A/N: Thanks for reading. Enjoy!
"Jacob Peretti.", Christian repeats into the phone. He paces the walkway in front of Elliot and Kate's new house as Kate and I sit in the porch swing. "What do I want? Chief Collins, I want him reprimanded for not doing his job. He's supposed to serve and protect the citizens of this city, yet he acted like he didn't give a damn about my sister's food truck being egged."
"He's getting more upset by the second.", Kate murmurs. "Hold on. I think I see steam coming from his ears." Christian ends the call and shoves his phone back in his pocket.
"How did it go?", I ask although his expression tells me the answer.
"Chief Collins said he's going to have a word with Officer Peretti who's new to the job and still learning the ropes. I don't care n if he's still new. That's no excuse for him brushing off what happened to my sister." Elliot pulls into the driveway and parks his truck in front of the house after returning from his and Kate's apartment.
"I only grabbed a comforter and some pillows for the night.", Elliot says, grabbing the dark blue comforter and pillows from the truck.
"Tell me again why you didn't want to bring your bed over?", I ask Elliot and Kate.
"We're going to bring the furniture this weekend, but we wanted to go ahead and sleep in our new house.", Kate answers.
"We might even start christening it.", Elliot laughs. "There's a lot of rooms which means a lot of..."
"Don't.", Christian mutters. "I don't want to hear the rest of what you're going to say." Elliot sets the comforter inside the house and comes back out on to the porch, taking a seat next to Christian on the steps.
"Did you call the police department?"
"Yep. The chief's going to talk to Peretii, and that's probably all that'll be done to the incompetent asshole. The chief did give me his word the investiagtion into what happened to Mia won't be swept under the rug. I've still got my guys working on it. Barney said he should be able to get the street camera footage by the morning, and then we'll hopefully be have a plate number which will lead to the guys who egged the food truck."
"And that'll lead to an ass kicking.", Elliot hisses.
"There's not going to be an ass kicking.", I say while standing. "I understand the two of you are upset. We all are, but violence isn't the answer. I'm going to call my mom and check on Oliver." I open the front door and walk into the spacious living room.
"Hi sweetheart.", my mom says upon answering the call. "How's the house?"
"It's amazing. Even though there isn't any furniture yet, I can already envision the life Elliot and Kate are going to build here." In the background, I hear my dad talking. "What's Dad doing?"
"He's telling Oliver about a fish he caught the other day. According to your dad it was at least a hundred pounds, but I think he might be stretching it a bit."
"It was a hundred pounds.", my dad laughs. "I'm not making it up."
"If you say so."
"We'll be back soon. Give Oliver a kiss from us.", I say
"Will do.", my mom replies. I end the call and rejoin everyone on the porch.
"I'm thinking we could put a gazebo in the backyard for the wedding.", Elliot says while drawing out a picture of the backyard. "There isn't enough time to plant seeds and have them grow for the ceremony, but we can get some flowers and place them all over. We can also drape lights between the trees. That'll make a nice backdrop for the reception." As he's talking and drawing, Kate's eyes water. He glances up and raises a brow. "I didn't mean to make you cry with what's only an idea."
"I'm crying over hearing you talk about the wedding. A lot of guys would just tell their fiance to do all the work, but you're really wanting to play a part in the day. It means a lot to me." Elliot sets his notepad down and stands, going over to Kate.
"I'm not most guys. I'm just a guy who wants to make the day special." He leans down and kisses her.
"Maybe we should be going.", Christian suggests.
"Yeah.", I nod.
"What was that?", Christian asks as he stands in our bedroom doorway with Oliver in his arms. Seeing that I was a little tired when we returned home from picking up Oliver, he suggested that I rest a while.
"What was what?" I try to smooth out the lump underneath the comforter, but Christian's eyes are fixated on the spot.
"Oliver, your mommy's hiding something."
"I'm not hiding anything.", I scoff. Christian finally moves his eyes from the comforter as he pads into the room. "What have you two been doing while I've been resting?"
"We've been playing." His lips curl slightly. "You've got a little bit of chocolate on your face." I quickly try to wipe away the chocolate. "How would you get chocolate on your face?"
"Maybe someone snuck in and put it there while I was napping."
"Or maybe it's from those chocolate chip cookies you've got stashed underneath the comforter.", he chuckles. "You don't have to be ashamed of eating cookies in bed. It's fine." I give up the charade and pull the cookie package from its hiding spot. "I can get you some milk for them."
"I've got a bottle of water.", I reply, nodding at the bottle on the nightstand. "I saw these in the cabinet earlier and tried so hard not to open them yet. I was determined to wait to have them after dinner. I've devoured almost all of them."
"Does that mean you've ruined your appetite for dinner? Gail made a large pot of taco soup."
"I'd hate for all of Gail's work to go to waste so I might as well eat some of the soup."
"That's what I thought.", he says. "I called Mia to see how she's doing. She sounded much better than yesterday. Of course she's still rightfully upset, but she's determined to hold her head up and continue doing the best work she can with her food truck."
"There's something I've been wondering since yesterday, and I hope I'm wrong. Is it possible the guys who egged her truck have a personal grudge against Mia or someone close to her?" Christian holds Oliver closer to his chest and sits on the side of the bed.
"I suppose it's possible it wasn't a random thing although it would make things a little easier to deal with if it were."
"I want to give Olivia a baby shower. I'm considering doing it in about two weeks.", Audrey says while we're having lunch. She called this morning and said she had something to talk about so we agreed to do so during lunch.
"You must've read my mind because I've been thinking about the same exact thing.", I giggle while feeding Oliver some peas. "I'll do whatever I can to help."
"Excellent. I don't want you to overdo it though."
"I won't. Is it going to be a surprise shower or are you planning on telling her ahead of time?"
"I mulled over having it as a surprise, but I'm going to go ahead and tell her. I'm thinking of having neutral colors since she doesn't know if the baby is a boy or girl." She dips her fork into her salad and takes a bite. "What kind of cake does she like?"
"I believe she's a fan of all cake flavors these days.", I laugh. "But red velvet used to be her absolute favorite. She told me how her grandmother used to make her red velvet cupcakes every year for her birthday."
"Red velvet cupcakes would be a good addition as well as a piece of sentimentality." She goes back to her food until stopping only seconds later. She glances over her shoulder at Sawyer who's sitting at the table next to us. Although he's given no sign of hearing us, she leans closer and lowers her voice. "We should make it a couples shower. That way you know who can share in the experience."
"He'd love that. He's embracing every aspect of impending parenthood. I can help with the guest list if you want. Would you like to have it at my house?", I ask as I take bites of food between feeding Oliver.
"Your house is a great place, but I don't want to be an incovenience.", she answer. "Besides, I thought about having it at 10 Degrees. It's an event venue on East Union Street. I passed by it the other day and instantly thought it would be a nice spot. I called this morning and talked to one of the owners who said they've got an opening for Saturday in two weeks. She's going to hold the date until the morning."
"You should go for it."
"That was Barney. He wasn't feeling well last night and this morning so he was late getting the security camera footage. Even though finding out who was behind the egging is important, I don't want him putting his health at risk. He said he's feeling a little better and now has the name which the truck is registered to.", Christian says. He sits at his study desk while I sit in the chair across from him. "Glen Matlock, a fifty two year old male residing here in Seattle."
"Didn't Mia say it was three young guys in the truck?"
"She did. Barney had Welch start looking into Matlock's life. He's not finished yet, but he found out Matlock has a twenty year old son, Patrick, who hasn't been in any sort of trouble."
"There's a first time for everything.", I sigh. "Peretti's theory of the guys blowing off steam could be correct, but they still did wrong."
"They could've played basketball or a video game, anything but vandalize my sister's food truck."
"What are you going to do with this information?"
"I'm going to give it to Chief Collins who better put it to use.", Christian snarls.