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Disclaimer: Don't own anything but the plot and Annie. Even the title is borrowed from Van Morrison.
Italics - Spanish
Some bad words, some violence, and fade into black sex-scenes, nothing too graphic
Chapter 3. At HaywoodThe drive over to the Rangeman building took about ten minutes. Hector drove, and Tank was in the front seat. Bobby sat next to Annie.
"What happened? And how´s your back?"
Annie gave him a quick rundown on what had happened.
"And when I flipped him I think I pulled something. It hurts, but not too bad."
"Good throw", Hector said in broken English. He gave her a smile in the rear view mirror.
"Thanks." Annie smiled back.
"Yeah", Tank agreed. "Considering his size you did good. Probably hurts because you couldn't get a straight throw, with the door and everything."
Bobby grinned. "I would've liked to see it."
"Uniform camera", Hector said.
"Tricky light, but hopefully good enough. And it wouldn't hurt to give it to the police if it comes out alright. They definitely must do something about Morelli now."
"We'll take a look of the film first, then if it´s clear enough I think we should give it to both the police and the mayor. Morelli's behavior is not good for the police department, and now there's a British citizen as well, maybe we could use that to make them realize they have to do something."
Tank sounded furious, and Bobby could see him looking at Annie over his shoulder. And when he had carried her out to the car he had been really gentle, Bobby thought. Bobby looked at Annie, and saw that she was looking back at Tank. And she didn't give the same signals of 'not interested' that he and Cal had gotten when they first met her.
They arrived at Rangeman and drove down into the garage. Hector parked close to the elevator, and Bobby got out of the car. When he got round the car Tank was already carrying Annie towards the elevator. Bobby met Hector´s eyes and they both raised one eyebrow a fraction.
Hector opened the door to the stairs.
"I´m going to look at the film. I´ll be in my office." He then looked straight at Annie. "Good bye. I'll look at film, now."
"OK. I hope the quality will be good enough to give to the police. Thank you, Hector."
When they got into the elevator Annie looked down at the floor.
"This looks really clean; I believe you can let me walk by myself."
Tank gently put her down. Soon enough they were in the medical suite.
"If you take off your shirt, I'll have a look."
Tank had really dark skin, but it sure looked like he was blushing.
"Sorry. I'll come back in a while, with keys to an apartment."
"Thank you. I think I'm running out of steam, I'm really tired."
When the door closed behind Tank Annie took off the jacket and her shirt. Standing in only her bra she felt a bit exposed, but Bobby had obviously entered professional mode, and immediately examined her back. Annie had to move her limbs in various ways, and finally he declared that he also thought that she had strained something when she threw Morelli. Over the counter painkillers would most probably be enough, and he would be sure she got at heating pad.
"Do you need some painkillers tonight, or are you tired enough to go to sleep without them."
Annie put on her clothes and snuggled into the oversized jacket belonging to Tank.
"I'm definitely tired enough to sleep without any pills. But maybe I should have some for when I wake up."
Bobby gave her some, and then found a heating pad.
"Would you like something to eat or drink?"
"Thanks, but I'm ready to crash."
They opened the door to find Tank just about to knock on it.
"Oh. Hi. I´ve got your key."
Bobby couldn't help but smile, Tank was rarely flustered, but Annie made him seem like a bumbling teenager. He wiped of the smile immediately when he saw Tank looking at him.
"Find me when you're awake tomorrow", he said to Annie. "I´ll be in the medical suite, or otherwise everyone knows how to find me. Good night."
"Good night, and thanks for all the help, Bobby."
Bobby went back into the medical suite to give Tank uninterrupted possibilities to keep on putting his foot in mouth. He snickered to himself. He looked at his watch, but decided that there would be time to tell Cal in the morning. Probably Lester as well, it had been a long time since they had had the possibility to get one up on Tank. Not really since Lula, and that was a couple of years ago. Annie seemed a lot calmer, and frankly, a lot more intelligent. Teasing opportunities aside, he hoped Tank and Annie would find each other. Tank was worth a lot more than his dating history showed.
x x x
Outside Tank looked at Annie.
"I´ll show you where you'll stay. You must be really tired."
"I am. I didn't get anything with me either, I just ran. I don't even have my phone. And I really don't feel like going to work tomorrow, or rather, later today. I suppose I could call this extenuating circumstances."
Tank led her to the apartment, and opened the door. The lights were on. "The bedroom´s over there, and a small kitchenette here. There´s some supplies, tea and coffee and so on. The bathroom's over there, and should have the essentials, including toothbrush and toothpaste. There´s the phone, and if you dial 99 you'll get someone who can redirect the call to me or Bobby or anyone else. If you want to call out of the building just dial 00 before the number."
He went over to the bedroom door and opened it and looked inside.
"Ella, our housekeeper had some things in Stephanie´s size. They are backups, Stephanie hasn't worn them, and you're welcome to use them. There's even a pair of sneakers, that we really hope will fit you OK."
"I don't know how to thank you enough. You've really gone beyond with all your help."
Annie looked at Tank with tears hanging from her lashes, and he definitely didn't know what to do or say.
"Sorry, I´m not usually this emotional, but I'm really tired and it has been a lot to try to process."
She took a deep breath and started to turn around, when Tank hugged her.
"It's quite alright. As you said, it has happened a lot of things in just the last hours. And you kept everything together until the situation was under control. Not many people are that focused, you definitely don't have to excuse yourself."
He gave her a smile, and let her go.
"Good night, Annie. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Good night, Tank."
Annie went to the bathroom. She looked at the shower, but she was just too tired. She brushed her teeth, changed into the pajama set and fell asleep; she never remembered the heating pad.
x x x
The morning after she woke up to the sun shining in through the window. The curtains were open, and she tried to turn away. As she did she felt how stiff her back was. It hurt, and she slowly tried to get out of bed. She went to the bathroom, and after taking care of business she took a steaming shower, trying to warm up the stiff muscles. Going out of the bathroom she heard someone knocking on the door.
"Who is it?"
"It´s Ella. I've brought you some breakfast."
"Oh, please come in."
The door opened and a woman in her fifties came in.
"Good morning, dear. I´m Ella."
"Good morning, Ella. I´m Annie."
"I brought you breakfast, Annie. And I hope the clothes I left here yesterday will fit you. I usually keep spares for Stephanie, and you're about the same size, well you look a little taller and a little bit thinner. The boys said you had the same curls as Stephanie, so I found some untangling serum for your hair as well.
"I´ll just leave the breakfast. Please call if there's anything more I can help you with."
"Thank you very much, you're all very welcoming and helpful."
Annie went into the bedroom and searched through the clothes. There were clean underwear, with a sports bra, black yoga pants and a t-shirt, all in black. She couldn't help but smile, everyone at Rangeman, except for Ella, seemed to be entirely dressed in black all the time. She put on the clothes and then the black jacket belonging to Tank on the top. It was so long it nearly reached her knees, but very soft and comfy, and it smelled delicious. With the untangling serum she managed to comb through her hair, and then she went out to the kitchen. Ella had brought bagels, cream cheese, a fruit salad and plain yoghurt. Under a dome there was bacon and an omelet, but those she left, quite content with the rest of the food. On the tray there was also two thermos cups. When she pried off the lid she smiled – one cup held coffee, the other tea, and there was milk and sugar and some sliced lemons as well on the tray. She had just prepared a cup of tea with a little bit of milk when someone knocked on the door.
She went to the door and opened it. Outside was Tank.
"Good morning."
"Good morning."
"How are you feeling?"
"Much better. Some sleep, a long shower and then Ella came by with a delicious breakfast. I was just about to drink some tea. She brought both tea and coffee, so if you drink coffee you can have some."
"I´d like that, thanks."
They both say down by the breakfast counter, and Tank looked at the tray. Annie smiled at him.
"Have you had breakfast yet? I ate all the fruit and yoghurt, but there´s bacon and omelet, but they're probably quite cold now."
"Thanks, I've had breakfast already. Don´t you like bacon and omelet?"
"I'm un-British enough to not want a big breakfast. Besides I'm a vegetarian, so the bacon was not interesting at all."
"Oh, I'm sorry, if I had known I would've told Ella."
"It was a very good breakfast, and you couldn't have known about me being a vegetarian. It's quite alright."
They sat quiet for a while.
"We've looked at the film from the uniform camera. And the parking lot has a surveillance camera, that we could get footage from as well. We´ll give it to the police department today, if that is OK with you, I thought you might want to have a look at it before."
"I´d definitely like that. Just let me get some shoes on, and I´ll come with you."
She went into the bedroom and put on the shoes. The back smarted a little when she bent over, but not that much.
"Are the shoes the right size?"
"Not really. They're a size or two too big, but I'm happy to not have to walk around in just my socks."
Tank looked down.
"You must have tiny feet."
Annie laughed.
"Compared to yours, I´d say yes, but I suppose they´re proportionate for both of us."
Tank laughed and opened the door.
"Oh, the dishes. I better wash up."
"Ella will fetch them, she´s got a very efficient dishwasher."
"I don't like leaving a mess. I didn't even make the bed."
"Ella will do it, and you should take it easy with your back. Come on, we're going down to Hector´s floor to look at the footage."
"Bobby said I should see him in the morning, but the back feels OK, so I´ll go down there later."