"Well, well, the Sergeant finally graces us with her divine presence."
Charlie grins at her cousin who was bowing to her.
"It's about bloody time," Georgie adds with a hug for her cousin. "Congrats Charlie."
"Thanks Georgie."
"We should go out and celebrate some time."
"Let's wait until its official."
"They've made you Acting Sergeant, you'd have to fuck up big time for them to take it away from you after they favoured His Majesty over you the last time."
"All the same, I'm going to put off celebrating until I'm formally promoted to Sergeant."
"Does this mean I have to call you ma'am?"
"Just be yourself Georgie," Charlie says, before hastily adding that she needed to remember at work, she was her senior officer and not her cousin.
"Whatever you say Sergeant Chuck."
"Oh shut up."
"Is that an order?"
"If it needs be." The cousins grin at each other.
"Seriously Charlie, you deserve this."
"I just wish my parents were here to see this."
"They'd be proud of you Charlie, just like I am and no doubt Ruby is too."
"Ruby was more interested in conning me into driving lessons. I got home to find her and Joey preparing this yummy meal and then she hits me with the driving lessons, as if she could get to me through my stomach."
"Hasn't she figured out that only works on me?"
"It kind of worked on me. I told her I'd think about it, but it probably is time for her to learn, I mean, most teens want to learn as soon as their old enough for their L's and Ruby's waited longer than that."
"I can give her a few lessons to help build up her hours."
"No offence Georgie, but I don't want to be pulling my sister over for speeding all the time."
"I'm not that bad."
"That's what all lead foots says, but they don't seem to understand the sheer terror they have their passengers in."
"Martha and Jay like my driving."
"That's because you drive below the speed limit with your son in the car, unlike when I'm in the car with you."
"I stick to the speed limit."
"There's just something about your attitude though and when you get behind the wheel, it always has me wanting to be the one driving."
"Sounds like you have a complex and blame me for your need to be in total control, including driving all the time."
"Nice try."
"I guess now that you're Queen of the Hill, I'll never be driving again if we're in the car together," she moans with a pout.
"There has to be some perks to being the boss," Charlie says with a grin. She glances at her watch. "The D's will be here shortly and I want to be ready for them. Is Aden here?"
"He's in his office waiting for a call from one of his buddies. Hopefully it's some news on CBJ Industries."
"I guess it's just wishful thinking to hope we can have this solved before the D's come and take over."
"Just a bit. So I take it from your tone, that you don't like the idea of these guys coming in and taking the credit."
Charlie smiles wryly. "It's different this time, it's my station they're strutting into and I somehow doubt this Roberson guy will be as easy to get along with as Aden was."
"From what I've heard about Robertson, there will be a line up of people wanting to kill him, both cops and civilians."
"Well, maybe we'll be lucky and his reputation is exaggerated."
"Permission to shoot him if it's not?"
Charlie considers that for a moment. "Nah, may damage my promotion chances if I let you do that."
"With the D's arriving, I'm guessing my help won't be needed on the case anymore, so can I request patrol assignments?"
"Sure. You haven't done much of that lately, but don't go giving everyone else the same idea of getting out of the station and away from the D's."
"Just remember Charlie, this is your station now, you don't have to put up with any attitude from the D's if they give it to you."
"I think I will remember that. This is my station and I'm not going to let anyone tread all over it or my officers."
"How often have you said those words since Joyce left yesterday?"
"What words?"
"My station."
"A few," she admits. "But I had other things on my mind later in the day."
"I heard what happened yesterday, is Joey ok?" she asks.
"She's fine, but she has to take it easy for the next week or so."
"That must be very hard for the both of you," Georgie says with a smirk.
"You have no idea," mutters Charlie.
Their attention was drawn to the entrance where a man and woman were standing, as if waiting for someone to notice them. Their D's, Charlie guessed, though she had second thoughts when she saw the teddy bear tucked into the man's arm.
"Ah, Sergeant Buckton," the man strides confidently toward her, his hand out. "I'm Det. Robert Robertson and this is my colleague, Det. Graves."
Charlie took his hand. Robertson was tall, rather distinguished looking in his suit and Charlie had to admit, a handsome man while Graves was an attractive blonde, a little shorter than her. She also didn't look very old.
"I'd like to see the crime scene with Det. Jeffries and he can fill us in on the case on the way, then Sergeant, we can have a chat when we're back," Robertson says.
Before Charlie even had a chance to take in what he'd said and reply, Robertson was talking to Georgie. "Be a good little constable and prepare us cappuccinos to go, and leave the sprinkles off mine. Come along Doogie," he says as he strides away from them, pausing at the reception counter and setting the bear down.
"Permission to shoot him," Georgie mutters to her cousin.
"Don't temp me." So much for not letting anyone tread all over her station and her officers, she thought, but even though she knew something of what to expect with him, he'd still managed to come in and just completely do things on his own terms.
"Chop, chop on the cappuccinos, Constable," he calls out over his shoulder.
"Easy Georgie," Charlie whispers to her fuming cousin. "He is senior to you."
"He's a jerk, ordering me around like I'm some waitress."
"He is a jerk, but it doesn't make him any less senior. I'll have a word to him about this later."
"When he gives you permission to talk, you mean."
"He just got me off guard."
"Yeah, that's exactly where he wants you." Georgie stares at his back. "Watch him Charlie, I get the feeling that's how he does things, acts like an obnoxious jerk to keep people off guard so he can catch people out or just to piss them off or just to test them out, whatever, but he's definitely obnoxious for a reason."
"Or he's just plain obnoxious."
"Even if he was absolutely brilliant at his job, only so much of that attitude would be tolerated and there is no way he'd get to that rank if he pissed off every officer, both junior and senior like he just did and if he orders other female officers to make his drinks like he just did with me, he'd be a walking lawsuit in the making."
"Well, he better have a reason for it because I'm sure as hell not putting up with him if he keeps it up."
Needing to cool down once Robertson had left with Aden and Graves, Charlie decided to take her lunch out of the station and take the opportunity to duck around to the hotel for Joey's things, that way she could get home earlier after work. Gathering up everything Joey would need, Charlie let herself out of the room and finds herself face to face with a man.
"Sgt Buckton, how is my daughter?" Not wanting to upset his daughter any more than he already had, he had heeded Aden's rather forceful advice and not followed her to the hospital but it meant he had no idea how she was, especially as she hadn't returned to her hotel room last night and the hospital refused to tell him anything when he called.
Charlie wondered at first how he knew who she was, until she remembered she had her name badge on. So this was Joey's father. She could see similarities with his daughter, yet where Joey's eyes were warm and soulful, her father's were rather cold and calculating. "Joey's fine, but she needs to take things easy and to avoid stressful situations." She was already in a bad mood after Robertson, so this probably wasn't the best time to have run into her girlfriend's father, hence her rather snappish tone.
Joey's father didn't need for her to spell it out, she saw him as one of those stressful situations his daughter needed to avoid.
"Joey loves you, how could you lie to her like that?"
"I do regret the lies, but she had a duty to her family."
"And her duty involved you lying to her and manipulating her?" Her voice full of scorn for him. "You wanted this and you didn't really care how it affected her life."
"I didn't force Josephine into this."
"You guilted her into this with your lies."
"Josephine loves Angelo and she was happy with him and with her decision, until you interfered," he accuses her.
"It was all a lie and eventually, Joey would have become so miserable, she would have left even if I wasn't around."
"No she wouldn't have. Angelo loves her and would do anything to make her happy and as soon as they return to the city, Josephine will be happy again."
"She's not going back to the city."
"Do you really think she's going to stay here with you?"
"Yes. We love each other and plan to be together for a very long time."
"My daughter is used to the finer things in life, do you think you're actually good enough for her, that you can keep her in the lifestyle she's known all her life?"
"I don't think you know your daughter very well if you think she's anything like that. She loves her job at the bar, serving customers and such, now that sounds more like a woman happy to work and earn a living, rather than someone who prefers to just have things handed to her on a silver platter."
She frowns when he takes something from his pocket and writes on it.
"What's this?" Charlie asks, staring at the cheque he'd just handed her.
"That is $500 000 for you to leave my daughter alone and send her back to her husband."