CHAPTER FIVE

"You're dangerously close to sounding like a broken record," Jo dipped her head curiously eyeing the superman ice cream through the glass. The color filled vintage soda shop was one of the best places in the city to get great ice cream. Tootie wanted something sweet and Jo wouldn't be denying herself of the city's finest.

"And the unhappy blonde force of nature you've been ignoring for the past few months?" Tootie watched Jo's reaction. It didn't take a genius to see that Jo still had a thing for Blair. It didn't hurt that an inebriated Jo admitted she was still very much in love with Blair.

Jo rolled her eyes, "You do know Nat's not a natural blond right?" Their former roommate was trying something new. Jo was convinced too much one on one time with the queen of peroxide blonds had gone to her head literally.

"I'm talking about the other one."

Jo knew she was being petulant, but it served the sitcom star right for being annoying, "what other one?"

"The one walking in behind you," Tootie answered with a smile that widened when she moved passed Jo to greet the duo.

First her shoulders tensed. Next sweaty palms, a jolt in her stomach that warmed the rest of her body and her tell tale heart drumming in a thrilled cadence. At the mere mention of Blair's name Jo's body betrayed her. Seeing the heiress in person contrasting feelings bottle necked in Jo's throat.

She hated herself for the reaction. She spent the better part of her life teasing this woman about her beauty. Despite that every dig was a lie any half hearted sap could repute with one look at Blair Warner.

The heiress occupying Jo's musings looked curiously at the detective. There were subtle changes to Jo's look, not all of it entirely cosmetic. Her wardrobe, already in a dire need for color had gotten darker. Jo's wardrobe matched her mood of late. The heiress couldn't imagine the horrors she experienced on a daily basis as an officer of the law. It was poetic Jo's rise from gang ridden adolescence to a crime fighting career in law enforcement.

"Hello Jo."

Jo's throat was still caught managing a simple nod before she turned back to her ice cream, making a mental check list of how she was going to make Tootie pay. "The chocolate dream looks good," a small voice commented as an equally small face inspected the selection inches from Jo's head.

"Eh, ya think?"

"I know," the little girl said as if nothing were ever more certain. Jo smiled at the endearing delivery.

"She's becoming a regular connoisseur since we've been coming here." Blair came up behind Jo. Her face resting in the impossibly small gap made from Jo and Bailey's heads.

Blair was probably wearing some ridiculously expensive hard to pronounce perfume. Her smell and her proximity drove the brunette insane. Being a cop gave her an uncanny skill to use her senses to asses a room and everything in it. For now Blair monopolized all those senses. She didn't want to make her personal musings fodder for another one of their fights. And oh how she wanted to fight with Blair. To see her chest heaving up and down to watch her breasts press against the silk from the motion. Her eyes glaring at her and passed her and through her, damn those eyes. She needed to get out here.

As if sensing Jo's retreat when she stood Blair stopped her in her tracks following her rise. Toe to toe like they'd been all their life—it seemed climatic despite the dancing sundae twirling a cherry on the décor of wallpaper.

"If I recall you were a big fan of cookies and cream." Blair's words were whispered and deliberate, knowing the hitch of Jo's breath came from the same memory she herself was recalling.

Jo's eyes darkened icing the lustful haze Blair stirred, it was a low blow. Recalling the best few months of Jo's life with Blair was a double edged sword. She stayed away from the memories for her own survival. She stayed away from Blair to stop herself from wanting to remember. She loved Blair for the life of her she couldn't stop. It had been two years since the eight months they were a couple. She tried to rally every resentful feeling into a 'reasons to keep away from Blair' mantra.

She tried to move passed Blair but the blond was relentless.

"Don't," Jo's words were hard with lust.

"Don't?" Blair challenged her chin rising a little more. Her lips parted staring at the lips across from hers. It would be easy to lean in and taste what Jo was determined to deny her. But there were too many eyes to do what she wanted to Jo.

"Just don't Blair," Jo's voice lowered aware of a curious Tootie eying them. The actress distracted Bailey with questions about what she should try.

"Make me understand Jo."

Jo hated the series of events that put it in her head they couldn't be together. She wondered how she managed keeping everything to herself as a kid, because now it was unbearable. Blair made it even worse by looking at her like a woman scorned. The truth was she had been. Jo was guilty of being too angry and afraid and before she could do anything mature, she had already set in motion her life to this point.

"Blair," Bailey tugged her hand. The blond looked down and smiled at the ice cream cone being handed to her. Tootie handed Jo her large Superman ice cream cone. Jo looked at it and didn't like the implied 'you're staying'. Taking it would mean more time around a woman she really needed to get away from. The suspended cop relented and followed the other three to a table by the window. Bailey tuned out the world to focus on devouring her cone. Blair and Jo exchanged glances leaving Tootie to act like she wasn't watching.

Baiting didn't work for this Jo, at least not in the same petty way it had once did. That didn't mean Blair didn't have anything up her inordinately expensive sleeves. She licked reflexively slowly scaling the monolith of ice with her tongue. She would have never noticed the effect she had on Jo if not for an uncomfortable sound emanating from Jo. Her eyes jumped curiously. She wasn't hallucinating. She knew all the signs of an aroused Polniaczek. Once upon a time she treated these signs as undiscovered treasures to study and savor.

Jo eyed Blair recognizing her 'I found a spot I like' look. She allowed herself to be tortured for the hours it seemed to take Blair to finish her treat. Her guilty pleasure was to watch—and she even remembered to lick once or twice when she remembered she had a cone too. For the most part she focused on sitting comfortably while her reactions below the belt made sitting blankly very painful.

Tootie and Bailey sat across from each other talking about acting. Tootie shared her misadventures as a young girl with ambitions to act. While Bailey shared that she wanted to one day do the same. Tootie thought it had a lot to do with the attention she smiled encouragingly. Three devoured ice cream cones later the Warner's headed the small group when they were ready to leave.

"That ice cream sure put you in a good mood," Bailey commented innocently. Blair continued to hum swinging their hands as they walked.

Tootie and Jo followed behind quietly while Blair agreed her mood had improved. Polniaczek's discomfort however went unnoticed by the little girl content to think the powers of ice cream could solve anything.

A single folder of charges from a garage was the last of Blair's business for the day. An accountant noticed the receipts were for questionable amounts of money. It made less sense that the company wouldn't use the in house mechanics that worked on the company trucks. All the company vehicles or perk cars as they were fondly called were serviced in the Bronx garage starting from six months back. Now that Blair was an aware with a thorough look over the folder she shared the accountant's alarm.

She picked up the phone to call the number for the garage provided in the folder. On the third ring Blair unconsciously smiled hearing the thick Bronx accent answer. She introduced herself as a Warner Textiles lawyer and continued on to inquire about the services the garage provided. From his voice she knew he was older late forties perhaps maybe even older than that.

Teodor Adamanski was the owner, but his best mechanic had brought the business in. She heard the pride in his voice when he spoke of the hero in stained overalls. However she couldn't appreciate the fact that money was being taken inconsistent with the work done. Jo had taught her a thing or two about cars and shady mechanics. It was a lesson Blair took to heart for reasons not entirely concerning polishing her automotive savvy.

"Polniaczek's a good worker, damn honest, anything—."

Blair blinked, "Polniaczek?"

"Yea, the name of the mechanic," Teodor clarified as a matter of fact.

"He worked for you long?" Blair was curious but suspicious emphasizing 'he'.

"She," Blair's heart pounded at the correction, "has been working with me for a couple months now, but I've known her since she was a kid. If there is anything wrong with the books it's on your end not ours."

Several things were going through Blair's mind. She remembered Jo had a cousin. She wondered how popular that name was in the Bronx. How many were female, who worked on automobiles?

"What is this Miss Polniaczek's first name?" she asked as if about to write it down. The mechanic unaware Blair's pad was imaginary helpfully spelled out the last name after he confirmed her suspicions. As far as she knew Jo was still a member of the NYPD, a compromise to a quota, but a zealous member.

Mr. Adamanski repeated Ms. Warner for a fourth time before she answered that she would keep in touch. As an afterthought she suggested they keep the conversation between them. If fault did belong to the company it didn't warrant disrupting anyone else's confidence.

The phone was hung up slowly. She stared at the handle questions swimming and none of it making sense. She knew Jo wasn't staying in her apartment anymore, not consistently anyway. The blond discovered that after waiting perhaps obsessively for a glimpse of the woman, who rejected her. She could have assumed Jo had taken a lover, but Tootie would have mentioned it to Natalie. Then they would try to hide guilty exchanges with the secret. No, something was going on with Jo that didn't involve another lover. She was too caught up in her thoughts to hear the commotion outside. True to Natalie's nature she let herself in at the inopportune moment. Blair's assistant flew in after her. More from habit rather than the desire to be in Natalie's company the blonde waved a flustered Vesper away.

"Blair," Natalie plopped down in abrupt gracefulness. "Long time friend and present roomie anything juicy and potentially lewd you'd like to share?

"What?" Blair was genuinely confused.

"Just think recent as in, and this is me spit balling, about an hour before you dropped Bailey off with the nanny."

Blair frowned. She didn't like smug Natalie asking questions for answers she already knew. It was a game she was in no mood to play, but Natalie was incorrigible. It was until a few choice hints later that Blair realized Tootie had probably shared their ice cream outing.

"Surely in reporter school you were taught to be a bit more subtle."

"I'm just curious what Blair was thinking, going Mary Magdalene on an innocent ice cream cone."

Blair lowered her gaze and fought the rising blush, but she managed a response. "With Tootie's dramatization and you're exaggeration you'd have a recipe for an addictively hazardous tabloid."

"We hope and dream," Natalie smiled sarcastically, "what's going on Blair?"

"Nothing," the answer sounded lame to even her hears. Natalie wouldn't stand for it and if she were in her position she wouldn't either.

Natalie wouldn't leave until she got what she wanted. And the lawyer wouldn't give her what she wanted. They were at a standstill. Natalie wasn't budging. While Jo was the only thing on Blair's mind, she was the last subject she wanted to talk about. The only solution was a compromise. The papers on her desk made it look like she was still busy. It was after three, but ever since Bailey's arrival five was the longest she stayed at work. That gave her two hours to figure out how to stall Natalie more and continue wondering why Jo was working in a garage. She suggested that they finish this when she was swamped with work.

Natalie felt for Blair. The latest boy toy hadn't impressed her or Tootie. Blair's forced gushing was more pathetic rather than obnoxiously annoying. When Blair and Jo started dating it was oddly romantic. Her attraction to Ben, the handy man, from their Ft. Lauderdale spring break at her grandmother's condo made sense. The man version of Jo was more acceptable to society and the part of Blair that cared about what society thought.

Fast forwarding to now perhaps going beyond the point of no return in their friendship was a bad idea. Jo turned out to be the one who couldn't handle them as a couple. Tootie and she noticed the fire simmering from Jo's rejection, disinterest, and absence. The one-a-day boyfriends were just for show. Any doubt of that had eroded with Blair's reaction to Jo that afternoon.

For those reasons and more she agreed to respect the lawyer's silence, for now.