Breakable CH 5

"We won't be here this weekend. We are going to Pennsylvania. I'm sorry, Alex, I forgot it was this weekend." Alex's sister said.

"Oh, that's fine. We can do it some other time. Give him a kiss for me, will you?"

"Sure. I'm really sorry."

"Talk to you later." Alex hung up, disappointed.

"Something wrong?" Bobby asked from his desk across from hers.

"I can't see my nephew this weekend. They're going to Pennsylvania. It's just a minor setback is all."

"You could do something else? Maybe with Carolyn."

"She and Mike have holed up in their apartment and haven't come out since he went to Breakable." Alex said in disgust. "I'm glad everyone is enjoying it but I'm getting sick of hearing about it."

"That's because you haven't used your certificate yet. It really feels good to let that anger out." Bobby smiled at the mention of it. "I'm going to book another session when I get back. A weekend with Lewis and I'm going to want to break something. And Jennifer is nice. Very understanding."

"So I hear." Alex said sarcastically.

Bobby frowned at her. "It's not like you to judge like that without giving it a chance. You met her."

"She just seems too….sweet, to be real. Like she's living on a different planet than the rest of us."

"Maybe she comes from a different world. We can't all be hard nosed cops. Sometimes we're too jaded. I think it's refreshing. I'm not sure if I could take a steady diet of it, but it is nice. She provides a service and we get the benefit of it."

"At $25.00 an hour." Alex snarked.

"Do you want me to cancel my trip with Lewis? We could do something together?"

"No. Go ahead. Maybe I'll take my dad and we'll go somewhere. He's been asking when I'm coming to visit."

"That's a good idea."

After Bobby left for the weekend, Alex called her father but he was going fishing with some old friends for the weekend. She assured him that she'd be fine. He said he'd catch her later then realizing what he'd said chuckled and told her that might be all he'd "catch" this weekend. It was nice to hear him anticipating the weekend.

She hung up and sat back in her chair. So she was pretty much on her own for the weekend. Usually that meant a haircut, a body wax or something to pamper herself with, but it just didn't appeal to her right then. Well, how about if she spent some money without spending a penny. She dug out the certificate and dialed the number at the bottom.

"Breakable, this is Jennifer."

"I know it's late in the day, but do you have any weekend hours?"

"Not normally. Who am I speaking to?"

"Detective Alex Eames, Major Case."

"Ah, Bobby's partner. Ordinarily I don't work weekends, but I can make an exception if you'd like to come over in the morning. I'm kind of unbusy this weekend. I can use the activity."

"I don't want to put you out. I can come during a weekday."

"Nonsense. I can hear the stress in your voice. Come knock the living daylights out of some stuff. It'll feel good. Put the whole world back on its axis." Jennifer said.

"Well, if you put it that way….Alright. What time?"

"It's a weekend. How about 10:00? Too early?"

"Ten sounds great. I'll be there. Tell me again what I need to bring." Alex wrote it down, gave her the room she'd like to use, promised to see her in the morning and hung up. A good workout sounded like fun and wouldn't Bobby be surprised when he got back.

She went home, had a shower, watched some tv and went to bed. She dreamed all night about using a bat to break things. Her muscles twitched with the dreams so she was physically warmed up and ready to go by the time she arrived at Breakable the next morning.

The closed sign was in the window, but Jennifer came and unlocked the door for her as soon as she saw her. "I don't like to leave it unlocked when I'm in and out. There're too many people who'd come steal the light bulbs if that's all they could carry." She apologized.

"That's a case I'd never be able to solve." Alex teased.

"It would be too light for a Major Case." Jennifer agreed with a smile.

"Good one. I appreciate you opening for me this morning. You're husband doesn't mind you doing this on Saturday?"

"He's okay with it. He's very easy to get along with."

Alex sensed there was more there, but Jennifer moved away to the desk and turned to business at hand. Once that was all completed she showed Alex to the weapons room. The cabinet was filled with weapons, a new set of them had been added. Golf clubs. "Golf Clubs? Are they new for me?"

"You can certainly use them if you'd like, but I got a request from some wives to use them. It seems they've heard about my place here and they're golf widows. So I found some at a yard sale and brought them in. They aren't here specifically for you."

"I'm more in the mood for a baseball bat."

"Ah, heavy duty carnage, huh?"

"Good word for it."

Alex swung several until she picked out the one that felt the best. She handed it to Jennifer and followed her out. Jennifer opened the drawer and eyed her. "You aren't armed, right?"

"Not today."

"Then just your keys are fine."

Alex put them in the drawer and followed her into the room. As requested there was a lot of different things in the room. A miscellaneous collection of things was scattered throughout the room on a variety of tables, chairs and furniture. Alex felt the adrenaline pumping already. She eagerly took the bat from Jennifer and grinned when the woman told her. "Just let me get out of swinging range."

As soon as she left the room, Alex considered briefly where to start. She spotted a ceramic lamp in the corner that looked like one she recognized. The lamp was similar to one their neighbor had had when she'd been a kid. The woman had claimed that a ball Alex had been playing with had smashed through the window and destroyed the lamp. Her mother had paid for it even though Alex told her she hadn't done it.

That was the first thing to go. From there it was all downhill for the rest of the things. For most of the things, she was able to visualize exactly why she'd pulverized them. When Jennifer called the five minutes left for destruction, Alex took a minute to look around and was astonished at the amount of damage she'd done. One lone vase sat on a shelf. She grinned, "We can't have that." She took her time, lined up the swing and let fly. The vase shattered into a million pieces with a satisfying crunch. Now she was done.

"Five minutes. Put the weapon down, please." Jennifers voice said.

Alex laid the bat down and lifted her hair off the back of her neck to let the ventilation fan blow across her heated skin. She looked around and had to grin. "Bobby's right again. What a rush."

The door opened cautiously and Jennifer peeked inside. "Now that's a great piece of work." She grinned, eyeing Alex assessingly.

Alex grinned at her. "I'm unarmed."

Jennifer grinned back. "Sorry. Sometimes people aren't quite calm when their time is up. I've learned to be careful."

"Good idea." Alex nodded.

"The question is do you feel better?"

"I feel amazingly good."

"That's the point and you're doing a favor for the environment. You're making large pieces of junk into smaller ones. You can't beat that with a stick. Well, I guess you can."

Alex laughed. "I guess I owe Bobby a big thank you."

"I'd give that man more than a thank you." Jennifer winked at her.

Alex felt like a fool grinning, but that was how she felt. "Do you ever do this?" she asked gesturing to the mess around her.

"Once in a while. I spend a lot of my time otherwise occupied so I don't have to too often. Actually I haven't since…Never mind. Are you ready to go?"

"I guess so. You started to say you haven't since? I'd like to hear the rest of the sentence."

"No, you wouldn't. You're enjoying the feeling. Don't let it bring you down." She led the way out to the office and opened the drawer for Alex to retrieve her keys. Her pleasant mask was back in place.

"I'd still like to know. I know it's none of my business, but ….."

"My husband was killed in the line of Duty. He was a deputy sheriff. This was his idea. Rather than take his frustration out on me or the kids, he'd fill up the garage with stuff to beat the hell out of. His friends would come over and use them too. It was quite a club. I used the room after he died to express my rage and just turned it into a business."

"You said your husband doesn't have a problem with this."

"And he doesn't, does he?"

"But you're not really married anymore. Isn't that a bit dishonest?" Alex asked.

"I suppose you could look at it that way. I tell people he's out scrounging but it's more to keep people from thinking they can push me around or that I'm available for dates and things. You know the euphoria you are experiencing. Before I started telling people that, I had propositions all the time. Now I don't have that problem. Are you going to pass it on?"

Alex shook her head. "I can't fault you for wanting to protect yourself."

"Thank you. Can I make a suggestion?"

"I guess." Alex said cautiously.

"If I were you, I'd grab your partner and drag him off for the weekend and make sure he knows how much you care for him. Jump him, and handcuff him if you have to. I wish I had done that with my husband long before I did. We might have had more kids and more time together. I wish I had done that. I'm giving you the advice that I was too bull headed to take. It's none of my business, of course. Just a busybody old lady."

"He's my partner." Alex said, quickly.

"Uh huh. I know. Just keep it in mind."

Alex grinned at her suddenly. "I think I'll go call my partner now. And I'll definitely be back."

After she left, Jennifer nodded wisely. "I expect you will."

TBC