The Moon And We

They had plotted their great escape in near silence, sending Sergeant Elliott ahead to see if the coast was clear then snuck out the back.

Brenda smirked, pleased, and put her hat back on, followed by her sunglasses as the L.A. evening blinded her with an orange gleam across the horizon.

"That was excellent, Chief."

The blonde nodded, grateful for the sunglasses as her heart hammered away in her chest. She dared to glance at Sharon, her features relaxed, a devious glint in her eyes then turned away, staring into the blazing sun.

"What the heck is going on?"

"Hmm?"

Sharon pointed at a small crowd huddled around the driver's side of a vehicle. "That's my car," she said and sped up.

Oh, boy, Brenda thought and trailed after her. She saw Sergeant Elliott amongst the four men and followed his gaze.

"Oh, boy..."

BITCH

That's all it said.

Wisely, the three officers cleared the scene, most attributed to the Captain's more than scathing facial expression.

"Has anyone touched it?" Brenda asked.

"Not that I know of," Elliott replied, still staring at the big scratches.

The blonde nodded and whipped her cell phone out. "I'm callin' SID."

"Chief," Sharon grasped her wrist.

"No, no, no, Cap'n, you cannot let him get away with it."

"Chief, it's a keyed car."

"This time," Brenda raised her voice and snatched her hand away, "Next time he might find a different outlet for his anger."

"It's a keyed car."

The blonde stared at Sharon, who stared right back, then sighed defeatedly. "Fine. But I am calling Lieutenant Tao."

"What for?"

Brenda smirked. "He's a former SID officer, he'll know how to get prints off this thang and all."

"Oh, for god's sake!" Sharon nearly stomped her foot. "We don't have time for this, Chief, I have to drive Sergeant Elliott home-"

"Don't mind me," he interjected.

"-who is going to a seminar tomorrow. And that is not up for debate, Sergeant!"

Brenda merely rolled her eyes - she wasn't his Mama.

"Oh, yohoo!" She waved suddenly, startling everyone. "There's your little friend. Maybe she can give you a ride? Yohooo! Yes, you! Come on over!" She pressed the phone to her ear. "Not you, lieutenant. I mean, yes, I do need you to come over but I also need you to bring your little bag of tricks if you don't mind?"

Sharon sighed, defeated and decided to lean onto the hood of her car.

Brenda knew she had gotten her way. "See you later! Um, no, not you, Lieutenant, I meant Detective, um, Sergeant Elliott. Bye, bye! Bye, now...yes, you Lieutenant. Bye." She hung up. "He's comin' over."

"I gathered that. But, Chief, this is really unnecessary. If anything, we will find some partials, which is completely coincidental and all we will have accomplished is wasting precious time while you could be investigating a murder and I could be interviewing a witness. So, let's do us both a favor and-"

"No."

"No?"

Brenda put a smile on her face. "If you want to keep ignoring this, be my guest, I however will try to catch this guy...somebody has to look out for you if you refuse to do it yourself."

The blonde swallowed at her sudden, somewhat emotional outburst. "Looks like we have a camera over there, Captain. How about you go and ask Sammy nicely if we can have the tape while I wait for Lieutenant Tao."

Sharon threw her hands up in the air. "...fine."

"Anything?" Brenda tapped the DVD case with her nails as she watched Tao pull yet another set of prints from the car.

"Yep," he exclaimed triumphantly. "I have a partial palm print here." He held it up. "Looks like somebody leaned against the car while they got up...like so," he demonstrated.

Brenda nodded, her eyes falling onto Captain Raydor who had gone to visit neighboring businesses hoping for a different, camera surveilled angle of the parking lot.

"Nothing." She announced, exhaling. "The store across has one but it hasn't been working for a few weeks now."

The blonde huffed - at least they had the video from the bar. Risking another glance at Sharon from behind her glasses, Brenda had to admit that perhaps this whole thing was a bit over the top.

Calling Tao away from a murder for a keyed car was definitely not her usual modus operandi - usually nothing would matter more than a dead person, correction: a murderer freely roaming the streets of Los Angeles.

But. Brenda glanced at Sharon who stood there, checking her watch yet again. But, as much as she tried to avoid the thought, perhaps Sharon was more important.

The thought was calming somehow because, Brenda realized, she didn't exactly feel an obligation towards the woman or worse, as if she owed it to her after having slept with her.

This wasn't that. This was different.

And that Crawler guy? He rubbed her entirely the wrong way.

"Chief?"

"Hmm?"

"Chief, I really have to go now. I have a very time sensitive investigation on my hands and this," she gestured at the car, "will have to wait."

The blonde bit her lip and pulled the woman aside, away from prying ears. "Look, Sharon, I know this is none of my business-"

"Absolutely."

"-but..." Brenda cleared her throat. "I'm unhappy with how this situation has been handled. This guy is dangerous."

"I know that," Sharon urged quietly, "I've told one of my detectives to keep an eye on him but so far we have nothing to nail him with. And this?" She turned towards her vandalized Hyundai, "This isn't it. And even if we can establish that he did it, which we all know he did, all that's coming to him is a big, fat bill for a paint job."

"Well," Brenda tapped her food, "Then that's at least somethin'."

Sharon threw her hands in the air.

"Lieutenant? How's it goin'?"

"Alright then, Lieutenant. Pick up Mr. Blake for questionin'. Tell him we found his car."

"Sanchez?" Provenza grumped as he pulled his jacket from the back of his chair.

"Detective Gabriel?"

"Yes, Chief?" He swiveled around in his chair.

"Compile a list of names for me. I wanna see how he reacts when he sees Pedro on there."

He nodded then lifted his hand, pointing at something. "Uh, Chief..."

Brenda whirled around. There stood Crawley, looking bored and as if all this was just some big pile of horse shit that he truly couldn't give a single damn about.

"In my office," Brenda ordered, even though he wasn't an officer anymore, but the blonde kept up the pretense because as far as he was concerned, Crawley was still a member of the LAPD.

Thankfully he followed her without making a scene. He looked rough, though. Hair unkempt and beard unshaven. He was in desperate need of a shower and his clothes could do with an extended visit to a laundrette.

"Sit down."

Rolling his eyes, he plopped into a chair.

"Now, let's cut to the chase here." Brenda made a show of opening a file they had compiled on him, mostly nonsense but he didn't know that. "This is Captain Raydor's car after you keyed it."

She slapped the photo onto the desk.

"These are your prints on the car."

Slap.

"And this is video that we pulled from a surveillance camera across the street."

A nonexistent video and a partial palm print did not great evidence make but, Brenda argued, this wasn't a criminal investigation.

"Now, I know you'd been drinkin' that day, and I know you're tryin' your best what with goin' to AA but I think twelve steppin' only works if you own up to your mistakes and that's what this was, a mistake, wasn't it?"

Crawley said nothing.

"Fine." She closed the file, loudly. "Captain Raydor seems to want to give you the benefit of the doubt. She ain't out to ruin your career, contrary to popular belief, but maybe you've heard about how persuadin' I can be?" She smiled sweetly at him. "I can turn this thing into a criminal matter faster than you can say Jack Robinson."

He sighed, indulging her. "Look. There's a lot I could say about Raydor...and I know the two of you are kinda chummy 'n all-"

"Tick Tock, Officer."

"Fine! I'll write a cheque."

Brenda smiled again. "There's the bill." She watched him write it out, all $329.59 while she nibbled on some chocolate. He didn't seem fazed at all, writing neatly then tearing the cheque off and tossing it onto her desk with a condescending smile.

"Thank you, Officer."

He just chuckled and made for the door.

"See you soon, no doubt."

"Not if I see you first, Chief Johnson."

Brenda mulled over that comment long after he had gone. Something about his behavior didn't sit right with her. She looked at the cheque, turning it over and over then picked up the phone.

"FID, Raydor speaking."

The blonde leaned back in her chair, swiveling back and forth while unwrapping Reese's Pieces. "I got a cheque here for you for $329.59."

"Ha," Sharon laughed throatily. "That's bound to bounce."

"I'm sure it will."

"And?"

Brenda nibbled on the chocolate and frowned. "He's plannin' something or he's got somethin' up his sleeve. I suggest you keep your eyes open."

"I am."

Brenda cast a glance at the Murder Room then added, nonchalantly, "I have an application form here, for a CHO."

"Brenda..." Sharon sighed.

"It's already filled out."

"I just don't think we have grounds for-"

"You know that's not true!" Brenda interrupted. "It's a protective order, there's no burden of proof. And I just bet you, he won't even show up and default anyhow."

"And then what? A piece of paper isn't going to keep him permanently away from me, you know that just as much as I do."

The blonde was angry, furious and frustrated that Sharon wouldn't see sense. "At least then, when he shows up the next time, you can have him arrested for violatin' the order."

"...okay. Fine. Fax it."

"No, no, no," Brenda said, her voice low. "I'm comin' up with it and I won't leave until you've wrote out the affidavit." The blonde piled all she needed into a big heap and slammed the phone down.

And people called her difficult. Taking deep breaths, Brenda made to leave, ignoring the curious looks of Flynn who had, undoubtedly, heard an earful. On the elevator ride upstairs, the blonde tried to calm her nerves - some people just couldn't be helped.

And she was a police officer, a Captain, for heaven's sakes! Workin' in FID! Brenda had expected Sharon to be the first to follow procedure.

"Mornin'," she said sweetly as she burst into FID. "Oh, there she is! No need to get up, gentlemen." She swept past Elliott and Lieutenant what's-his-face, batting her eyelashes, and straight into Raydor's office.

"Mornin', Sharon." She dropped everything onto the desk before her.

"I am extremely busy."

"Well," Brenda replied evenly, "So am I." She sat without invitation and opened the first folder. "Here's the application. Now, I need you to tell me, exactly, what happened. And do not leave anything out."

Sharon glared at her, her eyes wide behind her glasses then they roamed around the room as they always did when she was trying to gather her thoughts. "Well."

"Yes?"

"It all started last year, when a complaint had been made about Officer Crawley's conduct..."