A/N: Uh... I woke up this morning and wrote this. I had no intention to actually finish but I did. So, yay for quick updates?
xoxoxo
earthangel3- Oh don't worry. Things will heat up definitely. It's just that I thought they needed more time before they started going at it. This relationship is a lot more fragile than some people realize. :-)
katastrophic88- Yes! I always thought that JJ had a hard past too. Not so terrible like Dee's, but rough all the same. Thank you for the compliments. And Frank Sinatra is one of my heros.
Kitty in the Box- Actually there was not a cliff hanger at the end, I was just saying that I don't like them very much, so I tend to stay away from them. Their relationship is about to take a turn! And I don't like jazz either. But JJ seemed like he would, just like Drake seemed to be a Classic Rock kinda fella. I personally like Techno. :-P
xoxoxo
Chapter 5:
This particular morning in the 27th precinct, six men sat around an oak desk, sitting on plastic fold out chairs. It was another mandatory meeting held by the commissioner to raise the alarm on a growing emergency of something or another.
"Parker! Where is your- "
"He's at the vet! His dog got sick this morning so he's going to show up a little late," Drake grimaced. He coughed something that sounded suspiciously like 'asshole' under his breath before looking up to read the clock. Since the vet opens at ten, and it's already eleven, he really should be here any...
'BANG!' The door burst open in a flurry of lavender and silver before it was slammed back into place. JJ rushed his apology as he found his seat next to Drake, "Sorry everyone, my dog got sick this morning and the vet only just opened and- "
"We've heard," snapped Rose then as he turned to face the rest, mumbled, "At least a dog is less of a liability than that stupid teenager."
Dee shot out of his seat and slammed his hand against the desk. "Don't you ever call Ryo's son a liability you arrogant son of a bitch! And Bikky is not stupid by any means!"
Berkeley stood up and stared straight into Dee's eyes. "Sit down Laytner. That comment was not aimed at anyone in particular."
"Bullshit," Dee snorted as he parked himself back in his chair. The whole room had winced when Dee had begun shouting. Everyone there could remember the many times that Ryo had to take off work to go to various PTA meetings and doctor appointments. Usually it was Drake and JJ who had to double up shifts, but Ryo and Dee had always made sure to take up the slack. Needless to say, Rose did not like the fact that Bikky came first in Ryo's life, that is to say, first right along with Dee.
Drake had been surprised though, that Dee was the one standing up for Bikky. A year ago, all Dee did was complain about how much of a pest he was, and how he always got in the way of his relationship with Ryo. Yet since the time that Dee and Ryo started sharing an apartment, the bitching and moaning just disappeared. HA! I guess Dee's got a soft spot for the kid now too. Jeez, feelings sure change over time.
Rose cleared his throat and remained standing. While he began his talk about the slacking off of the dress code, JJ was bumped on the elbow by a large yellow pad. Turning to his left, he took the pad from Drake, as Drake continued to stare at Berkley. Flipping the first page over, he read:
- - -Thanks for the coffee this morning JJ. If you keep doing that, you're going to spoil me, ya know- - -
JJ smiled softly as he wrote back:
- - -It's not my fault that my coffee pot makes over ten cups. And you spoil yourself just fine, with or without me- - -
He handed the pad back to Drake conspiratorially under his chair. The only thing was that Ted had managed to snatch the pad right out of Drake's reach. Ted gave them both a raised eyebrow as he causally looked over their note. He scribbled something down before handing it to Marty, who scratched a memo also. The two police officers grinned as they passed the pad back to Drake under the desk.
- - -Ted: You two passing notes like you're in middle school? If so, I want in! Anything's better than listening to THIS idiot lecture- - -
- - -Marty: Hey now, what's this about coffee? Drake, you lucky bastard. Ted won't even buy me lunch once in awhile- - -
As Drake read, he was nudged in the ribs by Dee. While still looking at the commissioner, Dee pointed to himself, then at the pad quickly to make his request known. Drake slid the pad inside a file then passed it to Dee.
On the pretense of gazing at the file, Dee skimmed over the previous statements, then jot down something. Ryo leaned a little to read over his shoulder, then tutted softly under his breath. He had the words 'such immaturity' written all over his face, but smirked at the same time.
When the note pad was passed back:
- - -Dee: Who cares about coffee huh? We need to get back at the dickhead. Come on Drake, ole buddy! Think! Something that would fit the crime- - -
The large, yellow pad made its way around the room and after fifteen minutes of Rose's "you must have neater handwriting or you better type it out" speech, it read:
- - -Drake: Don't look at me! You're the one who can scheme better than any of us here Dee- - -
- - -JJ: May I suggest a lot of fire?- - -
- - -Ted: What are you, a pyro? I say we write a fake letter from the chief firing his sorry ass- - -
- - -Marty: That or a fake love letter from the chief- - -
- - -JJ: Touché, Marty!- - -
- - -Dee: I'd say go for it if the chief wasn't going to pin the entire incident on me- - -
- - -Drake: It's not our fault he hates you so much- - -
- - -Ted: Maybe we can get Janet involved...- - -
- - -Marty: You just want to involve Janet because you've been hard up for her- - -
- - -Drake: WHAT?? - - -
- - -JJ: See previous statement- - -
- - -Dee: Nice, Ted! I always thought she was good looking- - -
- - -Ted: Marty you moron! You weren't supposed to tell anyone- - -
"Adams, can you repeat what I just said?"
JJ looked up from the note pad, terrified like a deer caught in the head lights. "Uh... what sir?"
"I said... to tell me what I just said Adams," Rose hissed in a warning tone.
"You said to tell me what you just said," JJ answered innocently.
"I mean before that. What was I saying before that huh?" Rose glared.
"You said 'Adams can you repeat what I just said?'" JJ's fellow officers sniggered behind their hands. This was JJ's sly way of dodging the question since he obviously had no clue about what Rose was speaking on.
"Give me the note pad Adams," requested the commissioner, reaching out his hand.
"No," said Drake quickly while he grabbed it out of JJ's hands, while taking a step back.
"Excuse me?" sneered Rose.
"It's uh... it's uh... private," finished Drake weakly.
"Oh? And what is so private between you and Adams that I can not see it as well?" Clearly pissed off, Rose wasn't going to give an inch.
"That's none of your business," shot Drake.
"Oh my. Such passionate disobedience. It obviously must be something extremely personal. He hasn't turned you has he Parker?" Rose drawled suggestively.
Silence.
'Ring! Ring! Ring!' All the men in the room jumped at the sudden noise of the phone. Angrily, Rose retreated to his desk to answer it, while everybody else's eyes were on a red-faced Drake. Drake didn't know if he was embarrassed or angry or both as he stared curses into the commissioner's back. How dare he?! That son of a bitch! I'm not like that. No one could make me like that! He's just a friend, he's just a friend!
JJ sat with his hands together so tightly that his knuckles went white. That son of a bitch! Drake's not like that! Even if I wanted him, he never would. Some men are just made to be straight and Drake's one of them. Wait... did I just say I wanted him? No! No, it was just a for instance... I mean I like Dee right? That's strange... I haven't thought about Dee for weeks...
"We've got a bank robbery on 16th. I need you six to go down there. I seems that they already shot two civilians," Rose said from behind his desk.
oOoOoOoOoOo
"Drake! You and Dee go around the back, JJ and I are going to set up on the roof," Ryo called from his car as the four of them piled out into the street.
This situation was familiar to them, from two years of working together. Since JJ and Ryo were the best sharpshooters they always went to a high rise to feel out the situation before preparing to take anyone down. Drake and Dee on the other hand, would burst into the building only after their partners had cleared the way.
This bank robbery was still more intense however because the robbers inside had actually killed two people already, usually they were too afraid for that.
"Ryo, can you get a clear shot at all?" Dee wired up to his partner.
"This building is a little high, but yeah I think JJ or I could do it," responded Ryo.
"All right, just take your time okay guys. We don't need any extra paper work," said Drake.
"How many of them are there?" asked JJ.
"There's supposed to be five, we got that from a tip," Dee called.
"Hold on," said Ryo cautiously, "There's three inside, one in the get-away car that you've already caught, where's the fifth?"
That's when JJ caught a gleam from the opposite rooftop out of the corner of his eye. A shadow that looked just like a tall man, was standing up, taking aim...
"Drake watch out! There's one on the—AHHHH!"
JJ spun on the spot, crashing down on the floor, blood seeping from his right shoulder.
oOoOoOoOoOo
JJ woke up to see white. White was everywhere. And it smelled funny.
"Hey! Look he's awake!"
Dee and Ryo leaned over him with great anticipation. JJ's wound had been mild, so they weren't worried about his life, but still... it's always bad when one of their own gets shot.
"Where am I? What happened?" whispered JJ, groggy from the sleep inducing drugs.
"You're at Memorial Hospital, JJ," Ryo cooed softly, "You got shot in your right shoulder."
"You gave us a real scare, but we got the bastard for ya. An instant after you fell, Ryo gave him a similar wound to his arm. We're sorry we didn't notice him quicker," sighed Dee.
"But I'm fine right?" JJ queried.
"Yeah, you're gonna be just fine in a month or so," replied Dee.
JJ bit his lip, looking around, "Um... where's Drake?"
Ryo and Dee looked at each other. "He's waiting outside JJ. He's uh... we'll go get him." They made their exit quickly after looking back at him.
oOoOoOoOoOo
Drake was sitting in the lobby with his head in his hands, thinking. So much had happened, in such a short amount of time, that it was all just a blur of jumbled memories.
The sight of JJ falling back on the roof, out of sight, someone screaming, shots being fired, glass being shattered, people running out of the bank... and all he did was stand there. He just stood there, still looking at the spot where JJ had just been, shocked. He didn't remember exactly what happened next, except that he knew he rode in the ambulance with JJ on the way to the hospital. Maybe it was paternal feelings, but he had held JJ's hand for as long as he could on the short ride there. JJ had never been shot... not in two years together...
This is insane, Drake. He wasn't even fatally wounded. He's going to make it out fine. The doctor said that he was going to be back to normal in a month or less. It's just fine. But it was not just fine. JJ's incident had set off something deep within Drake. That was to be expected of course, such a scare would shake anyone up. But the emotions flooding Drake were ones of anger, and they were directed at JJ.
How could he have not seen that man sooner! How could he have let that happen! He could have been killed! I could have lost my partner today. What the hell was he playing at! He had enough time to shoot the man but instead he was telling ME to duck? Didn't he notice that he was aiming straight at him?! Drake twisted some of his hair in frustration. Deep down, he knew that it wasn't really JJ's fault, but part of him needed to blame him. Another part of him was touched that JJ wanted to warn him first, another part wanted to rip the criminal's intestines out and strangle him with them, and yet another part was simply relieved that JJ would live to fight another day.
Drake wasn't in touch with his emotions at all. For his whole life, his feelings had taken a backseat to logic and now all these new, conflicting emotions had him going in a tailspin.
"Hey, Drake. Hey! Drake!" Dee called from the opposite side of the room. Drake looked up to see Ryo waving at him to come over. He slowly stood up and made his way through the rows of chairs and couches.
"How's he doing?" he asked.
"Fine, he just woke up," answered Ryo, "He wants to see you."
"Okay," breathed Drake with a heavy sigh. Ryo looked like he wanted to say something but Drake never gave him the chance. He walked back to where he knew JJ's room was.
oOoOoOoOoOo
"Hi, Drake," smiled JJ from his very white bed. There was an iv in his arm, but besides that he wasn't hooked up to anything else. Drake was grateful for that. He didn't want to see tubes coming out of JJ.
"Hey, JJ" He sat down in one of the open seats near JJ's bed and kept his eyes in his lap.
"I'm up here Drake," JJ spoke softly. Drake lifted his head up to stare into those so familiar blue eyes.
"Uh... it... looks like you're doing okay," Drake stated.
"Yeah. I'm doing fine," JJ nodded, "How are you?"
"I'm better off than you are... Why didn't you just shoot him JJ? Why did you yell for me first?" Drake just couldn't keep it in any longer. He needed the answer, the truth.
JJ closed his eyes in ponder this for a moment then said, "I don't really know Drake. I guess I wasn't thinking about anything but you at the time."
Some of his previous anger flashed through Drake, "Well that was stupid of you! You could have just shot him in the leg and then both of us would have been okay."
"I'm sorry," it was JJ's turn to look down, "It won't happen again."
An uncomfortable silence filled the room. It made Drake nervous and he wanted to escape.
"You're going to have to look after October for me, while I'm here," JJ said after awhile, "She's at the vet's. The one on Liberty."
"That's fine JJ," Drake replied and then he spoke some of the truest feelings in his heart, "You will be more careful next time though right? I don't think I could handle it if you died. I've become dependent on you I guess. I need you around JJ."
Stunned, JJ just put on his gaping face where he opened and closed his mouth silently. What does he mean by that?
Drake stood up all of a sudden, realizing what he just said. Oh Christ! What did I just do? He made a hurried good-bye and left immediately. What was THAT? Drake! You're going crazy! That was way more than just a friendly 'I care about you'. What's going on! Are you starting to get FEELINGS for JJ? No! No way! No way in hell! This can't be happening!
'He hasn't turned you has he Parker?' drifted across his head and Drake halted right there on his way to his car. When he realized that he had stopped, he starting stomping to his car again, and kicked his tire when he reached it.
Fuck you Rose! I'll show you. I'm not gay!
A/N: Wow. That was a long chapter. Like I said last time, this is where the plot really picks up. Please tell me what you thought of it! Please! Please! I beg of you, reply!
I NEED FEED BACK!