Cujo III - Reloaded - This Time It's Personal
Chapter 31
Here's another. It's a bit shorter than the last. Let me know if you enjoy it, (or not). Imaginary Beta took a quick look at it but, as usual, may have missed something. She's not been the most trustworthy of proof-readers but I don't have the heart to fire her. She needs the job.
Disclaimer: Have not received one dime from this story. Am writing to amuse myself and, hopefully, the readers as well. Husband still trying to understand it all. Ninja cats don't really care as long as their human pet bed doesn't move around too much to disturb their naps.
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What Goes Around
A bit earlier:
Cath smiled as she hung up. Though Steve was the smartest, toughest, badest of all the badasses she'd ever known, he could sometimes be the most gullible. The man who could figure out how to take down an entire horde of terrorists while armed with only a paper cup and a felt tip pen could be totally confounded by the mysteries of human social interaction. Actually, she thought it one of his most endearing and attractive qualities, (well that and being hot as a pistol).
Danny for sure had turned the tables on his partner and being a good and supportive not-my-girlfriend, she'd assured Steve that he was being pranked and Danny hadn't any hidden affections for him. She also couldn't help but remind him of the saying 'What goes around comes around'.
By the time they'd hung up Steve sounded more relaxed about the situation but she knew he wouldn't be totally convinced until he got a direct answer from the man himself. Angela had apparently spun a very believable tale about her brother's marriage ending because he'd 'strayed' with another guy. Cath had gained new respect for the very creative Team Williams, Steve never had a chance.
Once again clicking the 'play' icon, she picked up her bowl of M&M's and snuggled down to enjoy her movie. As the titles began to roll across the screen, she couldn't help the small smile that played across her face. Poor baby. Life was certainly confusing sometimes for her big, tough, SEAL.
….
Mickey popped another pain pill. Cat bites hurt like a bitch and he was still pissed his own partner wouldn't even back him up on his tale of an unprovoked attack by an obviously deranged animal.
He hadn't even managed to successfully convince the doctor that Five-0's little snake had rabies and needed to be put down. Of course he wasn't aware there hadn't been a case of rabies in Hawaii since . . . well . . . ever. The state's stringent rules of animal import had all but eliminated the threat and any animal entering the state had to be inoculated against it and quarantined for months before being allowed to have a home here.
He'd also convinced himself that if that thing they call a cat hadn't come to the little runt's rescue he could have knocked him into next Tuesday. Sure, it may require a club to do it but he could have taken him . . . right? He so wanted both of the little fuckers dead. McGarrett's partner had picked a fight with and his barracuda had bitten the wrong guy.
Phil insisted they take care of the paperwork before they went home saying it was a good idea just in case Williams decided to file a report with I.A.D. to describe the little set-to in the coffee shop parking lot
Mickey had the feeling Brotman only wanted to head him off. He knew his too honest partner's report would contain only the absolute facts.
When they'd been waiting for treatment at the hospital Williams had told the two HPD detectives that this 'disagreement' was only between himself and Mickey and that next time Kilkenny wouldn't get off with only a mauling. Next time there'd be no weapons and no cats mixed into the fray and someone would be going to the hospital with more than a few bites and scratches. Brotman had only shaken his head and wished he was home watching The Walking Dead. Zombies were much more reasonable.
Mickey knew he needed to file his own report to put a little more spin on the incident. After all, if he himself had been attacked by a flashlight wielding fellow officer he'd have filed a complaint with I.A.D. so fast it would make your head spin. Right now he wanted to make sure to head off anything he could if Williams filed a report of his own. Michael A. Kilkenny was on his way up the ladder and he certainly didn't want a Jersey runt and a fucking cat interrupting the climb. After discussing it further, he and Brotman decided they wouldn't actually file their reports unless it became necessary to do so. As far as all parties were concerned, this should be kept under the radar.
Gingerly prying up the adhesive tape at the edge of the bandage covering the damage to his arm, and then checking the other one on his leg, he cursed at the deep gouges and even deeper fang marks. Brotman hadn't been sympathetic in the least. Maybe Kiki would be more sympathetic, (though he wouldn't hold his breath). The woman certainly wasn't the most compassionate human being he'd ever met. He'd even begun to have second thoughts about sharing her bed. She was a good time but he felt as though he'd sold his soul to the devil in exchange for it. If his wife ever found out about his extracurricular activities – that would be the end of his marriage if not a certain part of his anatomy. He knew women could be merciless in their quest for revenge.
He'd caught Williams' reference to 'getting busy' with a television reporter. If the Jersey runt knew about it; who else did? He'd had a suspicion that Brotman knew but he trusted the guy would keep his mouth shut. Maybe it was time to end it but Kiki was an addiction he may not be able to kick dammit.
"Aren't you done with that friggin' report yet?" he barked as he walked past Phil tapping madly away at his keyboard.
"Mickey, this report wouldn't even be necessary if you and Williams had knocked off the dick measuring contest." shot back his annoyed partner.
"Yeah, you were a gigantic help with that whole thing. Thanks a lot." growled Kilkenny
"Mickey, I've held back long enough. This has been the longest sixty days of my entire life. Being your partner has been a gigantic pain in my ass. I can hardly wait for the end of my hitch just so I can get the hell away from you. If I never have to see your ugly little smirk again I'll be a happy man."
"Yeah, well maybe you won't have to see my smirk anymore. You wanna try to wipe it off my face?"
"Grow up Mickey! Go pick on another pussy cat or something." said Brotman dismissively, "Maybe this time you'll find a nice little fuzzy kitten you can take."
"You know that animal is dangerous! I'm just its last victim! We'll see how 'immunity and means' handles a complaint to the chief!"
"So you're going to officially admit you got your ass kicked by a seven pound kitty?"
"Fuck off Phil!"
"Gladly. Go home Mickey before McGarrett finds out you tried to start something with his partner and his cat."
Knowing he wasn't going to get any satisfaction from Brotman, Mickey turned on his heel and with a growl and a slight limp, made his way out of the building.
…..
The tension in the kitchen could be cut with a knife . . . well at least as far as Steve was concerned.
Danny sat looking immensely amused at his flustered partner who at this point appeared as though he couldn't tell which way was up.
Leaning forward, the blonde placed his hand on Steve's arm. The tall man looked directly back at the amused blue eyes of his partner; his expression wobbling between uncertainty and frustration. Even normally, the SEAL wasn't a touchy-feely sort of guy unless it was with Cath. At least he didn't flinch, thought Danny.
"Babe, you look like someone stole your last grenade or something. What exactly did Angie tell you?"
Taking a deep breath the SEAL began, "Look Danny, it doesn't matter to me what your orientation is. I will never judge you or abandon our friendship but if you're looking for a umm . . different kind of partnership then . . . I'm sorry if I somehow allowed you to think it would be possible with me."
"Uh huh." said Danny reluctant to laugh at Steve's obvious sincerity. Now he did feel kinda bad about the whole thing. "So, you idiot, you somehow got the idea that I've got some sort of romantic feeling you?"
"Well, uhh, yeah." answered Steve, pale complexion reddening by the moment, "Angie said you were jealous of me and Dave." Then, suddenly looking as though something had occurred to him Steve blurted, "Oh shit, it just dawned on me. How did I miss it?! Do you have a thing for Dave? If you do, that's okay man. I mean he's a nice guy and you could certainly do worse. I'm sorry if you think I've gotten in your way."
Danny changed his mind again as he tried to school his face into something a bit more serious than one that was about to dissolve into a fit of laughter. "Well you and Dave seemed to have hit it off pretty well." said Danny taking his one last chance to poke the bear. "And you've never called Cath your girlfriend. I mean, you're the same age as I am and you've never even proposed to a woman . . . that I know of anyway."
"There's lots of stuff you don't know about me." said Steve rather huffily in defense.
"Obviously, since most of your life is friggin' classified." smirked Danny, "but you coulda told me about Dave you know."
"Danny! For the last time! THERE'S NOTHING GOING ON BETWEEN ME AND DAVE DAMMIT!"
"So you're not going on a date with him?" calmly asked the blonde with a totally innocent look. If Steve wasn't so flustered at the moment he'd have known that expression had to be a tip-off. Danny never wore a totally innocent expression.
Just then, Cujo decided to make a dramatic appearance by jumping onto the table and knocking over Danny's Longboard sending a foamy tide across its surface.
"Dammit cat!" yelped Steve as he tried to scramble away from the wave of amber liquid rushing toward him. Danny jumped up intending to grab a dishtowel to mop it up before it spilled over the edge of the table onto the floor.
Ignoring his human completely and careful to keep his toes out of the wet, Cujo calmly bent down to sniff the spreading puddle.
Hmm, this smells interesting. A little pink tongue took a tentative lap.
As Steve grabbed for the crutch and struggled to stand and before Danny had turned back toward the table with the towel, Cujo began to enthusiastically lap away at Lake Longboard.
"Hey!" yelled both men at the same time. Beer couldn't possibly be good for cats.
The foamy tide had made its way across the wooden surface to cascade onto the floor which then caused the single crutch to slip out from under as Steve made a grab for the animal. The tall man let go the crutch and windmilled trying to keep his balance as Danny made a grab for him and they both toppled over onto the floor; beer raining down as they landed in a tangled heap.
Danny's fall had been cushioned by his partner's body, (luckily not his leg). They both lay stunned a moment as Cujo now stared curiously over the edge of the table at the sight of two humans wrestling around in the strange but tasty wet stuff.
As Steve pushed his partner off him he growled, "That better be your elbow."
"Of course it's my elbow. Don't flatter yourself moron."
Scrambling away from each other to sit several feet apart, Danny couldn't keep it together any longer and dissolved into laughter at the sight of his totally pissed and beer soaked friend.
"What's so funny dammit?" demanded the SEAL as with his hands he began to wipe the beer from his hair and face.
"You!" choked out Danny about to double over in an uncontrolled outburst of hilarity.
Steve just sat staring at him in puzzlement. What the hell is so funny?
…
The night was only dimly lit by a street lamp half a block down the street. She dropped the flat package containing the knife into the mail box. Just in case there were any cameras lurking about to capture her image as she did so, she'd made sure to wear sunglasses and cover her hair with a scarf. She wasn't all that worried about being identified. Without make-up she was pretty much unrecognizable as Kiki Kenworthy of local television fame anyway.
That last package with the gun in it had worked out perfectly. She'd had several on-camera interviews with the locals and another with one of the networks plus several voice-only interviews. At least they'd used a good photo of her onscreen as background to her voice. They'd used an old one and it was almost time to take some new photos. She'd need the new headshots to submit to the networks. She'd have to seriously rethink her hairstyle. The bangs may be good enough for the local yokels but she needed something different for national exposure. Maybe something short and a little edgy.
She'd have to invest in a more upscale wardrobe too. The tropical blazers wouldn't do . . . well, maybe she could get away with a couple of them in L.A. but anywhere further east would need a whole new look. She smiled as she put her car into gear to drive back to her beachside condo. She didn't even have to be in early to work tomorrow. It would take them some time to open the mail and discover this latest clue that had been addressed to her. Like last time, she'd make her entrance and look totally surprised. She'd have to start rehearsing her latest 'spontaneous' remarks about the whole thing.
The night air caressed her skin as she rolled down the window to savor the warm feel of it. After all, it may not be that much longer that she'll get to enjoy the tropical weather. It can be a lot colder in New York or even Los Angeles.
….
"Okay, so you have no feelings for me then . . . I mean those kinds of feelings right?" repeated Steve taking a relieved breath.
"Of course not you Neanderthal. Not everyone on this godforsaken rock is in love with you." chuckled Danny.
"And you have no feelings for Dave Matsui or anyone else who isn't female?"
Danny only rolled his eyes at that. The guy was so dense at times.
Steve, noting his partner's dismissive eye roll said, "Just checking D. You know it doesn't make any difference to me if you do but it's good to know if have to lay off the appreciative comments on the attractive women we run across."
"Look, you idiot, you don't do much of that anyway. And I know it's because you are a cocky sonofabitch who has no problems attracting women of any age, weight, and description. You also have, which for the life of me I've yet to figure out, one of the lovliest examples of said females at your beck and call when she's in port."
"Yeah, I do don't I?" affirmed the SEAL with an entirely too smug expression. "Cath told me you were just yanking my chain. I should have believed her."
"Listen, whenever it comes to the finer points of civilized behavior, please pay attention to your not-my-girlfriend. Otherwise you'll just be flailing around in an area about which you haven't the faintest clue. It's like expecting Lassie to write a thesis on the subtleties of human interaction."
"Hey!" said Steve sounding a bit wounded by the observation
"You are an animal and not a terribly bright one sometimes." replied Danny, eyes a-twinkle
Rubbing the towel through his hair one last time to dry off the last of the beer, Steve snorted dismissively then said in earnest, "Okay, now how are you going to help me get back at Angie?"
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Next update may solve a mystery or two but not really sure yet how many. Have to go where The Force leads me.
Update in about another week. Reviews would be most welcome.