Chapter 104: Fashionably Late
"Okay this makes no sense." Eddie admits as she looks at her phone app "Now the necklace is showing it's at the 32nd precinct in Harlem."
"Hang on." Danny mumbles as he pulls his own phone out and dials.
"What are you doing?" Eddie questions.
"I'm calling Jamie." Danny simply explains.
"You can't!" Eddie rejects as she reaches her hand out to stop him "What are you going to say to him "Hi we've been tracking Mia's necklace because we're throwing you a party and we notice Mia is now at the police station in Harlem so what's up?"
Danny frowns "Okay well just call the precinct direct then." he suggests "Ask them what's going on."
"Okay that could work." Eddie admits as she pulls up a NYPD list of numbers in her phone and taps on the desk Sergeant's number for the 32rd precinct. "Rosa!" Eddie then calls "Pull up the tracker app on your phone."
"32nd! Sergeant Mills." A female voice greets as Rosa walks over opening the app.
"Hi This is Sergeant Edit Reagan from the 5-4, could you tell me if Lieutenant Jameson Reagan is currently at your precinct?"
"Not that I've seen or heard." the woman replies.
"Oh." Eddie states in confusion as she takes Rosa's phone from her "Um how about a Mia or Milagro Ruiz – she's a ten year old girl – shoulder length curly brown hair – Hispanic?"
"No. No one like that has come in here." the woman returns.
"You sure?" Eddie presses as she now looks at the phone app on Rosa's phone to see it still blinking at the precinct.
"I've been at this desk since 10am and I'm looking right at the front door – neither person you are asking about has been in here."
"Okay…" Eddie slowly accepts "Well this might sound weird but I'm currently looking at a tracker app on my phone for a TARU issued necklace and it shows it as being in your precinct."
"Oh hang on." Mills breathes out as she moves the phone away from her mouth "HEY!" She calls out "DID THAT BAG OF EVIDENCE FROM THAT ROBBERY COME IN YET?"
Eddie's eyes go wide at hearing that "Robbery?" She repeats as she looks between Danny and Rosa in concern.
Danny raises his eyebrows.
Rosa's eyes go wide in fear.
"Yup, your necklace is here." Mills then tells Eddie over the phone just as the door to the precinct opens and Jamie walks in with Mia next to him "Oh hang on." Mills repeats "I think your peeps just walked in my door. Let me ask."
Eddie's eyes go wide in a panic as she trusts Rosa's phone back at her "WAIT! Don't tell them I'm on the phone!"
"Hi Lieutenant Reagan." Eddie hears Jamie greet in the distance over the phone and she cringes.
"Hold please." Mills instructs Eddie and suddenly all Eddie hears is on hold music so she throws her one free hand up in the air in frustration.
"What?" Danny prompts.
Eddie lowers her phone and puts it on speaker.
Music fills the air "I'm on hold." She flatly states as Erin comes out the kitchen door holding it open as she ushers arriving guests out into the backyard "But apparently yes the necklace is there. There was some kind of robbery and apparently Jamie and Mia just walked in her door!"
….
"Lieutenant, Hi." Mills greets.
"Could you get me a DD10A?" Jamie instructs "I need to complete it so we can get our items back."
"Sure." Mills accepts as she reaches behind her and pulls a form out of an organizer "Here you go. Oh also…" She begins as she reaches for her phone "You have a…"
But once again Jamie's cell phone begins to ring "One second." He apologizes as he moves a few steps away to answer it "Reagan."
Mia glances at her Uncle to be sure he is distracted then looks back at Mills "Is there a phone I can use?" She lowly pleads "I have to call my Aunt! Um…actually its official police business…" She corrects "She's a police Sergeant and…"
Mills eyes Mia "Is her name Sergeant Edit Reagan?"
Mia's eyes go wide that Mills would know that but she nods yes so Mills picks up her phone and hands the receiver to Mia "She's already on hold." she offers as she hits a button and brings the call back so Mia takes the phone and puts it to her ear.
"Aunt Eddie?" Mia questions in slight confusion.
"Mia!" Eddie immediately greets still on speaker as everyone – Frank / Henry / Armin / Lena / Maria / McNichols and Sally start gathering around to listen in "Are you okay? What's going on? Why are you at the 32nd?"
Mia glances back at Jamie "Um can't talk, Uncle J's right here." She lowly admits.
"Give the phone back to Mills." Eddie instructs.
Mia holds the phone out and up to the Sergeant.
"Hello?" Mills again greets.
"Hey…" Eddie warmly greets "Is there someplace I can have a quick conversation with Mia without Lt Reagan knowing I'm a) on the phone or b) talking to her?"
Mills sighs "Hang on." she instructs as she once again puts the call on hold before clearing her throat "Sure I can show you were the washroom is, no problem." She loudly announces for Jamie's benefits as she steps out from behind the desk and catches Jamie's eye and she gestures for Mia to come with her.
Jamie nods in acknowledgement as Mills leads Mia into a room around the corner. She picks up the phone, again hands the receiver to Mia and hits a button "Make it fast." She instructs.
"Aunt Eddie!" Mia begins "We stopped at an ice cream shop and then the ice cream shop got robbed and the robbers took everyone's wallets and jewelry and Uncle Jamie gave them my necklace – which I now know is a tracker necklace thank you very much for that by the way..." She adds unimpressed
Eddie and Rosa cringe.
Danny and Maria wince.
Frank and Henry quietly chuckle.
Sean and Erin look like they want to burst out laughing but somehow hold it together.
Lena and Armin curiously raise their eyebrows.
McNichols glances down to her daughter in thought.
"…but that's how the police caught the criminals…" Mia rambles on "…and recovered all the items and Uncle Jamie wouldn't let me use his phone to call you and let you know because he's incident commander…"
Frank makes a 'well that makes sense' expression while all other law enforcement professionals nod their heads in understanding.
"…and on it like every two minutes…" Mia continues "…and now we're at the station getting our items back but we'll never make it back in time for the 2pm surprise!"
Eddie hangs her head in defeat "Okay did your Uncle tell you how long you'll be?"
"NO!" Mia whines "I ask and I'll I get is 'a while'."
"Yeah. Got it." Eddie accepts knowing the time these things take "You okay?" she sighs.
"Other then discovering you all had a tracker on me?" Mia deadpans "Peachy."
"Mia…" Eddie sighs.
"I know. We'll talk about it later." Mia deflects "So what do I do?" she then urgently presses to her Aunt looking for guidance.
"Why are you on the phone?" Jamie's unimpressed voice sounds causing Mia to cringe then slowly turn to look at the door to see her Uncle standing there with his hands on his hips looking very unhappy.
"I… I'm calling Aunt Eddie to let her know what happened." Mia deflects.
Jamie frowns and walks over "You can't just randomly walk around in a police station using and touching stuff without permission! Give!" he commands as he holds his hand out for the phone.
Hearing Jamie's command, Eddie scrambles to pick her phone up and take it off speaker.
Obediently, Mia hands the phone over and takes a step away.
Jamie eyes Mia and brings the phone to his ear "Eddie?"
"Hey Babe." Eddie warmly greets as everyone around her tries to remain silent "So I hear you've had an eventful afternoon."
"You could say that." Jamie agrees.
"So when do you think you'll be home?" Eddie nonchalantly inquires "I'm thinking of throwing some steaks into the pan." She adds as she looks over towards the brand spanking new barbecue complete with a big bow on top now set up on the patio.
Jamie sighs "That sounds good." he admits "I'm kind of getting hungry. I'd say another hour here and then the drive home."
"Got it." Eddie accepts "Well see you when you get here." She adds before hanging up and sighing "Okay so anybody got any party games they want to play while we all wait?" She calls out to her guests.
"First a toast!" Danny announces as he raises his glass "To the life of a cop!"
"Here! Here!" Everyone returns.
….
"Okay one necklace…" Sgt Mills announces as she places Mia's necklace down on the desk "One wedding ring…" She adds as she places that down "…and one wallet."
"Thank you." Jamie accepts as he picks up his wedding ring first and looks it over to confirm it is indeed his before slipping it back on his finger. He then grabs his wallet, flips it open to take stock of its contents. Satisfied, he pockets his wallet and finally picks up Mia's necklace.
He gestures for Mia to turn around.
Rolling her eyes, Mia turns her back to Jamie and lifts her hair off her neck.
"Thank you." Jamie states as he loops the necklace back around her neck and clasps it shut.
Sergeant Mills look at the scene before her and a grin breaks out on her face "Oh now I get it." She laughs.
"Hey my necklace caught three perps!" Mia boasts before looking up at Jamie in thought "Those should be my collars. My necklace, my collars."
"Except I paid for the necklace." Jamie points out "And you don't have one of these yet." He adds as he gestures to his shield.
"Well that's no fair." Mia pouts "That's four collars now that should be mine!"
"Four?" Mills curiously inquires.
"I caught a shopper lifter a little while back." Mia flippantly dismisses.
Jamie nods "She did."
"Impressive." Mills notes with a chuckle.
"When's the earliest one can enroll in the academy anyway?" Mia inquires.
"21." Jamie replies.
Mia groans "Maybe I should talk to Mr. Frank about that."
"NO!" Jamie immediately rejects.
"But he's the Commissioner!" Mia exclaims in exasperation.
"And that is exactly why you won't." Jamie points out.
Smiling in amusement, Mills leans down on her desk to get closer to Mia "Well when you do graduate the academy give us a shout here in the 32nd. We can always use more officers like you out there protecting the streets."
A big bright smile graces Mia's face "I will!"
Jamie shakes his head knowing that's not how it works "Come on Mia, let's go, your Aunt is putting on steaks."
…
Eddie nervously paces in the living room repeatedly looking back and forth out the Bay window and down to the phone in her hands noting that Jamie and Mia are almost home.
The moment she sees The Chevelle appear on the street she hurries through the house and out into the backyard "OKAY THEY'RE HOME!" She calls to everyone gathered there.
"OKAY EVERYBODY SHHHHHH!" Danny commands as he uses his hands to try to quiet everyone down.
…
Mia opens the door from the garage to the house then looks backwards and waits for Jamie to catch up to her. Once he's at the bottom of the steps she moves slightly into the kitchen and again waits.
Jamie climbs the stairs and once he's entered the kitchen and shuts the door, Mia suddenly picks up his hand and begins to drag him with her towards the backdoor.
"Mia what are you doing?" Jamie questions in confusion as he stops walking and stands rooted to the floor.
Knowing how late they already are Mia is not to be deterred so she silently moves behind Jamie and using all her might, she just starts pushing him with pure determination towards the backdoor.
"Seriously?" Jamie presses in complete confusion as he reluctantly steps forward "What are you doing?" he asks as he watches her reach around him for the door knob.
She opens the door and begins pushes him outside.
"Mia…" Jamie chides as he looks backwards at the young girl "What are you do…"
"SURPRISE!" Everyone in the backyard calls out.
"JESUS!" Jamie cries as he jumps in surprise and whips around to face the backyard.
There before him he sees his backyard decked out for a party and full of people. His eyes land on the huge "HAPPY 40th BIRTHDAY JAMIE!" banner and he blinks his eyes in shock a moment before they drift over to his wife who is now walking towards him.
"Surprise!" Eddie happily repeats "You finally made it!" She laughs "Only you Mr. Punctual would pick today of all days to be late coming home for your own surprise party! Happy Birthday!"
Still speechless, Jamie stares at his wife then looks backwards and down to Mia to see the young girl throw her hands up into the air in a "SEE!" gesture.
Slowly he looks back at his wife and a smile creeps up on his face and he just starts to chuckle "Oh. Sorry. I didn't know."
"Kinda the point of a surprise party." Eddie points out while shaking her head and smiling.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" people start calling out.
"Thank you." Jamie returns "Thank you everyone!" he calls before looking at his wife again "Thank you." He sincerely offers knowing how much time and energy this probably took to put together.
Eddie smiles happily at him.
"Are there still steaks though?" he then hopefully inquires a moment later "Because I was really looking forward to the steaks."
Suddenly the crowd of people around Jamie split like the red sea to reveal Frank – who is decked out in an apron and chefs hat – standing in front of Jamie's new barbecue holding a plate containing a perfectly cooked steak complete with all accompanying side dishes. "Happy Birthday Son." Frank quips with a wide grin.
"Whoa." Jamie breathes out in shocked awe as he takes in the sight.
Suddenly Eddie's hand reaches over and slaps something on Jamie's chest.
He looks down to see a big bow now sticking to him.
"That was on the barbecue for you…" Eddie explains as Frank begins walking towards them "…but you were so late we had to take it off when we started her up to cook the food or it would have melted."
Jamie looks at the bow then back up at the barbecue "So to clarify…" he slowly begins as a big happy grin creeps up on his face "That's mine?" he asks as he points at the barbecue.
"It's a group gift." Danny suddenly chimes in "Don't expect anything else."
Jamie laughs "Noted and thank you." He appreciatively states.
"Alright who's next?" Henry calls as he steps up to the barbecue to take over dishing out plates of food for people.
"Heard you had a busy day." Frank adds as he offers the plate of food out to his youngest son.
Jamie huffs out a laugh as he takes the plate. "Yes." He simply confirms before picking up the fork and taking a bite of food.
"Yeah, and it was MY necklace that caught the 3x perps." Mia points out as she looks up at Frank "That's 4 perps now that I've caught that I don't get credit for!"
Jamie turns and looks down at Mia with wide eyes in disbelief "Mia we talked about this!"
"No, you talked." Mia corrects as she defiantly crosses her arms "My necklace, my collars!"
"Oh my god." Danny laughs as he walks up handing people plates of food "You are sooo his god daughter! My necklace, my collars?" He challenges before looking at his younger brother in pure amusement "That's just like when you insisted 'my cuffs, my collar!"
Jamie rolls his eyes in defeat as he chews.
"No shield. No collars." Frank explains to Mia "Sorry."
"So I gotta wait until I'm 21?" Mia presses "That's another 11 years!"
"You can take the entrance exam when you are 17 and a half…" Frank offers "But yes." he confirms "You have to wait."
Mia throws her hands up in defeat "I'm going upstairs to change into my party clothes!" She calls out "But you'll all already know that because you'll be tracking me! SALLY COME ON! Let me show you my room!"
Looking back out towards the yard, Jamie notices McNichols and Sally for the first time "Oh Hi." He greets as he watches Sally run past everyone to join Mia inside the house.
Rosa walks up to the group with McNichols and sighs "We are never going to live this down are we?"
"At least she's still wearing it." Eddie shrugs.
"Only because she wants to keep it handy in case she needs to use it to nab her next collar." Jamie sighs.
Rosa groans "Seriously she's ten!"
"Going on thirty." Jamie reminds everyone in defeat.
"Bet you wish you were still thirty old man." Danny snickers as he slaps a hand down on his brother's shoulder "Happy Birthday Kid!"
"You just called me an old man and a kid in the same sentence." Jamie points out.
"Sounds like he's the one going senile." Erin corrects as she gestures at Danny before offering a beer out to her younger brother "Happy Birthday baby brother."
"You just went from an old man to a kid to a baby." Eddie counters in amusement to her husband "You seem to be decreasing in age."
"If only it worked that way." Henry laments "You're still young. I'd give anything to be 40 again… or 50… or 60 or..."
"Okay we get it get Gramps." Danny relents "The Kid is still young."
"Jameson!" Lena calls out.
Jamie looks towards the sound to see his Mother in law standing there.
"Even I've never been THAT fashionably late to a party!" Lena chides.
"It's true." Armin quips from beside her.
"Especially my own!" Lena adds.
"Sorry." Jamie apologizes as he raises his left hand "But I wasn't leaving until I got my wedding ring back." he reveals as he wiggles his ring finger.
All eyes turn to look at him.
"What?" Jamie defends as he drops his arm "They took all wallets and jewelry."
"Oh yeah you don't mess with a Reagan man's wedding ring." Henry notes in understanding.
Silently Eddie reaches down and grabs her husband's left wrist. She raises his hand so she can study his ring.
"Yes it's the right ring." Jamie promises his wife "I know what my wedding ring looks like."
"Just checking." Eddie muses as she releases her grip "And when you're done eating go upstairs and change." She instructs "I've laid out some party appropriate clothes for you."
Jamie looks down at the clothes he has on "What's wrong with what I'm wearing?"
"It's not backyard barbecuie enough." Henry states in amusement.
"What?" Jamie questions with a laugh.
"Your wife asked you to go change after throwing you this great party." Henry chides "Just do it."
"Fine." Jamie sighs as he holds his plate out to Eddie "Going."
….
Jamie walks into his bedroom to see the same tropical white shirt with purple and orange designs from the men's clothing store laid out on the bed.
He just starts to laugh. He moves to pick it up but he hears laughing coming from the backyard through the open bedroom window so he moves to the window to look outside. He looks down to see everyone laughing and having a good time and he smiles. He watches as Mia and Sally come running back out into the backyard with Mia wearing her purple sunhat and his smile grows as he watches the girls zig zag their way through the people calling "Excuse us!" as they go to get to the tree and he sees Henry looking on in pride as the young girls immediately begin to climb up and into the treehouse.
He tells himself to just enjoy the moment – life doesn't get much better then this - but deep down he can't stop that little feeling of anticipation and hope that life will get better because in another 10 years it will be his daughter running for the tree…
...