Bobby Meets His Match- Chapter 18
Two chapters in two days. I am on a roll, here. Please leave feedback, as I live for it.
Bobby scanned the horizon for any signs of movement, even the slightest change in the color or texture of the brown sandy hills. He gripped his rifle, all his muscles tense, his finger on the trigger, ready to fire if he saw even the slightest movement out there. The five guys with him were working hurriedly to repair the damage to two of the trucks in the convoy. They had to work quickly so they could get the hell out of there. They had been crossing a long flat, open plateau when a couple of the wheels broke on the trucks. This was the worst place they could possibly have gotten stuck. Surrounding them on all sides were hills. Terrorists could hide, camoflauged by the hills, and have a straight open shot at Bobby's squad.
Bobby was on lookout, and he rotated scanning for the slightest flash, the tiniest movement, that would indicate someone in the hills around them. He couldn't possibly cover all the hills surrounding them by himself- but he had to. There was no other option. It was late afternoon, and completely quiet, except for the small bit of wind that blew some of the fucking sand around them. This was the most godforsaken place on Earth. While his eyes scanned, he wondered why the hell the terrorists would even want a giant shithole like this. He knew ambush would happen, it was just a question of when, and from where.
"Lets get the hell out of here as fast as we can," his commander stood and walked around the truck.
No sooner had the words left his mouth than a bullet hit him in the head, and he fell, a look of surprise on his face. Then more bullets started to rain down, seemingly from everywhere. Bobby turned, frantically scanning the hills, but he couldn't find the sniper. He fired randomly, hoping he would hit the sniper before it killed his whole team. The other guys had dragged the commander's body behind the jeep, but he was already dead. It was raining bullets, and Bobby shot back blindly, not knowing where the snipers were, seeing bullet after bullet…
The blaring of the alarm on Bobby's watch jolted him out of the nightmare. He lay completely still, gasping, afraid to move in case one of the Taliban might see him for the several seconds it took him to figure out where he was. No, not back in that fucking hellhole. Not physically, anyway. Physically he was safe in his bed in his apartment at Rangeman. He sat up and wiped his arm across his sweaty forehead.
Dammit. This was the third fucking night in a row. The dreams weren't supposed to affect him in his own bed. But for the last three nights, since his last conversation with Cathy, they had. And tonight's wasn't even the worst one. That was appropriate. Cathy had made him feel almost as vulnerable and hurt, and yes, scared as he had been on that pass in Afghanistan. Then, it was his body that was in danger, this time it was his heart. Fuck. This was exactly why he had always just wanted women for sex. The one time he let himself fall in love with a woman, and he gets hurt. He loved her so much. Bobby sighed, then got up to get ready for his shift.
" So, which is it , Megan Fox, or Kim Kardashian?" Lester asked.
" I am so goddamn tired of your stupid adolescent shit. Grow the fuck up man," Bobby retorted, never taking his eyes from the rode as they drove the skip to the police station.
Bobby had been a complete bastard the last few days. In fact, none of the other guys wanted to do shifts with him yesterday. Lester was the only one who would endure Bobby in this mood.
Les didn't take offense at Bobby's insults. He hadn't seen Bobby quite this way before, but he knew that Bobby wasn't really angry at him. He was hurt about getting dumped by Cathy. He knew bobby would never let his hurt show, so it came out as anger.
"Fuck, what am I Dr. Phil all of a sudden?" Lester thought.
Bobby hadn't said anything , of course, but you didn't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that Cathy had been upset with Bobby for torturing Anders. This was exactly why the fuck you didn't have relationships with women. Just bang them and get the hell away before they can fuck with your sanity.
And since Bobby looked like he hadn't slept much in the past few nights. Lester assumed that the dreams were an issue, too.
They had dropped off the skip and were leaving cop central, when,
"oh, fuck," thought Les. Morelli approached them as they left the building, heading straight for Bobby.
This was not fucking going to turn out well. Les looked over at Bobby whose face was like a stone.
"I've been looking for you," Morelli said.
'Well, Sherlock, you found us," Les replied.
Morelli stared at Bobby, whose eyes were covered by dark mirrored glasses.
" I know you killed Anders," Morelli told Bobby. " A witness said she saw a guy in a black shirt roughing him up the day before he died."
" Lets see, how many million black shirts are there in the greater Trenton area? It's a popular color." Bobby retorted.
"I've heard its very slimming," Lester added helpfully, trying to keep this from getting too intense.
He did not want to have to bail Bobby out of jail for hitting a cop. Bobby was usually really levelheaded, but in his current mood…
"Ander's death was ruled accidental, so quit bothering us, asshole," Bobby yelled at him.
" I know you did it. You are a killer, Brown, just like that thug Manoso that you work for," Morelli taunted. " I guess I'll just have to ask Cathy Jurgens what she knows aobut her ex's death."
Bobby moved right up just inches from Morelli, and Lester scrambled to keep himself between them.
"Don't you dare bother her about her ex's accident," Bobby snarled.
Morelli responded with the most juvenile answer in the world.
" Or what?"
Fuck. Morelli was clearly trying to get Bobby to lose control and hit him, so that he would get arrested.
Lester shot Morelli an evil look, then turned to Bobby.
"Comeon, dude," Lester grabbed Bobby's shoulder and tried to pull him away from Morelli.
" If you go near her, I'll file police harassment charges and I'll make ethics allegations that will cost you your badge, asshole," Bobby retorted, before allowing Lester to drag him away. God, he hated that fucker Morelli.
Steph sighed. It had been a week now since sweet, strong, gentle Bobby had been replaced with this cold, silent, robotic, harsh Bobby, and it was breaking her heart. He'd always been one of her favorites among the guys, and it was painful for her to see him this way. Ranger had questioned her sanity when she had requested that Bobby accompany her on her pilgrimage to the mall. She had shopped all day for shoes, bras, and clothes. Bobby hadn't once grimaced, or rolled his eyes, or cracked a smile, or stroked the lingerie like he usually did when she dragged him shopping. He'd just stood there silent as a stone, acting like a bodyguard.
Now he sat across from her at Pinos, hyperalert, eyes constantly scanning the room as she ate. He looked like hell. His beautiful brown eyes were bloodshot, and had dark circles under them. Lines creased his handsome face. It was obvious Bobby hadn't gotten much sleep. She hadn't seen him look this bad since, well, since he had sat vigil at Cathy's bedside when she had almost drowned.
"Bobby?" she asked. " What happened?"
He didn't look at her. "Nothing."
She moved across the booth to sit next to him and took his chin in her hands, waiting until his eyes finally rested on hers.
"Bobby, I love you, like the big brother I never had. And it hurts me to see you like this. Talk to me. Is it the dreams?"
'No," he said, although it was obvious something was keeping him from sleeping well.
"BobBY" she said more firmly. She wasn't going to put up with his silent man crap today." You and Cathy had a fight, didn't you?"
Before her eyes Bobby's stone face crumbled and she saw the hurt , boyish vulnerability replace it.
"She is mad that I, um, beat up Anders."
Beat up? That was a surprise. " I thought you actually killed him," Steph said quietly, making sure no one was around to hear them.
" No, I tortured him and beat the shit out of him. But I didn't kill him because I knew she would be upset if I did," He had an expression like a little boy expecting praise for his restraint in eating only one piece of the cake instead of the whole thing.
"But she wasn't happy that you didn't kill him. She's upset that you beat him up?" Steph asked.
" She thinks I was wrong," Bobby said indignantly.
" You ARE wrong, from a legal standpoint, anyway. " Steph pointed out. She understood how Cathy felt. She had been shocked when Ranger had killed Abruzzi for her. And she hadn't wanted Bobby to kill Anders.
" He almost KILLED her. She was DEAD when Les and I found her. That asshole deserved to die." Bobby was indignant. He must be upset, since he hadn't bothered to watch his language around her, like he usually did.
"Now she thinks that because I beat that asshole up I am some kind of a monster."
Bobby looked up into her eyes and the pain in his almost floored her. "She's afraid of me," he whispered.
"So she broke up with you?" Steph asked, holding his massive hand.
"She said she needed time to think, whatever the fuck that means. But I think she meant it like permanently."
Steph hugged him. "Oh, Bobby. I'm sorry. I know how much you love her. She just doesn't understand about you guys and your code of honor. Actually, I am still getting used to it myself. All you guys have a set of ethics that is sometimes different from the law. That can be hard to accept. "
Steph hesitated, then trudged on, figuring it was worth a shot to mention… " You know, if you went to see someone, like a therapist, about your dreams, maybe that would show her that you are trying to meet her halfway."
Bobby cringed. Damn. That fucking therapy thing again. He knew that Cathy wanted him to go, and that it might even get him "brownie points" with her if he did. But he wasn't sure if he could do that, even for her. If she thought he was a monster now, imagine what she'd think if all those things he'd rather forget came barreling form his subconscious to his awareness. He didn't think he could survive that with his sanity intact. He was lucky he had survived it once. He couldn't go through that again, not even for her.
Steph hopped up from the booth. "Come on. I want to go to Macy's they have awesome bras. You'll love it. "
Ram watched the "C1" dot flash on the screen, indicating the location of Cathy's car. Ranger had told him to put a tracker on her car, so they could "keep an eye on her" for Bobby until this whateverthehellitwas between them was over. It was just to make sure she was safe. It didn't count as stalking unless they actually followed her, right?
Ram sighed. Whatever happened between those two probably had to do with that fucker Anders. Women could be such a fucking pain in the ass sometimes . They never fucking understood that you just do what you have to do.
Steph, just back from shopping came over to his station at the monitors. "Hey, Ram," she said.
"Hey, Steph, I see you survived your journey with Bobby. You are braver than any of us to hang out with him lately, " he teased. "Poor bastard," he said sympathetically.
"Yeah, Ram, where does the tracker say that Cathy is now?"
"Um, she just left her office and it looks like she's heading back to her apartment."
Steph wrote down the address, then headed for the garage. She was tired of seeing Bobby so miserable. She needed to have another little talk with Cathy.