The LAPD Ball Part 1
Anastasia's viewpoint
I might give Nat grief about it from time to time, but there are times it feels good to be a woman. Today was pampering day, getting ready for tonight's Ball. We'd gone off to a beauty and health spa, had a manicure, pedicure, exfoliating scrub, facial, full body massage, scalp massage, hair shampoo and conditioning, aromatherapy, full body wax, the entire works, you name it, we'd had it.
I didn't dare ask how much a day like this costs, but when Nat puts her foot down and insists on something we absolutely have to do, I've learnt that one, it doesn't pay to argue and two, the results are usually well worth it.
By the time we were done and emerged we'd been in there for about five hours and I felt great. Natalie looked wonderful in a light sundress and sandals, she practically glowed with health and her skin was so soft to the touch I just wanted to take her home and spend the rest of the day making intimate contact with every possible inch of her.
She'd laughingly stepped back out of my grasp as I went to grab her, shaking a finger at me warningly.
"No Tsarina, absolutely, definitely not, we didn't spend all day in there for me not to show you off to the world and let them see you looking deliciously feminine and lovely. We are not going home and making love all night, at least not until after the Ball" I tried the puppy dog eyes but she wasn't having a bar of it.
"No, we have to head home and get ready. I did not spend the week taking care of you and getting you healed up for tonight to waste it with another session right now" I looked at her and smiled.
Natalie had spent the week being amazingly solicitous of me, trying to get the scratches on my back and the bite marks on my neck and shoulders healed up for tonight, right down to rubbing lotions and creams in to speed the healing. Not that I was complaining, when we had made love this week it had all been slow and soft and great. I like a hard ride as much as the next girl, but there's something slow and sensual and loving about coming wrapped in your lover's arms.
"Oh, thinking of leaving some more marks on me?"
"Not tonight, that dress shows way too much of your lovely skin to leave any marks there, at least not until after the ball" As we made our way back to her car she cast a speculative eye over me.
"Mind you, if anyone starts getting ideas, I suppose I could drag you into a corner and leave a mark there just to tell everyone your mine"
"I'm the one more likely to be scaring off the shark's Blondie, maybe I should leave a little reminder of who you belong to" She favoured me with one of her amazingly warm smiles as she unlocked the door.
"I think that you're likely to be attracting attention tonight, you really look lovely" I rolled my eyes at her; she really is too good to me, not to mention being good for my ego. She got in and unlocked my door, no fancy central locking in Winnie, which is the name she's given her red MGB, short for Winston Churchill, something else quintessentially British.
As I sat down and belted up, she leaned across and gave me a long lingering kiss, before sitting back and smiling at me.
"That was for being such a good sport about today" I smiled, both at the kiss and the compliment.
"Hey, we got to spend all day together being pampered, I call that a good day in my book"
By the time we got home I was starving, so I made some snacks to get us through until dinner at the Ball, while Natalie got started on a shower and getting ready.
I made us some salt and pepper calamari, a favourite of both of us and took it in to where she was getting ready. One look at her standing in front of the dresser in peach La Perla lace lingerie and I was ready to eat something else entirely, but she laughed and pushed me away, so I shared the calamari and ducked in for a shower.
30 minutes later I walked out to find my clothes either laid out on the bed or hanging waiting for me. While I can dress myself very well thank you, Nat loves to dress me up and see me looking feminine, it makes her happy and she has excellent taste, so who am I to say no?
Tonight was a white silk and lace bustier and g string teamed with a wonderful white Alexander McQueen gown we'd bought just on a year ago. Strapless with a split up the left leg, this would be its first outing here in LA. It was also a favourite of Nat's, which made it one of mine too.
The shoes were white patent leather stilettos, with heels almost six inches high. It took a lot of effort to learn to be graceful in them, but given Nat has a four inch head start on me; I need the height to look good next to her. I put on the gold necklace and pendant her parents gave me for my last birthday, gold drop earrings and grabbed the gold clutch before I set off looking for Nat.
I found her in the kitchen, sorting things into her clutch. Standing in the doorway, I paused to admire her as she stood there, unaware I was watching her.
The dress she was wearing was a lovely one, a black high neck satin dress, with silver working around the neck, almost a necklace in itself, which was cut finely down the sides of the chest, tantalising with what it almost revealed, backless, shoulder-less and cut very low, I could see the dimples just above the swell of her ass. Below the waist it billowed out, allowing her to walk or dance unimpeded, with a modest split showing just enough leg to be interesting.
The three inch strappy silver sandals were a match for the silver bracelet on her left wrist and a silver armlet on her right bicep, bright against her light tan. Her new opal earrings were in and she looked stunning.
I loved her more than life itself and I knew she loved me but there were times, when I saw her like this, made up and dressed to impress, that I wonder how I ever got so unbelievably lucky. Her hair was hanging with a hint of a wave and her makeup was subtle, with lip gloss and pale pink varnish on her nails, all in all she looked utterly amazing.
As she turned she caught me standing there and I saw her eyes run up and down, taking me in and obviously liking what she saw. The flash of possessive heat in her eyes started a slow burn in me as I realised that I belonged to her and she belonged to me. I smiled softly as she stalked over to me, her heels clicking on the tiles. Her voice was low and soft and sexy all at once.
"Tsarina, you look so lovely tonight you know I'm going to have trouble keeping my hands to myself" I reached out and laid my hands on her waist, pulling her gently towards me.
"I wouldn't have it any other way love" Nat smiled and leaned in, her hands resting on my shoulders, as we kissed. She tasted of strawberry lip gloss and mint toothpaste and smelt of gardenias and something uniquely her.
I don't know how long we stood there, just kissing, loving every second, before I started to slide my hands up her torso towards her breasts, at which point she stepped back, laughing and wagging her index finger at me mockingly.
"You, you're incorrigible"
"I prefer insatiable actually" We stood there for a second, smiling at each other, everything right in the world, before I glanced at the clock; it was getting late. "We'd better finish getting ready. You were calling a cab?"
"Ok, you lock up and I'll call them"
We bustled around the apartment finishing getting ready, I packed my clutch and we gave each other the once over, making sure everything looked great, but it took a lot of effort to stay focussed on going out, I'd much rather stay in with her and spend the night having a ball with her.
Eventually the cab arrived and we piled in, to the obvious approval of the driver.
"Ritz Carlton please"
"Certainly ladies, looks like you're going to have a wonderful night" Nat laughed.
"We certainly hope so"
I entwined my fingers with Nat's before bringing them up to my lips and kissing her hand, seeing her sit back and smile at me fondly. I heard the driver laugh and looked up at him, seeing him catch my eyes in the mirror.
"What?"
"I was going to say that you were looking to break guys hearts, dressed like that, but obviously you two lovely ladies don't need anyone else to have a great time tonight" He winked at us both, as Natalie laughed.
"Thanks, hopefully it'll be good fun"
We kept up a steady chatter with the driver on the trip; he was a Vietnam vet who'd been driving cabs for longer than we'd been alive. He'd seen it all and nothing fazed him. Talking to him, the trip passed all too quickly. When he heard I was a vet as well, he couldn't do enough for us, pulling up at the hotel he turned in his seat as we paid him.
"What time does your party finish tonight?" I shrugged, looking at Nat.
"Not sure, probably between 11 and 12, why?" He fished out a business card with his name, Matthew Gale, plus a cell number.
"It's going to be difficult to get a cab that late at night here, 'specially with everyone leaving at the same time. You ladies call me and I'll come and get you, no matter where I am, I'll come"
I was touched, as was Natalie, who looked up at him.
"You don't have to do that Matthew, you could be anywhere, it's not worth it to drag you all the way in here, especially that late"
"It don't bother me none, I'd rather come and get you than have you standing out here all hours and besides, you're nice people and Ana here's a vet, so it's the least I can do" With a shared look we gave in and thanked him profusely, promising to call him when we finished.
The porter held the cab door for us, smiling as we exited, we obviously met his approval and that of the doorman, who held the door open for us with a smile and nod. Moving in to the foyer we stood for a moment, as the flow of people swept around us.
People checking in or out, a tour group gathering, lots of people dressed well for a night on the town, a number of men in tuxedos who were probably police as well, they just carried themselves a certain way. We checked each other over to make sure we were still presentable, before walking over to a board with tonight's functions listed in gold lettering.
As we located the right room, we were interrupted by a deep voice from behind us.
"Ladies, hi" Turning, we saw a big black guy, very big actually, in a tailored suit with a reasonable amount of bling, rings, necklace, Rolex, no gold teeth thank god. "Hi, I'm Paul, I was wondering if you two lovely ladies would like to come to a party? My boss, D-Crypt, thought you might like to join us for dinner and an after party"
He nodded back towards a group of five guys about ten feet away, all dressed somewhat similar, gangster rap style, with a smaller guy, all covered in bling, standing in the middle. He smiled, revealing a face full of gold, and waved us over.
"C'mon ladies, you looking fine, come party wif us, we have a ball wif you"
I looked at Natalie as she raised an eyebrow at me, obviously amused. I smiled at Paul and spoke, loud enough to be heard by the rest.
"Please don't take this the wrong way Paul; no offence to you, but your boss should have the balls to ask us himself. Besides, we have a party to attend as well. There's going to be four other beautiful women at our table, if you want to come" I tapped the glass over the sign and his eyes flicked down to read LAPD Ball.
He looked up and I could see the narrowed eyes, he obviously thought we were having him on. We nodded.
"Yep, both of us and everyone else at our table, plus a few hundred others" He obviously had trouble reconciling the people in front of him with his preconceived notions of cops.
"You gotta be shittin me" I smiled sweetly and pulled my I.D. out of my clutch as did Nat.
"FBI"
"LAPD" He took a step back.
"Ah thanks, sorry to bother you, um, forget I asked ok" Paul stepped away and spoke rapidly to the rest, who looked at us and shook their heads, before moving towards the lifts. A white guy, tall, fit, conservatively dressed in slacks and a jacket stood near where they had been; he smiled gently, before nodding his respects to us; then trailed the group. Natalie's eyes followed them.
"Who was he?" I shrugged as I put my badge away.
"Who, D-Crypt? Probably some rapper dude we've never heard of"
"No, the white guy, he looked different" I looked up, noticing the way his eyes scanned the room.
"The CPP guy" I scanned the room; they usually worked in groups, seeing another man, similarly dressed, standing near the foyer entrance. I nodded at the man by the door. "Him too" Natalie casually turned to look his way.
"CPP?"
"Close Personal Protection, basically professional top end security. D-Crypt either has enemies or he's paranoid enough to want to pay for real protection, not that posse with him, these are pros. Probably ex-military by the look of them" Nat grimaced as she placed her I.D. away; then linked her arm with mine.
"Well, that was the first, but probably not the last tonight" She nodded to the elevators, now that D-Crypt and his friends were gone. "Shall we?" I smiled.
"Let's shall"
Exiting into the Ballroom, it was a sea of penguins, tuxedos and black ties, with a scattering of women in gowns. I spotted Pope standing at a large table near the stage and nodded in his direction. A string quartet played in the background, soothing and not loud enough to have to yell to talk over.
"His holiness awaits" Nat giggled at our little nickname for Pope, as we made our way towards his table. He obviously spotted us, as he smiled a little too happily, obviously taking us both in.
"Ms Dearing, Agent Romanov, welcome to the Ball"
"Chief Pope"
"Chief"
"I'm glad you could make it, can I say you both look wonderful" Natalie smiled politely.
"Thank you, a tux suits you Chief" He smiled, his eyes running over Natalie in a little too familiar manner. I sighed, show time. I smiled at him, as I laid my arm on Nat's.
"You have a good roll up here tonight Chief, is it normally as well attended?" He must have realised that he was being a little too obvious ogling Nat, as he smiled and turned to me, his eyes taking me in and judging by the half smile on his face, liking what he saw.
"About seven to eight hundred is pretty normal; money raised goes to the LAPD family benefit charity, so it's a good cause, as well as a chance to get together out of work" He looked around, his table was half full of senior officers and bureaucrats from various divisions, with name tags at each seat. I could see the Mayor's name on the one next to Pope's.
"Which table are you at; I didn't see your names on the seating plan?" Natalie smiled, linking her arm through mine, another not so subtle reminder to Pope that we were together.
"We're on Major Crimes' table, we've been working closely with them on a couple of cases, particularly the sniper case, so it made sense to sit with them" I nodded, smiling at Natalie.
"They were kind enough to take us in" Pope nodded, a little dubiously.
"I'm sure any of the divisions would have been happy to host you at their tables, in this case it's their loss and Major Crime's gain" He looked past me as someone came in. "Please excuse me, the Mayor's here" We both nodded and stepped back as Pope headed for the door. Natalie leaned my way and spoke quietly.
"Let's get out of here, I don't want to be here when the Mayor arrives, he has a rep to live down to" I nodded and we turned away from the table.
"Bad?" She smiled politely as we moved through the crowd, murmuring just loud enough to be heard over the background din.
"He has a wandering eye and wandering hands is what I've heard" I smiled at someone I vaguely recognised but couldn't place.
"Well, as I don't want to be arrested for assaulting a civic official, by all means let's get out of here"
Moving through the throngs we attracted the usual collection of admiring glances, nodding to familiar faces and stopping to exchange greetings with a number of senior officers who went out of their way to stop us and chat.
Pretty usual when Nat's out and about, but I was surprised that several people seemed more interested in me than her. Maybe they thought she was too far out of their league and were slumming it with me. I smiled at Captain Oats from Air Support, who was being a little too charming, before Nat came to my rescue, reminding us both that we had to find our table.
Shortly thereafter we spotted David Gabriel making his way through the crowd, so we followed him and ended up at Major Crimes' table. As the squad spotted us I noticed they stood just a little straighter, turning to greet us. The guys were all there, looking dapper in tuxedos, although they were all wearing electric blue bowties.
Greetings were exchanged, with numerous compliments coming our way.
"I thought it said black tie?" Andy grinned at me.
"We decided to stand out from the crowd" Natalie laughed.
"You do that anyway, even without the accessories" I nodded.
"You all look good, you scrub up well" Provenza laughed, making it very obvious he was checking us out, getting a good-natured swat from Nat.
"I could say the same of both of you, but that'd be a pretty obvious statement"
We chatted for another minute or so when I heard Andy whistle gently.
"Holy hell…" I looked up to see him staring past us. Looking over I saw Jane and Maura had arrived.
Maura was dressed in that stunning Ellie Saab dress, shimmering green and lovely, discreet skin visible through lace worked into the dress, highlighting her wonderful figure, with her jet opal inlay necklace and earrings and her hair pinned to one side and down her shoulder with an antique comb. The final touch was the metallic Jimmy Choo pumps and matching clutch. She looked a million dollars and I could see eyes following her as she walked.
The rest of the eyes were for Jane, who was frankly spectacular. The vivid red dress she wore was a classic single shoulder cut, but the gown's split highlighted her remarkable legs, perched atop a set of blood red stilettos. Her hair was piled high and held in place with a set of gold combs, matched by a gold chain with a solitaire diamond pendant around her neck, diamond studs plus a gold bracelet on one arm and a gold watch on the other. I was trying to remember what the look reminded me of when it hit me; it had a very Grecian look, especially with the hair pinned up.
As they arrived, the team gave them a warm welcome. Mind you Sanchez had to wind Jane up.
"First time I've seen a Major Crimes detective in an evening dress" Jane smiled at him, her arm around Maura's waist.
"Jealous Sanchez?" He smiled.
"Only of your date" Jane tightened her arm, making Maura look up happily at which Jane smiled back, before returning her gaze back to Sanchez.
"You should be" Sanchez ran his eyes obviously up and down Maura, before looking at Jane again and shaking his head slowly.
"Hell yeah" Maura was chatting to Buzz Watson and Michael Tao.
"Might I say you all look very dashing" Buzz coloured slightly as Michael leaned in slightly.
"The Chief asked us to make an effort" Maura smiled widely.
"She may have asked but we appreciate it" Jane looked around.
"Speaking of which, where is the Chief?" Andy shrugged as David spoke.
"I'm not sure, she usually gets here early" Seeing Natalie exchanging a joke with Provenza, I stepped into the other conversation.
"What does a girl have to do to get a drink around here?" Jane laughed.
"Exactly what I was wondering too?" Julio laughed.
"Get your own Rizzoli"
"Holy Crap!" I turned; it was Michael, staring past us towards the entrance. We turned to look, catching Brenda making her way through the crowd and towards us. David was equally impressed.
"Wow" Buzz nodded.
"Someone's dressed to impress" I exchanged a small smile with Nat, we knew why, looking up I caught a similar look passing between Maura and Jane.
Brenda was dressed in a cobalt blue sheath dress, so wonderfully form fitting it looked like she'd been sewn into it, with a small lace train behind her, the sheath was both shoulder-less and backless and highlighted her lovely shape. I watched as heads turned as she passed, admiring the gown's train, which was made of translucent blue lace from the knees down. Matched with a set of four inch heels in matching blue, she looked breathtaking.
We watched as Brenda approached, smiling and exchanging compliments with a number of people as she made her way over towards us. Her hair was pinned back away from her face in soft waves, with the rest tumbling gracefully down her back, held in place with silver combs. A fine silver necklace with several diamonds hanging from it adorned her neck, teamed with matching drop earrings and a silver clutch. As she arrived, she turned that radiant smile on us all.
"Sorry I was late everyone, I had to extract myself from Chief Pope, he wouldn't let me go" Provenza waggled an eyebrow at her.
"I couldn't possibly see what attracted his interest" There was an outbreak of smiles and chuckles as we stood around, the rest of the party forgotten for a moment as we enjoyed each other's company.
"I appreciate the ties everyone, very, very stylish" David smiled.
"Not to mention they match your outfit" Brenda smirked at him.
"Why indeed they do, I wonder how that happened" David looked down for a moment.
"We may have heard a whisper on the grapevine" Brenda just grinned at him, before looking around at her team, pausing to wink at Maura then Natalie.
"That's a particularly well informed grapevine. Thank you everyone, I appreciate it, you all look very, very handsome tonight" Provenza looked around.
"We seem to be attracting a lot of attention tonight" I noticed a lot of head craning and gawking from other tables, not hard to understand why though. I had my arm around the waist of one of the reasons and she had hers around mine. Brenda looked around and took us all in.
"So gentlemen, have you been looking after our guests?" Jane smiled.
"Well no one's offered us a drink yet" Sanchez rolled his eyes before speaking.
"That's for guests, we don't have any guests here" Andy smiled.
"Yeah, everyone here's part of the team" I noticed Maura's smile grow noticeably wider at that. We laughed for a moment as I looked around; we were a tight circle of happy people, focussed inwards on each other, momentarily forgetting the rest of the room.
They were right; we were all part of the team.
Just then David snagged a passing waiter and started distributing Champaign flutes all round, with a second waiter required to equip all of us. I noticed Brenda grabbed two, something not unnoticed by Andy, who raised an eyebrow at her.
"You planning on being a two fisted drinker tonight Chief?" She looked down at the glasses for a moment before looking up and smiling.
"I'm holding it for our final member of the team" Buzz looked around.
"Where is Commander Raydor? Not like her to be late" Provenza couldn't let that pass.
"Maybe her broom couldn't start" At the frown from Brenda he looked confused. "What I do?" Brenda just shook her head and smiled at him. I could see she was very fond of them all.
Andy held up his glass.
"A toast" I could see Brenda looking around, but she didn't see Sharon. I sighed. Sanchez smiled.
"To a better year to come?" Provenza grinned.
"We're in Major Crimes, like that's going to happen" Tao grinned as well.
"We could always go with the Royal Navy one" Maura frowned.
"I hardly see how toasting a bloody war and a swift promotion is appropriate Lieutenant" Michael was unfazed.
"I was thinking about the other one I heard about. To wives and girlfriends, may they never meet" There was general sniggering at that one, until a welcome, clear voice rang through the group.
"I think that given half of us are female, I think that one might be considered just a little bit sexist, don't you Lieutenant Tao?" We all turned to see Sharon standing there, looking at us. Most of us had smiles at her appearance, but sneaking a look at Brenda, her smile would have lit the room up.
Sharon was standing there, in a rich chocolate strapless, backless ball gown. I recognised it as a Versace piece, satin and lovely, gathered at the left hip and split from there down, revealing a daring length of leg, ending in a leopard print set of ridiculously high heels and a ruffled train. She'd teamed it with a set of rich gold accessories, a torc necklace, earrings, a bracelet and a clutch in the same print style as her shoes. Her hair was gently styled, with a wave running through it and deep reddish highlights hinting at her Irish heritage.
She looked like some exotic chocolate temptation, rich and decadent and oh so tempting.
David and Julio stepped back slightly, expanding our circle to include Sharon, who stepped in with a smile for us all and eyes strictly for Brenda. Brenda smiled happily and handed her second glass to Sharon.
"Well ladies and gentlemen Now that we're all here and the team's complete, to what shall we toast" We paused for a moment before Sharon lifted her glass.
"To friendship and new beginnings"
I smiled. That felt so right, so many of us had started something new here in LA recently. I saw Jane and Maura nod at each other, as Natalie pulled me in closer to her. The electricity between Brenda and Sharon was almost palpable if you knew what to look for. I caught Jane's eye and we exchanged smiles at what was happening.
Brenda smiled and nodded, her eyes never leaving Sharon.
"I couldn't think of anything better or more appropriate"
As one we raised our glasses.
"To friendship and new beginnings"