Sharon and Anastasia chat
Sharon's viewpoint
Another senior officers meeting behind me, I strode out of the room, feeling more than slightly annoyed at the world in general and Commander Taylor in particular.
The man was a misogynist pig, not content with attempting to undermine Brenda's handling of the warehouse shootings, offering to take the case off her hands due to the 'obvious overwork' Major Crimes was facing with ongoing sniper investigation, he had also attempted to have a go at Natalie Dearing's handling of the media in both cases.
His suggestion that we should have an experienced person handling the media for both cases had not gone down well with Brenda; in fact I had ended up tapping my foot against hers briefly before she could explode. When she turned to look at me I had gently gestured with my eyes towards Natalie Dearing, who was sitting there calmly between Captain Collins and Deputy Chief Kelso, waiting for Taylor to finish.
We had watched as Natalie had listened to his 'suggestion' politely, then gently leaning forward to catch his eye and nodding at him, before directing her attention around the table, although her words were meant for Pope.
She had thanked him for his kind offer, however she noted that she was aware that Robbery Homicide still had a number of outstanding cases open and that it was obvious that Taylor's attention and expertise was more urgently needed there to assist his team in bringing those cases to a much-needed close.
I had to smile as Pope leaped on her suggestion with almost unseemly haste, she had let Taylor down gently, making him look churlish with her politeness, while giving Pope the ammunition to fire back at Taylor, questioning how many open cases his team were working on.
When Taylor admitted he didn't have the figures currently to hand, Pope had shut him down brutally; telling him to concentrate on cleaning up his own division's messes and leaving other division's to deal with their own work.
I noticed both Collins and Kelso nodding at Natalie as she leaned back, two more people Taylor wouldn't be getting support from.
I was quite impressed, she'd come across as the soul of politeness, all sweet and reasonable, but giving Pope enough rope to hang Taylor. Obviously she had been expecting Taylor's attempt to usurp her and had been well-prepared.
I'd caught Brenda's small smile, which I'd mirrored, one which had grown as I looked at Taylor's complexion reddening noticeably.
Standing at the elevators, I was glad that one opened immediately, letting me beat a hasty exit from the meeting. As I stepped in I heard a quick 'hold the lift please' and looked up to see Anastasia Romanov hurrying towards the door. I blocked the doors long enough for her to jump in before stepping back and letting them close.
I pushed the button for my floor and looked at her, waiting for her to push the button for another floor, Instead she was staring at the wall fixedly. Shaking herself out of it she looked at me.
"Is Commander Taylor always a complete ass or is today just a bad day?" I had to smile gently.
"I'm afraid that's his natural state" She just shook her head in annoyance; obviously his attack on her partner's competence hadn't gone down too well.
"I'm surprised he hasn't choked on his own bile" she muttered, before looking up at me. With an obvious effort she turned away from her thoughts and focussed on me.
"I'm sorry Commander, Anastasia Romanov, I've been meaning to come and see you but unfortunately I've been a bit busy. My apologies"
"None needed Agent Romanov, Chief Johnson has mentioned some of the assistance you've been providing on the sniper case" She smiled at me.
"Please call me Ana, the Chief's been very kind, unfortunately we haven't had any luck in that case. I had meant to catch up with you, could we chat over a coffee when you're available; I'm buying" I smiled as the doors opened.
"I'd appreciate it if you called me Sharon. Is now a good time?" She smiled even wider.
"Sure is" I pushed the button for the cafeteria floor and the doors shut again.
"I hope you're not expecting too much, it is LAPD coffee" Ana shrugged.
"I came here from Seattle, the home of Starbucks" I raised an eyebrow.
"I… see"
We wandered into the cafeteria and ordered coffee, an espresso for me and a latte for her. I caught her watching the person behind the coffee machine with a judicious eye. Realising I was watching she shrugged.
"I trained as a barista, so I'm a bit twitchy about how other people make coffee"
"At Starbucks?" Her laugh was infectious.
"God no, I learnt while a student in Italy. My dad was in the army and I grew up all over the U.S. and Europe. I worked in a coffee shop in Rome for one summer. If you mess up the coffee there they tend to be vocal in their displeasure. Coffee is a serious business in Italy"
"I see; you speak Italian?" She smiled.
"I can pick up languages very quickly, at least enough to get by, but I lose them almost as quickly once I'm not speaking it every day. Now I'm back to a few stock phrases. The only language I'm proficient in is Russian and that's because it was spoken at home"
"Oh, was your family from Russia originally? The surname suggests it"
"Our family left Russia after the Civil War, they were White Russians who lost everything to the Communists and so they fled and came to America. Some of the émigrés desperately wanted to go back, but not our family. They really bought into the American dream, settled down and built a life here. The only thing they kept from the old country was names and everyone learning Russian" She shrugged.
"My dad was in the Army, as you can imagine they found a Russian speaker very useful during the Cold War, so lots of time spent in Europe or Washington" I don't know why,. But I was enjoying talking to Anastasia; she seemed a bright, happy person.
"It must have been interesting growing up in different countries" She made a maybe motion with her hand.
"It meant you made friends who lasted for two years and then you moved on. After a while it became a hassle, you tried a little less hard to make friends because you learned you were going to lose them soon enough. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone"
"Oh, that must have been hard"
"It was, but on the other hand I grew up learning so much about places that otherwise would have been names in text books, when you live there, you learn about the history from people whose families have lived there for centuries. It gives you a different perspective. What about you? Are you from LA?"
"Oh no, I grew up in the Northeast, Philadelphia actually, but I've been here for the last 15 years"
"This is my first time in LA; it's certainly different from Seattle. I'm still getting used to that strange hot ball in the sky. Up in Seattle it generally only puts in an annual appearance at the summer solstice and people sacrifice coffee beans to appease the angry gods and bring back the rain"
I couldn't help it; I had to laugh at that. I'd been to Seattle for a four day conference and it had drizzled pretty much the whole time.
"Speaking of sacrificing coffee beans, that's our coffee's made" I walked over to collect mine, enjoying her company.
Most people are far too scared of the wicked witch of FID to spend any time with me, whereas Anastasia didn't care. Probably because as an FBI agent she would be investigated by the Bureau's own internal affairs people, but I got the feeling it wouldn't have mattered too much to her even if I had jurisdiction over her.
We wandered over to a window and sat down at a couple of single sofa's that weren't as comfy as they looked.
We drank in a comfortable silence, as I watched her pull a small face at the taste.
"What's wrong?" She frowned.
"She overcooked the milk, it's not quite right. It's a different barista from yesterday, the one yesterday was much better. Ah well" I nodded; I could tell it was ok coffee, adequate but not great, but wouldn't be able to tell you why.
"Do you still practice as a barista?" She smiled.
"Natalie claims she only puts up with me because I make wicked coffee. We have a full coffee machine at home so I get to practice daily" I smiled at the thought.
"You don't make home visits do you? That sounds wonderful" She smiled back.
"Unfortunately not, so you'll have to come over, perhaps for lunch or dinner. Call it an apology for not coming to see you earlier" I laughed at the idea.
"No apology necessary, I understand how busy it gets"
"Nah, it'd be our pleasure, Natalie mentioned meeting you on our first day and you'd been very welcoming. Anyway, the reason I wanted to catch up was to introduce myself and have a quick chat about any help the Bureau can provide"
"Thank you. Normally, in an FID case it's pretty straightforward; it's just the 72 hour deadline that's a problem" She nodded slowly.
"I understand, on the other hand the Bureau's resources are available should you require our help. I can use the 72 hour deadline to push things through if you need them. Up in Seattle it's a smaller force, so the Bureau provided support for some services. The LAPD is so much larger everything you need is on tap, but we're here if you ever need us"
"I appreciate that Anastasia; let's hope it's not required"
"We're here if you need us"
We chatted for a while, getting to know you chit chat, about family and friends. She was an only child whose parents had passed away, leaving her with Natalie and Natalie's parents as her only family. She asked a few questions about me, family and such, I found her easy to chat to. In fact the more I saw of her the more I liked the person I was seeing.
It didn't hurt that she was very pretty and would probably be beautiful when she wasn't dressing down for work. She must be something special to have attracted and kept someone as stunning as Natalie Dearing, who would never lack for attention wherever she went.
Reflecting on the meeting we'd just come out of, a thought occurred to me.
"Is it hard working within the same organisation as Natalie?" She looked at me for a second, her head cocked to one side.
"Not usually, although there are some times… This morning's episode with Taylor for example" I nodded, that would have been hard, to listen to someone attacking your partner's competence and say nothing.
"The reason I didn't hang around afterwards is because I'd have been tempted to say something to Taylor, which just would have made Nat's job harder, she doesn't need that" She spread her hands in a 'helpless' gesture.
"I don't like it, but it's the way it is. It's not like she can't take care of herself, as you saw today, she saw him coming a mile off and dealt with it, but it's still hard" She sipped her coffee.
"We've had three years working together at the Seattle PD to work it out, but it can be difficult to bite your tongue and say nothing"
I thought about it, it must be hard, but I suppose they'd had plenty of time to establish boundaries. Speaking of which…
"How long have you been together?"
"Our four year anniversary is three months away, still wondering what to do to celebrate. I need to do something nice given she's put up with me this long" I smiled.
"I'm certain Natalie wouldn't describe it in those terms"
"Probably not, unless I've done something stupid, then she might" I laughed.
"Well it's incumbent on you to behave yourself, isn't it?" She smiled.
"I try, not always successfully"
"Then you just have to make it up to her later" I caught the gleam in her eye.
"Well, the best part is always making up afterwards, isn't it Sharon?" We laughed happily together, both understanding exactly what wasn't being said.
Looking at her, I could imagine her and Natalie together would be spectacular. Make up sex always was. Thinking of that reminded me of the years with Brooke, I resolutely pushed those thoughts aside, that was well in the past now.
Just then her cell rang, with an apologetic look she fished it out and took the call. Apparently some more information on the warehouse massacre had come in and she was needed at Bureau headquarters. Finishing the call she looked back at me.
"I'm sorry Sharon, I do have to run. It's been lovely to chat with you; I'd like to catch up again"
"I'm usually in my office most days if we don't have a case, drop in anytime"
"I will and thank you. Anyway, must dash. Ciao"
With a wave she left, heading for the elevators, while I finished the last of my coffee in peace. It was unlikely that anyone would bother me here anyway, everyone tended to avoid FID.
I felt myself drawn to Anastasia; something in her reminded me of Brooke, beyond the dark hair and warm smile. She was lovely and easy to chat to and the time together had flown.
She was also taken I reminded myself with a sigh. Even if she wasn't I'd always been reluctant to be involved with a work colleague, thinking it would be hard to make it work.
On the other hand it seemed to have worked out well for Natalie and Anastasia, they had been together for as long as Brooke and I had managed, but by this stage Brooke and I had been falling apart whereas they seemed to be going strong.
I frowned as I thought about it. They weren't the only ones who could make a workplace relationship succeed. Maura Isles and Jane Rizzoli also made it work, despite working even closer than Natalie and Anastasia.
I snorted to myself, even if I was willing to consider a relationship with someone at work, I couldn't think of anyone both interesting and available.
I found Brenda interesting, but she was straight as an arrow. If the rumours were true, Mickey Montoya was available, but she was far too young and pretty to look twice at me. There weren't too many others available in the LAPD that I'd find interesting enough to consider anyway.
I sighed, pleased for once that I had a meeting to attend, it took my mind away from things I couldn't change and preferred to avoid, like my current relationship status, or lack thereof.
As I stood up, I wondered if Brenda was available for a late lunch, we could have a few laughs at Taylor's expense, which was always worth making time for.
A short call later and lunch with Brenda was on, so the day wasn't a complete loss, despite how it started out. Now if only I could deal with my other problems as easily.
I sighed, remembering a saying my grandmother used to use whenever someone talked about what might have been.
"If wishes were fishes we'd all cast nets"