Disclaimer: Not mine.
"I'll walk out with you," I said and followed my partner outside. "Are you really taking a few days?"
He sighed. "Yeah." Silence fell between us, hanging sort of awkwardly in the air. "Listen man... I just can't shake this one. I'll be back when it's over, whatever."
I nodded. They were getting to me, too. "If you need..."
"I'll call," he assured.
I looked at him and saw the pain in his eyes. How could I not recognize it? "Call him. Talk to him." He looked away. He knew who I was talking about. "If you tell him you need him, maybe he'll talk. It's worth a shot."
"This from a man who can't keep a wife."
"I've had you for almost five years now."
He smiled at this. We had fallen into our old bantering, needing something familiar to wrap around ourselves to lessen the pain. "All right, I'll call."
"That's all I'm asking." Silence fell again. "Listen, if he doesn't want to talk..."
"I'll call, John. Chill, man," he assured me again.
"Yeah, yeah. I get it, so long as you get it." Shaking his hand, I pulled him into an embrace, patting his back. "You take care of yourself or I'll be forced to unleash my powers upon you."
"Yeah, the powers that'll put me to sleep with nightmares of black helicopters flying through them like sugar plum fairies. Gotcha." He smiled and I returned the gesture, watching as he walked to his car. Sighing, I turned back to the precinct and the case at hand. My heart was hard enough to survive, I thought. For a while longer, at least. A while longer.