Chapter 24: Case Closed
Captain Avery is in his office working when the front doors to the 3rd precinct open and a barrage of prisoners in handcuffs are brought in. Curious, Avery gets up to go look and at that moment he sees amongst the group, Jamie enter with Lieutenant Walker in cuffs, Eddie enter escorting Larissa in handcuffs and Joe enters with Anthony Meretti in cuffs. The Captain just shakes his head in absolute awe before turning and heading back inside his office – things were clearly well in hand out there, and he had some calls to make…
…..
It's many hours later and Avery steps into the open doorway of the interrogation room to see Jamie, Eddie and Joe all sitting at the table filling out paperwork.
"And pencils down!" The Captain suddenly quips in humor.
Startled, Jamie, Eddie and Joe all look up questioningly.
"Sorry." The Captain apologizes with a chuckle "My wife is a school teacher – you all just looked like you are taking a test." He adds as he settles his gaze on Jamie.
"Oh." Jamie a bit awkwardly accepts "Um no." he deflects "Just filling out the required paperwork." He explains "We don't have desks so this seemed like as good a place as any but if you need the room…"
"No, no." Avery soothingly rejects "In fact speaking of desks – what if you all did have desks here?" he inquires.
Curious, all three look at the Captain trying to figure out what he is saying and simply out of habit to the way he has always addressed higher ranking officers, Jamie queries "Boss?" to the Captain even though he technically wasn't his Boss.
Avery points at Jamie "Yes. That right there. What if I was your Boss, and you all worked here under my command."
Not at all expecting that, Eddie slowly breathes out an "Um...what?"
"Well I just lost my Lieutenant." Walker reminds the trio before again looking at Jamie "And I'm looking at the perfect person to replace him."
"Oh." Jamie notes in surprise "Um well…" He begins to deflect "I'm only a Sergeant…"
"Were a Sergeant." Avery corrects "Or did you forget you took the Lieutenant's test?" he pointedly inquires with a raised eyebrow.
Joe immediately turns his head to look at his uncle in surprise.
"No, I remember taking it." Jamie begins "I just…"
"Haven't looked at the results?" The Captain interjects.
"We've ah, been a bit busy." Eddie chimes in as she gestures first around the room meaning being in Albany in the first place and then to the paperwork in front of her to indicate the undercover operation.
The Captain smiles in absolute agreement and approval "Yes you have." He concurs before again looking at Jamie and continuing on. "Well the results are in and it is my honor to tell you, you placed first."
"Oh." Jamie just repeats again while a wide and very proud smile appears on Eddie's face "Yes!" She exclaims in delight before dropping the smile from her face and getting a quizzical look on her face "Wait." She then questions of the Captain "How do you know that?"
The Captain shrugs "Made a couple of calls – ended up connecting with a Lieutenant Gormley - we had a great chat – about all three of you actually."
Joe leans slightly towards Jamie "Well that can't be good." he mutters.
"Nothing but good." The Captain corrects "You are all highly trained, excellent police officers and Albany would love to have you transfer here. We can make it worth your while."
Eddie gets a curious look on her face "How so?"
Avery turns his attention to Eddie "First, let me ask you a question. Why are you still a patrol officer?" he seriously wonders "You aced the Sergeant's exam, have over 10 years on the job, I don't get it."
"Well it's um… complicated." Eddie tries to explain as she glances at Jamie wondering exactly how much she should reveal.
"So it is because you're the daughter in law of The Police Commissioner." Avery concludes "And no one is willing to put you up for promotion."
"Well no…" Eddie begins to reject "I mean yes..." She corrects "…but no…" She adds.
"Well none of that means anything here." The Captain states "I would promote you to Sergeant effective immediately." He declares before looking at Joe "And I could always use an Ace Detective like you as well."
"Ace Detective." Joe impressively notes as he again leans over to Jamie "Isn't that what they call Danny?"
"Something like that." Jamie concurs.
"Huh." Joe notes in thought.
"Um…" Eddie waivers as she again glances at Jamie "That's um…"
"You don't need to answer right now." The Captain quickly interjects fearing she's about to say no "Take some time, think about it, that's all I ask."
"S…sure." Eddie ever so slowly agrees.
"Great." Avery accepts as he turns to leave "You all have a good evening now." He adds before disappearing from view leaving Jamie, Eddie and Joe alone.
Silence.
"Well that was interesting." Jamie finally speaks up.
"I kind of want to take it." Joe admits.
Jamie and Eddie turn to look at Joe in surprise.
Joe shrugs "I kind of want to see where things go with Charlotte." He admits.
Immediately a happy go lucky look appears on Eddie's face and she lightly slaps her husband's arm in excitement exclaiming "I knew she was Sunday Dinner material!" before wincing in pain "Ow." She mumbles in regret of her actions as she slightly moves her arm around trying to work through the sting.
….
Eddie is sitting in a chair in the hallway of the precinct with her head leaned back against the wall and her eyes closed resting when Jamie walks up "Okay all reports submitted and we are ready to go." He announces.
Eddie slowly opens her eyes and lifts her head off the wall "Great." She mumbles with a yawn as she starts to stand.
"You okay?" Jamie questions in concern.
"I think the adrenaline is wearing off…" Eddie tiredly admits "…and it's all starting to catch up to me now."
"Yeah let's get you home." Jamie decides.
"Home." Eddie mutters as they start to walk "Where is home now Jamie? The case is closed. Are we going back to New York? If so, to where? Our apartment is toast."
"For now we're just going back to our apartment here." Jamie decides as Caitlin turns a corner into the same hall behind them "You need rest and we need to sit down with Caitlin and Alex…" he continues as Caitlin hurries to catch up to them "…and try to figure out this whole family tree thing…" he adds as Caitlin opens her mouth to speak but abruptly stops when Jamie finishes "…because I am not their Uncle."
Eddie smiles a little at how once again her husband just doesn't see the positive effect he has on people "Jamie…" She gently prompts "It's a term of endearment – a testament to how much they admire and respect you – they don't have to call you Uncle, they are choosing to call you Uncle." She points out.
"Aunt Eddie's right." Caitlin pipes up in confirmation.
Startled, Jamie and Eddie whip around to face Caitlin and Caitlin plaster a bright smile on her face "Hi." She pleasantly greets.
A giddy smile appears on Eddie's face and she leans up slightly towards her husband "I'm the Aunt." She a bit pompously repeats but Jamie frowns as he looks at Caitlin "You really need to stop sneaking up on us."
"But that's how I learn all kinds of important things." Caitlin arrogantly points out.
Jamie rolls his eyes in slight annoyance while Eddie snickers a little.
"Things like…" Caitlin then more seriously adds "… you are thinking of going back to your apartment and I can tell you, that's a bad idea."
Jamie and Eddie look a little sideways at Caitlin.
"Why?" Eddie suspiciously prompts.
"Well…" Caitlin drawls out "…I mean you could…" She waivers "But um…well um… it's probably a little bit of a tiny little mess right now." She admits as she scrunches her thumb and index finger together.
"What?" Jamie questions.
Caitlin's face cringes up dreading having to be the one to tell them "It um kind of um…" She much more seriously begins "…got tossed when there was that whole man hunt for you."
Jamie and Eddie both squeeze their eyes closed in defeat at hearing that.
"Sorry." Caitlin apologizes before dawning a much brighter look on her face "But the good news!..." she happily quips "…is you don't have to stay there! You can stay with me!"
Slowly Jamie and Eddie both open their eyes and look at Caitlin.
"Come on." Caitlin eagerly prompts "I've got a big house, plenty of empty rooms!" she reasons out.
Jamie and Eddie turn to look at one another where they start a silent conversation and they agree that Caitlin's offer does indeed sound better than going back to a mess of an apartment that neither one wants to deal with cleaning up right now.
"Wait." Caitlin pipes up as she watches them "Are you two having a silent conversation? You are." She notes in delight "Okay that is so cool because I thought that was a twin thing and only Alex and I could do that but now that I know you can do that too, I have to ask, is that a Reagan thing? Do other family members do that? Oh wait…" She then notes as she thinks "You're husband and wife so – wow okay that's even cooler that you can do that!"
Jamie looks at Caitlin and sighs in defeat at her continued ramblings before looking back at his wife "But then we have to deal with her." He points out causing Caitlin to immediately stop talking.
A true and very wide smile curves up onto Eddie's lips "I'll take dealing with The Reagan family over a tossed apartment any day." She flat out admits "You?" She then queries to her husband.
A small smile begins to form on Jamie's face and he nods his head yes in confirmation.
A super wide smile appears on Caitlin's face "Then let's go!" She excitedly quips as she turns to walk away with Jamie and Eddie following "I'm driving!"
….
"Okay here we go." A much more happy Caitlin this time announces as she opens the door to her house, enters and then waits for Jamie and Eddie to enter behind her "Make yourself at home – you practically know where everything is already." She rambles "I'm just going to quickly go run upstairs and get a room ready for you. Be right back." She announces before running up the stairs.
Watching her go Eddie calls out "Thank you!" while Jamie finds himself once again drawn to the family photos on display and this time with more time on his hands, he simply stuffs his hands in his pockets and walks over to look and really take them in.
After a few moments, he picks up the photo from the 1980s of Thomas, Kathleen and two children "This must be Thomas and Kathleen with a younger Caitlin and Alex." He notes to Eddie.
Eddie walks over to look too and the more she looks at the photo the more she notices a slight resemblance between Jamie and Thomas.
"It's crazy." Jamie notes as he continues to stare at the photo oblivious "Another Sergeant Reagan."
Eddie shifts her eyes over to another photo and almost immediately she lets out a little huff of a laugh in awe "And this must be your Uncle Peter..." She deduces as she leans over to pick up the photo of Peter and Aileen and show it to Jamie "…because if you slap a mustache on him Jamie, he's your Dad."
Jamie looks over "Oh wow." He notes in amazement as he too sees what is a much more pronounced resemblance before sighing as he puts the photo in his hands down "How am I going to break this to Pop Eddie?" he seriously wonders in concern "I know we don't have all the answers yet but when you look at that…" he adds as he gestures back to the photo of Peter "Can we really deny that he and Dad are brothers? How am I supposed to tell Pop his first born son lived, created a whole other branch of his family and died without either of them knowing the other was out there alive?"
"By focusing on the legacy Peter left behind in Caitlin, Alex and Quinn." Eddie replies as she sets the photo back down in its place "Are you going to call him now?"
Jamie looks at his watch – he had now been up for over 24 hours straight "No. I don't want to mess this up. I need sleep first." He decides as he pulls his phone out and opens the camera app "I'll call in the morning." He adds before taking a picture of Peter and Aileen's photo.
….