Ch. 31

Not too long after Randy and Dante returned from New Jersey and made their way to the PCPD to update Jordan on the results of their trip, Randy was standing by the water cooler deeply lost in thought. So far gone was he in his musings that he didn't hear Val at first when she walked past him with an offhanded, "Hey, Randy." She paused when he didn't return her greeting, asking, "Randy. Hey. You in there?" She waved her hand in front of his face, which brought him back to the present. "Oh, hey Val," he finally responded, "I didn't hear you." "I figured that. Is everything ok?" "I'm not sure. Can I talk to you in private for a minute?" "Sure. Let's go out on the patio—I don't think anyone's out there right now." The patio, situated behind the PCPD, was a place where lunching officers could take time out to enjoy some peace while eating. There currently wasn't anyone in the area and Val gestured to one of the benches and they both sat down. They sat there in silence for a few moments before Val stated, "You've obviously got something on your mind, Randy. What's up? How was the trip to New Jersey? Were you guys successful?" Randy paused for a beat and then answered, "Yeah, I guess so. No, we were, we were. At least we were able to get a lead, the name of the guy who went for Nathan…" He once again fell silent. "That's a good thing, then, right? So what's the problem?" Randy hemmed and hawed and then ultimately blurted out, "I'm not sure I'm down with the way we got the information. Falconeri practically threatened this old man with death." He sighed and shook his head as he thought back to the interrogation room and Scribbs' responses.

"Dante threatened to kill him? That doesn't sound like him…"

"No, he didn't do that but he did basically tell the guy that he'd set him up to be killed. It's almost the same thing, as far as I'm concerned."

"Well, do you think he did something against policy, or illegal?"

"No, he didn't. I guess for me it's more a question of ethics than anything else. I didn't think he was that kind of cop, that's all."

"What kind of cop—the kind that gets information? Because you were there at the hospital the night Nathan was stabbed but Dante is the one who found him in that alley. And in fairness to him, Nathan is his partner. Of course he's gonna do whatever he has to do to get information. And if he didn't actually put his hands on the guy—"

"Scribbs is a weak old man. We're supposed to stand up for the innocent and for those who can't stand up for themselves. I just don't think we had to frighten and intimidate him to get what we needed from him." Frowning, Val wondered, "How did you expect to get it, then? Ask him nicely to tell you what you wanted to know? You really think that would have worked?"

"All I know is I'll never know. Scribbs liked Nathan. Maybe if we had appealed to his sense of justice, or played up the fact that he probably didn't mean for what happened to Nathan to happen, we could have gotten information without scaring the guy to death. I don't think it was handled the right way, that's all."

Valerie thought hard about how to phrase what she wanted to say and then she told him, "I think you're being a bit naïve, if you don't mind me saying, Randy. This guy knew what happened to Nathan, he knew who did it, and he still ran away. It seems to me that if he was interested in justice or fairness, he would have stayed and told what he knew to the cops."

"When he's dealing with stone cold killers? I don't blame him for running. I just wish I didn't feel like we were more of the oppressive forces against him then people he could trust enough to tell the truth to without coercion." Pausing briefly and staring off into the distance, Val finally turned to Randy and said, "It sounds like you're pretty disappointed in Dante, huh?" Randy met her eyes for a second before turning away. "He's a fast burner and he seemed like a solid, by-the-book cop. I was thinking I could learn a lot from him. Now…"

"Now you're not so sure, I guess."

"I'm not sure I want to be that kind of cop. I want to make situations better, not worse."

"And you don't think Dante wants that, too? This guy was partly responsible for the attempted murder of a police officer. Even if I don't think it was intentional on his part, it doesn't change the fact that Nathan almost died. You really can't see Dante's side of this when his partner's life was almost taken? When a cop almost died?"

"I'm not saying what Scribbs did was right at all. It wasn't and I get that, totally. All I'm saying is I became a cop to be a part of the solution, not the problem. Frightening information out of witnesses—I don't think that's gonna work for me." Smiling faintly, Val replied, "Something tells me you might have to re-think that stance as time goes by, Randy." Looking at her suspiciously, he asked her, "You been talking to Falconeri about this?" "No, why?" "Because he said something similar to me." "Well, it makes sense. Don't you think police officers would rather not need guns, or have to bust heads sometimes? There are always going to be some who get off on that, but I don't think that's the majority of them. Reality is that sometimes you have to do the distasteful thing to get justice or to fight crime. Think of it this way. If Scribbs had answered you guys the first time he was asked who paid him to get Nathan to that alley, Dante wouldn't have threatened him, would he?" "Probably not, but-" "There you go. Listen, I think if you stay a cop, you're gonna look back on this time and laugh at how innocent you were. You're gonna see a lot of things between now and then-"

Randy launched up from the bench and after giving Val an irritated glare, he huffed, "So you think I'm some naïve little joke, too, huh? Too idealistic to be a good cop?" "No, Randy, that's not what I'm saying at all-" Sarcastically he said, "Forget it, Val. Thanks for listening." He stormed away from the patio in anger.

"Randy! Randy! Hang on a minute—I didn't mean-" But he had disappeared into the station, leaving Val sitting on the bench in bewilderment. What exactly had she said that was so wrong? She shook her head in confusion. "Save me from temperamental males," she thought to herself.

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Following her arrival home, Val changed into a comfortable tank shirt and shorts. She was looking forward to a bit of peace as she burrowed into the couch after placing an order with Domino's Pizza for a pasta bowl and a salad. Dante was with Rocco since he was supposed to have him for the weekend, so though she would miss him, Val wasn't expecting to see him for the greater part of the next two days. She turned the television on and was surfing happily when the doorbell rang. Puzzled, she got up to answer the door. There was no way this could be her delivery already? Shrugging, she opened the door and was pleasantly surprised to see Dante standing there clutching Rocco and two baby bags full of baby paraphernalia. Standing back and opening the door wider to allow them entrance, Val gave Dante a questioning smile and then she addressed Rocco, "Wow, look at you! You've grown so much, Rocco! You're getting to be such a big boy!" To his father, she asked, "Did you lose your key already? Why are you ringing the doorbell?"

"I had my hands full and I didn't want to put anything down to fish around for the key. You look surprised. Is it ok that we're here?"

"Of course it's ok, I just don't—know-" She stopped and frowned, shaking her head.

"You don't know why we're here when I made such a big deal about Rocco being at the loft in familiar surroundings, right?"

"I wasn't going to say that, but yeah, I was thinking something along those lines..." Self-deprecatingly, Dante glanced away from her and then laughed as he looked back at her, shaking his head. "Truth be told," he answered, "I didn't want to be away from you tonight. I thought about it and decided to bring him over here to see if he could be ok. Sonny sent all that furniture, I wanted to be with you, so I said, 'Screw it. Let's see what happens.' So we came."

Val was unsuccessfully trying to hide a pleased smile as she responded, "I never would have suggested it myself, but I'm glad you're here. Both of you. Why don't you take him up and let him get used to the room? Maybe if he touches some things and plays with some things, he'll be able to settle by the time bedtime rolls around. Oh, I thought I was going to be alone so I ordered Domino's…"

"I'll scrounge around for whatever you've got in the kitchen. Rocco and I will be fine." He headed to the staircase before turning back when she didn't move. "Aren't you coming with us?" "No, you two go on ahead. Let him get used to things with just you for now. I don't want to infringe on your alone time with him. I'll come up a little bit later." He cocked his head to the side, a slight frown on his face. He asked, "Are you sure you're ok with us being here, Val? I know we just popped up out of nowhere-"

"Dante, seriously? I wouldn't have given you a key if I had a problem with you coming over whenever you wanted to, and don't forget, I didn't have a problem with Rocco being here, remember? I told you, I'm glad you're both here. Go on and get him settled." Dante carried Rocco up to the nursery and placed him on the floor in the middle of the room. He asked him, "So, Buddy, what do you think? You think you can be comfortable here? Grandpa Sonny got all this stuff for you—I guess it would be ungrateful not to make use of it, huh?" He rooted around in the toy chest and found a miniature basketball, which he rolled to Rocco after joining him down on the floor. Rocco laughed delightedly before picking up the ball and throwing it across the room. "Ok, 'Go Fetch' it is—I can play that," Dante said, and then he moved to retrieve the ball.

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Every now and then, Val could hear Dante and Rocco laughing and she smiled to herself as she finished the last of her salad. It sounded so—homey-she thought, to hear them laughing together and having fun. She didn't think, after he had made such a fuss, that Dante would bring Rocco over to the penthouse, and especially not overnight. He had, though, and she was happy as she thought of the reason why he came. He missed her and didn't want to spend the night without her. With a bounce in her step, she took the remnants of her meal into the kitchen and then made her way up the stairs and into the nursery. She was somewhat disappointed to see that Rocco was already falling asleep in the crib, while Dante stood by and gently patted him and rubbed his tummy intermittently. "I didn't think I was that long in coming up here," she whispered, adding, "How can he be asleep so soon?" "I deliberately wore him out because I wanted him to be able to sleep," Dante whispered back. "Did you make sure the baby monitor has batteries in it?" "Of course." Dante placed the monitor closer to the crib and then after turning on a nightlight and turning down the main lights, he picked up the other monitor and he and Val crept out of the room and walked across the hall to the master bedroom.

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"Do you think he'll be all right?" Val wondered concernedly. "We'll just have to see," answered Dante with a smile, saying further, "He seemed to like the room well enough. He went around and touched everything, he liked the toys and he appeared to be comfortable. I've got the monitor and we'll keep an ear out but the rest of the night will tell the tale." He paused and looked at her when she only nodded at what he was saying. "Ok. Why aren't you rubbing this in?"

"What do you mean?"

"I figured you'd be having an 'I told you so' fest right about now about bringing Rocco over here. After making such a stink, I kind of feel foolish about it so I thought-"

"Dante, I wouldn't do that about something so important. Look, I agreed that in order for Rocco to feel safe and at ease, he needed to be at the loft with you. It's about what's best for him. I would love it if he falls in love with the nursery, especially since it's here and Sonny went through the trouble of having it set up. You're his dad, so I expect you to be doing what's best for him. The only thing I objected to was your come across when you thought I had ordered the furniture without your approval. Once we got that settled, I still understood your point of view. So now you're here, and he's here. I'm hoping this is the first of many nights for him to be here. I wouldn't mock you for trying to look out for him."

"I appreciate that, Val. Because I wrestled with it for a while tonight. I felt like a fool but I really wanted to see you, to be with you. Maybe I should have taken the high road and stayed at the loft, but I chose to come here with him because I didn't want to stay away from you." Val leaned on her fist after stretching out on the bed and with a smile she told him, "Now that's a complement if ever I've heard one. Hearing you admit that has my heart going crazy right now. I had been thinking how much I missed you, but I would never have asked you to bring Rocco over here if you hadn't suggested it or acted on it first. I'm just glad you're here. That you took the chance and came."

Dante joined her on the bed, lying across from her and copying her by leaning on his fist as he faced her. He reached out and tugged on a few strands of her hair before smoothing them behind her ear. "So you don't think I'm pitiful? I've got to admit also that I've gotten used to seeing your face first thing in the morning, Angel. I didn't want to miss out on that if I didn't have to." In one quick movement, Val pushed him over on to his back and gazed down at him before kissing him softly, once, twice. He reached up and tangled his fingers in her hair as the kiss deepened. They feasted on one another for a few moments before Dante broke the kiss, saying with a teasingly lisping voice, "Ooh, you're tho agrethive!"

"Did I scare you?"

"No, you just made me want more. I didn't want to jump your bones two seconds after I came over here, though. I'm kind of surprised you haven't asked me how the trip to New Jersey went." "Ohh, that. Yeah. I kind of already know how that went. I heard you got the name of the guy who went for Nathan. Congratulations."

"You heard? Oh, I guess from Hill, huh? What else did he tell you? I'm sure you got an earful!"

"Yeah, I did. He was pretty disturbed about how Scribbs' interview went down. He had a bad case of hero-worship, which I think you kind of squashed with your style in Jersey." She moved back and he rolled his eyes and then placed his hands under his head and sighed. "I should care about that, shouldn't I, but I'm not trying to be his hero. I wanted the name of the guy who went for my partner, and that's all I cared about, not Hill's delicate sensibilities. What did he tell you—that I was mean and evil and evil and mean for how I treated Scribbs? Give me a break."

"He told me that you threatened Scribbs with death."

"What? With death? What is he, nuts? I threatened to kill the guy?"

"No, you threatened to put him back on the streets and let street justice take care of him, if he didn't tell you what you wanted to know." Slightly mollified, Dante agreed, "Ok, yeah, I did do that. And I'd do it again. If Hill had his way, he was ready to treat Scribbs like some innocent citizen and not like someone directly involved in getting my partner stabbed. Whatever. That's his way. Ineffective as all hell, but-"

"You can't really say it was ineffective since you didn't try it, Dante." He rolled over and sat up, crossing his arms as he looked down at her. "You can't be saying that you agree with him, are you? Am I missing something here? This guy helped set up a cop! Why is everyone acting like he should be coddled and babied? You think what he did was ok?"

"No, of course not! I told you before, though, that I don't think Scribbs meant for what happened to Nathan to happen. I know that doesn't change the outcome, but I think he was seduced by the money to lure him to that alley. Doesn't make it right, I know, but I think that's what happened. You wanted to get a potential cop killer off the streets so you aggressively went after Scribbs. I get it, and I support it. I also see Randy's point, though, especially since you don't know if his kinder, gentler approach would have worked-"

"You have got to be kidding me! We had to go all the way to frickin' New Jersey because that's how far this guy ran! He set Nathan up and then ran away like a coward! He's lucky I'm not the wrong kind of cop; otherwise, I might very well have caved his head in! I know about your 'law of the streets' philosophy but I've got nothing for this creep. And if Hill thinks it's more important to baby a witness than it is to get a cop killer off the streets, then I've got nothing for him, either!"

"Don't take it like that, Dante. And don't be too hard on Randy, ok? You've been on the Force for a while and he's new yet. He didn't like how you handled the situation but I'm sure after he's been around for a few years, he'll be doing the same thing, or worse. Be patient with him." Huffing out a breath, Dante grumbled, "I've got his patience. Hmph. All I know is he'd better not be giving me any more grief about this or he's gonna catch a case. Why did Jordan saddle me with this child? It must be because she's mad at me about something…"

"Probably because she thought you could both benefit from riding with each other. Now, see, you're all riled up, which doesn't fit in with what I had planned for the rest of the evening at all."

Mentally switching gears, Dante asked, "Oh, really? What kind of plans, exactly?" She got up on her knees and scooted over to him, whispering in his ear, "I intend to make you weak tonight." He closed his eyes and bit his lip when she licked his ear, sighing when she sucked his lobe into her mouth. "That's one plan," he finally answered, "But I had a slightly different idea…" "Like what?" "Strip." Her stomach clenched at the order and her mouth fell open but no words could form. "What are you waitin' for?" Taking a deep breath, she crossed her arms at the bottom of her shirt and pulled it over her head. Dante nodded in approval before adding, "Nice. Very nice. Keep goin'. Get rid of the shorts, too." "Why? What do you intend to do?" He held her gaze without answering and with her eyes widening at his silent stare, she hooked her thumbs into her shorts and eased them down and off. Nodding again, Dante finally responded to her query. "What do I intend to do? I intend to feast on you until YOU'RE weak. And after I've drunk every drop you have and you're too weak to move, I'm gonna take you over and over until I'M too exhausted to keep goin'. Any objections?"

"None I can think of."

"Good. Then you might as well lie back and get comfortable. We're gonna be here for a while…" He spread her thighs wide and smiled as he licked his lips before leaning down to her. She couldn't help but flash back to the dream she'd had of him doing this very thing and she groaned aloud the way she had in the dream when his tongue began pushing its way into her. "Ohh, you're crazy!" she exclaimed when he used his thumbs to spread her even wider. "Yeah? And?" "And I love it! Ooh, Dante, damn!" she cried out when he intensified his attack. She grabbed the iron bars of the headboard and panted as she anticipated what she knew was going to be a long night…

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