An audience with the Pope
Brenda's viewpoint
There are many advantages to being Sharon Raydor's lover, oh so very many, almost too many to count.
My favourites include Sharon's kisses, how she makes me feel when she snuggles up against me when we're falling asleep after making love, the way we fit together seamlessly on the sofa, in bed, doing almost anything together.
The thought of her body, that glorious work of art, her long, strong legs wrapped around me and those full breasts in my hands and on my tongue, the taste of her makes me come alive. Burying my face in her hair and just breathing in the essence of her scent, the memory of her body, tangled with mine. Oh so many memories.
Others include how Sharon can turn me on with a look, a smile, a raised eyebrow or that patented Commander Raydor smirk, not to mention how good she is at following through on those unspoken promises, leaving me a shattered, satiated wreck afterwards, before coaxing me back for more.
Today however I think the best part of being Sharon's lover is that I can shoot Will Pope and get away with it, no way would Sharon find any wrongdoing here.
Mind you, I may have to act fast, given the glare Sharon's giving Pope she may shoot him first, which just won't do. I have absolutely no intention of having to visit Sharon in prison, let alone giving up the rights to her after-hours attention. Besides, she'd look dreadful in orange; it's just not her colour.
No, if Pope died right here it'd be at my hand, I just knew Sharon would have my back.
Besides, I mused, given the ranting Pope was doing, maybe they could claim it was self-defence.
Ever since I'd arrived at his office in response to a peremptory summons, walking in to find Sharon already sitting there as Pope scowled at her, I knew exactly what this was all about, Will's ego.
He'd immediately started on how he'd heard rumours that Sharon and I were somehow involved and he wanted to hear the truth from us. How we were going to shut the rumours down, that we were not involved, prove that they weren't true.
I'd looked at Sharon and she'd looked back at me with that fractionally raised eyebrow and shrugged ever so minutely, I knew immediately what she meant. 'Will you tell him or will I?'
I'd looked back at her, sighed gently and nodded slightly. 'I will'
"What do you want to hear Will? That Sharon and I aren't involved? Sorry, but I'm not gonna lie, we are" His eye's grew wide and his voice got louder, a lot louder.
"Jesus Christ Brenda, what the hell's got into you" I narrowed my eyes at his words and tone as I struggled to remain polite.
"Chief Pope, perhaps you might like to explain exactly what you mean by that" He controlled his voice with effort and gestured towards Sharon.
"You and her, that's what, what exactly were you thinking?" I could feel my teeth grinding, never a good sign.
"That I might want to be happy, that somehow, after a personal and professional year in hell, I've found someone who makes me very happy. Someone I care about very much"
"But Sharon Raydor of all people? You two used to fight like cats and dogs. Is this some kind of rebound thing? You're doing this to spite Fritz Howard?"
I felt my jaw tighten as I clenched my teeth and stared at him. Finally I ground out the words, desperately trying not to lose my temper, god knows I wanted to.
"No, this is not some kind of spite thing" Pope's sense of self-preservation was obviously on holiday, as he kept digging himself deeper.
"Then what is it, some kind of mid-life crisis affair?" I could barely believe the rubbish spilling from his lips.
"No, it is not some mid-life crisis, nor is it some kind of cheap, tawdry affair. God knows you would know, you're the expert on those"
"How dare you" I cut him off, too angry to care. To suggest what Sharon and I had was…
"No! How dare you? How dare you cast aspersions on my personal life? What gives you the right?"
"When it affects the LAPD, that's what gives me the right" I leaned forward in the chair.
"You didn't give a damn when I was married to the LAPD liaison officer or when my marriage started falling apart" Sharon's voice was dry.
"Nor when Captain Macintyre and Lieutenant Collins became involved, as I understand it, you attended their wedding and gave a nice speech about how you wished them continuing happiness" I flicked a grateful glance her way before going back on the offensive.
"Two of your senior officers are dating, so what? It's not against the rules, as long as it doesn't affect our work and we aren't in a direct chain of command" He threw his hands up in exasperation, or maybe frustration.
"But you should know better, god damn it Brenda…You should have told me before you went off and did something this stupid" Sharon's voice was cold as ice.
"Chief Pope, I'm surprised that I have to remind you of the LAPD code of conduct when it comes to co-worker relationships. As long as all the appropriate measures are in place to avoid conflicts of interest and such, in accordance with policy and HR has been appropriately notified, then you had no reason to be informed" I jumped right in after her, fire to her ice.
"And you'd better damn well apologise right now, if you know what's smart"
"Apologise for what?"
"For suggesting this is stupid. Damn you Will, I will not be lectured to by you about my personal relationships. God knows I've made mistakes, but this isn't one of them"
"You don't have the best track record with relationships, you've made mistakes" I stared at him through slitted eyes, as my words came out cold.
"Yes I have and don't I know it" He flushed as he realised what I was getting at; now it was time to rub some salt in those wounds. "And as a man with a string of failed marriages and relationships behind you, I hardly think you're in any position to be getting all high and mighty with me"
He sat there for a moment, obviously not sure what to say. Finally he spoke, trying another tack.
"But how will this look, both of you are senior officers, when it gets out? This could reflect on the Department. What will people think?" I smiled inwardly; he'd given me an opening.
"So your concern is only for the department and its image?"
"The well-being of the LAPD is my responsibility" Sharon smiled softly.
"Of course it is. That's why you don't care that three other members of your senior officer's team are lesbians involved with co-workers; it's only an issue when it's Brenda and I"
"They're not the two most senior female officers in the LAPD. How will it look?" I shook my head.
"Look Will, how much of this is actual worry for the Department and how much is because this means that you've lost two things you want in in a single stroke"
"Me, what's this got to do with me?" Sharon spoke before I could.
"It's well known you still carry a torch for Brenda, and you've made your interest in me painfully obvious. Now you have to deal with losing what you want, losing your chance with either Brenda or I"
Will was glaring at Sharon, I wanted to distract him from her and get us back on track.
"If you were honest Will, you'd accept that we'd both made it clear it wasn't going to happen and be happy for us" I shrugged as we tag teamed him, Will really should have learned from the Taylor incident not to piss us both off at the same time and place.
"We were not going to get back together again, not a second time, too much waters gone under the bridge for that" I shook my head. "Neither of us are the people we used to be" 'I sat back as the thought ran through my head 'Thank god for that'.
Sharon looked across at me for a moment as if she could read my thoughts; it really wouldn't surprise me if she could, before turning to look at Will across his desk.
"As for the possibility of you and I Chief, well you now know why that was never going to happen, it's not you, it's your gender" He sat back, obviously processing what we'd said.
The silence stretched on for almost a minute before he spoke. I felt like rolling my eyes; Will was still trying to convince himself that this was all about work.
"What happens if this starts affecting your work?" I had to chuckle at that, talk about grasping straws...
"The relationship between Major Crimes and FID has never been better, as you are well aware"
"But what happens now you two are…" A hand wave in our general direction. "…involved?" Sharon's voice was flat.
"Nothing" Will's head tilted.
"Excuse me?" Sharon sat back, rested her elbows on the chair's arms and steepled her fingers, looking over the tops at Will coolly.
"Both squads are not only stable and working well, but our respective closure rates are as good as ever"
"That was before you two were…" He waved his hand dismissively. I smiled.
"It had no influence on our ability to close the sniper case" I could see Sharon's gentle smile from the corner of my eye.
"Nor on closing the LAPD Ball bombing"
"Or on the closure of the Deputy Mayor's son's case or even that horror movie producer's case" Pope fell back in his chair, his eyes flicking between us.
"You two were… back then" I grinned.
"You can say it Will, the word is together. And yes, we were together back then"
"How long has this exactly been going on" I shrugged, looking across at Sharon.
"Dating, back before the Ball, something more…" I smiled across at Sharon, getting a slight smile in return. "Not long afterwards"
Will dropped back in his seat, his hand to his face. Finally he dropped the hand, to look at the two of us there. I really wanted to reach out and take Sharon's hand, I needed her touch but didn't dare, so I sat there, my hands resting in my lap desperately trying for calm in the face of his gaze. Sharon was doing the same, waiting.
Eventually he shook his head slowly, as I tilted my head to the side to look at him. It was a mannerism of Sharon's I'd picked up over time; out of the corner of my eye I could see Sharon was doing the same and I desperately tried not to smile.
Will's eyes flicked from Sharon to me and back again, over and over as he frowned.
"Is this some sort of weird double act thing you've got going to freak people out?" I frowned, and turned to look at Sharon, who was frowning as well. She looked at me and I suddenly realised what he was talking about.
I was wearing my Armani suit and heels with a simple silver chain and matching studs, gifts from Sharon, I'd gone all Raydor power pants suit, mine was black and hers was black pinstripe, she was wearing a gold chain with a small diamond pendant and matching earrings.
In fact Sharon had idly commented on it as we got dressed this morning at my place. To add to it we were sitting there in almost identical poses, hands in our laps and legs crossed at the ankles. I looked back at him and smiled as Sharon spoke.
"Well, it's working, isn't it?"
He stared at us for a moment as Sharon smiled, before I started giggling. Will looked back and forward between us as his eyebrows rose as Sharon started chuckling too. His mouth twitched for a moment, before he started laughing.
We must have laughed for a good ten seconds, the tension bleeding out of the room. Finally we subsided as he looked at us, a ghost of a smile still there.
"Well…" I looked at Sharon and smiled, before looking back at him.
"Well…?"
"Can you at least try and keep this under wraps" He must have seen my expression change as he quickly held his hand up. "Not hide it, I didn't mean that, just try not to have it front page news, if you can" Sharon nodded.
"That was never our intention" I shrugged.
"HR and our squads know, some of our friends know, I'm interested in how you found out though?" He sighed.
"Belinda's husband is a paramedic; he heard it from another paramedic who was on the scene at the aftermath of the sniper case" I nodded as Sharon spoke.
"I'm surprised that it's such a big deal for the paramedics" I blushed as Will looked at her.
"Brenda closed a case on the killing of two paramedics and then prevented the massacre of three hundred more at their memorial service. They awarded her their highest medal for bravery in recognition, so yes, Brenda's a big deal for a lot of paramedics" If anything I blushed even more, I could feel my cheeks flaming as I heard Sharon's soft words.
"Oh, I see" Hopefully changing the subject I brought up an issue I was concerned about.
"I just hope Taylor leaves this alone" I looked up at Will's chuckle.
"I don't think you will have too much to worry about on that score, at least for a while" I frowned as Sharon leaned forward.
"Why not, I would have thought this would have been the perfect opportunity for him to have a go at Brenda and I"
"Taylor has his own issues right now; he crossed swords with Natalie Dearing at the Ball and came out of it very second best. He's been running round trying to clean up his past and shore up support with the union and some of the other senior officers, or so I understand it" I shared a puzzled look with Sharon.
"What could Natalie have done to scare Taylor?" Will shrugged.
"You'll have to ask her, or maybe Andy Flynn, he was there I'm told" Sharon looked at him.
"How did you learn of it?" He smiled smugly.
"I may spend too much time in this office or over at City Hall, but I have my sources everywhere" At my questioning look he shrugged. "Someone was near enough to hear it all and mentioned it to someone else. It was too good not to gossip about, so eventually it reached my ears" I nodded slowly as Sharon smiled.
"Let's hope he stays occupied"
"Apparently she took him apart fairly comprehensively, so he has bigger problems just now" I flicked a glance across to Sharon and got one in return as we shared a thought; we needed to talk to Natalie, soon.
Will looked across at us both and coughed, bringing our attention back to him.
"Just because he's otherwise occupied doesn't mean that he can't still stir up trouble, so try and be discreet, for all our sakes" He leaned forward before we could respond.
"And don't go looking to capitalise on his problems either, I don't need yet another three-way shit fight between Robbery Homicide, Major Crimes and FID. Got it?" Sharon and I nodded.
"Understood Will"
"Yes Chief" He sat there for a moment, then gestured to the door.
"I'm sure you both have work to do" We both stood and nodded goodbye, before he stopped us near the door.
"Oh Chief Johnson, Commander Raydor, one more thing" We turned to look at him as he smiled gently. "Merry Christmas"
We both smiled and wished him Merry Christmas before beating a hasty retreat out of there. Once out near the lifts we looked around for a moment, but there was no one in earshot. Sharon leaned forward and spoke softly.
"That went better than I was dreading" I nodded, keeping my voice low.
"You and me both" Her hand came up and rubbed my arm for a moment as I sighed at her touch.
"My place tonight honey?" I smiled, feeling warm all over at the thought of another night in her arms.
"Love to, we've only got five days till we head off to our families for Christmas so we need to spend as much quality time together until then" Sharon sniggered.
"You make it sound like it's going to be months apart, it's only four days" I dropped my head and looked up at her through my lashes.
"Sweetie, four days without you is going to feel like four weeks" She smiled softly back at me.
"I know honey; it's going to be hard" Leaning forward she pushed the elevator button.
"You could always take a toy or two with you to tide you over" I rolled my eyes at her, getting a chuckle in return.
"I am not going to give some TSA goon a cheap thrill as he checks my luggage an besides, god help me if my momma found it while I was in Atlanta" The elevator arrived, fortunately empty. We stepped in and pushed the buttons for our respective floors as the door closed.
"Brenda, you want to bring over Thai tonight; our usual?"
"You want something for dessert?" She smiled as she reached out and slipped her hand into mine.
"I have all the dessert I want right here" I wanted to kiss her right then and there but there were camera's in the lifts. Damn.
"Any particular flavour dessert you'd like tonight?" She made a show of thinking about it for a moment before leaning towards me and speaking softly.
"Yeah, I think I'd like something in lace tonight" I swallowed into a suddenly dry mouth. "What about you Brenda, any preferences" I felt the elevator coming to a stop at her floor as Sharon let go of my hand, I missed her touch immediately. I looked up and smiled.
"Yeah, leather would be just perfect" I got a wicked grin as the doors opened and she stepped out, turning on her heel to face me as the doors started to close.
"I think I have that flavour somewhere in my closet, I'll see what I can do" As the door closed she gave me a cheeky wink, leaving me staring at the doors, my body tingling.
I'd been wrong about Sharon. It wasn't hard making love to her; the hardest part was not being able to have her all the time. As the doors opened on my floor, I found myself wondering.
It'd been just on two months since that night at Melisse where we'd both poured our hearts out, setting us on the journey to where we were now. Was it too early for us to move in together, was I rushing things?
We barely spent a night apart now, but making it permanent was a big step. On the other hand, I didn't have to take that step alone.
Like everything in my life with Sharon now, we'd take it together.