The two women sat in Brenda's office, at the small table, as far apart as they needed to sit to maintain the idea of professionalism.
"So, basically, you just want to show that you understand that he's in a tough position when it comes to allocating funds for things, and that you'll always advocate for the department, but you won't become an annoyance."
"But, I will be an annoyance, if I think we need something funded. I'll vex him until l get it. It's a southern thing, I'll just keep bringing him muffins until he has a come to Jesus moment."
"Right, but you don't want to give that away at the initial interview. It's better to keep some things mysterious."
"Is that so, Cap'n?" Brenda leaned forward, grinning.
"Chief, focus!" Sharon replied sharply.
Flynn knocked on the door, before peeking in.
"Uh, Chief? The fiancé is in the kitchenette, so, if we're gonna talk to her, seems like now's the time."
"Right. Be right there, Lieutenant."
She looked at Sharon, then peered over her shoulder to see if Flynn had left. Verifying that the room was empty, she took Sharon's hands and pulled her into a standing position, before bringing her into a gentle kiss. It was chaste, and sweet, but tinged with the promise of later.
"I have been wanting to do that since…well good grief, since you ran out of my house the day after you were attacked." Brenda whispered, leaning her forehead against Sharon's.
"If it's any consolation, Chief, I've wanted that too, more than you know." Sharon replied.
"Mmm. Well, I have to go talk to the future Mrs. Torres, and then I'm going home to get some rest. I know just the thing to wear for my interview tomorrow, so don't you worry about that. You should get some rest too, because tomorrow night, I'm either going to want to go celebrate, or I'm going to need to be consoled, but either way, I'm going to need a dinner date. I think I owe you one, at the very least, so, what do you say? Tomorrow night, around 7?" Brenda smiled sweetly.
"I say, it's a date." Sharon slanted her lips over Brenda's, kissing her soundly, relishing in the sensation of Brenda's lithe, warm body against hers.
As the kiss ended, Brenda found herself a little wobbly, and she grinned widely. Walking to the door, she paused with her hand on the knob.
"I'm glad your mouth worked faster than your brain for once. I hope you know you can be honest with me, no matter the circumstance. I'll see you tomorrow, Cap'n. Sweet dreams!"
Sharon watched her go, a conflicting mess of thoughts swirling around in her brain. Though the terrible skirts had grown on her over the last few months, the idea of letting Brenda pick out her own outfit for the interview gave her a little bit of indigestion, if she was being honest with herself. Shaking her head, she gathered up her files, and put them into her Cartier attaché case, and headed back down to FID. On the way, she ran into Will Pope.
"You'll make sure she's on time tomorrow?" He asked without preamble.
"I'll walk her across the street myself, sir." She replied, smiling a smile that made Pope feel slightly unsettled.
"Good. Well, I have to say, I'm glad you two have gotten over your enmity. It's refreshing to not have to referee. I'd venture to say if you two ever actually got to be friends, the LAPD would have to watch out." He chuckled as he spoke.
"Mmm-hmmm. Well, good to see you, Chief Pope. I must be on my way." Sharon replied, moving down the hallway, keeping her features schooled into a mask of neutrality.
"Oh, ah, Sharon?" Will called after her.
"Yes, sir?" Sharon answered, turning back to face him.
"If you ever wanted to get a coffee, and, you know, talk shop, let me know." He flushed all the way to the top of his very bald head, then gave a mock salute, and turned to wander off.
Sharon stood there for a moment, and then couldn't hold in the giggles. She shoved open the door to the stairway, and leaned against the wall, peals of laughter bouncing off of the cement stairs. Honestly. If he was going to make a habit of that, she might just let the Chief shoot him, and put them all out of their misery.
The next morning, Brenda lay sprawled across her bed, in her slip, looking over the videos from the Judy Lynch case. She knew that what she was looking for was hidden in plain sight, but she just couldn't see it. She adjusted her glasses on her nose, and then leaned forward, hitting rewind on the unpublished vlog file Tao had located. If Judy had been filming this, then who'd keyed Torres' car? She dialed Tao, and impatiently interrupted his bumbling well wishes, to outline her plan. Satisfied that things were in motion, she rolled off the bed, drained her coffee, left the mug on the nightstand, and stood in front of her closet. She had it narrowed down to two choices. A slimming pinstriped suit, that, if she thought about it, rather looked like something the Captain would wear, or a vibrant red dress with wide white trim. Recalling her conversation with the Captain yesterday, and the heat that had passed between them when she'd suggested that Brenda play up her 'feminine virtues', the choice was easy.
Donning the dress, and a higher-than-usual pair of silver heels, she chuckled as she tossed a tiny printed purse into her standard oversized tote. She ignored the fact that she was more excited about seeing Sharon's reaction to her outfit, than she was about interviewing with the Mayor. She stopped in the en suite, and applied some shockingly red lipstick, and swept her hair up into a tousled updo to complete the transformation. Stepping back, she appraised herself in the full length mirror, and nodded happily. Sharon wouldn't know what hit her. Her bra lifted and separated in all the right places, and the lines of the dress skimmed forgivingly over her midsection, sweeping over her hips and thighs, before ending just above her knees. The shoes made her calf muscles seem well defined, and as she turned, she realized that for the first time since puberty, she could conceivably be considered in possession of a nice butt. Grinning, she snapped off the fluorescent light, and snagged her tote on the way downstairs.
Meanwhile, Sharon cursed the traffic on the Highway, as she'd hoped to get to work early enough to take an emergency shopping break if Brenda had on anything resembling a flower petal. As it stood, she'd barely be on time, thanks to an avocado truck that had literally lost its lunch. She growled in frustration, drumming her fingers on the steering wheel, before leaning down to click off the local traffic and weather station, and put on her MP3 player. Leaning back against the headrest, she grinned a little bit at the memory of having Brenda in the passenger seat. Particularly when she thought about what had transpired in the stairwell afterwards. Really, now that she was using her higher intellect, and not just her lizard brain, Brenda had been indicating her seriousness from almost the very beginning. She felt a little bit awful when she considered how much time she'd wasted, because she hadn't been paying attention to the details. She was nothing, if not attentive to detail, but she'd been so caught up in the novelty, and so worried that it was all going to come crashing down around her ears, that she'd missed the subtle clues, the small hints. Shaking her head, she comforted herself with the fact that, now, at least, they could move forward. Assuming she'd been telling the truth about her outfit for the interview. Otherwise, Sharon was going to have to kill her, and that wasn't really a strong foundation to build a relationship upon, after all. The car in front of her crept forward, and Sharon refocused her attention on the road, hopeful that the path would be clear hence forth.
Brenda leaned over Buzz's shoulder, staring at the footage with her team. She'd hoped to see Sharon before she got started, but the woman was uncharacteristically late. Brenda tried not to read too much into that, but there was a tiny seed of fear in her belly that the progress they'd made yesterday had vanished in the night. Vanished… Brenda asked Buzz to key back to Judy's vlog once more. The pillow. Where was the pillow that she'd been smothered with? She leaned closer, resting her palms on the table, squinting at the grainy footage. It wasn't there. Where was it? She startled when the door opened, and the Captain walked, stopping short just inside the doorway.
"Chief, you look," she forced herself to drag her eyes away from the miles of bare leg, the tapered waist, the…were they bigger? "Great. You look great." She finished lamely, finally meeting Brenda's eyes.
"Well thank you, Cap'n." Brenda smiled, and put her glasses back on, turning back to the screen.
"I made a, ah, reservation for us, downstairs?"
"Oh, I can't. I don't have time right now, for breakfast, actually." Brenda was back to leaning over Buzz's shoulder, peering at the screen.
Sharon knew that look. She crossed the room, and folded her arms over her chest.
"Why?" She drew the question out, trying to convey the subtle warning about Brenda's lunch date without overtly calling her out. "What are you doing?"
"Trying to find the exact time Marc Torres' car was keyed." Brenda replied.
Sharon stood behind Brenda, trying to focus on the screen, but the decided absence of panty lines beneath the dress was driving her to distraction. She moved a little closer, so that her thigh pressed against the back of Brenda's leg. Brenda managed to suppress the shiver of pleasure that strummed through her body at the contact, and she focused all of her attention on the Camaro on the screen.
"There. We don't see who did it, though." Brenda sighed.
"What does that mean?" Sharon asked, leaning closer to the screen, resting her hand on the small of Brenda's back.
"It means, I've been spending a lot of time this morning looking for things I can't see," Brenda replied, straightening up. "That scratch happened at 9:45 PM while Judy was on her date." She glanced over at Lt. Tao. "I'mma need you to bring Marc Torres up from holding, I may need him. And um, your bag of tricks, too."
Sharon felt her stomach sink. This sounded complicated, and though there wasn't any need for an emergency shopping trip, because good lord, that dress was more than adequate, the idea of Brenda actively working a case just before her meeting made her very nervous.
"Chief, surely this can wait?" She asked, hopefully.
"I won't miss my appointment!" Brenda exclaimed, fixing her glasses on her face. "I promise. I promise, I promise, I promise." She turned, and gave Sharon a winning smile.
"All right, Chief. I'll see you later, then." Sharon smiled tightly, and strode out of the room, hoping beyond all hope that Brenda wouldn't tank this chance.