Two weeks had passed since Jamie and Eddie's blow up at the Java Nut. Mercifully, Seargeant Renzulli decided to mix it up and make his officers have different partners. So, for two weeks, except for seeing each other at Roll Call and passing each other in the precinct, neither Jamie or Eddie saw each other nor did they utter word one to each other.
To an extent, they both knew their fourteen days of radio silence had a whiff of high school drama to it. At the same time, it gave them a much-needed cooling off period. As he changed into his uniform in the Men's Locker Room, his mind replayed the conversation he had with Erin…
Jamie sat in Erin's living room, eyes red and puffy from crying. Erin's heart broke for her younger brother. She had a feeling it was about Eddie as she sat next to him on her couch, pulling him in for a side hug.
"Tell me what happened," Erin half-whispered as she gently kissed the side of his head. "Who do I need to beat up?"
Jamie let out an involuntary laugh at his sister. Even when they were kids sniping at each other, if someone hurt Jamie or – worse – broke his heart, Erin was ready to bring the justice.
"You know how I feel about Eddie?" he began as he finally looked up at his sister.
Erin nodded.
"Well," he continued, "we met up for coffee and she told me she was getting serious with this guy she had been seeing on-and-off. She didn't say it outright to me, but I think her getting shot and almost dying put things into perspective for her."
Erin nodded once more.
"She told me she couldn't wait for the stars to align for us anymore. She hoped we could still be partners on the job…" Jamie trailed off.
"What aren't you telling me?" Erin asked.
"I mayhave gotten angry and told her to have fun with her temporary boyfriend and I mayhave made a hurtful remark about her ex that broke up with her in front the 1-2 last year."
Erin's mouth opened in shock.
"And she told me to have fun being alone for the rest of my life."
"Oh, Jamie," she said, shaking her head.
"It's all my fault," Jamie said with an exasperated laugh. "Alllllll my fault. I had to be stoic one. I had to be the responsible one, the guarded one, the sensible one, the one who always used his brain and never used his heart. And, then, when I do use my heart, I end up saying something stupid and hurtful!"
Erin looked at her brother. She didn't want to bring recrimination against him, he was bringing it on himself just fine.
"When it comes to love," Jamie said coldly, "it ruins me."
Erin furrowed her brows in thought. "You're not just thinking of Eddie, are you? You're thinking of Sydney, too."
Jamie nodded his head and grunted.
"Well, if you want my opinion," Erin said as if Jamie had a choice, "as much as I liked her, I think you and Sydney were never meant to be. I think you both loved each other and cared for each other, but I also think you both were in love with the idea of being married while not having the actual real love that sustains a marriage. But with Eddie, it sounds like it might've been the right kind of love."
"Exactly!" Jamie said more to himself than Erin. "But I waited too long and now she's gone!"
"She's not gone-gone, Jamie," Erin said. "She's just unavailable as a romantic partner."
Jamie glared at her sister.
"It's true! And I know you know this, but, as a woman, I have to say it – Eddie has a right to date who she wants to date and be with who she wants to be with. It's her choice. She's a big girl, Jamie."
"I know," Jamie sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I know."
"Besides, there are other women out there," Erin continued. "You just got too comfortable with Eddie to the point you phased out other possibilities. She fulfilled the emotional needs you get with having a girlfriend, but since it didn't cross the line into something overtly physical or sexual…"
Jamie cringed.
"Hey, you came to me, remember?" Erin said with a chuckle. "Since it hasn't crossed that line, though, you were able to compartmentalize it and make it alright in your head."
Jamie nodded in agreement.
"And I'll bet she compartmentalized it, too, until this man… What's his name?"
"Barry."
"Until Barry came into her life and she felt things she had never felt before, except maybe with you. But with Barry, there's no compartmentalization. It's a romantic relationship without any pretenses or cover stories."
Jamie sighed and rubbed the temples on his forehead. His sister was right.
"Let me ask you this," Erin continued. "Do you want to be partners on the job with her? Because if you can't see your way to that, you need to request a new partner. For your sake and hers. But if you really want to be partners with her…"
"I do," Jamie insisted. "I want to be partners with her. We work so well together. She knows it, too."
"Then let her know that," Erin counseled. "If Eddie is as good a person as you say she is, I'm sure she's just as torn up about this as you and regrets what she said."
Jamie eyeballed his sister. "Since when did you become so wise?"
"Why, I'm hurt you even have to ask such a question!" Erin said with a smirk…
That conversation played in Jamie's mind as he looked for Eddie after Roll Call. "Can we talk in private? Before we start our tour?"
Eddie said nothing, cocking her head toward a quiet part of the hallway. As they headed towards the hallway, Eddie braced herself.
"I'm sorry," Jamie finally said. "I had absolutely no right to talk to you the way I did when you told me about Barry. It was cruel of me to bring up Josh the way I did."
Eddie stood there and looked at him, processing what he was saying.
"You have every right to date who you want to date," Jamie said. He looked down at the floor, then back up at her as he continued, "I just… I care about you and I want you to be happy."
Even if it's not with me. He didn't dare say that part out loud.
Eddie's heart melted and her face softened. "Thank you," she said. "And I'm sorry for what I said to you. That was ugly and hateful on so many levels. You're a good man and you don't deserve to be alone. No one does. I'm really sorry. I care for you and want you to be happy, also."
I will always have a place in my heart for you, but I need to move on – so do you. She didn't dare say that part out loud.
"Guess we both screwed up," Jamie surmised with a shrug and a smirk. "We wanted it both ways."
Eddie returned the smirk. "Guess we did. And, yeah, I'm just as guilty in this whole thing, so don't go blaming it all on you."
A few seconds that felt like minutes passed.
"I'd really like to still be your partner on the job," Jamie insisted. "And your friend. No air quotes or asterisks."
Eddie smiled brightly. "I'd like that, too."
"Are we good, partner?" Jamie asked, extending his right hand towards Eddie.
"We're good," Eddie said, grabbing Jamie's hand and shaking it. "Partner."
As they walked to their RMP, a peace overcame them, a peace they hadn't felt in quite some time.
"Soooo," Jamie inquired. "Barry discover your annoying habits, yet?"
Eddie glared at Jamie. "Shut up."
Jamie huffed out a laugh as he said, "Good to have you back, too."
"Yeah, whatever."
As they walked outside, they both smiled. It was good.
=======================================
After their tour was over for the day, Jamie bid Eddie adieu as she was going to meet up with Barry for a dinner date. Walking around the corner of the hallway of the 1-2 in his civies, he wasn't paying attention when he bumped into a woman with auburn hair dressed in blue jeans, a red blouse and a denim jacket.
"Oh! Sorry about that," Jamie said. He looked up and it was Officer Kara Walsh. He had seen her in uniform and in her civies multiple times, but something about her now seemed… Strikingly beautiful.
"No big deal," Kara said. "Pay attention next time, though, okay?" she cracked with a smile.
Jamie stood there like a deer in the headlights.
"You okay?" Kara asked.
"Um… Yeah, sorry. Just been a crazy day."
"Yeah, crazy for me, too," Kara said. "But, now, I get to go home."
"Yeah, uh… Me, too…" Jamie said, "I mean… Sounds great… Have a good night."
"You, too," Kara said as she walked out of the main entrance of the 1-2. Mere seconds later, Jamie followed.
"Kara!"
Kara turned around, already at the crosswalk, watching as Jamie hurried over to where she was.
"You wanna grab some dinner?"
