Playlist: Crosswords by Bone Thugs & Harmony : Number One by Custom Kings: Holding me up by The Dandy Warhols : Shut up and Kiss me by Pony Up!
Disclaimer: Just borrowing.
A/N: I know. It's a bit AU. Go with it; hopefully I've laid enough groundwork so it's not completely left field.
"Crap." Lilly breathed under her breath. When she'd called his bluff, she'd expected a slamming door and a Harley starting, not this.
"It's always been you." Ray opened the box, revealed a white gold diamond ring. The first thing Lilly noticed is how much it matched the ring her grandmother had given her when she was ten, pawned by her mother when she was twelve to get money for alcohol. Of course, that ring had never held a diamond, but it had been sparkly enough for a child, and the only present she'd ever got off her grandmother.
"Well? Don't make me get the tattoo removed." Lilly looked from the box to Ray's eyes. She knew how fickle engagements could be; but she also knew Ray. When he was in, he was in. And, damnit, she'd loved him. Somewhere under the layers of hurt invented by Patrick, Christina, Kite, Scotty… Somewhere under there, she knew she still loved him. And he'd met Christina before, had seen through the act straight away, which removed one worry.
Lilly let herself sink to the floor. As usual, he'd managed to tilt her world again. Ever since she saw him nineteen years ago, he'd been finding ways to get to her. It had started with the offer of a free Harley ride out of there two weeks after she'd met him and now, almost twenty years later, he was offering a more grown up version of that ride; more strings attached, more to lose if it all fell apart. But somehow she knew she was going to accept his offer again.
Lil offered her left hand, and his smile grew wider as he slid the ring on her finger. She looked at it, felt a smile animate her own face before it was lost under his kiss.
"Love you." Ray said when he finally pulled away from her. Lil pushed her hair back, let her head rest against his shoulder.
"Love you, too."
When the alarm went off the next morning, Ray had somehow managed to switch sides of the bed with her and, flinging his arm out, managed to hit the right button to shut the radio up. Lilly turned over, trying to see the time past him. She probably needed to get to work early, read over the interview notes, see if there was anything she'd left out after Ray rang. Usually she got up an hour earlier than this and went jogging in the mornings, but, even before Ray had arrived, she'd been deliciously lazy and had opted to lie in the warmth of her bed rather than brave the icy Philly mornings.
"It's, like, five am." Ray used the arm he had around Lil to pull her closer, ensnare her in a sleepy embrace.
"It's just before seven. I've got to go to work." Lil managed to extricate herself and slid her feet into her slippers before she padded over to the closet. Opening it, she muttered a swear word under her breath, heard Ray laugh.
"Nothing to wear?" He teased. Lilly pulled out her 'last resort' suit; dark grey, complete with pencil skirt. She didn't think she'd had to wear it before; had always managed to scrape together time to drop her suits into the dry cleaners, and get her shirts put through the Laundromat. With Ray here, and the case taking up as many hours as it did, she'd completely forgotten. So now, not only was she going to have to show up at work with a ring on that finger, she was going to have to show up in a skirt. Rummaging through her sock draw, Lil managed to find a pair of dark tights to put under it. She was still going to freeze, though.
"Leave me some hot water." She heard the yell as she turned the shower on, took her toothbrush out of her mouth to shout back.
"If you're lucky."
Lil brushed at her skirt despairingly. She hated the way it hugged her hips and tightened around her butt as she walked. She'd have to remember not to sit any way but with her legs crossed, either.
"C'mere." Ray called her over, and Lil grabbed her shirt and pulled it on as she walked to the bed. He'd snagged her pillow and was sitting up comfortably, watching her get dressed, as usual.
"You look great. Seriously. That skirt makes a man's imagination go some crazy places…" Ray reached down to pull back Lil's shirt, place a kiss on her shoulder. She snorted, pulled her shirt back up.
"I've probably got to interview two possible murder and rape suspects today. I'm not sure I want anyone's imagination doing anything." Lilly flicked her hair over her collar, started buttoning the shirt.
"Should your fiancé be worried?" Lil laughed out loud, shook her head as she got up to retrieve her shoes.
"You know, it has a nice ring to it. Fiancé. Say it."
"No." Lil pursed her lips, tried to stop smiling. She leant down to fasten the buckles on her shoes.
"Really, Lil. I'm gonna go to work today and say guys, you shoulda seen what my fiancé left the house in this morning."
"You wouldn't." Lil finished her buckling, turned to look at him.
"Won't if you say it." Lil chewed her lip thoughtfully, walked over to get a scarf. Turning back towards Ray, she sighed again.
"Fiancé. There." She put her jacket on, brushed some lint of the sleeve. Ray was nodding at her.
"See?" Lil rolled her eyes at him.
"I'm gonna go. I'll see you tonight." She came over to the bedside table beside him and pulled her holster out. He grabbed her arm, eyes persuading her to lean down and give him a quick kiss.
"I do like that skirt." He called after her.
Getting closer to the office, Lil could feel the bite of the air on her legs, even through the tights. Her gloves were snug over the ring as well, so that she was ever conscious of its existence. She'd considered the idea that maybe running out of trousers was a decent diversionary tactic; everyone would be so busy teasing her about the skirt that they'd neglect to notice the ring, or its placement on the fourth finger of her left hand. Who was she kidding? They were detectives; they noticed everything. She knew it would lead to raised eyebrows, questions. With the exception of Scotty, they'd wonder who he was and how he got Lil, usually the resident single girl, to agree to marriage. Jeffries would quietly congratulate her, Stillman would ask about time off for a honeymoon, Vera would crack a distasteful joke. Truth was, she wasn't thinking ahead to a wedding, a honeymoon. Neither, it seemed, was Ray, with the way he was so enamoured of the word fiancé. Besides, they'd already been through a honeymoon stage in their relationship; this time around, they were more like the settled older couple, comfortable with each other, privy to each other's childhood secrets, holders of each other's history.
Lil sighed, let a smile escape her lips as her right hand closed over her left. Who'd have thought she'd be engaged again? It would annoy the hell out of her mother; she loved to tell Lilly how alone she was. And the fact that it was Ray… Lil allowed herself a small giggle as she pushed open the door to PDD, pleased to be out of the cold.
"Morning," the security guard nodded to her and she nodded back, still smiling. Maybe today wasn't as bad as she'd thought.
"Morning, Lil." Surprisingly, Kat was in the office. She'd been on leave for the past few weeks and Lilly had thought she'd had the rest of the week off.
"Hey, Kat. You're back early, aren't you?" Lilly put her gun in a locker before unwrapping the scarf from her neck and pulling off her gloves. Her back to Kat, she looked down and turned the ring around so that the diamond was on her palm side. As only a band of silver, it was considerably less noticeable. She had considered taking it off, but she wanted to wear it, let it symbolise what she and Ray had. And there was something conventional about marriage Lil liked; promising herself to one person, accepting the same promise. Of course, last time it hadn't worked out. Then again, Ray wasn't Patrick.
"As good as it was to make school lunches and attend every PTA meeting, I got a little stir crazy. I've been looking over the notes; girl murdered in the alley?"
"Lydia Coultier. Thirty years ago. Today, we've got to chase up the two guys who helped Lydia's boyfriend in the robbery that got whomever it was the murder weapon. We did an interview with the boyfriend yesterday; he never came forward after she died, so he won't be in the original file." Lil sat on her chair and reached into her desk. She got out the notes she'd written yesterday and handed them to Kat with her right hand. Maybe she'd be able to adjust to this. Sure, they'd all find out eventually, but she was hoping it would be later, rather than sooner, when she'd had more time to get used to the idea. Maybe after they all knew she was actually dating someone. Scotty was the only one who knew Ray was back, and she'd told him Ray wouldn't be staying around. At the time, she'd thought she was right but now, apparently, she hadn't been further from the truth. She was sure Scotty wouldn't think that though, that he would probably think she'd lied to his face for reasons unknown.
"So we couldn't hold the boyfriend?" Kat had quickly read through Lil's notes, was handing her back the file.
"Nah. No evidence. Knife wasn't enough on its own. Told him to stick around but…" Lil shrugged, and Kat nodded. She knew that if a suspect was going to run, they were going to run.
"So, anything happen while I was away?" Suddenly, Lilly had the urge to show her the ring, indulge in some girly talk before the guys came in. Then again, she didn't do girly talk very well, and she didn't know if she could face the twenty questions that Kat would throw her way. When she'd gone on leave, there'd been no one on Lilly's horizon, no marriage offers looming. Naturally, she'd be curious. And while Kat didn't seem like the type to gossip, Lil knew whatever details she let slip would be all over the department by the time she went home.
"Nothing note worthy." Lil shrugged.
"Morning." Jeffries was next in, and he slung his coat over his chair. Lilly smiled up at him before looking back down to the interview notes.
You're back early, aren't you?" Lil stifled a laugh under her breath as she looked up to see Kat roll her eyes. No doubt, she was going to be asked that three more times that morning.
"Hey, guys." Scotty and Vera arrived next, Scotty bearing steaming cups of coffee.
"Oh, Kat… Didn't know you were here. Aren't you back early?" Lil couldn't help herself, shared a look and a smirk with Kat as she accepted her coffee.
"Group announcement; there's only so much time away from this I could cope with. I'm back early." Kat shook her head, looked around at everyone holding their coffees. "And I'm going to get a damn coffee." She left and Lil stood, taking the file over to Scotty's desk, where the case box was. Vera let out a low whistle, and Lilly shot him a glare.
"I ran out of suits." She walked back into her chair, sank into it gracefully, pointedly ignoring the look Vera and Scotty were sharing as she crossed her legs. She sipped her coffee and leant back in her chair. Scotty had looked up the names the boyfriend had given them yesterday, so all that was left to do was clear the interviews with Stillman, who was, unusually, running late.
"We got an angle to go on today?" Stillman entered the office with Kat, who was proudly holding a double large cup in her gloved hand. Lilly wound her scarf around her neck and pulled on her gloves while Jeffries explained where they were up to. Stillman told them all to go ahead. Lil and Scotty were to go see Matthew Anderson, and Vera was going with Kat to find David Brennan. Jeffries had a court date lined up that morning on a murder charge he'd placed a few months ago. Surprisingly, at the moment the wheels of justice were turning remarkably quickly.
"So where does this guy work?" Scotty handed a piece of paper to Lil, and she read the address. Remarkable that a guy who'd started out robbing grocery stores would end up with his own accountancy firm in North Philly.
"Guess he's cleaned up his act."
The interview with Matthew Anderson had been unremarkable. He'd stared at Lil's legs for most of the time; something Scotty had been trying not to do himself. He'd also provided them with an alibi that, thirty years later, was still holding up. Kat and Vera had returned with similar news; Brennan had provided them with an alibi as well. He'd been working at the time Lydia had been murdered, and time cards proved it.
"Time to go back to the boyfriend, Mark?" Scotty asked. They were all gathered around Scotty's desk, and, perched on the edge of it, she recrossed her legs, shrugged.
"Well Brennan said he'd only robbed the store, he didn't keep anything. Claims he didn't even know Lydia, and that he ditched everything he'd stolen in a trash can. Said they only did it as a laugh. Told us it was Mark's idea."
"Anderson said the same thing." Scotty said glumly. Lil bit her lip. She could feel an idea forming… Grabbing the old file from the box, she flipped through until she came across the report on the knife. It had been collected the first time because it was found nearby and it was consistent with the type of injuries inflicted on Lydia; the stab wounds and the slashed throat. There'd been a small amount of blood found on the handle as well. They'd retested it this time around, had found that it was, without a doubt the weapon used on Lydia. It held only the grocer's fingerprints, though. And the robbery had been Mark's idea…
"We need Mark back in here." Lil stood up, sitting her coffee mug down on Scotty's desk.
"Jesus, Lil, look at that rock." Lil blinked, swore under her breath. The diamond had turned with the movement against the coffee mug. Even when she'd managed to keep it facing inward, she hadn't thought it would take them this long, though, and the longer it had gone with no one noticing, the more she was sure she could last the rest of the week and come in Monday with an explanation that would make the engagement seem less sudden.
"You think wearing a ring on that finger will stop guys hitting on you? Trust me, it doesn't work." Vera shook his head, looking like the great authority on what took women out of the game.
"And how would you know?" Jeffries challenged him, ready to follow his statement with a smile.
"Julie. Even when we were just engaged and she only had the one ring…" Vera looked down at the table, thoughtful. Kat had been following the conversation with pursed lips and a shit-me-not expression while Scotty's eyes had never left Lil's face.
"Actually… I'm engaged." Lilly brought all attention back to her with the last two words. There was a lingering dazed silence. Vera was the first to recover.
"Gonna be a shotgun wedding, Lil? Pitter patter of little feet to follow shortly after?" Lil shook her head, admitted to herself that things were playing out as expected. Vera had already made the first joke at her expense.
"Nice, Nick." Jeffries shot him a glare on her behalf and gave her a small smile. "Congrats, Lil."
"Thanks, Will." Lilly crossed over to her desk, picked up her scarf.
"So you gonna tell us who the lucky guy is? Why we've not heard so much as a mention of his name before this?" Kat asked her, one eyebrow raised. Lilly shook her head, but before she could speak Scotty cut in.
"Guy on the Harley, right Lil? Ray. Real stable." Scotty pushed his chair up, passed Stillman on his way out of the room, who stood aside to let him go.
"Where Valens going?" Stillman asked his detectives, who were all looking one step removed from puzzled. Jeffries was the first to recover, and he let Stillman in on the news.
"Lil got engaged." Stillman looked over to her, the almost blushing cheeks. He hadn't heard anything through the office grapevine about her even dating anyone, so the news was surprising but he nodded, forced a smile.
"That's great. You need any time off, let me know."
"Thanks, boss." She ducked her head a little, a smile flitting across her face.
"First Thursday tonight, he gonna make an appearance?" Vera asked.
"What, so you guys can rip him to shreds?" Lil shook her head, looking amused.
"Bring him along. I'll keep them under control." Stillman nodded at Lilly, and she looked like she might consider his offer. He desperately wanted to meet whomever it was. He knew he had no control over his detectives' lives, but he felt more than just protectiveness as Lil's superior, and he wanted to know that she hadn't ended up with someone who would hurt her. He knew it looked like she could handle it, but under the smooth veneer, there was a much more delicate version of Lilly Rush. He knew, too, that if he knew what this guy looked like it would be a lot easier to hunt him down and give him payback if he ever hurt Lil.
"Will, you want to come with me to bring Mark in? I don't know if Scotty's coming back."
"What's going on?" Stillman paused in his thoughts as he tuned back in to the conversation.
"We talked to Anderson and Brennan, the other two guys who robbed the store. They've both got alibis, but it turns out it was Mark's idea that they robbed the store and dumped it all in the trash. Knife was found in the trash can. Could be that Mark and the grocery store owner, Harris, were in it together. Mark robs the store, chucks it all in the trash. Harris reports the knife missing along with the other items, kills Lydia then puts the knife with the rest of the stolen items."
"Why would Mark go along with his girlfriend's killer?" Vera asked.
"You'd better ask him. Bring him in." Stillman nodded to Lil and Jeffries, who left.
"So… Lil engaged." Vera said. Stillman looked to him.
"Did you see it coming?"
"Nope. As much of a curveball over here. Haven't even heard her mention anyone… Although someone did come see her earlier in the week…" Stillman shook his head, left Vera to his wondering. As gossips went, as much as he would contest it, he was the worst in the office.
"Kat, call Scotty. Tell him we're bringing Mark in again."