CHAPTER 19
"Sorry about that." Jake said to Maryann and Lawrence as he and Lily came back towards the group.
"Oh, that's fine." Lawrence smiled. Lily smiled too, realizing how awkward this situation was for Jake. Yes, it was awkward for her too, but Jake, he'd have to pretend he and Lily broke up, and put on a big show next time Lawrence came to Boston… Lily would never have to see them again.
"So, have you two set the big date yet?" Maryann asked.
"Um, no." Jake replied, "We're still thinking about it."
"Oh." Maryann replied with a bit of a smirk in Lawrence's direction. Lily wondered if they knew Jake and her were faking it.
"He wants a fall wedding… I like the spring." Lily told her with a smirk of her own.
"I see." Lawrence said, raising his eyebrows in an 'I told you so' way towards Maryann. Lily smiled; she definitely knew what Jake meant when he said Lawrence was the competitive type. Betting your fiancée on if your best friend's engagement was false or not?
"Yep." Jake said with a nod.
"Well, I have to get back to the morgue… you coming?" Lily asked Jake.
"The morgue?" Maryann asked disgustedly.
"Yeah, I'm a grief councilor there." Lily said with a nod, taking Jake's hand and leading him away from the other 'couple', "Nice meeting you!" She called over her shoulder. "I know what you mean about your friend being competitive." She whispered to Jake after they had started to cross the street.
"Tell me about it." He answered with a smile. He waved to Lawrence and Maryann once more.
"Where's your car?" Lily asked him.
"Car? I jogged here." He told her, motioning to his loose clothing.
"Oh, care for a ride?" She asked with a laugh.
"Sure… that way we won't have to kiss goodbye." He said.
"Yeah… kissing you would make things way awkward." She told him with a smile.
"Tell me about it. Bug would bite my head off." He said with a laugh. They both shook their heads and got in Lily's car.
"Where is Lily?" Slokum demanded bursting into trace for what seemed to be the millionth time that day.
"We do not know." Bug told him, "When she gets here… we will be sure to tell her you've been looking for her, alright?"
"Fine. How's the case?"
"Fine." Nigel returned with a smirk. Slokum shook his head and left the room as quickly as he had entered.
"Where is Lily?" Jordan repeated after Slokum had left. Nigel shrugged his shoulders.
"Somewhere with Jake. Maybe they got married" He said with a laugh poking Bug once again.
"They did not get married." Bug told his two friends, obviously getting annoyed at their continuous teasing.
"Fine, fine." Jordan laughed in defeat. It really wasn't like Lily though… leaving work and not coming back for a few hours. Jordan? Yes. Lily? No. They'd just put all of their energy into getting their second victim ID'd and hoped Lily would come back soon… they really, really wanted to see Slokum's family!
"Do you need to go to the morgue? Or where?" Lily asked Jake as she realized that she was pulling into the morgue, and wasn't sure if he was going there or not.
"Morgue's great." He told her with a smile. It almost reminded her of the time when her and Seely had pretended to be husband and wife, and looking for someone to take care of Lily's sick mother… the memory was a funny one, but she didn't want to think about Seely anymore… she wanted to think about only Bug, and Jake was making that hard enough for her… pretending to be his fiancée and all. She pulled into a parking spot and they both got out of the car and headed up to the morgue. Then a thought hit Lily that she hadn't considered before. She had left the morgue before lunch time, not telling Slokum, or anyone for that matter, where she was going and when she'd be back. It was well into the afternoon now… Slokum would be pretty mad, Jordan and Nigel annoyed, and Bug of course, would be Bug.
"See you later!" Jake called to her as they entered the morgue and headed in their separate directions.
"LILY!" Slokum and Jordan called, almost in unison. She didn't know whether to be scared, confused or what. Slokum got to her first.
"Lily, where have you been? You are aware that I am running a smoothly operated office here. Unexplained absences for any reason are unacceptable…" She was forcing a smile, nodding in agreement to what he was saying, trying to make things go as easily as they could for her. She glanced over at Jordan to see her waiting very impatiently for her turn to talk to Lily. What did she have to say that couldn't wait until Slokum's little rampage was done?
"Slokum, do you have anything important to say? Or may I talk to Lily about business related matters now?" Jordan interrupted him.
"Excuse me Dr. Cavanaugh?" Slokum started in on Jordan, "This is important…" But Jordan just cut him off once again.
"No, it's not." She argued. "It's just you trying to make yourself feel more in charge or dignified or something by laying down the law and getting people in trouble. Well, guess what? Trying to be all 'in charge' doesn't make us like you and by reprimanding us for every little thing we do wrong in front of people, it doesn't make you have any more power." Jordan practically yelled before literally grabbing Lily by the arm and dragging her into trace. When she pushed the double doors open, she heard cries of pain from Bug and Nigel who had their ears pressed against the doors trying to hear every word of Jordan's little speech to Slokum. A few seconds later, the two men recovered from their slight shock of being hit by the door, and greeted Lily and applauded Jordan for finally giving Slokum what he deserved. Nigel gave Jordan a high five as Bug gave Lily a soft kiss on the lips.
"Where have you been, love?" Nigel asked Lily with a hint of concern in his voice. "Buggles here was quite worried about you." He added with a much lighter tone to his voice. Jordan shook her head.
"We need you to contact one of the families of the double homicide that came in last night." Jordan told her, a smile playing on her lips.
"Okay… but why do you have that mischievous look on your face?" She asked half smiling and half too worried to smile.
"You haven't heard who's family yet." Nigel told her with a look that told her this was one interesting case.
"That's it?" Lily asked, surprised.
"Expecting more?" Jordan asked with a laugh.
"No, no." Lily answered absentmindedly. "I'll tell you guys when the family is coming in, since this case seems to interest you a lot." She told them with a laugh before exiting the room.
"Wait…wait…she should be back in 3…2…1…" Nigel counted with a smile.
"Oh, my, god!" Lily exclaimed as she re-entered the room. "It's SLOKUM'S family? Too bad it wasn't him on the table…"
"Agreed, but unfortunately, it's his little brother… We think Slokum's involved…" Bug informed her, adding the last little bit under his breathe.
"Yeah…I've got some things I need to tell you three later…" She whispered.
"Secret things?" Jordan laughed.
"Well… things that are to be kept secrets in this office." Lily replied, emphasizing the last three words.
"When do we get to hear these secrets?" Nigel asked enthusiastically.
"Probably sometime tonight… seriously, this cannot wait. It's some serious stuff. It's going to take a lot of work and time on our part… but it should all work out very nicely in the end." Lily told him. Bug was quite silent during this whole discussion. He couldn't get over how amazing Lily was and that she actually liked him. He was going to have a very hard time adjusting to this new, perfect life. Now, if only Slokum would get conveniently killed… and Garrett would come back… No, Slokum didn't have to die… just disappear. He kept himself from laughing at his crazy thoughts. He didn't think he'd ever hated someone as much as he hated Slokum. He blamed his overwhelming hate for the man on the fact that Slokum didn't respect Lily… he made her work harder than anyone else in the office had to and he was never satisfied with what she did. He hated him with a passion for that. All thoughts quickly drifted out of his mind as Lily gave him a peck on the cheek before leaving the room. It took him a moment to realize Jordan and Nigel were standing there, once again, laughing at him because he was so love struck.
"Guys!" He protested before scrunching up his face, anticipating the poke in the ribs he had coming to him from Nigel.
"Awe, Bug!" Jordan poked him this time instead. "You and Lily are soooo cute together!" She laughed. He shook his head, and for what seemed like the millionth time, they set back to work on getting an ID for their second victim.
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A/N: Of course, don't own them, only Jake Fredrick. REVIEWS? Of course, anything you would like to see happen I will DEFINETLY take into account. I love incorporating things and having some feedback and suggestions from other people that don't think the way I do... as does anyone. But anyway, chapter's a bit shorter than I'd like... and not much happens that really contributes to the story that much, but that's okay. Well, it's twofourty in the morning now... actually my one clock says three fourty, but LUCKILY its daylight times savings of whatever... so extra hour of sleep. Ha, I'll take it!