Sharon and Brenda's coffee catch up
Brenda's viewpoint
Another Monday passes, unloved and unlamented. Like most people, the best part of Monday starts for me when I walk out of work. Meetings, briefings, evaluations and all now over, I can walk out knowing that I can look forward to caching up with Sharon and putting the pain of the job and the day behind me.
Thinking back to yesterday, talking to Ana and Nat had made me appreciate how few friends I actually had, which made me treasure Sharon even more. She had been there when my world had started falling apart, back when Goldman's inquisition had happened.
When Fritz walked out, she'd been there too, when I needed a friend. I couldn't begin to appreciate how much she'd kept me from giving in, kept me focussed on what was important, the job, not giving up, facing each day as they came.
Why, the first few weeks after I'd come back, she'd either dropped into my office or rung every day, just to make sure I knew someone was there if I needed it. I'd thanked her, even while I wondered why she bothered. Lord knows I'd been such a wreck. Little by little though, each day had gotten easier, week by week I'd been able to move past everything.
Sharon had been the one who had convinced me to move out, rent our house out, she'd told me there were too many bad memories there and living amongst them hadn't helped me recover. She'd been so right, about that and a lot of other things.
I was the person I was today in large part because she had been there. Sharon had sat with me and refused to let me get drunk, she'd taken pity on my wardrobe and started dragging me out shopping, I now looked a lot more like the person I was supposed to be.
Sharon had explained why I had to change. I was Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson, the most senior woman in the LAPD, and someone a lot of women in the LAPD looked up to. I'd scoffed at that, but Sharon had explained that when I walked into a court or a press conference or a meeting, I was supposed to make people realise that I was someone to respect. It's alright to be underestimated by a suspect, but not by people who you had to impress, like a jury, or the media or the Mayor.
I owed it to the other women who saw me as their leader she said, even though I didn't think I could provide any sort of decent example, especially given how badly I'd messed up my own life, to be a guide to someone else's. Sharon, needless to say, hadn't agreed and had plenty of good reasons to back her arguments.
Besides, as she pointed out, I was an attractive woman, dressing well made people notice it even more, which made a lot of criminals who didn't know any better underestimate me. As Sharon had put it, they were too busy looking at me, thinking about how good I looked and what they'd like to do to me, to realise what they were saying and admitting to.
I sighed as I sat in the café and waited for Sharon, I was here today because of the strength and purpose she had helped rebuild within me. I owed where I was today in large part because of Sharon Raydor. She was my best friend, even though in so many ways we really didn't know much about each other.
We'd never visited each other's homes, didn't really talk about our pasts, or our families and never about past relationships, but in all the places it mattered, we were friends, the best of friends.
Which led me to Natalie and Anastasia, they cared, enough to want to be my friends as well. I'd never had a surfeit of friends in the past, never really had people seek me out, I'd always been a bit of a loner, driven into my work, not really the social type.
Now they wanted to extend the hand of friendship, drag me into their lives, to be a part of the happiness they had. It was very tempting, to be with people I could be myself with, lord knows I'd been a mess at their place yesterday, breaking down in front of them, but they didn't seem to care, it only seemed to spur Natalie on even more.
Instead of letting me flee their place with my tail between my legs, they'd outright refused to let me go, made me sit there while they told me that they didn't care about it, that they would be there if I needed a friend and that they wanted me to be a part of their life.
I smiled, heaven knows why they wanted someone as much of a mess as I was to be their friend, but it felt nice, to have people who appreciated and wanted me as a friend. I wonder what I'd really done to deserve that.
Maybe my luck was finally changing, if so I wasn't complaining, it was well and truly overdue.
I caught Sharon's eye as she walked through the door, looking crisp and efficient and gorgeous in a crimson jacket and a dark skirt and heels, not Jimmy Choo's I noticed.
"Brenda, sorry I'm late, a meeting with Pope ran over time" I smiled.
"Don't worry about it, I'm just glad you escaped Pope's clutches, nothing bad I hope" She rolled her eyes.
"It shouldn't have taken as long as it did. He was dithering so much I was wondering if he was trying to work up the nerve to ask me out again, but the moment I told him I was late to a meeting up with you, he backed right off" I laughed at that.
"Good to see our reputation's still intact" I smiled as Sarah arrived with our drinks.
"Sarah, how do you do it, Sharon's only just arrived?" She just smiled, before leaning in to place them on the table.
"Truth be told, I saw Sharon walking across the street towards us and got the order in early" Sharon smiled lazily.
"Sarah, bless you" She smiled happily as she wandered off to attend to a couple who'd just walked in.
So, how was your weekend, I hear you had a lunch date" I smiled at Sharon.
"That I did, it wasn't at all what I expected" She took a sip of her coffee and leaned back, a question in her eyes
"Oh, how so?"
"I don't know, I've never been to a lesbian couple's place before, I didn't really know what to expect" She just looked at me, scepticism evident.
"You're kidding right, what were you expecting?"
"I don't know" I shrugged. "I really had no idea, for all I knew there'd be whips and chains and sex toys on the mantelpiece, silly I know" Sharon lifted one eyebrow, a sardonic smile on her lips.
"They probably keep them in the bedside table Brenda, just like everyone else" I smiled back at her, deciding two could tease.
"Oh really Sharon, everyone?" Sharon just grinned.
"Isn't that where you keep yours Brenda?"
"Certainly not, though where you keep yours is your own business" She smiled widely.
"Or do you keep it stuffed under the pillow for easy access at all hours of the evening?"
"Of course not!"
"Good, cause that'd be a little uncomfortable, not to mention unsanitary" I felt my cheeks redden, I should know better than trying to out tease Sharon Raydor.
"Sharon!"
"Well don't blame me honey; you're the one who brought up the sex toys. Ow!" She pulled her arm back from where I'd lightly swatted it. "What was that for?"
"You were being silly"
"Well yes I was"
"Good, cause I like silly Sharon"
"Well if you stop hitting me you might see more of her" We smiled happily at each other, before we both took a drink.
"So, how was it, really?"
"They were really nice Sharon; Anastasia's a really good cook. She made Beef Wellington, which I haven't had in so many years. Roast vegies, it was delicious. How was your dinner with Maura and Jane?"
"Really, really enjoyable, they have a beautiful big house out in Westwood, pool, really nicely furnished" I thought about it, Westwood…
"Pricey"
"I don't think that's a problem Brenda; there was a Mercedes convertible in the garage.
"Oh"
"They make a nice couple, very close, they're very touchy, tactile I mean, they touch a lot, probably without even realising it" I smiled, remembering yesterday.
"Same with Anastasia and Natalie, they're really close too, very comfortable together" I remembered something that Natalie had said. "I don't even think they realise how close they are, even in front of others"
"Did that bother you?" I decided I wasn't going to tell Sharon the truth, not tonight anyway.
"No, it was nice; at least someone's happily involved" She sighed.
"Yeah, that'd be nice"
I looked out across the café, thinking back to how happy they had been, very obviously deeply in love, sighing to myself. I noticed Sharon was much the same, a wistful look on her face.
"Well, rather than mooning over what they have that we haven't…"
"And what their getting that we're not" Sharon interrupted, laughing at my expression.
"Sharon"
"Well it's true, at least their getting laid"
"Probably" She looked at me and scoffed.
"Probably? If I was Jane or Anastasia and had Maura or Natalie, I'd be getting as much as I could" I shook my head.
"You're being silly again"
"Brenda, can you honestly sit there and tell me you weren't the tiniest bit jealous" I thought about that. I actually had been; I'd wanted what they had. I still did. I sighed.
"Well no, they have someone special, that'd be nice"
"Of course it would, that's the point"
"I know, we both need to find someone, like that's going to happen" Sharon obviously decided it was time to change the subject, waving for Sarah to come over to take our order. After she left Sharon shifted in her seat.
"Anyway, anything new on the sniper case?" I shrugged.
"We actually got a break, but not a big one" At her questioning look I ploughed on. "A security camera on the building site the sniper used for the last shooting caught an unmarked white van on the street outside. Unfortunately the angle meant we didn't get a licence plate or a shot of the driver, but it arrived less than two hours before the shooting and left less than five minutes afterwards"
"That certainly fits, so what now?"
"I had Tao going over traffic cameras in the vicinity of the previous sniper vantage points. Most of them don't have camera's covering car parks, but we checked late night businesses that were on the main access points. We found a late night gas station camera that showed a similar white van on its way to and from the scene of the second shooting, the times fit too" Sharon tilted her head to regard me.
"Obviously nothing to identify the driver" I shook my head.
"Too dark, wrong angle and too far away, but it's something we didn't have before. It gives us something to look for tomorrow morning I guess" Sharon nodded, understanding what I meant. I didn't really want to think about that, so I changed the subject, knowing Sharon would understand why.
"What about you, any new cases"
"No fortunately, we had a quiet weekend, for which I'm really grateful" I smiled, happy for her, FID call outs are never easy, given the stress and the time limits.
"Thank heavens for that"
"Yes, I really didn't want to face another investigation, I just wanted a weekend to myself"
"Hence the shopping" She smiled.
"And the spa and salon treatments on Saturday morning, I was planning on a quiet Sunday lazing around before I got the dinner invitation, mind you I wasn't complaining about it, Jane cooked Italian, very nice Italian in fact" I nodded.
"What'd you have" She smiled.
"Jane made us lasagne, apparently her mother's recipe; the sauce was to die for" I nodded, lasagne is god's gift and good lasagne is hard to find.
"I hope to get a chance to try it then, I love lasagne"
We were interrupted as Sarah arrived with our meals; the next couple of minutes were busy as we ate in a companionable silence. Finally Sharon leaned back from her plate and looked up.
"Anything new turn up on the warehouse case?" I smiled.
"Yes actually. Surveillance on Little Dog, the Blood Catorcie's new leader…" She nodded, remembering our previous discussion. "…turned up that he was meeting with not one but two different people, one we believe is apparently from his new friends the Zetas, the other positively identified as being from the Sinaloa Cartel. He seems to be playing both sides of the street" Sharon just looked at me, stunned. Finally she spoke.
"Both? My god, that bastard has balls, no brains but balls of steel. Too bad for him when either find out" I nodded.
"My daddy always said sitting on the fence was a good way to get an ass full of splinters" Sharon was still shaking her head slowly.
"If the cartels work out what he's doing, splinters will be the least of his problems" I nodded.
"We haven't really turned up much we can leverage off to drag him in. Yes we suspect what he's doing but we can't prove anything" Sharon looked pensive.
"If he thought that he'd been caught out by one or the other he might spill, but he's probably not smart enough to see that" I thought about that for a moment, wondering what we might be able to do too leverage that thought...
Realising I needed to think about that I shook my head to clear it and turned to other, more pleasant matters.
"I understand you were shopping for the Ball?"
"Yes, I found some shoes I liked plus I have the dress already, so I'm good to go. What about you?" I frowned.
"I haven't really looked yet" She pursed her lips.
"Brenda…" I recognised that tone. "…you don't have a lot of time, it's only three weeks away" I sighed, before trying to mollify her.
"I know sweetie, I know. I just have to find the time" She sighed, somewhat theatrically.
"Do we need to go out looking for something together next weekend?"
"I'll let you know"
"Brenda…"
"I promise Sharon, I'll let you know" She looked at me, before smiling evilly.
"You'd better; the last thing I want is for you to have the Ball arrive and you have nothing to wear. On the other hand, the sheer horror of you having to attend naked in front of Pope and Taylor should be enough to get you off your lazy ass and out shopping for something" I shuddered.
"Ok, ok, I give, I'll go looking for something, I promise. Maybe I have something in the wardrobe I can wear"
"Please Brenda, not another of those hideous floral prints you used to be so fond of. I thought we'd managed to wean you off them"
"I liked them"
"C'mon honey, the first step to dealing with a problem is admitting you have one"
You don't know what I might have in my wardrobe"
"The horror, the horror" I poked my tongue out at her, making her laugh. "Now who's being silly?" I grinned at her.
"We can be silly together then"
"Speaking of silly, you will not believe what I heard two officers from vice were caught doing while supposedly on a late night stake out" I grinned and leaned forward, gossip was always fun.
"Do tell…"
"Well, it involves two prostitutes, a pizza delivery boy and a late night florist shop"
"Oh, this sounds good, tell me more sweetie, tell me more…"