The New York Detective That Complicated My Life
"It was about 2 years back when it all started. There was another Detective by the name of Jess Angel. She was around us more and more around the team, and we started hitting it off, soon enough I was going out with her. When I was with her, I felt different when I was with her, and to be honest I thought she was going to be the one. That all changed one day. We were getting ready to transport someone when we got ambushed. Things got ugly quickly, and before I knew it she got shot. I was standing above her when she's lying on the ground, blood practically pouring out of her. She got to the hospital, but she died on the table.." His grip tightens on me as He buries his face into my neck. I then feel his tears spill onto my neck. It takes a good minute before he takes his face out of my neck.
"I was different after she died, I felt alone like I didn't know where to go. A lot of time I was just getting drunk, trying to wash away any memories left of her. It took me awhile to get back to the way I was before she died, and a huge part of it is because of the team."
"When I arrived at the fire today, I was just lost. I had no idea where you were, or even if you were alive. Like I felt the way when she was shot, granite you weren't shot but still. I couldn't go through that again, I can't go through that again. When I heard that you were alive and well, I was ecstatic. I almost burst into tears but I couldn't do that just yet." He puts his chin on my shoulder so his lips are right next to my ear.
"Annabel, I can't lose you. I do not know what I would do without you. I told myself that I can't let myself fall for another girl after what happened to Jess, but you changed that. I've fallen in love with you Annabel, and I don't want you to leave me, ever." He then brings his face into my neck again where he continues to cry. After a minute or so again, he takes his face out of my neck.
"All I want you to tell me is that you feel the same way."
"I do." I respond my voice sounding like it's getting constricted. I don't know what I was thinking, but I move his arms from me and start getting up.
"Annabel? Everything ok?" He asks as I finally get up off the bed.
"Yeah, I'm good." I walk out of the bedroom and towards the kitchen. I stand there with my back to the sink and my head towards the ceiling. He knows the basics of the guy who spit in my face, but he doesn't know the entire thing. I think I should tell him because he was honest with me about Jess. There's no way I would be able to tell me that if I was him, I wouldn't be able to. He did though and I admire him for that.
I look towards the entry into the kitchen and Flack's standing there. He comes into the kitchen and stands in front of me.
"Annabel, you know you can tell me anything." I look up at him and take a deep breath.
"The thing about the guy..."
"Ok, first start from the beginning, and second.." He lifts me up slightly, placing me on the counter so I'm no eye level with him. "I want you to look at me."
"I have to sit on the counter to look at you?" I ask him.
"Just tell me what happened."
"Ok so when I first moved here, my uncle Joey was a cop here before he retired and moved to Florida. He introduced me to his partner Jack, which I started going out with him. It was good for about a month, then it sort of went down hill. He got this attitude of 'Since I'm a cop, I'm better than you.' When I wouldn't do something right, that's when he would spit in my face, and would tell me I deserved it. I left when he had one day after I wasn't home when I said I would be, back-handed me across the face. That's kind of why I was an ass when I met you because I developed the mind-set of 'if one new York cop is a jackass, then they all are.' " I finish as I look him in the eyes like the entire time I have spoken.
"Well now that you said that, it explains a lot. Why didn't you ever file a police report." He asks as he picks me up and sets me back down on the floor.
"Whenever I did try to, it would never go anywhere because since he's a cop they believed him when he played the 'I didn't do anything card'."
"I'm sorry nothing ever got done. It's not right that the city's protecting him because he's a cop." I open my mouth when my phone rings in my shirt pocket where I left in the bathroom.
"Hold that thought." I tell him then run to the bathroom and pick up my shirt and take my phone out of my pocket.
"Yeah?" I answer.
"Hey Annabel, it's Danny. I'm here to give you the good news that the fire did not touch your apartment, it's just everything smells like smoke."
"Oh my god, thank you soo much Danny. You're the best!" I comment as I walk back out of the bathroom and towards the living room.
"Wow, if I'm the best after I tell you your apartment didn't burn down, I'd hate to see what Flack would have to do." I laugh as Flack comes into the room.
"Let's just say It would take a lot."
"He's got his work cut out for him. I'll talk to you later Annabel." He hangs up, and I stick my phone in my back pocket.
"What was all that about?" Flack asks as he's putting on a shirt.
"Danny just called to let me know my place wasn't affected by the fire. It just apparently smells like smoke, why are you putting a shirt on now." I ask, getting distracted.
"Look, I know you get excited when the shirts off but I don't think the other detectives going to be as thrilled." I contemplate that before I finally get what he's saying, he's leaving me to go to work, again.
I turn around to pick up my shirt in the bathroom. "Ohh so you have to go back to work?" I ask as I get into the bathroom.
"Yeah, I've got loose ends to tie up back at the department." I hear him say as I put my soot covered shirt back on and walk into the living room.
"I see. I have to get back to my place and work on a couple of things." I put on my shoes and see Flack has also changed into a pair of jeans.
"I'll drive you there." I turn around to look at him and he just kisses my cheek. "Don't thank me." He opens the door and I walk out, with him following me.
The ride to my place is silent for some reason. When he does pull up in front of my building.
"Want me to come in there with you?" He asks looking at me.
"No, it's ok."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes I'm sure." I laugh slightly.
"All right, I'll come by after work." He leans out of his seat slightly to kiss me. He pulls away with a twinkle in his eyes.
"I love you soo much Annabel." I get out of the car and look at him.
"I love you too." I close the car door, and watch as he pulls away. I waste no time as I rush into the building and onto my floor which is still slightly covered in ash. I unlock my door and sure enough nothing was damaged, but Danny was right it smells like smoke. When I close the door and look at the kitchen counter, there's a picture frame where there wasn't one. I look at it and it's a picture of Mac, Stella, Danny, Flack, Hawkes, an older man in scrubs and a younger man. The note on the frame reads.
It's a 'your place didn't burn down' gift. Picture of the team including Sid (in the scrubs) and Adam (younger man beside Danny)
Stella and Danny
Awww that was nice of them. Setting the frame back down in its place, I walk into my bedroom where I change into a fresh pair of jeans and a t-shirt. I then go to the kitchen to make myself something to eat when there's a knock on the door. I walk over to the door and open it to find Stella standing there.
"Stella what are you doing? Shouldn't you be at work?" I ask her as my I lean against the door.
"Yeah I should, but Mac gave Me, Danny, and Hawkes the night off since we don't have anything major coming into the lab and that fire here was caused by a stove being left on. Hawkes, Danny, and I wanted to know if you wanted to get some drinks with us. We asked Flack if he wanted to come and he said he'd meet us there in about 45 minutes, so do you want to come?" She asks.
"Yeah sure, just let me grab a jacket." I tell her as I step inside and grab my jacket, then step out and close the door behind me.
"Hawkes is waiting in the car outside." Stella tells me as we step outside. I see a black ford truck parked outside.
"That's us." We both walk up to the truck. I open the door behind the passenger side door and get in, closing the door behind me. When Stella and I get buckled in, Hawkes goes to start the car, before he can turn the ignition he scrunches up his nose.
"Annabel, you smell like smoke." He comments as he finally starts the car.
"Ohh it's my new perfume called Smoky Sensation."
"And now I know never to get it for my girlfriend.." He adds as he starts driving down the road.
"Yeah sorry, my apartment still smells like smoke."
"Don't worry about it, I've smelled worst when I've done autopsies." I shiver at the thought.
"Annabel, don't let Hawkes give you nightmares with the stories of what he's found in a dead body. Let him do that once, I will never be the same." Stella speaks as the car makes a left.
"The stories aren't that bad.."
"Hawkes... you gave Sid the creeps and that's saying something."
"Ok, point taken." He responds.
"Annabel, how's everything going with Flack?" She asks.
"He asked me to move in with me."
"That's great! What did you say?"
"I said I don't know, I didn't know what to say and I still don't."
"Just give it time." Hawkes pulls into the parking lot of a bar.
"Danny's here." Stella points to a black Harley Davidson sitting in one of the parking spaces. We hurry to get into the bar and join Danny at one of the tables off to the left. "Hey guys. Stevens, you came." We all sit down at the table and there's already a drink in front of us.
"Where else would I be?"
"You could be trying to get the smell of smoke out of everything you own. I see you brought that lovely smell with you..." He scrunches his nose just like Hawkes did.
"At least it somewhat suits her." Stella adds as she takes a sip of her drink.
"Ok so Danny I have to ask... are Hawkes autopsy stories disturbing?" I ask Danny as we all look at him.
"No comment.." Danny responds as he drinks.
"Wow, thanks Danny." Stella opens her mouth when there's a shadow standing over me suddenly. I turn around and I see it's a complete strange with a comb over.
"Sorry to interrupt but This girl right here kept getting my attention and I thought I would come over and introduce myself." The man says while licking his lips.
"You know what, that's my sister man so back off." Danny says as he looks up at the man.
"Oh this is your sister?" The man asks.
"Yeah she is, so I would suggest you take your ass back to wherever you came from and stay away." Danny stands up from the table.
"Anybody else want to make this girl's decisions for her?" The man asks as he points at me.
"Yeah, I think her boyfriend would like make some decisions." Flack's voice comes out of nowhere. The one time he's early.
I look at the man out of the corner of my eye and see that he's just standing there.
"I think this is the part where you walk away." Flack says to the man, and he finally gets the hint and walks away.
"Your early." Hawkes takes us away from what just happened.
"I got one of the other detectives to finish what needed to be done." He takes a seat next to me as he lightly kisses my cheek.
"Story time." Stella randomly announces.
"About what?"
"Annabel, would you like to know about the story where a suspect had Flack rolling through ketchup, mustard, and just plain filth?" She asks. Hawkes and Danny smile as I look over at Flack.
"Oh not this story, I don't think she wants to listen to this story." Flack comments.
"Ohh I think she does." I answer back to Stella.
"You are going to laugh." Danny adds.
"Ok, so me and Flack went to check out this guys food cart to see if he transported a dead body that he killed in it. The area where all the food carts were was just disgusting, there were rats there ok? Turns out he did and when we turned around to handcuff him, the guy ran. Of course Flack started chasing after the guy, the suspect had knocked over a bakery rack, making it fall over. He easily jumped over the rack, but had slipped on his landing, and rolled through god knows how many diseases were on that floor. We did ended up catching the guy when he started climbing a ladder and Flack grabbed the guys leg, tossing him over the side of the ladder and landing on a pile of wooden crates." When Stella finishes, I have a huge smile on my face. I'm trying so hard to not laugh.
"Are you laughing at that?" Flack asks me as he looks over at me.
"I'm not now but if you want me to I can."
"Wow, supportive much?"
"Come on, that was hilarious." He looks at me out of the corner of his eye.
"So Annabel.." Danny starts speaking "Why did you ever start dating this guy? I mean, I'm the guys best friend and I can barely stand him." I open my mouth but Flack speaks up.
"What? Jealous Messer?" Flack asks Danny in a joking matter, hopefully.
"Please Don, I've got a bike out there that's better than any woman." He motions outside.
"By the way Danny, that's an excellent bike. Mind if I take a look?" I ask him, hoping to get out of this conversation.
"Yeah sure, Hawkes why don't you come with us." He looks at us and nods his head. He get's up and follows us outside.
(Flack's POV)
I watch as Annabel, Danny, and Hawkes all go outside. My gaze is still at the door when Stella speaks up.
"Don, what the hell are you doing?" She asks bluntly. I turn around to look at her.
"Excuse me?"
"You went to work, after Annabel had escaped a fire in her building. Danny's been telling me you've left her to wake up alone in the morning without so much as a note. You left her in Oklahoma when she needed you, to get a lead on a case. What. The. Hell?" She asks me. I have done all those things, oh my god I must look a total ass.
"I don't Stella, I've felt like shit about all this."
"Well that's how you've made her feel." Stella adds as she takes a drink.
(Annabel's POV)
I'm standing outside with Danny. Hawkes would be here to but he said he had to leave. I'm standing next to Danny looking at the bike when he opens his mouth.
"He left ya again didn't he?" He asks. I turn my head to look at him.
"What?" I ask looking at him.
"He left you again, to go to work?" I turn away from him to look at the road.
"Yeah he did." I say, looking back at the building.
"He doesn't get what he's doing is wrong, you have to tell him that." I look back at Danny with a tear in my eye, knowing that telling him is going to be the hardest part.
"I know." I walk away from Danny and go back into the bar, and I see Stella and Flack sitting there, talking.
"I'm going to head on home. It's been a long day." Flack gets up from his seat and walks over to me.
"I'll take you home." He has his keys in his hand as he looks at me. He doesn't really give me a choice as he grabs my hand and starts pulling me towards the entrance. Once he get's outside he looks down at me.
"I figured that maybe I could spend the night at your place?" He looks down at me.
"Don't you have work in the morning?" I ask, knowing full well he probably does and will just end up leaving me alone in the morning.
"I don't work at all tomorrow, so I was wondering if you're not doing anything tomorrow, if you wanted to spend the day together." He asks as he raises his right hand to my face.
"I would like it." I find myself smiling at him.
"Good." He leans down and kisses me and for the first time in a while, it's not just quick and simple. He pulls away, eyes shinning.
"I'm going to drop you off at home, and then I have to go take care of a few things back at my place, then I promise I'll be right back." He leads me back to his car, and drives me to my place. He drops me off but as I walk into my building he follows me in.
"Thought you said you had to take care of a few things?" I ask him as I start walking up the flights of stairs with him following.
"I figured it could wait until tomorrow." We finally get up the two flights of stairs, and when I open my door he scrunches up his nose like the others did.
"Oh my god, the smell of smoke.." He walks in and closes the door behind him.
"Now you know why I smelled like smoke."
"What? You didn't smell like smoke at all..." All I do is look at him as I check my home phone for messages.
You have 1 message, left 25 minutes ago.
"Mrs. Stevens this is Anthony Hodgins. I hate to inform you but I have decided to terminate your job here due to the fact that Don Flack had changed his recommendation by deciding to visit me and take swings at me. I wish you the best of luck though." What?! He got me fired?! That jackass.
I look to the left and see Flack walking towards me.
"Hey, what's going on?" He asks as he puts a hand on my lower back.
"I just got fired." I say through gritted teeth.
"What? Why would you get fired?"
"Why don't you listen for yourself." I mutter walking away towards the kitchen. Seconds later, you hear the message play over again. Right after the message ends, he starts coming over towards me.
"Now I know your mad.." he starts.
"Mad? No. Pissed, yes! You got me fired for punching my boss in the face!"
"I only clipped him! Besides you should be happy that you don't have to work for a guy that set you up in that house! He didn't even need the pictures, the house was being torn down."
"Yea sure that guy was a major ass hole, and for doing that I want to punch him in the face myself. That was the only job I had, that made it possible I could stay in New York. Now I have to most likely go back to Oklahoma." I look at him and his mouth is slightly open.
"Annabel, I forgot about that.. I'm so sorry." He comes forward, trying to bring me towards him, but I move away.
"You don't get it Flack do you? You basically just signed my ticket back to Oklahoma." I look over at him and regret is plastered on his face.
"Why don't you just go?" I ask him. His eyes widen.
"Wait, you can't be serious Annabel."
"At this point I am." I get up and walk over towards the door. I open the door and look at him. He sighs as he stands up from wear he was sitting and walks over towards me.
"Annabel, I..." He tries to speak but he shuts his mouth. He then walks out and looks back at me.
"I'm really sorry about this."
"I know you are Don, but sorry isn't going to cut it this time. Your going to need more." I then shut the door in his face, and it took all my power not to open the door again. I hear Flack dial a number and soon he goes "Hey, are you busy? I need to meet you. 30 minutes? Ok, I'll see you." He then hangs up and I hear him walk away from my door.
(Flack's POV)
I waiting where she told me to meet her, with is central park. I know meeting a girl sounds pretty shady, but I'm meeting my sister Sam here because I really need her help now.
So I am sitting on a bench in central park when my sister Sam starts walking up to me, with her long brown hair tied blows in her face. She comes up to me and sits on the bench next to me.
"So, what's so important you needed to meet me?" Typical Sam, gets right to the point.
"I need your help, with my girlfriend."
"Holy shit you need MY help, with a girl? How deep are you in?" She asks and I can't help but put a smile on my face.
"Very, to the point of where she's most likely on the verge of breaking up with me." When I look at her, she raises an eyebrow.
"Ok, she moved here from Oklahoma and was on the verge of having to move back when I found her a job so she could stay here. I got her fired from said jaw when I punched her boss in the face, twice. So now she's probably going to be moving back to Oklahoma."
"You weren't kidding when you said you were in deep. Tell me, why did you punch her boss in the face?" She asks me.
"Long story short, her boss was a total ass to her. She sees that, it's the fact that in her words 'signed her ticket back to Oklahoma.' I need your help because... I don't know what to do here, I'm lost." Sam chuckles to herself.
"Wouldn't be the first time you were lost." She mutters under her breath then continues. "Your best bet would be wherever she would happen to be, really show her how sorry you are and that you still care about her."
"Think it will work?" I ask my sister.
"It's the only option you have, unless you wanna just let her go this is your only chance. Knowing you though, you're not going to give up that easily."
"I just hope your right. I don't wanna lose her."
"Don, it's good to see you've finally moved from Jess, I know you'll always love her though." She puts her hand on my shoulder.
(Annabel's POV)
Once Flack left, I quickly left my place and headed to the bar that Flack took me to that's down the street from my place, which now I'm starting to think wasn't such a good idea because he sticks in my head and at the moment, I don't really want that, which explains the half empty glass of whiskey sitting in front of me. Might as enjoy however much longer I have here in New York.
I go to raise my glass up to my lips when I feel someone getting into the seat next to me. I look to the right and see a women with longer brown hair and blue eyes.
"He told me I might find you here." She comments as she orders a whiskey sour.
"And you are?" I ask, sitting up slightly.
"I'm Samantha, Don's sister." Ohh shit just my luck. I get up to walk away when she stops me.
"Can ya just listen?" I look at her and sit back down.
"I've experienced Don first hand; he's pushy, annoying, clueless sometimes, and most important caring. I mean I can't tell you how many times he's gotten me out of trouble." I look at her.
"That's a story for another time, the point is he's told me about you. Scratch that, he's gone on and on about you, and in a good way. He's told me what he did, and believe me it was an asinine move to make but what you don't see how sorry is. He called me today, and went on and on, and on some more on how sorry he was. He only clipped your boss because he cares about you."
"Not to call you a liar Sam, but it didn't seem like that." I say as I stare into my glass.
"Well maybe you should hear it from him." She gets up from her chair and starts to walk back towards the entrance when she turns back around. "When you talk to him next, ask him what he wants." Without another word, she walks out.
Ok first, what the hell was all that about? Shaking my head, I take money out to pay for my drink but there's already money set on the bar, belonging to an arm covered in a black leather jacket. My eyes travel up the arm to the face and I see Flack's face.
Ok, so that's the last cliff hanger! I promise! Anyways, I was kind of shaky on writing Sam so hopefully I did ok :)