A/N Thanks to the person who helped me mentally prepare to publish this. To cptraydorsgf, a fine FF author, thanks for your kind words and encouragement, this wouldn't have happened without the inspiration your work provided
Sharon meets Natalie
Sharon's viewpoint
I was sitting in my office, going over performance evaluations for my team, which I truly, truly hate. They do an exemplary job, which just gets them scorn and worse from the rest of the force. I dislike having to arbitrarily rate their performance when I know they couldn't be more professional or more committed to the job.
To stay sane I basically write the same report for each member of my team, then use the thesaurus to change enough words that HR don't guess what I am doing. I haven't been caught yet and don't expect to be.
I heard a set of high heels approaching my office and looked up to see a blonde woman in a dark grey fitted suit walking into the squad room. She was stunning, in a city full of professionally beautiful women like Los Angeles, with its studios and music stars and porn actresses, she was still noteworthy.
All work in the room had stopped, as my squad looked over our visitor, Sergeant Elliot belatedly remembered his manners, standing up and moving towards her. She obviously asked him a question as he leans in toward her. Elliot steps back and points towards my office as she smiles at him. I see that smile and I have to take a breath, it's stunning, like the rest of her. Who the hell is this woman who's just walking into my office?
"Commander Raydor?"
"Yes"
"Hello, Natalie Dearing, I'm the LAPD's new media liaison" Media liaison? What happened to Taylor?
"Oh. Please, come in"
"Thank you"
"I stood and stepped forward, offering her my hand, which she takes. It's a firm handshake from a warm, soft hand. I gesture towards the chair in front of my desk.
"Please, take a seat Ms Dearing"
"Oh, please, call me Nat, or Natalie if we're being formal" I smile as we sit, trying to avoid staring.
"As you wish; so are you replacing Commander Taylor as media liaison?" Natalie folded her hands in her lap and looked directly at me, while I noticed a diamond solitaire on her finger.
"Yes, it was felt that by bringing in a specialist media manager, Commander Taylor would be free to concentrate on running Robbery Homicide" I leaned back, making sure I kept my face impassive.
Russell Taylor being replaced and by a woman, oh the incredible irony, Karma really did exist. I felt like whooping for the sheer joy of it and God knows I am not a whooping kind of woman, at least not at work where people can see me. I desperately tried to play it cool.
"I see. How long have you been handling the media?"
"Five years as a journalist, another three years as a media liaison with the Seattle PD" I nodded. So she was a journalist, which meant she was probably both smart and observant.
"Ah, I see. And how do you see yourself working with FID. That is why you're here I assume?" I watched her blue eyes narrow slightly as she leaned forward. I tried not inhale too deeply as a faint whiff of orchids reached me.
"I see my job as keeping the media out of your hair while you do your job. You only have 72 hours so there's none to waste on you having to deal with the media"
"That's something I can certainly agree with. So you have worked with FID in Seattle?" She nodded.
"It has a different name there but the same job. I will be on site, talk to you about what we want to say and then get out of your way" I leaned back in my chair; Natalie was telling me what I wanted to hear.
"So, you will be on call for our cases?" She nodded.
"Yes, I expect that the majority of call outs will be from the Gang Task Force, Major Crimes or FID. Most of the others will be a bit less urgent and should be able to wait until work hours or can be handled by one of the department's existing media team" I nodded slowly.
"So you're really here to deal with the biggest cases?"
"Yes, Chief Pope explained that my job was to try and minimise the damage and get the Department portrayed in the best light possible" She wasn't wrong, there had been too many instances where Taylor had dropped the ball, it had to stop.
Ever since Taylor had been shunted out of Major Crimes after Brenda made it clear she no longer wanted him anywhere near her or her squad, he had been brooding. Even being back in charge of Robbery Homicide hadn't helped him. Now relations between the two teams were poisonous, not helped when Taylor had been handling media for Brenda's cases. Natalie's arrival might take one more irritant out of the mix. I spread my hands in a gesture of helplessness.
"You can understand that I hope we will not be calling you too often, but it's out of our hands"
"Unfortunately, yes I do" At least she was honest.
"You do realise Los Angeles is probably ground zero for bad media stories, what made you want to come here?" Natalie leaned back and shrugged.
"My partner just received a transfer to a role with the LAPD and I needed a job here. My skills and experience made me a good fit for the role and I was available"
"Oh, what does your partner do?" I saw her smile.
"She has just been assigned as FBI Liaison to the LAPD" I thought for a second, as I watched her carefully scrutinising my reaction from behind an agreeable smile. Perhaps she had encountered some resistance to being a lesbian elsewhere.
Well, I had no problems with her sexual orientation; I'd been there, many years ago, when people had been a lot less accepting than they were now. No, I wasn't going to be her problem, there were others who would cause her grief if they could.
"Oh, that would be the replacement for Agent Howard" I stated. There had been no permanent FBI Liaison in the eight months since Brenda's husband had walked out on her for a job in Washington.
"Yes, it took a while for the paperwork to come through; Ana swears that the B in FBI stands for bureaucracy" I laughed.
"I doubt that they can be much worse than here, we drown in paperwork"
"Sounds just like my last job then. Good to see that some things remain the same. Well, I have some meetings to sit in on so I had better go" Natalie turned that killer smile on me once again. "It's been lovely meeting you, I'm sure we will cross paths again soon"
"I'm sure they will. Thanks for stopping by. Have you been to see Major Crimes or the Gang Task Force yet?"
"No, I plan on seeing Commander Reynolds and Deputy Chief Johnson tomorrow, but wanted to see you first, given the deadlines FID works under" I smiled, for reasons having nothing to do with that.
We both stood up as she pulled a card from her purse and passed it to me.
"That's my cell number, call me anytime you need me" I nodded, handing her my card in return and we shook hands again.
I dropped back into my seat and watched her walk out through the squad room. To be honest I was actually watching her ass and legs, which were both pretty sensational. I also noticed I wasn't the only one; all work had stopped outside as she passed.
I shook my head; she was attached, at least 20 years younger than me and frankly could have almost anyone she wanted. Still, she was worth a daydream. Damn, it had been a long dry spell, way too long. It was getting so the only relief I was getting was in my mind. I resolutely cleared away the images that were forming there and thought back to Taylor, unpleasant as that was. The thought did kill my libido stone cold dead though.
So Taylor had been stripped of his media liaison role, not before time. I still suspected that he had been the one feeding information to Goldman. Unfortunately Goldman had carried that information to the grave with him so Taylor walked off scot free.
I wondered if I should call Brenda and tell her the news or wait until we met up after work tonight.
I smiled, better to wait and we could share Taylors discomfort at our leisure.
With a sigh I turned back to Sergeant Elliot's evaluation, looking for alternatives to the words outstanding and exceptional.