Chapter Two
Jimmy hung up the phone and leaned back in his chair with a sigh.
"Trouble at home?" Terry asked, glancing over from his own desk.
"Nah. She's just making me go to the dentist."
"Oh." Terry leaned back. "Yeah, I need to go, too."
"You wanna come?" Jimmy looked momentarily hopeful, then the look passed and he laughed.
"Sure," Terry said, "why not."
"Really?"
"Yeah. We might as well both get it out of the way, right?"
Jimmy laughed, his head back a little. "Now this is what partners are supposed to be like." He tore off a post-it note and wrote down a phone number. "Christie made me an appointment Thursday morning. If they can't get you in then, I'll call and change my appointment."
Gabe walked up as soon as Terry picked up the phone. "Did I hear that right?" he asked Jimmy. "You two really going to the dentist together?"
"Yeah," Jimmy said, "you got a problem with that?"
Gabe chuckled. "It's just so… cute. You do realize that seems wrong?"
Terry gestured with the ringing phone. "You wanna come, too? I can see if they can get us all in."
"No!" Gabe said, backing away.
Jimmy raised his eyebrows, grinning. Terry grinned back.
"Hey, I'm not scared or nothin'. No reason to be looking like that."
"'Course not," Jimmy said.
"Fine, I'll come," Gabe said. "Don't say I never did anything with you."
"It's not exactly a party…"
Jimmy'd been right, it wasn't exactly a party. Terry didn't particularly like the dentist, but he went regularly enough. Gabe, it seemed, was actually terrified and only came so he could have back-up.
"This was a good idea, all three of us coming," Gabe said quietly as he stared wide-eyed around the room.
"The boss thinks we're up to something," Jimmy said. "I ran into him on the way out the door. He didn't understand why it took three of us to go to the dentist."
"We're watching each other's backs, right?" Gabe said.
Shortly they were all called into respective cubicles for their exams. Terry finished first with a clean bill of health and sat back in the waiting room reading old magazines and whistling occasionally.
Jimmy came out, rubbing his jaw.
"You okay?" Terry asked.
"I'll live."
Gabe came slinking out shortly behind, looking woozy.
"What'd they give you?" Jimmy asked. "Morphine? Heroin?"
Gabe shivered. "I wish. What's he doing out here so soon?" He gestured at Terry.
Terry threw down the magazine and stood. "Ready?"
"What's that?" Jimmy asked, looking at Terry's lapel. "A tooth sticker?"
Terry proudly displayed the smiling tooth for the other two detectives.
"Hey!" Gabe said to the receptionist, "why's he get a sticker and we don't?"
"Because he didn't have any cavities," she replied matter-of-factly, not looking up from her clip-board.
Gabe sneered at Terry. "Such a good boy, aren't you? You floss after every meal, too? Help old ladies cross the street?"
Terry held the door open for the other detectives. "I was an Eagle Scout. And my dad was a dentist."
"You've been flossing since you only had one tooth, right?" Jimmy asked.
"I really hope I get to beat up a dentist someday," Gabe muttered.
"Come on, guys. The dental assistants do all the dirty work," Terry said.
"Stop whining, Jansen," Gabe said with a glare. "You go sit in the corner with your little sticker when we get back to the squad."
"You okay?" Jimmy asked in the car as they drove back to the squad.
"I'm sorry I didn't have any cavities," Terry replied.