Chapter 56: The Devil On Your Shoulder
"Good morning everyone!" Jamie happily greets with a grin as he then Eddie walk up to Danny and Maria seated at their desks in the bullpen.
Danny looks up with a raised eyebrow "Well you seem more chipper then usual."
Jamie looks at his wife "Can I?" He eagerly and giddily requests.
Eddie rolls her eyes and gives her head a slight shake but gestures for Jamie to go ahead "Fine."
"Come here." Jamie requests of his brother "Give Eddie your hand."
Curious, Danny gets up, walks over and holds his hand out.
Eddie takes it and places it on her stomach.
"Ready?" Jamie prompts.
Eddie nods.
"Kicks ass." Jamie states.
Danny feels the baby move under his hand "Oh I felt that."
"Cool right." Jamie prompts before looking at Maria "Your turn."
"What does she kick on command?" Danny laughs as Maria offers her hand out.
Jamie nods as he waits for Eddie to place Maria's hand on her stomach "Yup everytime I say… kicks ass."
The baby kicks.
"Oh." Maria notes impressed.
Jamie proudly smiles "See there you go."
"Kicks ass." Danny tries for the hell of it.
Jamie looks up at Eddie.
Eddie shakes her head no.
Jamie's giddiness grows.
"What?" Danny questions at watching the exchange.
"Only works when HE says it." Eddie explains as she gestures at Jamie.
Danny turns his head to look at his brother "Oh really?" he challenges as Jamie grins from ear to ear.
Danny narrows his eyes at Jamie. He could give him this moment or… he could try having a little fun with his younger brother…
…And the devil on Danny's shoulder wins out "Say it again." He prompts his brother.
"Kicks ass." Jamie repeats.
Having paid close attention to the way his brother said it this time, Danny clears his throat then tries again trying to make his tone and inflection sound as close to Jamie's as he can "Kicks ass."
Eddie makes a completely surprised expression "She… she kicked."
"What?" Jamie states in unimpressed disbelief causing Danny to keel over in laughter.
"People are always telling us we sound the same." Danny points out "Guess it's true." He adds before leaning slightly down towards Eddie's stomach "Hi just so you're not confused, I'm your Uncle Danny, your Dad's older, wiser brother so that's why I sound like your Dad."
"That is so not fair." Jamie grumbles.
Danny looks up at his brother "Get used to hearing that phrase Dad."
"What?" Jamie questions in confusion.
"But Dad…" Danny mocks mimicking a young child "…. that is soooo not fair!"
Jamie rolls his eyes while Eddie snickers.
Maria shakes her head at all of it "Just curious." She pipes up "Will we be getting any work done today?"
All eyes turn to look at her.
"I have bills to pay." Maria explains "Kids are expensive."
Danny immediately nods his head in agreement "Yup. Even though mine are both adults – they STILL cost me money. By the way have you enrolled little – wait you pick a name yet?"
Jamie and Eddie shake their heads no.
"Have you enrolled little Jamko in catholic school yet?" Danny continues "There was a wait list when we were enrolling the boys."
"Little Jamko?" Jamie prompts.
"Well you haven't picked a name." Danny defends "So I'm just using Nicky's mash up of your names for my new niece until you do."
"No." Jamie rejects.
"Yes." Danny counters "You can't stop me. I'll call her what I want."
"NO!" Jamie repeats.
"Would you prefer Edamie? Jamed? E squared?" Danny offers instead.
"Why are we even having this conversation?" Jamie demands in frustration and annoyance.
Eddie sighs "Because your brother knows how to push your buttons."
Danny smiles as he looks at his sister in law "Maybe you should be the Lieutenant."
"Nah Sergeant is good enough to order you to cut it out." Eddie flatly counters back.
"What if I said, I haven't clocked in yet?" Danny tosses back.
"Then you're late for work." Eddie counters.
"But we don't work banker's hours." Danny points out.
Maria looks at Jamie "Please make them stop. You have the authority to do that."
"Clearly they are pressing your button's too." Jamie notes.
Eddie turns to look at Danny "Oh you're good." she commends.
Danny smiles widely "I can multitask."
"Try multi-annoy." Maria corrects.
Jamie points at Maria "Truer words were never spoken."
"Ah." Danny cajoles touched as he plays into it to further annoy his partner and brother "You two are just saying that."
"Oh no we really mean it." Maria insists.
"You guys." Danny jests.
Jamie, Eddie and Maria just silently stare at Danny unimpressed.
"I can do this all day." Danny points "Unless SOME ONE…" he emphasizes "Wants to give us our next case." He points out as he looks between Jamie and Eddie "Really who's job is that now anyway? I only ask because we aren't your standard unit."
Jamie rolls his eyes, points at his wife then simply turns and heads to his office saying "I have a conference call in 5."
Danny's face scrunches up in disgust as he points in the direction of his brother while addressing Eddie and Maria "See that right there – sitting behind a desk on a conference call full of nothing but bureaucracy – so not my idea of police work."
"Somebody's got to do it." Maria points out as Eddie pulls out her phone and begins typing.
"Better him then me." Danny counters before looking at Eddie "And you."
"Sure." Eddie absently replies as she concentrates on her phone.
Silence.
"So Boss." Danny finally speaks up "Anytime now with that…"
Danny and Maria's phones both ding with new messages.
Eddie looks up as both Danny and Maria pull out their phones and open their messages "You were saying?"
Danny's face again scrunches up "What the hell is this?" he prompts as he looks at the screen.
"I signed us up for a new all digital pilot project." Eddie explains "The NYPD is trying to limit the amount of actual paper – you know be green, save the planet."
"What?" Danny questions "We are the NYPD – we RELY on hard evidence as in HARD COPY."
"I said it was a pilot project didn't I?" Eddie reiterates.
"Did Jamie sign off on this?" Danny unhappily presses.
"Are you looking to go above your Sergeant's head Detective?" Eddie challenges.
Danny sucks in an unhappy breath of air.
Sensing the tension rising, Maria jumps in "We'll try it." She offers Eddie "And give you our honest feedback." She adds as she gives a pointed look to Danny.
"Oh you can bet we will." Danny mutters under his breath.
"Thank you." Eddie accepts "That's all I ask." She adds before turning to walk away.
"Just give it a chance." Maria tells Danny as they head for the door "Maybe you'll surprise yourself and like it."
"Really? Because I can't even READ this!" Danny whines as he gestures to the small print on the phone.
"We'll get you glasses." Maria placatingly prompts.
Danny shoots his partner an unhappy look.
…..
Eddie sits at her desk when her cell phone dings. She pulls it out to see a run on message from Danny
"NOPE. No way. NAH AH! Not going to happen. This thing sucks. Give me back my paper files."
Eddie heavily sighs "He hates it." She states outloud.
From his desk, Jamie snickers "I told you he would but you insisted on trying it so you can now deal with his super crankiness when he comes back."
"You want super cranky?" Eddie challenges "Have you seen my feet today? Because I haven't but I know they are swollen and my back hurts and god I have NEVER been so itchy!"
"Oh yeah, counter with that." Jamie laughs as he stands and grabs a few files.
"I'm not kidding." Eddie growls.
Jamie pauses, turns his head and looks over at his wife "Oh. You okay?"
"What did I just say?" Eddie snaps annoyed before taking a deep calming breath "Sorry."
"No, its okay." Jamie promises.
Eddie's phone dings with another message. She picks it up reads and then once again heavily sighs.
"Now what?" Jamie prompts.
"I gotta agree with Danny on this one." Eddie reads off "I give this thing a failing grade."
"From Maria?" Jamie questions.
Eddie nods.
Jamie shrugs "At least you tried."
"I just wanted to do something noteworthy before heading off on maternity leave." Eddie grumbles.
"Um Eddie you do something noteworthy everyday." Jamie cautiously points out confused "You're training an entire Detective squad on paperwork, you've championed for the needs of pregnant officers, you're in charge of Danny – that's a full time job right there…"
"Okay you can stop." Eddie interrupts as she picks up a stack of files "I get it just go to your meeting."
Jamie eyes his wife a moment then silently walks out the office leaving Eddie alone.
She blow out a breath of air and shifts her torso a bit before picking up a file and opening it.
She looks at the file – the Benton Spencer case involving Sydney – as her mind instantly zeros in on the what if of who Sydney's fiancé is so biting her lower lip, Eddie does a bit of an internal struggle with herself before her eyes drift to Sydney's address on the file.
She could just do a quick search…
NO! Eddie internally reprimands herself as she shakes herself free of the thought "That would be wrong…" She mutters to herself as she continues processing the file like a professional.
"What would be wrong?" Jamie questions as he reenters the office.
Not expecting Jamie back so soon, Eddie jumps a little in surprise "Ah, nothing!"
Jamie raises his eyebrow at his wife "Yeah this is me here." He rejects "So you want to try that again?"
Eddie heavily sighs "I was about to process the Spencer case and the second I picked it up my mind flashed to Sydney saying her fiancé was Barry and I can't help it okay! I want to know if it's the same Barry!"
"Eddie." Jamie sighs "You can't run them through the system without cause. You know that."
"Like you've never done that?" Eddie pointedly challenges "Because I know for a fact you have."
"No. That's different." Jamie counters "I had cause and I was right, you were attacked."
Eddie sucks in an unhappy breath of air "I know." She begrudgingly tosses out "I wasn't going to anyway." She tacks on in defense "I was afterall muttering 'that would be wrong' when you walked in."
Then Eddie gets another thought "We haven't been to Anton's all you can eat Tuesday's in forever!"
"Um that's because they closed." Jamie tentatively reveals.
Eddie's mouth drops open "Really? They don't exist anymore? Since when?"
"Covid." Jamie explains.
"Damn." Eddie mutters in disappointment "Wait. Why are you back?"
"This." Jamie explains as he reaches over picks up one more file from his desk then turns and heads back out the door once again leaving Eddie alone.
Eddie watches him leave a moment then looks back down at the Spencer case and the voice of the devil on her shoulder starts to whisper in her ear 'just run the search Eddie. You know you want too. It's not for malice, you're just curious and you know this will eat at you until you know for sure…' so finally giving into it, Eddie quickly looks out into the bullpen to be sure she won't be interrupted before entering a search into the computer.
She impatiently and repeatedly taps her pen on the desk as she waits. A moment later she stiffens up a bit when the results come up.
Her eyes dart across the screen reading and suddenly one simple word escapes her lips "Damn."
