II

September 2000

"5137, 10-30, Chase Bank, 260 Columbus Ave, suspect in mask left on foot."

Officer Jo Polniaczek and her Partner, Officer Nathan Zidek had had a quiet early afternoon up to this point, but "quiet" as a police officer in New York City was a relative term.

"5137, 10-4", Officer Zidek responded, as Jo was driving. "ETA six minutes." He pressed the button for their lights and siren.

"You think any cop has gone a whole day without a single call in New York City, Zid?" Jo used the more senior officer's nickname.

"Does the Pope shi..."

"Don't even go there, partner", Jo said with a laugh. "I'm a good Catholic girl and don't need to hear you dissing the Holy Father."

Zid laughed. "I was merely gonna say that no such event has ever occurred within our glorious ranks, Polniaczek." Jo snorted a laugh.

Jo took an easy right. Traffic wasn't bad, but having grown up on motorcycles, she had learned how to drive safely at an early age. It had carried over to her job.

"Now if you wanna talk about how this 'good Catholic girl', ended up being not only cop and a lesbian, we could be talkin' for hours."

Zidek snorted a laugh. "By the way, how's Blair doin'? Haven't seen her in a good while."

"Busy as hell", Jo responded, not taking her eye off the road. "She meant it when she told her dad she wanted to earn her way at Warner, 'cause she's busting her ass every day there. It's getting to the point that we're not seein' a whole lot of each other."

Zidek had been on the force for fifteen years, and was as respected as any officer in New York City. He often broke in rookie cops, and had been so impressed with Jo Polniaczek that he requested that she be his permanent partner. "Yeah, adulting is no fuckin' fun, is it Jo?"

Jo smirked. "Well, some of it can be fun, but yeah, the real world has hit us square in the face lately, what with her doing more and more, and me pickin' up overtime when I can."

"You'll make it, kid", he replied confidently. "Both of ya have good heads on your shoulders."

"I know we will, Zid, but it still doesn't mean I hafta like the fact we don't get as much time together. Okay", she added as they approached the bank, "time to get the skinny on this one. I doubt the perp is anywhere nearby."

"We'll take the info and see if Forensics and security cameras can come up with anything, but hey, we love our jobs."

Jo laughed as she exited the patrol car. It did turn out that this was the only really interesting thing to happen them this day, which they both considered a blessing.

While Jo was having a slow day, Blair Warner couldn't say the same thing. Blair was in her well-appointed office at the Warner Company. Currently she was a "V-Level" corporate officer, in this case Vice-President of Marketing and Business Strategies. The next step up would be what was called the EVP, or Executive Vice-President Level, then the "S Level", or Senior Vice-President Level, then came the C-Level, as in Chief Executive Office, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer.

Blair most likely wouldn't have to go through ever step. She had been fast-tracked to make her way up in joining the company her father ran, had worked in a mix of lower-level jobs, and learning about the entire structure of the corporation. Most likely, when Blair made it to the Senior Vice-President level, she will have been around long enough that her next promotion would be to CEO, when her father stepped down.

She had been on the phone all morning with different Warner locations in the U.S and Canada. In a few days, the end of the third quarter would be upon them, and as was normally the case, she was swamped with calls, emails, and memos that had to be addressed. Then she would assemble all the information in a neat, concise fashion, and send it up to the Executive Vice-President, who had to approve all the reports that came to her, then it would go on to the Senior management, which included her father, David Warner, the CEO.

"Okay, Marcus", Blair said, the phone being held between her shoulder and chin, while also typing on her computer, "that sounds good, just remind Patsy I'll need those numbers by tomorrow. You have anything else?"

As Marcus imparted more information to her, she caught the door to her office opening up. Usually it was her secretary, but this time it was her father, tentatively peeking in with raised eyebrows. Blair smiled and waved him in, indicating she was almost done with her call.

"Yeah, I got that, Marcus. That will help a lot. I'll probably call you before close tomorrow. Thanks, Marcus, have a good day."

Blair hung up and turned toward her father, blowing a upturned breath of air into her bangs. "Whew!"

David Warner chuckled. "I never had bangs to blow back like that, Princess, but the 'whew' part? Yeah, I've had a few thousand of those."

Blair laughed in return. "I'm a few behind you, Daddy", Blair said with a wave of her hand. "What brings you down to us grunts?"

"I do like to walk around at least once or twice a week to keep a feel on the pulse of this place. A CEO should never just sit in his Ivory Tower all day."

"Yeah, well, I second that", Blair said with a grin. "And I get it-you don't get down to my neck of the woods too often. I don't want anyone to think I'm looking for favors."

"You made it clear, Blair, that you wanted to work your way up-just like I did under my father. It doesn't always happen that way in the corporate world. If you want my two cents, I think you'll be CEO one day, but it won't be handed to you."

"I don't want it like that", Blair reminded him. "It's just not right."

"I hear the voice of Jo Polniaczek in that comment", David Warner said with a twinkle in his eyes. "How's my favorite police officer, by the way? I haven't seen her in a while."

"It seems like I don't either, Daddy", Blair said ruefully. "With all the work I do here, and with Jo working a lot of hours at her job, it's a wonder we ever have any time to ourselves."

"I hope you make time for each other, Princess", he said sincerely. "I know your mother and I initially objected to you and Jo when you came out, but I was wrong-she's the best thing that has ever happened to you. And you know I love her to pieces."

"I wish Mother would have come around about Jo before she died", Blair sighed.

"She was starting to before she died, you know that. She had made peace with her life. Believe it or not, we had some wonderful times together, Princess. Just because it didn't end well doesn't mean I regret any of it."

"I know", Blair concurred. "I just wish Joey and I had the time like we used to, just to enjoy being with each other, no worries in the world. Sometimes I wish we could have frozen time and stayed stuck at Langley forever", Blair concluded wistfully.

"I know. Being an adult does have some drawbacks", the CEO nodded in agreement. They were silent for a moment. "By the way, in the next few months, it's possible we'll be unveiling some new projects for the company. It's still in the 'we're thinking about it' stage, so it isn't time to let the whole company in on it, but I can at least give you that much of a heads-up."

"Keep your secrets for now, Daddy", Blair replied with an impish grin. "Right now, I have enough work to do as it is."

David rose to leave. "So do I, honey", he agreed, "but things never remain as is in corporate America. When we know something more concrete, you'll hear about it."

David did lean over and gave his daughter a kiss on the forehead then departed. Great, Blair mused to herself. New Projects' means more work for all of us, and that means longer hours and even less time with Jo.

Blair had been more right than she knew.

Jo was working normal eight hour shifts, usually from 4pm until Midnight, not getting home until her lover was sound asleep. Blair's alarm went off during the week at 6am as she would quietly get ready for work, not wanting to wake Jo. On many of Jo's days off, she picked up some overtime. They had simply chalked it all up to being young and ambitious, but subtle hints began to surface that there could be problems.

As the year came to a close, Blair was again swamped with compiling quarterly and year-end numbers for the department she worked in, some days working until Midnight herself, then back in at 8am the next morning. Rarely did they have a day off together. When they did find time together, well, they ended up doing one of two things-or both: eating out together and making love.

It was all they had time for, or so it seemed.

Gone were the days when they could go to a concert, or head back to Peekskill and visit their old stomping grounds. Gone were the days of the Four Musketeers. They kept in regular contact with both Natalie and Tootie, but Natalie was working for The Boston Herald, and Tootie was starting to make a name for herself in Hollywood. They also talked to Mrs. Garrett-they would think of her as Mrs. Garrett even though she was Edna Gaines and had been for some time ("at least we can still use 'Mrs. G", Jo had commented to Blair once) as often as they could, but she and her husband, after returning from Africa, were now living in Florida, enjoying their retirement.

And with the passing of the year 2000 into 2001, things would get even more frustrating for the two women.