A/N: Watching H:LOTS is a good prompter, I think. But it isn't mine, and so at the end of the day, I have to give it back. And now I shall go.
Most of the lights were off by the time I finally pulled into the driveway. We'd been stuck working with the second shift on a red-ball they'd caught, and I hadn't been able to get away until twenty minutes ago. Luckily, that was about how long it was from headquarters to Rose's place. The front door was unlocked when I reached it; I frowned, but pushed it open. Light drifted into the entryway from the kitchen, and the sound of dishes clinking told me that at least one person was awake.
"You hear that?" Abby's voice drifted towards me and I walked towards the kitchen doorway, smirking.
"You left the door unlocked," I told her. "Do you have any idea how dangerous that is?"
"We weren't sure you were going to get here before we fell asleep," Rose said dryly, closing the cupboard above her and drying her hands on the dishtowel on her shoulder. "Otherwise, we'd have locked it."
"Unless you forgot," I pointed out. She rolled her eyes and leaned against the counter, drumming her fingers on the surface.
"You want something to eat?" she asked finally. "We saved you a plate." Abby pushed at my foot under the table, smirking.
"He needs something," she said. "I'm surprised the wind hasn't blown him away yet."
Rose pulled the refrigerator open and drew out a plate before coming to sit down, casting her sister an annoyed look.
"Leave him alone, Abby," she said mildly. "God only knows you're the last thing he needs to listen to right now."
"You're right," I said, "She is the last thing I need to listen to." She smirked, pushing a fork at me.
"You look tired," she remarked. "You been sleeping lately?" And there it was: the beginning of the lecture that I'd come to expect from her every now and then. I shook my head, and she gave me a look.
"I don't care if you're on a red-ball," she told me, "You can't do this to yourself. It's not just you anymore."
"I figured that out eight years ago," I replied. "You don't have to tell me. I'll sleep when this case is down."
"That's what you said last time," Rose muttered, reaching for the coffee mug sitting in front of Abby. I eyed her for a moment and shook my head again.
"You're one to talk about not sleeping," I told her. "It's what, midnight? And you're drinking coffee?"
"That's different," said Rose. "I sleep during the day while the kids are at school. It's easier for me to do things at night."
"You're not actually going to get into this argument now, are you?" Abby asked, taking her mug back and rolling her eyes. "Thanks, Rose."
"There's more in the pot," Rose replied without looking at her. She was giving me that look again.
"I hate that look," I told her, "What's it for this time? I haven't even done anything."
"But you will," Abby remarked. "You always do. It's inevitable. Whenever you're around, something's bound to happen."
"You're one to talk about arguments," said Rose. "Pour me a cup while you're over there, huh?"
Abby pulled the nearest cupboard open and drew out a mug before looking at me. "You want some?"
"Sure," I said dryly "Why not? I'll be on shift again in another hour or so anyways."
"This is why second shift should learn to handle their own damn cases," Rose muttered. "You finished with that?"
When I nodded, she got up and took the plate over to the sink before turning to face me again. "You guys actually getting anywhere on this, or are you just running around in circles?"
"You know I can't tell you anything," I replied. "At least, not until it's been closed. It's too…political." Rose snorted.
"Political," she repeated. "Yeah, right. The brass just don't want anyone to know that second shift's incompetent."
"You don't even know them," I said, surprised by my sudden defense of the opposite shift.
"There's a first," said Abby. "Thought you guys hated them."
"When you're forced to work with them, you start to realize that some of them aren't as bad as you might have thought," I said, taking the mug she handed out to me.
"Can we forget about the criminal justice system for a while?" Rose asked, abruptly deciding to change the subject. "I don't want to hear anything about trials or murders, all right?"
"Then what do you propose we talk about?" Abby asked. "You're sitting here with a cop and a State's Attorney, Rose, what did you think the conversation was going to be?"
Rose glared at her over the rim of her own mug. "You know what I mean," she said. "It's depressing enough to hear it during the day."
"So, talking about it at night only makes it worse?" I asked, pushing at her foot. She rolled her eyes in my direction, pretending to be annoyed, but it didn't work.
"Yeah," she said, "It makes it worse. Would it be so hard to leave shop talk out of the conversation?"
"No," said Abby. She drummed her fingers on the tabletop and leaned forward on her elbow, sighing. "This is complicated."
"What's complicated?" I asked, and she motioned around us. Rose smirked.
"The kitchen's not complicated if you know what you're supposed to be doing in it," she replied. Abby gave her a look.
"That's not what I meant," she told her. "I meant this. The three of us, the kids, our lives…"
"How is it complicated?" I asked. "You and I get up, we go to work, Rose sends the kids off to school and takes care of things around here…"
"Yeah, but think about it," said Abby. "If we didn't know each other, where would we be right now?"
"Screwed," I replied. "If I didn't know you, then I'd have no one to watch Kai while I went to work."
"And you'd have no one to take care of her if something ever happened to you," said Rose. I made a face.
"What happened to leaving shop talk out of the conversation?" I asked. She shrugged.
"You brought it up," she said, "And I had a point. Besides, you wouldn't be the only one screwed. If I didn't have Abby, there's no way I'd be able to handle five kids."
"That's what you get for having four of your own," said Abby. "Kai's not even that hard to handle."
"Maybe not for the two of you," I remarked dryly. "It's a different story when you're not around."
"I'll believe that when I see it," said Rose. "When are you supposed to be going back?"
"Don't know," I replied. "We just got sent home, so I'm assuming I've got a few hours."
"That's not very much time," Abby remarked. "You just going to stay here or are you going to take Kai home?"
"She'll kill me if I wake her up now," I said. "Might as well just stay…if you don't mind."
"Do we ever?" Rose asked dryly. "You go sleep in one of the guest rooms; we'll see you in the morning."
"You want me to help finish up down here?" I asked, rising to my feet. She shook her head and pointed up the stairs.
"No," she said, "I do not. Abby can help me. You go to sleep; you need it more than we do, anyway."
I started towards the stairs, casting a grateful look in her direction: she was right. I did need to sleep. I could hear their voices drifting up towards me as I rounded the corner in the upstairs hallway; they were arguing about something that I couldn't exactly make out, but they'd be over it by the time the sun started coming up. Pushing the door to the guest room open, I stepped inside, closing the door behind me.
It was a miracle that the three of us hadn't yet started wanting to kill each other…especially since we'd known each other going on thirty-odd years now. All three of us had watched our friendships with other people fade into oblivion, but somehow, we'd managed to stick together through it all.
I'd heard people say that nothing lasted forever, but as I started to drifting off, I knew that they were wrong: my friendship with them was something that would.