What forms beyond clouds? Part 3

Approaching midday, Andy Flynn made it a point to saunter into the squad room of Robbery/Homicide wearing a smirk. He zeroed in on Sergeant Renner who sat behind a cluster of folders on his desk in the back of the squad room. The whole room stank of stale coffee and sweat.

The old boys club.

"Hey," Andy barked at the younger man, barely keeping the postfix of 'idiot' from following his greeting, "we only have the one report on the Dennings/Reginald homicide. We still need everything else; evidence, logs, SID, autopsy notes."

Renner sighed dramatically and his baby blue eyes on Andy held a piercing disdain.

"I'm working on it," the younger detective said with a huff, and then he pointed at two boxes on the floor, filled with folders, "As you can see."

If Sharon was here, the little whelp would certainly adopt a more polite tone; as it was, the boy sounded constipated.

Andy crossed his arms and sneered, "All I can see is you taking your sweet time, Renner, that's what I am seeing. You better get a move on. I don't have all week to wait for your shuffling feet."

"I am well within the appropriate time frame for passing on case details to another division," the little idiot replied as sourly as if he had bitten into a lemon.

Andy laughed, "What – are you a rulebook now? If you want, I can refer you to internal affairs? I'm sure they have a job opening or two for a rulebook scout boy."

Renner narrowed his eyes, "I am not the one working for I.A."

Andy ignored the dig at his Captain. Instead he sighed, "What's taking you so long? It's two boxes for Christ's sake! Not like it's rocket science."

Renner sniffed, "I have other cases as well."

Andy rolled his eyes and then glanced around the squad room, crossing his arms. There were a lot of newcomers but also a couple of veterans like himself. Andy saluted Carl Bremen who waved back. The older sergeant had been around for a lifetime. A dinosaur like the rest of the veterans.

Renner narrowed his eyes and then angrily bit out, "I will get the files to you – as soon as possible."

"Sir," Andy flippantly responded as he looked back at the sergeant with a smug smile.

"What?" Renner pouted, well aware what Andy wanted.

"You mean, as soon as possible, sir."

"Yes, sir," Renner bit out, and then in a show of bravado, "I see your reputation does you justice, Flynn; still as annoying as ever, huh."

Andy shrugged with a faked smile, "Yeah, it's part of my charm."

"What charm would that be, huh Flynn?" Carl Bremen joined in with a jolly laugh, "talking out your ass?"

Andy turned around and then quirked one eyebrow, "My natural charm, the ladies dig it," he relayed back.

Out of the corner of his eyes, Andy saw Renner narrow his eyes in annoyance.

"How's the old stink hole anyway?" Andy asked Bremen.

"Oh you know, same old, same old," Bremen answered and then with his bearded chin, he pointed at Renner, "a couple of newcomers, and the occasional turf war with the Gang Unit… and then we have Stapples breathing down our necks."

"Stapples, huh?" Andy hummed. The sergeant had seemed more than capable to Andy the few times he had met the I.A man.

Bremen cleared his throat, "Yeah, you know – he's not as much of a pain in the ass as Darth - ," Bremen paused to clear his throat again and then gave a nervous smile, "Erm, hmm, you know who."

Andy pursed his lips, "You know who?" He pretended not to know who Bremen was talking about. Damn, this was worth a couple of laughs. Three years on and Sharon Raydor still instilled fear in people like she used to in Internal Affairs.

Bremen looked a bit pale and uncomfortable.

"He's talking about Darth Raydor," Renner supplied with a slick smile, "She must have mellowed, huh? I hear she is divorced now."

Andy could feel his jaw clench in annoyance, "Yeah, good riddance, Renner. You really are something of a gossip. No wonder you don't get anything done."

"I wouldn't mind having her as my boss," Renner smiled vengefully, obviously clued in on Andy's clenched jaw and that it meant he was rather protective of his boss.

Renner raised a challenging eyebrow, "At least she's pretty on the eyes, hmm."

Andy expelled a breath and silently counted to ten in his head. He could hear Sharon's voice telling him all those anger management classes had paid off, and he smiled to himself, imagining her small knowing smile that no one would catch but him.

Andy shrugged and then gave the sergeant a quirked eyebrow back, "I'll be sure to tell that to the Captain, Renner, I'm sure she will appreciate your compliment."

Renner looked skittish at the notion, but before the sergeant could say anything further, Bremen interrupted with an uncomfortable laugh,

"So, how is it, Flynn? Working under her, I mean."

Andy shrugged. Robbery/Homicide would never come to comprehend the many layers behind the former Internal Affairs Captain. And as far as Andy was concerned, it was their loss.

"Pure bliss. We haven't had a law suit in years," Andy answered the two idiots with an easy smile.

He then gestured at Renner with two fingers, "Now, unless Renner here stops picking his nose and gets his ass together, I am gonna send the Captain down here herself. Then you can see for yourself how you like working for her, huh?"

"So the Captain sent you down here to ride my ass?" Renner spit out.

"Nah, I volunteered," Andy replied back, "Your ass is a mighty fine one to ride."

"Ah, give the poor boy a rest, Flynn," Bremen intervened, "You know how it goes when cases are hijacked by the higher ups."

Andy rolled his eyes, "All I know is that Renner is starting to get on my nerves."

Renner huffed, "I think working for Raydor has gotten to you; next you are going to be defending the rat squad."

"I'd watch that attitude of yours Renner; I am in tight with professional standards now – you don't wanna another spot on your record do you?"

"Ha," Bremen snorted and then quickly soured when Andy gave him a glare.

"Just hurry up, Renner, and give the lieutenant what he needs," Bremen said to the sergeant and then went back to his own desk again, eyeing Andy with curiosity.

Renner glared at Andy but the younger man wised up and kept quiet. In less than five minutes everything was collected and right after Andy was on his merry way back to his own squad room with the two boxes.

Finally, Andy could begin to look into the December murders and make some sense of the case.

…

A/N: Thank you all for the feedback. Happy you're enjoying the story =)