A/N, don't worry this will be finished by tomorrow cause I leave on Thursday. And I'm not going to be around at all until late on the fourteenth. But you can grab my yahoo address and email me on that, I can check that one from my phone...
"What the hell's going on with you? You seemed distracted during the trial and every time I've seen you the past week you look as if you're minds in a completely different spot. You're not thinking of going back to Hungary, are you?" She laughed and shook her head.
"No, my brain's not THAT far away." She commented, almost absently. Renee had a point though, her brain was constantly drifting away into daydreams.
"So what is it? Two weeks ago you were incredibly happy. Now you look distant and I wouldn't say upset, but just not all there. What happened between you and Garret." She shrugged. "I wouldn't say fight, because you'd either be bragging about how you tore him to shreds or upset cause he'd have beaten you. So what is it?"
"No, it just felt-like too much too soon, you know? Like if we went into this headfirst we didn't know whether or not we were diving into the deep end or the shallow end. So I thought maybe we should slow down."
"To a grinding halt." She grinned sheepishly at her friend's truth.
"I'm beginning to regret that choice." Renee looked at her.
"Hon, there's hardly a day when I wonder what would have been different if Eddie and me, well, I mean I don't regret it cause I got Jamie, but there are times when I wonder what would have happened." She gave her friend a good look, afraid that the DA would want to lay claim on the man again, but it seemed as if Renee realized the direction her thoughts were going, and grinned. "You got yourself a great catch, but you seem to be content leaving him hooked without doing anything." she laughed.
"And I'm reminded why my brother always laughed when you came along on fishing trips."
"I always thought he was laughing at you." They both grinned. "But just go back and tell him screw going slow, if only for our sake here at the DA's office and the police, because none of you guys can have successful love lives the mourge has slowed to just as grinding of a halt as your relationship. Between Jordan and Woody not getting anything done, Bug and Framus and Lilly and Seeley in that no-one-quite-knows-what's-going-on thing it's slow going on any homicides." She laughed.
"Framus, Bug, Lilly, and Seeley. That is a foursome I didn't want to picture. Although Seeley's not a bad looking guy."
"Complete asshole." She shrugged.
"When has that turned me off before? Or you for that matter?" Renee shrugged. "Speaking of which, now that we've solved my relationship problems, you look like you're on your last nerve." Rene shrugged.
"Just stress." She said, reaching into a drawer and removing a gigantic book from inside of it. "And this is for you." She looked down at it and back up at Renee.
"The Massachusetts bar exam." She read.
"Yeah, well, I just lost an ADA and between Jamie and having to reassign cases left and right, and people clamoring over why if the state has a budget deficit we can afford to pay you when obviously Garret's error was a one-time thing long time ago and it won't happen again."
"So you want me to become a new ADA." Renee shrugged.
"It would be nice. Hell, I can even fancy up your title. You've had the experience."
"Ten years worth, but I haven't practiced in ten years."
"You had to do contracts and whatnot over there, right? Call it business law." She laughed.
"A lawyer to the core, Renee, you're a lawyer to the core." Her friend grinned.
"Think about it, will you, I need the help, and I don't want to have to can you cause I've got the governor telling me that we don't have room in the budget to pay someone your salary for an unnecessary position, it was you or an ADA. And luckily one of my ADA's decided they wanted to jump into a private practice."
"Same salary, same benefits?" Renee nodded.
"Better title than "watchdog to the office of the chief medical examiner."" She laughed.
"Right. I'll flip through this." She whacked the book.
"You're scheduled to take it in three weeks." She glared at the dark haired woman behind the desk.
"I never said yes."
"Hey, it's only the bar exam." She rolled her eyes.
"At least I only had to take it once." Her friend glared at her.
"I was taking it hungover the first time!" She laughed.
"So was I. I'm just better." She teased, getting up. "I'll see you around." She said, walking to the door, favoring her good leg.
"You OK?" Renee asked, genuine concern in her voice. She shrugged.
"Just fine."
"Your leg's all swollen, you seeing a doctor?" She nodded.
"Of course." It wasn't a total lie. She worked with a bunch of them. She didn't need them to tell her what it was, she knew what it was. She knew she had been stupid to sit in the car for six hours and then on a plane for three without stretching or walking. But the aspirin was taking care of it, not as well as a prescription would, but she didn't want to have to pay for it, or put up with the side effects.
She popped another aspirin at the water fountain and walked, hoping that it would work this time, hoping that the dose would be enough, finally. She limped to the elevator and started planning out what exactly she was going to tell Garret as soon as she walked back into the mourge.