked at Ana expectantly.
"Ana, I think we ought tell them what we know and let them decide whether their willing to take the same course of action that we are," Mark said.
"But Mark," Ana started to protest but stopped when Mark gave her a determined look.
"Is their some major problem with who Lennie's with?" Sweeney asked.
Ana looked at Mark and sighed, "I guess it depends how priggish you are," she stated.
"What do you mean?" Dworkin asked
"The woman he's seeing is married, but she's getting a divorce, and she's not his partner, she's his boss," Mark said. The group of detectives sounded like a choir as they all said what.
"Wait a minute, you're saying Briscoe is banging the lieutenant?" Mendoza asked.
"Well, I wouldn't put it that way, and if you'd seen them kissing at the hospital the night Ed Green got shot like Mark and I did, you probably wouldn't say it either," Ana said a bit miffed at Mendoza's choice of phrases.
"So, you think they're really in love?" Sweeney asked more diplomatically.
Again Ana looked at Mark, feeling that the men would probably more readily accept a guy's judgment.
"Yeah, Ana's right, you could tell. Lennie had just come from checking on Ed's condition and the lieu looked really beat. The kiss he gave her was, I don't know, real gentle like. It just reminded me of when my wife has had a rough day in the ER and I'm just gonna take her home and hold her so she can fall asleep," Mark explained.
"Look, what skin is it off your noses if Lennie and the lieutenant are together?" Ana asked.
"None I suppose," Dworkin answered.
"But the department has anti-fraternization rules for a reason, you know," Sweeney pointed out.
"Do you think the lieutenant's gonna run the squad differently now? Or that Lennie's gonna be less effective on a case because they're together?" Mark asked.
There were a lot of heads shaking and Mendoza spoke up, "No, if things where going to be different we'd have seen signs of it by now. I mean if she was going to treat Lennie differently, would she have come up that creative bit of punishment duty she slapped on him?"
There were a lot of grins and heads shaking about that comment.
"You know, I think we ought to let the Lieutenant and Lennie know that we know about them and that we aren't gonna rat on them. I mean they've got to be worried about that," Mendoza suggested.
"Is everyone cool with that?" Sweeney asked. Everyone nodded or said yes.
"Well, I think there's an easy way to do that. Let's put a note about it in Lennie's birthday card," Ana proposed.
Just as the detectives reached agreement about the issue, Ana's cell phone rang and she and Mark excused themselves to return to their case.
Back in Lennie's apartment the phone was quiet long enough for him to get the casserole together and into the oven, when it did ring again it was his sister-in-law Barbara who called. She wanted to inform him that his birthday dinner was to be at her place instead of his mother's and that was at his mother's request. Lennie wanted to protest and Barbara understood why. She realized there was still a rift between her husband and his brother, but she hoped the two men might finally get over it and move on with their lives. Lennie didn't have much choice but to agree to the change in venue as he couldn't really ask his 80 year old mother to put herself out for him, even if she'd never get anyone to believe she was eighty.
Once he got off the phone with Barbara he decided to do as he'd promised his AA sponsor and get back to his program, he'd start by doing a little journaling and maybe later he'd find some time to meditate. Considering all the changes in his life recently he probably needed the meditation more than he realized.
Lennie was sitting in his big leather chair with one leg dangling over the arm as he wrote about the last week and half or so. He had just paused in his writing when he heard Anita's key in the door. He practically leaped out of his chair to open the apartment door for her, putting his journal down on the couch just before he opened the door. The sudden opening of the door startled Anita.
"Oh baby, I'm sorry I didn't mean to scare you. I've just been so anxious to have you home," Lennie said.
Before she could say anything in reply, he took Anita into his arms to show her how happy he was that she was home. He closed the apartment door by backing her up into it and then put his right hand on the side of her face, with his long fingers in her hair wrapped towards the back of her head. He pulled her face to his and kissed her lips and her cheeks and eyes, and then came back for another longer, deeper kiss as his hands began to caress her arms and the sides of her body. He encountered her holstered gun on the right side of her waist so he removed it and quickly tossed it on the chair near the entryway closet. He turned back to her and thrust his left thigh between her legs forcing her to straddle his leg. He mated his mouth to hers and began exploring her mouth with his tongue. As his movements became more and more passionate, Anita wondered if Lennie intended to make love to her up against the apartment door. Before she could get her answer the phone rang.
"God damn it! The phone's been ringing off the wall all evening," Lennie said with annoyance.
"You could ignore it and let the machine get it," Anita suggested in a not so innocent voice.
Lennie moved them both towards the phone as he said, "Oh yeah, remember how well that worked for me last night."
"Hello," Lennie said as he picked up the receiver but kept an arm around Anita.
"Oh hi Bobby, yeah sorry I haven't called back, we've been kind of busy," he explained, a bit distracted because Anita was snuggling into his chest and kneading his butt.
"Uh, let me ask Anita," he said and covered the receiver by placing it against his shoulder.
"Would you stop that long enough to answer a question?" he asked with a big grin and Anita took her hands off his butt and held them behind her back.
"Would you like to have dinner with Bobby Garcia and Nickie Miller this Wednesday?" he asked once he saw that he had her attention.
"Sure," Anita said simply.
Lennie got back on the line with Bobby Garcia and made arrangements for them to go over to the apartment that the two IAB officers shared. As he hung up, he kissed Anita again and then asked her, "Are you hungry?"
"For what?" she asked coyly.
"Oh you, come here," he said as he laughed and then kissed her again. When they came up for air he said, "Let's check and see if what I cooked is edible, OK?" Lennie suggested.
Dinner turned out to be a bit better than edible, to Lennie's great surprise. They talked about the Cameron case a bit and he mentioned his sister-in-laws call to change the location for his birthday dinner. Anita told him about Ana Cordova volunteering to help with his birthday party and they got into a little playful teasing about Anita being jealous. Just as they were finishing up the dishes the phone rang. It was Ed. He said he was getting stir crazy, so Lennie offered to come pick him up tomorrow and take him to lunch. Lennie had no more than hung up when the phone rang again.
"Damn it, I'm just gonna leave it off the hook next time!" he said as he reached for the phone again.
"Hello," Lennie said a bit shortly. "Oh yes Mrs. Harris, she's here. Just a moment," Lennie said, he handed the phone to Anita as an anxious look came over his face.
"Hi Mama," Anita said sweetly.
"I'm sorry mama, I've been kinda busy you know," Anita apologized.
"Yeah, well he's very important to me Mama," Anita responded a bit defensively.
"This weekend? OK, how about Saturday?" Anita suggested.
"No, I'll just be getting back from Santo Domingo Friday evening. I think I'd be too tired from the flight to come over Friday evening, Mama.
"Alright, we'll be there about 7? OK, Love you Mom," Anita hung up, and looked at Lennie, he looked even more worried than when she'd taken the phone.
"Dinner at you Mom's house Saturday?" Lennie asked a bit nervously.
"Yes, and don't look so nervous once the family meets you I'm sure they'll all love you," Anita assured him.
"I'd settle for tolerate me," Lennie said grimly.
"You know, I don't know why you think my family isn't going to like you," Anita responded.
"You want a list?" Lennie asked acerbically.
"Lennie," Anita said almost scolding him.
"Hey, your Mom's got to have a list of reasons she doesn't want her little girl involved with me," Anita rolled her eyes. "OK, I'm a recovering alcoholic, I've been divorced twice, I'm 15 years older than you, I'm a cop, and I'm your subordinate. Should I mention race and religion?" he asked.
"Well, aside from the fact that she doesn't know all of that, I have a list too, you know," Anita said.
"Oh and just what on your list is gonna offset all of your Mom's list?" Lennie said.
"You're a recovering alcoholic, that means you know you've got a problem and you work every day at staying sober. You've been married before, well so have I, so we both know the pitfalls in a marriage. You're older than me - so what, most men need a head start when it comes to maturing," the exchanged smirks at that comment. Anita continued her list. "You're a cop. So you understand what I do everyday and I understand what you do. OK, that I'm your boss is probably not a plus but we'll learn to cope with it. Race is gonna be everyone else's issue but not ours, right?" she asked and Lennie nodded his head. "Religion, well every couple's got to have something they fight about, " she said and he grinned.
"And of course I've got two more things on my list that are what will really win her over," Anita said.
"What are those?" Lennie asked.
"I love you and you love me," she said and wrapped her arms around his neck.
Lennie grinned and then said, "Let's hope that means as much to your mother as it does to us." Just as they were really getting into a kiss the phone rang again.
"I thought you were gonna take it off the hook," she said at his obvious annoyance.
"Hi, oh Stefan," Lennie said as he picked up the phone and Anita was confused that he didn't hand the phone over right away.
"Yeah, sure I can do that, which dorm?" Lennie said as he reached for something to write on.
"Better give me Ric's phone number too, just in case something goes wrong and I'm running late," Lennie said as he juggled the phone and a pen and note pad.
"Want to talk to your Mom?" he asked and then handed the phone to Anita.
Anita spoke to Stefan for a few minutes getting filled in on her "guys" going out while she was away. Stefan asked his Mom not to tell Lennie that it was hard to sell Ric on meeting with him. She reluctantly agreed.
Anita finally moved to sit down and found Lennie's journal in her way.
"What's this?" Anita asked.
"My journal," Lennie answered as he quickly took the book from her.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I wouldn't have read it you know," she assured him.
He sat down next to her and gathered her to him. "I know it's just, well I put everything I'm thinking and feeling in there. No censoring it and I'm not sure it would make sense to anyone else but me and well maybe you'd take something out of context and get mad at me," Lennie tried to explain his protectiveness of the journal.
"I really do understand. I've kept a journal myself. In fact, I probably should start a journal again," Anita told him.
"Why do you say that?" Lennie asked.
"Well, " she hesitated wondering if he'd take what she was going to say wrong, "as much as I love you and really want us to be together, the changes in my life right now are pretty overwhelming, and well in the past when I've felt like things sort of threatening to sweep me away, journaling has helped me maintain my stability," she answered.
Lennie smiled at her.
"What? Why are you smiling?" she asked.
"That was almost exactly my AA sponsor's point when he talked to me tonight," Lennie answered. "He hadn't seen me at the last couple of meetings and I hadn't called him so he wondered if I was OK," Lennie added by way of explaining why his sponsor had called.
"I began telling him that things were great 'cause the love of my life was finally mine," Lennie said and then stopped for a moment to kiss the top of Anita's head. "And he asks me 'are you working your program?' At first I wanted to yell at the guy. You know, I'm telling him 'hey something wonderful is going on in my life' and all he can do is ask whether I'm working my program. Then he reminds me how often people slip when things are going good. I realized he was right. I was beginning to think, 'I don't need to journal and meditate and go to meetings', Anita's in my life now and so everything will just work out perfectly without any work on my part," Lennie gave a little laugh.
"Oh, so my being a part of your life was gonna keep you sober like I'm some sort of good luck charm?" Anita asked.
Lennie ducked his head a bit and then looked at her sort of shyly, "Yeah well, thanks to my sponsor you don't have to worry. I'm not gonna put that responsibility on you. I've put it right back where it belongs, on me with the help of my higher power," Lennie said.
"Speaking of a higher power you know I think we really should have a conversation about," the phone rang again interrupting Anita, Lennie's first thought was saved by the bell.
"Wonder who's calling now?" he asked looking at his watch as he picked up the phone again.
"Hello? Mike, hey long time no hear from," Lennie said and Anita saw one of Lennie's huge grins spread across his face as he talked to Mike Logan. To Anita, Mike was Lennie's 'first' partner though the truth was he'd had several partners before Mike but that was before her time at the 2-7. When she thought about the three men who had been his partners at the 2-7, Mike and he had seemed like big brother little brother, where with Rey and Ed it was more like father and son or at least uncle and nephew.
"What did Phil tell you?" Lennie asked.
"Huh, well I really do want to fill you in on what's going on in my life but I think I'd rather do it face to face rather than over the phone. 'Sides I've spent the evening with my ear glued to a phone and I've got better things to do," Lennie said and winked at Anita.
"Maybe," Lennie said drawing the word out in a teasing manner.
"Look, I was gonna pick Ed Green up tomorrow for lunch, he's on medical leave and going crazy. How about you join us?" Lennie proposed.
"Oh yeah, that would be great, uh - I don't have his sister's address here with me. I'll call you tomorrow from the office and give it to you, OK? Great, see ya tomorrow Mike," Lennie said and hung up.
"OK, that should be the last phone call of the evening, so let's get ready for bed," Lennie suggested.
Just as they'd started to snuggle up to each other to sleep after having made love, the phone rang again.
"Definitely letting the machine get this one, " Lennie mumbled.
"Hey Lennie, sorry to call so late but every time I called I got a busy signal," Rey's voice said from the answering machine.
Lennie got out of bed and turned to Anita to say, "I better get that, could be important."
"So anyway I was going see if-," Lennie picked up the phone, effectively cutting Rey off.
"Hey Rey, what's going on?" Lennie asked and then listened for a moment.
"That's OK, we weren't asleep yet," Lennie replied.
"No, I'm not," Lennie answered with a little laugh. He then listened for a bit to something Rey was saying.
"Tomorrow evening? Uh well," Lennie stalled. A sleepy Anita ambled into the living room.
"Let me ask her if tomorrow will work for her," Lennie said as he turned to find the woman in question standing next to him in his shirt and only his shirt.
"Rey says Deborah's feeling pretty good and wants to have us over tomorrow evening. What do you think?" he asked, just a bit distracted by how sexy Anita looked in his shirt.
"Well, if he knew exactly who he was inviting over and he didn't disapprove, I'd feel a lot better about it," Anita answered.
"Uh Rey, before I say yes we'll come, I need to tell you who I'd be bringing," Lennie said. He paused long enough for Rey to say something.
"Uh yeah, how'd you know?" Lennie asked a bit surprised. Anita assumed that Rey must have told him he knew she'd be coming with Lennie.
"I kind of wondered if you suspected. Are you OK with it?" Lennie asked hopefully. He listened for a bit.
"Rey, you mean a lot to both of us and I know you're quite a bit more conservative about some things, so I just thought that you might not approve that's all," Lennie explained.
Lennie was quiet as he paid attention to what Rey was saying.
"I am and I do, very much," Lennie said and he looked tenderly at Anita.
"OK we'll be there tomorrow at 7. Good night, Rey," Lennie said.
"You are and you do what very much?" Anita asked.
"I am happy and I do love you, very much," he said as he kissed her and then wrapping an arm around her started to walk towards the bedroom.
"Me too," Anita said around a yawn.