A/N The story gets jumped forward pretty quick here, but like I explained, cop work is a lot of tedium with little excitement in many cases. This story ties into my other story,"Up Against the Wall and Spread Em" and especially, "Back Up Against The Wall-Strip Search" which takes you to where Edward and Jasper,(with a new identity), have relocated to someplace if you are bored and starved for something to read, give it a shot.
Now that Edward was off light duty, it was more difficult to explain away the time they would spend together. Though it was not uncommon for senior officers to take on younger officers as protégés, Emmetts words of warning had quite a chilling effect on the budding relationship initially. Edward was startled that they were suspected, though he had been warned by not only Emmett, but by Rose herself that they were suspected of being involved with each other. He decided that the best form of defense was a good offense, so he decided to put gunny off the scent by speaking to him in the language that he understood.
I fucking hated going out to his place. Not only was it way the hell off the beaten path and looked like something out of, "Texas Chainsaw Massacre", with all the piles of junk all over and half-assed torn down bunkers and junked vehicles all around, but 9 times out of 10 he would be drunk as a lord and out in the yard skinning some poor unfortunate critter that he had half-assed shot and most likely let die slowly before he started in on. He was a cruel son of a bitch and I hated dealing with him. I always kinda hoped we would get a call on him some day and we would find him out in the yard stiff as a board with some critter gnawing on him, but he seemed to just be too damn mean to die. Sure enough, I rolled up in his yard and hes out there with his damned shirt off, beer in one hand, pistol in the other, popping off rounds at one of the wrecks sitting on the edge of his yard.
"Hey there Capt'n! What brings you out to the ole hacienda today?" He dropped the pistol on the ground and started swaying his way towards me, I grimaced, realizing that it was his department issued sidearm that he had just thrown down in the sand.
"Hey Gunny, I wanted to talk to you about some of the new recruits, but if this is a bad time, I could always come back." I casually strolled over and picked up the weapon, checked to see it was empty and then stuck it in the waistband of my jeans, as he took another swig of his beer and attempted to light a cigarette.
'Oh no, no, no, it's a fine time. I got nothing going on today. Who you wanting to talk about?, Got any favorites in mind?" He leered at me in a way that told me all I needed to know, Emmett had been telling the truth.
"What do you mean, Gunny?" I schooled a blank look on my face for a moment and then tried to look confused. "All the new recruits are guys." I took a drag off my own cigarrett and looked at him, just daring him to say something.
"Really? Coulda fooled me with that lil Whitlock faggot. I don't see much of a guy there at all. Tell me something, Cap, you tappin that? I seen how that pup follows you around and looks at you. If you aint, he needs a damn lesson in proper respect and male behavior."
I had moved before I even realized it. He was on his back and drooling blood. I heard myself growling at him, "You lay one hand on any of my troops you sorry motherfucker and I will kill you! You are not one to go talking about respect or proper behavior! I swear to God you ever fucking imply anything about me or him ever again and I will make your life even more worthless than it already is, do you understand me you sorry son of a whore?"
I managed to stop myself before I killed him, but he was going to be uglier that he already was. I knew I had crossed a dangerous line, but it was already getting close to being stepped over and I was desperate to protect what I knew I needed in my life. I had to protect that boy, one way or the other. By Gunny opening his big mouth and throwing it at me, I had hopefully managed to send several different messages through his thick skull as I got up off of him. One, was that I was protective of my troops. Two was that I didn't allow anyone to trash talk me or my troops. Three that I wasn't afraid to kick his ass to prove a point. I left him laying in the dirt as I walked back to my truck, and I threw the pistol out into the bushes where it would take him days to find it.
The point had been made, but like a low dog in the pack that is always vying to beat the pack leader and take over, Gunny wasn't going to let it lie forever. He filed it away under debts to collect, and went about his business. He watched Cullen and Whitlock and he filed away every bit of information on them he could. He knew there would come a time, and when it came, he was going to be there to collect his pound of flesh from whomever bled the easiest.
Jasper and Edward went about their lives, albeit more carefully, but many in the department knew they were friends. Jaspers undercover detail did roll over into a second year much to his dismay, but during the summer he had to lie low while still functioning as part of the department, so he was put to accompanying Edward on trips to pick up equipment for the department and attending advanced training out of state. This was a boon for their relationship and they grew even closer and more inseparable.
At the end of the second year of the high school, the intel that Jasper had collected managed to almost single-handedly bring down the a major drug cartel and all the dealers that were operating within the schools in the district. He quietly moved from that detail into a regular squad and finally got to work as a regular deputy. He tried out for and made the SWAT team along with Emmett, and he participated in several department based shooting clubs along with Edward. He was a popular deputy that had earned his first stripes by the end of his second year and his Sergeants rank by the third. He was up for promotion to Commander at the middle of his fourth year and his relationship with Edward was comfortable and happy.
Emmett was getting married to Rose. In all actuality it was about damn time, after all, those two had all but been shacked up for the last couple of years and Rose had been worried more than once that she was knocked up, so when he came marching into the office one day with Jasper following after him carrying a cracked open shot gun, we all figured something big was up. He walked into her office, got down on one knee and with the entire office looking on, proposed to her. It was the first time any of us had ever seen her cry. She accepted and 6 months later we were watching the sheriff walk her down the aisle. Her and Emmett bought a nice place out in the country and set about trying to start a family while Jasper and I tried to figure out if he was going to keep his apartment or if he was going to buy a place out near me. The ranch next door to mine had been for sale for a few years and with some work it would make a nice place to connect to mine. If I had known then what I know now, I would have told him to just move in with me and we would have handled the rumors and comments as they came at us, because what came next nearly killed us both.