ROOKIE BLUE

A DAY AT THE BEACH

Set after "The Big Nickel".

PART 3

-o-

When he woke up, she was gone. He found a note on his bedside table, she had signed it with a girlie flourish that made him chuckle. He took a shower, rushed to the coffee shop near the station and dashed directly to the parade room. He was running late.

She was already seated at her usual place on the front row. He carefully sat a large moccacino right in front of her. "Hey McNally, sleep well? We've a big day today. I thought you'd need the caffeine…" he said in a gentle voice. She looked up, startled and Traci shot her an interrogating glance. She shrugged and went red, hiding behind her fringe. "Thanks" she mumbled but he was already two rows behind her, settling in beside Nash who was staring blankly at him. The stare, she thought, he's so onto us. Sam should be more careful. He's going to get us busted over nothing.

Parade went in a blur. All she heard was she was going to roll with Swarek, big surprise! She jumped to her feet as soon as Best was finished and swept swiftly the cup from the desk. She had to find Swarek but he was nowhere in sight. When Traci tapped on her shoulder that made her jump again and she could not help yelping.

"Somebody's edgy today," her friend said in a subdued voice. "Care to tell me what's going on with your training officer?"

"Nothing!" she begged. "Please, I don't have time for girl's talk this morning Trace. I had very little sleep and I must find Sam."

"Sam? Mmm, you know that you sound kind of desperate," she said, "and I don't really like it."

"Look Trace, it's not what you think, there's noth…"

"McNally, care to join me?" said a mocking voice in their back. She turned around but Sam Swarek was already ten feet ahead. She kept on swirling and, "Sorry Trace, later," she said with an apologetic smile. "I'll tell you everything!" she mouthed before dashing in his wake.

They started cruising immediately. Sam was in a hurry to get her away from the station and half a mile away, he parked on the deserted lot of an exotic dance club. "You okay, McNally?" he said. He did not let her answer the question. He merely kept on talking, with his eyes locked on the wall in front of him. She read the sign and winced. Bad neighbourhood. Trouble, she though, her mind racing. What was going on? They were friends huh? "I got your note. Why didn't you wake me up? I would have given you a ride to the station."

"I needed to get my stuff."

"I understand completely. I could have given you a ride to your place McNally, no big deal," he grinned.

"I like the walk. It… it helps me be alert… for parade, I mean."

"Okay, okay," his grin got even bigger. "So, big day today."

She nodded frantically. He chuckled. "You didn't hear a word of what Best had to say this morning , did you?"

She shook her head, holding on to her cup. "No sir, I didn't. Sorry, I was… distracted."

"Okay, I'm going to bring you up to speed. It's a perfect day for just cruising and with any luck, apart from speeding tickets, a light lunch at the diner of your choosing and a bit of paperwork, we'll be good. No ice cream truck today, no heist, no car chase, no B&E, just a simple quiet sunny fall day in Toronto and the two of us perfecting our tan. Is that clear?"

All she could do was staring. She realised at some point that she was merely gaping and shrugged. "Sir, yes sir."

"I can see that you're very professional today McNally, so I'll start with the good news. I got a call from my guy this morning and your car is as good as new. So we'll pick it up later on this afternoon. In the meantime, I'm all yours. What do you say?"

She looked away, dumfounded. What was she supposed to say?

"Nothing," he cheered. "You just made my day even more perfect than it already is. Keep up the good job, McNally," he smirked, starting the car. He looked in the mirror and pulled away in traffic.

Sam Swarek was not the talkative type and after his little stunt, it took her some time to pull herself together. Their day was going as smoothly as planned and she finally managed to relax. Sam was right, it was a glorious day, a perfect Indian summer day.

"We could get a coffee," she said.

"Oh, oh look at you, you're talking again. If I'd known that sleeping over had such an effect over your speech skills, I would have tried it from day one. Coffee it is!"

She had the feeling of discovering a need side of Swarek, like a light version of his moody, brooding self. He was in an intense mood though and quite energetic. It was sort of wearing her out. She was troubled and charmed, and anxious. She didn't know how to react and more importantly, she didn't know what to say.

"So all it takes is me sleeping on your couch?" she blurted out. Ouch, that was a bad idea.

"You're getting the wrong idea McNally. I'm new to this being friend with a woman thing you know. Usually, all it gets is having her sleeping in my bed."

She went beet red and her hands clenched on her cup.

"But it's fine," he continued. "I'm okay with being friend, as long as you don't plan on keeping up with the paralysed high school girl act. I'm not going to bite Andy. I'm just in a good mood!" he said, patting her on this hand. "It's fine, don't worry."

"It is?" she glanced at him.

"Absolutely!"

"Okay," she nodded.

"McNally, I had time to think over this all thing that we have going on. And I think it's great, really. So I was thinking. You're gonna get your car back today. Follow my drift here. What do you say, we get this baby somewhere into the wild, the beach, the country, the mountains, I don't care, your call."

"You mean this week end?"

"Actually I mean tonight! We'll have two full days ahead of us. Look, as I recall you agreed to buy me diner if I got your car fixed. And I did, so now it's your turn to meet your end of the deal. So why only diner? We could pack up some mileage into your antique transport and see if my guy is as good as he says he is. So what do you think?"

"You and me?"

"Of course you and me, we're friends, that's what friends do."

"We're talking camping here?"

"Camping? You're joking right? I mean motel, cabin, hotel. You can pick whatever you want. I'm buying. As long as you buy me one meal," he said, raising one finger.

"One meal?"

"Yeah."

"Okay."

"Okay? Great. Let's make some calls McNally."