What makes courage wither? Part 5
"For crying out loud," Provenza groaned when he rounded the corner and had a clear view of the break room and the two lovebirds in there; he stopped short and put a hand against his temple, shaking his head. Those two would surely be the death of him.
"What's that, sir?" Amy Sykes asked him with a quizzical look as she came up to stand beside him, her demeanor chipper.
"Nothing, nothing at all," Provenza sighed audibly and then with a dismissive hand wave he gestured for the girl to move on. He narrowed his eyes on the god-awful spectacle that was on full display inside the break room. Of all places for those two idiots to be smiling head over heels at each other, why did it have to be the break room when he was in dire need of caffeine?
"Are you sure?" Sykes asked.
Provenza sighed and gave the girl a look, "Ye-es, Sykes, now -,"
"You look a little pale, sir," the girl stood her ground as she interrupted him. Provenza glared at her, finding the small smile at the corner of her mouth slightly aggravating.
"It's just old age," he countered back, effectively closing any further attempts at a conversation.
Sykes shrugged and moved on. She didn't seem to see anything out of the ordinary in the break room and strode into the room with a quick gait, cheerfully greeting both Flynn and the Captain with a big, wide smile. She headed straight for the coffee machine and started pouring coffee into a cup in her hands. That girl was either oblivious or intentionally pretending nothing unusual was happening. Or, like everyone else, she was trying his patience, Provenza reflected with a sigh.
Inside the break room, the Captain and Flynn quickly stepped away from each other at the intrusion, their greeting smiles to Sykes appearing more awkward than anything else. At least the Captain seemed to have enough work-ethic awareness to blush a bit embarrassed.
Provenza could only shake his head at their antics. He sidled into the room behind Sykes in a more slow tempo, his eyes meeting Flynn's first; they exchanged a brief glare, the 'what' written on his partner's dumb face enough to make Provenza grind his teeth. The Captain turned her attention to him and graced him with a warm, serene smile. Her demeanor was vastly different from earlier in the day, the worry lines gone. Provenza found himself smiling back at her before he knew it, her smile contagious.
If Flynn actually managed to make the Captain smile and take her mind off serial killers and threats, well, then Provenza really could not complain about their goo-goo gazing, now could he? He liked the woman enough to want to see her worry-free and he had months prior somewhat begrudgingly accepted that his friend was in love big time.
Provenza found a cup for himself and then poured the rest of the coffee into it, smiling when he caught Flynn giving him a look. The idiot would just have to make a new pot himself.
"Ah we really should invest in a new machine," Sykes chatted between coffee sips, her tone just a tad too chipper for Provenza.
Provenza leaned back against the counter and then stared at the girl. He saw the knowing glance she threw in the direction of the Captain and Flynn, the smile on her lips telling. Maybe the girl was more aware of the situation than Provenza had first assumed.
"Coop says they just got new machines downstairs," Sykes continued.
Provenza snorted when he caught the Captain smiling into her tea cup, obviously hiding her reaction.
"I think our coffee machine merely needs a descaling," she said when she looked up again, her eyes on Sykes.
Sykes hummed, her eyes going to the machine with an unconvinced look.
The matter of it was; no one wanted to be the one in charge of actually descaling the old thing. No, they had all, bar Flynn naturally, agreed to simply silently wait it out. At one point or other, Flynn would lose his patience and end up descaling the thing. It had worked magnificently for the last ten years.
But that did not mean, Provenza could not complain about the state of the thing or point out they needed a new one. Especially when Sykes was the one to point it out first.
"Or someone," Provenza smiled cattily, his eyes going to the Captain, "could talk to Taylor about finding money for an espresso machine, hmm? I'm sure someone could make the argument that it would increase 'morale' and 'reduce time spent brewing'."
The Captain raised an eyebrow, her mouth pursing, "And when you say someone, I presume you mean me?"
"Would you be so kind?" Provenza replied with an eager nod, barely keeping the smile out of his voice.
Flynn chuckled, his eyes crinkled as he gave Provenza a knowing look. He then turned to the Captain with a bright smile, "I'm sure you can work it in in the next budget meeting, huh?"
The Captain gave both of them a narrowed look. "Have either of you," she started, her voice sounding condescending, "ever been to a budget meeting in your long, long careers within the force?"
Provenza simply yawned in response. He watched Flynn shrug with a big carefree smile. It was nice to once in a while gang up on the boss; all in good fun of course.
"I thought not," she said with punctuation as she crossed her arms.
"What? – don't you just sit around eating fancy lunch and decide who's pissed you most off in the preceding month?" Flynn asked, voice mock-serious.
Provenza shared a smile with his partner and easily joined in, "Yeah, I thought 'budget meetings' was a fancy way of taking time off."
The Captain rolled her eyes, but Provenza could see her amusement. Sykes was smiling into her cup as well, her eyes curiously on the Captain.
"You would do well to remember who signs your evaluation reports," the Captain countered, her head tilted and her smile devilish. Sometimes Provenza could understand why his partner had fallen for her; she was always quick to give back.
Flynn chuckled, "Oh, don't worry. We remember."
Provenza smiled, "Yeah. How could we forget?"
She shook her head, smile still on.
Some days it was nice to joke around a bit, and let everything else disappear into the background for a while.
"You know what, lieutenant," the Captain started, her eyes on him with a calculating look.
Provenza shrugged.
"I think you should join me for the interview with Deputy Wilton."
Provenza groaned and when he heard Flynn chuckle he leveled his dark look to his partner.
Before Provenza could say anything, Doctor Morales stuck his head into the break room and proclaimed, "There you all are."
They all looked at the doctor and he continued as if they were all just waiting for his report, "In conference with another medical examiner, I have been looking through our records. I think I might have found something of interest."
Morales waved a brown folder in the air before he continued, "A guy in his late twenties, died from a supposed overdose last year late August. The death was ruled as an accidental drug overdose but the medical examiner described a peculiar tattoo on his wrist."
Provenza turned his full attention to the doctor.
"Is it our first victim?" the Captain asked, her tone sounding excited.
"The tattoo said guilty," Morales nodded with a broad smile, "and the toxicology report showed a significant amount of benzodiazepines in the blood. So I'd say we're in luck."
Bingo, Provenza thought.
…