It had been two days since Randi started working at the NYPD and today she had decided to bring Fabio along. Fabio, bless his sweet heart, had behaved himself admirably. Now they were outside with Randi removing the leash from Fabio's harness and letting him have a bit of exercise at a park near the precinct. It was one the local cops frequented so Randi felt fairly safe there.
After a while of playing, Randi noticed Fabio on his belly, trying to inch his way over to a girl who sat at the base of a huge statue. Her parents were nearby, talking to a man in a suit, possibly a lawyer or a detective. There were several nasty gashes on the girl's face and arms and from the way she was looking at Fabio with a mixture of fear and curiosity, Randi quickly deuced that the girl had recently been attacked by a dog.
Fabio loved kids but especially seemed to love the shy ones. He would do what he was doing now, inching his way toward the kid on his belly. He stopped, whined pathetically, inched forward again, and whined again, giving the girl the whole "Poor me, pet me" look. As Randi watched, after a moment, the girl very hesitantly, very cautiously put her hand out and Fabio instantly began licking her hand eagerly. The girl giggled.
"Fabio, you charmer! There you are!" Randi said, deciding to join them.
"Is, is that his name?" the girl asked as Randi sat beside her.
"Yup, this is Fabio and I'm Randi."
"I'm Darlene," the girl said shyly. Randi placed her at about nine or ten.
"Nice to meet you, Darlene. He really likes it if you rub his belly like this," Randi said, rubbing Fabio's belly. Fabio rolled on his back, paws in the air, tail going ninety miles an hour, looking like he'd just gone to doggy heaven. Darlene giggled and copied Randi, causing the dog to wriggle in happiness.
"How come his ears are tied up?" Darlene asked.
"Because Fabio, here, has really long ears, almost two feet long," Randi replied. Fabio rolled over and she removed the cloth lacings that tied his ears back. His ears promptly flopped on the ground in a pool around his feet and Darlene gapped in amazement. "As you can see, too much ear, not enough Fabio. So," she said as she tied his ears back again, "to prevent infection while he's having fun, I tie his ears out of the way. It also stops him from accidentally tripping over his ears while he's playing." Darlene giggled at the sight of Fabio with his ears tied back. Then she smiled. Removing a ribbon from her ponytail, she tied a nice little bow in the cloth lacings on Fabio's ears.
"Much better," she said, giggling again.
"Oh I quite agree!" Randi said, also giggling. Fabio just gave a big shake of his head, making his ears slap against him.
"What happened to his eye and leg?" Darlene asked as she petted Fabio.
"I'm not really sure. I found him about four years ago at the local Humane Society and was told he had been brought in from the streets. The Humane Society people really wanted to help him but they just couldn't afford to have the necessary surgery done on him to save his life so they were going to put him down when I went over there and convinced them to let me have him. I know he had a really bad infection in the one eye and there was a bad infection in his leg from some kind of cut. I fell in love with him and took him to the vet and all that and they said that in order to save him, they were going to have to remove his eye and leg. I told them to do what had to be done," Randi said. "He's been with me ever since and even with three legs, he can run faster than any dog I've ever known." She handed the girl Fabio's ball and said, "Here, why don't you throw this? He loves playing catch."
Eagerly, Darlene threw the ball and Fabio took off like a shot. He brought the ball back and dropped it in front of Darlene who threw it again, laughing. Again Fabio brought the ball back and again Darlene threw it. This time the ball bounced off a tree and, to Randi's horror, right past a certain detective who didn't even see Fabio barreling straight for him. She slapped her hands over her mouth in horror as Fabio hit the back of Mac Taylor's legs at full-tilt, sending Mac flying. As if that wasn't bad enough, the ground in that area was particularly muddy and Mac landed square on his back in the mud with a splash. Then things got even worse. Fabio grabbed the ball and used Mac's chest as a springboard to run back to her and Darlene. The end result was muddy paw prints all over Mac and mud all over his suit. All Randi could do was stare in horror at the whole scene.
Then Mac stood up, with help from Detective Stella Bonasera and Lindsey Monroe, and turned to look straight at them. His eyes went wide and Randi decided it would be a very good idea if she grabbed Fabio and got the hell out of the area before Mac decided to kill them.
"Play time is over, get-away time is now, nice meeting you, Darlene!" Randi said, grabbing Fabio and snapping his leash on to his harness.
"You too, Randi. Bye Fabio!" Darlene called as she ran back to her parents, apparently in the same mind as Randi.
Randi made a beeline back to her work area and promptly hid for the next hour. "You are one dead dog, Fabio! I know you love your ball but did you have to go through Mac's legs to get it? You're lucky I love you too much to try and seriously kill you!" she told the dog, who just yawned and went to sleep at her feet.
A little while later, while she was grabbing some coffee from the breakroom and trying to keep an eye out for Mac, Stella showed up. This gave Randi an idea.
"Hi Randi," Stella said. She and Randi had hit off instantly with Stella envying Randi's ability to put together her outfits and look good wearing it. She also liked Randi's cheerful, happy-go-lucky nature and had quickly realized that the other woman really did not have any idea of the effect she had on the male population, making her even more likable.
"Hey Stella. Listen, can I ask a small favor of you?" Randi asked.
"You can ask but whether or not I can do it depends on the favor you're asking," Stella replied.
"You saw what happened at the park, right?" Randi cringed at the memory as Stella grinned.
"Yeah. Mac had to take his suit and shirt to the dry-cleaners," Stella said.
Randi groaned in embarrassment. "Can you find out where and the ticket number? I want to pay for that. Fabio is my dog and therefore I should pay for the dry-cleaning."
"Would it make you feel better?" Stella asked kindly.
"It would."
"No promises, but I'll see what I can do," the detective said, smiling.
"And if he's already paid for it, snitch the bill and let me know the amount so I can reimburse him in full."
Stella nodded. "I'll do what I can, I promise."
"Call or text me when you know."
"Will do."
"Thanks, Stella. I really appreciate this."
"No problem. That was the funniest thing I ever saw, even if it was at Mac's expense," Stella said, grinning.
"What, Fabio verses Mac?" came Detective Donald Flack's voice as he came in to the breakroom, grinning.
"Is that what you guys are calling it?" Randi asked, mortified.
"Half the precinct saw that," Flack said, grinning even wider. "And the other half that didn't, heard about it."
"Oh my god! I am going to kill that dog, provided Mac doesn't kill me first!" Randi groaned, slapping her hands to her face in embarrassment, causing both Flack and Stella to laugh.