"The sky is the limit and I just want to float. Free as a spirit on a journey of hope. Cut the strings and let me go, I'm weightless, I'm weightless. Millions of balloons tethered to the ground, weight of the world tries to hold us down. Cut the strings and let me go, I'm weightless…" 'Weightless', Natasha Bedingfield.
Left, Inhale. Right, Exhale.
Monday morning runs were always something the brunette looked forward to, the silver lining on her normally overwhelming first day of the work week. While most people were still in bed, dreading their first day back, she was able to set a brisk pace on almost empty sidewalks. Sharon had been running for the better part of 30 years. Initially her foray into the sport had been purely about losing the baby weight, getting back into fighting form during her early years in the Boston Police Department. As the months past, she found the exercise more enjoyable. It gave the brunette time to think, clear here head as she listened to the almost serene pattern of her steps. More recently, since the development of the IPod, she now had the ability to take a break and enjoy her favorite playlists. Every once in a while, she would find herself dancing, just slightly, as she dashed through the neighborhood.
This past weekend had been everything the Captain expected and then some. Brenda had arrived promptly around 9pm, in some worn, navy blue, LAPD sweatpants and a grey tank top. Apparently, getting dressed post her afternoon nap wasn't too high on her priorities.
When Sharon had given her the once over, eyebrow raised in typical Captain Raydor disapproval, Brenda had simply responded, "What? Either I came over here sometime this evenin' or you'd be waitin' while I picked out a more impressive outfit." The brunette smiled and gave her (now official) girlfriend a light peck, then motioned for the younger woman to come inside.
They had kept their Friday night low-key and Sharon had even attempted to teach the Chief how to make a frittata. Frying eggs seemed pretty easy, until the blonde accidentally caught a wooden spoon on fire. After that she'd been banished to the dining room to set the table while the Captain finished cooking. Over dinner, conversation was light and the wine flowed. Pleasantly buzzed, they cleared the table, loaded the dishwasher, and settled into the couch for a movie. Against her better judgment, Sharon let the younger woman choose from the vast Netflix library.
"Miss Congeniality? Really? You can't be serious," moaned the brunette, resting her head on Brenda's shoulder. The irony hadn't escaped her.
"It's a great movie," deadpanned the younger woman. "If you're gonna let me pick then you can't complain." Brenda hit play, and soon the Captain was treated to a rather ridiculous interpretation of the film. Obviously this wasn't the blonde's first time watching, she knew almost every line by heart.
At some point toward the end, Sharon had drifted off, the long day finally catching up with her. While Brenda's show had been highly entertaining, the brunette was exhausted. She felt a light shake on her shoulder and opened her eyes.
"Hey, you seem pretty tired. You wanna call it a night?" breathed the blonde.
"Didn't you just wake up?"
"Well, I didn't actually do much sleepin' when I got home. I had to feed Joel, then I finally did some laundry, and I turned on the TV and Commander Taylor was starin' back at me…"
"Oh God, that's unfortunate. What horrifying outfit did he choose today?" Sharon shook her head, Taylor was a complete nightmare and a horrible dresser. It was bad enough seeing those outfits in person, she couldn't imagine looking at them in her spare time.
"Yellow shirt, powder blue and white stripped tie. I swear, that man gets dressed in the dark, by clowns...nothin' ever matches. So about goin' to bed..."
"Sounds like a perfect idea." Sharon grabbed the blonde's hand, interlacing their fingers, leading her upstairs. Teeth brushed, faces washed, they fell into bed, completely exhausted. Brenda pulled the other woman close, their foreheads practically touching.
"Thanks for havin' me over," murmured the blonde, lightly kissing the Captain's nose, cheek, then lips.
"Thanks for coming. Now let's go to bed, we've got a lot to do tomorrow." Sharon gave the smaller woman a last, lingering kiss, then flipped over and scooted back into Brenda's body. The blonde pulled her in, draping an arm around the Captain's waist and nuzzling her head into that luxurious brown hair.
Rounding the corner up to a rather busy intersection, Sharon continued to jog in place until she was able to cross. She turned the music up, just a touch, when she heard the familiar mezzo-soprano voice that always seemed to motivate her to push out another mile. "All the single ladies, all the single ladies, now put your hands up…" Her girls teased her relentlessly for still keeping up with popular music. But, there was no denying a good Beyoncé song helped her push through the dreaded 3-mile wall.
Saturday had definitely been an adventure. Brenda, not wanting to completely disrupt the brunette's usual weekend routine, had volunteered to accompany her girlfriend to Bikram yoga. It wasn't until they got to the studio did the younger woman admit that she had no idea what she'd gotten herself into. The Chief had made it through 6 postures before escaping out the back, needing a lengthy break from the 103-degree room. Sharon had continued through, until about pose 14, when she realized Brenda wasn't returning. Quietly exiting, she found the blonde, slurpee in hand, in the parking lot. The younger woman's ability to find sugar, in any location, never ceased to amaze the Captain. Smiling, the brunette planted a sloppy kiss on Brenda's rather blue lips, tasting a faint hint of blue raspberry.
"Sorry, Shar. It was just so hot in that room and I wasn't gettin' anything right. I think I'll leave all the exercisin' to you. Not that I didn't enjoy lookin' at your backside durin' that, what did they call it, awkward pose?"
"Well, Chief, your ass doesn't look so bad in those yoga pants either," husked the brunette, playfully swatting Brenda's behind. "Come on, let's go get a real lunch. I'm sure that disgusting iced drink is just wonderful…"
Their afternoon had been much less dramatic. After lunch, they'd stopped at the grocery store, per Brenda's request, to pick up some essentials. The blonde had already secured an invitation to stay another night and she'd agreed, as long as they stopped for Reece's cups and Ho-ho's. While Sharon had a very well stocked refrigerator and enough liquor for a small army, she apparently did not keep nearly enough candy around. While Brenda browsed the chocolate bars, the Captain went looking for tomato paste. A random assortment of items later, the brunette found her girlfriend still in the same aisle, although further down in the gummy section. Sneaking up behind the blonde, who was obviously deep in thought over her possible selections, Sharon snaked her free arm around the younger woman's waist and planted a light kiss on her cheek.
"Almost done? Or should I just leave you here," smirked the brunette, playfully tapping her hip against Brenda's.
"They don't have peach rings," Brenda pouted, "so I don't know to get instead."
"Hm, I've never really had this problem. How about sour patch kids?"
"They're not the same!" The blonde practically stamped her foot in protest. Obviously the Captain didn't know much about candy…no other gummy compared.
"Just pick something, honey, and let's go. If you have any hope of eating lasagna tonight, I need to start cooking." Sharon stifled a laugh as the Chief grabbed almost every bag of sour gummy options, throwing all her finds in their basket.
How Brenda ate as much as she did and still weighed almost nothing was beyond the Captain. Single handedly, she'd managed 3 helping of lasagna, 2 pieces of garlic bread, a salad, and an entire bag of berry sour patch kids. It was nice to finally cook for someone, especially someone who was so enthusiastic about food. After dinner they headed for the backyard, knitted blankets in hand, to enjoy a glass (or three) of wine. Sharon had bought a hammock almost a decade ago, but never used it much once the girls had gotten older and moved out. Brenda loved it and it had seen quite a bit of use over the past week. Soon it became clear that drinking wine while lying wasn't going to work out, and the women opted to share the bottle, literally. Curling into the blonde's shoulder, Sharon sighed.
"I'm glad you stayed, again. This is nice."
"Of course. Did you really think I'd go home? I may have brought a few extra outfits, just hopin' I'd get to stay tonight, too," smiled the blonde, placing a quick kiss on Sharon's head.
"You seem quite sure of yourself," teased the older woman.
"You like it."
Neither woman had gotten out of bed before 11 on Sunday morning. Truthfully, Sharon got the impression the younger woman would have been fine with spending the entire day in her pajamas. But the Bruins were playing the Flyers and the Captain was not about to miss the game. When the brunette had suggested they head to a local sports bar, the Chief hadn't believed she was serious at first.
"Wait, you like hockey too? I was hopin' I'd just have to suffer through football. Now you're tellin' me I'm gonna have to watch hockey? Is there ever a break?"
"Well, baseball's pretty boring…"
"How I ended up fallin' for you, I'll never understand," deadpanned the blonde, shaking her head.
Surprisingly, Brenda had shown some interest in the game and even asked a few questions. Over wings and a pitcher of beer (Sharon had ignored the blonde's protest), they made plans for the following weekend. Since the younger woman hadn't picked many of their activities during the past two days, they would be heading to the zoo. Depending on schedules, and how long the blonde needed to check out the animals, Sharon also was planning a surprise overnight Saturday evening to a local vineyard.
"So why hockey?" questioned the blonde.
"What do you mean?"
"Well I've only been livin' in California for a few years, but hockey doesn't seem like a big deal to anyone. Have you always liked it?"
"Didn't really know much about it until I moved to Boston. It was always football in the fall and hockey in the winter…it was hard not to get caught up in the excitement," smiled the brunette.
"Well, I guess I could get used to it. It's hard not to enjoy grown men fightin' each other like a buncha kids."
Sharon broke the silence after a particularly great hat trick by Patrice Bergeron. "So Chief, do you have any plans this evening," flirted the older woman as she snaked her hand across the table and interlaced their fingers.
"Hmm, I was plannin' on finishin' my laundry. But I could be persuaded to do somethin' else, perhaps,"
"Me, you, bed? Persuasive enough for you?"
"Why Captain, are you askin' me to come home with you, again? I'm pretty sure there's somethin' in that little rule book of your…"
"Oh, shut up. You know you want to." Sharon stuck her tongue out at the younger woman. It was so nice to finally have someone to go home with, it was hard to believe she had made it through 58 years without the blonde sitting next to her.
When Sharon returned home, 5 glorious miles later, she found her driveway sorely missing one Crown Vic. Brenda must have gone home before heading to the office. Once inside, her suspicions were confirmed. Stuck to the refrigerator, the brunette found a pink post-it with the Chief's loopy script. Ran out of clean underwear, not that it would matter to you…but I figured the boys would appreciate it. Lunch? Dinner? Call me when you get in, baby. The older woman chuckled to herself, it was hard not to fall in love with the blonde's persistent nature. And it appeared that Brenda had fallen for the Captain as well. It was nice to finally feel excited about a relationship, it had been far too long.
Sharon was practically floating as she walked into FID; she'd just left Brenda with a quick kiss in the garage. Acknowledging her division members with a nod and 'good morning', she whisked into her office and settled down for an uneventful day full of paperwork.
Brenda heard the alarm from inside the video room and then a voice over the PA.
"We have a 10-34 on the ninth floor, all non-essential officer assistance needed from floors six through eleven. Please remain calm."
Oh fuck, the ninth floor was Sharon's. While the Chief was considered an essential officer (who was supposed to stay behind while her subordinates assisted with whatever was taking place), she wasn't about to sit calmly and wait for more information. Running for her office, she grabbed her gun and cuffs and headed toward the stairwell with the other guys.
"Alright everyone, heads up and be careful," announced the blonde, leading the pack slowly up the two floors.
"Chief, you should stay behind. We've got this," argued Detective Gabriel. Had they been going up to Pope's office, he'd expect her presence. But IA? He knew she and the Captain were closer…well by closer it meant they'd stopped the screaming matches. But now she was willing to risk injury for the older woman? David would have to figure out more, later.
Bursting through the stairwell doors, guns drawn, Brenda audibly gasped at the scene in front of her. Through the glass doors into IA, she could a swarm of officers surrounding a very large man. Flynn entered first, the rest of the team close behind, as they attempted to make sense of what had happened. Brenda saw Elliot from across the room shaking his hand in pain, as if he'd thrown a hard punch.
"Sergeant, what happened?"
"Officer Jenkins here wasn't too happy about his IOS and decided to pay a visit to the Captain. Apparently he got through security, feigned a meeting with his division head, and entered our floor behind another officer. Before anyone knew what was happening, he was in the Captain's office. Detective Rays and I wrangled him away, but they took Captain Raydor out the back, down the emergency exit. She was pretty banged up." The Sergeant was more than a little concerned for his boss. He'd offered to go with her to the hospital, but she'd waved him away. He would need to give a statement, as soon as possible.
"Is Shar – I mean, is Captain Raydor okay? She wasn't badly hurt?" Oh shit, if something had happened to Sharon, Brenda would never forgive herself. Obviously, she couldn't have prevented the attack, but maybe if she'd finished her current investigation sooner, she and the brunette could have had an early lunch. Then she wouldn't have been in her office when this asshole came charging through the door. The Chief shook her head, there was nothing she could do. Even if she'd prevented this from happening today, she knew it was almost impossible to stop a begrudged officer from hurting Sharon at some point. If it hadn't happened today, he would have waited. And thankfully, Elliot and Rays had been here to protect her. If she'd been at the parking lot, or worse, he'd found out where she lived and she was home alone…
"No ma'am, she seemed okay. I'm sure they just wanted to check her out, document anything that was necessary. Should be a black eye, maybe a few bumps and bruises? Nothing too bad, hopefully," muttered the Sergeant.
It was taking Brenda every ounce of self-control she could muster not to throttle this Officer Jenkins, who was sitting handcuffed on the ground. No one was allowed to leave the scene until Chief Pope gave everyone the all clear. She'd already let Andy know (he was the only one who wouldn't ask too many questions) that she'd be leaving for the hospital once they were released, and now all she needed was the go-ahead from Will. She'd texted Sharon, but hadn't gotten a response. The Sergeant did say the brunette wasn't too hurt, but Brenda's mind wouldn't be put at ease until she saw the woman for herself.
Finally, what felt like hours later (really all of 20 minutes), everyone was allowed to go back to their respective divisions and the Chief sprinted toward the elevator. Realizing that everyone else had similar plans, she opted to take the 10 flights down to her car. Did this count as official police business, considering Sharon was an officer down, sort of? Hopefully, because the Chief would be using her lights and siren, rulebook be damned.
A/N: It's midnight east coast time, Happy Birthday Jazmyne (you said you wanted an update…)! Ahhh, the dreaded plot moving chapters. Hopefully you guys enjoyed this update half as much as I enjoyed writing it. And if you don't know the song at the top, I highly encourage you to check it out…especially if you run, it gets me through some serious walls. I'd also like to give a big shout out to Ashley, who turned me on to the absolute perfection of the peach ring. Thanks for all the reviews and love thus far (especially Jaz and Ash, who got me into this medium in the first place), and comments, thoughts, suggestions are forever accepted and encouraged. xoxo