When they'd gotten to the precinct, aside from having a pile of cold case files to plow through, there was a message from Michaels' office requesting Lennie call. 'Yeah,' Lennie thought, 'I'll just put that right on the top of my to do list'. He procrastinated as much as he dared then gave in and called. He was relieved to find out it was the task force's PAA who wanted to talk to him not Michaels himself. Having been in the NYPD longer than most cops had been alive, Lennie knew what was going on. The PAA was gathering information to be used at a commendation ceremony.
Lennie had a drawer full of commendations he never wore unless he had to, so he wasn't going to give the PAA much when it came to his part in the operation, but he was going to do his best to see that Ed was recognized for what he'd done. In his opinion, Ed should receive a Medal of Valor if not a Combat Cross. Anita should get a commendation too. Of course it wasn't going to do her any good, she already had a ton of seniority as a lieutenant plus commendations and it wasn't going to get her a promotion. No the NYPD would never forgive her for pointing out its bias. She'd end up retiring at her current rank, which was totally unfair.
Lennie suddenly remembered that he'd promised to call Mike Logan with Ed's sister's address, so he placed a call to Mike's apartment. He gave him the information and chatted for a bit but refused to give him his big news over the phone. Mike told him to meet him and Ed at the diner closest to the 'house', Lennie knew the one Mike meant and agreed to be there around noon.
Mike Logan double-checked the address before approaching the small but neat brownstone townhouse. He rang the bell and an attractive black woman in her late twenties or early thirties answered the door asking him to come in and wait while Ed finished getting ready. Ed Green came down the townhouse's stairs trying vainly to get a sports coat on.
"Here let me help you with that," Mike offered as he helped get the coat over Ed's left shoulder, helping to conceal at least partially the sling on that arm..
"Thanks," Ed said with one of his huge grins. "You must be Mike Logan."
"And you must be Ed Green," Mike replied with an equally charming grin which Ed's sister noticed. She cleared her throat.
"Oh man, where are my manners. Mike Logan this is my sister Yasmin Green," Ed said by way of introduction.
"A beautiful name for a beautiful woman," Mike said in his typically charming way as he took her hand and instead of shaking it, kissed it.
"Well we better get going. Don't want to keep Lennie waiting, after all he is working today," Ed said as he tried to get the charming and good looking former partner of his current partner away from his little sister. Charlie Green might be beginning to accept his son's occupation but if his daughter started dating a cop there'd be hell to pay.
As they drove towards the 27th precinct Mike and Ed got to know one another. Mike tried to pump information out of Ed about Lennie's big news but Ed was as tight lipped as Phil had been. Curiosity was burning Mike up, he couldn't wait to get to the diner and talk to Lennie. He decided that if his old partner didn't tell him everything and quickly he'd interrogate the old guy Mike Logan style.
John Miller, licensed private investigator, sat in his parked car in an area that afforded him a good view of the precinct's main exit. He hoped Lennie would be leaving for lunch soon and from that door. He couldn't believe his luck in landing this job. A lady had called and asked him to do a background check on Lennie Briscoe. Seems her daughter was getting involved with Lennie and she wanted to know what the guy was like. Seeing as how he'd worked with Lennie many years ago, and considered him a good friend for many years, it wasn't that hard. Of course the fact that he bore Lennie a grudge because of how Lennie had treated his little sister about 15 years back made it even better.
Miller saw Lennie come out of the station house front door and head off at a brisk walk as though he had an appointment somewhere. 'Damn,' Miller thought to himself as he got out of his car and headed into the station house, 'Lennie's not the babe magnet he was when he was a rookie, but he sure has aged a lot better than I have, especially considering the decade or so he spent in the bottle.' Miller stopped near the sergeant's desk and looked around, getting his bearings. He hadn't been in the 2-7's house very often when he was a cop and those few times had been a long time ago, but he was pretty sure the detective squad was downstairs.
As Miller made his way downstairs he thought about how he'd go about pumping information out of the detectives that worked with Lennie. He wasn't looking for the stuff he could find in Lennie's service record. Anything official like that he was sure he could get from the friends he still had in the NYPD or maybe from his niece Nicole, but he wanted the things that didn't get into the records. The things the people who worked with you were sure to know. He'd have to get the detectives thinking they were talking to an old pal of Lennie's and if he was willing to tell a few funny stories about Lennie maybe the detectives in his squad would open up to him a bit.
"Hey, where's Bait?" Miller said as he approached Lennie's desk gesturing towards the detective's nameplate.
"Excuse me?" Mark Johnson said.
"Oh sorry, suppose no one has called Lennie that in years," Miller said with a big grin. He then offered Johnson his hand. "John Miller, I used to work with Lennie a long time ago. I'm a PI now, working a case down in this area and thought I'd stop by, see how he's keeping," Miller added.
"You just missed him. He headed out to lunch with his partner and an ex-partner," Johnson replied. He was a bit suspicious of the old cop turned PI, figuring he'd come in to mooch a favor off of Lennie.
"What was that you called Briscoe?" Dworkin asked.
"Bait, it's a nickname we saddled him with back when he was a rookie," Miller replied, a genuine grin splitting his face as he thought about why they called him that and how much Lennie hated the nickname.
"Why'd you call him Bait?" Johnson asked. Despite his reservations about the guy, he couldn't resist the possibility of hearing a story about Lennie from when the senior detective was a rookie walking a beat.
"You ever see a picture of Lennie when he was a young guy?" Miller asked and Johnson, Dworkin and Cordova shook their heads.
"Well, he was a very handsome young man, with that dark hair he wore sort of in an Elvis kind of way and those sleepy blues eyes. What is it you women call 'em?" Miller asked of Ana Cordova.
Ana blushed a bit and answered, "Bedroom eyes."
"Yeah, that's it. Well, the first time we invited the rookie to join us at a nightclub after work, we learned that women were attracted to him like bees to honey. So we started taking Lennie with us as often as we could. We'd all wait for him to set his sights on one chic, and then we'd hit on his leftovers," Ana Cordova rolled her eyes at the chic comment, but Miller didn't let that discourage him. "One time after shift was over someone said, 'Hey let's see if Bait wants to go out tonight,' and well the name just sort of stuck, not that Lennie liked it," Miller added.
Suddenly Miller roared with laughter and the detectives looked at him puzzled.
"Sorry, I was just remembering when Lennie's nickname turned out to be very inappropriate," Miller said by way of explanation.
By this time nearly the entire squad was gathered 'round Miller to hear a story about Lennie.
"Lennie was, I guess about 27, happily married with a little girl he talked about non-stop and his wife was pregnant with their second; he had just been promoted to detective and transferred to vice. Our captain sent the two of us out to collar hookers. So, I, as the more senior partner, tell Lennie to approach the hooker, ask her to have a little party with him and when she names a price, cuff her. He asks me 'what if she doesn't name a price?' I give him some ideas how to encourage the hooker without getting into any entrapment issues. So he walks up to the first gal and I see her smile and shake her head at him. He comes back to the car and I ask him what the problem was. He says real puzzled, 'she knew I was a cop'. We pick another target same results, only this time the girl tells him it might help some if he weren't wearing his wedding ring. So Lennie reluctantly takes his wedding ring off, we try another location, still no collar. He comes back to the car and I ask him what the problem was this time. Lennie, looking totally embarrassed, says when the hooker didn't name a price, he said something about not being sure if he had enough money on him and the gal says, no problem, she'd give him a freebie. Lennie just couldn't get any of the hookers to take him seriously as a John. From then on he sat in the car when we drew those assignments." As Miller concluded his little story all the detectives gathered round were in various stages of uncontrollable laughter.
"Boy, it's hard to imagine Lennie as happily married," Dworkin commented as the laughter died down.
Miller got a sad look, as angry as he was at Lennie Briscoe for breaking his little sister's heart, there was a part of him who still remembered the earnest young cop he'd partnered with all those years ago, before Lennie and Gloria lost that second baby and everything seemed to go to hell; back before Lennie started drinking hard.
"Yeah, I suppose it is. Two failed marriages will tend to make a guy kind of cynical, I suppose," Miller said.
"Yeah, well at least he's not giving up completely," Sweeney said.
"What do you mean by that?" Miller asked, glad to see that his plan was working and the young detectives were volunteering information about Lennie.
"Seems he's got himself a new live-in girlfriend, who is making him pretty happy these days," Sweeney replied.
"Has he now? Well good for him. Never say die," Miller said.
Just then Anita walked into the squad room and saw most of her detectives gathered around Lennie's desk, which she thought strange, as she knew Lennie wasn't there but at lunch with Mike and Ed. She gently pushed her way through so she could see who was at Lennie's desk.
"Oh, hello Lieutenant," Miller said as he quickly glanced at the badge at Anita's waist. "I'm John Miller, I used to partner with Lennie Briscoe a long time ago, and well I just stopped in to see what he was up to nowadays, but seems I've missed him," Miller said by way of explaining his presence.
"Lt. Anita Van Buren," Anita said as she offered her hand to him. "And yes you did just miss him. His partner has been on medical leave and is getting a bit stir crazy so he's having lunch with him and another of his ex-partners. Too bad you didn't show up sooner, you could have joined them," Anita said trying to be polite, but for some reason being a bit uncomfortable in Miller's presence.
"I apologize for distracting your detectives. Seems they all like to hear stories about their squad's senior detective's younger days on the force," he added.
"I bet they do, it's got to be more entertaining than the work they're suppose to be doing," Anita said catching her detectives eyes. They all began fading away towards their own desks.
"Well, I'd better be going. I'm supposed to be working myself. Tell Lennie I stopped by," Miller said.
As he left, Miller dropped by Sweeney and Dworkin's desks and told them if they'd like to hear more Lennie stories he'd be at McGinty's that evening, as the case he was working on would keep him in the area. He hoped one or both of them would stop by to give him more information.
As Lennie walked through the diner's front door Ed and Mike both called out to him and he headed for the booth they were sitting in at the back of the diner. The waitress came over to Lennie to get his order.
"Hi Lennie, what can I do for you today," Sue, an attractive blonde in her early forties, said in a flirty way.
Lennie sighed and internally cursed himself, 'Damn, forgot to call Sue to tell her I'm off the market,' he thought.
"Bring me my usual and a diet coke. And Sue, I'm gonna need to talk to you for a minute before I leave," Lennie said, saying the latter in a very serious tone.
"There's nothing wrong is there?" she asked.
"Depends on your point of view I suppose," he said hoping Susie wouldn't take things too hard; after all he'd only been out with her a few times.
Sue frowned and then went to put Lennie's order in.
"What was that about?" Mike Logan asked.
Before Lennie could answer Ed asked, "She doesn't know about your new status does she?"
Lennie shook his head.
"OK, are you gonna tell me what's up or do I need to walk you back to the 2-7 and ask Van Buren to let me borrow an interrogation room?" Mike asked.
Lennie and Ed both laughed.
"Can I tell him? Please?" Ed begged with a huge grin.
Sue brought Lennie's diet coke and gave him a strange look. When she left he nodded to Ed and said, "Sure why not, go ahead tell him what you know."
"Well Mike, I don't know that Van Buren would lend you that room 'cause I doubt she'd appreciate you interrogating her lover," Ed Green said with a wicked little grin.
Unfortunately for Mike he'd just taken a drink of his ice tea, which he now proceeded to choke on. When he stopped coughing he looked at Lennie long and hard and finally asked in stunned disbelief, "you and the lieutenant?"
Lennie grinned and said, "yep, me and the lieutenant."
"When, how?" Mike asked slowly. He didn't ask why, Mike had known that Lennie was enamored of their lady boss from day one. Mike also had known it was a two way street, but he had never told Lennie that because he didn't want to see his partner and boss involved in what he thought would have been a destructive affair. He still wasn't sure it was a good idea, but he looked at Lennie and thought he'd never seen the guy look happier.
Lennie explained about the dinner he had with Anita after she got her preliminary divorce papers and then with Ed's help retold the story of the undercover assignment. Somewhere in the midst of his explanation, Sue brought their lunch orders and Lennie clammed up long enough for her to get out of earshot. Lennie told both men about Anita and him going to see his daughter and her family and the plans they had for him to meet Anita's mother and sister, for Anita to meet his mother and brother and his plans to meet with Anita's sons while she was in Santa Domingo getting her quick divorce.
When Lennie finally seemed to have said all he was going to, Mike had to voice his concerns.
"So Lennie, are you going to transfer out of the 2-7 or retire or what?" he asked. Ed sat up a bit straighter; as this was something he was very interested in knowing. He wasn't ready to give up being Lennie's partner just yet.
"Neither, we're hoping to just keep our relationship private. The officers who did my OIS review are together and they told us all the IAB officers have an unwritten policy about fraternization. As long as no one brings a couple's relationship to IAB's attention they aren't gonna go looking for it," Lennie explained.
"So you're just gonna hope no one finds out or that if they do they don't mind?" Mike asked sounding skeptical.
"That's right. I suspect we'll have to rely on the latter 'cause we do work with a bunch of detectives and they've already figured out that I've got a new live-in," Lennie responded.
"You two are living together?" Mike asked further shocked.
"Yeah, we've been staying at my place but next week we switch over to her place for a couple of weeks," Lennie explained.
"How's come?" Ed asked.
"That's the deal Anita made with her soon to be ex. Until her youngest son Stefan finishes high school, she and Don will switch out living at their house every two weeks," Lennie answered.
"Sounds like that will be easier on the kid but what about you?" Mike asked.
"I don't care where I am as long as I'm with her," Lennie answered.
"God, you've got it bad!" Mike said with a laugh.
"Actually, I've got the best I've ever had," Lennie told him with a big grin.
"Well, I guess you were right after all," Mike said.
"About what?" Lennie asked as he prepared to take another bite out of his sandwich.
"Well, the first time you saw her you said she might be the next Mrs. Briscoe," Mike replied with a smile.
Lennie laughed and sat back more in the booth. "God, I'd almost forgotten that," he said sounding surprised.
"What? " Ed said with an expectant grin on his face.
Mike sat back too and crossed his arms getting into his story telling mode.
"We had caught a case in the early hours of the morning and then stopped at a diner for breakfast before heading into work. While there we'd gotten into a discussion of what it was we liked in a woman. Lennie was trying to make his point that he didn't always fall for what Hollywood or the fashion magazines tried to push. So he says 'Look, I don't want one of these anorexic supermodels with their silicone ta tas," Ed grinned at Lennie and nodded his head thinking about Lennie's comment 'plastic cools my engine'.
"He says 'I want a real woman whose tits and ass are a gift from Mother Nature,'" Mike did a fair job of imitating his old partner's voice and mannerisms.
"I countered his argument saying the gals with the big boobs he liked usually had big asses too. So he comes back with 'Yeah, well a boney guy like me doesn't mind that 'cause somebody in the bed's gotta have some padding,'" Ed looked at his partner who was looking a bit embarrassed.
"So then when we pull into the station house's parking lot, and he suddenly gets all enthused says 'Oh man, talk about T&A - and a pretty face and great legs too!' I look where Lennie's looking and I see this attractive black woman reach for the door to the station house. Before I could say anything Lennie was out of the car and hustling across the street as fast as his legs would carry him without actually breaking into a jog. I was almost out of breath trying to catch up. And I ask him 'Where you going so fast?' He says, 'To see if I can get her name and phone number. If she's got a brain and a sense of humor she just might be the next Mrs. Briscoe,' God, you should have seen the smirk on this guy's face, talk about wolves," Mike said really getting into the story.
"So then I remembered he'd finally gotten Rodgers to agree to go out with him, so I ask him, 'Hey wait a minute, don't you finally have a date with a certain redheaded ME tonight?' He says, 'Yeah, well that's tonight, a guy's got to plan for the future,' all the while Lennie's keeping Anita in his sights. We were gaining on her but pulled up short when we saw her go into the squad room and make a beeline for Don Cragen's office, he was our boss at the time. About a minute later Cragen came out and called everybody around to meet his replacement, Lieutenant Anita van Buren. I had to bite my lip to keep from cracking up," Mike related.
"Later I couldn't help but tease Lennie about it. So I asked him 'Are you going to ask the new boss lady for her phone number, Lennie?' He says kind of sad like 'Don't think her husband would approve,'" again Mike was mimicking Lennie's delivery.
"I couldn't leave it at that so I say, 'Oh, so you did notice the wedding ring?' And Lennie says 'Yeah, but if she wasn't my boss and she wasn't already married she'd be perfect.' You should have seen the look on his face," Mike said as he finished his story.
"Uh Mike, do an old partner a favor and never ever tell Anita that story, at least not the T&A part," Lennie said and his expression said to Mike and Ed that he was thinking of what Anita would do if she ever heard that story just the way Mike had told it. Mike smirked and nodded agreement.
"Wait now, I gotta get straight on a couple of things, first off you never told me it was love at first sight. And second, you dated Rodgers?" Ed asked in disbelief.
"You never asked and yes, I dated Rodgers, for a couple of months about 10 years ago, and like a lot of my ex-girlfriends, we're still friends," Lennie answered.
"So Lennie, are you gonna make her Mrs. Briscoe number 3?" Mike asked.
Lennie blew out a breath, he was hesitant to answer that question. In some ways he'd like to be totally honest with the guys sitting across from him but he wasn't sure it was the right time to 'put all his cards on the table'. He shrugged his shoulders.
"I want to, despite the fact that I'm afraid it would just mess up what we've got," Lennie paused for a moment, and then plunged ahead. "Hell, I may not have much choice in the matter," Lennie said a bit cryptically.
"What do you mean?" Mike and Ed chorused, and then grinned at each other.
Lennie looked down at his hands for a bit then looked back up at his former and current partners' expectant faces.
"Well," Lennie started and then paused again.
"What? Oh no, you're not saying what I think you're saying are you?" Mike asked.
"'Fraid so," Lennie admitted.
"How?" Mike asked.
"How? Uh, Mike I think you know how," Lennie said while laughing.
"Well, of course I know how, but I mean surely you and Anita," Mike couldn't quite bring himself to say more.
"What? Are old enough to know better?" Lennie asked.
"Well, I wouldn't have put it quite that way but," Mike didn't say more as he didn't want to hurt his old partner's feelings.
"Look it's real simple, we sort of forgot to have an important conversation, and then for a while there each of us thought that there was probably no reason to have that particular conversation. By the time we realized we were making erroneous assumptions, well it was too late to do much more than just wait and see," Lennie said.
"How much longer you gotta wait?" Mike asked.
"Should know by my birthday," Lennie answered.
"That's this coming Monday isn't it?" Ed asked and Lennie nodded.
"How do you feel about it?" Mike asked.
"Well since you asked how I feel about it I can tell you I'd love for Anita to be pregnant, to have my baby. Now, if you'd asked me what I think of the situation, I'd give you a totally different answer. Remember what I said about a month ago when Letterman announced he was gonna be a father?" Lennie asked Ed.
"Yeah, you said 'what kind of idiot fathers a kid at his age," Ed answered.
"Well I'm six months older than Letterman," Lennie responded.
"So your head and your heart aren't exactly in agreement on this issue?" Mike asked.
"Yeah, and I'm pretty sure no matter what, whether she is or she isn't, I'm gonna have mixed feelings," Lennie answered.
"How does she feel about it?" Ed asked.
"About the same as I do. We both know all the reasons why a couple our age, and well with all the stuff we have going against us, shouldn't have a kid, but its what we both want in our hearts," Lennie responded, shaking his head slightly.
"Well, it will sure be harder to hide your relationship if she's having your baby," Mike observed.
"Yeah, first time she tries to go out on the street and help work a case while pg you'll come unglued about it, won't you partner?" Ed asked.
"First time maybe not, but I suspect eventually we'd have a blow out over that sort of thing," Lennie admitted freely.
"Have you had your first fight?" Mike asked.
Lennie shrugged. "We've had a couple of little scraps, and then a couple of nights ago I let the machine catch a call, it was an old girlfriend of mine wondering where I'd been lately. Anita got really jealous, took me most of the evening to get her back in a good mood," Lennie told his partners.
"So that's why you want to talk to Sue, huh?" Ed said.
"Yeah, thing is, Anita's kind of insecure when it comes to me and other women, so I've been talking to any of the gals I used to date letting them know I'm permanently out of circulation," Lennie answered.
"How they taking the news? I mean anybody I ought be comforting besides our waitress?" Mike asked leaning forward conspiratorially.
Lennie smiled, pointed at Mike and said. "That's the Mike Logan I remember."
Ed glanced at his watch. "Hey, I think maybe we better let Lennie get back to work before his boss gets mad at him for taking too long a lunch break," he said in a teasing tone.
"You think it's funny but she's not gonna cut me any slack because that would be a way to make people want to report us to IA," Lennie retorted.
Mike grabbed the check when Sue brought it by and he and Ed cleared out for a minute to let Lennie talk to Sue. They both kept an eye on Lennie as he talked to the waitress. They could see she looked disappointed but she reached up and gave Lennie a kiss on the cheek, which seemed to speak well of their parting.
When Lennie caught up with the two younger men Ed asked, "how'd Sue take the news?"
"She was a bit disappointed but wished me good luck," Lennie answered.
Lennie walked the two guys to Mike's car and Mike asked Ed if he minded if he had a private word with Lennie. Ed said no and slid into Mike's car on the passenger's side to make himself comfortable while the two other men talked.
"So what's on your mind?" Lennie asked Mike.
"You and how you're really doing," Mike said with true concern for his old partner.
"I'm great," Lennie answered.
"Yeah, well I'm just thinking all these changes in your life could add up to some real stress and," Lennie interrupted Mike.
"And you're worried that could cause me to fall off the wagon. Mike, I've already had this conversation with my AA sponsor. And yeah, at first I was getting a little cocky and letting my program slide, but I cut that out. 'Cause the last thing I want to do is mess up my sobriety because without it, I loose everything else that's important," Lennie reassured Mike.
"OK, hey give me a call if you need a groomsman," Mike said as he opened the driver's door on his car. Lennie nodded and then headed back to the station house.
Lennie managed to get back to his desk just about ten minutes late.
"Detective Briscoe, I'd like to see you in my office," Anita said trying to sound gruff.
Lennie looked at the others in the squad room, shrugged his shoulders and silently mouthed 'ten minutes', he then turned and said, "Yes ma'am.
"Are you actually going to chew me out for being ten minutes late?" Lennie asked as he closed her office door.
"Well I wasn't until you brought it up," Anita said with a smile.
"When will I learn to keep my big mouth shut?" Lennie said and Anita simply lifted her eyebrows at him.
"So what's up?" Lennie asked.
"Just thought I'd tell you an old friend of yours dropped by while you were out with Ed and Mike," Anita replied.
"Oh, who would that be?" Lennie asked.
"John Miller, said he was a former partner," Anita answered in a questioning manner.
"Johnny said we were friends?" Lennie asked skeptically.
"Uh no, I guess I just assumed you two were friends. I mean when I came into the squad room Miller had everyone gathered round him and he apologized for distracting them with stories of your younger days on the force." Anita explained and then asked, "Are you saying you aren't friends?"
"Well, we were. For a good twenty years I considered him one of my best friends, but then about 15 years ago we had a major falling out. Hell, the last time I saw Johnny he left me with a black eye, split lip and a couple of broken ribs," Lennie answered.
"Wow, what did you do to deserve all that?" Anita asked.
"Well, it was just after my second divorce and I was drinking pretty hard. I took up with this attractive young divorcée, who I didn't realize was Johnny's kid sister. She started getting too serious and I broke it off. She took it real hard, although that wasn't really all about me" Lennie said.
"How hard is hard?" Anita asked.
"She OD'ed. I don't think she was really trying to kill herself. Katie was drinking wine and taking sleeping pills, a real stupid combination. I think she just lost track of how much she had taken. Anyway Johnny blamed me," Lennie explained.
"Then I've got to wonder what he was doing here," Anita said.
"You know it could be nothing, maybe Johnny's finally decided to just let bygones by bygones. Katie certainly has, we talked it over a long time ago, when I first got sober," Lennie said. Anita realized that conversation had probably been a part of his 12 steps program, the part about making amends.
"But, you're not so sure about him are you?" Anita asked.
"No, Johnny always was the sort to bear a grudge," Lennie said shaking his head.
"Maybe you ought to ask the other detectives what he talked to them about," Anita suggested and Lennie nodded.
Lennie went back into the squad room and began getting information from the other detectives about Miller's visit. They told him about the couple of stories Miler had told them and Dworkin told Lennie that Miller had said he would be at McGinty's that night. Lennie then told the rest of the detectives what he'd told Anita. He was a bit uneasy talking about something that had happened back in the days he'd been drinking hard, but none of the other detectives seemed to want to pass judgment on him. Lennie checked his watch and left quickly for his next IT class; it was on using the Internet.
After he left, the rest of the detectives decided to go see Miller at McGinty's after work, and without letting him know that they'd been cued into his bias against Lennie, tell him anecdote after anecdote to prove their point that Lennie was a great guy.
Lennie sighed as he unlocked the apartment door and held it open for Anita. He went through his ritual of removing his gun and putting it in the lock box, adding Anita's gun in with his.
"If it weren't Rey and Deborah and the girls we were going to see tonight I'd try to beg off," Lennie said.
"Why?" Anita asked as she stepped out of her pumps and started getting out of her office clothes.
"I just realized that what with going to Rey's tonight and having dinner with Garcia and Miller tomorrow night we aren't gonna get much time alone together before you go down to Santa Domingo," Lennie answered also starting to get undressed.
"I'll only be gone a little over 24 hours," Anita responded.
"I know, it's just that, well since we've been together, well, we've been together. We haven't been apart more than a few hours in the last twelve days," Lennie said.
"Then maybe it's a good thing I'm going to Santa Domingo," Anita said as she headed for the bathroom to take a shower. Lennie followed her.
"Why would you say that?" Lennie said sounding worried.
"You know what they say 'absence makes the heart grow fonder'," she said.
Lennie just stared at her with a hungry look in his eyes.
"Something I can do for you, mister?" she asked as she stood in her panties and bra in front of the shower, adjusting the water temperature.
"Share your shower with me?" Lennie asked as he reached out to undo her bra.
"Only if you can stand the water as hot as I like it," she answered, slipping out of her panties and stepping into the shower.
"I'll manage somehow," Lennie replied as he dropped his boxers and joined her in the shower.
'Sharing a shower' took a lot longer than two solo showers would have and they were both pretty well spent by the time the water started feeling a bit chilly. They cuddled for a while on the bed and then realized if they didn't get dressed quickly and get on the road they'd be late.
Although they were running late Anita insisted they bring something to Rey and Deborah, so Lennie dashed into the nearest supermarket and found a nice spray of flowers. As they drove into the driveway of the Curtis' house, Rey's daughters all excitedly exited the house to greet 'Uncle Lennie'.
"Wow, what a greeting," Lennie said as he hugged the girls and flashed the beautiful smile that endeared him so to them.
"Let me look at you," Lennie said as he took each girl in turn by the hand and had her revolve around as though he were dancing with her.
"LT, it's great to see you," Rey said as he came out of the house and gave her a hug.
"Rey, what deal did you make to get heaven to loan you these angels?"
"I'll never tell," Rey said with a laugh.
The girls began to escort "Uncle Lennie" into the house, "Uh, ladies as wonderful as it is to have you surrounding me, I 'd really rather escort the lady I brought with me," Lennie said as he dropped back and clasped Anita's hand.
"Oh of course, Uncle Lennie, we should have realized that," Olivia said as everyone went inside. Deborah asked Serena to put the flowers in a vase on the dining room table, while Rey put their jackets away. Lennie couldn't get over how good Deborah looked. He'd seen her more often than Anita had since Rey's departure from the 2-7, but even he was amazed at how far her latest remission had allowed her to comeback. She was in a wheelchair but she seemed energetic and her hands were very capable of doing the things she wanted to do.
They made awkward small talk for a while as Anita and Lennie tried to figure out if Rey and Deborah were really OK with their relationship and how the girls viewed things. Just before they were going to move to the dining room, young Isabel cocked her head to one side studying Lennie and Anita. After a moment she reached down for their hands and said, "Your hands look nice together like vanilla toffee and milk chocolate."
The adults and Olivia, who at 15 thought of herself as a grownup, all smiled and somehow the tension was gone, and then they were all just family visiting each other, enjoying a meal and chatting about the events of their lives.
"Lieutenant Van Buren?" Rey's middle girl said tentatively.
"Yes, Serena?" Anita replied.
"When Uncle Lennie's at work he's Detective Briscoe and when you're at work you're Lieutenant Van Buren but when you're not at work who are you?" the young woman asked.
Anita wondered if Serena realized how deep that question was but decided to take it as a request for a less formal way to address her.
"Well, usually when I'm not at work I'm Mom or Mrs. Van Buren, although that's gonna stop pretty soon. You know I suppose you could call me Aunt Anita if you'd like." Anita suggested and then looked at the girls, they all seemed pleased with the idea.
"What did you mean 'that's gonna stop pretty soon'?" Rey asked.
"Well, when I get my divorce I'm taking back my maiden name – Harris," Anita replied.
"Hey, there might be a really good reason for doing that," Lennie suddenly said.
"Oh, why's that?" Deborah asked.
"Well, the NYPD seems to have this problem with promoting Lt. Van Buren, but maybe they'll slip up and promote Lt. Harris," Lennie explained.
"Oh, it would be about time," Rey said
Lennie, Anita and Rey got into a discussion about the NYPD and all the dichotomies of working there, underpaid compared to the cops in neighboring jurisdictions, overworked because they were short manpower due to all the reservist called up to Iraq and Afghanistan and the capriciousness of the department's upper echelons when it came to not promoting Anita.
"Well you ought to just retire, move to Jersey and start working there. Bet they'd make you a captain," Rey suggested adding the last bit to make sure Lennie and Anita realized his suggestion was for her. He knew Lennie wouldn't retire from the NYPD because no other PD would hire him in at his age and Lennie once told him the only way he'd give up his badge before mandatory retirement age was if they took it off his dead body.
Lennie noticed that the girls seemed politely bored, so he began drawing them out, sort of a version of his good cop routine in the interrogation room, and true to form he got a confession, even though he hadn't really meant to.
"Olivia, you're not mad at your old Uncle Lennie now are you?" Lennie asked caught between humor and the thought that this beautiful young woman, who he'd watched grow up, might actually be mad at him because he'd gotten her to admit there was a boy she was sweet on and her parents were absolutely against her dating before she was 16.
"No Uncle Lennie, I know you didn't mean to get me into trouble with Mom and Dad. If my parents weren't so Victorian it wouldn't be a big deal anyway," Olivia said dramatically.
"Olivia," Rey said in that parental way that every child knows means drop it or get in really big trouble.
"Oh, all right Daddy, can I be excused now I've got some homework to do?" the eldest Curtis daughter asked. Her sisters each chimed in with similar requests and were told to clear the table and start the dishwasher and then they could go do their "homework". The girls made quick work of the chores and then each dropped by the dining room table to give hugs and kisses to their parents and guests.
Rey helped Deborah move to the living room as she explained that she was sure her daughters were more interested in getting on the phone or Internet with friends than doing homework.
"Lord, getting on the phone around her must be tough with two teenage girls and a preteen," Lennie said thinking back to his own girls' teen years.
"Nope it's not hard at all, they each have cell phones with no long distance and a curfew on each line. We pay for a certain number of minutes a month-if they go over they have to pay the difference from their allowances," Rey explained.
"Aren't you glad you're both done with parenting?" Deborah asked.
Lennie and Anita gave each other looks that Rey and Deborah didn't miss but didn't comment on at the time. They continued to visit and after a while Rey found an excuse to get Lennie off by himself in the den.
"So what do you think Rey? And don't pull your punches," Lennie requested.
"Look Lennie, I'm sure you know all the pros and cons of this relationship and heck you're both adults you don't need anyone's permission or approval," Rey began.
"No we don't, but I guess I'd like it if my former partner didn't disapprove," Lennie said sounding a bit hurt. He started to leave the room.
"Lennie," Rey said in a tone intend to stop the older man's exit.
"I said you didn't need approval not that I didn't approve. I told you the other night as long as you're happy and you love her, it's OK with me, didn't you believe me?" Rey asked and Lennie shrugged his shoulders.
"If Deborah and I didn't approve of you two being together we wouldn't have invited you into our home. So stop worrying about it, I'm not gonna be running to IA about you two. Of course I do need to warn you, if you ever hurt LT, I'll have to come bust your beak," Rey said with great affection.
Lennie smiled and shook his head a bit. "Where'd that tight-assed, self-righteous, hot-head I used to work with get off to?" Lennie asked.
"He lived in a glass house for a while, remember?" Rey responded and Lennie nodded.
"Hey, what was with that look you and Anita gave each other when Deborah said you two were done with parenting?" he asked.
"Uh, we might not be," Lennie admitted reluctantly.
"What?" Rey asked so loudly that Lennie wondered whether the rest of the household would come in to check on them.
Lennie sighed and went through the same conversation he'd had with Brian and Mike and Ed. He began to realize that going over and over this same ground was affecting him. He was having to go though the pros and cons repetitively and it was making him second guess himself, that and the fact that he'd spent the second half of his Internet class searching on pregnancies in women over forty. He'd found a lot of statistics and some of them disturbed him.
"There's something more isn't there?"Rey asked hoping to get Lennie to open up just a little more.
"Yeah, I took this damn IT class on the Internet and I spent about an hour looking up stuff about pregnancies in women over forty. In some ways it was good to know the odds of various things happening but…" Lennie trailed off.
"What sort of odds?" Rey asked.
Lennie the inveterate gambler began giving odds, "We've got a lot of slim chances, some of them good and some bad, most of them come down to 20 to 1, in other words 1 chance in 20. There's 1 chance in 20 she's pregnant and it's 20 to 1 that if she does carry to full term the baby will be perfectly fine - no genetic defects. There's also 1 chance in 20 that if she's pregnant she's carrying twins. The one statistic that bothers me most is that if she's pregnant, odds are only 3 to 2 she'll carry the baby beyond the first trimester," Lennie sat down after he rattled off the odds. Until he'd said them out loud he hadn't realized how bad they sounded. Rey could see his former partner was shaken by what he'd discovered during his Internet surfing.
"There are three kinds of lies, Lennie, lies" Rey began.
"Damn lies and statistics," Lennie finished the quote.
"Look it's good you know what the odds are, but you're a gambler Lennie, what do you know about odds?" Rey asked.
"The odds are what the odds are but that doesn't mean that because the odds are against you that you won't win a particular bet," Lennie said with a small grin.
"And you know what, if the odds were always right, Deborah wouldn't be sitting in there gabbing with Anita now. You remember how bad she was when I quit the 2-7?" Rey asked.
"Yeah I know, I couldn't believe how much better she seems," Lennie remarked.
"Miracles do happen Lennie. Lots of prayer and some new meds and I feel like I've been given back my wife, and my girls have their Mom back," Rey said.
Just then Anita stuck her head in the den.
"Hey you two, Olivia and I helped Deborah get to bed and I'm thinking maybe we ought to be going. We both do have to work tomorrow you know," she reminded Lennie.
"All right but don't be strangers and keep me posted," Rey requested.
"I'm glad I don't have too many more former partners that I'm still on good terms with," Lennie said, that night as they lay spooned together in bed.
"Why's that?" Anita said around a yawn.
"I'm getting tired of explaining how we got together and about your possibly being pregnant," Lennie answered.
"You told Ed and Mike and Rey?" Anita said suddenly wide-awake.
"Yeah well, "Lennie began.
"How could you?" she asked, Lennie wasn't sure if she was angry at him or what as she'd suddenly started crying, which disconcerted him.
"Baby, please don't cry. I'm sorry, it's not like I'm telling everyone. Ed, Mike and Rey they're like family to me," he tried to explain.
"Yes, well I haven't told my family yet and I don't intend to until I'm not only sure I'm pregnant but that I'm past the risk of miscarrying," she said vehemently.
Suddenly Lennie realized he wasn't the only one who'd probably been surfing the net for information. He held her to him and tried his best to soothe her. They talked through a good part of the night about their fears and their hopes.