Chapter Eleven
News of the Hatchet Hannah hoax rippled through the town garnering reactions that ranged from disgust to awe. Eventually, the public collectively laughed. In a city that had been to hell and back, a few mutilated mannequins seemed minor in the grand scheme of things. Plus, New Orleans loved a good prank. However, the various police organizations, including the NCIS team, didn't find it amusing. They protested the waste of manpower and resources.
Ever pandering to the producers so they would continue to bring their film-making dollars to the city, Mayor Douglas Hamilton appealed to the police chief and his old frenemy Dwayne Pride. In the end, the producers schmoozed them with swag including tickets to the premiere.
The event was held at the Pegasus, a refurbished movie palace. Pride, Brody, and Loretta graciously declined, but Sebastian conjoled Chris and Sonja jnto going with him. The tickets included a meet and greet with the actors, one of whom was Eve Grant, a comely actress who first achieved success on TV as the sexy, but brilliant forensic scientist on "Gotcha!" She also turned out to be Sebastian's secret crush (besides the agent from Michigan).
Chris and Sonja saw this as the perfect way to have a date out in public without anyone catching on. After all, they were just three friends going to the movies. Once they got in, Chris used his persuasive charm to procure the seat next to the lovely Miss Grant, which he graciously gave to the star-struck lab rat. Once Sebastian was taken care of, LaSalle and the lovely Miss Percy scampered to the balcony.
In the great tradition of the theatre, a velvet rope was drawn across the stairs with a "Closed" sign.
"Seriously?" Percy said, her smile disappeared.
"Watch this," LaSalle said. He looked quickly left to right, then clicked the rope open and motioned to Percy.
"Didn't know I had super powers did yah?" he grinned. He replaced the rope, and they tore up the stairs as if the devil himself was after them.
With Sonja on Chris's lap, they sprawled across two seats munching the popcorn that Sebastian insisted on getting. They listened patiently to the speeches before about the history, the hoax, yada, yada, yada. But, once the lights went down, Percy threw her arms around LaSalle and ...
Sorry, what happens in the balcony stays in the balcony.
Once in awhile, they did give watching the movie the old college try (Roll Tide), but just gave up by the second murder. As the lights went up, they reassembled themselves. Sonja worried that Sebastian would notice they were gone.
LaSalle smiled, "Darlin' don't worry. He won't remember his own name."
Sure enough, Sebastian was so enthralled, he barely acknowledged them when they met up at the after party. It turned out the actress had been a biology major in college with a thing for nerds-tall, skinny ones with glasses.
When queried later by the team members, the three together could not produce a coherent summary of the film's plot.
XXXXXXXX
"What'cha readin'?" Chris peered over Sonja's shoulder as she focused on a crumbled piece of paper. She was sitting crossed-legged on his bed, leaning against the headboard, and wearing his favorite UA t-shirt. He loved how she stretched it out in all the right places.
They had just celebrated their six-week anniversary, in much the same way they celebrated their first, second, third and subsequent week anniversaries - making love followed by intimate conversation. Neither would admit it, but each cherished the times when they put aside the clever quips and innuendo. They spoke of inner fears and dreams, moments when they discovered truths about the world, stories they never shared with anyone else. It was as if combining their bodies created a open space of unconditional acceptance.
Then they ordered Thai and ate it straight out of the cartons with a couple of beers.
When Sonja didn't answer him right away, Chris grabbed the paper from her hands.
"Hey!" She yelled standing up on the bed.
Chris glanced at the sheet; it was their original rules of do's and don'ts. "Hard to believe we wrote this six weeks ago."
Sonja laughed as she fell back on the bed, "Not so hard to believe we already broke all of them.."
"Did not!" he said.
"Really?' She got out a pen. "Let's go down the list, shall we?"
1. No PDA at the office or on the field.
"We broke this the first day," she said.
"I just took your hand. You're the one who gave me a kiss when we were driving."
"You were stopped at the light," she defended herself. "Besides that technically was not on the field, no one could see."
"So?"
"So, every time we're in the observation room together, you grab my ass!"
"You don't seem to mind it," he scowled. "Besides, remember we can see them, they can't see us"
"Still, technically it is PDA in the office," she said, crossing it off.
2. No cute pet names.
"We are good on this," he said confidently. "I don't think you called me 'Country Mouse' more than once."
"You called me Barbie once!" she said.
"When?"
"When we were working on that embezzlement case, and I said it was the bookkeeper. And you said, 'I don't think so Barbie.'"
"I wasn't using it as a pet name. It as a put down because I thought your theory was stupid."
"Like that's so much better," she took a few bites of food. "It's still a pet name, and I did see Brody raise her eyebrows," she gestured with her chopsticks.
"Nobody else said anything," he countered.
"Yeah, that's cause Plame came in shouting 'I got it, I got it!'" She waved her hands in the air, some pad thai went flying.
"And what did he find?" he asked, digging deep in his own carton.
Sonja sighed, "It was the lawyer."
LaSalle smiled, "Yep, Barbie it's always the lawyer."
3. If spending the night together, no coming to work together in the same car, especially wearing the same clothes as the night before.
"This is on you, Captain Obvious," she glared.
"Oh c'mon!," LaSalle whined. "I only did that one time, and only because we got called to the scene at 6 am."
"You made up that lame story about being with another girl and the picking me up because I had a flat tire," she countered.
"All perfectly plausible," he said, "Besides, that was in line with number 8."
"Oh, we'll get to that," she said.
4. If anyone asks what's that mark on your neck say, "It's a rash."
"Bug bite." she said. "Next!"
6. Keep ogling down to 20 seconds.
"This is on you Percy. I've caught you several times staring at me with those bedroom eyes," he said.
"I'm looking out the window. Your big head just gets in the way," she said.
"If you insist," he said, not convinced.
"Well, maybe I do look at you once or twice. Just to make sure you're not looking at me," she said.
"No worries, there," he said. "Because I look at you in 10 second stealth like bursts, so no one's the wiser."
"Yeah, you're stealthy alright," she shook her head and crossed it off.
7. No dancing together at company get togethers.
She began to cross it off.
"Now, wait," he said. "When did we dance together?"
"Two weeks ago at Pride's bar?" He still looked clueless. "Wolfman and the Roadmasters?"
He made a face. "That wasn't an official company gathering."
She sighed. "Everyone was there and we danced."
"True, but they were all pretty wasted, so I think we squeaked through." He began to grin, "It was nice."
She sighed. "It was...until, you know."
LaSalle nodded his head, "Yeah, next time no tequila shots after gumbo."
8. Make it look like we're dating other people.
"So what was wrong with what I said that morning?" he said.
"It wasn't what you said it was how you said it," she remarked.
"Oh?"
She imitated him, "Hi guys, gee, ah, I was with mah date, ah, at a bar, um that is, her apartment on Burgundy, ah, St. James. I think. It was dark…" she stopped. "You sounded like you were making it up as you went along."
"I was."
"Well, you could have given her a better name," she said.
He scrunched up his face, "What name did I say?"
"Esmerelda."
He smiled, "Yeah-always wanted to date an Esmerelda-one of Cinderella's evil step-sisters."
Percy just gave him a look, then continued. "The bad girl?"
"That's why I love you darling," he went to grab her.
She moved away. "Oh, but when I tried to make up a date, you and Patton totally mocked me."
"I knew you were making it up,' he said.
"Yeah, but Patton didn't," she said. "When I said I was going with 'Otto,' you said…"
"...you otto know better, hehehe," he chuckled and took a swig of beer. "Classic."
She threw up her hands, "Well, that's it. A total disaster all around." She put the paper down, he picked it up again.
"Hey you skipped number 5," he said.
"I don't believe we took number five seriously," she said
"What! It's the only one we kept to, and then some," he said, taking the carton out of her hand and putting his arm around her shoulder. "You know, some rules aren't meant to be broken." They fell back on the bed and began to kiss.
5. Mandatory oral sex three times a week.
To be continued...