Spinner never married Emma and Clare was never sick in this story.
This is all in Spinner pov.
Man Behind the Badge
"Hey Mason, DeGrassi is having a dance on Friday and they need extra cops, you and Penhall are on duty," my sarge tells me.
"What? Why us?" I gripe.
"Because it's your old school and you know the place, you know the kids," He replies.
"Not anymore just about everyone I knew graduated," I remind him.
"Well you still know the school," the sarge replies.
"Aw man," I complain slumping back in my desk chair.
"Do you know anyone at the school still?" Penhall, my partner asks.
"The only person still going there that I even remember is Clare Edwards, I dated her older sister. She was a sweet kid, very much on the sweet good girl side of things, unlike her sister. She used to have long hair and glasses and was thin as a rail but I haven't really seen her in three years. I moved to Ottawa and I haven't seen her since I got back last year," I tell him.
"Well Friday ought to be an interesting night. Can't wait to stop kids from sneaking out, making out and spiking the punch," Penhall says rolling his eyes.
"Yeah interesting," I nod but with a sarcastic tone. I'd rather be directing traffic than be security at a DeGrassi dance.
Friday evening finally came around and I was looking forward to it about as much as root canal. It's not as though anyone here would remember me, I wasn't even sure Clare would. Still, I knew what teenagers were like and I did not want to spend the next 4 hours keeping them in line. We met up with Officer Turner and Principal Simpson. Turner and Penhall got posted at the exits and I was supposed to walk around and make sure everyone was behaving. Kids starting coming in, the dance had a beach or Hawaiian theme so people were in Hawaiian shirts, shorts and stuff like that. No one was particularly dressed up. Then a girl comes in wearing a navy blue dress with white trim, her hair is much shorter and curlier than I remember but it's the same color and I could never forget those eyes. It's Clare and she looks amazing! Not the 14 year old girl that I remember, but she's a woman now and with all the right curves in all the right places. She greets a blonde girl I vaguely remember but don't recall her name, and then hugs two boys. I watch her for most of the night, doing my duty but always with my eye on her. When the dance is over and she seems to be helping clean up I go over to say hi.
"May I have this dance?" I ask holding out my hand.
Her friends look at me like I'm crazy, a cop has no business dancing with a student, but when she turns around she recognizes me immediately.
"Spinner!" She smiles throwing her arms around me in a tight hug.
"Hey Gorgeous, been a while, now how about that dance?" I ask her.
She takes my hand and we go out to the dance floor with her friends watching.
"You became a cop after all," she smiles looking at my uniform.
"Yep and I was living in Ottawa. Guess I should have looked you up when I got back because boy did you grow up," I tell her giving an approving whistle at the end which attracts the attention of her friends again, and she giggles. "You are way hotter than your sister ever was and is your purity ring gone?" I remark noting her finger.
"Oh yeah prom night, let's not talk about that, he's long gone," She replies as the song ends.
"Hey Mason, we're off you coming?" Penhall calls.
"We should catch up. Want to go out and get some dessert?" I offer.
"Sure," she grins, she retrieves her purse from under a table and we start walking out. "Hey Dallas tell Adam I'm catching up with an old friend and I'll call him tomorrow," She requests of a tall boy with dark skin.
He looks at her, looks at me and shrugs while nodding his head. Clare follows me out to my car and we get in, I drive a little ways to a café near my apartment. I get coffee, she gets hot cocoa and we split a piece of dark chocolate cake. I tell her what I've been up to since I last saw her; moving to Ottawa, joining the Ottawa Provincial Police and moving back here. By the time we're done with dessert I've told her everything but she hasn't told me anything yet.
"You want to come to my place? I haven't heard what you've been up to these last three years," I point out.
"Yeah sure let me just tell my mom I'm sleeping at Jenna's," she says getting out her phone.
"I take it your mom hasn't changed at all," I remark and she shakes her head.
She calls her mom as we leave the café, it's a quick conversation and she's off by the time I begin driving to my apartment.
"It's nice but you're about as clean as you were last time I was in your apartment," She teases when we enter my place.
"All part of the bachelor life," I tell her tossing some dirty clothes off the sofa so she can sit down.
I start a fire in the fireplace and sit next to her. We talk for hours, Clare tells me everything about the last few years, and she's been through a lot. Around three she starts to get tired, I loan her a shirt to sleep in and offer her the bed.
"I'm not a little kid anymore Spin, we can share the bed. I trust you," she smiles.
"Are you sure?" I ask her and she just laughs.
When she's in bed I turn off the lights and get in next to her, she moves over until she's just inches from me and turns toward me. With the light of the moon coming in through the window I can see her beautiful eyes and soft smile. I reach up and brush a curl from her face, she bites her lip.
"You know something Clare Edwards you're pretty amazing," I tell her.
She doesn't respond exactly but she does touch her lips to mine, softly at first then adding more pressure as she deepens the kiss. Her arm goes around my neck, her other hand resting on my chest. I circle her arm around her lower back and pull her closer to me. She exhales into the kiss and I slip my tongue between her lips. We don't pull apart for several minutes and when we finally do she's smiling. She lays her head on my chest, her eyes flutter closed and she falls asleep, I fall asleep soon after her.
"So how mad do you think you're Mom and Darcy would be if we were dating?" I ask Clare over breakfast the next morning.
"I haven't heard from Darcy in months and my mom doesn't need to know, besides I'm seventeen there isn't much she can do." Clare replies and I lean over the table to kiss her.
After breakfast I take her to her friend Adam's house but it's cold outside so I lend her my leather jacket. I open her car door and walk her around to the basement where she assures me her friends will be. There are three boys in the basement. I recognize all of them from the dance last night and they all look over at us. When they see us together, she's still wearing her dress from last night and my coat, their mouths drop open. The skinniest one, I believe to be her best friend Adam from her description gets up and opens the door.
"Hi Clare… and cop from last night," he says.
"Hi Adam, this is Spinner, those two are Drew and Dallas," Clare says pointing at the other two boys. "Spinner is my boyfriend," she announces with a smile and then turns to me capturing my lips in a passionate kiss.